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Medical Forum / Diseases and Disorders / Diabetes / August 2005weird UltraSmart meter glitch
I've been using an UltraSmart meter since February, and I love it. Several weeks ago when I was doing a test, after the meter counted down the screen went blank for a couple of seconds, and then the result appeared. I had put in fresh Energizer batteries very recently, so I knew it wasn't a problem with that. I watched the screen carefully after that and everything was fine, but then it happened again several days later. So far it's happened four times this month. The last time the screen stayed blank for 3-4 seconds and I thought it had died. The results, as far as I can tell, are fine. I guess I'll call Lifescan and ask them about it but was wondering if this is a known problem. My meter also will sometimes reset itself and lose the code and date, but all of my personal settings & test results are fine. I just have to reset the time and enter the strip code. -- Liz >I've been using an UltraSmart meter since February, and I love it. Several >weeks ago when I was doing a test, after the meter counted down the screen [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] >code and date, but all of my personal settings & test results are fine. I >just have to reset the time and enter the strip code. Did this glitch ever happen before you replaced the batteries? If not, I'd check for a poor battery connection. Use a Q-Tip dampened with some electronic cleaner to clean the battery contact points in the meter. Ross. To email, remove the "obvious" from my address. > Did this glitch ever happen before you replaced the batteries? > If not, I'd check for a poor battery connection. Use a Q-Tip dampened [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > Ross. > To email, remove the "obvious" from my address. Ross, It just started happening earlier this month. I can't remember when I changed the meter batteries, but it wasn't that long ago. June or July, Energizer alkaline. The meter had been working fine with the new batteries for weeks before the problem first appeared. I did call Lifescan and the guy I spoke to said he had never heard of that happening before. They're going to send me a new UltraSmart and a label to return my original one. It doesn't seem to affect the testing or reults but I don't want it to lead to something worse. -- Liz > > Did this glitch ever happen before you replaced the batteries? > > If not, I'd check for a poor battery connection. Use a Q-Tip dampened [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > Energizer alkaline. The meter had been working fine with the new batteries > for weeks before the problem first appeared. "Alkaline" batteries?!! You should check you manual, My OneTouch Ultra uses Lithium. ==== Tecknomage ==== "Four people on a lifeboat are not entitled, as an act of democracy, to vote to eat the fifth." -Stephen Scott, Professor of Law, McGill University >"Alkaline" batteries?!! You should check you manual, My OneTouch >Ultra uses Lithium. The Ultra and the Ultrasmart use different batteries. The Ultrasmart uses AAA batteries. Someone commented that they wanted it to include a cell phone. Not me! But an alarm that could be set for either one hour or two hours would be really handy. Perhaps someday there will be the Ultrabrilliant. -- Lord, make me an instrument of your peace... where there is hatred, let me sow love. remove "spamtrap" for e-mail Andrea schrieb: > Someone commented that they wanted it to include a cell phone. Not me! But > an alarm that could be set for either one hour or two hours would be really > handy. Perhaps someday there will be the Ultrabrilliant. Are there plans for an updated version? Soon there will be no more insulinpumps not capable of diffent kinds of bolus like multiwave... the UltraSmart does not support these. Have you heard something about a planed implementation for these options? Anja > Andrea schrieb: > > > Someone commented that they wanted it to include a cell phone. Not me! But > > an alarm that could be set for either one hour or two hours would be really > > handy. Perhaps someday there will be the Ultrabrilliant. I have a FreeStyle that has 4 alarms or so. I never seem to eat at the same time exactly so never tried them. Love the UltraSmart. -I just wish it had a keypad so I could enter notes when I'm away from the software program, where I can enter notes / comments, etc. > Are there plans for an updated version? Soon there will be no more > insulinpumps not capable of diffent kinds of bolus like multiwave... the > UltraSmart does not support these. Have you heard something about a > planed implementation for these options? > > Anja I haven't heard about anything new. But for sure they are working on something. Always moving forward with bigger and better things. They have to, else they won't be here for long. That's the way things work in this world. -- Dave Slap schrieb: > I have a FreeStyle that has 4 alarms or so. I never seem to eat at the same > time exactly so never tried them. > > Love the UltraSmart. -I just wish it had a keypad so I could enter notes > when I'm away from the software program, where I can enter notes / comments, > etc. You know SiDiary (http://www.sidiary.org/)? If you already have a Freestyle and PDA or SmartPhone...? > I haven't heard about anything new. But for sure they are working on > something. Always moving forward with bigger and better things. They have > to, else they won't be here for long. Hmmm... I don't think that the UltraSmart is really state of the art... especially regarding pump therapy, there are a lot of things to improve (no option to keep track of catheter or ampul change, no possibility to define one's own events (especially some new CSII ideas work with a declaration of the rule type on which a decision was based), no management of basal profiles)... Think about it: Which group of diabetics is the one with the most benefit of a device like the UltraSmart? People with a high amount of fluctuating data -> People with an insulin pump and for example shift work... Which is the largest group and in terms of money interesting one? Diabetics type 2. The UltraSmart would have the capability to do much more than it does today, in my opinion the concept is not worked out clear enough. To really benefit from it you have to use it with a PC, but that is to complicated for most of the type 2, so there are some fancy statistics with the device. The capacity used for that coud have been used elsewhere. If you than take a look at the fantastic and colorful PC-software, it won't meet any requirements for CSII documentation. ...just a few thoughts ;-) Anja > Slap schrieb: > [quoted text clipped - 34 lines] > ...just a few thoughts ;-) > Anja AND IT DON'T WOIK ON A MAC! :(  Signaturehttp://homepage.mac.com/mkatzman/ Marshall schrieb: > AND IT DON'T WOIK ON A MAC! Have you tried to program a tool to read the device youself? Anja > Marshall schrieb: > [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > > Anja I use it on Virtual PC, very sloooow and on a borrowed Dell Laptop (inconvenient). > Hmmm... I don't think that the UltraSmart is really state of the art... > especially regarding pump therapy, there are a lot of things to improve > (no option to keep track of catheter or ampul change, no possibility to > define one's own events (especially some new CSII ideas work with a > declaration of the rule type on which a decision was based), no > management of basal profiles)... Not sure what you are comparing it to. There is a better pda type meter? > Think about it: Which group of diabetics is the one with the most > benefit of a device like the UltraSmart? People with a high amount of > fluctuating data -> People with an insulin pump and for example shift > work... > Which is the largest group and in terms of money interesting one? > Diabetics type 2. Fore sure they are going to go where the money is. After that there should be some spilloff for the other group. Something has to finance this R&D stuff. > The UltraSmart would have the capability to do much more than it does > today, in my opinion the concept is not worked out clear enough. To > really benefit from it you have to use it with a PC, but that is to > complicated for most of the type 2, so there are some fancy statistics > with the device. Wow! Quite a blanket statement there. That is if you ment 'too complicated' instead of 'to complicated'. I'm a type 2 and have no problem with computer type stuff. To be honest with you when I bought the UltraSmart the guy did say they didn't sell that many as people wanted something simple rather then a fancy type device. He probably didn't understand the machine himself thus could not sell it anyway. >The capacity used for that coud have been used > elsewhere. If you than take a look at the fantastic and colorful > PC-software, it won't meet any requirements for CSII documentation. Agreed their software is pretty plain and ill behaved, -it just kills me that it thinks it's so great it fires up full screen all the time. Hopefully they will work on it. I'd like to be able to download to the machine as well as to my computer among other things. Know of better software for the UltraSmart? > ...just a few thoughts ;-) > Anja -- dave Slap schrieb: > > Hmmm... I don't think that the UltraSmart is really state of the art... > > especially regarding pump therapy, there are a lot of things to improve [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > > Not sure what you are comparing it to. There is a better pda type meter? No. I am thinking of details which belong to a documentation but are not implemented in the UltraSmart. There is a programm called SiDiary which can be used on PC, PDA or SmartPhone to document various details. And there is something from Abott (FreestyleTracker?), but I have no details about that. > > The UltraSmart would have the capability to do much more than it does > > today, in my opinion the concept is not worked out clear enough. To [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > complicated' instead of 'to complicated'. I'm a type 2 and have no problem > with computer type stuff. I know... but that seems to be the way others think. The producers of blood glucose meters also seem to think that diabetic patients only wants to give false numbers to their doctors or which other reason is there why meters from about fifteen years ago where able to delete particular meassurements on demand and the new ones are not? > To be honest with you when I bought the UltraSmart the guy did say they > didn't sell that many as people wanted something simple rather then a fancy > type device. He probably didn't understand the machine himself thus could > not sell it anyway. Depends on the patient. Some need a display with big numbers, test stripes which can be easily handled and no stripe coding because they would forget about it and they advertise those meters with "simple one buttom handling" or so... well, on the other side there is the new Freestyle... very small, test stripe lighting (perfect while watching a movie) and unlike OTU or OTUS with a detailed (and correct) description on how to programm a tool to read it. There are different groups of patients and most probably the guy who sold it knew only the other group of patients... > Know of better software for the UltraSmart? DiabAss (www. DiabAss.info), SiDiary (www.SiDiary.org), and a tool, that just reads the meter and gives the data to a csv-File, but is for personal use only. Anja Hi, Anja! Anja Länge <anja.laenge@gmx.de> wrote on Mon, 29 Aug 2005 20:56:43 +0200: > Slap schrieb: >> > The UltraSmart would have the capability to do much more than it >> > does today, in my opinion the concept is not worked out clear >> > enough. To really benefit from it you have to use it with a PC, but >> > that is to complicated for most of the type 2, so there are some >> > fancy statistics with the device. >> Wow! Quite a blanket statement there. ... I'm a type 2 and have no >> problem with computer type stuff. > I know... but that seems to be the way others think. The producers of > blood glucose meters also seem to think that diabetic patients only > want to give false numbers to their doctors or which other reason is > there why meters from about fifteen years ago were able to delete > particular meassurements on demand and the new ones are not? I've been wondering that, too. I had a tussle with Lifescan's idiot women in Neckargemünd a few years back about that. They prevaricated and pretended to be too stupid to understand what I was saying, so in the end I just gave up. (Gave up with their meters, too.) My current theory is that most BS meters are handed out by doctors, and doctors have, in large measure, refused to distribute meters with which patients have control over their own data - it's a power/dominance thing on the part of doctors. I think meters from Bayer still allow you to delete data, but it's an all-or-nothing deletion, not a selective one. BS Meters which store patients' results without their consent almost certainly violate data protection law somewhere. >> To be honest with you when I bought the UltraSmart the guy did say >> they didn't sell that many as people wanted something simple rather >> then a fancy type device. He probably didn't understand the machine >> himself thus could not sell it anyway. Yes, I want something simple, too. And it's nothing to do with being "too old and dim" to understand anything more complicated (I'm a software engineer, after all). It's about getting a robust, dependable, elegantly designed single purpose tool, which won't irritate with superfluous functionality and will require no effort to set up and use. As Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, aircraft pioneer and children's author said, a design is finished not when there's nothing left to add, but when there's nothing left to take away. I think most older people understand this intuitively. > Depends on the patient. Some need a display with big numbers, test > stripes which can be easily handled and no stripe coding because they > would forget about it and they advertise those meters with "simple one > buttom handling" or so... well, on the other side there is the new > Freestyle... very small, .... Oh no it's not. It's just not quite so enormous as the other meters around. If a manufacturer were serious about making a small meter, it would be barely larger than an insulin bottle (length ~6cm, diameter 2cm). And on that Freestyle meter, only about half the screen area is used for displaying the result. > ..., test stripe lighting (perfect while watching a movie) and unlike > OTU or OTUS with a detailed (and correct) description on how to > programm a tool to read it. > There are different groups of patients and most probably the guy who > sold it knew only the other group of patients... [ .... ] > Anja SignatureAlan Mackenzie (Munich, Germany) Email: aacm@muuc.dee; to decode, wherever there is a repeated letter (like "aa"), remove half of them (leaving, say, "a"). > Hmmm... I don't think that the UltraSmart is really state of the art... > especially regarding pump therapy, there are a lot of things to improve [quoted text clipped - 18 lines] > ...just a few thoughts ;-) > Anja Anja, I use a pump and I would love if the UltraSmart could keep track of more data. However, since none of the meters (AFAIK) keep track of basal rates, dual wave bolus, set changes etc. the UltraSmart is the best choice. My pump dies keep track of those things, but then I have data in two different places. I refuse to use the BD meter that came with the pump. I did actually use a BD Logic for awhile last year and liked it better than the Ultra (NOT UltraSmart). I did a lot of side-by-side readings and the BD was fine and it allowed me to enter insulin taken, which the Ultra doesn't do. Compared to an UltraSmart, the BD sucks. One thing I miss about my old Profile is the events labels. They had labels for Fasting and other things that the UltraSmart doesn't have. I often wait until I get to work before eating breakfast and sometimes I'll end up with 2 or 3 readings marked "Before Breakfast". Ditto for results labeled "After Lunch". I use the free Lifescan software to download the meter and print reports to bring when I meet with the CDE. It would be nice if set changes and basal rates could be shown in those reports, but it's not that important. I mainly want the reports to show the date, time, BG reading, carbs & insulin which is what they do. MiniMed has their own software (or maybe it's BD's software) but they charge a lot of money for it, and it doesn't work with the UltraSmart. -- Liz One thing I miss about my old Profile is the events labels. They had labels for Fasting and other things that the UltraSmart doesn't have. I often wait until I get to work before eating breakfast and sometimes I'll end up with 2 or 3 readings marked "Before Breakfast". Ditto for results labeled "After Lunch". =================================== You can change those labels. Bring up the log for the entry you want, press "OK", then choose which label to change, press "OK" & change the label or type. You can even have a test result w/o any labels -- just change it to the blank entry. It's easier & faster to make the change at the time of the test, though -- just press "OK" when the result comes up & proceed from there. bj > You can change those labels. Bring up the log for the entry you want, > press [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > from there. > bj I know you can change the labels. What I meant was I wish there were more of them. One for "fasting" would be great. I do end up changing the meal labels often, because I don't follow much of a routine. Some days I might eat breakfast at 8:00am, sometimes at noon. Since the labels get assigned automatically depending on the personal schedule you've set, they can be wrong. Usually a test I do at noon would be labelled "Before Lunch", when it could really be Before Breakfast. -- Liz > I know you can change the labels. What I meant was I wish there were more > of them. So do I. And I told them so. Maybe they'll make some of these improvements in the next version. > One for "fasting" would be great. Isn't that what "before breakfast" means? > Usually a test I do at noon would be labelled "Before Lunch", when it > could really be Before Breakfast. It's a nuisance to be changing the designation all the time, but if it weren't "automatic" on some level you'd still have to enter it in some fashion. bj >> I know you can change the labels. What I meant was I wish there were >> more of them. [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > > Isn't that what "before breakfast" means? It can be. But I often end up checking my BG 2 or 3 times before actually eating breakfast. Some of those tests are after taking some insulin, but before eating anything. You can also fast at times other than overnight. -- Liz Elizabeth Blake schrieb: > I know you can change the labels. What I meant was I wish there were more > of them. One for "fasting" would be great. I do end up changing the meal [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > wrong. Usually a test I do at noon would be labelled "Before Lunch", when > it could really be Before Breakfast. Is that wise? The factors you are using to calculate your insulin dosage don't depend on the name you are giving a meal but on the time at which you are taking it. If I take my breakfast at 3 o'clock in the afternoon the more important thing is the factor relevant at that time of day. Anja Elizabeth Blake schrieb: > I use a pump and I would love if the UltraSmart could keep track of > more data. However, since none of the meters (AFAIK) keep track of > basal rates, dual wave bolus, set changes etc. the UltraSmart is the > best choice. So far: yes. > My pump dies keep track of those things, but then I have > data in two different places. If you had a programm which could handle both devices you could put the data together on a PC. Anja > Elizabeth Blake schrieb: > [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > > Anja I've been told that Lifescan won't give out their code (or whatever) for the UltraSmart to anyone. The program that MiniMed offers can download info from various meters, including the Ultra, but they told me that unless Lifescan agrees to share the info, they can't support the UltraSmart. Since my UltraSmart has most of the same info in the pump (except basal rates & what type of bolus was used) the Lifescan software works fine. My NP/CDE likes the reports I bring in, and they're easy to read, so we're both happy. -- Liz Elizabeth Blake schrieb: > I've been told that Lifescan won't give out their code (or whatever) for the > UltraSmart to anyone. The authors of DiabAss and SiDiary got those specifications. Important was, that they asked as a company not as a person and that they signed something not to give the information to anyone else. I did some work on the UltraSmart and took a look at the data flow between PC and UltraSmart at the serial port... it is possible to read the device without having the specification from Lifescan. Anja >I have a FreeStyle that has 4 alarms or so. I never seem to eat at the same >time exactly so never tried them. I wouldn't want something with an alarm for a particular time since meals may vary. I'd like to be able to do a pre-meal test then hit a button and have an alarm go off an hour later. That would be very convenient! -- Lord, make me an instrument of your peace... where there is hatred, let me sow love. remove "spamtrap" for e-mail > I wouldn't want something with an alarm for a particular time since meals > may vary. I'd like to be able to do a pre-meal test then hit a button and > have an alarm go off an hour later. That would be very convenient! You could use a runner's watch with a countdown timer. I'd be unlikely to hear any alarm on a meter in my purse anyway. bj > Andrea schrieb: > [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > > Anja The Minimed/BD interface was a farce. People had to have their meters replaced time and time again because they gave bad readings. I wouldn't trust something like that at all. I'd enter everything manually, just like I do now. That said, I remember hearing somewhere that Animas was in cahoots with LifeScan for some sort of meter/pump interface. I trust a LifeScan meter over any other brand, but not enough to risk an overdose. Vicki Vicki Beausoleil schrieb: > That said, I remember hearing somewhere that Animas was in cahoots with > LifeScan for some sort of meter/pump interface. Deltec Cozmo and Freestyle have: http://www.cozmore.com > but not enough to risk an overdose. In my opinion it's always the better way to calculate a dose yourself and correct the one proposed from the meter/pump if necessary before applying it. Anja > The Minimed/BD interface was a farce. People had to have their meters > replaced time and time again because they gave bad readings. I wouldn't [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > > Vicki Animas is partnered with MiniMed. I don't think the meters are any different and they don't have special functions that work only with the Animas pumps. With BD, that Link meter will send readings directly to a MiniMed Paradigm pump, but I don't think the Lifescan meters do anything like that. The Cozmo pump comes with a Freestyle meter that can be attached and will also send the results directly to the pump. Maybe Animas & Lifescan will eventually develop an exclusive meter, but for now they use ordinary Ultra/Ultrasmart meters. Lifescan doesn't even have any special software just for Animas pump users. -- Liz > > The Minimed/BD interface was a farce. People had to have their meters > > replaced time and time again because they gave bad readings. I wouldn't [quoted text clipped - 19 lines] > -- > Liz Animas isn't partnered with MiniMed. They're competitors. As far as I can remember, Animas and LifeScan will be doing the meter/pump interface similar to MiniMed and BD and Deltec/Freestyle. I personally don't like the idea of a meter and pump interface. My personal needs vary from day to day, from meal to meal. It would mean either an awful lot of programming from the outset, or constant overrides. I take more than the amount of carbohydrates that I'm going to be eating into consideration when bolusing for meals - time of day, time of month, exercise level, heck, even what shift I happen to be working in a particular week. For me, it wouldn't work. I realize I'm not exactly normal, though ;-) One of the reasons I started pumping in the first place is because I needed the flexibility only a pump can give. Besides, relying on the pump to do all the work would be great for kids, and for their parnets' peace of mind, but what happens when something goes wrong? You still need to educate the pump user how to do everything manually, and do it properly. All the rest is just window-dressing. Vicki Animas IR1200 Vicki Beausoleil schrieb: > I personally don't like the idea of a meter and pump interface. My > personal needs vary from day to day, from meal to meal. It would mean [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > working in a particular week. For me, it wouldn't work. I realize I'm > not exactly normal, though ;-) You are! You just don't know all the factors of the equation ;-) > but what happens when something goes wrong? You still > need to educate the pump user how to do everything manually, and do it > properly. All the rest is just window-dressing. As far as I know there is no reliable system to calculate a bolus up to now. Of course they'll make progress, but in the time needed to do that, there might also be a closed loop system or healing by means of gene therapy. Anja >> Animas is partnered with MiniMed. I don't think the meters are any >> different and they don't have special functions that work only with the [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > can remember, Animas and LifeScan will be doing the meter/pump interface > similar to MiniMed and BD and Deltec/Freestyle. D'oh! I meant to say Animas is partnered with Lifescan! > I personally don't like the idea of a meter and pump interface. My > personal needs vary from day to day, from meal to meal. It would mean [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > working in a particular week. For me, it wouldn't work. I realize I'm > not exactly normal, though ;-) I don't mind not having the BG readings sent to my pump automatically. It takes a couple of seconds to do manually. With the BD meter, there are certain places you can't even have them set to communicate (like airplanes), and the meter has to be fairly close to the pump for it to work. I'd much rather choose my own meter and push a few extra buttons. > One of the reasons I started pumping in the first place is because I > needed the flexibility only a pump can give. Besides, relying on the [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > Vicki > Animas IR1200 I like the Bolus Wizard feature of my pump but I do often change the suggested bolus. Sometimes I increase it and sometimes I decrease it. I'd say I take their recommended bolus about 80% of the time. I think people who do exactly what the pump suggests every time must end up with a lot of unusual BG readings. I use the bolus wizard result as a guide, and it does help. If my pump did die and I needed to go back to MDI for a couple of days, I'd be better prepared for that now. -- Liz > Someone commented that they wanted it to include a cell phone. Not me! But > an alarm that could be set for either one hour or two hours would be really > handy. Perhaps someday there will be the Ultrabrilliant. My cell phone has an alarm SignatureNo Husband Has Ever Been Shot While Doing The Dishes > >"Alkaline" batteries?!! You should check you manual, My OneTouch > >Ultra uses Lithium. [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > an alarm that could be set for either one hour or two hours would be really > handy. Perhaps someday there will be the Ultrabrilliant. "Ultrabrilliant" that would be nice, but not on AAA batteries. ==== Tecknomage ==== "Four people on a lifeboat are not entitled, as an act of democracy, to vote to eat the fifth." -Stephen Scott, Professor of Law, McGill University Elizabeth Blake <poodlebone@spamless.earthlink.net> wrote on Sun, 28 Aug 2005 02:51:49 GMT: > I've been using an UltraSmart meter since February, and I love it. > Several weeks ago when I was doing a test, after the meter counted down [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > the screen stayed blank for 3-4 seconds and I thought it had died. The > results, as far as I can tell, are fine. > I guess I'll call Lifescan and ask them about it but was wondering if > this is a known problem. My meter also will sometimes reset itself and > lose the code and date, but all of my personal settings & test results > are fine. I just have to reset the time and enter the strip code. Forgive me when I make some observations here, which will be no help to you whatsoever! The UltraSmart meter is a device which contains a blood sugar meter. It also has a programmable pocket calculator, a calander, a mobile telephone, an alarm clock, a GPS locator, a web browser, and what not. (OK, there's a bit of exaggeration there, but not much.) With that much functionality buzzing through its processor, it's somewhat unreasonable to expect that it will work 100%, 100% of the time. Think about Microsoft's Internet Explorer. That couple of seconds of the screen going blank will be a battery saving strategem, which on your device is triggering in the wrong circumstances. It's what Lifescan's engineers actually programmed it to do, not what they thought they had programmed it to do. (I'm a software engineer, I have insight into such things. ;-) One has to be adult about such things - a simple, single-purpose device will work, reliably, constantly, until it eventually dies. A BS meter which measures your BS and displays it on a screen until you switch it off AND DOES ABSOLUTELY NOTHING ELSE will work reliably. The more bells and whistles you heap on to it, the more dark shadows there are for gremlins to hide in. One of these just bit you. > Liz SignatureAlan Mackenzie (Munich, Germany) Email: aacm@muuc.dee; to decode, wherever there is a repeated letter (like "aa"), remove half of them (leaving, say, "a"). > Elizabeth Blake <poodlebone@spamless.earthlink.net> wrote on Sun, 28 Aug > 2005 02:51:49 GMT: > > I've been using an UltraSmart meter since February, and I love it. > > Several weeks ago when I was doing a test, after the meter counted down > > the screen went blank for a couple of seconds, and then the result > > appeared. I had put in fresh Energizer batteries very recently, so I > Forgive me when I make some observations here, which will be no help to > you whatsoever! [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > to expect that it will work 100%, 100% of the time. Think about > Microsoft's Internet Explorer. Myself I can't wait for that model. My UltraSmart works very well now and as they add various functions (say, a cell phone for example) there is no reason for the device to fail. Slap <slap@gmail.com> wrote on Mon, 29 Aug 2005 13:07:55 GMT: >> Elizabeth Blake <poodlebone@spamless.earthlink.net> wrote on Sun, 28 >> Aug 2005 02:51:49 GMT: [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] >> > result appeared. I had put in fresh Energizer batteries very >> > recently, so I >> Forgive me when I make some observations here, which will be no help >> to you whatsoever! >> The UltraSmart meter is a device which contains a blood sugar meter. >> It also has a programmable pocket calculator, a calander, a mobile [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] >> unreasonable to expect that it will work 100%, 100% of the time. >> Think about Microsoft's Internet Explorer. > Myself I can't wait for that model. My UltraSmart works very well now > and as they add various functions (say, a cell phone for example) there > is no reason for the device to fail. Sorry to have to say you're wrong here, but you're wrong here! It's the addition of "various functions", the increase in complexity, which caused Elizabeth's UltraSmart to behave strangely. Programming devices like these is what I do for a living. A BS meter is basically a computer program with a sensor and a screen attached. Three desirable attributes of a program are that it be feature-rich, cheap, and reliable. You can have any two of these three attributes. SignatureAlan Mackenzie (Munich, Germany) Email: aacm@muuc.dee; to decode, wherever there is a repeated letter (like "aa"), remove half of them (leaving, say, "a"). > >Slap <slap@gmail.com> wrote on Mon, 29 Aug 2005 13:07:55 GMT: > > [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > feature-rich, cheap, and reliable. You can have any two of these three > attributes. You serious? I suspect a computer can very easily do say 1000 different things in a given time frame... say 1/4 second while its idling. The UltraSmart would just stay in it's testing loop for 5 seconds while it was figuring out the BS. Then it would go answer the phone or something. Not that hard to program, just interrupt when the strip is inserted (does that now) and wait till the blood hits meanwhile updating the clock, checking for mail, etc. while waiting for the user to find the fresh new Lancet. Blood hits -go process it and display results. Piece of cake. -- dave >> Sorry to have to say you're wrong here, but you're wrong here! It's the >> addition of "various functions", the increase in complexity, which caused [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] >> >You serious? I suspect he is. And I agree. He DIDN'T say a computer couldn't multi-task. He said a computer could be two, but not all three, of feature-rich, cheap, and reliable. Adding features either adds cost or makes it unreliable. Or both. This applies also to cars. I have heard first-hand descriptions of added features like GPS navigation with built-in maps (if you ask it the "wrong" question) crashing the car computer in such a way that you can't start the car. Much to the disgust of the mechanic at the dealer, this guy managed to demonstrate the problem on half a dozen of the dealer's cars and the mechanic's personal car, before the mechanic could stop him. In one instance, this also prevented opening the (presumably locked) doors from the inside, without a wierd manual procedure described in the owner's manual (which the owner had never used before), which was in the glove compartment, which wouldn't open for the same reason. Oh, yes, the built-in car cellular phone also wouldn't work. I don't remember how the owner got out. He may have called the dealership on his cellphone (NOT the one that came with the car). >I suspect a computer can very easily do say 1000 different >things in a given time frame... say 1/4 second while its idling. [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] >checking for mail, etc. while waiting for the user to find the fresh new >Lancet. Blood hits -go process it and display results. If it's to be reliable, you have to adequately test all the cases where interrupts hit at the same time. Some of it might not be interrupt-driven (you wanted cheap, so there's no interrupt-driven clock, you have to poll it), and that means it has to sample readings from the strip and average them. Change the timing, especially so it misses a sample under some conditions like large emails coming in, and it possibly changes the reading. Or you have to do a lot of calculations to be sure that the other stuff you added CAN'T lock out sampling the test strip readings. Or you delay email while it's running a test, which people will complain is slow, dropping packets, and possibly causes the email to have to be resent, depending on the tolerance of the other end of the wireless link for pauses. Gordon L. Burditt Gordon Burditt schrieb: > I suspect he is. ... but has no prove in this particular case... espacially since my OTU does the same thing from time to time I think the problem is not caused by the complexity of the OTUS but the design of lifescan meters in general. > This applies also to cars. I have heard first-hand descriptions > of added features like GPS navigation with built-in maps (if you > ask it the "wrong" question) crashing the car computer in such a > way that you can't start the car. [...] You know the story of the USS Yorktown? ;-) Anja Anja Länge <anja.laenge@gmx.de> wrote on Tue, 30 Aug 2005 01:07:50 +0200: > Gordon Burditt schrieb: >> I suspect he is. I am. [Gosh, this is getting crytic, isn't it? ;-] > ... but has no proof in this particular case... espacially since my OTU > does the same thing from time to time .... No, I've no proof, but I know the way the world works. The program for the Ultra-Smart Alec will have been that for the Ultra, with bits added on. The "feature" of randomly shutting off the screen for a few seconds will have been taken over into the later program. > .... I think the problem is not caused by the complexity of the OTUS > but the design of lifescan meters in general. Indeed. Remember, they had a problem a while back with the measurement units occasionally flipping between mg/dl and mmol/l? Needless complexity causes problems. Why do you still use a Lifescan meter? [ .... ] > You know the story of the USS Yorktown? ;-) No. Tell it! > Anja SignatureAlan Mackenzie (Munich, Germany) Email: aacm@muuc.dee; to decode, wherever there is a repeated letter (like "aa"), remove half of them (leaving, say, "a"). Alan Mackenzie schrieb: > but I know the way the world works. Ah, yes... sure. How could I forget... > Indeed. Remember, they had a problem a while back with the measurement > units occasionally flipping between mg/dl and mmol/l? Not correct. The "problem" appeared, when someone handled the setup without caution and changed the units there. > Why do you still use a Lifescan meter? Because my OTUS works fine, accurate, stores a vast quantity of data and the stripes also work with my two OTUs. > [ .... ] > > You know the story of the USS Yorktown? ;-) It is (was?) a warship, working completely with Windows NT. When somewhere in the system a Division by Zero occured, the whole ship had to be rebooted... Is there something like "Fortschritt durch Technik" in english? Anja Anja Länge <anja.laenge@gmx.de> wrote on Tue, 30 Aug 2005 14:43:50 +0200: > Alan Mackenzie schrieb: >> but I know the way the world works. > Ah, yes... sure. How could I forget... People do! >> Indeed. Remember, they had a problem a while back with the measurement >> units occasionally flipping between mg/dl and mmol/l? > Not correct. The "problem" appeared, when someone handled the setup without > caution and changed the units there. Yep, there was a problem. It was solved by replacing the meters by ones with a fixed measurement unit. If they had been supplied this way in the first place, the problem would never have happened. >> Why do you still use a Lifescan meter? > Because my OTUS works fine, accurate, stores a vast quantity of data > and the stripes also work with my two OTUs. Apart from the times the screen blanks out for 2 (or was it 4) seconds? >> [ .... ] >> > You know the story of the USS Yorktown? ;-) > It is (was?) a warship, working completely with Windows NT. When > somewhere in the system a Division by Zero occured, the whole ship had > to be rebooted... Ah! Thanks! > Is there something like "Fortschritt durch Technik" in english? Progress due to technology? Only for people who buy an Audi. ;-) > Anja SignatureAlan Mackenzie (Munich, Germany) Email: aacm@muuc.dee; to decode, wherever there is a repeated letter (like "aa"), remove half of them (leaving, say, "a"). >>> Indeed. Remember, they had a problem a while back with the measurement >>> units occasionally flipping between mg/dl and mmol/l? [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > with a fixed measurement unit. If they had been supplied this way in the > first place, the problem would never have happened. The "problem" only occured, when someone changed the settings without caution... when I'm driving a car without caution, someone standing in my way will die. It might be better to act with a little more caution insted of solving the "problem" by taking of the car's motor. >>> Why do you still use a Lifescan meter? > >> Because my OTUS works fine, accurate, stores a vast quantity of data >> and the stripes also work with my two OTUs. > > Apart from the times the screen blanks out for 2 (or was it 4) seconds? It has no effect on the accuracy of the meassurement. Anja P.S.: Sorry for the PM, I'm just struggling with OE because of a complete new installation of windows... "Anja Länge" <anja.laenge@gmx.de> wrote on Wed, 31 Aug 2005 13:44:03 +0200: >>>> Indeed. Remember, they had a problem a while back with the measurement >>>> units occasionally flipping between mg/dl and mmol/l? >>> Not correct. The "problem" appeared, when someone handled the setup >>> without caution and changed the units there. >> Yep, there was a problem. It was solved by replacing the meters by >> ones with a fixed measurement unit. If they had been supplied this >> way in the first place, the problem would never have happened. > The "problem" only occured, when someone changed the settings without > caution... when I'm driving a car without caution, someone standing in > my way will die. It might be better to act with a little more caution > insted of solving the "problem" by taking of the car's motor. OK. We're not disagreeing about the raw facts here, only about how to interpret them. My view is that a BS meter is, to some extent, a safety critical system. It is up to the designers to ensure, as far as reasonably practicable, that in normal use and normal abuse, it can't give misleading readings. Dropping a meter on the floor, and pressing buttons in random orders come into the category of "normal abuse"; particularly, given how often a BS meter will be used by somebody in the middle of a hypo. In this case, Lifescan accepted they were responsible for the problem (or "problem", if you prefer), and replaced a great number of the meters. You see this more as the fault of the user than of Lifescan. OK, as with so many other things, we'll just have to disagree on this one, too! >>>> Why do you still use a Lifescan meter? >>> Because my OTUS works fine, accurate, stores a vast quantity of data >>> and the stripes also work with my two OTUs. >> Apart from the times the screen blanks out for 2 (or was it 4) seconds? > It has no effect on the accuracy of the meassurement. Probably not! No, I avoid Lifescan meters because they lack the things I want, and their staff are so rude and unhelpful. The software in your insulin pump will be on a different level of quality and reliability, though. That'll be one reason why pumps are so expensive. Anyhow, it's boiling hot here in München. I'm waiting for the evening, when I'll be going out to enjoy the warmth! Happy Wednesday! > Anja > P.S.: Sorry for the PM, I'm just struggling with OE because of a > complete new installation of windows... Not a problem! I've just answered it. Would that be Microsoft's OE or Lifescan's OE? ;-) SignatureAlan Mackenzie (Munich, Germany) Email: aacm@muuc.dee; to decode, wherever there is a repeated letter (like "aa"), remove half of them (leaving, say, "a"). > I avoid Lifescan meters because they lack the things I > want, and their staff are so rude and unhelpful. My experience with them has been quite the opposite. Not only courteous, but helpful & even chatty if what we were checking needed a few seconds or a minute of "waiting time". They've cheerfully replaced a meter I broke (my fault, I dropped it; they alse sent a label for me to send back the broken one) & sent me a "replacement" for one I *thought* I might have to abandon when I was in the hospital for radioactive isolation (I didn't have to, as it turned out, & Lifescan didn't ask me for any documentation or to return the "extra" -- and the guy wished me well in my cancer treatment). bj bj <bjones44@bellatlantic.net> wrote on Wed, 31 Aug 2005 16:14:19 GMT: >> I avoid Lifescan meters because they lack the things I >> want, and their staff are so rude and unhelpful. > My experience with them has been quite the opposite. Not only > courteous, but helpful & even chatty if what we were checking needed a > few seconds or a minute of "waiting time". Oh yes, they were "helpful" and chatty with me, too. They said they'd see what they could do about my problem and get back to me. When I called back a fortnight later (transatlantic 'phonecall), the woman said that "they don't normally make any response to customer 'comments'", because they "get too many of them to deal with individually". I asked her to forward my problem to their engineering Department. "Oh, we can't do that, we don't have any means of getting in touch with them." At this point, I asked for the "standard" response to my problem, when I was told there wasn't one. So I asked her to get an answer for me, and send it to me by email. "Oh, we don't have email access", she said. "How about 'phoning me up, then?". "Oh, we can't make international calls.". Yeah, right! Customer support people with no email access, and no proper telephone access, and no means of communicating with their Engineers to report problems? I thought of asking her to reply to me by letter, but really didn't want the strain of having to stay civil on hearing her saying how there was nowhere within 100 miles where they sold stamps. Not one of these arseholes had the decency to tell me straight: "we don't regard that as a problem, and we're not prepared to do anything about it". _That_ would have been courteous. If you want to see the offensively patronising Spiel I got from the top man at Lifescan's German office (it's in English), have a look at my post from a year ago yesterday: Message-ID: <d2gugc.36.ln@acm.acm> From: Alan Mackenzie <acm@muc.de> Newsgroups: misc.health.diabetes Subject: Re: DOES ANYONE KNOW Date: Mon, 30 Aug 2004 06:05:01 +0000 > They've cheerfully replaced a meter I broke (my fault, I dropped it; Well, I wouldn't agree with you there. Meters are going to be used by people with severe hypos, so they're going to get dropped. If they break on being dropped, they're not fit for their purpose. > they alse sent a label for me to send back the broken one) & sent me a > "replacement" for one I *thought* I might have to abandon when I was in > the hospital for radioactive isolation (I didn't have to, as it turned > out, & Lifescan didn't ask me for any documentation or to return the > "extra" -- and the guy wished me well in my cancer treatment). As a matter of interest, why might you have to abandon a meter in hospital? > bj SignatureAlan Mackenzie (Munich, Germany) Email: aacm@muuc.dee; to decode, wherever there is a repeated letter (like "aa"), remove half of them (leaving, say, "a"). > As a matter of interest, why might you have to abandon a meter in > hospital? It's not specific to meters. Sometimes patients aren't allowed to take anything back out with them after being isolated for radioactivity. Your stuff might have been contaminated while you were there. The info I got ahead of time was unclear at best, so I wanted to be sure I had a meter & a backup at home even if I had to leave one behind. As it turned out, I didn't actually have any problem taking everything back out with me. The reason I was radioactive was because I was given I131 (just shy of 150mCi, to be specific) for thyroid remnant ablation. The hospital I was treated at requires isolation until your radiation levels go down (I forget the #s involved); some places turn the patients out into public no matter how high a dose they were given. Some patients have set off radiation alarms (e.g. at an airport) weeks after treatment. I was released with several pages of precautions I should continue to take over the following few days. bj > Alan Mackenzie schrieb: > [quoted text clipped - 20 lines] > to be rebooted... > Is there something like "Fortschritt durch Technik" in english? Cluster f*ck? SignatureNo Husband Has Ever Been Shot While Doing The Dishes > > >Slap <slap@gmail.com> wrote on Mon, 29 Aug 2005 13:07:55 GMT: > > > [quoted text clipped - 26 lines] > -- > dave There is a bg meter/cell phone developed in Korea. The market really is too small to make it profitable. People want cameras and MP3 players, not bg meters. Vicki Vicki Beausoleil <VBeausoleil@netscape.net> wrote on Mon, 29 Aug 2005 19:10:03 -0400: > There is a bg meter/cell phone developed in Korea. The market really is > too small to make it profitable. People want cameras and MP3 players, > not bg meters. It would appear that the market for mobile phones is too small, too. That is, mobile phones which are phones and nothing else. Or, more likely, such devices would be too solid and too reliable, so that once somebody had bought one, he'd never again have to buy another. > Vicki SignatureAlan Mackenzie (Munich, Germany) Email: aacm@muuc.dee; to decode, wherever there is a repeated letter (like "aa"), remove half of them (leaving, say, "a"). [Subject: changed.] [deleted] > It would appear that the market for mobile phones is too small, too. > That is, mobile phones which are phones and nothing else. Or, more > likely, such devices would be too solid and too reliable, so that once > somebody had bought one, he'd never again have to buy another. Well, mobile phones which are little more than mobile phones are still manufactured and sold. I just 'bought' one for my 91-year old mother (in case there is a power-outage and her stairs-lift/elevator doesn't work). This (Nokia) mobile phone is a phone and it can do SMS (Short Message Service) messages, but that's about it. (It *does* have one-key speed-dial, but that's actually a feature (for her) and is disabled by default.) OTOH, don't get *me* started on simple, pocket-size, organizers! :-) SignatureFrank Slootweg > OTOH, don't get *me* started on simple, pocket-size, organizers! :-) The only trouble I ever have with mine is when my ball-point-pen runs out of ink. :) bj > > OTOH, don't get *me* started on simple, pocket-size, organizers! :-) > > The only trouble I ever have with mine is when my ball-point-pen runs > out of ink. > :) I have one of those as well. The problem is that with all the edits in my notes, todo-list etc., the thing is no longer pocket-sized! :-) *That* is one of the main reasons I want an electronic thingy. SignatureFrank Slootweg bj <bjones44@bellatlantic.net> wrote on Tue, 30 Aug 2005 19:11:53 GMT: >> OTOH, don't get *me* started on simple, pocket-size, organizers! :-) > The only trouble I ever have with mine is when my ball-point-pen runs > out of ink. > :) Or when the ink runs out of your ball-point-pen. :-) > bj SignatureAlan Mackenzie (Munich, Germany) Email: aacm@muuc.dee; to decode, wherever there is a repeated letter (like "aa"), remove half of them (leaving, say, "a"). > It would appear that the market for mobile phones is too small, too. > That is, mobile phones which are phones and nothing else. Or, more > likely, such devices would be too solid and too reliable, so that once > somebody had bought one, he'd never again have to buy another. They don't make their money on the phone purchase -- you can usually get one at low or no cost, or a fancier one at a discount -- IF you sign a contract for one or more years. Like with bg meters, it's the "usage" that brings in the money. And the more things those mobiles can do, the more minutes & other services they get people to use. bj |
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