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September 25, 2006
RFID In Your Phone
As I was watching this segment on a local news channel, I started thinking that if a RFID tag in a phone could allow you to pay for and learn about products in a grocery store, it could probably help you make better drug interaction decisions. If the phone could read drug labels and compare them to what medications you are taking, it could save your life. RFID tags will make their way into phones for commerce reasons but extending capabilities to cover health applications won't be far behind.
Posted by Mark at 05:47 PM | Comments (0)
September 21, 2006
Motorola and Symbol
The Motorola acquisition of Symbol yesterday will help Motorola gain ground with big corporate clients in the retail, transport and health markets but will it also lead to new mobile consumer products using Symbol's RFID and scanning technologies? One can only speculate that Motorola's mobile handset building competency and Symbol's expertise in scanning technology could produce some pretty interesting mobile health applications. Could your mobile phone read the RFID tag in your blood pressure medication bottle to tell you that you haven't opened the bottle and taken your pills that day. Only time will tell...
Mark Carpenter
Stanford Persuasive Technology Lab
markcarp@stanford.edu
Posted by Mark at 08:42 AM | Comments (0)
September 18, 2006
MobilAlert
Older adult's ability to live independently and remain mobile as they age is extremely important to their overall health and wellbeing. There have been a number of devices on the market to help people stay connected to caregivers for years. (Lifeline and Lifestation) New and improved products are now coming to market and will change the way in people live. MobilAlert is one of the new products. MobilAlert takes the Lifeline\Lifestation concept to the great outdoors in a simple to use design.
Keywords: health, technology, emergency, GPS, voice, aging
Description: A easy to use emergency alerting device for elderly users and those suffering from chronic diseases. MobilAlarm has two buttons that when pushed simultaneously will send a message over wireless network via a voice channel to a service that will be able to pinpoint the callers exact position using GPS and send help.
http://www.mobilalarm-eu.org/
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=42040
Persuasive Intent: To persuade people to go about their lives without fear as they age.
Target audience: 50 plus
Price: NA
Boomer Mobile Health Project
This entry is part of a study on how mobile devices and health applications will effect compliance, attitude and behavior change among older adults. The perspective of the Boomer Mobile Health project is that the considerable development of mobile health devices, applications and services will influence changes in the behaviors of older adults in the area of physical and mental fitness, disease management and education. If you know of good examples of mobile products designed for boomers, please e-mail me at MarkCarp@stanford.edu
Mark Carpenter
Stanford Persuasive Technology Lab
Posted by Mark at 02:17 PM | Comments (0)
September 14, 2006
Hearing Aids
My mother recently got a new hearing aid that has really changed her life. The device itself delivers really high quality sound and is almost invisible to wear. We were talking about it the other day and it occured to me that hearing aids were a good example of mobile persuasion. Poor hearing runs in my family and my mother was pointing out that this new Oticon Delta hearing aid was something I would need to consider at some point and this model is being marketed to baby boomers in denial about hearing loss because of the un-sightly devices that are typically sold today. You see more and more people wearing phone headsets these days on the streets and in airports. How far off are we from hearing aids being fashionable? When does the line between hearing aid and connected hearing gadget blur and your bluetooth phone is able to connect with your hearing aid?
Keywords: health, technology, hearing, bluetooth
Description: An extremely small and capable hearing aid that offers an in the ear speaker with an extremely small profile and advanced sound processing system. This product is squarely targeted at Baby boomers who are more likely to deny any hearing loss to avoid traditional hearing aids. This device is small and almost trendy. It is more like a bluetooth phone headset than a hearing aid and comes in multiple colors.
Persuasive Intent: To persuade people to do something about their hearing loss.
Target Audience: 50 plus
Price: $3,000
Boomer Mobile Health Project
This entry is part of a study on how mobile devices and health applications will effect compliance, attitude and behavior change among older adults. The perspective of the Boomer Mobile Health project is that the considerable development of mobile health devices, applications and services will influence changes in the behaviors of older adults in the area of physical and mental fitness, disease management and education. If you know of good examples of mobile products designed for boomers, please e-mail me at MarkCarp@stanford.edu
Mark Carpenter
Stanford Persuasive Technology Lab
Posted by Mark at 10:07 AM | Comments (0)
September 13, 2006
The Health ipod
So with Apple announcing the availability of movie downloads, new ipods and media devices, is it long before they move beyond the partnership with Nike and create the health ipod. The health ipod could monitor vital statistics and adjust the music to your current state and even suggest a movie that would help relieve any perceived stress. Why not an ipod that gives you an estimated mortality date based on the information it's picking up from your body. Just had a cigarette, watch the death clock tick down ever so slightly.
With more and more people using ipods for more and more things, it's not that far fetched to think that the ipod, not the traditional mobile phone will be the platform for mobile health applications and services.
Mark Carpenter
Stanford University Persuasive Technology Lab
markcarp@stanford.edu
Posted by Mark at 01:41 PM | Comments (0)
September 06, 2006
Stanford class will study Facebook, YouTube, MySpace, and more
In three weeks Dean Eckles and I will start teaching a new Stanford class for the Computer Science Department. Of course, it's about computers as persuasive technology (aka captology), but this year we're focusing on what makes Web 2.0 services compelling, motivating, and even addictive. During the last three weeks, we'll shift gears and look at the future of mobile applications -- how they might be designed to influence people.
We'll use video to capture and convey much of what we learn. So we've decided to set up the course home page (for now) at captology.tv. When the end of the quarter arrives in December, we'll share our work at the first ever "Captology Film Festival." (Yes, we'll give out popcorn and prizes, but we expect serious discussion as well.)
Of course, we'll invite you to the festival.
Below is the course description (which would have been more fun to do in video).
--BJ Fogg
"Persuading People Online and Via Mobile Phones"
CS377p - Stanford University, Fall 2006, 3 unitsIn this course we'll examine how technology can persuade and motivate people, a subject called "captology." We'll first build a foundation by learning about the psychology of persuasion. We'll then apply what we're learning to understand how the online world is changing people’s thoughts and behaviors, with popular examples like Facebook, Flickr, and YouTube. We'll then do creative projects to explore how mobile phone applications will persuade and motivate people in the future.
Posted by BJ Fogg at 05:46 PM | Comments (0)
September 04, 2006
Mobile Menstrual
He's an interesting mobile application I ran across while searching the web. While this may not be aimed at an older audience, it's at least aimed at a mature audience. I first ran across it as a add on to a new pink clam shell phone designed for women. I looked a around a little more and found that it is available as freeware on the Internet.
Keywords: health, technology, menstrual, mobile, phone
DescriptionThe Mobile Menstrual software is a free download and comes pre-instralled on the CKT 6689 mobile phone. This mobile application helps keep track of your menstrual cycle and is often called an ovulation calendar. The software runs on any mobile phone and will give you stats on past cycles, show multiple cycle statistics and will predict future cycles on past data. The application will show fertility information on it's calendar that can be used to help conception or to avoid it.
http://www.shinyshiny.tv/2006/07/ckt_6689_mobile.html
Persuasive Intent: To persuade women when and when not to engage in sexual activity base on the desire to conceive or to avoid conception.
Target audience: Mature women
Price: Freeware
Boomer Mobile Health Project
This entry is part of a study on how mobile devices and health applications will effect compliance, attitude and behavior change among older adults. The perspective of the Boomer Mobile Health project is that the considerable development of mobile health devices, applications and services will influence changes in the behaviors of older adults in the area of physical and mental fitness, disease management and education. If you know of good examples of mobile products designed for boomers, please e-mail me at MarkCarp@stanford.edu
Mark Carpenter
Stanford Persuasive Technology Lab
Posted by Mark at 05:25 PM | Comments (0)
September 02, 2006
Simplicity
Features are constantly being added to mobile phones and most people really just want use them to talk. Bluetooth is a great addition to mobile devices but pairing a Bluetooth device is never an easy task. I've paired a pda, a headset, a computer and a car and each time the process created challenges. Using Bluetooth for add-on health applications is a sound technical direction but companies will need to make sure these devices talk to each other seamlessly.
Features and add-ons are great for the consumer but are often ignored because of the learning curve is too high and benefits are not often apparent. Health companies hoping to sell mobile health products and services to an aging population will need to address simplicity as a core strategic component of their offering. My experience tells me that older adults are more than willing to try new technology but have very little patience with complicated solutions to simple needs. Comments to MarkCarp@stanford.edu
Mark Carpenter
Stanford Persuasive Technology Lab
Posted by Mark at 10:43 AM | Comments (0)
September 01, 2006
Sexy or useful
As I've talked to people and looked around on the web at examples of mobile health devices and applications for boomers, I've come to realize that a vast majority of the focus is on chronic disease maintenance with the mobile phones playing a key role. The problem I see with this is that while mobile phones are becoming ubiquitous and extremely reliable, the majority of the effort of manufacturers and wireless carriers is on phone sexiness and entertainment.
My wife and I recently upgraded our phones and made some interesting decisions. I opted for a Cingular 8125 because I wanted something that would help organize my life, have a full keyboard and allow me to take fairly good pictures for me personal mobile blog. My wife decided to get a pink RAZR because it was thin and sexy. I see a disconnect between what people want in mobile phones and what is being sold and what would ultimately help transform the mobile phone into something to base health applications and services. MarkCarp@stanford.edu
Mark Carpenter
Stanford Persuasive Technology Lab
Posted by Mark at 11:26 AM | Comments (0)