The Internet Book of Life

Travel the Globe from Your Chair with 360Cities

Irene McDermott — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 15:16:22 +0000

Czech photographer Jeffrey Martin and his partners host this collection of “panos” or 360-degree panorama shots taken all around the world and even under the sea. To virtually travel the globe, just do a keyword search for your favorite destination or just browse locations on the world map.

To orient viewers, all panos are pinned to a location in Google Maps. This is helpful because some panos are disconcertingly fish-eyed, causing vertigo as you swivel in the photo by swiping your mouse across it.

360Cities not only showcases and indexes panos, it offers tutorials about how to make your own. It invites photographers to contribute their work. 360Cities is now integrated into Google Earth in the gallery layer. All the panos are interesting; many are stunningly beautiful.

360Cities
http://www.360cities.net

Jump Back and Forth in Time with WhatWasThere

Irene McDermott — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 15:49:35 +0000

Enlighten Ventures, an Ann Arbor marketing firm, invites users to upload their scanned historic photos. The company then matches these contributed snaps to the current street view in Google maps. The photos are placed on a map and superimposed over photos of the buildings that exist today in the same location.

Search WhatWasThere to find the photos and then use the screen fader to change the transparency of the overlaid historic image. The effect is like moving backward and forward in time. Download the free iPhone app to have an “augmented reality” experience of the history that surrounds you as you travel. Join the site for free to upload your own historical photos.

What Was There
http://www.whatwasthere.com

Map the Past with Historypin

Irene McDermott — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 16:03:53 +0000

London’s “We Are What We Do” is a non-profit that aims to enable the public to help with environmental and social issues. In 2010, it partnered with Google to create Historypin, a database of user-supplied historical photos and information which they collect and superimpose over Google Street Views. The point is to connect people and their stories across geography and generations. Libraries, schools and historical archives are encouraged to scan and upload old photos to create virtual “tours”of the past and collections of memories. Historypin plans to add the ability to play sound and videos soon.

Historypin
http://www.historypin.com

PointerWare Makes Regular PCs Simple for Seniors

Irene McDermott — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 22:51:50 +0000

Canadian computer guys Raul Rupsingh and Stephen Beath volunteered in senior centers and tested their simple 5-button interface with genuine grandmas. Now, their web-based subscription software is used in many Canadian retirement and nursing-home chains. The home version costs $8 per month or $149 for a year of access, support, and upgrades. It is available in eight languages including Hindi and simplified or traditional Chinese. PointerWare works on Windows-based PCs and tablets. It is not compatible with Apple products.

PointerWare
http://www.pointerware.com/c/pages/home

Can’t See? Can’t hear? firstSTREET to Buy Technology Designed to Overcome Deficits that Often Accompany Advanced Age.

Irene McDermott — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 22:17:45 +0000

This Virginia-based retailer specializes in researching and marketing tech products for older users. They pioneered the Jitterbug, the large buttoned simple cell phone designed for seniors. They distribute lights, magnifiers and low-cost hearing aids, along with the WOW! computer.

http://www.firststreetonline.com

“Boomers” vs. “Silvers”

Irene McDermott — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 15:47:54 +0000

In Canada, there is a group called “Seniors for Seniors” (http://seniors4seniors.ca) in which “junior seniors” age 60-65 can volunteer to assist “senior seniors” aged 85-90 as personal caregivers and drivers. That brings up the question of:
what exactly is a senior?

“Baby boomers” is the name for that abundance of children born between 1946 and 1964. The oldest of these are now over 65 (and the youngest are developing problems reading small type.)

Tony Vagneur, boomer and actual cowboy in Aspen, Colorado declares, “I don’t understand why there’s a dichotomy, separating ‘older people’ from the rest of the world? If it weren’t for older people (over 50, the largest marketing demographic), there wouldn’t be profitable demand for those products that claim to be youth-oriented.”

Of course, he’s a sharp, fit Colorado outdoorsman. It is ridiculous to put him in the same marketing category as a people old enough to be his parents. Yet, young engineers have a hard time imagining the needs of either baby boomers or the older silver generation who now live to be age 90 and beyond.

A Silver Field of Dreams
http://www.ageinplacetech.com/blog/silver-field-dreams
Susan Estrada reports from the Silvers Summit, the senior tech segment of the 2012 CES (Computer Electronics Show) in Las Vegas (http://silverssummit.com). She quotes Marty Cooper, the engineer credited with inventing mobile phones, as saying that, although young designers long to tap into the senior market, “they can’t ‘think’ like an older adult.”

Many Seniors Enjoy the iPad2

Irene McDermott — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 02:18:04 +0000

Apple’s tablet is easy to use and the screen text can be enlarged with the spread of two fingers. “My 76-year-old Mom got an iPad, initially to use as a reader,” writes college buddy Laurie Howlett. “But she and her husband fought over who got to use it so they bought another!” Professional organizer Tracy McCubbin also says that many of her older clients “have loaded up the Kindle app on it for easy reading.” They also use the iPad for email.

iPad2
http://www.apple.com/ipad

All of the elegant, intuitive Apple products seem to be popular with tech savvy older folks. McCubbin’s 83-year-old client had her load an iPod Nano with meditations that she listens to at night to go to sleep. Writer Kathy Talley-Jones notes, “My father likes to listen to books on his iPod Touch and gets every new iPod Shuffle, Nano, etc. when it is released!”

Dummies.com offers these lessons for new old owners of iPads:

http://www.dummies.com/how-to/consumer-electronics/iPad-For-Seniors.html

Skype Connects Generations

Irene McDermott — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 15:30:13 +0000

The video phone of the future has arrived and it’s free. What a blessing for seniors who are separated from their families. “My 91-year-old grandmother in Tokyo uses Skype to keep in touch with my mother in Los Angeles,” writes special librarian Takako Nagumo. But Skype has practical implications beyond family cohesion.

“My 95-year-old grandfather is lucky enough to have found doctors who will make house calls, but my grandmother is always concerned that she may not understand all of the doctor’s instructions, so when the doctor comes, she and my mother both log on to Skype, so my mother can take notes and confer with the doctor, too.” Install Skype on any web-enabled device that is equipped with a camera and a microphone, including smart phones. Computers designed for seniors feature easy access to this generation-spanning technology. Skype was recently purchased by Microsoft.

Skype
http://www.skype.com

Get 4G Internet Access at Home for $50 per Month from Clear.com

Irene McDermott — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 15:05:56 +0000

After I turned on my Aunt Bert’s Wow! computer for seniors (http://www.mywowcomputer.com), I began to hook up her internet modem. Did it get its signal over a cable or the phone line? No! Following the suggestion of the Wow! computer people, Bert had contracted with Clear.com to receive her internet signal wirelessly through the 4G mobile network. We placed the modem near a window, plugged it in and voilà, it picked up the signal and began feeding high speed internet into the computer.

Bert’s plan costs $50 per month and she can end the contract at any time. Clear.com is now available in 80 cities across the United States. The company Clearwire, based in Bellingham, Washington, plans expansion of its network over the next year. Check the site to see if your city has coverage.

http://www.clear.com

The Wow! Computer Helps Elderly Newbies

Irene McDermott — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 15:14:07 +0000

Aunt Bert, age 88, embraces technology to keep in touch with her children and grandchildren. “I just bought a Wow! computer. Will you come over to help me set it up?” she asked recently.

The Wow! computer turned out to be an all-in-one touch screen with a locked desktop that only allows specific functions: touch this button for email, this for video chat through the built-in camera, and that one for news. I linked her fresh Gmail account to the email button and set her up on Skype for video chat.

FirstStreet markets the Wow! computer for Seniors (http://www.mywowcomputer.com), a 20-inch touch screen designed to get seniors online and to keep them out of trouble. The locked desktop and Linux operating system prevents users from accidentally downloading programs and viruses. The touch screen is handy for users who lack the dexterity to type or use a mouse. The $1000 price tag and lack of productivity software means that this is not the machine for everyone. Still, it may be just the thing for newbies who just want a computer to keep in touch with the modern world.

It turns out that the Wow! computer is really the rebranded Telikin (http://www.telikin.com) produced by Venture 3 Systems in Chalfont, Pennsylvania. This company imports the all-in-one PCs and then loads them up with the Linux operating system and its proprietary software. Venture 3 provides patient, responsive phone support for their tentative customers. Also, each Telikin comes equipped with a remote assistance feature called “Tech Buddy” which allows another user to port in and demonstrate which buttons to push.