Should we entrust the care of people in their 70s and older to artificial assistants rather than doing it ourselves?
Washington, DC, May 31, 2013
Nat'l Aging in Place Conf, Wash, DC, June 14, 2013
Washington, DC, September 16-17, 2013
January 2010
Is the iPad for boomers and seniors? Could be!
Submitted by Laurie Orlov on Fri, 01/29/2010 - 13:52So much iHoopla about the iPad. But as the famous saying goes, there is no such thing as bad publicity and folks at Apple must be having a great time with this. The geeks have weighed in, plenty of snippy negative commentary has been spewed about the Apple iPad (including lots of sophomoric humor about the product name). I particularly enjoyed the whining on the Motley Fool site -- called "Fool Analysts Debate the iPad" which so easily could have been renamed 'Analyst Fools Debate the iPad". The gist, if you haven't the time to read it, is that it is lacking a phone, camera, and USB port, which it must have, they say, wisely speaking entirely from their own geeky user requirements. But what the heck, they're gonna buy one anyway. >>> Read more . . .
Road trip -- possibilities for seniors beyond transportation
Submitted by Laurie Orlov on Sun, 01/24/2010 - 17:41No kidding -- it rained for five days in San Francisco. I just returned from a whirlwind and very windy visit to this beautiful city on the Bay. Despite wind, hail, rain, and lightening (!), I was fortunate to meet with so many inspired and inspiring people! There were pre-launch (stealth) caregiver technology startups, just-launched entrants like Wellcore and post-launch top execs from moving-right-along SilverRide, Caring.com, Presto, Care2, and Jitterbug, as well as leaders from ASA, Menlo Ventures, Physic Ventures and Home Instead -- many of these great connections spearheaded by Mary Furlong, the founder of the Boomer What's Next conference, soon to be held during the upcoming 2010 Aging in America conference in Chicago. It was a great week and thanks to all who took the time and battled the incessant rain to discuss this exciting market and opportunity with me! >>> Read more . . .
Aging in place, living well, thriving at home, welderly, zoomers -- isn't obfuscation great?
Submitted by Laurie Orlov on Thu, 01/21/2010 - 11:57Medicine turned into healthcare, doctors became providers, small coffee cups became tall, exercise became fitness, recycling became a sustainability tactic. So it has come to pass that politically correct eventually becomes...correct. And everything else, therefore becomes incorrect, inappropriate, or even offensive. >>> Read more . . .
The myth of the PC-free life for boomers and seniors
Submitted by Laurie Orlov on Sun, 01/17/2010 - 14:08PCs and MACs represent growth markets in 2010... With the excitement (translate that -- lots of press) about a wide variety of PC-less connection choices for TV, radio, and books, one might almost think the PC and its MAC brethren were dead. Not so fast, PC sales are expected to grow 10% this year and MAC growth expectations are as high as 26%. >>> Read more . . .
How to let others know how your business is doing
Submitted by Laurie Orlov on Fri, 01/15/2010 - 15:43How is a market entrant doing? I have spent much of the past year looking at websites of tech companies in the aging-tech or digital health-tech areas. As part of this look, I am always trying to figure out how these companies are doing. Talking to the company executives is interesting, but the website, to me is very revealing and sometimes contradicts verbal descriptions of momentum. To me, these are visible indicators of company health: >>> Read more . . .
The virtual doctor's visit -- aging studies don't tell much about its inevitability
Submitted by Laurie Orlov on Wed, 01/13/2010 - 12:22Wait, wait, don't tell us. If we are patient, media reports will enable us to fully catch up with attitudes about technology in 2006. No, despite many of them in this blog, that's not a typo. So virtual doctor's visits were recently discussed in a NY Times article that I posted - "Are Doctors Ready for Virtual Visits? -- in which the answer was a definitive "no" based on a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). >>> Read more . . .
What Does Avatar Have To Do With Aging In Place?
Submitted by Liz Boehm on Mon, 01/11/2010 - 23:21Ok, I'll admit it. I went and saw Avatar last weekend and I loved it. Yes, the tree-hugger message was a little overplayed. And the 3D left me a little nauseated more than once. But there was also a lot there and I think I'll be unpacking this one for a while. What do big blue aliens have to do with aging in place? Beyond the respect for elders and communal living environment, there was one other concept that the aging-in-place market can latch onto: "I see you." For the uninitiated, this is not a simple statement meaning "you are in my line of sight" or even "hi." It means, "I see and acknowledge who you are." >>> Read more . . .
Ten Technologies from CES -- A Wrap
Submitted by Laurie Orlov on Sat, 01/09/2010 - 21:24How CES is it? So by today, the press folks at the Consumer Electronics Show must have quite the headache from the racket and flashing displays. The Las Vegas onslaught of new electronics has been described in the NY TImes as a 'Deluge of Devices for Reading and Surfing', but I like Engadget's more playful term -- 'crapgadget' for overpriced flash and gadgetry that so dominates the show. And how nice, we have new meaning for the phrase 'killer' app, in every sense of the word -- like the Ford Sync technology, in-dashboard 10-inch screen tech that will enable you to surf the Internet while driving -- something you used to do with your iPhone or BlackBerry, but that is so yeseterday.
Old Age, New Gizmos -- or Gizmos Are Dead, Long Live Services?
Submitted by Laurie Orlov on Thu, 01/07/2010 - 12:59Rant on. The Times New Old Age take on this weekend's Silvers Summit at CES: "American tech companies, taking notice of the unmistakable demographic trends, have launched a surge." Is Silvers Summit a surge? Are 'major tech companies' actively and broadly engaged? What you're seeing (as described and in CES press releases) is some innovation from small start ups -- and in an unproven market area, it is probably best thought of as experimentation. >>> Read more . . .
Cell phones for older individuals -- more features, fewer features, or smarter?
Submitted by Laurie Orlov on Mon, 01/04/2010 - 15:56Don't get me wrong -- I love my BlackBerry. Really for no reason except that it fairly reliably buzzes wherever I am so that I can read e-mails, 80% of which are basically junk. Which makes me a true junkie, I guess. Otherwise, my PC is vastly preferable -- with its big screen, connected to the fiber that I am lucky enough to have connected to my house. My cheap cell phone is a (slightly) better phone and doesn't make me feel like I am talking on a calculator. >>> Read more . . .