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'Repeatable Sanitization' is a Feature of PCs Now (theregister.co.uk)
HP has announced a trio of slightly-odd products intended for use in hospitals. From a report: The new HP EliteOne 800 G4 23.8 Healthcare Edition All-in-One PC and HP EliteBook 840 G5 Healthcare Edition Notebook are computers intended for use in the healthcare industry. The EliteBook will ship with software called "Easy Clean" that disables the keyboard, touchscreen and keypad "to facilitate cleaning with germicidal wipes while the device is still on." HP said it's scoured the market and thinks it is the only vendor on the planet with a laptop capable of handling "up to 10,000 wipes with germicidal towelettes over a 3-year period." The All-in-One boasts no antibacterial features, but does have both RFID and biometric authentication, handy features in an environment where PCs can't be left unlocked to preserve privacy. That requirement means PCs are logged on to many more times a day than the average machine, making the presence of Windows Hello facial recognition more than a gimmick. Oddly, both come with the disclaimer that they're "not intended for use in diagnosis, cure, treatment or prevention of disease or other medical conditions."
from the new-hot-trend dept.
More like the straight out of a press release department.
Keyboard should be a washable silicone membrane with squooshy clear silicone keys over a touchscreen. It would preserve tactile feel (typing on a pure on-screen keyboard is irritating) while allowing configurable keys -- really useful for specific healthcare applications.
And carry the Cheetos into your basement.
for crappy HP laptops is obvious.
Like biometric auth will protect you from good old badusb attack.
Or against not-generateable on consumer hardware malformed ethernet frames. Or all the vulnerabilities in wireless chipset, intentional and not.
This thing has no security, the features are marketing?
I'm looking forward to the first time somebody puts one in an autoclave.
I'm waiting for a laptop that is dishwasher safe.
I thought initially this would be about the ability to properly wipe the device's storage. Now that would have been useful...
Ezekiel 23:20
Yeah...that's called "Turn it off" for 5 minutes.
But no, there is another "app for that".
Oddly, both come with the disclaimer that they're "not intended for use in diagnosis, cure, treatment or prevention of disease or other medical conditions."
I bet without this disclaimer, the PC would be subject to FDA regulations, and require clinical trials.
One of our competitors trademarked the term "hypothesis". From now on, we will call them "boneheaded ideas".
You'd want to put the keyboards into an autoclave. yeesh!
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
FYI: I work in the medical industry, and Advantech and Cybernet are two companies that make these types of all-in-one devices. The ones I have around me are at least IP65 rated and fanless. We actually do accelerated bleach tests on them because the screens on some older devices would fade to white since the touch-screens had a plastic covering.
10 times a day? That's some serious OCD.
Isn't that what vi is for?
Moderating "-1, Disagree" is simple censorship. Have the guts to post your opinion. -- Spazmania (174582)
From TFA . . .
> handy features in an environment where PCs can't be left unlocked to preserve privacy.
Why would you leave a PC unlocked in order to preserve privacy? It seems like you would want to lock the PC to preserve privacy.
I suppose it is how you parse:
(PCs can't be left unlocked) to (preserve privacy).
PCs can't (be left unlocked to preserve privacy).
I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.
I would think the combination of an antibacterial finish, a sealed keyboard, and surface speakers (no grille required) would be vastly more effective.
Perhaps these have no speaker grills or other crevices that germs can settle in? Otherwise, the ability to use wipes on it is actually creating a danger - the danger that people may become complacent in a false belief that the device is sterile just because they constantly wipe it.
I have noticed that users who constantly use hand sanitizer (with alcohol content) tend to wear off the letters on their keyboards. If you look closely at the keys, you can see that most keyboards use little decals for the key labels. If HP has TRULY taken care of this, then they must have laser-etched the labels onto the keys. Otherwise, the labels will just come off anyway.
Facial recognition is way too easy to beat. The RFID, perhaps less so, though you have to use either an embedded RFID or the kind that sets off alarms if disconnected from the person. Otherwise, it's just too easy to get someone's key and use it. Still - two-factor with one always being a properly maintained minimum 128-bit secure password should be required.
I've been doing this for years in Linux, I even have a shell script for it:
$ cat disable-laptop-keyboardmouse.sh
#!/bin/sh
xinput --disable 'AT Translated Set 2 keyboard'
xinput --disable 'SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad'
$ cat enable-laptop-keyboardmouse.sh
#!/bin/sh
xinput --enable 'AT Translated Set 2 keyboard'
xinput --enable 'SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad'
At cleaning time:
$ disable-laptop-keyboardmouse.sh; sleep 2m; enable-laptop-keyboardmouse.sh
... of a computer manufacturer that builds hardware that makes it easy for the operator to sanitize the exterior of the case, but has a reputation for doing the opposite when it comes to software - and even has a history of loading pre-installing spy-ware:-
https://www.engadget.com/2017/...
otherwise, FDA might consider it a medical device, and 8 years of tests would follow. I'm serious.
if this is supposed to be a new economy, how come they still want my old fashioned money?
'The EliteBook will ship with software called "Easy Clean" that disables the keyboard, touchscreen and keypad "to facilitate cleaning with germicidal wipes while the device is still on."'
What geniuses must HP possess that they came up with such innovation in 2018 - just kidding. Seriously, a couple of lines of BASH code would achieve the same effect. Seriously slashdot, is this the best you can find to fill a whole article.
Last month at the homeless shelter where I volunteer, someone dropped their cellphone in the toilet. She was pissed.
They really couldn't just open notepad and maximize it or just lock the session before wiping?
Trying to sanitize them is backward. We should never be touching them at all. It has been clear for decades that touching devices like phones and heart monitors in a healthcare setting is a great way to spread disease. "Sanitizing" is a waste of time at best (even if it is 100% effective, which I'm not sure it is.)
Ten years ago, I expected that we would stop having to touch devices like smartphones, computers, TV remote controls, and so on in order to interact with them. I am so disappointed. Looks like I'm going to have to invent the future myself.
*Oddly, both come with the disclaimer that they're "not intended for use in diagnosis, cure, treatment or prevention of disease or other medical conditions."*
That is HP saying that the PC is not a Medical Device. Super standard in a FDA-regulated industry.
You would have to standardize the hardware and software for the life of the product plus 7 years.
Having worked for a company that builds medical devices based created on internally designed chipset and multi processor server class motherboards (two motherboards) and supporting the global Software/hardware Engineering team the biggest issue is keeping the 7 years of support after the device is no longer in production. You have to keep the old environment around because any bugs/security issues must be solved using the installed environment not what you are using to create your current equipment.
When I left the company (I was too old, the average age of the RIFed IT guys was 52) we had four more years supporting the old technology. That required that we kept a Windows NT 4.0 Domain (controller, accounts etc.), Software version system (Clearcase), support servers (SQL server 2000 and some other crap), a few old Compaq workstations running NT 4.0 a old NetApp and a long term archive backup system. None of these systems could be upgraded to later hardware, OS, support tools for seven years after the last model was sold. As old systems came back to the company as a form of trade in, the company would refurbish them and send them off to depressed areas (tax write-off), like Africa, Asia and South America for use in remote hospitals. The devices were a godsend to those people whos hospitals/clinics could not purchase either the old nor the new equipment.
Remember, the FDA controls medical equipment only in the US. Each country has their own version of the FDA and when you build a medical grade product you have to meet their criteria and regulations. It ain't a trivial task and in the IT world you use what the Engineers/designers want to use. Petty grievances about "Which OS is best" are totally out of your control.