In recent years, many electronics manufacturers have been adopting the use of video inspection systems utilizing digital cameras to perform many of the visual inspection functions formerly performed with optical microscopes. Digital camera technology has improved to the point where their image quality now rivals that of optical instruments for many applications.The use of video instruments for the inspection of printed circuit boards, individual electronic components, solder joints, and conformal coatings, has been widely accepted. Some of the major advantages that video inspection systems offer is the software that gives the user the ability to capture, store, and share images and videos. They can also perform...

At HealthBeat 2013, a speaker who migrated to healthcare from the consumer space doled out some unconventional advice for digital health entrepreneurs.

This morning at HealthBeat 2013 in San Francisco, we heard from Owen Tripp, founder of Consulting MD, an online platform for providing second opinions to patients. Tripp came to healthcare from the commercial space—he’s a cofounder of Reputation.com, an online reputation and privacy management firm—and as such, he had some out-of-the-box advice for digital health entrepreneurs.

Healthcare, of course, is a highly regulated industry, but to some extent, Tripp said, people developing digital health tools and services need to ignore all that.

“There has to be safety and security for patients and providers, you must have that,” he said. “But if you focus too much on the...

Medtronic CEO Omar Ishrak

The directors of the board at Medtronic must be fist bumping right now at how good their decision to hire an outsider - Omar Ishrak- as CEO has turned out to be.

The man, who took the top job in mid 2011 clearly tasked with a turnaround, just delivered 4% growth in Medtronic's fiscal fourth quarter at a time when most large medtech companies are showing sales declines. And he delivered it despite the negative impact of foreign...

When the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, better known as HIPAA, was passed in 1996, AOL was just beginning to crawl and the iPhone was just a twinkle in Steve Jobs’ eye. But with advancing technology and changing caregiver circumstances, the question of who gets to see medical records is one that is constantly evolving.

Apps like Snapchat, where an image can be taken on a phone, sent quickly, and deleted after a certain amount of time, could bring new ways for doctors to more accurately diagnose by getting a second opinion. Updated networks such as Samsung’s proposed 5G could make diagnosis easier from remote places. And as ACOs are looking towards mobile devices for help in getting the best results in the face of the Affordable Care Act, HIPAA remains an issue as to consider.

The HIPAA Security Rule, which was finalized in 2003, states that any organization that is responsible for information has to ensure confidentiality, integrity,...