Bright Lights, thick smoke, constant walking and avoidance maneuvers. After taking a year or two off, returning to CES is a chore and a revelation – it clearly is the major event for new technology announcements. Gadgets, yes, too many smart wearables, including underwear, too many near misses of being run over by gangs of oblivious young guys staring at their phones. If there was a key trend in all of this racket, Sleep has become a tech obsession, the uptake of Digital Health is almost here, new variants of companions and assistants were pervasive, including Google Assistant inside everything and Amazon voice devices everywhere.
October – autumn leaves drift down and large events gear up. Traversing the trade show world, so much tech, so little time. And other shows await, including Aging 2.0 Optimize in California, GSA in Boston, Innovations in Longevity in DC (see you at there!) all ahead in the remains of the year of 2018. For each of the trade show events, look for startup garages and innovation sections grouped at the back or on the side of convention centers. Study the exhibit halls online if you can’t be there in person. Show organizers want you to find new companies – and some may be the most innovative ones you encounter in the entire event. Here are six blog posts from October 2018:
Seniorlink, Inc., a leading tech-enabled health services company, shared results of its novel VOICE (Vital Outcomes Inspired by Caregiver Engagement) for Dementia Care pilot that demonstrated how increasing the activation and confidence of family caregivers can lead to better outcomes for persons diagnosed with dementia, and reduce healthcare costs. The program is now available to health plans and providers.
A term that means what you want it to mean. It's crazy. Search for the term 'caregiving technology.' At the top of the retrieved page – an ad for ClearCare to help you 'improve client and employee management' – sounds like paid (agency) home care. Over at AARP, there is a long list of resources (non-tech) on the AARP caregiving site for family caregivers, who may use paid care. There’s the 2017 AARP report that surveys caregivers about what they want from technology -- they are interested in but not currently using. There’s the Family Caregiver Alliance report that lists technologies from firms, but was last updated in 2013 (perhaps the date of this FCA list). The National Alliance for Caregiving (NAC/AARP) report is dated 2014 – and focuses on a vision for what caregiving technology should be.
Vacations and out of office messages – it must have been August. Some have said that there is no point in attempting a business meeting, even online, for August. Perhaps you were one of the 5 million visitors to Cape Cod, roaming the hillside vineyards in California or attending an antique car auction on the coast of Maine. Having managed to pull off two of those three in the same month, it’s not that crazy. But there were issues, disruptions and sizable opportunities worth noting in August, the biggest one was Best Buy's purchase of GreatCall, just six weeks after Amazon acquired PillPack, the latest big company acquisition -- part of a to-be-continued series important to families and providers of care to seniors. Here are the blog posts from the month:
As summer winds down, innovators rev up. August is winding down -- the calm before the autumn slew of activity. Nonetheless, new milestones and partnerships were announced this month, including Embodied Labs becoming a finalist for the Top8 XR Education Prize sponsored by the Bill Melinda Gates Foundation, MedMinder reaching 1433 on the Inc5000, the acquisition of GreatCall by BestBuy, and MobileHelp announcing a partnership with LifePod. And four companies released new offerings to help professional and family caregivers improve monitoring and well-being among older adults:
BOCA RATON, Fla. – August 28, 2018 – MobileHelp®, a leader in mobile Personal Emergency Response Systems (mPERS) and healthcare technology, announced today an exclusive partnership with LifePod Solutions, pioneer of a natural, proactive voice service for older adults aging at home as well as patients and their caregivers.
October – autumn leaves drift down and large events gear up. Traversing the trade show world, so much tech, so little time. And other shows await, including 
A term that means what you want it to mean. It's crazy. Search for the term 'caregiving technology.' At the top of the retrieved page – an ad for 
Vacations and out of office messages – it must have been August. Some have said that there is no point in attempting a business meeting, even online, for August. Perhaps you were one of the 5 million visitors to Cape Cod, roaming the hillside vineyards in California or attending an antique car auction on the coast of Maine. Having managed to pull off two of those three in the same month, it’s not that crazy. But there were issues, disruptions and sizable opportunities worth noting in August, the biggest one was Best Buy's purchase of GreatCall, just six weeks after 
As summer winds down, innovators rev up. August is winding down -- the calm before the autumn slew of activity. Nonetheless, new milestones and partnerships were announced this month, including 