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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.
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
Disable USB (via epoxy if needed), Ethernet only gets plugged into known-safe hardware, no wifi for sensitive hardware.
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.
Hopefully while it's still plugged in.
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
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.
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
Cleaning the computer is so low down the list of concerns for computers for healthcare.
Real issues...
1. Security: These devices need to be secure in many ways.
a. Physical Lock down, so they can't be taken away.
b. Data access ports should be locked into the pc's and free ports need to be disabled or blocked off.
c. Screen polarization. Only the person using the computer should see what is on the screen.
d. Fast authentication where the user can log-off an login easily and quickly to a system.
2. Networking: The PC will need to access the network reliability and quickly.
3. Performance: Health care data is big, there is a lot of data going across. So these systems will need to quickly work on such data.
4. Easy to Replace: if it fails, it needs to be able to be replaced quickly.
5. Affordability: Most Health Care Orgs are not for profit, and don't want to wast more money then needed.
6. Robust: They will be moved around a lot, bumped, dropped, spilled on, out in the cold or extreme heat, near magnets and radiation.
7. ADA ready: Big screens that are easy to read, easy to do user input on, etc...
8. Looks modern: sounds stupid, however when patients go into a health care settings, and they see modern systems, vs older looking one, they feel the place is more sanitary and they will take better care of you.
9. Easy to clean: this is way down on the list, because for the most part they are already being used in a clean environment. The computers are often far enough away from patients so they are not putting their germs on it, the hospitals have a good air filter system that keeps dust and other contaminates way down. Staff tying on the computer doesn't do it with their gloves on after touching patients. Using a computer in a hospital isn't any more dirty then a PC in your office, probably it is actually cleaner.
10. Long term vendor support. In many ways this could be listed in the #1 spot. But I gave it #10 because that is the easiest feature you can find.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
All fine and good until you actually need the USB. Even if just for its final act running Deriks boot and nuke. Where the CD will need to plugged into the USB to run.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
While I wouldn't recommend it, There is a good chance the computer would survive it, while it may lower its life span, as parts may corrode more quickly.
The real things I would look out for are Electrolytic capacitors rupturing, solder joints melting. And the LCD Screen. But we have a good chance it will operate after being in the autoclave.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
... 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/...
If it's a desktop PC, leaving one INTERNAL USB port enabled is an option.
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?
Nope you plug it into a special ethernet port that will netboot anything on it into a program that will wipe every storage device attached. Booting from USB is not something you should be doing on a routine basis if you are remotely competent.
'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?
Use PXE to boot a disk image of DBAN from the network. One less use for USB then.