An Israeli company is tapping into the Apple HealthKit platform to create an emergency app for people with chronic conditions.
Targeted primarily at diabetics, the Alert app pulls real-time blood glucose data from HealthKit and issues a notification when the user's blood glucose level falls above or below predefined limits. The app also sends a notice to as many as three designated care team members – such as family members, friends, school officials or healthcare providers – and initiates a conference call with them within minutes.
Alert is the second app developed by HelpAround, launched in 2013 by Israeli Army R&D veterans Yishai Knobel (who'd developed the iBGStar diabetes management app now licensed by Sanofi and later developed diabetes mHealth technology for AgaMatrix) and Shlomi Aflalo. It follows on the heels of the Diabetes Helpers app, which enables the user to locate people in the immediate area who could offer assistance during a diabetic episode.
Read more: IL: New app turns HealthKit into a communications tool
The Knesset State Control Committee was set to deliberate on State Comptroller Yosef Shapira's report on the management of information security and the sustainability of Internet and computing infrastructure in government offices, according to a Knesset statement issued Sunday.
Read more: IL: State comptroller: E-Government information security inadequate
Over ten thousand Israelis have signed up for a pilot project that provides them with a “smart” Israeli identity card that includes biometric information. The project is now operating in over a dozen cities, and is currently voluntary, although it is likely to become mandatory in the future.
Read more: IL: Saar: 10,000 Signups Can't Be Wrong About Biometric IDs
In the month since July 9, when the state launched its biometric identification program in a handful of Israeli cities, 10,000 biometric passports and identity cards have been issued. The Population, Immigration and Border Authority says 40 percent of the people who applied for identity cards at participating branches requested the “smart” versions, which require providing fingerprints and photos, while 60 percent asked for the regular IDs.
Read more: 10,000 Israelis get biometric IDs in first month of pilot
The biometric identification database could be dangerous and cause a loss of privacy, MKs complained in a Knesset Science and Technology Committee meeting Monday.
The committee discussed how the trial period for the biometric database is progressing and whether the government is able to properly secure it.
Read more: IL: MKs concerned biometric database will be abused, bring 'Big Brother'