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GreatCall outs Samsung-made Jitterbug Plus, for folks who want a phone without all the smarts
Adding features to a senior-friendly phone kind of defeats the purpose, but a sleeker design, improved battery life and boosted speaker? Sure, we'll take it. That's what you'll get with the new Jitterbug Plus, a bare-bones mobile phone for users who really only need to make and receive calls, and perhaps check the occasional voicemail. Manufactured by Samsung, the no-frills r220 includes an incredibly straightforward interface, with clearly marked Yes and No button options and large, backlit keys, including a panic button that puts you in touch with a 5Star Urgent Response agent. This latest model also adds a very basic 1.3-megapixel camera, which lets you post photos to Facebook with the touch of a button (you'll need to forgo the Instagram filters, though). The Jitterbug Plus is available now in red or silver for $99 at retailers like Best Buy, Radio Shack and Fry's, along with the company's online store, however pricing is expected to jump to $119 shortly after launch. Overall, the device appears to be a great choice for seniors, though CNET called the phone "overpriced" in its review, which you'll find at the link below.
Introducing Memo Touch, a tablet designed for elders with short-term memory loss
Here's a product you don't see every day: a tablet designed specifically for senior citizens -- albeit with rather limited functionality. The Memo Touch is designed as a reminder tool for those who struggle with short-term memory loss, and can be used to deliver gentle cues when its time to take a medication, go to the doctor and the like. It's collaborative, too, as family members may add calendar events, phone numbers and to-do items, or even share photos and personalized messages, all from the product's companion website. Based on the Archos 101, the Memo Touch sells for $299 and requires a six-month ($174) or 12-month ($300) subscription. For those who don't take to the new-fangled gadget, the tablet carries a three month return policy, where purchasers may opt to receive a refund or have the tablet restored to its Android roots. Hey, it's one more way of keeping that rascally parent under your thumb, anyway. Overbearing children will find a full press release after the break. Now, where'd we put that damn tablet?
Kompott 'robotic agent' helps the elderly stay connected, enjoys a nap
Full-fledged humanoid robots helping the elderly are certainly well and good, but what about somebody that just needs a little help staying in touch with their family? They might one day be using something like this so-called Kompott "robotic agent" designed by some students at the Zurich University of the Arts Interaction Design lab. As you can see, it's actually just a robot head, which has a touchscreen for a face and a couple of sensors that let you tap it on top to wake it up, and on each side to scroll through items. To simplify things even further, the bot also boasts both voice recognition and text-to-speech, and a single button on its chest that lets you access a list of contacts. Of course, it's still just a prototype, but it does appear to be fully functional -- head on past the break to check it out in action.
"Senior-Friendly" TV Ears TV turns itself off at naptime, has Jitterbug-style remote
Sure, you may scoff at a television designed especially for seniors, but we think members of the Greatest Generation deserve a little high definition in their golden years, and thankfully so does TV Ears. The company, which produces those wireless headsets you see advertised during The Price is Right, will soon be introducing the TV Ears TV, a 32-inch LCD with an integrated transmitter, meaning fewer confusing wires, doo-dads, whatsits, and thingamabobs. The set ships with a specially designed remote control (featuring a grand total of six buttons) and will turn itself off after four hours of inactivity, saving power when the user dozes off -- or falls and can't get up. The set will be available in March for $1,199 and, before you cry foul at the 300% markup over comparable youth-friendly sets, know that the price also includes delivery, installation, and a toll-free support number. Not having to be grandma's personal television tech support? That's the greatest gift of all.
Wii Fit helps improve balance in seniors
As though demand for the Wii and Wii Fit wasn't going to be high enough during this year's holiday, another practical use for Nintendo's console has been discovered: helping to rehabilitate people, particularly seniors, after falls, and helping to improve balance in order to avoid falls. Brett Sears, a physical therapist with Capital Region Physical Therapy in New York, has been using Wii Fit in this way over the past four months, and his patients seem to enjoy the new method of training.It's not the first time we've seen the Wii used in this way, nor the first time we've heard about using Wii Fit for rehabilitation, and we're going to guess it's not going to be the last, either.[Via GoNintendo]
Doro brings immensely simplistic phones to the US via Centennial Wireless
Now that the baby boomer generation is booming louder than ever and the geriatric set is quickly growing larger, Doro is hoping to grow its market share by coming to the States. A mainstay in the European market, the company focuses on producing overly simplistic mobiles that ditch cutting edge features in favor of easy-to-use interfaces. The GSM-compatible HandleEasy 330gsm and HandleEasy 326i gsm have arrived on US soil courtesy of Centennial Wireless, and both should be the easiest phone you've ever had the opportunity to use. Unfortunately, there's no mention of a price for either, but we can't imagine 'em being too pricey.
ClarityLife C900 caters to old people, pwns the Jitterbug
There are phones for the geriatric set, and then there's the ClarityLife C900. This mobile makes no bones about what it is -- a dead simple candybar that's meant to easily place / receive calls and give owners access to an impossible-to-miss red emergency button. It also boasts large buttons for easy dialing, a large backlit screen with humongous text, a fierce vibrating ringer, inbuilt flashlight and a speaker that's "twice as loud" as an ordinary cellphone. Ironically, there's two full paragraphs explaining how to actually get a SIM card from your preferred carrier, so there's still a learning curve to overcome. At least Clarity makes the process of handing over $269.99 as easy as possible.[Via UnwiredView]
Tank Talk: Building and keeping your tanking corps, Part I
Tank Talk is WoW Insider's new raid-tanking column, promising you an exciting and educational look at the world of getting the stuffing thrashed out of you in a 10- or 25-man raid. The column will be rotated amongst Matthew Rossi (Warrior/Paladin), Adam Holisky (Warrior), Michael Gray (Paladin), and Allison Robert (Druid). Our aim is to use this column to debate and discuss class differences, raid-tanking strategies, tips, tricks, and news concerning all things meatshieldish. This week on Tank Talk I'd like to step outside the technical aspects of being a tank and focus more on the psychosocial side of things. In particular I want to look at what happens when a tank is introduced into a tanking corps of a new guild, how to keep current tanks around, and how to deal with all those old tanks that have been in the guild forever.For lack of a better phrase, I'll call the time from when a tank joining the guild until their eventual status as "god of all things tank" the life span of a tank. And perhaps the most important part of a tanks life is the new part, and it's something that I've been on both sides of the coin – the one doing the inviting, and the one being invited. Each is equally exciting. When joining a new guild I had not only the opportunity to see new content and progress to new heights, but also an opportunity to improve my skill and focus my ability to tank a mean game. And when I became class lead and eventually the guild's leader, I gained an opportunity to help new tanks become acquainted with our style of game play and watch them succeed and excel within the guild.I like to look at there being mainly fives stages of a tank's life within a guild: Recruitment, Applicant, Raider, Senior Tank, and Mentor. Let's take a look at each of these and see how people in various stages can help usher a new tank into a guild's tanking corpse while keeping the old tanks around and happy. Since this is a long subject, today I'll cover the recruitment and applicant stages in a tank's life, with the raider, senior tank, and mentor stages coming in the second installment tomorrow.
Nintendo teams up with distributor to bring DS to Taiwan
For all of you in Taiwan who have relied on non-official distribution to satisfy your need for Nintendo, know that a new third-party distributor has made a deal with Nintendo to supply the region with video games from the Kyoto-based company. FarEasTone (FET) will be teaming up with Nintendo to provide the region with DS units and hopefully find as receptive a market as the handheld has in all other regions of the world it's available for sale. Two specific models of DS Lite were mentioned, in the crimson black (or "senior") unit and a "New Super Mario DS Lite console." The handheld will be available from July 3rd on.
ETRI develops senior sensor system to detect falls
Korea's Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute recently announced that it's developed a new sensor system for seniors designed to detect falls -- for times when your "smart" brace doesn't work, we suppose. While similar systems have been around for a while, ETRI's does appear to boast a few notable advantages, largely due to its dependence on tried and true cellphone technology. That allows a series of calls to be set in motion at the first sign of trouble, the first going to the senior in question to check if there actually is a problem, with the hospital's emergency center and the person's family then notified if there is. What's more, the system is also equipped with GPS, allowing the person in peril to be easily located. Eventually, the researchers say the system could be adapted for use with any cellphone, or simply take advantage of the Internet if the senior is wearing it in a nursing home or hospital. Look for it to be available sometime next year.
Wii lures in the seniors
An account of a recent visitation from his parents, Livejournal user zubkavich tells of his father and mother's love of the Wii. In hooking in the seniors with its intuitive, pick-up-and-play nature, Nintendo's estimations of appeal to seniors is true, at least with this family.Have any of you out there hooked in parents, grandparents, or other 'grey gamers?'
NTT DoCoMo announces F882iES flip for seniors
Never mind the elderly, this seems like a perfectly hot phone for pretty much anyone looking for a decent 3G clamshell. Fujitsu's F882iES operates on NTT DoCoMo's 3G FOMA network, rocks 2.2-inch QVGA internal and 64 x 64 external displays, a 1.3-megapixel shooter, and miniSD expansion in your choice of gold, pink, or black. But here's the best part: much like KDDI's A1406PT from Pantech, the F882iES features a piercing alarm that can simultaneously fire off a pre-recorded message to a number of your choice. At 100 ear-annihilating decibels, we think it might even pack enough oomph to outdo our phone-in-a-wine-glass trick.[Via TechJapan]
