consumers

See the following -

Healthcare.gov: Code Developed By The People And For The People, Released Back To The People

Alex Howard | The Atlantic | June 28, 2013

This new flagship federal .gov website is "open by design, open by default." That's a huge win for the American people. Read More »

Help Us Put Blue Button On The Map

Peter Garrett | HealthITBuzz | September 16, 2013

How do we talk about the Blue Button Initiative in a way that really gets the attention of those who don’t already know about it or haven’t thought about its benefits? Read More »

Here Comes Tizen! Samsung To Host Its First Developer Conference In October

Matt Hamblen | Computerworld | July 23, 2013

Focus of Samsung Developers Conference could be on Tizen OS, not Android, and on building apps for unique Samsung utilities Read More »

HHS Opens More Data To Researchers And Developers

Bernie Monegain | Government Health IT | June 3, 2013

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius on Monday announced the release of new data and new opportunities for researchers and developers. Read More »

Hospitals Buying More Doctors' Practices

Liv Osby | USA Today | September 4, 2013

The question is whether costs will decrease, patients will benefit in long run. Hospitals across the country are buying more physician practices as they prepare to move away from fee-for-service reimbursements to a system that pays for treatments focusing on outcomes and cost containment. Read More »

How to Stop Big Data from Becoming Big Brother

Brian Proffitt | IT World | June 11, 2012

As big data and the requisite mega-analysis that goes along with it becomes more common, there is an increasing outcry from voices in our society questioning whether big data is becoming Big Brother.

Read More »

Illinois Legislators Honor Right Of Consumers To Buy Farm Fresh Milk

Press Release | The Weston A. Price Foundation | April 10, 2014

A proposed bill in Illinois banning the sale and distribution of natural or “raw” milk, is not going anywhere this session after legislators heard from “thousands” of natural milk proponents. The restriction, which was introduced as an amendment to an unrelated bill, would have banned the sale and distribution of raw milk in Illinois. Read More »

In A World Without Open Source

Tim Yeaton | Wired | July 2, 2013

In the Star Trek episode “The Trouble with Tribbles,” we see a graphic example of how small initial changes can lead to monumental consequences over a fairly short time. [...] Read More »

In Affordable Smartphones, Firefox OS Shines But Nokia's X Phone Strategy Is Murky

Phil Goldstein | FierceWireless | February 25, 2014

One of the major themes I'm hearing here at the Mobile World Congress trade show is that handset makers across the board are focusing on affordable smartphones. Mozilla and its Firefox OS partners seems to be hitting the mark more than others by aligning the user experience they're delivering with the price points they are setting for the phones. Read More »

Is The White House Trying To Blow Up An Open Data Bill?

Andrea Peterson | Washington Post | January 29, 2014

The case for open data is pretty straightforward: Citizens deserve access to the information created with their tax dollars. Publishing that data in a format that's easy to search, sort and download could unleash a wave of innovation. If the private sector had access to government data it could find new ways to leverage it -- creating new services for consumers and new jobs. Right now, we're a long way from that ideal. Read More »

Lessons from AWS Part III: Consumer Platform Drives Cloud Lead

Gabriel Lowy | Tech-Tonics | June 24, 2013

There has been a lot of discussion, including Part I of this series, about Amazon’s relentless leverage of scale to drive down pricing in cloud services.  What is much less talked about is how its consumer platform drives its cloud leadership. Read More »

Makerbot Clone Tests The Limits of Open Source Hardware

Michael Weinberg | Public Knowledge | September 11, 2012

Most people who know of Makerbot know them as a one of the leaders in the home 3D printing market.  Fewer people realize that they are also one of the highest profile examples of another movement: open source hardware. Read More »

Merchants Of Meth: How Big Pharma Keeps The Cooks In Business

Jonah Engle | Mother Jones | July 1, 2013

With big profits on the line, the drug industry is pulling out campaign-style dirty tricks to keep selling the meds that cooks turn into crank. Read More »

Millions Of Consumers Face Sticker Shock When 'Open Enrollment' Begins In October

Jim Doyle | St. Louis Today | March 3, 2013

President Barack Obama’s ambitious goal that all Americans have access to health care will take a huge step forward this fall with the opening of federal and state insurance exchanges. But it is too soon to tell whether these bold creations of the Affordable Care Act will actually bring “affordable” care to consumers... Read More »

My Big Idea For Healthcare: Pricing Transparency

Mary Pat Whaley | LinkedIn | June 6, 2013

Last December I wrote about what I thought would be the "Big Idea" for healthcare in 2013. "Show me the fees!" I said. Well, they have - in fact, much more than I would have ever imagined. 2013 has seen an explosion in pricing transparency in healthcare - or maybe better said, charging information in healthcare... Read More »