Forgot to Turn Off the Iron, Hotplate, or Heater

Forgot to Turn Off the Iron, Hotplate, or Heater

Have you ever plugged in a device, turned it on and later forgot it was still plugged in? If this was a device that consumed a lot of energy such as a clothes iron, electric hotplate, coffee pot, tea kettle or a space heater you might have wasted some power or even have caused some damage.

Nocturnal Wandering by Dementia Patient

Nocturnal Wandering by Dementia Patient

For those of us caring for a loved one with dementia, nocturnal bed exits can be an overwhelming problem. The problem gets even worse if the person with dementia leaves the house at night without anyone knowing.

Avoiding Water Leaks

Avoiding Water Leaks

We want to avoid water leaks altogether. Or, if that is not feasible, we want to get alerted as soon as possible after a water leak starts leaking, so we can intervene and minimize damage.

Parent Continually Fiddling with Thermostat

Parent Continually Fiddling with Thermostat

Is your loved one continually misadjusting their thermostat — potentially causing health and financial issues? I wanted a thermostat that would work for people with dementia or impaired vision, or who for other reasons have trouble managing their thermostat.

Fridge for Forgetful Senior

Fridge for Forgetful Senior

We have several problems relating to a fridge and a forgetful senior who lives alone. We worry that she will leave the fridge open by mistake and that the food will spoil and make her sick. We worry that she forgets to throw out food as it gets old, and that the food in her fridge includes food that is past its "eat by date".

Forget to Turn Water Off

Forget to Turn Water Off

As people grow older they often become somewhat forgetful. We start to worry about questions like “Did I leave the water running?” How do we make it so these sorts of questions are not things that we need to worry about?

Dementia: Not Recognizing Spouse or Family

Dementia: Not Recognizing Spouse or Family

An especially upsetting symptom of the later stages of Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia is when the person with dementia does not recognize a spouse or other family member any more.

We are seeking solutions that can help put off the time at which these symptoms start to manifest themselves.

Automating Door Locks for My Parent

Automating Door Locks for My Parent

Explorer Frank wanted to turn a manual door lock into an automatic doorlock that could be opened with a person-specific code, and or controlled remotely. His reason was to be able to "check" that doors were indeed locked when they were supposed to be.

Other explorers wanted an automatic door lock so that if they pressed their emergency alert button, the emergency services would be able to get in (via the special "code") without needing to have an external "lockbox" containing a key.

How to Monitor Sleep

How to Monitor Sleep

There is a lot written about how important it is to get a good night's sleep. But how do we measure our sleep in the first place, so we can monitor whether it is "good", and whether any things we do to improve it actually make a difference?

Simple Shared Calendaring for Distant Parent

Simple Shared Calendaring for Distant Parent

It’s a common situation: an aging parent starts needing help from family members organizing things like doctors visits, or other care-related or social activities. How do you set up and maintain some type of mutually convenient, calendaring solution that maintains the right balance between “collaborating” and “helping” and “keeping things simple”?