“The messageQube delivers happiness year-round for users by opening up a new channel to reach people using a traditional means of communication…the printed word.”

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MessageQube is a cellular wireless device that prints text messages, pictures and longer notes sent by people using cell phones, mobile apps and web apps. It can also be integrated with a business’ enterprise system, like those used in senior living facilities to print information like medication reminders, daily schedules and menus, etc. Content is printed in large, easy to read Arial 15 font on 3 1/8″ wide thermal paper. Each messageQube has a unique 10-digit cellular number making it easy for people to send text messages. You can learn more about this new product at www.messageQube.com.

Coming soon, messageQube users will be able to subscribe to content that will be printed on their devices. This includes daily weather forecasts & severe weather alerts, Sudoku puzzles, word jumbles, comics & humor and other personal entertainment along with special calendaring reminders of personal events…from family birthdays & anniversaries, to social events, to medical appointments and medication reminders.

MO: What inspired you to create messageQube?

Rob: I recognized a communication chasm that existed for senior citizens who didn’t use email or text messaging and younger family members. This chasm applied to my Mom and other aging relatives within their respective large families. I simply merged the electronic delivery of technology that the masses used with a fundamental form of communication that senior citizens were familiar with – the printed word.

MO: How does messageQube work? Do you have a target audience?

Rob: The messageQube is a cellular wireless device that uses the same fundamental technology that a cell phone uses. It has a cellular module that is activated on a cellular network and issued a unique 10-digit number…the same as a cell phone. When people send a text message to this number, the messageQube receives the text message, converts it to a “print stream”, and then sends it to a thermal printer for printing. Smartphone users may download and use a special messageQube mobile App to send longer personal notes and pictures. The target consumer audience is senior citizens who do not use email or text messaging. For commercial use, the vertical markets include healthcare, law enforcement and education.

MO: Congratulations on winning an award at the Connected World Conference in Chicago for Health Care Innovation. Can you talk about the significance of winning and what the recognition has meant to messageQube?

Rob: We were thrilled to win the Connected World Health Care Innovation Award this past summer. It validates the work we’ve done with healthcare providers to provide patients an effective, easy-to-use medication reminders and management solution for patients that are challenged with the use of technology. This award provides further support for the work we are doing in healthcare to help providers manage in-home monitoring for conditions like congestive heart failure and COPD.

MO: Can you elaborate on how messageQube has proven itself as an effective personal communication device to enhance family communication while helping people maintain better health?

Rob: In our beta test from Spring 2012 thru Fall 2012, and since our formal launch in October 2012, we’ve seen high customer satisfaction with the messageQube being used to enhance the way family members communicate with older adults. Customers tell us how much their loved ones enjoy receiving messages from family and friends on a frequent basis. The messageQube delivers happiness year-round for users by opening up a new channel to reach people using a traditional means of communication…the printed word. In healthcare, the messageQube is both a printer of content and a communication hub that transports patient home health information, like weight and blood pressure, to healthcare providers. This is particularly important when treating congestive heart failure patients. In this application, healthcare providers use mobile & web apps to track the patients’ vital signs taken at home, then intervenes with care if signs indicate the patient is trending towards an acute episode that leads to a hospital re-admission. The combination of enhanced social connectivity with family along with the ability for family to track personal health vital information has the medical community quite interested in the possibilities.

MO: You’re not only enhancing communication channels to improve health you’re also improving the way that communities can communicate with area law enforcement. Can you share of how messageQube is making life a bit easier for the deaf and hard of hearing in Cole County, Missouri?

Rob: When a messageQube is located at a local law enforcement call center, it’s particularly effective for the deaf and hard of hearing community as it gives them a voice to easily communicate with public safety officials when in need. When issues arise, a deaf and hard of hearing person can easily and quickly communicate with public safety officials by using their cell phone to text an issue to the local police or sheriff’s departments, and that call out is immediately printed so call center personnel can act on the information quickly. Our goal aligns with that of the Missouri Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing in that our mutual vision is to improve the lives and opportunities of those with hearing loss.

MO: If you had to start again from scratch, is there anything that you’d do differently?

Rob: When I embarked on this journey, I established some basic tenets that included my desire to manufacture this solution in America and for its primary use to serve an aging population who did not use email or text messaging. Today I feel stronger than ever about our “Made in America” decision. However, it’s becoming clear to me that a significant opportunity for the messageQube rests in a variety of commercial markets, like healthcare, public services and education. Hence, if I were to start again, I would likely want to conduct a bit more research in these vertical markets and apply the updated Bluetooth and sound profile features to the original design of the messageQube. This alone would have saved me over $100,000 in my design and development.