iPhone-toting allergy sufferers may now breathe a bit easier after the launch of a new mobile application Tuesday that provides users with allergy alerts and forecasts.

Smartphones and tablets are here to stay, and few will deny their usefulness in the clinical landscape. But should employers allow employees to bring and use their own devices?

Consumers aren't the only ones using mobile apps to improve their health. Their doctors are using them, too. A recent study conducted by Epocrates indicates physicians are accessing drug information at the point of care, often through a mobile medical app, to make sure the drugs they're prescribing aren't harming their patients. That, says the San Mateo, Calif.-based developer of online reference tools, amounts to more than 27 million potentially dangerous drug interactions avoided each year.

"The singularity is near," says Ray Kurzweil, author, inventor, futurist and entrepreneur, who announced this past December he would be joining Google as director of engineering, with unlimited resources for researching artificial intelligence.

Health IT venture capital funding approached $1.2 billion, disbursed across more than 160 deals, in 2012. That dwarfs the $480 million given in 49 deals in 2011, and the 22 deals worth $211 million in 2010, according to a new report from Mercom Capital Group.