AgeTech

What makes Voice First special for older adults?  This blog has discussed the emergence of Voice First technology -- speech-enabled interactions with technology -- on multiple occasions. But this occasion is different -- it marks the publication of a research effort and resulting report linked here called The Future of Voice First Technology and Older Adults 2018.  Today's blog post offers a short excerpt of key differences between Voice First technology and prior tech generations that apply to all users – but are unique for seniors -- future research will continue to explore that uniqueness. So what has inspired multiple organizations, including Benchmark Senior Living and Carlsbad by the Sea, to begin their programs? They see that while Voice First technology is an early market with some (noted) limitations, it also represents, unlike prior technology generations, benefits for users.  For users and tech managers, Voice First is:

It was one of the worst and the best of times for innovation and older adults.  It was a year, early on, in which tech-enabled home care appeared to resonate with investors. But traditional home care companies stuck to their knitting, watching the Home Hero shutdown in the midst of an ever-more-startling shortage of prospective workers.  It was the oddest of times, with the $80 billion hype of self-driving cars partly focused on the transit needs of older adults. And it was the best of times – as 2017 was the year of Voice First technology lift-off – as Amazon’s Echo forced the hand of Google’s Home. Ultimately seniors will benefit from technology that fits both their interest and needs -- see the Market Overview update from early in the year. Here are the top blog posts from 2017:

November – leaves falling, Thanksgiving, and more product releases. It was the best of times and the worst of times. For sure, these were announcement times. These included many new product/innovation announcements from Amazon. Google, Apple, Samsung, and okay, various Digital Assistants to be invented and named later. And there was an assemblage of press releases, events, updates, as well as articles about fall prevention and new tech for older adults.  In case you missed them, here is a wrap up of blog posts (linkable from the first sentence of each paragraph) published in November, 2017. See these and other blog posts by subscribing to ageinplacetech.com on the home page):

Two November events highlight competitions and new firms.  GuideWell Innnovation's Health+Accel event in Orlando concluded on November 3 with a pitch competition from "GuideWell Innovation CoRE. During the first four days, entrepreneurs obtained insight into the dynamic needs and relationships between insurers and providers, discover unique opportunities within the space and explore best practices from experienced industry leaders."  And Aging 2.0's Optimize event this week in San Francisco offering "cutting edge content, networking and partnership opportunities to make this a high-value event for anyone interested in innovation and aging." Combing through the companies featured in each competition, here are examples of six startups that have not previously been mentioned on this site, some of which may not yet be available. The material is from the startups themselves: