Did you think you would need a Facebook executor in your will?  Bet not. There is more than enough challenge dealing with Facebook and its side effects while we are still kicking. But sure enough, from the Wall Street Journal: “The U.S. General Services Administration recommends people set up a ‘social-media will,’ review the privacy policies and terms and conditions of each website on which they have a presence and stipulate in their traditional will that the "online executor" get a copy of the death certificate.” Some are even valuing the material they have posted online. McAfee’s survey last year found that U.S. consumers value their digital assets, on average, at nearly $37,000, although US consumers valued content at $55,000. “That includes photos, projects, hobbies, personal records, career information, entertainment and email.” This baffles me. It would seem that if you trust someone to be the executor of your will in which your bank accounts, home, and valuables are at stake, your online material would roll into that. >>> Read more . . .

"As video chat services like Skype and FaceTime grow more popular, many children think of Nana and Poppa as those people on the screen."

Managing their digital assets after a loved one dies.

Facebook’s philosophy could one day harm even the cautious. You might have skipped Saturday’s Wall Street Journal. Or if you read the paper, you might have passed up an article entitled When Deepest of Secrets Get Outed on Facebook. It was purportedly about young people who joined a gay chorus that had an open Facebook group – and as a result, their parents learned they were gay. But this article reflects a much larger issue -- Facebook's default strategy is sharing information -- with companies and through groups that users believe to be private – and the CEO believes that this default strategy is acceptable and appropriate. No need to restate it when Mark Zuckerberg says it so well. In an interview about the rise of Facebook called The Facebook Effect he observes: "The days of you having a different image for your work friends or co-workers and for the other people you know are probably coming to an end pretty quickly." But did we understand this and really, do we all get the picture? >>> Read more . . .

Brody: seniors may be missing out on a lot of e-health opportunities.

QUINCY, Mass., Sept. 18, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Connected Living, a mission-based organization helping senior citizens live richer, more connected lives through the use of technology, today announced the national launch of the Connected Living Network. The award-winning social platform is expanding into leading senior living communities across the country, helping to narrow the digital divide that isolates nearly 19 million senior citizens in the U.S. alone. >>> Read more . . .

About those ad words – can we outsmart them?  Just read an approving and syndicated Times article about the latest data-driven tech that uses what we access online to present us with more of the same. Given my predilection to write e-mails about the age-related technology space, the all-knowing Google regularly presents me with ads for products based on the messages I send and receive. Some ads are for vendors who are my clients, none of them are my suppliers.  As is typical, I don’t notice for a while and then – in a flash, out of the corner of my eye, I see – duh, there’s a pattern here.  So I do what you all should do regularly – tell Google these not only aren’t relevant, YOU are not who they think you are, you are someone else.  You can opt out – but, sigh, "Google may still show relevant ads based on the content of a web page" that you are viewing. But it will not ‘collect’ your interest-based information to show you more relevant content. Whew. By looking at your ads preference manager page, you can, however, change your demographic profile – making yourself older/younger than you actually are (or what Google thinks you are). This may be a wise move. >>> Read more . . .

Interview with Mary Madden of Pew Research.

About ease of use -- and enabling those who are computer-phobic to be connected to families.

Ilaina Edison, SVP of VNSNY, describes how a computer can make a difference in life of homebound senior.