Long ago in a city far, far away, there was CES 2020. It was filled with tech from wall-to-wall and bus ride to bus ride. CES 2020 was a January 2020 nightmare of related products sited at opposite ends of convention space that seemed to span miles in one direction, and up elevators to suites in the opposite direction. A competition winner here, a spotlight on hearing there, health tech here – there a robot, there a drone – everywhere a bus ride and 170,000 people. Leaving with sore feet and tired brain, vowing never to attend in person again (having said that multiple times over the years). Who knew that Covid-19 was about to take over the world -- and with it, the world of events? Soon there will be CES 2021, entirely online -- no smoke-filled hotels, no Bellagio fountain, and no need for comfortable shoes. There should be many to note in January 2021. Meanwhile, pre-CES, here are five recently surfaced. All content is drawn from the company websites.
Guided Counterpulsation is the most exciting development in cardiovascular health and exercise in a generation. Simply put, Counterpace guides you to step between heartbeats - a phenomenon which evidence suggests is the most effective way to exercise for heart and brain health. This sensor-based guidance system has the potential to drastically improve, maintain, and preserve the cardiovascular and neurological health of active individuals.
Sometimes the biggest firms lose interest in older adults almost immediately. That was Amazon 50+. And some, like Apple, never get started, despite interest from their supporters or an integrator like IBM. Others might get started thinking about a good idea – but within a year or so, executives hold a meeting and one of them says – 'What? What? When did we start to focus on older adults?' How is that a growth proposition, especially for the oldest old? And so the companies get started, move a bit and/or cancel the effort altogether. Or like Google, they focus on the really far-end of the aging continuum – solving death.
Music makes the world go around. We all know the importance of music – every type of device has a song and dance for accessing, storing and hearing it. Gadgets and apps for listening are everywhere, even as the world of hi fidelity speakers is diminished to ever-smaller and more remarkable sound reproduction. In the 70’s MIT entrepreneurs founded Tech HiFi, which boomed into 80 stores and some fabulous catalogs before collapsing in the 1980s, along with nearly every other store, including the original not-online-140-character nonsense, the once-$750 million chain was actually called Tweeter. Okay, so all that is gone except for the gear bought by those aged 50+ -- including grand pianos and stereo equipment that the boomers and beyond may have left in their to-be-downsized homes.
This text is touch-typed on a real keyboard. The keyboard is attached to a computer, as is the display. It is very functional. Compare that to a Very Smart Phone (VSP) with its soft keyboard and its microphone for dictating (Speak Now! Oops, too late -- Speak Now!). So consider the description of one particular smartphone keyboard app, Smart Keyboard Pro: “It’s not bad if you need something simple that just works.” Obviously some people expect/want something more. For them, there are a myriad of choices, including these iOS keyboard apps – how about that version 1.0.1 Google-provided iPhone keyboard app called Gboard?