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.

Over the past month, I’ve been testing the AliveCor iPhone ECG, an iPhone case that offers real-time EKG readings. The pre-FDA approved device, which is currently undergoing a clinical trial with the USC Center for Body Computing, monitors a patient’s heartbeat whenever they open up the app and place the case (pictured) in their hands or on their chest for 30 second intervals. The information is then sent off into the cloud, where a patient’s doctor can access it and look for abnormalities. The AliveCor ECG is a no-brainer to use, and it’s a sturdy iPhone case, too. The case will cost less than $100 when it’s released.

I am blown away every time my cardiologist does an EKG. The process now is so simple compared to just a few years ago when it was awkward, cumbersome, and much more time-consuming. But this device is amazing. I will track it down if only to find out more about its biofeedback capabilities, something in which I have also been interested in for a long time. Click through to the original article for comments on the physicians-only Everist device.

MacGuineas found crowdsourcing the budget consisted pulled effective, moderate ideas out of people, while moderating extremes, regardless of party affiliation. Their answers revealed a great deal of bipartisan agreement on certain solutions. The biggest was "means testing," the idea that social benefits should primarily be paid to those who need them, rather than high income individuals. "It’s about what makes sense," she says. "Republicans and Democrats ask why do we send checks to people who don’t need them. Social security and medicaid are huge toxic issue … but you can’t give a town hall meeting without means testing coming up. It’s kind of a head-nodder.

Why not? We've got Americans Elect and PopVox and how many other experiments in crowdsourcing government. At first glance, we'd wind up with a citizenry more knowledgeable about the budget and more involved in government, a broader base of ideas for a way forward, and a way to get past the entrenched interests that seem to have a lock on things now. Take a look at the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget's Stabilize the Debt.

Your smartphone is an incredibly powerful tool—one that we mostly waste by just using to make phone calls and check email. But in addition to that, it’s an advanced bundle of sensors that is with us nearly 24 hours a day, collecting massive amounts of data. Doctors and health professionals are starting to understand the opportunity this data can provide. Take a new app that helps silently identify diabetes patients who might be slipping with their treatments.

Just when I said I hadn't heard much about apps aimed at diabetes, along comes this news about Ginger.io. The app senses a user's mood and alerts a network of caregivers. Seems brilliant and useful. I wonder when it will be adapted to other conditions.