Remember Jitterbug, the big-buttoned phones for seniors that made using those confusing, new-fangled cellphone thingies so much easier to handle? Well it looks like someone has gone out and built the equivalent for the iPad. Which literally made me laugh out loud when I read the news, because the iPad is the first computer I’ve ever seen seniors adopt in droves. But hello anyway, Family Ribbon. → Read More
The ClarityLife C900 succeeds in so many places that the iPhone fails that it’s not even funny. First of all, it’s unlocked and, at $269.95, it’s not that much more expensive than an iPhone with a two-year contract. Once you get to a certain age, locking into contracts is silly. As my ninety-one-year-old grandmother says when asked about remarrying, “What’s the point?” The same can be… → Read More
Drivers in Pennsylvania between the ages of 50 and 75 will get to test out a new program by Allstate that’ll attempt to determine whether playing video games makes for better drivers. The pilot program will be open to 100,000 people who will be asked to play at least ten hours of memory-type games aimed at improving alertness. These drivers will then be compared to other 50- to 75-year olds who… → Read More
I saw this in the SkyMall catalog a few days ago while flying and I thought it was ridiculous. I saw it again randomly on the Internet and decided you guys needed to see it. I’m like that. It’s a low-quality hearing aid disguised as a Bluetooth headset. But that’s not the interesting part. It’s being marketed as being a headset that will improve your image! Want to look… → Read More
Microsoft already makes so-called senior PCs here in the U.S., computers that are aimed at older folk, but it announced in London at some conference that it plans to bring senior PCs over to the UK as well. Whether or not these UK senior PC are the same as the ones we have here is unclear, but Redmond says the PCs will help bring seniors into the digital world. A simple interface allows users to… → Read More
We’ve discussed special cellphones for the elderly and infirm before, but the new Clarity phone is actually fairly appealing. The Jitterbug was a little condescending in our tastes, and was maybe too hard to use. Clarity Products has an answer (ha!) with the ClarityLife phone, a super-simple phone that’s one part SE K-series phone and one part LifeAlert pendant. It’s set for… → Read More
[photopress:bbdtv.jpg,full,center] Flickr’d Y’all probably already know about the switch to all-digital TV next year, but for every one of you who do, how many don’t? 1? 2? 3?! Only God knows. But BestBuy knows something, too. Plenty of folks will be freaking out over the next few months trying to “fix” their TVs in time. The electronics chain is all too pleased to… → Read More
Now that old people have discovered Facebook, will The Kids still like it? An important question to be sure, especially now that companies like Microsoft are prepared to throw $lots Zuckerberg’s way for that hoard of information. What was once the exclusive domain of college kids poking each other back and forth has seen an uptick in… how shall I put this… old and decidedly… → Read More
Although likely 39.99999 Gigabits more than she actually needs, Sigbritt Löthberg now has a 40 Gbps internet connection. She’s never owned a computer until now but she did give birth to some famous Swedish internet guy. How fast is the connection? She can download a full high definition DVD in two seconds. That would take many, many, many seconds (minutes or hours, even) over your typical… → Read More
If you’ve got too much money, loathe technology, and can’t stand the weird smell of your local GoodWill store, AbleCom will sell you a dumpy-ass old phone for way more than it’s worth. Remember the old, white rotary phone that your grandma had hanging in the kitchen next to her ficus plants? All it takes is $49 and a pack of Benson and Hedges Ultralight 100′s and… → Read More
If you’re old or crazy (or a little of both, like our editors) then you might find yourself looking at a White Noise Lamp. The post-modern stylings are about more than just artistic aesthetics, as the design is thought to induce calm and warm, fuzzy feelings in the elderly and the mentally ill. By lining the halls of your mental hospital or retirement home with these lamps, the unfortunate… → Read More
A new service has launched that aims to bring the joys of receiving emails to the Luddite horde. Presto uses a special printer designed by HP. The printer hooks up to a regular phone line, no need for broadband, and automagically prints emails that come to a unique users@presto.com address. Now the first thing I questioned was how the system avoids spam. Well to circumvent this obvious problem, it… → Read More
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