Robert Green Joins Waident Technology Solutions to Head Healthcare Technology Management, Advocacy, and Electronic Medical Records

Chicago, IL (January 26, 2010) – Waident Technology Services announced today the addition of Robert Green as Director of Managed Services.  Bob brings 10+ years of experience developing comprehensive client solutions.   He will leverage his experience working with medical practices to help them develop a clear information technology strategy, and organize their managed care services. The service offering will provide for the ongoing comprehensive support of their technology, as well as, electronic medical records selection and use.

Waident Technology Solutions will be working with small and midsized medical practices, doctor organizations and other health care agencies providing comprehensive technology support consisting of Helpdesk services, network infrastructure monitoring and management, electronic medical records platform management, strategic guidance and advocacy. “I was amazed at the stories I would hear from medical practitioners all relating around technology vendors providing poor advice, not being responsive, and failing to provide the high level of service they deserve“, said Robert Green. “I was looking to align with a firm that could solve the pain I have been seeing in the health care industry and Waident was a perfect fit”.

Waident started working with Health Care clients after seeing an inordinate amount of vendors not stepping up to help with their technology needs. “I am extremely excited to have Robert join the team. His approach to customer advocacy parallels what Waident has been providing clients since day one, so it was a natural fit.” said John Ahlberg, Waident’s Chief Executive Officer and founder.

About Waident:

Waident provides a complete technology support and management platform for small to midsized organizations in Health Care, Commercial Real Estate, Finance, and Professional Services. By providing responsive helpdesk support for end users, comprehensive technology management, and CIO strategic guidance, Waident’s clients leverage a cost effective solution to handle all of their technology needs and gain a robust IT department.

Contact:
John Ahlberg
Chief Executive Officer
630.547.7011
http://www.waident.com

Thanks to Greg Woodard with Woodmark Technologies (http://www.woodmarktech.com/) for the below site recommendations.

http://ninite.com/ - An excellent site that has a host of commonly used free program downloads. These are not just a compilation if simple links. The Ninite system allows you to check off the ones you want to install and it will create a custom installer that can be run that will automatically install them all at once. We use many of these programs internally and for clients.

http://www.piriform.com/ - A great site with computer maintenance utility programs to address all of your common needs. We use ccleaner all of the time for users.

The Consumer electronics Show (CES) took place last week, and as usual, a lot of interesting products will be released in 2010. Below is my quick list of things that caught my eye. 

• Lenovo's IdeaPad U1 hybrid laptop/tablet – what is interesting about this machine is that it looks and acts like a laptop, but it allows you to take off the screen and leave the keyboard behind for tablet computing. http://gizmodo.com/5440054/lenovos-ideapad-u1-is-one-smart-dual+processor-laptoptablet-hybrid
• Klipsch Light Speakers – Plug these audio speakers into any normal light bulb socket and you get an LED light (to replace the bulb you just took out) and high quality wireless speakers. Great idea. I would get a few if they were less expensive. http://www.pcworld.com/article/186050/lightspeaker_combines_wireless_audio_and_led_light.html
• RIM Blackberry Presenter – Play PowerPoint presentations wirelessly from your Blackberry to a projector. http://www.pcworld.com/article/186084/rim_reveals_blackberry_presenter_for_powerpoint.html
• ShowWX laser pico projector – plug this tiny battery powered projector in to your iPhone, laptop, or other device and project up to a 200 inch screen.  http://www.microvision.com/showwx/
• AR Drone helicopter – a remote controlled helicopter type device that has onboard video and is controlled by an iPhone app. If it comes out with an Android app I’m getting one! http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/05/parrots-ar-drone-helicopter-brings-military-style-amusement-to/
• 3D – it seems to be the year of 3D for the home. There are a lot of TV manufacturers coming out with sets that are 3D, as well as, Blu-ray players that can handle 3D discs. Now if there was only enough content to justify the upgrades. Speaking of content, it is coming this year with several channels and sporting events planned for 2010. And yes you still need to wear the glasses.
  
  

We had a client recently looking for a small portable speaker to use on their desktop machine. We ordered them a new computer and it did not come with an internal speaker at all (oddly many new machines do not come with internal speakers as an option or even by default – go figure). You would think it would be easy to find a little speaker that that can be hidden back behind the desk, monitor, or the PC itself and be loud enough to handle the basic sound needs like the Windows dings and the random webinar audio. Of course when you go looking, you can never find what you need and trying to search Google for speakers is like finding a needle in a haystack. 

There are a multitude of options for speakers, but the small ones used batteries and pretty much all of the desktop speakers are too big, especially when you are looking for one that you want to be hidden. When you do find one that fits the bill, it turns out to be too expensive. 

While at the local Staples store buying envelopes for the office, I spied a small round speaker at the checkout counter that is about the size of a golf ball and was on sale for $10. I figured I would give in to the impulse buy and pick one up. I have to say I’m glad I did. This thing is really small (like I said the size of a golf ball) and shockingly loud and clear. It has a mini audio connection – the same kind that most laptops, PC’s, iPods, and such use. It also has a USB connection that charges the internal battery. The speaker can be used in portable devices running off of the battery, or you can plug it all in to a PC and it works great while drawing power from the USB connection. You can twist the two halves of the speaker and it expands in the middle revealing an accordion like middle which ends up helping to produce some fairly deep bass notes for such a small speaker. 

Now don’t think that this tiny speaker will produce sound like your big and expensive home stereo speakers do. The amazing part is that such a small speaker can produce such a crisp and loud sound for its size. It is definitely worth picking one up if you need a portable speaker. 

Omnitech Mini Speaker Model# 18721 – oddly there is little information on the web for them, but an identical model is the iHome iHM7BC http://www.ihomeaudio.com/iHM7.