The Inside Word on Senior Assistive Technology
People who use hearing aids frequently complain about their high prices. Often their families complain too, since the unaffordability of a solution means continual frustrations for both speaker and listener, and a deepening sense of isolation for all. Organizations from the National Association for the Deaf to The Better Hearing Institute (BHI) have been campaigning […]
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Market research and analysis firm Frost & Sullivan is out with a report on PERs (Personal Emergency Response Systems), known to the rest of us as those “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!” devices. According to F&S, in 2013, market revenues for PERS were approximately $1.04 billion. That’s not surprising considering PERS are a […]
Continue reading...A belated happy birthday to Anna Stoehr, who turned 114 on October 15th. She’s been in the news lately because she had a slight glitch when she tried to get on Facebook–its age verification form stopped five years short of her birth year. This story is our all-time favorite reminder that technology has no upper age […]
Continue reading...Silicon Valley may not appreciate anyone over 22, but in Nashville this weekend they’re holding the second annual LeadingAge Hackfest. At this two-day event, intergenerational teams will compete to create “a technology-driven tool aimed at improving the lives of older adults and their families.” While there’s a slight whiff of condescension in the sense that seniors […]
Continue reading...Last week, 52-year-old entrepreneur Jeff Pulver addressed the American Enterprise Institute and confirmed (see 43:00 on the video) what we’ve all suspected: Silicon Valley is blatantly, shamelessly ageist. The money quote, according to the Washington Post: I was in Silicon Valley two years ago meeting a partner of one of the most famous VCs in the world […]
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South African researchers recently conducted a survey of residents of several local nursing homes to gauge seniors’ comfort level with online banking. Overall, they looked upon it favorably, with several important caveats. As reported by South Africa’s IT-Online, “71% of the respondents said they found it easy to configure new technologies on their own […]
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Ben Wellington, a Visiting Assistant Professor in the City & Regional Planning program at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York, has been running a fascinating blog called I Quant New York in which he slices and dices publicly available data about New York City. Of interest to seniors who may wish to visit or […]
Continue reading...“Wherever a new technology goes, scammers follow. There’ll be scammers on Mars just after the astronauts land.” An FBI agent Most techies know the term “social engineering;” it refers to a scammer’s ability to gain trust. The scammer may sound friendly, threatening or conspiratorial (“we can both get one over on them together!”), whatever the […]
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After the Nobel Prize, er, a more mundane discovery. We just got this press release: “The Pee Pocket is a single use, waterproof disposable funnel allowing women to pee while standing. Its convenient tri-fold design easily fits in purse or pocket and includes a hygienic tissue wipe and disposable bag. Use without getting hands or other […]
Continue reading...The total lunar eclipse and the announcement of the Nobel Prize for Chemistry both took place at the same time last night, so we decided to make it an insomnia two-fer. We were rewarded with a beautiful moon the color of Mars and Sonoma, and a fascinating discussion of super-resolution microscopy, which is likely to […]
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