Devices, Tools, Objects relating to better quality life as grow older.
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.
Reading under poor lighting conditions is a common problem, not only for reading menus, but also for reading in bed, or seeing small type in a poorly lit space. What is needed is some type of lighted magnifier. There are four categories of solutions for this common problem. The pro’s and con’s of each solution are detailed below, as well as in the individual product listings we link to.
Earlier this month we invited the inventor of a new type of walker to come along to one of the Longevity Collective circle meetings and show the older adults members of our circle the prototype of her invention and get their feedback. It was pretty interesting. This article is about the experience.
Drug company advertisements often end with the phrase “Ask your Doctor about…” followed by the newest drug being promoted. While surely they mean to ask if the new drug is right for you to start taking, I suggest a different question to ask your Doctor: “Of all the drugs prescribed for me, which one is most important for me to take correctly?”
We have been looking for good arthritis clothing solutions. These products range from various special shoes for arthritis to a special type of arthritis bra. This article uses videos from around the web to demonstrate some of those solutions, and we add our comments and questions.
Two of our Longevity Collective members spent a lot of time and energy earlier this year conducting a research study about a new category of products called Activity-tracking Home Sensor Systems. The authors (Mary Hulme and Richard Caro) decided that they had learned a lot about these products, and that in fact there was rather a lot to know if you wanted to pick the right product for a given set of life circumstances, and that it made sense to share this knowledge with the world.
One participant in this discussion was explaining how frustrating it was to have to replace his hearing aid batteries every week. Not to mention expensive. Another participant had a different product that had rechargeable batteries that largely eliminated this concern. Cross pollination of ideas followed.
Do you have an idea for a pill dispensing product? Good for you. You’ve seen the problem and complexity of multiple medication and you have an idea to make it better. I commend you.
At NightingaleRx we’ve learned a few things from evaluating other pill dispensers and studying the medication management landscape. Here are a few things to keep in mind that may assist in your endeavors:
I first started thinking of (expensive) automatic shut-off means but why not just set a loud countdown timer nearby and set for expected time of needing to turn off stove? Smart phones have this ability too…
Activity-tracking Home Sensor Systems are new products designed to help seniors stay in their homes longer, and to help their family and friends worry about them less. If you worry about an elderly relative or friend who spends a lot of time home alone, and are concerned about what would happen if they fell, or if they left the stove on, or if they had an accident and you were not there to help, then these products are designed with you in mind.
We wanted to find out if they work well yet? And which ones work best (there are quite a few)? And for which types of people and types of circumstance are they suitable?
We set out to answer questions like these in this research project which is a collaboration between Tech-enhanced Life’s internal analyst team, and a group of Citizen Observers and Citizen Evaluators.