Garrett has a special suit that allows him to breath underwater. On the suit lies a special pouch that can be filled with oxygen, once underwater he can then breathe that oxygen through a built in straw. McNamara tells a source that he is currently looking to break his current behemoth of a record with an even better suit; he says he’s hunting for a 120-footer in Portugal.

The same source asked McNamara how he survived to which he simply replied “I don’t”.

The National Cancer Institute, with the help of the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, is launching a program to give teens one more option if they want to kick the habit.

The program, called SmokefreeTXT, is a new service that will help teens by sending them useful texts before, during and after they take their last drag.

Teens can sign up by texting QUIT to IQUIT (47848) from their mobile device, or heading to the website and signing up there. The service is free, but they suggest that you think twice about signing up if you don’t have a texting plan. Once you answer a couple basic questions, you will be officially enrolled in the program.

Participants then select their “quit date,” and can receive messages up to a month before that deadline. SmokefreeTXT will continue to send encouraging messages for a month and a half after the quit date, and may also send follow-up texts a couple months down the road.

According to the NCI 20% of American teens are smokers, and that first 6 weeks after quitting is the hardest time.

Here are some sample texts that participants might receive:

Wow, 2 weeks smokefree! Have you rewarded yourself for not smoking? Use your extra cash for that new app, music, movie, or concert tickets.

What makes you wanna smoke? Stress? Boredom? Parties? Write down your top 3 smoking triggers. Knowing ur triggers is the only way to avoid them!

Nicotine is just as addictive as heroin or cocaine. It tricks your mind & body into thinking you need it. Good thing you know you don’t.

In between texts from the program, you can send your own if you’re feeling particularly stressed or tempted:

It’s tough to quit smoking. And it’s really tough to quit when you factor in peer pressure and that carefree attitude that comes with youth. Could some frequent texts really help a 16-year-old kid stop smoking? Who knows. But it sure doesn’t hurt to have someone point out that you’re doing it right – even if that person is just an automated text.

Mezzmer has put out the following infographic looking at how mobile devices might be impacting your body:

Now, Google is sending a friendly reminder out to users. Here’s the email:

This is an important Google Health service announcement. You are receiving this email because you have an active Google Health account.

The Google Health Team

Were you a Google Health user? What is your plan going forward?

HealthVault lets users store and transfer info between various health-related applications, devices, and services.

Google announced last month that it would discontinuing Google Health (as well as PowerMeter) as of January 1. “Both were based on the idea that with more and better information, people can make smarter choices, whether in regard to managing personal health and wellness, or saving money and conserving energy at home. While they didn’t scale as we had hoped, we believe they did highlight the importance of access to information in areas where it’s traditionally been difficult,” Google said at the time.

As Microsoft and Google compete in many areas of tech, Microsoft is clearly using the discontinuation of a Google service to show it has a leg up in this area.

“Google has been an important ally in providing customers with access to their data and tools to better manage care online,” said Nate McLemore, general manager, Microsoft Health Solutions Group. “Microsoft continues to advance the HealthVault platform to increase its value to consumers — by adding important features, such as support for mobile devices, and by collaborating with hundreds of health organizations, including the American Cancer Society,American Heart Association and CVS Pharmacy — to deliver robust health and wellness applications that connect to HealthVault.”

There are about 300 apps connected to the HealthVault platform to help users manage various conditions, such as diabetes, asthma, pregnancy, etc. According to MIcrosoft, it’s also connected with over 70 devices, including blood pressure monitors, blood glucose monitors, weight scales, pedometers, and peak flow meters.

After January 1, Google Health users will no longer be able to view, enter or edit any of their data stored in Google Health, though they will be able to download the data stored in various formats through January 1, 2013.

The number increases to 23 percent among Internet users who are living with a chronic disease.

Still, people overwhelmingly report that health professionals are central for healthcare information. When asked about the last time they had a health issue:

  *70% of adults in the U.S. say they received information, care, or support from a health professional.

*54% of adults say they turned to friends and family.

*20% of adults say they turned to others who have the same health condition.

“The Pew Internet Project’s consistent finding – in politics, commerce, health care, and other sectors – is that the internet provides people access not only to information, but also to other people who share their interests,” says Susannah Fox, associate director of the Pew Internet Project and author of the report.

“Rare-disease patients’ dispatches from the edge of medicine show an intensified form of networking among patients and caregivers. They search, they network, and, most importantly, they rely on our doctors as guides.”

The report shows shows that most health care conversations occur offline, but when a condition is rare, the internet is a lifeline since it can enable connections across distances and among people who may never have met in person.

The most likely groups to look online for health information include: caregivers, women, whites, younger adults, and adults with at least some college education. The groups least likely to look online for health information include: African Americans, Latinos, people living with disability, older adults, and adults with a high school education or less.

"The internet has become a go-to resource for most Americans, but some groups are still on the other side of the health information divide," says Susannah Fox, associate director of the Pew Internet Project and author of the study.

"Many people, particularly the most vulnerable populations, are not likely to see the most up-to-date information on drug recalls, food safety, and medical treatments."

Other findings from the report include:

*66% of internet users look online for information about a specific disease or medical problem. The top five conditions searched for on WebMD, for example, are shingles, gallbladder, gout, hemorrhoids, and lupus.

*56% of internet users look online for information about a certain medical treatment or procedure. The top five treatments searched for on WebMD, for example, are pain relievers, anti-depressants, high blood pressure medication, corticosteroids, and hysterectomy.

*44% of internet users look online for information about doctors or other health professionals.

*36% of internet users look online for information about hospitals or other medical facilities.

*33% of internet users look online for information related to health insurance, including private insurance, Medicare or Medicaid.

eBay Giving Works allows buyers and sellers to support nonprofits by selling an item and donating a portion of the proceeds.

“In fact, for the value of every laptop sold this month through Giving Works, one uninsured patient could get a mammogram,” said Robert Chatwani, Director eBay Global Citizenship.

“Each person who takes part in this campaign will have an impact on the fight against breast cancer.”

Partnering with eBay on the effort are more than 100 national and local nonprofits including the American Cancer Society, Avon Foundation for Women, Bright Pink, City of Hope and Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

The nonprofits have teamed with eBay for a Hollywood charity auction featuring a meet-and-greet with Honorary Chairman of the Avon Foundation for Women Reese Witherspoon; a VIP meeting with Kristin Chenoweth backstage of the Broadway hit, “Promises, Promises”; dresses worn by Avon spokesperson and singer Fergie, and mark Brand Ambassador Ashley Greene of Twilight; a pink Vespa; and a Cher experience at Caesar’s Palace Las Vegas.

Other items up for bid will include electronics, clothing and accessories, home goods, toys, sports and recreational equipment, books and memorabilia.

Visitors to ebay.com/jumpstart can pledge to support the cause and will be entered to win a holiday shopping spree on eBay. Five $100 eBay shopping sprees will be given away daily throughout the month of October. 
 

Within the redesign is a new dashboard and what Google says are better ways to focus on wellness goals. "So our new re-design better organizes your medical information, while creating a more welcoming place to set goals for yourself and check in daily on your progress," explains Senior Product Manager Aaron Brown. "For example, you might want to set a goal around walking more each day or to lower your cholesterol over time. With our new design, you can easily monitor your path to success with a visual graph that shows your progress towards your personalized goal. You can even create custom trackers for other things that you want to monitor like daily sleep, exercise, pregnancy or even how many cups of coffee you drink a day."

Google has also integrated with new partners like Fitbit and CardioTrainer so users can collect data for tracking progress. "In the two weeks since CardioTrainer’s integration went live, CardioTrainer developer WorkSmart Labs reports that users have already uploaded more than 150,000 workouts to Google Health, where they can more easily view, track and set goals around their workouts and monitor them along with other health and wellness information," says Brown. 

The new design also enables users to take notes and keep journals on the progress of their health conditions or medications. 

In addition to all of this there are no more personalized content links, so users should be able to find more helpful information related to specific conditions, medications or lab results that relate to them. 

Meanwhile, Google is doing more to expand its reach into healthcare facilities. Google has formed partnerships most recently, with Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) and Sharp HealthCare.

That doesn’t include the white spaces work Google is doing. Yesterday, the company announced a partnership with the Hocking Valley Community Hospital in Logan, Ohio on the white spaces broadband deployment.

User Experience Researcher Hendrik Mueller has more about the new Google Health design here.

Google’s contribution includes a Google Fusion Tables project and customized map showing information from HHS. For example, you can see a map of "heart friendly" and "people friendly" hospitals.

"It’s important to note that the science behind measuring the quality of hospitals and health care in general is still evolving, so we can’t make definitive conclusions from this data," says Google’s Chief Health Strategist, Roni Zeiger, MD.  "However, this kind of transparency will lead to discussion, questions, and analysis which we hope will improve choices and outcomes."

Microsoft launched a Bing Maps app called Bing Health maps. This also uses data from HHS. It provides stats for the U.S. states by county.

"Bing Health Maps is very straightforward to use – (1) Select a state and, (2) Select a Community Health Indicator," explains Bing’s Chris Pendleton. "The map will re-center on the respective state and color-code the counties within that state based on unit-based reporting. You can select health indicators such as Birth Indicators (low birth weight, premature births, births to women under 18, etc.); Death Measures (homicide, lung cancer, stroke, etc.) or Health Risk Factors (obesity, smokers, high blood pressure, etc.). If the opacity doesn’t suit your fancy there’s a slider to increase or decrease it."

"Once the map is loaded with the respective counties shaded you can click on any county to get all of the factors listed under the Community Health Indicator list all in one popup for that county," continues Pendleton. "This app is jam-packed with information! Let’s say you’re looking to move California because you think everyone there is a health nut. Turn on the Bing Health Maps to see which counties are most healthy. Then, when you’re deciding to be a SoCal or NorCal person (the war wages on) you can fire up the Oodle Map App to check out rentals in the respective area. Or, check out the Twitter Map App and filter based on keywords like “running,” “hiking,” or “surfing” and you’ll finally find out that SoCal is just better since people aren’t Tweeting – they’re actually out running, hiking and surfing."

More about the HHS Community Health Data Initiative can be found here.