Dave's Data

Google's self-driving car on a closed course. (Image from Wikipedia.) If you haven't been living under a rock, you've seen the impressive progress in self-driving cars, with a lineage tracing from CMU , to Stanford , and now Google, whose self-driving cars have logged 300,000 miles without an accident .  Far better than, e.g., the author of this post has managed. It's obvious that self-driving cars can help reduce accidents, improve commute times, and let us get back to texting while on our way to work without killing people.  But I think the implications are far, far deeper, particularly for the car-centric US.  I had fun brainstorming about it last weekend - can you add to this list? [Update:  Kent Lewin pointed out that I've unwittingly overlapped a few of these items, particularly the first, with a recent "this week in google" podcast.  Doh.  Oh well - I had fun with the brainstorming anyway! :-) ] They will enable the car-sharing economy

My previous post talked about my overall impressions about the childbirth process from a non-expert's view.  This time I wanted to dive in a bit to a geek's view of the tech  involved, which, at the risk of offending, was pretty depressing.  While admitting the serious challenges in developing approvable or clearable medical devices, this seems like an area ripe for improvement.  Caveat - this is closer to my expertise, but I'm not a doctor nor a medical device person;  this is semi-founded opinion. :) 1.   Much medical monitoring is both unnecessarily intrusive and  restrictive. If you end up towards the "high-intervention" spectrum during labor, you may find yourself attached to:  A pulse-oximeter;  a blood pressure cuff;  a fetal heart rate monitor;  a contraction monitor.  Attached to your bed - and in other spots around the room - you'll have devices to use to notify or communicate with the nursing staff.  You'll also be wearing one or more ID br