Tom O’Keefe

Today at infoMedMD, a medical symptoms checker, we released our lasted infoMed entitled Depression Screening. 

Do you think you are depressed? Only a doctor can diagnosis this for sure and sometimes, they even disagree. This private INFOMED will ask you a series of questions to see if you may depressed. It will also ask you questions to determine whether your depression has a medical or situational basis – or both.

The Depression Screening infoMed (and all infoMeds) can be embedded onto your website with the following code.

<object width=’425′ height=’344′><embed src=’https://www.infomedmd.com/flash/infomed_app_425_344.swf?infoMedId=97&ac=FF3T9UPE6BVDZQZ’ type=’application/x-shockwave-flash’ width=’425′ height=’344′></embed></object>

In a previous article, Web 2.No More, I wrote about how the current economic conditions are moving us into a new web life cycle. Away from Web 2.0 and into Web 3.0 where the leading web applications will focus more on solving critical problems rather than creating love connections.  In that post I wrote:

Health 2.0 applications like Sermo, infoMedMD & PatientsLikeMe are in their infancy but they’re quickly providing patients all over the world with medical research, information and patient outreach – services that previously were only available via costly doctor visits. Online medical applications were definitely slow to adapt Web 2.0 technologies, but I think they’re some of the first players in Web 3.0. Interactive medical data applications used not for online enjoyment (or making friends) but rather to educate people in an attempt to make their lives better and healthier. 

Health 2.0 is the commencement of this new web cycle and over time we might discover that there was years of overlap between Web 2.0 and Web 3.0. Technology and ideas evolve. Some still adapt the old ways while others are pushing ahead. The current economic conditions calls for the immediate change in definition, valuation, focus and efficiency. Some will make the jump from 2.0 to 3.0, others won’t make it out and many more are just being born.

We at infoMedMD just released our latest infoMed and this time the topic is Dieting & Weight Loss – a popular topic, especially this time of year. The Dieting & Weight Loss infoMed will ask you for your height and weight, preceded by a few questions, after which it will give you a realistic weight loss plan. The Diet & Weight Loss infoMed is written by Dr. Joe Bentivegna who previously wrote a weight loss article entitled “Weight Loss Requires Discipline, Not Gimmicks.” 

The Dieting & Weigh Loss infoMed can be embedded onto your website with the following code:

<object width=’425′ height=’344′><embed src=’https://www.infomedmd.com/flash/infomed_app_425_344.swf?infoMedId=21&ac=FF3T9UPE6BVDZQZ’ type=’application/x-shockwave-flash’ width=’425′ height=’344′></embed></object>

The recent market fiasco has everyone wondering whether Web 2.0 is alive or dead? The technology is indeed still alive (and advancing) but the focus is changing towards Web 3.0.

When the internet bubble burst in the early 2000s it acted as the dividing line between Web 1.0 (the original web) and Web 2.0. Web 2.0 didn’t commence the day after the bubble burst but rather it evolved over time with the rise of search, social networking, blogs, online videos and user generated content. Whereas Web 1.0 was about putting offline information (books, news, brochures) online, Web 2.0 is about sharing that information via social networks, blogs, online video, social messaging, etc. Web 3.0 will evolve with the integration of all this information into deeper analytical studies of online (and human) interaction, consumption behaviors & consumer data. A move more towards the semantic web.

Not only do I think that Web 3.0 will be about the quantifying of Web 2.0’s user generated data but I believe the focus (of web applications) will change.

In business, they’ll take a more active role in utilizing social networks and messaging platforms to communication with clients. This online interaction is efficient, effective and measurable, which provides corporations with analytical interaction to quantify and measure customer feedback like never before. The web has been evolving in this direction but the recent economic mess will force firms to embrace this technology now. The need to cut costs and be more accountable will propel the web towards Web 3.0 much faster than anticipated. 

The second main change from Web 2.0 to 3.0 will be about focus. This past month has seen two monumental events. The financial collapse of the world economy and a historical election that broke centuries of racial inequality in the United States. Obama’s message was all about change and not only will there be change at home but also a movement towards changing the world’s perception of us. This means instead of meaningless applications that rate whether you’re hot or not there will be a movement towards uniting the online industrial western world with developing nations. Online video has already opened up our eyes to injustice around the world but it’s only the start. The tools of Web 2.0 will evolve to help all nations be self sufficient, energy independent (via new energy technology) and environmentally friendly.

Web 2.0 gave us the technology to test the effectiveness, success and power of online interaction. Global information, worldwide interaction & third world participation opens up a world of possibilities to both developing and industrialized nations. I already see the global need for western medical information with infoMedMD. Many of our visitors come from developing nations that likely don’t have access to quality medical care. With infoMeds, developing nations (with online access) can receive Western medical advice almost as if they specifically asked a doctor for a diagnosis.

Health 2.0 applications like Sermo, infoMedMD & PatientsLikeMe are in their infancy but they’re quickly providing patients all over the world with medical research, information and patient outreach – services that previously were only available via costly doctor visits. Online medical applications were definitely slow to adapt Web 2.0 technologies, but I think they’re some of the first players in Web 3.0. Interactive medical data applications used not for online enjoyment (or making friends) but rather to educate people in an attempt to make their lives better and healthier. 

Whatever the third phase of the web is called it’s very likely that it has just begun. The current economic conditions have forced technology companies (and the venture capitalists funding them) to rethink their business models, focus their ideas and think of the next big thing. The third phase of the web will take everything that we’ve learned during Web 1.0 & 2.0 and make it better.

We’ve been busy this evening and Dr. Joe launched the second infoMed for tonight – Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm.

An Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm (AAA) is a potentially deadly condition that may not have symptoms until it is too late. This INFOMED will tell you the indications for screening and how to interpret the results after you have been screened. If you have already been diagnosed with an abdominal aortic aneurysm, it will give you the chances of complications based on the latest data.

We at infoMedMD, a medical symptoms checker, just published our latest infoMed entitled “Lung Cancer Prognosis.” 

This INFOMED is designed to give the user an idea of his or her prognosis of lung cancer. It also discusses some of the complications of lung cancer and deals with relevant end of life issues. The user should know the type of lung cancer he or she has, although INFOMED can still be helpful without this information.

We’re happy to announce that all of the medical symptoms on infoMedMD are now available to embed on your website.  Just browse any of our medical symptoms, for example Cigar Smoking, and you’ll see below it the code to “Embed this infoMed on your site!

All of our infoMeds (medical symptoms) are now available to anyone who visits infoMedMD.com – no registration required! We’re very excited to open up our site to anyone who needs our personalized medical information! Why?   By opening up infoMedMD.com users are now guaranteed 100% anonymity while we at infoMedMD can start aggregating this data into extremely valuable medical research. Medical research that can be of great benefit to patients, medical institutions and pharmaceutical companies.

With this “open” we’re also extending our custom infoMeds to pharmaceutical firms who want to gather valuable research on current and upcoming pharmaceuticals. By creating a custom infoMed you can aggregate and correlate user feedback in a personalized way not possible before infoMedMD. Combine that with the ability to embed any infoMed into thousands of websites and clients can now maximize feedback (and traffic) like never before.

Sound interesting?  Contact us for additional information, embed code, partnerships or just to say hi.

We at infoMedMD have been busy this past week and even with that managed to launch two new medical symptoms to our list of infoMeds.

These two focus on your vision 

Poor Contact Lens Vision – Near Vision and Double Vision Symptoms

infoMedMD, a medical symptoms checker, just released another infoMedMD and this time it’s for those with Heart Attack Symptoms.  This infoMed is free and the description reads as follows:

“If you or a loved one is having chest pain now, get off the computer and call an ambulance. Time is of the essence. Clot dissolving drugs can limit heart damage if given within 3 hours. In fact, some ambulance crews carry these drugs and will administer them if they are certain of the diagnosis. But if recent symptoms you’re having make you suspect you have heart disease, this INFOMED can help you.”

In addition to Bizak, we’ve been very busy launching new infoMeds at infoMedMD, a medical symptoms checker.  We currently have 40 medical symptoms available to careseekers with the latest ones being:   

• Menopause
• Acne
• Nosebleeds
• Tubal Ligation
• Vasectomy
• Pregnancy

I was just going over some of the before and after development for infoMedMD, my medical symptoms checker, and the improvement was more dramatic then I remember.  The website’s transformation was just as dramatic, but unfortunately I didn’t grab a screenshot of it – will do for future projects.   

The Original Lasik infoMed 

Lasik infoMed (Before)

The Current Lasik infoMed

Lasik infoMed (After)

We also just made all of the medical symptoms on infoMedMD free for everyone.  To start answering the infoMeds just register at medical conditions and then browse our list while logged in.  By 2009 we hope to have close to 200 infoMeds for your use.  The majority of these medical symptoms will be free with some of the more advanced symptom checkers having a small fee.  

Feel free to link to infoMedMD using the following code:

<a href=”http://www.infomedmd.com” TITLE=”Medical Symptoms”>Medical Symptoms</a>

I had two meetings yesterday both with two very interesting, intelligent and entrepreneurial guys.  The first meeting was with an individual who runs a search fund and is pursuing a leveraged buyout of an “offline” company with approximately $5 million in revenues.  Additionally he helps “brick and mortar” companies get off the ground.  Other than he works offline and I online we have very similar job functions in that we both nurture early stage startups.

The second meeting was with an individual who is a fountain of ideas for improving our web experiences as they relate to online content.  Even though both meetings were separate they actually could have fit together very nicely.  In the first meeting we discussed the need for a firm like TOKiBiz who can do a lot of the grunt work for venture capital and investment firms – that is weed through a lot of great local talent and ideas.  

To explain further, I meet with a steady flow of entrepreneurs who have energetic and creative ideas for making the web a better (and more profitable) place.  My role with these entrepreneurs is to help them get their idea off the ground and onto the web. Most of the work I do is before the seed financing stage of a business – that is we craft the business for them to present to investors.  

In some cases the amount of financing needed to launch an application is very low so we’re easily able to finance, develop and launch a successful application on our own. With others this is definitely not the case and sizable funding is needed to execute the idea – sizable for us.  This is unfortunate since many of these ideas are brilliant.  All of them are from individuals with considerable work experience but this is their first venture into entrepreneurship – which often means they lack the financial connections an established entrepreneur has.    

In the case of the second meeting yesterday the amount of funding needed is more than any of us can gather on our own.  This is unfortunate because his idea is exceptional and could change the way we monetize content, but there is a synapse between the idea and those who can finance that idea.  The gap occurs in not knowing which investor or corporation would jump on this idea once they discover its existence.  It’s this divide that TOKiBiz is looking to bridge by connecting the best ideas with the best resource to fund the application.  This pre-development stage is normally to early for VCs, angels don’t have the resources (time) to weed through the ideas, attend the meetings, develop the business model and brainstorm the possibilities, and corporations never thought to look at the problem from this perspective.  We do! 

What I do with TOKiBiz is meet with as many entrepreneurs as possible and help guide their idea into a business.  We have the technical and business contacts (and experience) to assist on this front but we desire the investment and/or corporate contact(s) for whom we can present the best of the best to.  For example, we have a retail application that most retailers would drool over if they only knew it existed.  With TOKiBiz they have the opportunity to get in at a fraction of the cost that they would incur if built on their own.   

Like a VC firm I weed through a lot of ideas and proposals that come to me – many don’t get past the email stage.  If the idea intrigues me enough then I’ll schedule a face to face meeting to learn more.  Generally these first meetings are meant to get a better understanding of what the entrepreneur is trying to create – most of it entails listening and asking questions.  From here I usually take the time to let the idea soak in to see if it sticks.  If yes then we generally meet again to brainstorm and start thinking about execution.  It is the process up to this stage where we at TOKiBiz can provide the most benefit to VCs, angels and corporations looking to capture the next great thinker, idea and application.  The beauty of this stage is the capital needed is less for a larger percentage of ownership.  In most cases we can build the application much more efficiently than a corporation would do if built internally.  Own a fraction of more for a fraction of the cost. 

I use to think that at some point ideas would eventually run dry.  Now I know this is definitely not the case for there are millions of ways to make our lives better.  Ways that we never thought of before and ways that couldn’t exist without the idea launched previous to ours.  For ideas keep building on the ideas of those who came before us.

Many thanks to Steve Wardell and IC Sciences Alliance for hosting a terrific luncheon on health and technology in Boston.  The luncheon featured Daniel Hoch of e-Patients and the fascinating John Lester of Linden Lab – creator of Second Life.  Second Life is “an online, 3D virtual world imagined and created by its Residents.” John’s focus at Linden Lab is how Second Life can be applied to the healthcare industry to advance our success by integrating technology with virtual interaction.  Very fascinating!!

infoMedMD just launched embeddable infoMeds that websites can now offer to their visitors for free.  With a simple line of code websites can now offer their visitors any of the listed infoMeds for free.  Results are sent directly to the user via email – no registration or payment needed.

Probably the best explanation of our new service can be seen via the 2 infoMeds embedded on TOKiBiz – Eye Problem Screening and Screening Tests.

To receive your custom code for any of the infoMeds listed please contact infoMedMD.