CES 2015 Part 1 – Six New Offerings in the Aging Tech Market

International CES 2015 – overwhelming at every turn. What a relief -- it's over. International CES was an extremely difficult venue to sort into useful categories – the Sands Exhibition Hall (part of Tech West) was filled with every health-related variant of wearable, fitness, and lifestyle improvement like Belty that expands as you eat more – as well as Eureka Park. Watch those fit women peddling bikes and running on treadmills, that distance-measured basketball jump shot, and of course -- the pet-related tracker with the large and tippy stuffed dog.  And they don’t call it International for nothing – walking by, saw (or heard) French entrepreneurs (22% of all startups at CES), the Israeli pavilion, Italian, Spanish, German, and of course, Chinese and Japanese. It is an overwhelming show, not for the faint of heart or foot, and that’s just to get from hotels to conferences and exhibits.

Filled with sound and motion-sensing fury, signifying…something. There was the usual high volume of sound and space, of tech in search of a problem, as Venture Valkyrie and witty blogger Lisa Suennen noted in this great post-event roundup. After my recent discovery of the ginormous pet market, it was unfortunate to miss both the $250 SmartFeeder and check out WonderWoof – so trendy, dog lifestyle tracking in the Internet of Pet Things, serving the Connected Dog. Then, there was the Las Vegas Convention Center – near the cars, the TVs, the Speakers, more home automation – and the very cool Parrot Bebop Drones. Those dancing drones were almost as amazing as the Bellagio fountain.  Okay, enough of that.  In the first of several posts, here are a few of the CES 2015 exhibiting companies for the older adult market:

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  Clarity Life Ensemble. "Clarity Life is launching a new product to help bridge the generational digital divide while also helping to share useful alerts and wellness information for both seniors and their caregivers. Clarity, a division of Plantronics Inc., unveiled its new ClarityLife at the Consumer Electronics Show this week in Las Vegas. The new communications platform will be delivered through Clarity's Ensemble home phone, which Clarity debuted two years ago at a previous CES event. The display phone provides not only amplified sound and enlarged keyboards but also is equipped through the ClarityLife platform to display and sound messages, alerts and photographs." Learn more at Clarity Products.

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  Evermind. "For those with elderly or special needs relatives or friends who live by themselves, it is not always practical to check on their well-being all of the time. Sure, you could drop by or call them on the phone, but if it’s too late or too early in the day, this is inconvenient for both you and them. Evermind helps address these problems by alerting you remotely when electrical appliances are switched on and off by the person that you care about, indicating that they are active and everything is normal. Evermind will send a notification when an appliance is switched on for too long or not used within a specified time period."  Learn more at Evermind.com.

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  GrandPad. "A 7-inch tablet that is safe from viruses and telemarketers with long battery life with easy charging cradle, monthly pricing, administered family circle (via website), that is insured against damage and theft, call friends and family by clicking on their picture, send and receive video calls, spam-free e-mail via spoken message, professionally curated music, plug-in headphones, play games, special stylus, acts like a photo frame.  Companion app for friends and family." Learn more at GrandPad.net.

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  Honeywell LifeCare’s Seymour. "Seymour is a digital health technology that gives individuals and families a way to contribute to their own health, while connecting with their care providers in a more meaningful way. With the intelligence to collect, analyze and interpret health and lifestyle data from a wide range of sources, Seymour helps create a more complete picture of consumer health with integration with consumer-entered health data, EMRs, EHRs, remote-monitoring devices, pharmacy records and even consumer devices and apps." Learn more at HoneywellLifeCare.com.

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  Mother. "The Internet of Things in Everyday Life" -- from French company Sen.se. "Mother connects to your home network by way of Ethernet port and is coupled with accompanying mobile sensors called 'Cookies' that detect location, movement and temperature. The Motion Cookies wirelessly communicate with the Mother parent device, and also with each other, over a proprietary radio standard (on the 915 MHz frequency band in the US, and 868 MHz in Europe), allowing for a variety of tailored uses. When out of range, Cookies can store up to 10 days of data, which is automatically uploaded when a Mother unit is detected." Learn more at: Sen.se.

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  ReSound. An Android version was announced at CES for this hearing aid company. "ReSound applies the latest and most advanced version of 'Surround Sound by ReSound™' – an integrated sound processing technology providing top-rated quality sound. Both of a user’s hearing aids communicate with one another to allow for surround sound processing, and a richer, fuller hearing experience. This smart functionality allows for the best user experience particularly when transitioning from various listening environments.  Included in ReSound’s portfolio of smart hearing aids are the smallest wireless Receiver-in-the-Ear hearing aids brought to market by GN ReSound, yet powerful enough to address nearly all levels of hearing losses." Learn more at ReSound.