Covid Coach mental health app helps people cope
Covid Coach offers people in isolation a number of tools to deal with anxiety, loneliness and depression, by offering tips on applying for unemployment, meditation guidance, and a way to measure stress and anxiety in an effort to manage it. Wired
dis-rup-shun: The app, from the National Center for PTSD is yet another way to engage technology for health. As mental health treatments are rarely discussed, providing a confidential, easy to access tool for everyone, the National Center for PTSD is proving the value of public health programs.
NVidia scientist creates $400 ventilator
The innovators at Nvidia, the chip company that has powered game consoles, auto dashboards, and millions of PC graphics processors has developed a simple, power efficient ventilator using a small number of components. It’s $400 price tag stands in contrast to the $20,000 charged by traditional ventilator manufacturers. The system is now being submitted to the FDA for emergency certification. TechCrunch
dis-rup-shun: Competition is good, and the pandemic is tearing down many walls that were erected by companies that don’t want competition. One barrier that justifies the inflated price for medical equipment is FDA certification. With an emergency certification process in place, the FDA will be hard-pressed, after the end of the pandemic, to prove why nimble companies cannot compete, in perpetuity, with the healthcare equipment incumbents.
Use your phone as video camera for video calls
It’s easy to join video calls with your phone, but if you need to share your desktop and your office computer does not have a working camera, several apps enable your phone to serve as video camera for your desktop video calls. For Android to PC, there’s DroidCam. For iPhone to PC, there is iVCam, and for Android to Mac, try EpocCam. Wired
dis-rup-shun: In the age of work from home, image matters, and having a crisp, steady image and great audio are the new “dress for success.” If your built-in camera is crummy and you have an older smartphone that is not in use, this may be the answer.
Airbus app helps airlines find parking places for aircraft
The airline industry is operating at 5% of last year’s numbers. More than 16,000 aircraft are parked. Finding enough space at airports around the globe to stack giant planes is an unprecedented logistics challenge. Airbus has developed an app that helps airlines find new places to park jets. Watch the video here CNBC.
dis-rup-shun: The drop in demand for aircraft will take months to years to ripple through the economy, forcing aircraft manufacturers to turn to new revenue sources, like on-the-ground maintenance. Maintaining jets in remote locations that are not in service will be a big business for the next year. Now is a time to see how innovative Boeing and Airbus can be at not building new planes.