Meet Elizabeth, your virtual nurse. She can tell you what medication to take, and when to take it. She can raise her eyebrows to emphasize words, and she can show empathy. And, to make you feel at ease, she can even ask you questions like "Are you a Red Sox fan?"

One of a growing band of "relational agents" that act as stand-ins for front-line staff, Elizabeth is designed to help with the discharge process at hospitals. She was developed by computer scientists at Northeastern University (hence the Red Sox question), and trialed at Boston Medical Center. Following commercialization by a startup in San Francisco, she could soon be appearing in hospitals around the country.

At first glance, this is not so different from Siri, the iPhone assistant that is proving so popular, but I'm not sure this is a technology I would welcome. When I think about discharge, I think I'd rather have attention and engagement rather than efficiency and speed.

I spoke at a conference at Stanford last month and one of the gifts was this new little device called Striiv. It’s one of the many devices all betting that people want to put some little device on their body and measure stuff, like how many steps you took that day. 

I've been following Jay Parkinson's blog for a while now and really enjoyed watching his presentation toTEDxMidAtlantic a few weeks ago. This post tells more about Jay's use of Striiv, than the device itself, but you can find out more at the Striiv website. I've wanted a good pedometer ever since walking became more of a challenge for me. This looks like an attractive device, and I like the way it adds a social purpose to its measurement, too.

A free iPhone app could save the lives of burn victims on the battlefield and in the clinic.

It was developed by Chris Seaton, a computer engineer who served in the medical corps of the British Army for four years. Seaton spent time in Afghanistan as an army medic, and witnessed the need for simple treatment tools.

Finding a new app is exciting enough, but I really like Seaton's intention

As he continues working toward his PhD at the University of Manchester, Seaton hopes to type up another few medical apps in the coming months. He wants to focus on simple programs that correct common, easily avoidable errors. "Often physicians don’t know its fairly easy to write an app," he says, "We’re encouraging some of those quick wins."

I think we stand only to benefit from the development and use of apps like this.

Philips has released a new iOS app for the iPad 2 that allows you to measure both your heart rate and breaking rate using only your device’s camera. Unlike similar apps that require additional accessories, this one claims to get its results from “the color of your face” and “the motion of your chest.”

The app is called Vital Signs Camera, and it’s available from the App Store now for just $0.99. Its creators have labeled it an “amazing innovation,” and we’re inclined to agree. I mean, it’s pretty astonishing that the app uses nothing but your iPad’s crappy front-facing camera to get its results.

Philps cautions that the app is "not intended for diagnosis or for clinical measurements, monitoring or decision making.”

We’ve already shown you how apps and tools can make parking easier, but what about the actual act of driving? Perhaps unbeknownst to you, there’s a lot of tech in your city’s streets and traffic lights that make things run more smoothly. And so despite a growing population and a growing number of cars on the road, gas-guzzling congestion and dirty emissions just might cede, thanks to technology that’s improving traffic flow management. Read on for four examples of tech innovation all over the world, from the U.S. to Australia to Brazil.

Here's the lede from a Mashable article about technology and traffic control. I'm impressed with the scope and reults of Sydney, Australia's system

• 37% decrease in total travel time

• 21% decrease in total stops

• 6% decrease in total CO2 emissions

• 5% decrease in total NO emissions

• 10% decrease in total PM10 emissions

and the length of time it's been operating. I guess I'd better pay more attention to the Washingtonian's recent article about the traffic around Washington, DC. The traffic-control system on I95 in Northern Virginia is not nearly as impressive as the systems Mashable presents, and the picture Washingtonian paints is pretty grim.