Gadgets make easier life for the elderly

Rudolph Muller

Rudolph Muller is the editor at MyBroadband and covers telecoms and broadband news. Rudolph comes from an academic background, but left the University of...

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“Older consumers are becoming increasingly interested in technology, and corporations are working to meet this demand,” said Majd Alwan, director of the Centre for Aging Services Technologies.

Children instinctively latch on to new gizmos, creating a need for devices that engage and perhaps improve their minds instead of merely occupying them.

Innovations on display at the show included sensors that alert care- givers when elderly people fall, don’t stir for hours, or forget to turn off the stove.

There are devices that enable those whose ears aren’t what they once were to hear television programmes and telephone conversations.

People’s vital statistics can be monitored in real time and the information automatically sent to doctors.

Medicine dispensers have been adapted to remind people when it is time to take pills.

“Seniors prefer to stay in their homes,” Alwan said in a presentation spotlighting new creations tailored for people whose bodies are yielding to the inexorable onslaught of time.

"A pharmasurveyor.com website provides a free way for people to figure out whether medicines they are taking might combine to cause dangerous side effects.

Plantronics-owned Clarity has a mobile telephone that is “very loud and only has four buttons so you don’t get fouled up”, says the company.

Myine Electronics has crafted special FM and Internet radios that automatically delete talk, leaving listeners with only the music, said founder Jake Sigal.

An Internet Radio Adapter launched this week fetches tunes online and then lets people listen later away from computers. “This is taking old school FM radio and bringing it to life with new technology,” Sigal said.

Dakim introduced Brain Fitness computer software that promises to keep seniors’ minds in shape.

“It is really for everyone over 60 years old who really wants to protect their brain,” said Dakim chief executive Dan Michel.

Quality of Life Technology Centre research-ready products include “NavPrescience” that enables cars to “learn how you drive” and plot routes accordingly, said director Curt Stone.

The centre has also developed a computer monitor that senses when a user is leaning closer and automatically enlarges on-screen images “so you don’t have to keep squinting”, Stone said.

“Scratch Input” lets people use walls, clothing or other surfaces as touch- panels to control devices, according to Stone.

“You could scratch a wall to turn lights on or off or just scratch your pants to turn off a phone ringing in your pocket,” Stone said.

Show innovations include an Intel Classmate laptop modified so the screen flips and folds, converting to a tablet- style computer ideal for drawing or school projects.

Computer game giant Electronic Arts touted new versions of titles such as Scrabble and Trivial Pursuit to get people using their brains.

WowWee is introducing a “Spy Ball” which can be rolled into a room, and then remotely manoeuvred to spy on the occupants.