Apps for the Elderly

[Hugh Mason]

I am intrigued to know if anyone on this list has come across good mobile apps / startups for elderly folk.

My Dad is now 88 and I'm thinking of setting up an Android tablet for him. For anyone else in a similar situation, I came across these:

• http://www.blogsdna.com/25950/5-best-simple-android-launchers-for-seniors.htm
  
• http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/3-best-simple-android-launchers-parents-grandparents/
  
• http://www.cnet.com/how-to/make-any-android-easy-enough-to-use-for-grandma/
  
• https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=me.simplymobile.simplephone&hl=en
  
• https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=name.kunes.android.launcher.activity&hl=en
  

[Roland Turner]

You might want to check out Silverline Mobile, based in Singapore (although presumably your Dad isn't).

- Roland

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[Meng WONG]

To come at this from a different direction for a moment, Ellen Langer might suggest that the best apps for the elderly may be non-apps, or simulations of old tech:

http://www.amazon.com/Counterclockwise-Mindful-Health-Power-Possibility/dp/0345502043/

I have observed that professional computer scientists, who have been using computers since the 1980s, are incredibly productive using a software stack that has not changed essentially for decades: Unix, the shell, emacs/vim. Even python, one of today's darlings, is almost a quarter-century old.

George R.R. Martin wrote, and still writes, Game of Thrones on an MS DOS box running Wordstar.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2014/05/14/george_r_r_martin_writes_on_dos_based_wordstar_4_0_software_from_the_1980s.html

So, combine Moore's law with Clarke's law, and what do you get?

Ontology recapitulates phylogeny; technology recapitulates skeuomorpology.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C64_Direct-to-TV

http://www.secretgeometry.com/apps/cathode/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skeuomorph

So, instead of giving him an Android tablet, with a new interface to learn, why not retrofit a "family" channel into his existing TV?

http://i1.wp.com/laughingsquid.com/wp-content/uploads/skype-20100805-042610.jpg

--

[hrou...@gmail.com]

Hugh,

My previous startup was all about engaging senior citizens in nursing homes (B2B approach). The startup is based in the US.

http://www.linkedsenior.com/

I have spent 6 years in the industry. Would be glad to share my insights on the market!

[worldd...@gmail.com]

LinkedSenior looks like a nice product. I have a part-time business, MusicalConversations, where I use music to engage seniors in conversation.

Alan 

[Meng WONG]

reviving this thread,

https://ideas.ecitizen.gov.sg/a/pages/hackathon-at-sg-2015-hackmed

will be happening as part of the big sg hackathon, weekend of july 25/26.