Philips has announced that, it has introduced a whole new range of service designed and developed specifically for the heart patients who check in the National Heart Center Singapore (NHCS), in which the cardiac patients will now experience virtual environments that have also been employed by Disney World.

This new feature is known as Philips’ Ambient Experience and the patients will experience a host of ambient environments including, African Savannah etc. that will also entail auditory fill ins as well. The goal is to make the grueling and at times the painful experience that the patients go through during the treatment phase.

As of now, there are more than 125 medical installations such as Fairview Hospital in Cleveland and the The Villages Regional Hospital in The Villages, Florida have already installed thhis new feature in their cardiac units, thereby creating a more friendly and rejuvenating environment, rather than the cold and and sterile room, as they usually are.

The psychological effects of this new technology are already proving to be a boon for the patients as, according to the latest figures released by several hospitals, there has been about 28% reduction in sedation given to the patients who are below the age of 4 and almost 16% reduction in sedation for those below the age of 18.

Via Cnet & Philips Healthcare.

The billion dollar beauty and skin care industry has left numerous women in a fix. As the influx of beauty care products has increased exponentially, the consumers have been left in a dilemma as to which product suits their skin the best.

Keeping in mind the growing necessity for expert advice when it comes to beauty and skin care, the electronic equipments giant, Philips has launched a all new service called Crystalize, that allows women to consult the website before buying any new beauty product. The website employs a new state of the art video camera, that is normally used for medical purposes, to analyze the user’s skin.

The software developed for Crystalize then takes an in-depth look at the face of the user and then using the four basic parameters, skin type, redness, sun damage, and smoothness, a list of skin care products along with their prices are shown to the users. The Philips Crystalize service costs $90 per consultation, which in turn saves hundreds of dollars by eliminating the need of hit and trial method, when it comes to skin care products.

Apart from the consultation fee for skin products, Philips does not take any sort of commission or percentage from the beauty product manufacturers that it recommends. Philips has also launched an all new blogging network, where the Crystalize subscribers can share their experiences and their skin concerns with other Crystalize users. This all new service is currently available only at one location and that is at the Studio BeautyMix in the Fred Segal store in Santa Monica. However, Philips has planned for a global expansion of the Crystalize service in the year 2010.

Via Pop Gadget & The New York Times.

If you have a difficult relationship with your emotions, you don’t to know them or don’t to control them, firstly know that you are not that alien and that can just be an indicative that you are really human.

Well, in a planet that has six billion humans, and all with dozens kinds of emotions, it is same to an enormous market. Philips has an eye and it seems to want to take advantage of that.First it was presented a emotions jacket reader which “allowed” people to try the intense emotions felt by the characters in the screen. And now there is the “Rationalizer”, a line of emotion indicative bracelets.

Developed by Royal Philips Electronics (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHI) and the Dialogues Incubator, an initiative by ABN AMRO, the proposal is that they can be used by people that work in the finance market.

The Rationalizer system consists of two components – the EmoBracelet and the EmoBowl. As the emotions (which is indicate by the frequence of heart beats and the blood pressure) begin to arise, the thing is going being more and more diamond, alerting him/her so that people don’t make thoughtless decisions and end up selling their shares at the wrong moment.

The question is: if anyone is freaking out, would he or she take a time to look at the bracelete?

Via: Mirror of Emotions.

Following the 2007 federal energy bill that phases out inefficient incandescent light bulbs beginning in 2012, the good old technology eschewed. With consumers opting incandescent bulbs over florescent ones, researchers have been striving to make the former better and more efficient.

Philips Lighting’s Halogena Energy Savers are the opening ones that emerged. Despite being expensive compared to the conventional ones, they are 30 percent more efficient and last three times longer. Another company,  Deposition Sciences came up with a special reflective coating to gas-filled capsules that surround the bulb’s filament that acts like a heat mirror and bounces heat back to the filament thereby converting it into light. These bulbs have a 30 percent efficiency gain, but the company promises to increase it to 50 percent. Los Angeles based inventor David Cunningham developed a reflective coating and fixture design that he claims would make incandescent cent percent more efficient. In addition, a Physics professor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Shawn-Yu Lin, devised a high-tech, iridium-coated filament that recycles wasted heat to improve its performance.

There are many more attempts being done throughout the world to bring back the lost shimmer of our very own incandescent bulbs, but what’s holding it back is the fear of the energy bill released a couple of years ago. However, leading lighting companies General Electric, Osram Sylvania and Philips are all putting their efforts towards energy conservation and providing consumers better incandescent bulbs they desire.

Via NYTimes

The tagline, ‘Sense and Simplicity’ of Philips is rather a success story when it comes to market other consumer products. However, it was a different story when it came to use ‘Sense and Simplicity’ in the Chinese health care system.

The complexity of the Chinese hospitals was a major challenge where the Philips brand positioning as simplicity had to fit in this environment. To do so, Philips came up with two goals to achieve that would eventually lead them to their victory. Firstly, to make the Chinese patients utilize their time better while waiting for their turns. Secondly, promote community clinics and thereby avoid overcrowding the main hospitals. Technology came to their rescue, where the first goal was achieved. People could track the number of people before them and their approximate time taken before they could visit the doctor. Texting terminals were used to enter their mobile numbers and people were informed about the above details. Overcrowding of hospitals was avoided by extensive TV campaigns and promotions about the benefits of community clinics.

‘Sense and Simplicity’ of the brand was accomplished without having to sell anything. It fostered goodwill among the Chinese and the brand recognition and image as well. Great strategy indeed!

Via: Adage

If you thought medicine was soon going to get intelligent and find its way to the area of the body where it’s actions are required, then, Philips has comes up with an impressive new iPill. The intelligent pill comes with a microprocessor, battery, wireless radio, pump and even a drug reservoir, which would go ahead and release medication once the pill reaches the right place in your guts.

It measures the existing acidity with the help of sensors and locates itself on the human body. Capsules containing cameras are available but they can’t deliver drugs where as iPill can. It measures temperature at a certain location of the body and sends all these information to an external receiver. The iPill is still a prototype and has not been mass manufactured though plans are underway to manufacture it for the larger masses.

Looks like medicines are now going to get intelligent and change the way we treat and get treated. It may help in reducing side effects and contact with direct bloodstream. Such intelligent pills may allow speedy recovery and a faster prognosis rate.

Via: Yahoo

What psychologists term as SAD or the Seasonal Affective Disorder is caused due to the melancholic weather patterns during winters and the fewer number of hours with sunshine. Philips has launched the goLITE BLU to combat SAD and this aims to help people who suffer from mood disorders associated with winter and Daylight Saving time. Commonly called the winter blues, it may result in lethargy, over sleeping, weight gain, depression etc.

The reason why this occurs is due to the lack of sunlight or the reduction of light during winter months. The Philips goLITE BLU provides light therapy, which regulates our internal body clock and helps us maintain our sleep cycles, which have an indirect effect on SAD. Users would have to use the gadget for only 15-20 minutes a day and the blue light that emanates from the gadget is better than white light for humans tend to respond better to blue light.

Bluewave technology, which has been used in the goLITE BLU, reduces eyestrain, glare and headaches, which are caused when exposed to bright lights trying to escape SAD. The device looks stylish and measures only 5.3” x 5.5” and weighs 12 ounces. The light therapy device results in better mood, sleep, hunger, sleep and an increased feeling of well-being. goLITE BLU costs $279.

Via: Physorg

Our cell phones have almost everything we need in it for our daily sustenance and something that every phone should have these days is a cool MP3 player. We cannot live without our daily dosage of cool music, after all.

And yet, now and then, we put our cell phone down to reach towards an MP3 player because of how superbly it is designed and for innovation possibilities it offers us. The new Philips Luxe MP3 player also doubles up as a headset for your cell phone. Working on Bluetooth 2.1, the headset stays connected to your phone so that calls to your phone can be answered on the headset. This allows you the freedom to listen to music on your snazzy player without worrying about missing an important call. It would also ensure that you save the battery on your phone because you wouldn’t be constantly playing music on it.

The Luxe MP3 player has an FM tuner and also lets you view the caller number through a strip of LCD. With 2GB of memory, the player can keep running for 10hrs on a single charge. The Philip Luxe will be available for $94 when in launches in Singapore next month.

Via: PMPToday

More than half of world’s population lives in cities. The number is increasing year after year and so is the demand for power. In this scenario just give it a thought- How much power would be needed to light up our city streets? The calculation goes beyond imagination. Philips has found an intelligent solution to make use of the renewable resources- sun and wind to save the power consumption in the urban arena.

This unearthly looking beautiful street light called Light Blossom works on two natural sources of power solar and wind. True to its name, during the day, the petals of this concept open to disclose the in built solar panels and turns to face the sunlight throughout the day. The pictures attached show how the light acts in different parts of the day. On a cloudy day or after the sun retires for the day, the same petals will turn towards the sky to become a vertical wind mill turbine and harness wind energy for generating power. The pole is fitted with LED sensors and glows more brightly when the crowd’s around and dims out in the quiet darkness of the night.

This fusion of imagination and technology will save a lot of energy for the urban power grid. Since it is still a concept, no one knows how long it would take for these Light Blossoms to add beauty to the greener city streets.

Source: TreeHugger