CES: Best of Show for Mobile Docs

Last week, Las Vegas hosted the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES). While most of the wizardry of the gadgets on the show floor is aimed at improving the lives of your every Jane and Joe, more than a handful of vendors offered up great products for medicine.

I am exhausted. This week has been nothing short of a whirlwind. Between the travel, meetings, dinners, and sensory overload that is Las Vegas, it leaves little room for rest and relaxation. While running around CES, though, I did manage to stumble upon some useful and innovative hardware.

If you know nothing about ultra mobile personal computers, or UMPCs, the model 02 by OQO is a good place to start. OQO has been making its brand of mobile computing device - a complete Windows operating system crammed into a teeny tiny package - for several years now. These devices were designed to fit into a standard lab coat pocket. They may be a little weighty, but they are certainly far lighter than standard laptops or tablet PCs that you might use on the hospital floor.

The newest version of the model 02 brings on board 802.16e Mobile WiMAXconnectivity that will be powered by Sprint's forthcoming Xohm network. Mobile WiMAX is a next-generation wireless networking technology that holds the potential to revolutionize mobile data communication through the availability of an advanced nationwide wireless broadband network designed specifically to mobilize the Internet and deliver mobile multimedia applications. The promise of this new technology will be fully realized by devices that offer rich computing capability combined with truly mobile form factors. Devices such as the model 02 would certainly qualify as a mobile form factor.

Bob Rosin, senior vice president of marketing and alliances, OQO, said in a prepared statement, "Consumers and mobile workers want to experience the real Internet and all their favorite applications with the same high speed and full functionality whether at their desk or on the go. The OQO model 02 shows the path to truly seamless computing."

It takes the full Windows OS, Vista or XP, and puts that power in the palm of your hand.

Combined with the roll-out of Sprint's WiMAX technology, this will be a handy tool for physicians both in the office and in the field.