New Everyday Technology

How tech savvy are you lately? Technology is influencing life in ways you don't know. Advancements in lab research, medical practice, and payroll practices may be sweeping past you, which is not a problem when they work in your favor as these do.

Automated Mice?
While not exactly offering automated mice, RapID has come up with a hi-tech twist on an old problem of tracking laboratory mice, which is important for two reasons. First, you may be surprised that laboratory mice are quite expensive. Second, the mice are bred to have specific DNA because only when they are genetically similar can scientists measure the effectiveness of experiments.

In addition, research scientists want the animals to be a certain age or gender and predisposed to certain illnesses or already carriers for diabetes, tumors, or other conditions. These designer mice come at a price. According to Fox News, "You want three blind mice? That'll run you about $250. And for your own custom mouse, with the genetic modification of your choosing, expect to pay as much as $100,000."

Obviously, researchers want to be able to track their mice and care for them as humanely as possible. Federal and state governments, research institutions and universities are required to comply with formal regulations and guidelines on the care of experimental animals.

To help with this, RapID Lab mice ear tags created a reusable polymer tag that can be easily attached to the mouse's ear. The tags are color-coded to categories for research and sport a scannable barcode to collect and archive the mouse's lab experience.

More humane than inserting chips, attaching metal tags, or tattooing the animal, the tags reduce harmful and stressful handling while allowing for accountability .

Holistic health care?
Technology has brought new tools and protocols to medical practice to help professionals commit to patient care and help practitioners create a total comprehensive care system. With administrative software and hardware, a medical practice can provide a continuum of care starting before birth and continuing throughout a patient's life.

Riverside Medical Group, for example, begins doctor/patient one-on-one relationships with prenatal classes followed by breastfeeding classes and pediatric care. Into a patient's future, they provide services like Behavioral and Mental Health, Cardiology, ENT, Gastroenterology, Physical Therapy, Pulmonary, and much more.

The latest information technology let's medical facilities integrate and coordinate care among several specialities and locations.

Keeping time?
Employer or employee, you want a reliable and accurate way of recording payroll. Live technologies, like that at clockspot.com, replace the aged system of timeclocks and manual reporting with computers and smartphones.

Employees can count on accurate real-time reporting of checks in and out to begin and end shifts or take breaks. Workers can see their hours at any time or question the records in a user-friendly, low learning curve process accessible through any device with internet access.

Employers run payroll in seconds. They can monitor remote and traveling employees, improve employee honesty, and check hours 24/7 to better schedule and distribute workforce. The online time clock is the go-to option for small and mid-sized businesses.

To quote Kellen Black at Mashable.com, "Life is hard. Luckily, humans are pretty smart and invent some great ways to deal with the complexities of life." Software and hardware are certainly redefining the way we live our lives and how life treats us.