My Articles on Tech-enhanced Life

Alzheimer's Wandering

Dealing with a Wandering Loved One with Alzheimer’s

Before my wife passed away from Alzheimer’s, she went through a period of wandering outside the home that I could control with a few simple devices. I want to share what I did, and the solutions I used, in the hope they will be useful for others in the same situation I was in.


DIY solutions

DIY Technology Solutions to Things Bothering My Aging Relatives

My relatives and their friends are in their 70’s and 80’s and 90’s now, and I am finding they have some recurring “problems” that get in the way of life being as enjoyable as I think it should be. I have come up with a variety of DIY “Tech Solutions” to these problems that I have implemented for them. I hope they will be useful for you too.


TV and Older Adults

Making TV Useful For My 94-yr-old Aunt

This is about how I took advantage of the ubiquity of TV in the lives of many older adults.  By adding various smart integrations, I turned the TV from simply a source of background noise into a useful tool — that helps my 94-yr-old aunt accomplish all sorts of things she previously had trouble with.


Fire TV Cube with TV

How to Set Up an Amazon Fire TV Cube

Recently, a product called the Amazon Fire TV Cube has become available and I am finding it often helps me solve challenges I am working on on behalf my older friends. I have developed this "How to" guide to help other people like me set up a Fire TV Cube for their friends, relatives, or aging parents. I include instructions for how to enable various features I have needed for the solutions I have created for my friends and relatives.


Setting Up Alexa Calling

How to Set Up Alexa Calling for a Loved One

Are you looking for a way to setup video chats with your loved one who lives independently or in a facility? This article tells you how to do that, using the Echo Show, without requiring your loved one to do any of the “setting up”.


My Background:

I graduated with a MSEE from California State Sacramento in 1974 and started working at a local ultrasound company that was acquired by GE Medical Systems in 1979. I spent the next 10 years working on medical ultrasound doing hardware design and software programming. When GE decide to move the operation back to their headquarters, I remained in Sacramento as a consultant to them and other companies.

In 1990 I joined Intel in Folsom, Ca as a software group test manager and then moved into their Windows Client IT group as a programmer. After several years, an Innovation Center Group was formed, and I worked on testing new products for home users and the elderly population.

When Intel and GE formed a partnership in CareInnovations, I assisted them on several projects

I retired from Intel in 2011 and have been pursing my dream of helping seniors and their family with suitable technology. I recently have expanded that into providing solutions for those with vison, hearing, and mobility difficulties.

Being 76 myself, I get to test a lot of the solutions on myself before recommending them to others. Along with my sister, a retired RN who lives in a retirement community, we get to deploy a lot of my solutions to the residents and family members.

 

Learn more about me:

https://www.techenhancedlife.com/articles/diy-technology-solutions-things-bothering-my-aging-relatives