The environment is becoming one of the main issues at the top of all our minds especially with the effects of global warming becoming more apparent. Signify is empowering us to do more when it comes to energy efficiency with their new line Philips Ultra Efficient LED lights. The new lineup is touted to consume 60% less energy compared to standard LED lights and last 3.5x longer. They aren’t just stopping at energy efficiency, Signify is also bringing new solar-powered lights with their Philips Solar Lighting lineup. Signify is completing its offerings with smart lighting solutions in its Wiz line of solutions.
We need to start with the basics when it comes to sustainability and it doesn’t get any more basic than the lights we use on a regular basis at home. These lights range from incandescent tube lights to bulbs. Traditional lighting options required a lot of energy to deliver their light. However, with the Philips Ultra Efficient LED lights, this isn’t the case anymore. In fact, these bulbs deliver more power efficiency with lower operating wattages and longer-lasting durability. Philips Ultra Efficiency LED lights are able to deliver the same brightness with power consumption levels that are 3.5x lower than conventional LEDs.
Of course, with LED lighting, there has been an increasing number of creative lighting solutions that break convention and allow users to customize their space. Signify is taking a step into this arena with their Philips HexaStyle Downlights which allow users to have a more futuristic setup with hexagonal lights without the hassle of needing to renovate. These downlights fit seamlessly into conventional circular cutouts letting users update their setup with minimal cost.
Together with the more efficient LEDs, Signify also introduced a whole lineup of Philips Solar Lighting. These lights are perfect for lighting up beautiful landscapes and don’t require much maintenance. In fact, you won’t need any wiring. These lights are able to sustain themselves by charging using integrated solar panels after an initial charge. They’ve also included lighting for gates, floodlights, and even string lights to highlight the landscaping.
In addition to the new lineup, Signify also showed off their WiZ lighting which was launched in November 2022. The new lineup brings Signify’s Philips lighting prowess to the IoT space with internet-enabled lighting solutions that can be controlled from the WiZ app. They’ve introduced flexible tube lighting that you can bend to your will!
The new products showcased will be making their way to the Malaysian market starting in July 2023.
When it comes to personal hygiene, facial hair – or the lack thereof, can play a huge role in how you feel about yourself. That’s why we were pretty excited when we got ahold of the Philips S1301 Shaver for review. Philips has been one of the biggest names when it comes to personal health and hygiene and getting up close and personal with one of their offerings proved to be an interesting experience.
Shaving is a very personal thing for men, especially when it comes to how close it is or even how the final look ends up. Most men are either going for a more manly, rugged look nowadays which usually translates to having a semblance of a stubble. That said, a good percentage of us still default to being clean-shaven. That’s where a shaver – electric or otherwise comes into play.
Packed with Technology
The Philips S1301 shaver is definitely a candidate for a good shaver. It ticks most of the boxes that we would personally look at when it comes to an electric shaver. The first is, like most other electronics – the design. The Philip S1301 shaver is definitely designed well. It feels natural in the hand. It’s ergonomic as well; you won’t be straining your wrist while using it.
It’s also compact, allowing you to simply pack it along with your other toiletries in your bag. However, the one thing that threw us off with the design is the exposed charging port at the bottom. This charging port is also not a standard USB port, instead it’s a proprietary port that requires its own charger – so you’ll need to remember to pack it as well. Speaking of charging, the battery level is indicated by the power button albeit a little counterintuitively. Aside from that, the shaver is sleek and pretty much ticks all the boxes in terms of design.
That said, the true worth of a shaver lies in how well it carries out its function. When it comes to technology, the Philips Series 1000 isn’t lacking much. It’s packed with 27 self-sharpening, mini-blades which Philips guarantees won’t dull for up to 2 years. It has IPX7 certification for use in both wet and dry conditions. This also means that you’ll be able to clean it quickly by simply running water over it.
A Close, Irritating Shave
So the big question is – how does this technology translate when it comes to performance? The gist of it? Not too bad. The small blades are housed within floating heads. These floating heads allow the blades to conform to the contours of your face for a closer shave.
However, when it came to the shaving process, the Series 1000 ended up causing quite a bit of irritation when I used it. It was later pointed out that to get the best experience from the shaver, you needed to use a circular motion. This helped a little bit when it came to irritation. Nonetheless, if your facial hair is on the longer side of things, you may want to avoid doing a dry shave. In my experience using it, it felt as if my facial hair was being plucked more than cut.
Using the Philips S1301 for a wet shave minimised a lot of the irritation I experienced with the dry shave. It seems like the foam provided some much needed lubrication and protection to my skin. That said, the Series 1000 does provide a pretty close shave – something I really appreciated.
A Good Shaver – But We Expected More
With all that in mind, it makes you consider the overall package. The Philips Series 1000 is definitely one of the better, more affordable shavers in the market right now. However, to be very honest, being Philips product, I had higher expectations for the price. This is exacerbated by the options from other brands that come with the same features at a much lower price point.
That said, the Philips Series 1000 shaver is not a bad buy. It’s a shaver which you can travel with and it does what it’s meant to well. You may need to take some extra steps to prevent skin irritation, particularly if you have sensitive skin. However, the Philips S1301 gives you one of the closest shaves that you can get from a shaver in its category. It’s also easy to use out of the box and you can get enough battery life for a shave with just 5 minutes of charging.
All in all, I’d say if you were looking for an affordable shaver with a recognised brand name – you pretty much have it lock, stock and barrel with the Philips Series 1000.
It goes without saying that technology is seeping into every aspect of our lives. This was a theme that Philips found to be true even when it comes to the medical field. In fact, technology is becoming so ubiquitous that the Future Health Index (FHI) has indicated that in a broad sense, the field of medicine simply isn’t ready. Their yearly survey of younger medical professionals had very interesting findings this round given that it was commissioned in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Younger Doctors Want Technology – It is the Key to value-based healthcare
In its fifth year, the Future Health Index found, among other things, that younger doctors are open to adopting technologies to assist in the mundane, repetitive tasks of medicine. In fact, nearly one in three doctors saw benefits in adopting technologies such as artificial intelligence, automation and telehealth in the day to day functions of medicine. 76% of doctors also cited that the adoption of technologies was able to help with decreasing the stresses of medical practice – one of the main worries with frontliners in the current pandemic.
However, the findings of Philip’s FHI show that key competencies which are key to a digital healthcare system are lacking in basic medical training – of interest is the lack of data competencies among younger medical professionals. In the FHI, about 47% of respondents found that they were left in the lurches when it came to key data competencies. Skillsets such as data analysis and interpretation were among the skills that were cited. Another notable competency when it came to data, was the management of data privacy, one of the current growing concerns of society.
These particular findings highlight a robust issue that should be tackled in academia as well as with continuing medical education. Only 54% of doctors in Asia Pacific reported receiving training to address the legislative issues pertaining to data privacy while only 51% were receiving training in handling data.
These competencies are key in the current shift towards value-based healthcare. A healthcare model that measures patient outcomes as a key factor in determining the value of healthcare. While there is a good awareness of the term in the Asia Pacific region (82%), drilling further found that an alarming 4% knew what it was entirely. The majority of doctors surveyed only knew it by name.
While that may be a concern, the integration of technology into everyday healthcare and patient care is key in a value-based system. Only when doctors can access, interpret and analyse the data coming from adopted technologies, can they truly access the quality of healthcare. Key appreciations of technology in reducing their mundane workloads need to be more pervasive.
Technology in Improving Healthcare
Technology plays a vital role in creating a more efficient and effective standard of health. In their FHI, Philips found that a majority of younger doctors are advocates of adopting newer technologies. They see value in adopting the right technologies in creating a better standard of care.
However, in countries like Malaysia, these doctors are facing issues even with the simplest issue of automation of administrative tasks. That said, medical practice is being revolutionised by technologies that were once farfetched are becoming a reality. As the issue of personalised healthcare comes to the forefront, we have an increasing amount of doctors across the Asia Pacific region who see the benefits of having Artificial intelligence applied in the field. 74% surveyed opportunities to offer more personalised care while 79% believed that AI would help with more accurate diagnoses.
That said, for AI to be effective, data needs to be made readily available. Nevertheless, the medical industry faces a data conundrum – should more effective and personalized healthcare come at the expense of data privacy? That said, the conundrum is addressed by anonymizing patient data to allow ready access. However, with the multiple data silos created by multiple software platforms, doctors are strained to have any actionable insights.
Interoperability is becoming a hurdle as hospitals and even clinics begin adopting new technologies that are not speaking to each other. This lack of interoperability creates data silos which doctors have to manually import and analyse. With a more cohesive digital architecture, doctors will be able to access a more holistic view of patient data and outcomes; and with the state of AI and machine learning now, they will be able to get even more insights to tough cases.
Technology isn’t just for the betterment of patient care, the FHI has also found that younger doctors report being less stressed at work when technologies are adopted effectively. The psychological benefits of reduced stress on the doctors will undoubtedly benefit patient care in the long run.
Looking to the Future & What the Medical Field can Learn from the Digitisation of Other Industries
Younger doctors are the key to the field of medicine progressing into the future. When it comes to their willingness to learn, it comes as no surprise that these doctors are spearheading the charge to adopt and learn new skills to remedy the skills gap that is emerging. However, it now falls to academia to address the needs in the nascent class of doctors emerging from their institutions into a field of medical practice that is both familiar and different.
What remains is for the medical industry to look to others who have a head start in dealing with the issues they are facing now. New technologies being adopted such as Kubernetes and the cloud could see the medical industry getting a quantum leap when it comes to patient care and medical breakthroughs.
There is no better proof of the benefits of adopting the right technology than the state of vaccines for COVID-19. In a matter of months, multiple vaccine candidates have been developed. Some candidates such as the mRNA vaccine are revolutionary approaches which were made possible with the augmentation of human ingenuity with the insights derived from machine learning and AI.
In addition to technologies, their adoption needs a fundamental change in attitudes and values in the industry as well. Younger Doctors are already aware of these attitudes with an increasing number looking to autonomy in their practices. They also look to workspaces which are collaborative and have access to the latest medical equipment. However, more importantly, they look to a culture that supports work-life balance.
As with any industry, a majority of the attitudes will need a top-down approach; spearheaded by veteran doctors and administrators in hospitals and practices. It goes without saying that the agility needed to adapt and adopt new technologies and approaches must be spearheaded by leadership. They will also need to look into empowering younger doctors to be bold in their approaches and use of new technologies.
