Barnes Closes Door on Ryno Tiger Bay Area Amateur Tour / Tampa, FL by InsidePOOL Staff After nearly 15 hours of competition, Jessica Barnes outplayed Bethann Ryno to capture the win at the second stop of the Tiger Bay Area Amateur Tour’s (BAAT) 2010 season. The $400-added event was held at Strokers of Tampa, FL, and hosted 20 [...]

Rocklin-based Purple Communications Inc., a provider of text/video relay and on-site interpreting services, said Tuesday it has introduced the nation's first relay application for the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch.

The company said this version of its "IP-Relay" application allows users make direct IP-Relay calls from their phones or dial anyone in their iPhone address book with just a few taps. The application particularly benefits deaf users.

IP-Relay for iPhone and iPod Touch is free to use and available as a free download in Apple's App Store. For details, go to www.purple.us/localnumber.

Colin Autry, who is undergoing months of chemo for leukemia in isolation, uses the wireless Internet at Kaiser Permanente's Roseville hospital as his mother, Pushpa Autry, waits nearby.

Colin Autry, a 17-year-old cancer patient from Elk Grove, likened it to a life of solitary confinement, cocooned in a hospital room and cut off from the usual life of a high school senior – his cell phone and television screen the only connections to friends and the outside world.

"When they told me I was going to be in an isolation room for six to eight months, that scared me pretty good," said Autry, who began his long hospital stay in October at Kaiser Permanente Roseville Medical Center.

But earlier this month, Kaiser ushered in the digital age for patients at its Roseville campus, allowing Autry to regain one important part of a typical teenager's life: wireless Internet.

While his disease has wrought havoc with his life, Autry can again experience the joys of scrolling through Facebook updates. His fingers clack away for online chats, his time is occupied by the latest gossip at school streamed into his hospital room.

Wireless Internet has become a part of everyday life – it's in our homes, workplaces, airports and coffee shops. But hospitals are relative newcomers in providing the now-ubiquitous technology.

"What we're seeing now is an explosion of this," said Bache Perry, a consultant assigned to Kaiser's network services.

"Being able to provide this to the patient eases the stress of staying in a hospital for a long period of time," he said.

Kaiser isn't the first in the area to beam Wi-Fi signals into patients' rooms. Sutter hospitals and the UC Davis Medical Center said their wireless services went online a few years ago.

Last fall, Mercy began providing Wi-Fi at its Folsom hospital.

"It has become an expectation to be connected," said Randy Castillo, the hospital's vice president of ancillary and support services. "You have Wi–Fi when you go to Starbucks, McDonald's, airports – but not too many hospitals."

For years, doctors and nurses had access to wireless signals to access electronic medical records. But because of security issues, hospitals were cautious about opening up their airwaves in patient areas.

Indeed, most hospitals have two wireless networks – one for protected data and the other for public use – as a firewall against any potential security breaches.

Quality issues have also been a concern, said Perry, the Kaiser consultant, because two signals occupying the same airspace could interfere with each other.

Other area hospitals still without Wi-Fi access are hoping to roll out the service soon.

For Autry, who was diagnosed with leukemia in October, it couldn't come soon enough.

"I went from a normal life to being locked up in a hospital room," he said. "It isn't something you acclimate to immediately. I'm missing my senior year of high school.

"I really count on my friends to keep me updated," he said.

With his laptop, he's been able to get virtual visits from his grandmother who lives in Raleigh, N.C., through a video camera and Skype. Soon, he hopes to spend time – via the Internet – with his sheepdog Klondike, who is being cared for by his sister in Washington state.

"I feel trapped sometimes," he said.

"It was so hard coming in," said his mother, Pushpa, a Kaiser therapist. "Oh my God, solitary confinement – how are we going to do this?"

She got her son a Kindle electronic reader for Christmas – on which he's reading the latest book from Stephen Colbert.

"I wish he spent more time on that" – less time on the Internet, she said – "but he's the one who's going through chemo."

Van Boening Captures 9-Ball U.S. Bar Table Title U.S. Open Bar Table Championship / Reno, NV by InsidePOOL Staff Shane Van Boening has had a busy week so far, and it’s not over yet. Not content with winning the 10-ball bar table division at the U.S. Open Bar Table Championship, he has also taken the 9-ball crown and [...]

McDermott Gambler Pro Tour Announced Popular American Pool Cue Maker and Billiards Tour Combine Forces Gambler Pro Tour goes green! McDermott, a leader in cue manufacturing for decades, has announced it will team up with Gambler Pro Tour as the official cue sponsor of the new McDermott Gambler Pro Tour. Dan Dennis, founder of the GPT, said, “This [...]

McDermott Cue MFG, LLC is the new exclusive distributor of popular Elephant Ball MENOMONEE FALLS, WI – McDermott Cue Mfg., LLC is a leading manufacturer and world-wide distributor of Pool Cues, performance shafts, and billiard accessories. McDermott is proud to announce an agreement with Elephant Balls LTD to be the exclusive distributor of Elephant Balls branded [...]

Van Boening Crowned 10-Ball Champ in Reno U.S. Bar Table Championship, 10-Ball Division / Reno, NV by InsidePOOL Staff Shane Van Boening went undefeated through the 115-player field at the 10-ball division of the U.S. Bar Table Championship to take the title and the $5,000 first-place prize. The event was the first of three this week held at [...]