A new smartphone – life is too short to keep up with such ‘innovation’

How much time do we spend setting up our 'smart' phones?  Every few years, I change phones. In the past, Android-to-Android, I wasted at least a full day customizing all the 'improved' features the way they were on the previous phone, setting up home screens, eliminating bloatware, and downloading apps that did not properly convert.  This time, it took me most of 2 weekend days to set up an iPhone to join family photo sharing. The access to photos – that was one of the good parts. Otherwise, it was maddening and sent me out to forums again and again.  I learned about the also-constant bug-fix updates, email addresses masquerading as Apple IDs (don’t get me started) and other apparently arbitrary design decisions much whined about online. And then there was that stylistic non-charm of repositioning jiggling apps icons.  But yay, now I see shared photos and I learned how to stop the auto-playing of videos in Safari.

Can more training make vendor’s upgrade manipulation appealing?  Not likely. Smartphone upgrade pace is at an all-time low.  Is that, as the author says, because carriers aren’t offering cheap Chinese smartphones?  Bunk.  If your phone is enabling what you need (text, pics, email, browser, fitness tracking, social media) and you have no external motivation (like that family photo share) you won’t upgrade unless your phone is broken or you are a tech glutton for punishment.  Or the vendor makes your phone obsolete. Some iPhone owners in a tiny survey, apparently, switch to Samsung.  Perhaps the move to Android is driven by the iPhone price. Among Android users, my activation of an iPhone is apparently quite rare. Today people are focused on their phones nearly all the time, yakking away loudly in airports or non-stop heads-down texting everywhere – so naturally, it is a must-have appliance. And as with all appliances, if you don’t absolutely have to replace them, you don’t. Especially at today’s prices.  And if you or a family member is unsure about getting a smartphone, be sure to attend a training class before purchasing.

Voice assistants make smartphones more like conduits to the cloud. They are used primarily for playing music at home, shopping, and more recently, having voice assistants in the car. Cloud upgrades are just one of the great features of the Voice First revolution – after the ability to speak and make something happen. Think about this after you start your fifth update of iOS 13. Or you wake up to discover that Verizon is forcing your upgrade of your Android phone (right this minute or later? Choose one).  Admittedly, it is still possible to screw up updating of smart speaker devices from the cloud, like the recent bricking of Apple Home Pod devices and Google Home products.  Hopefully, that won't happen again with what no doubt will be more focused testing.  Ha!

category tags: 

smartphones, cell phones

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from Tips For Aging In Place https://www.ageinplacetech.com/blog/new-smartphone-life-too-short-keep-such-innovation

WPVI Pennsylvania News Stops By InnovAge's Grand Opening

InnovAge and NewCourtland Senior Services celebrated the grand opening of InnovAge’s Pennsylvania LIFE - Henry Avenue Center and NewCourtland’s Apartments. Learn more: https://buff.ly/35ha7HF

from Tips For Aging In Place https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RK0PjDFyQAY

Can wearables help you be healthier and safer?

You are increasingly likely to have a wearable -- around your neck or on your wrist. You may collect your own data for your own tracking and use.  For those who see a wearable in a health context, they may be disappointed to know that their doctor doesn’t seem to care or know what to do with your heart rhythm data.  But you can gain great benefit from tracking your performance (exercise, heart rate) – competing with yourself, and feeling the satisfaction from any improvement over time.  What are the benefits of wearables today -- and in the future?

Measurement matters:

• Measure your heart rate. Tracking heart rate is one of the most basic functions of wrist-worn wearables—and a basic element of tracking includes knowing the target (and maximum) heart rate ranges for your particular age group. The objective is to exercise to the point where your heart is beating at up to 85% of its capacity, which in the example chart would be 78-132 beats per minute for a 65-year-old with a max of 155 bpm. As noted in the link, medications can impact heart rate, and for those starting out, lower end of the range is better.

• Track your exercise. Are you walking, running, swimming or doing an exercise that devices can detect as motion—and even count, as with steps? Whether you are doing the exercise to lose weight or become and stay fit, the combination of motion and measured heart rate can be compared against goals and even recommended fitness levels. The goals can be entered into a smartphone app, for example, on Apple Health or Samsung Health, and the Bluetooth-synchronized device coaching feature will buzz and/or display encouragement as you move and as goals are achieved.

Getting assistance matters:

Help you get help if you fall. Fall detection has been a feature of wearable Personal Emergency Response Pendants (or Medical Alerts) for the past decade. However, it’s a relatively new feature of wrist-worn wearables like watches, but from a safety standpoint, may turn out to be one of the most useful in retirement, especially for people who live alone and/or take a dog for a walk alone. These devices have a built-in accelerometer and gyroscope which are designed to be activated if you fall. Depending on whether the feature is available and also turned on, the device may place a call to emergency services.

 Help you find where you’re going—and be found by others. We have grown increasingly dependent on GPS Location-tracking as part of mapping and directions, trusting it sometimes over common sense. And GPS location can be enabled in newer wearables, like Samsung’s or Apple’s. They can also help with directions and your location even when away from a smartphone or the phone is turned off. But a GPS-enabled device can also be a lifesaver. When enabled and integrated with a service, for example, it enables responders to find your location and display that on a map. And if you lose the watch, its GPS location capability can enable the watch to be found with a Find my Phone feature.

 Provide an Electrocardiogram (ECG). Checking for heart arrythmia is an even newer feature of wearables, and is included in the Apple Watch Series 4 and likely in a future Samsung Galaxy Watch Active. For individuals who are worried about abnormal heart rhythms, or AFib, which mostly affects those age 65+, the device could be useful. Experts have expressed cautious optimism, note high level of accuracy and also a suggestion about how best to use the devices for this purpose.

Integration with other services matters:

• Smartphone app integration is not required, but it can be useful. For some wearables, the data collection from the device is collected and presented through an application on the smartphone—for example, Samsung Health or MyFitnessPal. The applications can be set up to enable you to be part of a tracking group, for example, comparing results. As with the Apple Watch (which is paired with a smartphone) or UnaliWear’s Kanega Watch (which doesn’t require a smartphone), the watch can be useful by itself—when the phone is turned off or there is no smartphone.

• Emergency notifications can alert family or professional caregivers. For those worried about health issues or fall risk, setup is critical. Who in the care circle should be alerted in an emergency? Although it may sound sensible to contact 911, those responders have complained about false alerts from accidental taps on the watch. One firm, Fall Call Solutions, has created an app for the Apple Watch that will contact a screening call center first, as is done by MobileHelp Smart.

• Wearables can be set up to share information with the doctor. For example, if a person has had heart trouble in the past, they may want the doctor to be informed. One of the concerns about health-related wearables is the role of the health provider. While the device can transmit information to your doctor, does the doctor even want it or know what to do with it?

• Wearables can notify emergency professionals.  If you’re over 65, Apple Watch can notify emergency responders if you fall – as in this example of an 80-year-old woman.  However, after the product was launched, emergency responders expressed concerns about too many false calls.  The devices must be configured with a set of caregiving responders, which could include family, professional caregivers, or a call center.   That can be set up directly on a device or through the use of an app, like Fall Call’s Elder Check Now.

 What’s next for Wearables and Older Adults?

Although there have been periods of pessimism about the staying power of wearables, most agree that they are here to stay—with a greater role in the future for baby boomers and beyond, whether they reside at home or in a senior living setting. Some think that baby boomers will drive market growth in 2019, with 8 million of those aged 55+ owning a smartwatch by the end of the year. One reason for a surge in adoption has been a drop in prices—some are now under $200. For the older adult, a wearable may help a person who lives alone feel safer knowing that a fall will be detected, or a useful warning will be provided, as in the case of irregular heart rhythms. And future benefits are likely from developments in:

• Hearables. These are recent innovations designed to look cooler than hearing aids and fit in or around the ear. Each of their functions, such as in-ear amplification, translation, fitness, predictive analytics, are available now, synchronizing activity data with a smartphone.
• Smart clothing.  The term refers to any clothing item enhanced with some functionality-adding technology, including smart socks, smart shoes, active wear, and even a smart business suit. 
• Smart glasses. At first glance, will this innovation resonate—including the dubious potential of Snapchat smart glasses to capture photos of what you’re looking at in real time and upload them to Snapchat?  But in reality, smart glasses are an innovation that may also be used to help the legally blind actually see what’s around them.

 

category tags: 

wearables, smart watch, Mobile PERS

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from Tips For Aging In Place https://www.ageinplacetech.com/blog/can-wearables-help-you-be-healthier-and-safer

InnovAge LIFE in Action

InnovAge LIFE, known nationally as the Program of All-inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE), can help by providing healthcare and social services to seniors - without having them move to a nursing facility.

from Tips For Aging In Place https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2DARBK7tM8

InnovAge PACE in Action

In some communities, like Philadelphia, PACE is known as Living Independently for Elders (LIFE). To watch the InnovAge LIFE in Action video, click here: https://youtu.be/befaHQ4r0PI

from Tips For Aging In Place https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KpO0VUNuxA

Five new technologies for older adults October 2019

Announcements of new offerings are arriving – will they/can they be used?  Hopefully these 5 will offer benefit that can and will be realized by older adults. Writers of these 2019 articles about the topic are not so sure that new technologies for this population may not be reaching their intended audience. That can be due to a variety of barriers, including fear that they are not using them properly (UCSD study), lack of internet access (which would limit awareness), low technology literacy (TechCrunch), including lack of familiarity with terminology, and physical challenges (research from MPDI). Here are five new technologies that could provide benefit to older adults – content is from the companies:

Clocr. “Launch of secure, cloud-based service to provide a better option for people to store and share important documents.Clocr is hosted in the cloud, so users can trust that their information is encrypted and preserved with access only given to contacts and guardians approved by the account holder. The proprietary ultra-security service provides more layers of security than anyone else in the industry. Clocr is the best choice for secure storage and disbursement of wills, medical proxies, account logins and passwords, financial records, and more.” Learn more at Clocr.

HandsFree Health.  “HandsFree Health combines WellBe's unique virtual assistant with capabilities from industry-leading health and technology companies including Microsoft, Healthwise, Cerner, and PokitDot. The HandsFree Health executive team brings more than 150 years of healthcare experience to make managing health more convenient for consumers, employers, health plans and hospital systems.” Learn more at HandsFree Health.

eTagz. “Each tag contains a unique QR code and matching alphanumeric code. If the worst happens and you are involved in an accident and are incapacitated, first responders, who are trained to look for ETAGZ tags, can scan the QR code on your tag using their smartphone or tablet and your MEDWALL which has your Emergency Contact Information displayed giving them the information they need to make faster and better medical decisions and to promptly contact your loved ones.”   Our tags speak for you when you cannot.” Learn more at eTagz.

Navigil. “Navigil, a specialist in white label telecare and personal safety solutions, has unveiled the Navigil Suite that consists of Navigil 580 wellbeing wristwatch and Navigil Service. The solution is powered by the latest mobile communication technology and artificial intelligence. It supports active aging persons who want to secure a long independent life while taking into account the concerns of their closest ones.”  Learn more at Navigil.

Silent Beacon. “The Silent Beacon personal panic button is made for people who are able to enjoy life and wish to have added protection in case something unforeseen was to occur.  Call and alert your loved ones and 911 when faced with an emergency.” Learn more at Silent Beacon.

category tags: 

mHealth-Digital Health-Telehealth-Voice Health, Learning, working, contribution and legacy

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from Tips For Aging In Place https://www.ageinplacetech.com/blog/five-new-technologies-older-adults-october-2019

New Technology and Services Disrupt Hearing Aid Ecosystem

Hearing aids should appeal to those with significant hearing loss.  It’s a given that hearing loss interferes with communication – which itself is a risk for social isolation – as well as fall risk and dementia.  Ironically, according to the recently published and comprehensive MarkeTrak10 survey, the decision to wear them is so often delayed years – the delay resulting from excuses like “hear well enough; can’t afford; too expensive; no coverage.”  Given the associated risks and isolation from delay, it is surprising that until recently, the devices were well-matched with the excuses.  What’s changed to overcome all of these excuses?

Technology innovation.  At the high end (meaning very expensive), hearing aids are increasingly clever.  Starkey’s Livio AI hearing aids have the capability to detect falls, track and analyze activity – combining with a smartphone (Android) app or iPhone for real-time adjustments based on changes in environment and preference. According to Carole Rogin, one of the MarkeTrak10 authors, soon all hearing aids will have built in fall detection and predictive analytics. And increasingly, like the Phonak AutoSense offering to automatically adjust to changes in environment without user intervention.  Offerings like Bose Hearphones and Nuheara IQ BOOST have been leaders in an amplification category call Hearables – which in turn will likely continue to push the rest of the industry to improve sound quality.

Price and distribution innovation.  Consumers want self-service in all aspects of their lives – and hearing aids are no different. Not surprisingly self-service offerings (Direct to Consumer or DTC) appear to be correlated with lower price. Some (especially traditional audiologists) might say that some of these hearing aids are of lower quality.  Most would argue that the missing feature is the audiologist adjustment process though that can be delivered remotely as part of the purchase price.  For those starting to squint at this array of terminology, add OTC (Over the Counter) sale of hearing aids – no audiologist involved.

What is the real problem to be solved?  As a not-small side effect of the gyrations in this industry, the consumer may be rightfully confused – how bad is my hearing, can I check it myself and am I at risk of developing health issues if it is not corrected? Do I need an expert exam what about an implant? Do I need expensive hearing aids? Why doesn’t insurance cover them? Will some less expensive (and even somewhat insurance-subsidized) options do the job? Do they always need regular adjustment, what is the role of the smartphone app? But meanwhile, the new terminology and alphabet soup of the space continues to expand. Consumers may be confused, but as the Market Trak report noted, they are the biggest beneficiary.

category tags: 

hearing loss, Seniors, smartphones, cell phones

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from Tips For Aging In Place https://www.ageinplacetech.com/blog/new-technology-and-services-disrupt-hearing-aid-ecosystem

Four tech and aging blog posts from September 2019

Fall and red leaves arrived as typical late in the month.  But as inevitable as those changes are, other notable events occurred during September – including AARP’s partnership with Getty Images to combat age bias in advertising. Also in September, Medicare changes were introduced encouraging technology use by health providers, particularly telehealth services -- perhaps boosting the use of telehealth technology (for example remote visitations) which has seen a rise of consumer interest in recent polling, though not well-adopted yet by the majority of physicians. The four blog posts from September:

MIT Technology Review’s "Old Age is Over" is thought provoking.  Or in the case of the technology section – "Old Age is Made Up," written by Joe Coughlin, head of the MIT Age Lab, the content is just plain provoking. We agree that old age is made up – but in this article, that assertion is underpinned with generalizations that are just, well, also made up. And it shows a lack of understanding about who benefits from technologies that exist in their current form, or that some of those have been upgraded well beyond his generalizations.  Read more.

Heightened focus on social isolation has resulted in more research, greater concern.  Since the initial correlation between loneliness, social isolation and poor health outcomes, new reports have emerged to try and understand why people are lonely and what can be done to mitigate it. AARP, which has been researching the subject since 2010, released new survey results in 2018 confirming the same percentage – 35 percent of adults age 45+ are lonely – but with a growing number of older adults in the population, this represents an additional five million adults based on census data and asks them to assess their health. Today, Aging in Place Technology Watch and GreatCall have published a new white paper about initiatives to fight social isolation. Read more.

Consider upcoming fall events.  It's the last quarter of 2019 and a full sprint to the year-end finish. Soon you will launch a boomer/senior, home health tech product or service, or maybe a caregiver advisory service.  As your company gets ready to travel into battle or a booth this fall with the sound of lively pitches all around, it is time to for you to revisit this guidance. Perhaps sometime soon, your new or existing company will officially launch a new product or service, or perhaps a long-awaited, over-described and much-anticipated offering will finally ship. First read existing content and research reports on your particular market segment.  Look over this updated checklist that continues to hold true – with updated links and references. Read more.

Getty images show advertising’s ageist stereotypes.  A new report from AARP this week zeros in on something we all knew: Advertisers focus on the young – not unlike the tech firms who make products being advertised.  Despite the 50+ population representing one third of the US population, they only show up in 13% of advertising imagery. The AARP report authors analyzed the Getty images – and observed that even though 69% of people aged 65-73 own a smartphone, less the 5% of the images of technology included any older adults. The same held true for images of workers: while one third (53 million) of the labor force is 50+, only 13% showed them working -- otherwise they were shown at home, with a partner or in a medical setting. And the kicker: 81% of the employees of advertising agencies are younger than 55. Read more.

 

category tags: 

mHealth-Digital Health-Telehealth-Voice Health, Technology - AARP

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from Tips For Aging In Place https://www.ageinplacetech.com/blog/four-tech-and-aging-blog-posts-september-2019

Considering Technology Adoption -- AARP’s 2008 Healthy@Home

AARP research highlights changes in technology adoption.   What a difference more than a decade makes. Consider a long-ago AARP document that examined technology use of the 65+ population. Remember Healthy@Home in 2008? You probably don’t but you should read it. Kudos to Linda Barrett who led the production of this milestone report.  The iPhone had just been released in June of 2007, so this survey did not ask about smartphone use – there was no Digital Health “(a check engine light for your body!”); the Longevity Economy hadn’t been invented; Fitbit was a 2007 new clip-on tracker, and Facebook was still a campus toy. The survey was fielded in December of 2007 with a population of 907 adults aged 65-98 (mean age was 74) – rarely surveyed today, despite growing lifespan. Much was revealed, though it is another example (as if we needed one) that the more things change, the more they don’t.  

A few highlights from the report catch the eye.  To ask the questions in this survey, responders were shown still pictures of products from a Leading Age video. Only one third of the 65+ had broadband in the home (the rest used dial-up) or had gone online at the time of this survey. The older they were, the less likely to search for health information online or to trust online sources. They were also less willing to use a computer to interact with people at a distance (Skype had just surfaced in 2003).  Perhaps seeing the future, 6 in 10 thought that “personal computers will cost too much to install (62%), maintain (59%) and may not be something I need (58%).”  The 65+ population thought favorably about home safety devices, including mitigating losses from impairment (vision, mobility) – but only for others, not for themselves.

What’s changed in adoption by 2018? By the time of the 2011 report Healthy@Home 2.0, it was apparent that the in-home PC was saturated --  and by then, 71% of the 65+ were using PCs to communicate with family and friends. Caregivers were increasingly using technology to help them manage care (although they still objected to being called caregivers). By 2018, tech attitude differences between the 70+ and younger population were apparent.  While 90% of all adults owned a computer or laptop, those aged 70+ were more likely to use them, along with feature phones -- smartphone adoption had reached just 55% in that group. Among those under the age of 70, text messaging had taken over as the primary tool to stay connected, replacing email (and sadly, the telephone conversation, which was pretty much gone by 2015).

Telemedicine was positively perceived in 2008, but…More than half of older adults said they would like to be able to monitor their health status at home, sending information to their doctor via telephone and email. And in fact, by 2008, the VA had completed a study about the efficacy of home telehealth for veterans – in particular, aside from the claims of cost effectiveness, those that had the devices in-home felt more connected to their care providers. That was the good news. By 2019, the so-called tipping point in utilization by doctors has not been reached, though, perhaps it is just around the corner – the VA being the first to allow doctors to ‘practice’ across state lines.  But even though adoption is improving, only one-third of hospitals and 45% of doctors actually offer telehealth services.  And does it save money?  The jury is still out.

category tags: 

Boomer-Senior Tech Business, Aging technology

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from Tips For Aging In Place https://www.ageinplacetech.com/blog/considering-technology-adoption-aarp-s-2008-healthyhome