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it was, and she hadn’t told him. She had been part of Amalgamated’s beta test! The news also gave him a queasy feeling in the pit of his stomach.
    As Thorn went on to explain that iDoc would be immediately and immensely profitable, George shook his head with a mixture of disgust and admiration. iDoc was going to be performing an end run around the whole medical industry. It was about to become the doctor!
    â€œPlease!” Thorn called out after allowing the excited murmuring that had erupted to continue, obviously enjoying the moment. “Let me make one more point before I turn the floor over to Dr. Stonebrenner to provide technical details. With the success of iDoc’s beta test, Amalgamated is about to launch the program nationally. Concurrently, we will also be looking to license the program internationally, particularly in Europe. To that end we’ve been in negotiations with multiple countries, particularly those with extensive, dependable wireless infrastructure. I can confidently report that negotiations are rapidly progressing. The need for iDoc is global. Of course, this underlines how very good an investment in Amalgamated Healthcare is. We are about to conclude deals with several hedge funds, but another round of funding will be required. Our market is global. Our market is massive. Now let me turn the floor over to Dr. Stonebrenner.”
    As Paula stepped forward, George did a rapid Internet search for the meaning of a beta test. He vaguely recalled hearing the term but wouldn’t be able to define it if he was pressed. He quickly found out that it’s a term for the second round of software testing in which it’s used by a limited but sizable audience to ascertain user acceptance while at the same time seeking to identify and fix glitches or problems.
    As Paula began speaking George wasn’t sure how he felt about her taking over his idea without even getting in touch with him. At the same time he realized he hadn’t exactly pursued her.
    â€œThink of iDoc as the Swiss army knife of health care,” she was saying. “Attachable sensors and independent probes that communicate wirelessly will make the phone a versatile mobile laboratory.” As Paula spoke, a slick video presentation demoed the app’s capabilities. “The property of capacitance is what enables smartphone touchscreens to sense our fingertips. But the screens also have the ability to detect and analyze much smaller things, like DNA or proteins to enable it to identify specific pathogens or particular disease markers. An Amalgamated client could simply place a saliva or blood sample directly onto the touchscreen for an analysis, and treatment would be based on the patient’s past medical history and unique genomic makeup. Recent leaps forward in nanotechnology, wireless technology, and synthetic biology make iDoc possible. With our supercomputer we will constantly monitor, in real time, a host of physiological data on all iDoc users of all vital signs. The sky is the limit. iDoc can even extend into the psychological realm because iDoc has the ability to monitor the client-patient mood, particularly in relation to depression, anxiety, or hyper states, and then communicate with the patient accordingly for on-the-spot counseling or referral to a mental health specialist.”
    Paula then went on to describe how the app is able to monitor many of these functions, in particular those followed routinely only in an intensive-care unit, by the use of a bracelet, ring, or wristband with built-in sensors that communicate with the phone wirelessly. She demoed special eyeglasses that can be worn for additional monitoring of the real-time function of blood vessels and nerves in the retina of the eye, the only true window on the interior of the body. She explained that a continuous recording is made of the EKG and, if needed, the smartphone can function as an ultrasound device for studying cardiac