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Home » Monthly blog archive

March 2024

The tech user experience today – the customer does not matter 

Thu, 03/28/2024 - 10:00 - Laurie Orlov

Has the  tech user experience substantially improved?  For years device and software tech ‘improved’ to a point of widespread optimism about our tech future. Certainly access has improved: Ninety-five percent of Americans use the Internet and more than 80% have broadband at home. Today there are numerous programs to subsidize access, and   smartphone penetration has exceeded 92%.  One would believe this ubiquity of access might make us hopeful that we are now in the era of tech helping consumers of all ages, no matter what task or level of knowledge.  

category tags: 
smartphones, computers, broadband, and social networking, healthcare
»

Could conversational AI help the tech user experience?

Wed, 03/20/2024 - 12:15 - Laurie Orlov

Tech user experiences are deteriorating at a rapid rate – for all.  If you have encountered any of the following, you know.  The absurdity of two-factor authentication within a single device, long complex passwords, five years of remembered password history to prevent re-use.  And that’s before you have logged into a site that could simply be a news media or site or Gmail that just wants to display insulting and absurd ads now that you have been ‘authenticated’. Or you can examine the behavior of the same software applications across multiple devices.  You may have noticed that scam innovation is beginning to outpace the product development cycles in other categories – (although some scammers seem able to be scammed themselves).

category tags: 
computers, broadband, and social networking, smartphones, AgeTech
»

Challenging Innovators to Design for Older Adults: 2014 -2024

Thu, 03/07/2024 - 16:29 - Laurie Orlov

In the tech innovation world, a decade is both a long and short time.  In 2014, AARP’s Health Innovation @50+ sponsored a report, Challenging Innovators: Matching Offerings to the Needs of Older Adults.  It was published in June of 2014 in conjunction with a Venture Summit event run by Mary Furlong and Associates. This was exactly a decade prior to this year’s What’s Next Longevity Venture Summit. 

category tags: 
seniors and aging policy, hearables/hearing technology, smartphones
»

Did you miss one? Aging and Health posts from (almost) February 2024

Mon, 03/04/2024 - 14:49 - Laurie Orlov

The frustration of the user experience. February was short but busy – but a topic emerged on the last day of January that is beginning to take shape in the form of interviews and insights from others.  All agree that the user experience, whether it is a car, a microwave, Google Gemini or a smartphone is deteriorating, possibly due to nearly-endless but not necessarily useful ‘innovation’ from developers.  Whether it is the ‘cockpit’ of a car that may now have three screens, an authentication process on a website that requires another device, or an app that expects a password that has not been used in the past five years.  Here are the blog posts:

category tags: 
smartphones, cellphones, vehicle/transportation technology-services, AgeTech
»

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