Hilton has high-tech solution for hotel clocks

Being in a strange city is difficult enough without having to figure out how to set the alarm or find the local jazz station.

The Hilton hotel chain, which includes Doubletree and Embassy Suites, has a high-tech solution: a clock with a patented, easy-to-set alarm and station presets. It also has built-in stereo speakers and a jack to connect an MP3 or CD player.

These clocks automatically adjust for Daylight Savings Time and leap year.

Hilton will install 250,000 new clocks in 975 hotels across six of its brands from March through July. Hampton Inn clocks will not have the jacks for portable music players.

The clocks, developed by a unit of Timex, include four preset buttons offering local pop, country and rock stations as well as news. Other buttons allow users to set the time in any of seven time zones.

To ensure that hotel occupants aren’t startled by an alarm set by a previous guest, the alarm must be reset each night. That’s easy: The three required steps are printed on the front of each clock.

System tracks PDF use

A Canadian company has developed a system for businesses to track PDF documents in much the same way they can keep tabs on Web visits.

Before, businesses could count the number of times documents were downloaded, but they had no way of knowing whether the files were passed around or even opened.

With the service from Remote Approach, companies can insert a small programming script into documents using the popular Portable Document Format from Adobe Systems Inc.

The script sends a message over the Internet with such details as the file name, the computer’s Internet address and any unique identifier the company might have included.

Wireless device aids doctors

Doctors will be able to monitor patients through a new wireless device from Nordic telecommunications operator TeliaSonera AB.

The BodyKom system connects wirelessly to sensors on the patient. If critical changes are detected, the hospital or health care services are automatically alerted over a secure mobile network connection. GPS technology will identify the patient’s location.

TeliaSonera is launching the service with Hewlett Packard Co. and Swedish technology company Kiwok. It will be tested this spring at a university hospital.

TeliaSonera aims to sell BodyKom mainly to hospitals, where a similar service is currently used to monitor heart rates. The service will be expanded to monitor diabetes, asthma and other diseases that may require timely intervention, the company said.

Erik Heilborn, a TeliaSonera spokesman, said patients won’t have to stay in hospitals simply for monitoring.