AgeTech

It's been a long couple of days. So many vendors, so little brain capacity left. But let's get right down to the point. Silvers Summit is the first time CES has ever had a day-long track allocated to discussions and presentations about technology and aging.

Wow, does this sound like a good idea for seniors in nursing homes in Connecticut. Or maybe not for seniors.

For anyone who is still wondering whether there is a business out there in aging-related products and services, forward this item from today's NY Times to them.  Royal Philips, the Dutch industrial giant (approximately $37.5 billion in revenue per year), is convinced that the 'world is getting older.' A company shrinking by shedding businesses and 30% revenue, Philips is instead buying and building up other growth business areas, including energy-saving lightbulbs, but also its Lifeline PERS business for home and healthcare monitoring.

I want to believe. It's a great idea to prevent businesses with sketchy or even criminal backgrounds from defrauding or harming seniors.

This is a crazy idea for the gift-giving season, I know. But I just got off the phone with Landel -- the maker of Mailbug, a single-purpose e-mail appliance for the PC-less (or PC-useless) home.  Wouldn't it just be a crazy idea this holiday season if baby boomers who can afford to do it gave a suite of communication products to their PC-less parents and in-laws?

With my ombudsman hat on yesterday, I spent a morning doing an assessment of an Assisted Living Facility. As is usually the case, the nurses showed us a thick patient chart book with its hand-written status observations, penciled medication tracking dosage X's and yellowed-out discontinued drugs.