So not only the TV and the Internet has been flooded by Swine flu news. Medical PDA developers quickly responded and posted updates right into our handhelds.
Meistermed published a new updated iSilo document that can be downloaded into any mobile here’s an iPod Touch example;
The above iSilo document is also available for all other platforms a free download from this page http://www.meistermed.com/swineflu and the iSilo reader is available for all platforms here and for your iPhone/iPod Touch download it from iTunes here.
It includes last hour information updates as it’s released from the CDC. However, it’s not automatically updated and you’d have redownload the file should it gets updated.
If you are subscribed to Skyscape MedAlerts then you’ll also get some updates about Swine flu here’s some screen shots;
Micromedex also sent emails that their Clinical Xpert is now update with the latest swine flu info.
So let’s closely monitor the pandamic on our PDAs …
Epocrates launched the latest version [2.51] yesterday. It delivers significant improvements over the previous versions but most noticable is the new disease images which we have been waiting for quite long time.
The images added are not just a bunch of nice images to say that the app has images, no, there are hundreds of them and many many dx entries are supplemented with [sometimes more than one] images which are crisp clear and highly relevant.
Sadly, however, these images are not actually hosted on the native app and requires 3G or Wifi connection whenever requested. This is unfortunate because it means that we highly unlikely to see these images in closed CT scan and other hospital indoors still lacking adequate Wifi. Probably add these images to the Epocrates app would significantly increase the memory requirements that’s they avoided that.
Another great enhancement in the latest version is the landscape mode which is previously unsupported, here’s how it looks
Also now the search page include extra options such as disease by system and labs but still we want to see the major search box in all the sections and not only the main page.
Bottom line, Epocrates continues to demonstrate commitment in providing the latest updates with more and more features time after time consistantly.
However, we are still waiting for Sx and CME to arrive on the iPhone, version 3.0 perhaps!
We said that Skyscape has recently changed their business model and is now offering paid apps directly from the app store and we explained why here.
But what is interesting is that all of these new apps are actually funneled back into the mother app [The Skyscape Medical Resources, recently referred to as The Skyscape App], here’s how they guide us …
Now the question is Why? and the answer is simply, their SmartLink technology. One of the biggest features of Skyscape that makes their different resources work synergistically when they are installed together by cross linking.
On Palm and Pocket PC, there was no problem. Different titles installed in different folders and they were still cross linked to each other. But on iPhone this is not possible, you cannot jump from one app to another. That’s why whatever new Skyscape app you install is going to establish itself into the mother app and its icon will then merely function as a shortcut to the mother app, even they explicitly mention that you can now delete this icon and keep the mother app [see screenshots above].
Accordingly, we can now understand why all the new apps have a single common icon on which there is a stamp called Admit One!
As we expected and explained why in a previous post that the new Apple rules do not allow free apps which would then ask for subscriptions from outside the app store. So here’s the action started, two of the biggest medical developers started offering their apps paid right away from the app store.
Skyscape, similarly, has also started to market their subscription based titles as stand-alone apps on the app store. In fact, they have gone so furious that as of this moment there’s 29 new paid apps of their various titles on iTunes app store!
However, what’s really interesting, is that they still offer the various short and long term subscription options on the Skyscape website. Not only that, but also they still send users to their website when the Skyscape Universe tab is tapped on the Skyscape Medical Resources [they recently started to call it the Skyscape App]! It could be just a matter of time before they modify these options, but definitely before the official launch of iPhone 3.0 OS next Summer.
While for Unbound Medicine, right away they tell you go to iTunes to purchase the app and sorry there’s no free trial [see their web page] obviously they did not work out a “lite” free version of the new Handbook of nursing diagnosis.
So now let’s wait for epocrates and Pepid to join the new club and no more $$$ missing Apple pockets!
The AAP’s Red Book is one of the most trusted infectious disease references ever available on the PDA. It is provided from the AAP directly in a mobipocket format and from Skyscape and also from Unbound Medicine.
They all deliver it in a similar price range $100-110. Read this post for a comparison of the three.
What was interesting is that Medical Wizards used to offer this title for less than half the price at $50! However, only for the Palm platform and even cannot be installed onto Windows Mobile via Style Tap because it’s .exe and not .prc file.
That Medical Wizards page looked really strange as the description was a mere copy and paste of that pdaMD offer where they delivered the Red Book and Epocrates Rx in one device bundle. So they did not even bother to write their own short description of the Red Book.
However, after I contacted both the AAP and Medical Wizards, that page was removed and the Red Book is no longer offered! It seems that was a big mistake from Medical Wizards.
I just wonder for those who purchased the Medical Wizards version of the Red Book, do they still have it? Is it legal!
UPDATE: We received a support reply from Medical Wizards saying that the file can still be downloaded from this link, however, that’s a free trial download we don’t know how to purchase the product. They also said that the product page is to be upgraded and to be published soon! Probably, they’ll revise the price!
This OS also comes with a new software developer kit [SDK] with more than a thousand new APIs available for the developers which can really transform and upscale the range of medical apps that we see now on the iPhone and iPod Touch. Examples include the new push notifications and the bluetooth pairing which previously hampered developers from developing real time billing and coding apps for example.
They also gave all what the customers have asked for such as copy and paste, MMS, global search, landscape keyboard other than Safari and several other great improvements.
But what attracted my attention in the new OS, is the new subscription enabled app store, a new feature that Scot Forstall [SVP of iPhone software] has clearly and loudly announced about the new SDK. The new In App Purchase is where developers can ask for payment for subscription based content from within the app and via iTunes store directly. Not only that, but also he stated specifically that a free app should stay a free app.
Here’s a quote from his talk: “...Free apps remain free. You won’t be asked ever to buy something that is inside that free application…”
This is of course going to force Apple’s 30% share into the revenue and they will no longer sit back and watch these developers making money from their iPhone customers without sharing.
This is a big change in the game. Epocrates, PEPID, Skyscape, and Unbound Medicine and others should no longer be able to sell us free apps and then ask us to fill it with purchased content from their websites.
We eluted to this in a previous post and many users have written complaints on iTunes reviews as they feel fooled by getting a free template which has to be stuffed for money.
This is a new SDK and a new feature and it might take sometime [the update will be available to consumers next summer] before we actually going to see changes into the business models of our beloved medical developers.
Ultimately, this is going to be rather good for us because by then we know exactly how much the app is going to cost before we download it. Also, the top free and paid lists will then truly reflect the trends and no longer be redundant and so we’ll know which is the best app to buy.
So let’s wait and see, there’s going to be a lot of action before the end of 2009..
After several shouts and customer dissatisfaction including us in a previous post, Skyscape finally changed their iPhone subscription policy and now offers a Standard copy of the books that they publish.
So now you we can choose to buy the product and keep it forever if we choose the standard option.
Previously there was only yearly subscription and after that year the app will vanish! This has provoked anger and extreme complaints from the users, if you read iTunes reviews of their iPhone app [the Skyscape Medical Resources] you will read descriptions like ripped off, scam, conspiracy, and some other very bad wording.
So in response, they added the Standard option just like what they offer for Palm and Windows Mobile.
In their explanation they say that the standard option will not allow for updates after the end of the 12 months, while if we choose the subscription option and we renew in time, we will always get the latest updates.
The digital content of Skyscape ebooks unlike what we used to have in a traditional book is constantly updated, so for example the A to Z Drug Facts will be updated from the publisher on a regular basis and that will be reflected on our Skyscape’s title. However, this is not absolutely true for all of the titles. There are titles that are still static and gets updated only with the availability of new editions.
In order to make a decision on what to buy a subscription or a standard edition, go to Skyscape website then choose the product then click on unique features tab and navigate down to the bottom of the page to see the updates policy of that particular product. Here’s a screenshot of one of the titles;
If the picture is not clear here’s what it says; “Update Policy: Edition-based. New editions are released when the content changes significantly; there is no standard schedule for new editions”.
So the advice here, is that buy a subscription for a clinical tool or an ebook that gets frequent updates but buy the standard edition if it is a static infrequently updated reference [as screenshot above] such as DSM IV, Lab notes, The Red Book, The Harriet Lane, and many many others.
They’ve also made more subscription options so we can choose to subscribe for a shorter periods of time for less money, which is also a good thing.
Surprisingly, Amazon decided to make their Kindle titles compatible with iPhone and iPod Touch devices! They launched the Kindle for iPhone app today and it is available from the app store. click on the icon below and the app download page will launch in iTunes.
This is certainly a great news for us because we all have [or will have] iPhone or iTouch but probably unlikely we’ll pay $360 to get a “large” device just to read books while we have all the world on our iPhones!
Amazon people could have said to themselves, Hey we not gonna win, we will not convince people to buy Kindle while they have their ebooks on the iPhone. Ok, let’s sell them the titles then!
So, quickly they established presence on app store, before iSilo and other readers take the crazily growing market from them.
So here comes another evidence of the ubiquity of iPhone devices and their precedence over other mobile systems. One would ask, why they did not think of developing an app for Palm, or Windows Mobile, or Blackberry?
Let’s have a look on how it looks on iPhone on iPod Touch;
The Kindle for iPhone app let you download whatever Kindle titles you like from Amazon.com and then send it wirelessly to your iPhone or iPod Touch. An important point here to notice is that you cannot download the titles right from your iPhone device, you have to visit Amazon.com and log in to your account.
Even the Amazon.com mobile app [icone above] will not allow us to do that! This is the same story with all publishers as they don’t want to share percentage with Apple and so they provide a free app on which we can download content from their own websites, read this post for details.
The app is absolutely free and you have to register it once downloaded so that your Amazon account get synced via Amazon whispersync technology and get all the titles [via Wifi] that you have. Also, if you ever purchased books on your Kindle you can now send them to your iPhone and iPod Touch, not only that but you’ll even return to the same page that you stopped at when you switch between devices, so this is really whispernet!
All Kindle titles can be tried for free in the form of a sample before we decide on whether to buy the book or not, which is a great advantage.
However, There are some bad features that we’d like to highlight here:
You cannot download subscriptions or newspapers on your iPhone, this is probably because USA Today and New York Times already have their own dedicated iPhone apps so Amazon smartly avoided any confusion.
Unlike other readers for example iSilo, Kindle for iPhone does not take advantage of the tilt G sensor and nothing happens when you tilt the device in horizontal landscape position.
Paging is only side to side and there’s no flick scrolling up and down and so it’s missing on one of the coolest features of the smooth iPhone navigation.
No picture zoom and no double tap magnification, again missing on these nice to have iPhone capabilities.
However, this app will certainly push more and more doctors and other people toward the iPhone and on the other hand, it will greatly expand the availability of Kindle titles in the medical field.
Lexi is offering $50 off their pediatric suite which is regularly priced @ $175 and now it’s $125.
The pediatric Lexi Suite is one of the most complete solutions [which was recently updated with new databases] that we can have for our handhelds; read Pda4peds review and our previous blog post for further details.
Using the above code while checking out will grant the $50 off.
Note that this does not include the iPhone version as it is solely offered in iTunes app store and codes do not work there, This offer is only valid for Palm, Pocket PC, and Blackberry platforms. Also it is not site wide, this code is specific for the pediatric and some other suites.
Unbound Medicine has recently released their first ever ‘bundle-package’ app for the iPhone and iPod Touch, The Nursing Central.
Have a look here, you can click on the full screen button for better view:
You can see that there are so many features and resources packaged in one outstanding iPhone App. This is the first ‘Central’ packages to be released in App Store.
One of the most important features noticed is the wireless update where tapping on the right upper reciprocal update arrows takes us into the most recent database update of the app. These updates are not a joke, they are real and for example they just recently updated Tabers into their latest 21st edition as it was showing before the previous 20th edition and also just recently they added the Handbook of Nursing Diagnosis for institutional subscribers and as an optional add-on to individual subscribers.
The stuffing of this app is astonishing as you can get Davis Drug guide, Medline journals, Davis lab and dxstic tests, Diseases and Disorders, Tabers, and the handbook all for only one subscription price of $160 per year. The added prices of these components goes well above $200 if they are purchased separately.
The Nursing Central just like all other Unbound titles is available as a website. Just visit http://nursing.unboundmedicine.com on your desktop or mobile. The website version has an extra box of recent PDA medical news and it still includes the previous 20th edition of Tabers.
Another high level of functionality is the cross linking button where you can find related entries to your keyword in the other portions of the package. For example as shown above in the video, when reading about Acromagaly in Diseases and Disorders you can cross linked with related info found in the Davis drug guide and lab references, this undoubtedly useful at the beside and integrates the content into a single completer all-in-one application.
This is a great gift from Unbound Medicine and we can’t wait to see Pediatrics Central on our iPhone and iPod Touch devices!
