Five Technology Offerings for Older Adults -- April 2018

April Showers, Innovation and Spring flowers.  Tech companies and their partners continue to propel forward, with new ideas, innovations, products. Consider that April offered up the winners of the Stanford Design Challenge – a computer-integrated bicycle handle with blind spot warning and fall detection and emergency alert. Stay tuned for more innovation events upcoming, including the 2018 Silicon Valley Boomer Venture Summit in June. Here are the five offerings from April with all material drawn directly from the company's websites:

 

•  Theora Care Solutions. "Theora Connect™ is a wristwatch-style monitoring and communication device. Theora Link™ is a powerful smartphone application. This Theora Care duo provides a 2-way communications system between wearer and caregiver. Theora Care solutions are ideal for the aging in place populations to live independently, longer. In residential care, a hospital or other places a caregiver isn’t always present, users can benefit from a virtual check in. People with conditions such as Alzheimer’s, dementia, Autism Spectrum Disorder and Parkinson’s disease can live with more independence. Caregivers know where their loved one is and can reach them almost instantly.” Learn more at Theora Care.

• The Birdsong Tablet.  "A partnership between Westminster-Canterbury on Chesapeake Bay in Virginia Beach, Virginia is teaming with the French-based company TMM Groupe resulted in the launch of the Birdsong Tablet. “The Birdsong Tablet is pre-loaded with hundreds of hours of music, videos, games, travel and therapeutic content. The device also provides a user-friendly family app that makes it easy for residents and their loved ones to connect with video chat and messaging. Because research shows that smaller screens are difficult for some seniors to see, the tablet is available in 21, 18 or 10-inch screen sizes." Learn more at Westminster-Canterbury.

• TruSense Releases First ‘Smart’ Personal Emergency Response (PERS) Pendant.  "TruSense Home uses sensor and GPS technology to discern the way a person lives—time spent sleeping, in the kitchen, or getting out of the house. When a user defined threshold has been exceeded, such as they have been in a room too long, TruSense sends alerts to the circle of people who they’ve chosen to receive custom notifications. The TruSense starter kit includes an Amazon Echo Dot and can be used for caregivers to receive voice activated status updates on how mom or dad are doing, or, alternatively can be kept in the home so older adults can receive voice reminders or call for help."  Learn more at TruSense.

• MedHab Announces Launch of MyNotifi Clip. "This Automatic Fall Detection Wearable is a new addition to its line of MyNotifi® fall detection wearables, the belt-mounted MyNotifi clip. MyNotifi is a fall detection device which automatically detects falls and notifies selected family, friends or neighbors. MyNotifi can be worn on the wrist or clipped to a belt with a Bluetooth link smartphone. If MyNotifi detects that the wearer has fallen, it automatically notifies selected contacts through the MyNotifi app. In addition to fall detection, the MyNotifi app assists in fall prevention with 38 American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) certified physical therapy exercises."   Learn more at MyNotifi.

• Toch Smarturns™ provides stove and kitchen safety for seniors living independently.  "Tochtech Technologies Inc. a Canadian technology company whose mission is to enable a future where seniors can live independently for as long as they choose to, released its first assistive tech product, Toch Smarturns Utilizing the Internet of Things (IoT), motion sensor, wireless and patent-pending technologies, the Smarturns™ solution involves replacing existing stove knobs with the intelligent knobs that are able to track when a stove has been turned on and off." Learn more at Toch Smarturns.

 

category tags: 

Boomer-Senior Tech Business, fall prevention, fall detection, IoT and home monitoring, tablets

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from Tips For Aging In Place https://www.ageinplacetech.com/blog/five-technology-offerings-older-adults-april-2018

Technology design for all -- predicted in 2011, in-market in 2018

A long time ago (7 years this month) in a tech world far, far away, a report sponsored by then-AARP executive Jody Holtzman predicted that technology change would deliver a new user experience. The concept was referred to as "Technology Design for All" --  defined as 'User experiences that appeal to all age groups, persisting across versions and devices.'  According to the report Connected Living for Social Aging, which was published 7 years ago this month, the future was predicted. It is worth a look back -- note that it did happen just as described. Consider smart speakers (the Echo was launched in 2014), IoT boxes, phones, tablets, PCs, Macs and all cloud-based software.   These work without the need to download and upgrade on Patch Tuesday, though privacy improvements are the next big technology hurdle.  From the report, with the chart giving an italicized nod to tech of 2018:  

'Within the context of communication and engagement technologies, attributes are beginning to emerge and will become pervasive in devices and software within the next five years, contributing to realization of design-for-all technology. They include:

• Adaptive user interface.  Interaction designs (devices, software, dashboards) increasingly support customization by the individual – but owning multiple applications from different vendors means needing to tailor each application separately. In a design-for-all world, applications will recognize an interaction style of a user and automatically set minimum profile characteristics on the new device to match (like retaining Gmail preferences across smart phones and tablets). Says Jim Osborn, Quality of Life Technology Center, now at Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse: 'Technology should self-adjust to your mode of interaction – based on how you have used the device.'

• Multi-modal device interaction.  For those who don’t want to or can’t type on tiny buttons or QWERTY keyboards, design-for-all devices will standardize on what are sometimes called ‘immersion’ technologies -- multiple engaging interaction models so that users can select what works best for them.  These include the ability to swipe, touch, speak, project out to a wall, or say ‘camera on’ and add video. Says Lyn Jeffery (at Institute for the Future): 'We will expect to be able to take a photo of a menu and have it read out loud or leave voice messages that turn into Instant Messages for your daughter.'

• Cloud-based software.  Instead of the model of download-install-upgrade-repeat, in a design-for-all world, the functionality will be in the ‘cloud’ and accessed when the device is turned on, thus enabling user interfaces and content to be extracted and shown to the user (like Recently Viewed on Netflix), instead of loaded at installation and then bound to the user device. This cloud-based model must adapt to work across devices and activities – as Eric Dishman (now at NIH) says: "We must have a centralized way to manage our complex network of online communities, based on trust and very secure.'"

Attributes                                             Design for All                       Examples

User Interfaces	Adaptive: selected feature subsets, Customizable user experience  (volume, size, font, brightness, audible)	Televisions (LG, Sony, Panasonic) 2010 and beyond (and all tablets, touchscreens, phones and even kiosks today)
Interaction modes	Multi-modal : Voice, touch, gesture, speech-to-text, text-to-speech	Motorola Droid2 Global (and all smartphones and tablets today)
Software	Cloud-based: functionality separated from interface, centralized privacy management	Netflix, Amazon, Salesforce.com (and all cloud-based software today)

 

 

category tags: 

Boomer-Senior Tech Business, computers, internet and social networking, cell phones, smartphones

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from Tips For Aging In Place https://www.ageinplacetech.com/blog/technology-design-all-predicted-2011-market-2018

Moving beyond the pilot -- technology, services, organizations

Search for the word ‘pilot’ on this site. That is an interesting search – pages and pages of Start Me Up pilots in tech, programs, initiatives large and small, all linked, no doubt to corresponding media spend and press releases.  Think back on the cycles of tech deployment.  Remember the Alpha test, when the product barely worked at all.  After those bugs were uncovered by testers who had scripts designed for successful outcomes, it is time for the Beta test – where selected prospective users are identified, put the offering through its paces, under an assumption that the pilot will be converted to permanent deployment. 

Why do pilots exist?  Primary motivation for pilots combines business uncertainty and a reasonable deal from the vendor.  Will this solution work well for my business? Will the participants I’ve rounded up accept the new process or tech? Has the tech firm agreed that licenses for use of the technology during the pilot will be free – and that an initial installation for a limited number will be either free or discounted after the pilot?  Are prospective sponsors enthusiastic and ready to give the tech or service a try?  Have learnings from the pilot been documented and distributed?  

But some pilots produce little -- beyond an extension of the pilot.  Business coordinators are still unsure – because the people they have involved may be unsure or uncommitted. The technology seemed charming or interesting during the pilot may be of little long-term use outside of the pilot. Funding for purchases of hardware, software or services for deployment may disappear or – or was not budgeted. Or the administration of the product or service is lacking. Or organizational change occurs – either sponsor or vendor. Worse, there never seems to be a follow-up press release stating that organization or company A, B, or C discontinued the pilot – so it is left to the rumor mill to speculate. The Comcast Internet Essentials (pilot started in 2015) is still expanding in San Francisco area for low-income elderly.

Some pilots succeed and the offering is deployed, but...  When the stars align (offering, price, available training, support and service), then pilots -- and deployment begins. Incentives, like that for Comcast, are in place.  The organizations committed to the pilot are stable – eventually, for example, senior housing organizations achieve a prediction of becoming WiFi-enabled and so they are candidates for use of the technology.  Ideally deployment is easy – the offering is in the cloud or easily downloaded – the hardware is inexpensive, easily shipped or is a commodity – or even better, everyone already has the hardware.  Sometimes the pilot just ends, with an optimistic word about the future. So often, deployment takes a too much money (consider Paro the Seal), too much organizational stability motivation and too many years.

category tags: 

Boomer-Senior Tech Business, assisted living, home health care, entrepreneurship

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from Tips For Aging In Place https://www.ageinplacetech.com/blog/moving-beyond-pilot-technology-services-organizations

Time to worry much more about data privacy and profiles

The irony, the irony – everyone saw Europe’s data privacy initiatives.  Why has this taken so long here? In a word – lobbying. The congressional hearing droned on, and Mark Zuckerberg tried so hard not to sound condescending towards his techno-light questioners about the so-called ‘Facebook Scandal.’ Which could have been the Google scandal, the Twitter scandal, or the Amazon scandal -- consolidation of industry players and using the data to sell them (or make ads ‘more effective’) or as with Amazon, sell them more stuff. The real scandal? Not the Cambridge Analytica role, which didn’t exactly sneak around in the long-time and paid analysis of Facebook data. The real scandal might be last year's $30 million of lobbying spent to avoid controls (and user protection) actions like those considered and in process in Europe.

What cannot be controlled - market domination. Unless the federal government gets more involved in oversight of acquisitions, useful software companies or services are perpetually driven out of business when the big guys swallow up the competition -- What’s App, Instagram – did the government even peep when those deals happened? Or when they form into near-monopolies like Amazon.  At the very most polite, a ‘smaller group of players’ (see proposed Walmart and Humana). Remember that Google gets 78% of all search ad dollars.  That meets the definition of ‘dominant’ if not quite a monopoly – what happens when it is 90% or 95% -- is that a monopoly?  At that point, and when all other search ad dollars have evaporated, that is an Amazon moment – think book stores and the destruction of nationwide retail stores, say, in malls? Or auto parts?  

The favorite rejoinder – we brought this consolidation, uh, monopoly, on ourselves.  We like convenience of ‘qualifying for free shipping’.  Really?  We hate being in retail stores – thought that may not apply to all -- not millennials and not baby boomers. We like that there is only one check-out process, no matter who the behind-the-scenes seller is – and that always works out for the seller – though maybe not so much.  And that one-click ordering, we like that, though -- accidents happen.  Meanwhile, Amazon knows our profile (so that we can shop).  Facebook and Google know our profile in much more personal depth – so that we can…what exactly?  And consider how tools to manage these profiles, enabling shutting off default settings, have emerged long after the profile was created and the data was provided to…whom?

Older adults will be increasingly vulnerable to defaults and privacy hacks -- not just AARP-monitored scams.  Protecting our data privacy in dominant tools like Facebook and its Instagram (new process introduced April 12, 2018), Google, Twitter, and Youtube -- many days late and millions of dollars short.  As we encourage older adults to go online and into tools that involve family photo and video sharing, what else is being shared?  And how would you know there was a problem with this sharing by default -- unless the press caught wind of it, whether it is about Cambridge Analytica or European Union initiatives, or AARP posted about it on March 28, 2018?  Who is watching out for older adults in the online world of default sharing, especially with their health data -- and who will train providers, families, and the health industry, including assisted living and long term care -- on the use of privacy hubs as they emerge?

category tags: 

computers, internet and social networking, baby boomers, digital health, assisted living

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from Tips For Aging In Place https://www.ageinplacetech.com/blog/time-worry-much-more-about-data-privacy-and-profiles

Older adults -- worry more about data privacy and profiles

The irony, the irony – everyone saw Europe’s data privacy initiatives.  Why has this taken so long here? In a word – lobbying. The congressional hearing droned on, and Mark Zuckerberg tried so hard not to sound condescending towards his techno-light questioners about the so-called ‘Facebook Scandal.’ Which could have been the Google scandal, the Twitter scandal, or the Amazon scandal -- consolidation of industry players and using the data to sell them (or make ads ‘more effective’) or as with Amazon, sell them more stuff. The real scandal? Not the Cambridge Analytica role, which didn’t exactly sneak around in the long-time and paid analysis of Facebook data. The real scandal might be last year's $30 million of lobbying spent to avoid controls (and user protection) actions like those considered and in process in Europe.

What cannot be controlled - market domination. Unless the federal government gets more involved in oversight of acquisitions, useful software companies or services are perpetually driven out of business when the big guys swallow up the competition -- What’s App, Instagram – did the government even peep when those deals happened? Or when they form into near-monopolies like Amazon.  At the very most polite, a ‘smaller group of players’ (see proposed Walmart and Humana). Remember that Google gets 78% of all search ad dollars.  That meets the definition of ‘dominant’ if not quite a monopoly – what happens when it is 90% or 95% -- is that a monopoly?  At that point, and when all other search ad dollars have evaporated, that is an Amazon moment – think book stores and the destruction of nationwide retail stores, say, in malls? Or auto parts?  

The favorite rejoinder – we brought this consolidation, uh, monopoly, on ourselves.  We like convenience of ‘qualifying for free shipping’.  Really?  We hate being in retail stores – thought that may not apply to all -- not millennials and not baby boomers. We like that there is only one check-out process, no matter who the behind-the-scenes seller is – and that always works out for the seller – though maybe not so much.  And that one-click ordering, we like that, though -- accidents happen.  Meanwhile, Amazon knows our profile (so that we can shop).  Facebook and Google know our profile in much more personal depth – so that we can…what exactly?  And consider how tools to manage these profiles, enabling shutting off default settings, have emerged long after the profile was created and the data was provided to…whom?

Older adults will be increasingly vulnerable to defaults and privacy hacks -- not just AARP-monitored scams.  Protecting our data privacy in dominant tools like Facebook and its Instagram (new process introduced April 12, 2018), Google, Twitter, and Youtube -- many days late and millions of dollars short.  As we encourage older adults to go online and into tools that involve family photo and video sharing, what else is being shared?  And how would you know there was a problem with this sharing by default -- unless the press caught wind of it, whether it is about Cambridge Analytica or European Union initiatives, or AARP posted about it on March 28, 2018?  Who is watching out for older adults in the online world of default sharing -- and train in the use of privacy hubs as they emerge?

category tags: 

computers, internet and social networking, baby boomers

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from Tips For Aging In Place https://www.ageinplacetech.com/blog/older-adults-worry-more-about-data-privacy-and-profiles

Aging in Place Technology – Four Blog posts from March 2018

The tech ideas of March -- change incremental or disruptive.   March marked the annual American Society on Aging conference in San Francisco – where Continuing Education Credits (CEUs) are obtained for multiple social and service roles that serve older adults.  The purpose was unchanged – and the limited representation of tech in the exhibit hall  may hint at the peripheral role that technology use continues to play in these senior-focused jobs, despite the tech disruption this past year of voice first technology, or the availability of cheaper/smaller wearables and offerings for the smart home.  The four blog posts from March are:

2018 Technology Market Overview updated and published. Technology and tech-enabled services matter for older adults. The marketplace for technology to assist aging adults in the Longevity Economy is expected to grow to more than $30 billion in the next few years, according to the updated report by Aging in Place Technology Watch, more likely to be based on customization of standard software, using existing platforms than creation of senior-specific products. The report provides predictions about key technology trends for 2018 and beyond. Families, caregivers, and seniors will acquire new tech-enabled services that improve the quality of their lives. The 100-million-strong 50+ market is increasingly aware of technology alternatives -- and providers know it.  Read more.

Do older adults have good reasons to resist technology change? Surveys affirm increasing tech use among older adults, but for some, not so fast. Whether it is new data from Pew or AARP, some older adults refuse or are unable to use newer technologies, whether it is smartphones, online banking services, or (perhaps especially) social media.  Maybe they prefer feature phones (450 million shipped in 2017!) They may not be interested in being the first to test a new gadget or service.  Maybe they can’t get the packaging for a wearable opened without a hacksaw.  For that matter, how many of us are storing a pliers in their kitchen for vacuum-sealed containers?  But the tech of the day is particularly an anathema to a number of people, whether it is due to costly Internet plans, pricey and fragile smartphones, or hacker-improved, uh, enriched social media. Read more.

Self-driving cars – Not yet for older adults or anyone else.  What problems are self-driving cars supposed to address? Meanwhile over in Congress and ‘government oversight’, self-driving car regulations were loosened in July, enabling federal safety regulations to override those of states. Why? Because ‘boosting the industry is vital to car safety.’ And why is that? Because of the volume of motor vehicle accidents and fatalities.  So let’s understand this in a data context – there were 268 million vehicles registered in the US as of 2016.  Cars are kept for 11.6 years.  Older drivers like to drive their cars, despite the oft-repeated justification for self-driving cars is to ferry older people around. Lobbying for looser regulations has reached a new and quite convivial pitch – note the fun formation of a ‘supergroup’ of car company and tech lobbyists, supported by the mantra of reduced accidents and greater safety.  Traffic deaths are a 'public health crisis that cannot be tolerated.'  Read more.

Six offerings from the What’s Next Boomer Business Summit. The 2018 Boomer Business Summit, now in its 15^th year, built this year’s conference as the ‘Blueprint for the Longevity Economy’. That blueprint depends on the enthusiasm and foresight of innovators and leaders of technology companies that focus on the boomer-senior market, increasingly offering Voice First interfaces to new capabilities. Here are Six offerings from companies whose founders are passionate about serving the needs of older adults, those who care for them and those who serve them. All of the material included here is from the firms, listed in alphabetical order. Read more.

 

category tags: 

Boomer-Senior Tech Business, aging in place

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from Tips For Aging In Place https://www.ageinplacetech.com/blog/aging-place-technology-four-blog-posts-march-2018