FreeWavz: Wire-free Smart Earphones with Built-in Fitness Monitoring

FreeWavz, wireless smart earphones with immersive sound quality and medical-grade fitness monitoring precision has launched their Kickstarter campaign today.

FreeWavz combines the uniqueness of distraction free, stable (here’s a video of a gymnast with them on) wireless earphones with an expansive suite of health metrics tracking – including heart rate, calories burned, distance traveled, duration of workout, and oxygen saturation. The technology and design aim to give the most accurate readings. Other earbud-type wireless earphones are unable to match the accuracy of FreeWavzs because they only have a front sensor. By wrapping around the ear, FreeWavz pulse oximeters can sense the amount of red and infra-red light traveling through the earlobe, and then collect the feedback with a second behind-the-ear sensor, giving more precise oxygen and heart rate readings.

FreeWavz founder, Dr. Eric Hensen, is an ear, nose, and throat surgeon. Having worked with hard-of-hearing patients, Dr. Hensen brought his practical experience into creating FreeWavz, stating “This product was born out of customer feedback – from people in the gym, to those who bike and run, to patients complaining about traditional headphones – this product was made by combining user feedback and experience together.”

Also unlike earbuds, which block the ear canal (and are often jammed into the ear, causing discomfort while distorting the sound), FreeWavz projects sound into the ear canal, letting the canal “breath,” and in turn delivering crisper sound.

The two earpiece devices connect to a mobile app via Bluetooth, and each earpiece can be individually calibrated for frequency and volume. Additionally, users can use FreeWavz to answer phone calls and the earphones can be adjusted for environmental listen-through to accommodate busy street noise.

President & Chief Financial Officer Harry Ericson calls FreeWavz, “Google Glass for the ears,” because of the product’s expansive usability and reach. While it is now launched as a fitness wearable, potential future applications include use while driving (transmitting GPS directions), traveling (guided tour audio), or learning (classroom/education).

Go to Kickstarter to reserve your pair today; shipments planned beginning this October.

StethoCloud: A Connected Stethoscope for Parents and Doctors Alike

Dr. Andrew Lin and Dr. Hon Weng Chong, founders of StethoCloud, have designed and built an inexpensive smartphone stethoscope that can be used by parents and doctors alike. The device is easy enough for a parent to use at home and cheap enough so that a doctor can use it in the developing world to diagnose diseases like pneumonia. The Company started from a winning entry into the 2012 Microsoft Australian Imagine Cup – a student technology competition. StethoCloud has come a long way since their first prototype and Andrew has answers to some of our questions below.

A: How did you decide to create a modern stethoscope?  

AL: As doctors, Hon and I have always believed that in the future, an explosion of data will help medical professionals make better informed decisions, with far more leverage on their time than today. For this to happen, we realized that we needed prolific sensors that can collect the data required. We decided on the stethoscope because the data is extremely rich, containing powerful diagnostic information, which can diagnose a broad range of respiratory and heart conditions. Initially, we entered Microsoft’s Imagine Cup competition as a student project, where we focused on pneumonia.

 

A: What is the vision and mission of StethoCloud? 

AL: Connected diagnostic devices for consumers, and a software platform to help drive in-home healthcare delivery.

 

A: Who is your target audience for the product? 

AL: Initially, we plan to market our product to parents of young children. This is because respiratory illnesses are extremely common (e.g. croup, bronchiolitis, asthma) and a connected stethoscope will become a valuable tool that can help parents get advice remotely, especially on transient events such as asthma attacks. Beyond this, the tool is also useful for those with chronic illnesses or under care.

 

A: What are the main differentiators of StethoCloud versus what is currently available in the market that makes it such an industry game changer?

AL: We have designed the device for consumers and the interface is easy to use. It will be much cheaper than existing devices. In the future, we plan to roll out algorithms that provide analytics and help with decision support.

 

A: How will StethoCloud work with other applications to paint the picture of health for an individual?

AL: It’s early days, but we plan to develop APIs to allow cross-platform integration.

 

Gero Lab: Using Everyday Movement to Predict Risk of Age-Related Diseases

Locomotome, as coined by the Human Locomotome Project is a set of human locomotive data that can be analyzed to predict human stress levels and proclivity of age-related metabolic or degenerative disorders.

Gero Lab, a new and burgeoning company in this space, has been collecting locomotome data to discover markers of age-related diseases and evaluate the clinical importance of these markers. They have an app that collects initial answers to health questions and then uses activity data from devices like FitBit, Jawbone, and Bodymedia to further cement their locomotome models. Users are then sent metrics on their neurological state and potential health conditions, increasing their awareness of various health factors important for early prevention and lifestyle changes.

Gero co-founder Vera Kozyr answers some of my questions below.

What was the driving force to create Gero? What are the company’s goals?

We were originally studying different biological signals including transcriptome and genome signals, looking for signatures of aging and associated chronic deceases. Then we realized that the locomotome signal is extremely rich and much more convenient to gather, so we adjusted all our mathematical models and algorithms for it. The goal of our company is to create a convenient (non-invasive and seamless) and reliable tool for the early stage diagnosis of different diseases.

How can data collected and used in Gero models be translated into action items for users?

Awareness is very important when it comes to health. Early warnings can be impactful, especially for slowly developing health conditions. For example, life-style changes during the early stages of diabetes type 2 can significantly slow down the development of the disease or even reverse it. In the future, after passing FDA approval, GERO technology could also be used by doctors for preventative measures.

What are some of the most interesting bits of data that you have gathered so far? What is to come?

The key takeaways of our first 3,000 Fitbit study (finished in November of last year) are:

• Motor activity contains signatures of particular chronic deceases (metabolic, psychiatric and neurological)
• Low-resolution trackers (e.g. Fitbit, Jawbone, etc.) can also be used with GERO’s mathematical model with sufficient tracking time
• We are already passed the proof of concept phase to detect particular health conditions with accuracy

We keep working on increasing the accuracy of our algorithms. Along with disease risks and trends, we have learned to detect biological age and gender. At the moment we are focusing on diabetes and soon will publish some of our very interesting findings.

How does the app / data interface help users?

As we are still in the research stage we don’t claim that our app helps users at the moment. It collects activity data and helps to develop our technology. Individual health reports that we will release to our participants of course might potentially help by giving awareness of health conditions and showing their trends.

Founder Interview: Jon Pearce, CEO of Zipnosis – Online Diagnosis and Treatment is Here

Zipnosis is an online service that diagnoses and treats common medical conditions, 24/7, by a board-certified clinician. Yes – finally a service that can prescribe you medication to common conditions by just knowing current symptoms and past history.

There are existing companies that introduce telemedicine through complex solutions using live streaming video, focused on diagnosing tough conditions. Zipnosis differs by first entering the market to treat all the millions of people with simple, more common conditions.

As Jon Pearce, CEO of Zipnosis, describes it, “If other telemedicine companies are like Blockbuster, Zipnosis is more like Netflix. We are web based and can be used on any device. We’ve been able to build a company that is a true digital platform between a patient and a provider. We are targeting more than just information – we are focused on diagnosis, treatment and triage.”

Busy growing, the company has gone from treating an initial 8-9 conditions to adding about 40 more conditions last year, and focusing this year on triage and chronic conditions. Zipnosis can be used in 14 states and expanding, and is busy partnering with health systems to expand their diversified base of clinicians. Over time, Zipnosis will broaden from treating common conditions to include chronic ones, such as cardiac disease and hyperlipidemia.

What are users saying? The company has over 90% satisfaction rates. The clinicians prescribe by guidelines, giving better, more consistent quality care. “96% of the patients that we talk to tell 3-4 people because it’s so transformative,” Jon says. “We know it works and it works quickly and accurately. People should not be afraid of the way we are offering diagnosis and treatment. It is rooted in clinical data and successes and it is a safe and effect way to get care.”

Zipnosis is leading the way to a new, leaner and faster way to get answers and treatments to immediate health concerns. Jon assured me that California is on their short list of states they will be expanding to, and I look forward to using them. For those in the lucky 14 states, try Zipnosis the next time you need an answer.

Best in Healthcare For 2013

2013 was a great year for consumer healthcare technology. This year, 95 million Americans have used mobile phones as health tools or as search devices to find healthcare information, paving the way for a more connected and health conscious 2014.

To continue with my annual Year in Review, I present some of my favorite companies and posts in 2013.

A big thank you to my readers for your support, ideas and input.

-Alexis

Best New Entrants into Wearables:

• Misfit Wearables — Self-tracking wearable, incredibly elegant and striking
• Withings Pulse — Self-tracking wearable, Withings’ first entry into the physical activity tracker space
• Goji Play — Self-tracking indoor cardio wearable, transforms any cardio machine into an interactive gaming workout
• OnTheGo Platforms — Smart glass app development platform that focuses on exercise apps and more
• Updated versions of the Jawbone UP, Fitbit Force and Nike+ FuelBand SE

Best Smart Fabric Concepts:

• Athos — Athletic apparel made with smart fabric and sensors to measure every muscle exertion, heartbeat, and breath
• OMsignal  — Embedded sensors in the apparel monitor your heart rate, breathing, and activity

 Best Fitness Apps:

• RunKeeper — GPS app to track outdoor fitness activities
• Moves — GPS app to track daily activity continuously, shown on a timeline
• Charity Miles — GPS app that tracks and lets you earn money for charity when you walk, run, or bike

 Best Personalized Coaching:

• Sessions — Simple, individual, and thoughtful fitness program to help you get healthy
• Wello — Online workouts with a Certified Personal Trainer in real-time on your mobile device over live video

A New Twist to Common Items:

• HAPIfork — An electronic fork that monitors eating habits and alerts you when you eat too fast
• Beam Technologies — A smart toothbrush that monitors oral hygiene and reports habits to a smart app
• Withings Blood Pressure Monitor — Measures, calculates and tracks changes in blood pressure on graphs

Best Up and Coming:

• PUSH — Tracks and analyzes performance at the gym; measures power, force and balance
• Emotiv Insight — Multi-channel, wireless headset that monitors brain activity to optimize brain fitness and measures cognitive health and well-being
• Scanadu Scout — Medical tricorder to measure, analyze and track vitals
• MC10 — Stretchable electronics that conform to the shape of the body to measure and track vitals

Best for Healthcare Providers:

• Pristine — Develops Glass apps to help hospitals deliver safer, more coordinated, more cost effective care
• Informedika — Marketplace for electronic test ordering and results exchange between healthcare providers
• IntelligentM — Data-driven hand hygiene compliance solutions for hospitals to dramatically reduce healthcare-acquired infections

EveryMove: Earn Points and Rewards for Every Move

EveryMove gives you rewards for moving. Seriously, you get points for the things you are already doing for your physical activity. Walking to work, running, biking, or mowing the lawn? Sync up your wearable activity tracker or manually input your activities to get rewarded and recognized by your health plan, your employer and national brands. Right now, over 160 brands use EveryMove to reach subscribers and reward them for activity. What was the thought process behind creating EveryMove? CEO and Co-Founder, Russell Benaroya tells us his story.

In 2005, Russell launched REM Medical, a network of comprehensive sleep centers to deliver leading quality sleepcare in the rapidly expanding field of sleep medicine. While at REM Medical, he saw that nearly 80% of their patients were being treated because of poorly made lifestyle choices, including those surrounding diet and wellness. While managing and solving these issues was important to REM, Russell saw the value in prevention. He wondered, “How do we create a company that isn’t constrained by people who are already in the healthcare system? We came up with the goal that we wanted to improve the lives of 10 million people in 10 years, which required technology that could scale and the ability to reach people who are wellness minded but not necessarily already inside the healthcare system.”

Russell’s goal of impacting people before they found themselves inside the healthcare system laid the foundation for EveryMove. In his words, “Through a number of iterations, we got inspired by the idea of putting control into the hands of the consumer to show that their healthy lifestyle has value.”

There are 200,000 registered users on EveryMove today and growing quickly. To help participants who are looking for the right wearable tracker for their individual needs, the company just launched their Fitness Tracker Device and Comparison Tool. As Russell describes, “We want to be seen as a champion on the forefront of healthcare tracking. We don’t know what works for you, but we can help you discover the perfect solution.”

Russell thinks that the timing is right for people to adopt a healthy, value based activity system. “We think that the convergence between healthcare change, wearables, and increased smartphone processing power is creating a nexus point of tremendous opportunity for us.” EveryMove isn’t betting on a single app or device. Even Russell wears and uses multiple devices (Moves App, Fitbit, Nike FuelBand, and Garmin on runs). Instead, EveryMove wants the wearables ecosystem to flourish. As a rewards plan for health, Russell wants users to feel that, “I am part of something that is much bigger than myself and by being a part of EveryMove, it says something about me and the control that I have over my health, and that is a really empowering feeling.”

Goji Play Launches: Tops the List of Must Have Fun Fitness Tech

I met with Kai Huang, co-founder and CEO of Blue Goji, and Zach Fountain, COO in a SOMA gym to test out Goji Play, a fusion of hardware and software that turns any cardio fitness machine into an interactive and engaging workout experience. How engaging? After the interview I tried Goji Play at home for thirty minutes and it really did feel like I had only been working out for five – it was totally and utterly immersive. Kai and his team are pros at making games active and social – he co-founded and invented Guitar Hero almost a decade ago.

The device setup is simple. I downloaded the Goji Play App as well as some games while giving the wearable activity sensor a quick charge. I clipped the sensor onto my shirt, but it also fit comfortably in my pocket or on my shoe. Setting up the wireless game controllers meant hitting all the buttons to sync them to the iPad app, which took several seconds.

The controllers are intuitive to use and designed for comfort. They can be fitted on any cardio machine or fixed onto hand batons (great for treadmill workouts). After a few minutes of using the buttons and commands they became second nature and I could focus my attention on exerting more energy into my cardio activity. I downloaded several games including a boxing game, a fast moving game (reminiscent of Mario Cart), and a block matching game similar to Tetris. Twenty minutes on one game felt like two minutes – I was so immersed that time passed quickly and before I knew it I had drummed up a sweat.

From Guitar Hero, Kai witnessed how fun games can inspire people – friends and families – to be more active and social.

How did you make the leap from pure gaming (Guitar Hero) to health and fitness?

KH: “We wanted to take the immersive experience of gaming and use it to inspire people to get active. The power of games is that they get people to engage in an activity in such a way that you often don’t realize how much time has passed because you’ve been so involved. While you are doing this, we are tracking your fitness goals, steps, distance, etc. and truly making this a fitness product.”

How has Guitar Hero influenced the design and hardware of Goji Play, if at all?

KH: “We’ve designed the Goji Play for comfort – we want you to use it on any wireless device and any cardio device in the gym. The hardware is designed to be simple and easy to use – something that everyone feels comfortable using.”

ZF: “On the software side, we area focused on making games that are deep, engaging, immersive experiences. Additional games and apps are in development and will be released on a regular basis.”

Who is your target market?

KH: “Anyone who uses an exercise machine. We have a broad audience from people who have invested in exercise equipment at home to anyone with access to a gym. “

What is the broader vision and mission of Blue Goji?

KH: “We want people to lead healthier lives and we want to get people motivated. If we can take an activity and make it fun while helping you get healthy in the process then we’ve done well.”

ZF: “We want this to have an impact on the entire family and each member can create their own profile. There might be a primary purchaser but because we support multiple profiles and have a wide variety of games we envision the entire household getting value and having some collective fun in getting in shape and using the system together. Also, given that the New Year is around the corner, we think Goji Play can keep people on track with any fitness resolutions.”

KH: “We want people to remember that Goji Play is all about fun and letting you have fun. In the background it’s about pushing you to achieve your fitness goals – but if you have fun using Goji Play, then we’ve succeeded.”

Available online starting today for $99, Goji Play is compatible with the iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch, and can be used with most cardio equipment including treadmills, stationary and recumbent bicycles, and elliptical machines.

Athos: Smart Fabric Measures Every Breath, Heartbeat and Muscle Exertion

A smart fabric plus an accelerometer core creates the next level in quantified performance clothing. I spoke with Athos founding team members, Dhananja Jayalath, Chris Wiebe, and Joel Seligstein to learn more about the technology behind Athos.

What’s so special about Athos fabric?

DJ: “The cloth has sensors that are built directly into the fabric. With ECG sensors and muscle output sensors integrated into the clothing, you can very accurately measure heart rate and muscle effort. The Core is the analytics module of the sensors – it’s essentially the computer that collects and analyzes all the stats and sends the data to the mobile app.”

Why did you opt for clothing instead of a wrist / arm wearable?

DJ: “We wanted to capture data from multiple points. We wanted to capture info from your biceps, quads and triceps, which our fabric lets us do. By building the sensors into clothing we think it also makes it easy to use and remember, and helps create a routine.” Since all the sensors are built in, you’ll be able to measure heart rate without a chest strap and get real-time responsive input on how to best train for your goals.

“We believe that apparel is going to get smarter, it’s not just something you cover yourself up with anymore. Athletes will get an advantage in training with Athos unlike what a simple wicking shirt or compression shorts provide.”

Who is your target audience?

Chris: “People who are going on 6am rides or heading to the gym 3-5 times a week with the goal of getting better and stronger – that is our target market.” Athos apparel is focused on people who want to get better at their fitness goals and those who want to analyze their performance and continue to do better. The company’s differentiation factor is that they aren’t trying to motivate stationary people to move more – they want to help athletes be more efficient and train harder. Athos would be an ideal partner for sports teams, events like the Olympics, gyms, and trainers.

“We’ve talked internally about how our data is good enough for pros to use so that they can train for their events but still approachable enough for the average consumer to use.”

How is the app user experience?

Joel: “We are using the app to give tailored insight to what your body is doing. For weightlifters counting reps is important, but if you are riding a bike, cadence and balance and pushing vs. pulling on the pedal is important. Long term, we’ll continue to iterate and make things customized.“

What is the key takeaway here?

DJ: “We are not just about collecting data – we are about giving the user a great experience. We are not just about the hardware – we want to deliver performance and comfort in something that is unique and useful.”
 

Interview: Steven Yaskin, CEO of Informedika

Informedika has created a one stop online marketplace for healthcare providers to choose, discover, compare and select lab services, therapy providers and nursing home vendors at the click of a button. They have created a platform that is not only EMR agnostic, but also free to use.

I caught up with CEO, Steven Yaskin to learn more about Informedika. Steven describes the company’s mission as, “We are connecting doctors to healthcare vendors – diagnostic labs, radiology centers, physical therapy trainers, sleep centers, nursing homes, assisted living and many, many more. Doctors are at the top of the food chain in terms of referrals and now all vendors are finally at their fingertips.”

The Informedika marketplace empowers doctors to place electronic orders through an online ecosystem, which eliminates faxes, paperwork and mistakes.

Eliminating paperwork, Informedika shows all patient imaging data.

Informedika has taken a grassroots approach in getting their name out, focusing more on building a strong product than spending money on marketing. So far it’s worked – doctors love the flexibility and transparency that Informedika gives them. As Steven notes, “In healthcare you don’t have adoption by doctors unless you have all the vendors tied to them – local and nationwide labs and services. We have an all-inclusive catalog of pharmacies, sleep centers, labs, etc.  When doctors log into their existing EMR software, they may only see one lab but when they log into Informedika they see all their options.”

All local and nationwide options on one interface for labs.

Steven states that a big problem with healthcare data is that not all the medical record companies are cooperating and a lot of startups become bystander victims because of this. How does Informedika fit smoothly into the healthcare system? “We aren’t relying on doctors and vendors or patients to upload data. Because we sit in the streams of electronic fax data flowing between doctors and labs, we can aggregate that data into medical charts directly. We are EMR agnostic and doctor agnostic. We are creating a patient centric repository, regardless of what software a doctor uses – we don’t compete with EMRs, instead we make their data more robust.”

Melissa Thompson, CEO and Founder of TalkSession: 30 Devices in 30 Days

Melissa Thompson left her Wall Street career as a trader with Goldman Sachs to follow her passion for entrepreneurship and social impact, founding TalkSession, an online counseling platform that uses cutting-edge technology to connect users with highly credible professionals for on-demand, mobile therapy and counseling sessions. She is a leader in the world of healthcare technology but remains humble and curious. Among her many community involvements and initiatives, she is a member of 37Angels, a community of women angel investors, a Board Advisor to the Flawless Foundation, a Technology Advisor to Newport Academy, and is on the Board of Directors of the Center for Health Innovation, leading the Women in Healthcare & Life Sciences initiative. Melissa is a regular contributor to The Huffington Post,

I caught up with Melissa to hear about her latest project, Quantified30, where she tried 30 healthcare devices in 30 days. You can read about her adventures at www.q30blog.com.

You tried 30 devices in 30 days, what was the inspiration behind this?

I created the Quantified 30 project for three reasons. The first? I was waking up exhausted every morning even though I was sleeping. I wanted to find the underlying cause, or at least something I could do to improve how I felt. I had exhausted the obvious reasons. The second relates to my startup. TalkSession is a telemedicine platform for remote therapy sessions. As the platform grows, I want to integrate biometric and contextual data around a person’s needs related to mental health and increase the healthcare provider’s knowledge of non-verbalized elements related to his or her patient. Lastly, I was frustrated that there were so many devices flooding the market and in comparing even just two of them, I noticed highly varied results. Since wearable devices are not subject to the same acuity trials as are diagnostic applications, I wanted to perform a small experiment (sample size = 1) to determine which metrics were most reliable.

Of all the apps and devices, which surprised you the most?

As a device, Lumoback was the most pleasantly surprising. The notion of wearing a buckled strap around one’s torso sounds awkward, but it was surprisingly comfortable, accurate and I would forget I was wearing it (until I slouched).

I had a surprise “moment” that led to my inappropriate laughter in a meeting. The FitBit One, randomly lit up with the scrolling words, “SMOOCHES MELISSA.” I am a big fan of positive reinforcement, but that unprompted love note was a bit out of context.

After 30 days, are there devices or apps you still use every day?

Yes! As for devices, I still wear Shine (best looking, most seamless) and Pebble (I like the ability to quickly screen if a phone call or message requires immediate attention). As for apps, I still use Sleep Cycle, and just started using Human, which is a great “starter tracker” and has also integrated transportation metrics into the timeline as well (maybe I can reduce the amount I spend on taxis!)

If you could create a sensor or device that could provide any piece of information, what would it be?

Any one piece of information? That is a very tough question. If it could be anything at all it would be a sensor to detect danger. Danger could be environmental danger, like on-coming traffic, or it could be early diseases detection. (You did say, anything, so I think super-powers are a fair dream!)

Google Glass. What is the most exciting potential application you have heard thus far?

I may be biased, but Glass’ potential lies in healthcare, and also in education. I believe healthcare is the most critical issue of our generation and technology is at a place where we can make significant inroads into increasing quality and lowering costs.

As for education, how many times have you told yourself that you would “look that up later,” and subsequently forgotten. For example, Glass wearers could say, “Glass, what am I looking at?” And it will have the ability to dictate the histories represented by monuments.

While not world-changing, there is one app I would love to see someone develop for Glass. I am fairly clumsy and more-often than not, guilty of texting-and-walking. It would great to literally have a second set of eyes so I can look away and not risk walking into traffic or other people.

Overall, Glass’ applications will have the most impact when its ability to provide immediacy and relevance to a users’ physical environment, like Google search has done for our Internet browsing environment.

You are the CEO and Founder of TalkSession. Tell us more about the company and what your long-term vision is for TalkSession.

Recently, we were fortunate enough to present TalkSession at the White House and prepared this video short to explain our mission.

TalkSession is a telemedicine company focused on improving mental healthcare access. With 1 in 4 people diagnosed with mental illness, I, like many have witnessed family members and friends not have the ability to get the help they needed.

I hope TalkSession can break down those barriers over time and make mental health treatment more accessible and acceptable.  For the long-term I want to prove through TalkSession that mental healthcare is a preventative tool. If we integrate behavioral healthcare into our primary healthcare, realizing the mind-body connection, people will have lower rates of chronic illnesses, obesity, and be happier and more productive.

I feel fortunate to have the opportunity to address this problem, armed with the knowledge and technology we have to offer.

Melissa, on a self-therapy test session with TalkSession.

What are a few goals you want to achieve in your lifetime?

As soon as I am able to invest, I want to be an angel investor and support others, while continuing my entrepreneurial pursuits. Raising the first check is always the hardest. The first angel investors who believed in me made such a difference in my business, confidence and trajectory. I would love to help entrepreneurs in the earlier stages of their development get the chance to pursue their dreams.

I strongly believe that innovation will come from the individuals with the most determination and passion to solve a problem. When asked, “Couldn’t Google replicate your technology?” Maybe they could, but my very specific niche is not their focus. Through focus, we will see a proliferation of thoughtful innovation.

My goal is to participate in and foster the movement towards using our collective ideas and skills to create products and business that are useful, and not just cool.

And as for 5, 10, 20 years from now? I hope you’ll check back with me then. I could not have predicted 5 years ago that I would be where I am today.  As long as I am making a difference in the world in some way, then I will set my goals as the world’s challenges evolved and try to apply myself in the most useful way possible to address those challenges.