Best Travel Speakers -Island- Beach Speakers

GSP has taught me a lot about traveling. Anything heavy, expensive, or irreplaceable is no good. That's why I spent some time researching about speakers.

These are the best travel speakers period (in my opinion). 

Why?
1) They work with your ipod, iphone, ipad, laptop, whatever!
2) They are loud as hell (10X louder than my laptop)
3) The bass is decent
4) You can link multiple of them together. And it gets much louder.
5) They charge via USB - and last 8 HOURS!
6) They come in multiple colors
7) They are small, lightweight, and cheap... only $18!

Take 1 of these to the beach, and that's all you need.

Prognosis:Your Diagnosis IPad/IPhone/Android App - Clinical Medical Students

If you are in clinical practice, you should check out this app to pass the time when you get tired of reading textbooks or pocket references. This is a great educational/fun resource.


Each case is presented with thorough HPI and physical exam, and preliminary lab tests given to you.
Next, you are asked what tests to do with this patient, and given immediate results to interperet.
Finally, you are asked which things to do to manage/treat this patient.

You are assessed on your performance and there is a detailed discussion describing reasoning behind all tests and treatment options, and is backed  by journal articles listed at the bottom.

New cases are uploaded by MD's all the time. So far there are maybe 100+ cases, divided by Medicine, Pediatrics, etc...

A Must see app.

http://www.prognosisapp.com/

Attention: If you write Applications! There is a market for Med Students!

I just thought of a small niche for those of you who write applications for Apple or Andriod and want to make a few bucks.

There currently is a need for an update to Kaplan's Questionbank application, one with more features and ipad friendly.
Also, USMLERx Questionbank and USMLE World Question Banks do not even have associated applications yet.

What these are, are paid subscriptions to a bank of Multiple Choice test-like questions, including timing, feedback, and user-customized tests. It is really helpful for these banks to be available on the go, on our ipads as they become more and more popular with medical students.

If anyone out there wants to take on these projects, I can almost guaruntee that these companies would be willing to give you a decent price for a well designed app. PLUS, us medical students would greatly appreciate it. :) please, thank you, and youre welcome.

Tablet for School - the HP Slate

Ahhh there are so many tablets now its making my head spin. I can't wait to go home and play with them all at my nearest Fry's.

So far.. my pick is for the Ipad 2, for a lot of reasons. Mostly, battery life, and applications. 
... but watching this video made me realize I really really do think a pen can be super useful in the Lecture hall.... its making it very hard to resist the allure of something like the HP Slate 500 for next semester...
What do you think? Post your vote in the poll -->

             

Goodreader for Ipad

If you've got an Ipad, you DEFINATELY want this application.

You can save, edit, and send files on your ipad in picture, movie, word, excel, powerpoint, pdf formats. 

You can even download files from the internet, drop box, email, skype, whatever. It integrates with your email application. I don't know how you function without this. Go Get it!!

LINK: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/goodreader-for-ipad/id363448914?mt=8

Unlock your PDF's in 4th Term

The path department locks their PDF lectures, and it gets really annoying because some people like to highlight on Acrobat and type their notes in. Well, you have to unlock the pdf's in order to use them like that. Here's the website to do that. (such a cleverl URL).

http://www.pdfunlock.com/

Robbins Pathology Flash Cards for Apple Devices

Ipad, Iphone, and Ipod Users... Pick up this handy Robbins & Coltran Pathology Flashcards App.
Nothing much to say about it except it ROCKS>!

You can buy it for $35 on apple istore, or while you're out there in England or Grenada, you pretty much want to jailbreak your device anyway, so you might as well download it for free.

If you find me around, ill be more than happy to help you out with that, especially for $35!

...or not. Here's the Apple store link:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/robbins-pathology-flash-cards/id367031323?mt=8

Best Tablet of 2011?

**UPDATE 2013!!
it is literally INSANE how different the market is now for tablets, everyone has an ipad, or a laptop with a touchscreen, there are litterally hundreds of tablets in all brands and sizes on the market now, what was once (when i originally wrote this article... a sliver of the electronics market).  Not only is this article outdated, its a relic of the past by now. If anything, the tablets I showcased back then are still verry great and a fraction of the price they once were now that tablets have become so popular. Goodluck shopping! Start here: 

By far, at this point 03/2013... I reccommend the Ipad mini or Ipad 4th generation, otherwise any new tablet, HP and Lenovo have great touch screen options with windows 8. Although personally, if you have the money, i would spend and get the Macbook Pro. If you are strapped for cash... like most of us... and you enjoy the Android OS, DEFINATELY go with the Google Nexus 7. Its by far the best option for you. There is a slightly larger version the Google Nexus 10. Cheers!

THE Rest of this article is merely a Tablet Graveyard I wrote about in the years past. My, have tablets flourished since then...

=======================================================
UPDATE: 2012
GoodReader and Dropbox 
 http://doctormuggle.blogspot.com/2011/05/goodreader-for-ipad.html

==================================================================

**tablet expectations for medical use post**:

http://doctormuggle.blogspot.com/2011/05/tablet-computer-ideas-2011.html, 

==================================================================

So, I'd like to announce my two favorite Tablets on the market right now. 

1) ASUS Eee Pad E121

-This thing is SEXY.

Cons: It's a little thicker than the ipad, but it is as light weight. Hardly a con for me.

The biggest issue so far is battery life and price. 3 hours and $1200. Still better than my latptop, but not that great compared to ipads boasting 10 hrs @ $550 for a machine lacking a lot of features. I think set at lower brightness and with turning off wifi, the Asus should increase battery life quite significantly.

As for what it can do... WOW no comparison. 

Now, i don't speak German, but I think these guys knew I would see this video so they already have "Ryan, hi" written in custom script on the screen. 

This guy does an EXCELLENT job showing off what this this looks like. Enjoy.

Pros:

1) digitizer pen with actual responsiveness like a piece of paper

2) i5 processor - blazing fast as my laptop

3) windows 7, that means i can have oneNote, EverNote, skype, aim, microsoft word, whatever programs i need. This thing will even run photoshop CS3, and windows video editor! This also means multitasking and customization.

4) high quality screen

5) multi card reader - so you can expand storage space by the size of your SD card

6) 2 USB ports. yes, I said TWO. 

7) big solid state hard drive

8) Unlimited digital paper for note taking, drawing custom diagrams, and reading digital textbooks.

Awaiting competition from Acer, and a price drop, but those of you daring enough, I think this guy beats Ipad 2 in terms of productivity anyday of the week. Batterylife doesnt mean much when you get this much out of a slim piece of paper. Buy it, I dare you

2) HP Elitebook 2740p

In December of 2010, this was the best tablet I've seen on the market. I know a lot of people don't like HP, but this is a quality machine. Remember, Brand only means the outer shell. A lot of the internal components are made by intel, etc (other reputable companies), so don't pin everything on brand.

Pros:

1) lightweight

2) Fast

3) runs cool, not hot like previous models

4) high quality

5) multitouch

6) durable, and stable rotating screen mechanism (don't want this stuff to break, so i checked) 

7) pleasing to the eye

8) High quality digitizer pen- i used to have the older cheaper HP version, the pen is incredibly accurate. 

9) HD output

10) VGA output for putting on external monitor

11) multi card reader

12) 5 hour battery life!

13) HUGE harddrive... the list goes on. 

Cons:   

Only one. Price. Its almost $1500 for this puppy, and it looks like it's not dropping anytime soon. But with good reason, this thing is a beast of a laptop. Fast, and everything you need from a tablet.

Price is always the issue, but if you want a decent machine that has all the durability, performance, speed, and features, you gotta pay the price.

Tablet Computer Ideas 2011

I've always been a fan of touch screens, ever since owning the HP Tx2500z tablet laptop and the Iphone 3G.

**if you want to read this OLD article go ahead, but if you want advice on what tablets in 2013 to get for medical use... Look here:
http://doctormuggle.blogspot.com/2012/11/update-for-clinical-medical-student-3.html


So far... as a medical student, I am un-impressed with the selection of tablets available.
If you haven't converted to taking notes on your computer while in class, you are not only missing out on a much better experience (since you can google words you don't know during lecture), but you also can have textbooks on pdf at your disposal semi-instantly, not to mention you don't have to lug around stacks of papers back and forth where ever you go during your medical school years.

** this article is now dated, although still somewhat applicable. Although the means for saving and sharing data are changing due to the online data storage and the Cloud... we still could perfect these tools. I've converted to Ipad 2, and soon enough the Ipad 3 will be released, and I will take a look into it. Apple still needs to allow some better usability into their software for a flawless medical student's tablet.

Things I need for an ideal tablet:

1) quick to scroll, zoom, and navigate between email-internet-and pdf's, quick to turn on, turn off, sleep mode
2) ability to save & edit a variety of files from emails, skype, and other programs
3) play a variety of movie file types, as well as audio in high def
4) long battery life (more than 5 hours please)
5) digitizer pen for note taking! no more paper.
6) Card reader and USB port to save, share, and store my files, attach digital cameras, wireless mice and keyboard, and charge my phone!
7) Dual camera for skype calls
8) infrared sensor for gaming (namely shooting games)
9) **added. FITS IN MY LABCOAT! 7'inch tablets are perfect for this.

For the Ipad series, the adapters are a little annoying, but workable. And, there is the option of implementing online file storage, which is a great idea, but this is only ideal for when you have an internet connection. We really do need a customizable desktop of our own files. Like I said, we are getting close.

Link for the Ipad 2 and Ipad Mini:
Ipad is looking better with the use of GoodReader: check it out.

LINK: Goodreader for Ipad 2


Looking forwards to the next generation to use their imaginations! I can't wait to see what we create next.

Typing in Medical School

Might I suggest that if you are one of those that uses 1 finger on each hand to type one letter at a time... then I have some homework for you while you are on break or in your free time. It just seems to me that being able to type fast has many advantages in medical school, and you might as well take advantage of it.

Learn to type faster! A lot of us learned at an early age, be it with Mario Teaches Typing, Mavis Beacon, or a variety of other cheap educational games. 

So here are two references for you to get up to speed:

1) Race random people or your friends on TypeRacer:
LINK: TypeRacer

2) Download Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing for free and learn how to type correctly. It gives feedback too. 

http://download.cnet.com/Mavis-Beacon-Teaches-Typing-17-Deluxe/3000-2051_4-10441764.html

THE NEW FREE MAC VERSION: http://download.cnet.com/Mavis-Beacon-Teaches-Typing-2011/3000-2051_4-10967560.html

cheers!