Author: JT

Augmented reality wearable technology assists in cancer surgery

Google Glass helped to enhance the way that a surgeon can perform various procedures.

Two surgeons from the Indiana University Health Methodist Hospital have started using wearable technology in the form of Google’s augmented reality glasses to be able to boost their ability to make appropriate surgical decisions.Augmented Reality - Medical Research

These doctors use the wearable tech’s voice control to access the information that they require, when they need it.

The two physicians, Dr. Szotek and Dr. Browne, became the first in the hospital to start using the augmented reality glasses during abdominal surgeries. They now each wear Glass during this procedure, which typically lasts around four hours. With them, they can access medical information – including records specific to the patient – as they remove tumors.

The augmented reality glasses can provide X-ray and MRI data on its floating display.

This information can all be shown by the wearable technology without getting in the way of the surgeon’s line of sight for the actual surgery itself. As it is commanded by the surgeon’s voice, there is no need to take hands away from where they are most needed and without upsetting the operating room’s sterile environment.

That said, this is only believed to be the start of the uses for Google Glass for these surgeons. They believe that these mobile devices will be more broadly helpful in the medical field as a whole. While other surgeons have used the gadgets’ point of view video streaming in order to educate themselves and have provided students with a live insight into every different phase of a surgery, Dr. Szotek sees this tech going further. He hopes to be able to use biological tracers so that his AR glasses will be able to actually differentiate between healthy tissue and the tumor, itself.

He stated that being able to automatically differentiate between these two tissues “could revolutionize the field of cancer surgery”. This would help to make certain that the tissue could be more completely removed while leaving the maximum amount of healthy tissue behind.

It could also be beneficial for emergency first responders to wear augmented reality glasses so that they would be better capable of handling unusual types of accident or medical condition, and to be able to provide them with accurate remote instructions.

Mobile payments firm teams with Paydiant

New partnership aims to accelerate the development of mobile commerce platform

MCX, a growing mobile commerce firm, has announced that it has partnered with Paydiant, a provider of mobile payments solutions. MCX has been working to develop and launch its own mobile payments platform since 2012. This platform was expected to launch in late 2013, but MCX opted to push back the launch for several reasons. In partnering with Paydiant, MCX believes that its platform can be made better and more capable of handling the needs of consumers and businesses.Mobile Payments Partnership - MCX and Paydiant

MCX to make use of Paydiant technology and services

The MCX platform is to make use of Paydiant’s cloud-based solution in order to make its mobile commerce features more robust. Using a cloud-based platform is also expected to help provide a higher degree of security to the platform, alleviating some of the concerns that consumers have in terms of mobile commerce. The mobile commerce scene has become quite attractive to hackers because many payments platforms lack the security features needed to keep financial information safe from exploitation. Lackluster security has been a major detractor for those that have been somewhat interested in mobile commerce.

Bar codes may help make platform more inclusive

The platform that MCX is developing is expected to make use of bar codes as a way to authenticate mobile payments. QR codes have been growing more common in the mobile commerce field for this purpose. The codes can be easily produced and scanned, making mobile payments somewhat more convenient. Many mobile commerce platforms make extensive use of NFC technology. There is currently a lack of NFC-enabled mobile devices available to consumers, which limits the inclusivity of many platforms.

Merchants are becoming more invested in mobile commerce

Merchants will also be able to make use of the platform from MCX. The retail sector has been growing more conscious of mobile consumers in recent years as many people begin to use their mobile devices to shop in stores. By embracing mobile commerce, these merchants may be able to remain relevant with consumers that are beginning to grow more dependent on their smartphones and tablets.