Jim Schrempp: profile
A software engineer by training, I worked at Hewlett Packard for 19 years - back when it was a great company. In 1999 I left HP to co-found Audible Magic, a media identification company. In 2016 I retired. Now I spend my time working on problems that interest me, like applying technology to the issues of aging. I was co-host of a MeetUp on Aging in Place that started in 2014 and ran for two years. I'm a technology volunteer with The Villages of San Mateo County. I have created several open source projects, enjoy reading and cooking - especially modernist cuisine. We travel and spend much time with our friends. In my spare time I make little IoT devices.
I spend a tremendous amount of time and energy as a board member of Maker Nexus, a non-profit makerspace in Sunnyvale, California.
My Articles & Research on Tech-enhanced Life
Quickly Getting Help for a Friend in Need
"Hi, this is Lisa. I'm not sure I can take care of myself right now. Can you bring me some food?" I found that scary sounding message on my voicemail one Saturday morning. It started me on a journey to coordinate care for a close friend. I learned several things that I'll share with you. I hope that if you are ever faced with a similar situation, my experience will help you.
Games for Seniors: Pokémon Go
Pokémon Go is a new App (Game) has taken the world by storm. This article suggests it could be a great Game for Seniors, helping to encourage healthy exercise. The article (plus video) explains what Pokemon Go is, and how one plays it.
Best Pill Reminder App: Explorer Choice
We set out to pick the best pill reminder app to share with the explorers in our Useful Apps Club. This article describes which features we selected as important and why; summarizes the results of our tests; and shares with you some details about the two Medication Apps we want to recommend, each of which is good for a slightly different life situation.
Pill Reminder Apps we Ruled Out
List of pill reminder apps we evaluated and ruled out as either being too simplistic, or lacking in an important functionality.
How to Use the Medisafe App
This Useful Apps Club lesson shows you how to setup and use the Medisafe App to take your medication on time, and more.
Get A Ride Anywhere - New Options for Older Adults
This article is about some exciting new alternatives that make getting from point A to point B by car much easier than in the past for those who don't want to, or are not able to, just jump in their own car. We consider Uber, Lyft, Flywheel, taxicabs, and recommend the best rideshare app for older adults.
How to use Uber, the ride sharing App
We think ride sharing App's like Uber are a great new resource that can help older adults get around more easily. This article (with videos) will describe how to get a ride using the Uber smart phone application, after first downloading the App and setting it up.
Rideshare App Comparison
We set out to find the best rideshare App for older adults. Our comparison includes Uber, Lyft, and comments about the taxi App Flywheel.
Improving Cinema Experience for the Vision Impaired
I recently became aware of an entire ecosystem of services to help people with all levels of vision impairment enjoy movies. These services provide an audio description of the visual scene. It's a bit like subtitles, but for the blind. Of course these services can help those with other vision impairments as well. This article explains how this all works.
Working at 90 and designing for age
Stimulated by a recent NPR segment on working at 90, here are some thoughts about user interfaces for older adults, and why they fall short.
Prevent Falls; Help Someone Up after Falling.
I wanted to find good videos on the web about getting up after falling, and more importantly, about how to prevent a fall in the first place. Here is what I found. Some of them look very useful.
Fall Prevention: HaveYourSay Circle
On June 4th our Aging in Place Technologies Meetup held a HaveYourSay circle on the topic of preventing falls. We learned a lot about the problem, and discussed a number of quite interesting solution "ideas".