Link to the iPhone Presnetation

I was remiss in not posting a link. In case you didn't find it on your own here it is.

The Lifescane presentation starts at about 43 minutes into the presentation.

Looks like they use a wire in the video not Bluetooth. (In fact it looks like the wire has shrink wrap on it.)

http://events.apple.com.edgesuite.net/0903lajkszg/event/index.html

Don't beleive what you read...

This cracked me up. Look where you end up if you click Read Full Article.

http://www.octnews.org/articles/722004/newton-photonics-wins-a-nsf-sbir-grant-for-oct-glu/

More proof that you can't trust the internet. LOL

iPhone, LifeScan and My Standard Rants

Wow nothing like mentioning iPhone in on your blog to generate some traffic. YDMV had unusually high traffic yesterday. Nice to know it is mention of a cool cell phone that the world wants to hear about and not the regular musings of a dad of T1 kids.

Very humbling. LOL

(But Hey iCan Learn! Look I have put iPhone in the title of this post!)

For those of you who are new to YDMV let me introduce my standard rants about T1 diabetes information. The data needs to be ours, as in the people managing diabetes. It needs to come in industry standard formats so that We the People can choose the data creation devices that promote our Life Liberty and Pursuit of Happiness. We need choices in the tools to analyze our data from the devices we pick and all the tools and data should play nice together.

See Swimming in the Data Stream Looking for the UN and I would Like a Side Oder of Holy Grail

Yesterday’s iPhone and LifeScan news brought these points to mind but I didn’t articulate my them (my rants) well at all. The BG data moving into an iPhone is all well and cool but if it is a proprietary J&J deal it is part of the problem rather than being an expansion of diabetes care options.

Animas used to tout the fact that their ezMannager program could download all the major meter data. While the program was something less than wonderful the idea of open architecture was great. Look at an Animas pump now and it says OneTough right there on the front face where it doesn't say Animas any more. That and there isn’t the down load options there was. Sorry J&J but that is the wrong directions.

We the People Managing Type 1 need applications that play nice with others. To get it we should use the ever popular market forces and choose the suppliers that provide open systems. OK OK there aren’t any. But we can deal with the fact that the vendors will try to tie us to their products by speaking up.

Call your pump rep.
Call your meter company.
Write actual sail mail letters. (File> Print. LOL)
Blog.
Ask for open data architectures.

Now this may mean your pump rep never calls you back, like our, but hey that tells you something doesn’t it?

How about iPod Touch, Bluetooth and Diabetes?

Reading little more on iPhone 3.0 it sounds like iPod iTouch users will be able to upgrade to 3.0 and they get Bluetooth. So then will the BG app from LifeScan work on an iTouch?

Inquiring minds want to know!

I can see that making more dollars and sense than an iPhone for a kid with T1.


CNET Crave:

Stereo Bluetooth audio is coming to the iPod Touch, said Apple's Greg Joswiak at Tuesday's iPhone OS 3.0 preview event. The added Bluetooth functionality will come by way of the OS 3.0 upgrade, due out this summer. While iPod Touch owners clearly win from the addition of Bluetooth support (a $9.95 upgrade fee is required), they may be a little peeved to learn that the second-generation iPod Touch hardware has probably supported Bluetooth all along.

IPhone 3.0 and Life Scan

YDMV Note. This post about Lifescane and the iPhone gets hit a lot. There is no real product at least yet. See
http://www.ydmv.net/2009/08/wavesense-iphone-app-first-impressions.html
for a manual entry log that is worth looking at.
Note II  Sept 21 2010 Sanofi/WaveSense announce iBGStar 

So according to Gizmodo, Apple showed the new iPhone 3.0 software today and showed and app from LifeScan charting BG for a week. Apparently you will be able to Bluetooth in the data or use a cable.

Gizmodo

By far the most manipulative pitch of the afternoon, LifeScan shows how new Bluetooth connection capabilities and accessory functions can help a young girl manage her diabetes. Above is a week-long chart of her glucose levels, which are good to know if you have diabetes and don't want to die. LifeScan can pull these from a test unit via Bluetooth or cable.

for a photo see: http://i.gizmodo.com/5172248/first-iphone-30-apps-show-off-new-functionality

OK that is cute in a geek kind of way but how about a One Touch that uses less blood, doesn't error 5 and is less huge?


Edit

Amy has more over at her site. There is a shock (not) Amy has the inside dish. She sites another source saying:

“The app then lets users send their readings and a message about how they’re feeling to caregivers like their parents, children or physician. The glucose reader app also includes a meal builder and insulin schedule for easy tracking by tagging readings as pre- or post-meals. The iPhone app can even estimate, based on diet, how much insulin is needed after each meal. The app also shows glucose levels in a chart form and lists each previous reading.”

OK now my kids are going to want iPhones even more.

Here is my question is the Bluetooth going to be proprietary to OneTouch or will it allow other Bluetooth meters to talk with it? I am thinking WaveSense, I like their meters.

Another edit.

This One Touch Ap was made strictly for the 3.0 presentation. It isn't really a coming attraction. More like hey here is an neat idea we could make but what the heck if we can get on the iPhone 3.o stage we'll hack something together.

Read more on how it got to the show here. Careful observers of the video will see something that looks a lot like a wire on the wireless connection, and a little shrink wrap on the wire.

Diabetes Too?

I had my every few years annual physical. At my previous annual, three years ago, the good doc said my blood sugar was one-oh-something. He said that was a little high and warrant notice.

I had a pretty good laugh.

With two type 1 kids one-oh-something is the Promised Land, ground for celebration not notice.

This year my BG was officially an issue. I had to go back and get an A1C and have the BG re-checked. (Psst Doc, I can check that at home without much effort but he wanted me to go in anyway.)

I did do some checking at home and my fasting BG was in fact a little high. Here is the deal; I couldn’t be very impressed by the whole thing.

I did the A1C and it was 6.0. I had already made some changes and the fasting BG was half way back to normal.

They wanted me to see an endo and a nutritionist. Sure, I like I don’t know what they are going to say?

I am eating better as much to save money and eat tastier stuff as anything else. I started taking in home made soup or chili instead of buying lunch. I’m a lot better cook than the local sandwich shop so I am getting good eats and as a side benefit I have lost weight.

My fasting BG has come back to the 1-0-x range. I’ll keep check my blood from time to time. I’ll be more active. More time on the tread mill less blogging.

I am going to skip the endo and the nutritionist. I think it is an act of charity to others who would be in the classes they would refer me to. I would be a frighteningly disruptive influence in an intro to type 2 class. I need to keep making a small effort.

I’m still not impresses by the whole thing. It may need doing but it is nothing close what either of my T1 kids does without thinking.

There is no way I'll call what I need to do diabetes too.

Dexcom FDA approval - Question is for What?

So this little gem is all over the wires today:

March 5 - DexCom Inc: Says received approval from FDA for third generation continuous glucose monitoring system on February 13 - SEC filing * Says to begin commercializing product in Q1 2009

Anyone paying close enough attention to know what this is?

**Edited to ad**

(After using Google apparently I know. It was the first hit. LOL I just don't know I know, ya know what that is like?)

http://ydmv.blogspot.com/2008/08/from-news-wire-dexcom-on-animas-and.html

I quoted Trey Gregg - Dex CEO from Seeking alpha:

We are also pleased to report that we have filed a PMA supplement for a third generation continuous glucose monitoring system with the Food and Drug Administration. Data from our approval support trial demonstrated significant improvements in system on time and improved accuracy as compared to our current product. In addition our third generation system will include twin doors to complement our turn graph and event entry capabilities such insulin intake, (inaudible) exercise as well as configurable alarms.

Diatribe put that into actual english
http://www.diatribe.us/issues/7/new-now-next.php

As we understand it, DexCom is close to a third generation sensor - it has completed the necessary clinical trials necessary for FDA approval. Advantages of this system include a 75 percent smaller sensor size - allows for a smaller insertion unit, which is potentially less painful. The other major promised improvement is in the software component of the device; this version of the software will have trend arrows; event markers for food, exercise, and medication dosing; and user-adjustable alerts with different sounds associated with hyperglycemia and hypoglycemia.

Zen and Consumer Manny

Manny Hernandez wrote a piece at Diabetes Daily called Call Me Patient, Not Consumer. Manny makes the point that the difference is in how firms view their clients. Allow me to paraphrase him, Consumer is a profit maximization outlook and patient is a health first view.

Manny was writing about web 2.0. I understand Manny’s point and feel a similar frustration and conflict with the software tools we get from pump and meter manufacturers. Are we getting the best products for the management of diabetes or the best sales tie in for the makers of the stuff? Specifically are the proprietary data formats and software applications serving to help those of us who manage diabetes, manage diabetes or are they marketing devices to bind us closer to specific providers of supplies.

My view is that the data is the patients. That data should be in a standardized data format so that we can use our data, to treat our diabetes, with their products, in the way we see fits our lives. We should be able to use our data, from what ever meter, pumps or CGM we like, across analysis programs.

Our needs will vary. So should their ability to serve us.

Maybe we the patients need to act like consumers. We should express to the application providers the very simple idea that we can change vendors. If they can’t provide flexibility, we will find a vendor who can.

Some of my vendors shrug their shoulders and ignore what I have to say. To them I am one (well two really, thank you very much) patient(s). They think about customers by the thousands.

Now maybe they would think differently if thousands of customers raises their voices and said, “We expect our data to be portable and we going to take our business to those providers who support standards” Maybe then we would get portable standards.

So Manny, maybe we need to change our view of ourselves to customers of services, and demand better service, to get them to treat us like patients.

Tattoo You

There have been a lot of news articles this week about the glucose sensing nanosensor that maybe able to be tattooed in as a kind of glow in the infrared CGM.

I was kinda shaky at first on the whole idea because I didn’t see any of the articles mentioned mice. We all know that a diabetes new story just isn’t ready for prime time unless mice are involved. Fortunately careful reading turns up the roll of mice in testing the nano thingies in a use other than glucose.

I feel better already.

(Actually it is a cool idea, I just needed a little sarcasm.)

Heroes

According to a highly respected diabetes source someone out there feel the need to disrespect my pal Kerri. Her crime? She doesn’t have perfect blood sugar and she admits it.

Hello?! She has Type 1. We hold this truths to be self evident, Your Diabetes WILL Vary.

So for the record, Kerri is one of my heroes. She is right up there with Clint Eastwood. I think Clint, unknowingly, describes the whole idea of diabetes control in Heartbreak Ridge, “You adapt. You improvise.”

I think she does that very well. I see her at the point where diabetes is second. Living life is first. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are God given rights. Diabetes doesn’t change that. Ideally it just comes along for the ride. Yes Kerri please try to control it but not to the point that it controls you, preventing the aforementioned pursuing.

Another of my heroes, John Cleese, had this to say about laughter, “If I can get you to laugh with me, you like me better, which makes you more open to my ideas. And if I can persuade you to laugh at the particular point I make, by laughing at it you acknowledge its truth.”

Kerri lets me laugh with her about the crazy ways diabetes gets tangled up in her pursuit. That is a spectacular gift. I am very grateful for happiness that gift brings my life. I am thrilled that she exercises her liberty to shares those laughs.

Thanks Kerri, keep persuading us.

LY/MI