Senior Tech

Tag Archives: Senior Tech

News December 16, 2012

MobileHelp® Medical Alert System Leverages u-blox GPS and 2G/3G

Okay, yeah, we make fun of it, right? “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!” But it’s a genuinely serious problem, and it could even happen to you thought you don’t believe it. Keith Olbermann’s father, for example, suffered a stroke (I think) and it was something like a day and a half before anyone [...]

The Telikin Brings Computers to the Masses

Before I tell you about the Telikin computer system, I need to tell you about my grandma. See, my grandma was always on the cutting edge. She was an early adopter, from microwaves to VCRs and DVD players. We used to joke that if she were still driving and needed a cell phone in 2007, [...]

Intel’s “Upgrade Your Life” Event

Along with 12 other site owners, I was invited to attend the Intel “Upgrade Your Life” experience in Santa Clara, California on July 13th. I went into this event with no itinerary and no idea of what we were going to see, but I figured it had to be more than “just” processor chips. Sure [...]

Review: Amplicom Alarm Clock

Every morning it’s the same routine. You’re sound asleep, and then your iPhone/Droid/alarm clock/dog starts going off and announcing WAKE UP TIME! Basically, something blares in or around your head and you start moving. What if you were hearing impaired, though? How do you make sure the alarm wakes you up? That’s where the Amplicom [...]

Fone Sitter Makes Sure Grandma Hung Up The Phone!

My dad gave me a ride home from work last night. During the drive he went to call his mother (my grandmother) and her line was busy. So he tried her cell phone. No answer. This went on for a good ten minutes; we’d chat, he’d try both numbers, we’d chat again. Finally he started [...]

Jitterbug Starts a Medication Reminder Service

You may already know the name Jitterbug from their reputation as senior citizen friendly cell phones. The company is leveraging their reputation and user base to add more features to their service AND solve a major issue for many elderly people and their families. It’s tough to make sure someone who is older and living [...]

Microsoft Gives Senior Citizens the Gift of Those Newfangled Interwebs

Businessweek recently ran a story about a side of Microsoft we do not hear nearly enough about. Apparently they have been working with various cities to bring computers to senior citizens. With the dependence on computers today, it has become tough for homebound elderly people to remain connected to society without them. Microsoft is pushing [...]

The iPad’s Stealth Demographic

The iPad has generated a great deal of discussion throughout the last few days, with people being heavily divided between “It’s exactly what I hoped for!” and “Oh no…it doesn’t multitask or have a camera or walk my dog, it’s ALL WRONG!” Dave Pogue tweeted out a great article that casts the iPad in a [...]

CloseBy Lets You Monitor Grandma Even When You Aren’t Home.

We’ve covered various forms of GPS and monitoring systems for the elderly. But what about everyday life? You can’t be everywhere at once, and GPS is great for activity but poor if you need to know if someone went from the living room to the bedroom. CloseBy has a solution that, while pricey, lets you [...]

MobileHelp Can Track and Assist Your Loved Ones

We’ve covered various forms of GPS and wifi tracking devices that can be used for elderly family members before, but they’ve all had very tight ranges and are mostly for use inside the home. But what about a system that can work outside the home, leveraging cellular and GPS connectivity to provide tracking and emergency [...]

Is Text to Speech Copyright Infringement or Accessibility?

(image courtesy audiobooks for everyone) Famously, the Kindle 2 debuted with Text to Speech enabled, only to see it yanked for many books after the publishing companies complained it violated audiobook copyrights. This debate is becoming an issue all over again because of devices like Intel’s Reader for the blind, which uses a scanner and [...]