I've often heard makers of mobile applications and devices at conferences in the United States talk about all that's done in Asia, but efforts to port similar technologies to the States never seem to work. For example, Sky Dayton's company, Helio, had a cool device and a partnership with powerful Asian operator Docomo, yet their technology could not take off.

In a talk today at EmTech@MIT 2009, Bill Moggridge, founder of IDEO, outlined some of the difficult considerations that go into designing for a connected world. As always, user behavior proves to be king. In Asia, he noted, many people have long commutes in situations where it would be rude to talk or make noise. The commutes, however, are perfect for fiddling with buttons and learning complex mobile apps. Moggridge attributes the popularity of certain types of text-heavy mobile apps to this ultimately behavioral condition.

In the United States, Moggridge sees nearly the opposite situation. People in the U.S. are likely to have long car commutes, where fiddling with buttons would be dangerous, but they can talk to their hearts' content.

He concludes that developers who want to transfer technologies between cultures need to consider behavioral differences, and they need to be sure to test with users.

Only about 15 percent of physicians in the United States are using electronic health records (EHR), a statistic that John Halamka, chief information officer and dean for technology at Harvard Medical School, aims to change.

During a panel discussion at Technology Review's EmTech conference earlier this week, Halamka outlined the major barrier in getting physicians to adopt these systems: misaligned incentives. While EHRs should ultimately reduce costs, doctors must spend $40,000 to $50,000 to buy an EHR system, and they lose 20 percent of their productivity in the first few months. And, at the end of the day, insurers and payers rather than physicians reap the rewards, Halamka said. His thoughts echo those of Karen Bell, another panelist who spoke with Technology Review.

Halamka, who is also chief information officer of the CareGroup Health System, described how his company took the digital leap: it mandated that academic affiliates, and eventually other affiliates, use EHRs. To ease the burden, Caregroup subsidized the cost of the systems and provided a training team for physicians.

Halamka will outline his prescription for broader adoption of EHRs in a letter to the incoming president, which will be published in the next issue of Technology Review.

For Halamka's perspective on Healthcare IT and beyond, check out his blog, "Life as a Healthcare CTO."

Technology Review's Editor in Chief, Jason Pontin, and Beet.TV caught up with experts and conference speakers for exclusive interviews:

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You can also watch Technology Review's Webcasts of conference events like Craig Mundie's keynote and a panel on green transportation here.