Polka’s New Version of the iPhone Emergency Card and Feedback on the Feedback

What would life be like without feedback?  Positive or negative, Polka welcomes it all – whether it validates our mission or challenges us to make our services even better.  The only thing worse would be no feedback at all. 

This week Polka founder and CEO Mike Kirkwood had a great interview on Inside Mac Radio about Polka and the iPhone Emergency Card.  Host Scott Sheppard, a well-respected member of the Mac community and avid technologist, commented, “at $2.99, this app is a no-brainer”

We’ve also received tons of feedback from our iPhone users both in the application reviews and via email.  We have a new release in the next week that will address many requests and some of the observations about the application.  It’s great to know there are so many people realizing how vital an application like the iPhone Emergency Card is to our daily lives.

In the new version to be released, we will include tighter integration with the print version of the card, more contacts, prescription selector, allergy picker, medical conditions, and insurer information.  The new version is a free upgrade to those that have already purchased the iPhone Emergency Card.  Have a look at some of the mockups of the app.

Introducing the iPhone Emergency Card

Polka’s first iPhone™ application – the iPhone Emergency Card – is making a stellar debut with Apple’s revolutionary App Store.  It is one of the few applications to go live with their new store announced today.  Powered by Polka’s Me Services™ and Me Server™, the iPhone Emergency Card provides essential life-saving information on the extremely popular iPhone and iPod® touch devices.    You can read the entire release here at BusinessWire. (free account required).  Or read our first article, By Dennis Sellers, at Macsimum News.

About Polka’s iPhone Emergency Card

Polka’s iPhone Emergency Card for the iPhone and iPod touch is available worldwide for $2.99 today and can be downloaded from the Apple App Store at www.itunes.com/appstore/.

Polka’s iPhone Emergency Card stores users’ important health and contact information securely and makes it accessible anytime, anywhere, and when they need it most during the critical moments of an emergency.  Too often, hospital and doctors’ IT systems are diverse and unconnected, creating a scenario where a patient’s basic information must be collected from scratch.  A simple, yet possibly life-saving, solution like the iPhone Emergency Card provides vital information at users’ and emergency technicians’ fingertips.

iPhone and iPod touch users can create the iPhone Emergency Card in a matter of minutes, and detail important personal information, including emergency contacts, blood type, and more.  Users can access maps to nearest hospitals and medical centers seamlessly within the application.  In addition, iPhone users can print a wallet-sized version of their card as a back-up and hard copy.

How the iPhone Emergency Card Works

Once you’ve downloaded the application, here are some step-by step instructions and pointers to help with any lingering questions:

1. Once you install the Emergency Card on your phone, it will ask you to Edit your information.  Put in your contacts by selecting them from your iPhone contact list and key medical information in the edit screen.  
2. You are now ready to go.  Click on the “Call” button next to your contact to immediately start dialing them.     (on iPod touch the number is displayed with no “Call” button)
3. To see a map of closest hospitals to your location, click on “Map Closest Hospitals.” It will ask your permission to use your location, and will then locate the closest matches for hospitals in your location using the iPhone Google Map interfaces.   
4. To send yourself a card for printing, go to Edit Profile page and select “Create Printable Version”.  It will ask for an email address to send the card and for you to set a password.  You will be sent a card in email, which will also have a link to Polka’s website that you can logo-n and edit the card if needed.

Emergency Card Beta is Live on Web

We’re thrilled to post that our first web application, the free Emergency Card, is now live!

The Polka team has opened the application to our friends and family who will receive initial access to the emergency card as we do final tests to the system.  In a few weeks, it will be open to everyone.

We have so many great applications for managing healthcare in the pipeline that, initially, it was hard to choose the first one.  

Why the Emergency Card?  Well, we realized that everyone needs an emergency card, regardless of your state of health.   It’s as vital as your ID or cell phone.  

Polka’s Emergency Card stores your important health and contact information and makes it accessible when you need it most during the critical moments of an emergency – whenever and wherever you are.  A simple tool like an Emergency Card could save your life.  It sets you and your loved ones’ minds at ease, knowing that vital information is at emergency technicians’ fingertips.  This is why we have made a basic, yet essential, capability for the modern world free to you.    Plus, it’s a perfect example and fusion of our technology for the My Health, My Team portal, releasing this summer.

The first version of the free Emergency Card will provide users with a card in a matter of minutes.  In addition, you can choose to store the Emergency Card on Polka to change or edit in the future, or share with your emergency contact.  As time goes on, we will delve deeper to manage more information through the card and your profile as Polka layers the next services for your health.  

We’ve also completed a release candidate version for the iPhone for the iTunes App Store.  See the previous blog post.  Exciting times.

Now for some housekeeping:

To learn more about and build your Emergency Card now, please visit:

 http://www.polka.com/ecard.php

A few tips as you build your Emergency Card:

• Print it for your wallet and put it in a place that is easy to find.  Note that many Kinko’s and other copy stores have a lamination service where you can make it more protected for a nominal fee.
• Don’t put anything too private on the card that isn’t essential to your emergency health.
• Add notes to your card that may help treat you in an emergency.  Especially if you have special conditions, allergies, or reactions to drugs.
• All feedback welcome! http://www.polka.com/info

Testing the Emergency Card for the iPhone

Polka’s release candidate for the iPhone App Store is being released from under-wraps.    

It’s been an amazing journey viewing the world from an Apple perspective since we downloaded the SDK in April and got started. Thank you to everyone at Apple for the opportunity to leverage the most powerful communication platform the world has ever seen.  

Some key features in our first beta application for My Health are shown below.  

Screenshot 1

Mike’s phone, with My Emergency Info app (top row, second from left). 

Screenshot 2

The My Emergency Info, after being initially setup by the user, has the user’s critical information in one place.  In this first screen, the user has their top two emergency contacts (click button to call them) and info about the person (date of birth and blood-type), as well as the ability to find the closest hospitals on the map.

Screenshot 3 

Edit the emergency information here to store on the iPhone.  Optional:  Have Polka send you a card for you wallet!

Deep Breath

For the past year, it seems like we’ve been holding our breath – trying to determine the sweet spot for our technology and business model, while getting investors interested in Polka.

And finally it all came together.

We have our initial funding.  Best of all, we found our direction and where Polka fits in the world.  We spent a year building the precision identity platform that allows you to publish your data and control who it is shared with.  Our business goals are directly tied to the basis of a good life – your health – and it just feels right.

We are applying Polka technology to enable greater, streamlined access to your healthcare management online and through mobile phones, as well as collaboration with your health support team of family, friends, and health professionals.  The problem out there is huge, but we’re ready to tackle it and begin to empower users with the new, patent-pending Me Server(TM) and the My Health and My Team portals.

Everything is clicking just as it should.  We have arrived with the right business at the right time and with the right people.  Feedback from key stakeholders and the industry has been overwhelmingly positive.  We’re perfectly aligned and quietly gaining momentum at a rapid pace because the healthcare industry is ready for a solution and evolution.  And we’re ready to deliver.

Breathe in deep.  We’re taking the plunge, and remembering to focus on each moment along the way.

Welcome to Polka.   My Health, My Team  

Me Server™

Me Server™ is a new technology that enables “me” to publish all the information I choose both securely and confidently, while controlling the sharing of it with other subscribers when I need it most.

Me Server is the first system to represent me and abstract on the network for the express purpose of sharing it securely across all of the networks I participate in.  It is the architecture that is powering Polka’s applications, and it’s the next-generation identity framework that, for the first time, is oriented around me.

Traditionally, identity software and systems have focused on the “me” inside the system.  Polka embraces the vision of an open and portable web that shares the version of “me” within these networks.  Me Server is my memory of tactical and strategic things, and in Polka’s health applications becomes life changing.

Me Server was invented to address the economics of the large-scale systems and integrate it with a new solution.  Polka treats the individual as a peer to the enterprise, and gives the individual tools to keep affairs in order.   An empowering idea at its core, Me Server also provides a new pattern of systems integration that allows my identity to move beyond websites and into my life. 

Me Server is a new alternative to the log-on challenges throughout the myriad of healthcare systems by bringing, for the first time, secure record-sharing across multiple channels to manage health interests.  The innovation of Me Server is the spark to solving the challenges of health records management.

With Me Server, I can share my information with whom I want and when I want, starting with the Emergency Network and Emergency Card where I can share my key health information in case of emergency and connect my emergency contact, doctor, and emergency technician immediately.  

That’s what I’d expect, from a Me on the network.   Coming soon.

Random Acts of Love: Do Good for Your Sweetie

Another Valentine’s Day!

Trying to get reservations at an overcrowded restaurant for an expensive prix fixe menu? Running off to the corner shop to buy overpriced flowers and chocolates at the last minute?

Relax!

Polka has a way to really treat your sweethearts to something memorable. Welcome to Random Acts of Love — the latest Polka initiative.

This year why not send your sweetie a special Polka-gram with a wonderful gift straight from the heart. Instead of that bouquet and candy box, why not plant some bulbs and buy a box of fair trade chocolates? That overpriced dinner? How about donating to your honey’s favorite charity and buy dinner for those less fortunate?

With our Random Acts of Love initiative, you can demonstrate your love in a unique, thoughtful way by substituting those tired Valentine gifts for something that will make a positive impact. There are lots of great choices and opportunities. We’re sure your Valentine will always remember this gift that can change lives around the world or make a difference right in your own home.

Sending a Valentine’s Polka-gram is free and it’s ok to send more than one!

All Random Acts of Love Polka-grams will be sent on February 14. Cruise on over to the Random Acts of Love and share the love: http://alpha.polka.com/love.php

Step-by-step instructions:

• Click the “Style” button and choose between four styles to customize the look of your Valentine Polka-gram. Once you’ve found the one you like, click it..
• Click the “Quote” button and choose one of our many heartfelt quotes to include in your message. Be sure to click through the pages until you find the one that’s just right for you. Select the “Pick” button when you find one that’s appropriate, and it will be highlighted.
• Click the “Gift” button – and here’s where it really gets good. You’ll have the opportunity to tell your loved one that “Instead of buying chocolate or candy, I will…” And you choose what seems right for you and your sweetie. Make a positive impact on the world with a donation or promise to do something personal for and with them. Be sure to click through the pages until you find the best choice. All options, including the charitable ideas, are linked to sites for you to take further action or for more ideas. Select the “Pick” button when you find one that’s right, and it will be highlighted.
• Click the “Message” button, and you’ll be able to enter a personal message and the appropriate email addresses to send it to your sweetie. You can also include your email for a confirmation to be sent. Don’t worry. We won’t ever bug you or your sweetheart with marketing or spam. When you’re done, click the red “X” button in the right-hand corner or “Close” button below and your selection will appear in the message window.
• Take a look at your Valentine, and if it’s all good (and we’re sure it is!), click the “Done and Send It” button at the right-hand corner. Your Polka-gram will be delivered on February 14, and if you included your email in the “Message” section, you will receive a confirmation.
• Still have questions? Email us at info@polka.com

Polka Alpha Release Completion

Many thanks to the hundreds of people who participated in Polka’s alpha release.

The site, at http://alpha.polka.com has received great feedback and hit our objective for traffic and use for our thorough testing of the system and the concept.

In this release, we completed

• First point to point transactions between people and other people sharing lists about themselves and their groups
• Transactions with people organizations (Acts of Kindness)
• Integration examples and operational testing with Amazon, eBay, Google, Yahoo
• Services architecture implementation of Polka’s engine
• Front end application framework for delivering Polka within devices and browsers

On the 6 week testing cycle on the polka alpha site

• 477 lists
• 1105 ListItems created
• 1816 ListItems updated
• 444 Connections
• 2,000 Unique visitors
• 19,000 page views
• 175 Members created

Since launching (our 1.0 release), we have released 6 pushes including:

• 30 major and minor bug fixes
• 18 feature requests
• 1 major UI upgrade

This release solidified Polka’s path to beta. Development and planning are underway.

For current/future users: The Alpha site remains active for Polka alpha testers continuing to use Polka for list management and sharing. We will be posting our planned downtime for code upgrades on the site.

Onward!

GREAT EXPECTATIONS FOR 2008

LOOKING BACK

2007 has been quite a year for Polka Networks.

Not only have we launched our website and alpha application, we’ve also created an entirely new way to connect people to the world around them. We call this our Do Network and you’ll see more of how this works in ‘08. In these early days of Polka, we’ve deliberately taken a positive approach to technology by leveraging our Do Network for a Do-Good Network.

In the past couple of months alone, our Polka community has made a remarkable impact on families in need with our Lost & Found Initiative and Holiday Initiative. We feel incredibly blessed to be sharing and creating Polka with you.

LOOKING AHEAD
The start of a new year inevitably inspires us to make resolutions. We have many goals, both professional and personal, here at Polka Networks. Since we take our inspiration from you, our members, we’d like to know what you want Polka to be able to do for you in 2008. Give us your two cents at Polka, Can You Do This?.

And in the spirit of being the first Do-Good Network, please share your New Year’s Wishes for Planet Earth. Over here at Polka, we’d like to put an end to junk mail and see everyone carrying reusable shopping bags. How about you? List your resolutions for Planet Earth here. Who knows – we might just be able to make some of these things happen next year.

Finally, we’ve created a list just for you – one that goes beyond 2008. Start your list of the 100 Things You Want to Do in Your Lifetime. This is a place to dream – dreams BIG and small. And maybe, just maybe, by putting your dreams out there and sharing them with the world, they’ll come true.Warmest wishes to you and yours this holiday season. We can’t wait to experience and share 2008 with all of you.

Sincerely,

Mike and the Polka Networks crew

How to Spread Holiday Cheer with only a Few Clicks

During this holiday season, the UCSD Rady School of Management and Polka Networks are partnering with SAY San Diego for their annual Adopt-A-Family initiative.

Each family has created a Holiday Wish List, posted under their profile. They need help with everything from grocery store gift certificates to buying presents for the kids (and the parents too!). All gifts should be wrapped and labeled with the name of the recipient and their family. Every family will need a gift card for the grocery store nearest them (as identified in their Holiday Wish List), and you can also buy gift cards so people can pick out their own presents. Stores like Target and Wal-Mart are great, especially for people asking for clothes.

All items must be dropped off to Jill Gibson or Lea Sapinoso (both on the 3rd floor of Otterson Hall) by December 14th. Please call ahead (858/822-2982) to make sure someone is there to receive your donations.

The participating families are listed under Connections as RAMONAS FAMILY, YANEHTS FAMILY, STEPHANIES FAMILY, ROSAS FAMILY, MARIAS FAMILY, JACQUELINES FAMILY, IRMAS FAMILY and VICTORS FAMILY.

If you have any questions, please contact Jill Gibson (jillgibson@ucsd.edu). Thank you very much for sharing your holiday generosity.

ABOUT THE CHARITY
SAY San Diego is an acronym for Social Activists for Youth. Their mission is to prevent juvenile delinquency by providing counseling, before and after school child care, learning disability testing, substance abuse prevention, job skills classes, after school activities, and more for children and their families.

ABOUT POLKA NETWORKS
Polka Networks is a DoGood Network, founded by Rady alum Mike Kirkwood. As the network evolves, it will help you to connect to exactly who and what you want based on your preferences, and to create settings for privacy and sharing so that you can regain control over your transactions and exposure both on and offline.

STEP-BY-STEP INSTRUCTIONS

1. Go to http://alpha.polka.com/ and sign up as a new user of Polka. Note: Your Polka “alias” (username) must be 6 or more characters in length. Your information will not be shared with any third parties, including SAY San Diego.
2. After you register you will be directed to your home page – “myDot.”
3. You can fill out your profile details by clicking on My Profile on the left side of the page and then clicking on Edit Profile.
4. After updating your profile, click on update at the bottom of the screen and then Home at the top left of the screen.
5. You can find your family’s profile by clicking on Make a New Connection on the right of your myDot page. When you click on this, a search box will open where you can enter the name of your family or search alphabetically. Or, you can use the “search for people” link at the top of the page.
6. When you see that family’s profile come up, click on it. This takes you to their profile. Click on Connect to this member, which is located just above the Polka person icon.
7. Once connected, they will be added to your Connections. Their profile and lists will be visible from your myDot page. To view their Holiday Wish list, you can either click back on the connection and then click on Lists on the left side of your screen or click directly through to their list from your MyDot page under Lists From Your Connections.
8. Review the list of things they would like this holiday and choose what you will contribute.
9. Double-click on the description box of the item(s) and add a note so your teammates can see what you’re contributing. For example:
   
   
10. If all of the items have been provided within a list entry, then you can check off that part of the list by clicking on the checkmark in the circle.
11. All items must be dropped off to Jill Gibson or Lea Sapinoso (both on the 3rd floor of Otterson Hall) by December 14th. Please call ahead (858/822-2982) to make sure someone is there to receive your donations.
12. For questions about the charity, please contact your team captain or contact Jill Gibson at jillgibson@ucsd.edu. For technical questions about Polka Networks, please email info@polka.com.