We may be closer to Star Trek's vision of medicine. Doctor "Bones" McCoy used a tricorder to instantly discover a patient's afflictions-then reached for the appropriate gadget to cure it instantly.

Such a high level of medical technology is still a long way off, but Global Care Quest's ICIS mobile service offers "patient information on handheld mobile devices and smartphones." The program can access patients' medical info, and realtime data coming from beside monitors. This allows doctors to make decisions, even if they're nowhere near the patient.

The program is available for Windows Mobile, Pocket PC and Smartphone OS.