healthy4u

Googlers receive prestigious ITOJUN Service Award

Googlers Lorenzo Colitti and Erik Kline have <a href="http://isoc.org/wp/newsletter/?m=200911">received</a> the <a href="http://www.isoc.org/awards/itojun/">ITOJUN Service Award</a> while attending the 76th Internet Engineering Task Force meeting in Hiroshima, Japan. The Itojun Service Award honors the memory of Dr. Jun-ichiro "itojun" Hagino, who passed away in 2007 at the age of 37. The friends of itojun and the <a href="http://www.isoc.org/">Internet Society</a> (ISOC) came together to establish this award last year. The award recognizes and commemorates the extraordinary dedication exercised by itojun over the course of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPv6">IPv6</a> development. Lorenzo and Erik have been the spark plugs and workhorses of Google's <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/05/looking-towards-ipv6.html">implementation</a> of the IPv6 protocol that will help to carry the Internet beyond the anticipated exhaustion of the IPv4 address space in mid-2011. The two undertook, at their own initiative, to analyze the requirements and begin implementation of IPv6 throughout our networking infrastructure. Their leadership has placed us in the forward ranks of companies prepared for this important expansion. They are role models for others around the world, in the spirit of Itojun Hagino who was, himself, a model leader in this domain. We're all proud to be associated with Lorenzo, Erik and the others at Google who recognized this challenge and took it head on. Posted by Vint Cerf, Chief Internet Evangelist

Googlers receive prestigious ITOJUN Service Award

Googlers Lorenzo Colitti and Erik Kline have received the ITOJUN Service Award while attending the 76th Internet Engineering Task Force me...

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Boston Scientific to Plead Guilty (of Suppressing Information about Failure-Prone Defibrillators)

In the early days of Health Care Renewal (2005-2006) we posted several times about allegations that Guidant hid information about defects in the implantable cardiac defibrillators (ICDs) the company manufactured.  As we noted in early 2005 <a href="http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/2005/05/guideants-short-circuit.html">here</a>, Guidant executives allegedly knew that ICDs made from 2000-2002 were at risk for short-circuiting and failing, thus making them unable to deliver potentially life saving electrical shocks meant to prevent cardiac arrests, but the company only revealed the problem in 2005.  By failing to notify physicians and the public, Guidant executives let expensive and profitable, but potentially useless devices to continue to be implanted, potentially increasing the risk of sudden death for the patients who received them.  Then here we <a href="http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/2005/06/guidants-short-circuit-reloaded.html">noted</a> reports that Guidant continued to ship failure-prone devices even after it had designed and started to manufacture new ICDs that were supposed to be less likely to fail.  By June, 2005 we <a href="http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/2005/06/more-short-circuits-for-guidant.html">posted</a> that Guidant had recalled thousands of ICDs, including models that were previously not identified as likely to fail.  Later that year, the case <a href="http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/2005/07/new-england-journal-of-medicine-on.html">rated</a> an article by Robert Steinbrook in the New England Journal of Medicine.  Towards the end of 2005, we <a href="http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/2005/11/eliot-spitzer-sues-guidant-for-fraud.html">noted</a> that Eliot Spitzer had sued Guidant for fraud.  At the end of the year, more information <a href="http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/2005/12/for-guidant-these-people-are-just.html">appeared</a>, suggesting that Guidant knew the ICDs were flawed, but continued to sell them.  <a href="http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/2006/03/more-about-guidant-it-is-possible-that.html">Still more</a> appeared early in 2006.  Then the business media became interested in the bidding war between Johnson and Johnson and Boston Scientific for Guidant, provoking a bit <a href="http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/2006/01/new-problems-for-guidant-and-boston.html">more interest</a> in the tale of the suppression of data about the flawed ICDs. And then there was silence.  The story of the suppressed information about the defective defibrillators became old news, as did the story of the merger between Boston Scientific and Guidant.  The story vanished, nothing more happened, until last week A lone echo from this story from what now seems long ago was heard, as <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aW7jGYK573f4">reported by Bloomberg</a>, <blockquote>Boston Scientific Corp. agreed to pay $296 million to settle a U.S. Justice Department investigation into its Guidant unit’s handling of heart devices and restated third-quarter results to show a loss. Guidant will plead to two criminal misdemeanors for failing to properly alert the U.S. Food and Drug Administration about problems with some of its implantable defibrillators, Boston Scientific said today in a statement. The probe concerned product advisories sent by Guidant before its acquisition by Boston Scientific in April 2006, the parent company said. </blockquote> So even though Boston Scientific's now subsidiary Guidant will plead guilty to a crime involving suppression of information about the flaws in its defibrillators, the current CEO of Boston Scientific denied anyone did anything wrong: <blockquote>'Guidant and its employees acted in good faith and believed they complied with applicable laws and regulations,' Boston Scientific Chief Executive Officer Ray Elliott said in the company’s statement. 'We elected to resolve this matter so we could put it behind us and devote our full energies and resources to developing our innovative technologies.' </blockquote> I guess it's not hard to put a little matter of criminal conduct behind a big health care corporation and its leaders when the only downside of pleading guilty is a fine paid seven years after the criminal conduct occurred.  Moreover, that fine that will come out of the company treasury, and its impact will thus be spread among stock-holders, employees, and customers, not targeted at those who performed, directed or approved the acts that lead to the guilty plea. Although the Bloomberg report was more detailed than others I found, none mentioned that the information that was concealed back in the day was about the failure of an expensive device that was supposed to be life-saving, and whose failure might doom some of its recipients to an early death.  Anyone reading these late 2009 articles would get a sense that Guidant personnel were guilty of some technical reporting violations, not of withholding information that supposed life-saving treatments might be useless. As in the case of many other cases that resulted in <a href="http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/search/label/legal%20settlements">legal settlements</a> or <a href="http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/search/label/crime">guilty pleas</a>, the company involved only needs to pay a fine, and no individual who performed, directed or approved unethical or illegal acts will suffer any negative consequences.  I submit once again that such fines are viewed merely as costs of doing business by the affected companies, and do not deter future bad behavior. In this vein, note that in 2005, Boston Scientific agreed to a $74 million settlement of charges that it knowingly sold a defective coronary artery stent system (see post <a href="http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/2005/06/boston-scientific-settles-case-of.html">here</a>), which did not deter the company from merging with Guidant.  This case also demonstrates how the<a href="http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/search/label/anechoic%20effect"> anechoic effect</a> continues.  Bad behavior by large health care organizations still gets little notice, and when it is noticed, its real clinical and human effects are discounted.  Real health care reform would address how leaders of health care organizations can continue to act with impunity even when their actions can lead to sickness, disability, and death.

Boston Scientific to Plead Guilty (of Suppressing Information about Failure-Prone Defibrillators)

In the early days of Health Care Renewal (2005-2006) we posted several times about allegations that Guidant hid information about defects in...

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Commemorating Veterans Day at Google

Today is <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veterans_Day">Veterans Day</a>, the annual U.S. holiday honoring military veterans who have served our country in the armed forces. It is also celebrated as Armistice Day or Remembrance Day in other parts of the world, falling on November 11, the anniversary of the signing of the Armistice that ended World War I in 1918. We want to take a moment to highlight a few things we're doing at Google to reflect on the service of our veterans. YouTube has become an important platform for current service members as well as veterans who want to share their stories. Starting today, you can visit <a href="http://www.youtube.com/veterans">www.youtube.com/veterans</a> to hear from these brave men and women. In addition, on the homepage, YouTube is featuring content from some institutions and organizations that have provided much-needed support to veterans. You can read more about how YouTube is recognizing Veterans Day on the <a href="http://youtube-global.blogspot.com/2009/11/youtube-salutes-vets-and-their.html">YouTube Blog</a>. We also <a href="http://googlevoiceblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/google-voice-invitations-for-blue-star.html">launched</a> a Google Voice partnership with Blue Star Families, a group of military spouses who work hard to educate civilian communities and leaders about the hardships faced by military families. We're giving priority Google Voice invites to U.S. members of Blue Star Families to help bring them closer to their loved ones during deployments. Finally, we're commemorating Veterans Day in Google offices around the country with an event hosted by the Google Veterans Network, our employee group dedicated to veterans' issues. The highlight of the event is a fireside chat with Google veterans discussing the values associated with military service, issues they face at Google and in the world in general, their hopes to end conflicts, similar groups at other companies and the company's efforts to support our Googler service women and men. We hope to make this Veterans Day a memorable one and we want to thank everyone in the armed forces for their service. Posted by Carrie Laureno, Learning & Development Manager and Founder, Google VetNet

Commemorating Veterans Day at Google

Today is Veterans Day , the annual U.S. holiday honoring military veterans who have served our country in the armed forces. It is also celeb...

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World Bank public data, now in search

When we first <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/04/adding-search-power-to-public-data.html">launched public data</a> on Google.com, we wanted to make statistics easier to find and to encourage <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVhWqwnZ1eM">debate based on facts</a> rather than intuition. The day after we launched, a friend who worked at the World Bank called me, her voice filled with enthusiasm, "Did you know that the World Bank also just released an API for their data?" Excited, I <a href="http://developer.worldbank.org/">checked it out</a>, and found an amazing treasure trove of statistics for most economies in the world. After some hard work and analysis, today we're happy to announce that 17 <a href="http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/DATASTATISTICS/0,,menuPK:232599%7EpagePK:64133170%7EpiPK:64133498%7EtheSitePK:239419,00.html">World Development Indicators</a> (list below*) are now conveniently available to you in Google search. With today's update, you can quickly access more data with a broad range of queries. Search should be intuitive, so we've done the work to think through queries where public data will be most relevant to you. To see the new data, try queries like [<a href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&gl=us&q=gdp+of+indonesia">gdp of indonesia</a>], [<a href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&gl=us&q=life+expectancy+brazil&aq=f&oq=&aqi=g-m1">life expectancy brazil</a><a href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&gl=us&q=children+per+woman+in+brazil&aq=f&oq=&aqi="></a>], [<a href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&gl=us&q=rwanda%27s+population+growth">rwanda's population growth</a>], [<a href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&gl=us&q=energy+use+of+iceland">energy use of iceland</a>], [<a href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&gl=us&q=co2+emissions+of+iceland">co2 emissions of iceland</a>] and [<a href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&gl=us&q=GDP+growth+argentina">gdp growth rate argentina</a>]. For example, if you search for [<a href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&gl=us&q=internet+users+in+the+united+states">internet users in the united states</a>], you will see the following chart at the top of the results page: <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjilVQGMrWTko02lU3QnzIrk-uDQCq3_i8PYXiGM0ov8euELW4SdC5oJqILrT_3KbZlO7CJtRKIcb-BMdAa9YUYUWShqMxw1UIefudetQkKjMd9BIUtc3gYQW092R0tvI1zqkHEqF48mPk/s1600-h/WB.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5402903748423560802" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjilVQGMrWTko02lU3QnzIrk-uDQCq3_i8PYXiGM0ov8euELW4SdC5oJqILrT_3KbZlO7CJtRKIcb-BMdAa9YUYUWShqMxw1UIefudetQkKjMd9BIUtc3gYQW092R0tvI1zqkHEqF48mPk/s400/WB.png" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 123px;" /></a> Clicking on the result will bring you to an <a href="http://www.google.com/publicdata?ds=wb-wdi&met=it_net_user_p2&idim=country:USA">interactive chart</a> where you can compare the United States with other regions around the world. We've also added a new feature to enable you to embed these charts in your own website or blog by clicking on the "Link" button in the upper right-hand corner of the <a href="http://www.google.com/publicdata?ds=wb-wdi&met=it_net_user_p2&idim=country:USA">chart page</a>. You have the option to either embed the chart with static data, or you can also set the chart to update dynamically when new data becomes available. To give you a sense of what these charts look like, we've embedded the chart below comparing Internet users in the United States and South Korea: <iframe marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" src="http://www.google.com/publicdata/embed?ds=wb-wdi&met=it_net_user_p2&idim=country:KOR:USA" width="400" frameborder="0" height="325" scrolling="no"></iframe> We hope this new data and our new embedding feature will help facilitate quick and easy access to public statistics. There are still many other data sets and sources out there, and we're excited about the possibilities for the future. If you're a data publisher interested in making your data more easily discoverable in Google, please <a href="http://www.google.com/support/websearch/bin/request.py?contact_type=public_data">contact us</a>. * Complete list of World Bank indicators currently available: <a href="http://datafinder.worldbank.org/co2-emissions" style="font-style: italic;">CO2 emissions per capita</a>, <a href="http://datafinder.worldbank.org/electric-power-consumption" style="font-style: italic;">Electricity consumption per capita</a>, <a href="http://datafinder.worldbank.org/energy-use" style="font-style: italic;">Energy use per capita</a>, <a href="http://datafinder.worldbank.org/exports-goods-services-gdp" style="font-style: italic;">Exports as percentage of GDP</a>, <a href="http://datafinder.worldbank.org/fertility-rate-total" style="font-style: italic;">Fertility rate</a>, <a href="http://datafinder.worldbank.org/inflation-gdp-deflator" style="font-style: italic;">GDP deflator change</a>, <a href="http://datafinder.worldbank.org/gdp-growth-annual" style="font-style: italic;">GDP growth rate</a>, <a href="http://datafinder.worldbank.org/gni-per-capita-ppp" style="font-style: italic;">GNI per capita in PPP dollars</a>, <a href="http://datafinder.worldbank.org/gdp-current" style="font-style: italic;">Gross Domestic Product</a>, <a href="http://datafinder.worldbank.org/ppp-gni" style="font-style: italic;">Gross National Income in PPP dollars</a>, <a href="http://datafinder.worldbank.org/imports-goods-services-gdp" style="font-style: italic;">Imports as percentage of GDP</a>, <a href="http://datafinder.worldbank.org/internet-users" style="font-style: italic;">Internet users as percentage of population</a>, <a href="http://datafinder.worldbank.org/life-expectancy-at-birth" style="font-style: italic;">Life expectancy</a>, <a href="http://datafinder.worldbank.org/military-expenditure" style="font-style: italic;">Military expenditure as percentage of GDP</a>, <a href="http://datafinder.worldbank.org/under-5-mortality-rate">Mortality rate, under 5</a>, <a href="http://datafinder.worldbank.org/population-total" style="font-style: italic;">Population</a>, and <a href="http://datafinder.worldbank.org/annual-population-growth-rate" style="font-style: italic;">Population growth rate</a>. Update at 11:26am: We've updated this post to include a better example. Posted by Chung Wu, Software Engineer

World Bank public data, now in search

When we first launched public data on Google.com, we wanted to make statistics easier to find and to encourage debate based on facts rathe...

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Locking SafeSearch

When you're searching on Google, we think you should have the choice to keep adult content out of your search results. That's why we developed <a href="http://www.google.com/support/websearch/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=35892">SafeSearch</a>, a feature that lets you filter sexually explicit web sites and images from your search results. While no filter is 100% accurate, SafeSearch helps you avoid content you may prefer not to see or would rather your children did not stumble across. We think it works pretty well, but we're always looking for ways to improve the feature. Today we're launching a feature that lets you lock your SafeSearch setting to the Strict level of filtering. When you lock SafeSearch, two things will change. First, you'll need to enter your password to change the setting. Second, the Google search results page will be visibly different to indicate that SafeSearch is locked: <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji85sJ_sKPBJIxo_PwDKG7W47FH4h2Ny1xBwIw2PNKP9VgCCRfF3D92_7sqduXH1DHUQzxQkxTGqGaNKPueU1jkRiBR_h_wPFeBK42RdhhGP5fzBTAtqmeewUyOcwtnbsHl1EkFck3Gq4/s1600-h/coloredballs.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5402667932932132034" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji85sJ_sKPBJIxo_PwDKG7W47FH4h2Ny1xBwIw2PNKP9VgCCRfF3D92_7sqduXH1DHUQzxQkxTGqGaNKPueU1jkRiBR_h_wPFeBK42RdhhGP5fzBTAtqmeewUyOcwtnbsHl1EkFck3Gq4/s400/coloredballs.jpg" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 168px;" /></a> Even from across the room, the colored balls give parents and teachers a clear visual cue that SafeSearch is still locked. And if you don't see them, it's quick and easy to verify and re-lock SafeSearch. To use SafeSearch lock, go to the "<a href="http://www.google.com/preferences?hl=en">Search Settings</a>" page on Google. For detailed instructions, check out this video. <object height="295" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ZNbHGrGJu8Q&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ZNbHGrGJu8Q&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="295"></embed></object> We hope you and your family find exactly what you’re looking for in Google search results — and nothing more. Posted by Pete Lidwell, Product Manager and Aaron Arcos, Engineer

Locking SafeSearch

When you're searching on Google, we think you should have the choice to keep adult content out of your search results. That's why we...

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Academic Freedom and ED EHR's Down Under: Another Update and a Welcome Development

In "<a href="http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/2009/11/academic-freedom-and-ed-ehrs-down-under.html">Academic Freedom and ED EHR's Down Under: An Update</a>" I wrote about the disputed essay on electronic health record (EHR) problems in the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW) by medical informatics professor Dr. Jon Patrick, Health Information Technologies Research Laboratory (HITRL), University of Sydney. The essay was entitled "A Critical Essay on the Deployment of an ED Clinical Information System ‐ Systemic Failure or Bad Luck?" I am happy to report that an updated version of the essay, version 5, is now available from Dr. Patrick's university web site at <a href="http://www.it.usyd.edu.au/%7Ehitru/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=91&Itemid=146">http://www.it.usyd.edu.au/~hitru/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=91&Itemid=146</a> . It can be downloaded from the icon at Item 6. This is a welcome development. The essay is now labeled as an Op-Ed (Opinion Editorial). -- SS

Academic Freedom and ED EHR's Down Under: Another Update and a Welcome Development

In " Academic Freedom and ED EHR's Down Under: An Update " I wrote about the disputed essay on electronic health record (EHR)...

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Twice the storage for a quarter of the price

(Cross-posted from the <a href="http://googlephotos.blogspot.com/2009/11/twice-storage-for-quarter-of-price.html">Google Photos Blog</a>) People today have more personal data online than ever before. More and more people are starting to move the bulk of their data off the desktop and into servers "in the cloud," where it's accessible from any computer or mobile device and easily shareable with friends and family. At the same time, digital photo technology is making it easier and cheaper than ever to take a lot of pictures, and client software like <a href="http://picasa.google.com/">Picasa 3.5</a> makes it easier than ever to move photos from your camera to the cloud. That's why we've always given you lots of free storage in products like Picasa Web Albums and Gmail, and why for the past two years <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2007/08/simple-way-to-get-more-storage.html">we've offered</a> additional storage you can purchase if you need even more space. While the cost of hard drive storage has <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moore%27s_law">continued to drop</a> in these two years, we've also been working hard to improve our infrastructure to reduce your costs even further. Today we're dramatically lowering our prices to make extra storage even more affordable. You can now buy 20 GB for only $5 a year — that's twice as much storage for a quarter of the old price, and enough space for more than 10,000 full resolution pictures taken with a five megapixel camera. Since most people have less than 10 GB of photos, chances are you can now save all your memories online for a year for the cost of a triple mocha. If you need more than 20 GB, plans range all the way up to 16 TB, which is enough room for 8 million full resolution photos! And Google paid storage offers an extra level of security, protection and accessibility that you can't get with an external drive — at a similar cost per gigabyte. As always, extra storage acts as an overflow that you only start using when you reach the limit of your free storage, and people who have extra storage will be automatically upgraded. So if you need more space for thousands of photos of your toddler, or if you're running out of room in your overflowing inbox, visit <a href="https://www.google.com/accounts/PurchaseStorage">www.google.com/accounts/PurchaseStorage</a> to see all the plans and to buy more storage. Posted by Elvin Lee, Software Engineer

Twice the storage for a quarter of the price

(Cross-posted from the Google Photos Blog ) People today have more personal data online than ever before. More and more people are starting ...

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