See what I mean about medical librarians? Check out this service Lori is providing to her Library's users!

"Is anyone out there trying ovid@hand? We are! This has to be one of the first interactive library programs available for handhelds. Although it is in its infancy, the possibilities are exciting! Our library subscribes to about 200 of Ovid's full text magazines. With ovid@hand, our physicians, residents, and medical personnel can subscribe to receive their choice of these tables of contents on their handheld, select abstracts for which they want to read the full text of an article, hot sync, and view the full text of the article in their personal library.

Some trying this new service would like the full text on the handheld, but are pleased with being able to view the abstracts and after a hotsync having the full text right there for their viewing pleasure. I think this is a beautiful beginning for library applications on handhelds!"

Whenever I have "one of my ideas" and I tell them about it at work, they roll their eyes and pretend to listen to me. Wait until they hear this one. If you thought the AT&T's mLife concept was just BigCo hype, well... you were right. But here's an "m" we can all get behind: mLearning! Their Powerpoint presentation of the same name describes this U.K.-based project's goal of using cell phones and PDAs to teach literacy and numeracy to young adults. They even show some valid examples.

There are some stunning statistics in there, too, all of which are from Europe because they're so far ahead of us in implementation and acceptance of wireless services. For example, in August 2000, when the m-learning bid was first written, 75% of Net Gens ages 15-24 owned cell phones. And that was a year and a half ago! One month earlier in July 2000, "70% of Italians have mobiles including 'every' Italian male aged 17-21." As Elaine would say, "GET OUT!"

I really love this whole project, and I'm definitely going to find out more about it. And you thought my previous post about video and cell phones was ridiculous. Go on, admit it - you did. For shame. (I think I hear Walt groaning.)

[part of Canarie Canadian National E-Learning workshop-Presentations, via Serious Instructional Technology]

Sprint to Deploy 3G Imaging

"In an attempt to make its forthcoming next-generation wireless network more attractive, Sprint said Monday that users of that network will be able to snap pictures and automatically transmit them wirelessly." [allNetDevices Wireless News]

When I do my Information Shifting presentation, I always get skeptical looks when I talk about MP4 and the use of video over cellphones or wireless PDAs. While I agree that I don't see myself watching movies on such a device any time soon, that scenario won't be the entry point into the mainstream. Instead, it will be Grandpa, who doesn't have one of those new-fangled computers, watching a video of his grandchild on his cell phone. It will be insurance agents snapping pictures of your car accident and sending them into the home office (which is actually happening already). Or it will be a moving, 3D, GPS-based map giving directions with real images to point out landmarks. It never starts where you think it will.

So today's lesson is don't be so quick to scoff. At my house we have a minivan with one of those screens mounted on the ceiling and a VCP installed. It came with the car, and it's not that special a request anymore. Eight-year old Kailee and six-year old Brent will probably never remember a time when TVs didn't come pre-installed in cars (and you think you already felt old!). They don't think twice about taking their media with them, especially when you're talking about Brent with his Gameboy. So why do you think a cell phone that snaps pictures or shows videos would be any different?

A Medical Text That Heals Itself

"A new electronic medical textbook may be the first peer-reviewed medical text designed not only to provide authoritative information, but also to be an ongoing work-in-progress. Doctors are invited to download Medical Approaches for free and make comments, additions and improvements for the next edition, which they are again invited to download." [Wired News]

You can read it on most Palm Pilots, PocketPCs, and Psions.

I don't think I've said this before, but medical librarians rule! They are so far ahead that they're ruining the curve for the rest of us. So I know they'll all be investigating and maybe even promoting the ebook in this article.