Author Archives: loiswhitmanhess

SENIORS OCCUPY TECHNOLOGY

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The notion that many people over 55 are afraid of technology, is really something we’ve brought on ourselves. Did you ever notice that when someone really wants to learn something, they somehow do it quickly? I marvel at how many of my friends own iPads, read books on a Kindle or a Nook, text all day long, play Words With Friends and spend hours on Facebook.

I don’t know why, but I just love when I see people around my age or older using technology. I guess that is why I decided to write this blog. I have said it so many times before and I will say it hundreds of more times, now is a great time to be alive. The digital revolution never ceases to amaze me.

Last summer I was on a riverboat (AMAWaterways Amalegro ) cruising the country side of Germany on the Mosel and Rhine rivers. We started in Luxembourg and ended in Amsterdam. This type  of cruise usually draws the 50-and-above crowd who want to see the world after a lifetime of working. While we saw some of the most incredible sights in the world, the one that surprised me the most, was watching this crowd embrace their electronics after a day of touring.

Yesteryear, most older folks would retire to their staterooms for a nap. Not this group. Everyone rushed to the main parlor with its oversized panoramic windows to send emails, read their novels on ebooks or play electronic games. I remember vividly sitting in that room day after day with tears in my eyes and my heart filled with emotion because I was witnessing a dramatic lifestyle change.

Just because I worked in the tech business, it doesn’t mean that I was the only one exposed to the advantages of electronics. The word was spreading. Just a year ago it was novel to see the senior generation reading an ebook. Today it is totally weird to see them with the printed version. We are now at a place in our lives, where my generation, who’ve worked hard for the money they’ve made, are enjoying the comforts they’ve earned. Technology being one of them. Watch out world. Hear us roar. We are the ones who are going to dictate the needs of the digital revolution in the very near future.

YOUR GRAY IS SHOWING

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The minute someone over 55 sees a gray hair, a wrinkle, a dark spot, or even a dimple someplace on their body where they have not seen it before, they want to cover it up immediately.  Why is it not the same way with their tech habits?

Many of the nearly 80 million baby boomers (many of them have turned 65 this year) and older seniors are exposing their tech naivety on almost a daily basis. I am not saying that this pertains to every senior person, but it certainly does to many.  I make my fair share of mistakes too, but I have a group of young techies around me constantly that point out my blunders every chance they get.

I wanted to address these fairly simple errors because if we correct them on a united front, then maybe we can achieve the respect we deserve.  As Mashable, one of the best tech blogs, recently pointed out, “As boomers confront old age,” they will certainly defy what we think it means to “get old.” It will challenge us to rethink how we use the web and how we engage older people with newer technologies.

Here is a list of absolute no no’s:

  1. Do not copy your entire email list in the “To” space.  That is what “Bcc” is for.  If you are sending out an email to multiple people who do not know each other, you must blind copy.  Most people do not want their email exposed to strangers.  I recently received an email with Katie Couric, Diane Sawyer and Arianna Huffington copied on it. Do you really think those gals want me to have their email address?  Ha! Don’t answer that.
  2. Just because you are retired and have nothing else to do, don’t send out jokes several times a day, every day, with the subject, “I usually don’t send out jokes but this one is really funny.”   Chances are someone else sent around those jokes already.  I have to clear out my inbox everyday from a certain someone who used to be the CEO of a major company.  He sends out about 20 to 30 jokes a day, even on high holy days.  I don’t have the heart to tell him to stop because he is such a wonderful guy. I picture him sitting at his computer day and night with his trigger finger ready to go.
  3. The one that makes you look like you died or just faded away is your Facebook page without your picture.  Many seniors want to join the world of social media, but just want to test it.  Either you jump in and engage, or delete your account.  You look like you are missing in action.  Some older people have told me that they only joined so they can follow their grandchildren.  Bad move. If they find out that is your main purpose, they know how to de-friend you and you will not know the difference.
  4. Please don’t tell people you don’t check your emails on a frequent basis even if it is true.  You sound like you are telling them you don’t take a shower every day. The Internet is all about instantaneous access.  You should be checking your email everyday or several times a day. To those that say “but no one emails me so why should I be checking.” I answer no one is sending you a check everyday, yet you wait for the mailman like it is your last meal.
  5. When someone sends you and others an email don’t “reply to all” unless your message is that important that others have to see it.  There is nothing worse than 10 people saying “You’re welcome” to the same person.  I make the same mistake when I get a text from my brother because the multiple names are hidden. My nephew Sam is always looking out for me, letting me know the faux pas I committed.   I am much sharper about my responses now.
  6. This is the worst and I want to scream bloody murder when someone forwards an email to me with pages and pages of lists of email addresses that have received the message already.  Why aren’t you cutting and pasting?  All you have to do is “forward” and delete the names of people who were previously copied. Why is it my responsibility to search through pages and pages of email addresses before I get to the content that you wanted me to read?  Honestly, I just delete these emails.  I can’t be bothered anymore.

I hope I am being helpful.  To quote Mashable, “The Boomer generation isn’t just big—it’s made up of people who think and act differently than previous generations.” This means we are suave, sophisticated and savvy.  We have a reputation to uphold.

BIT BY BIT I AM GETTING THERE OR HOW A DIGITAL PRODUCT IS HELPING ME TO CONTROL MY SUGAR LEVELS

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I know you are not going to believe this unless you know me well. There are days that I don’t take more than a 1,000 steps. That means all I have done for the day is go to work, sit all day ,come home again and sit all night. Some weekends I do even less. I sit on the couch all day, read, watch TV, talk on the phone and do some computer work. That amounts to a few hundred steps, going to the bathroom and getting up every hour for a snack.

All that ended a few weeks ago when my doctor told me my sugar levels were up. He said he was “concerned.”  If I didn’t knock down the count he was going to have to put me on meds. All of a sudden my entire life flashed in front of me. I had never taken exercise seriously. All that was for people who were vain. It finally occurred to me that there was a cause and effect in my sugar count. If I sat, the number would go up. If I walked the required number of steps a day (10,000 according to most exercise gurus), then my sugars levels would be normal. My physician, Dr. St Claire at Yaffee Rudin Associates, said exercise was far more important than what I was eating. That was the first time I heard that. I confirmed this with a friend of mine, Dr. Howard Stark, a well known gastroenterologist, in Washington D.C., who also informed me that 10,000 steps was necessary for cardiovascular health. If I wanted to lose weight, I should do 12,500 steps. That is the magic number to get rid of those extra pounds.

While all this seems like a simple solution, walking 10,000 or 12,500 footsteps a day is no easy task. In order to accomplish this, you need someone like a life coach reminding you constantly to get up and walk. I was telling my friend Steve Greenberg, the host of The Food Network’s new show, Invention Hunters, (you read about him in a prior post) about my dilemma. I’ve had a lot of pedometers and threw them all out because they were difficult to set and reset. I spent more time trying to reconfigure the pedometer than I did walking.

Steve surprised me with the Fitbit. It is not a pedometer. It is a device that could have only been developed in the digital world. Unlike all of its pedometer predecessors, the Fitbit is a wireless unit that is synched to the Fitbit website, www.fitbit.com  and measures your motion patterns to tell you the calories you’ve burned, steps taken, distance traveled, and sleep quality. The Fitbit uses a MEMS 3-axis accelerometer and a built-in MEMS altimeter that measures your vertical climb up stairs and hills.

What I really like is the automation. I don’t have to do a thing other than walk. The digital unit automatically restarts at midnight. Initially, you are required to register on the Fitbit website which asks some very basic questions. All you have to do after that, is remember to charge the Fitbit by attaching its USB connection to your computer every two weeks. When I get more ambitious, I will use the website to log my food, activity, weight and chat with other users, achieving the full digital experience. Now, when I want to see my results, I press the small lever on the outside of the Fitbit and I get a digital readout of steps taken, miles walked (or partial miles), calories burned, and steps climbed. The Fitbit can easily clip to slacks or can used with a wrist cuff.

Since I’ve been using the Fitbit I’ve been pressing that lever several times a day just to see if it is still working. As much as I am a part of the digital community, I still can’t believe that there is a (wireless) device that is such a miracle worker. I guess that is why I started this blog in the first place. We live in a world where there are so many advantages. If we had the opportunity to tell our parents and grandparents that we are living in a world where such automation and memory is the norm, they would shake their heads in astonishment.

Now that I am a big shot, armed with my little digital friend attached to me, I have to get off my butt and start walking. Maybe, someday there will be a machine that can do that for me as well. All I have to do is stay healthy enough to see it happen. Because it will!

 

THE ABC’S OF INVESTING IN THE DIGITAL COMMUNITY

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There were a few people upset with me about what they call a rather negative post I wrote about investing in the digital marketplace. All I was trying to do was warn the neophytes that most people lose money in start ups, especially digital ones. My husband and I lost $25,000 over 12 years ago on an Internet project that was going to be the first directory of some kind. It sounded so exciting at the time that we were jumping up and down for joy.We were going to get rich with the creator, then referred to as the young genius.

The genius must have made a few errors because all of the investors lost their money. The reason given was that the technology needed a lot more funding than anyone anticipated. This is very typical. We didn’t sweat it too much because in those days we were making a lot of money in our own business. By the way, the young genius never apologized and was never held publicly accountable. That is also very typical. Today he is the owner of a well known Internet site and begrudgingly answers the calls of his former angels. Most of the time he never calls back.

This experience didn’t stop us from other investments. We were always ready for someone else’s engine to make money for us.  Again we lost money but we justified it because we were doing very well with investments in real estate. Today it would take a sledge hammer for us to open our wallets. What we did when we were younger no longer exists.

Investing is really a young sport. They have the time to make up the possible losses. Personally, I think I gave you the best financial advice possible.This morning I was reading some investing advice from probably the best known and respected Venture Capitalist in the digital business, Fred Wilson of Union Square Ventures, He is revered. When he speaks everyone listens and he confims some of what i am saying here. He also adds other important investing trends that cannot be ignored.

http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2012/04/what-if-web-and-mobile-apps-are-like-tv-shows.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AVc+(A+VC)

I THINK I HAVE SCOOPED THE WORLD

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You are reading it here first. My friend Steve Greenberg, who is about to become a national sensation as the host of Invention Hunters on The Food Network next month, informed me about a new app for the iPhone that allows you to put yourself into your video shoots. Steve didn’t exactly give me the scoop himself but I squirmed it out of him. If you are like me, you like to shoot videos of your travels and the events you attend. You probably shoot videos of your family, especially the grandkids, friends and hobbies. The big problem I have is that all my videos have everyone else in them except me. It’s like I was never there. Steve tried showing me how to turn my iPhone around to shoot myself and then turn it back again on the subject matter. That only forced me to lose my balance and train of thought. I always really love pretending I am a news reporter, capturing interesting things and then sharing them with family and friends (doesn’t matter if they want it or not).

The other day Steve was in NYC (he resides in Miami) to appear on Dr. Oz and The Today Show. He stays in my apartment whenever he is in New York, so we have a lot of quality time. He never mentioned anything about the new app in development called 2CamShoot. It allows you to switch between the iPhone’s front and back cameras when recording video. I found out about it while I was watching one of his other segments (Seattle King TV), that he did earlier in the week.

Hello Steve !!! Did you forget to tell me about something that I longed for? The Seattle TV segment was local so now you are one of the few who can learn all about it at http://www.2camshoot.com. It is really so easy to use and it is so much fun. I can’t stop shooting iPhone videos. The big question is why didn’t Apple develop this feature themselves? I am very confused. It seems like a natural. They already feature two cameras on the iPhone for Facetime, the personal video conferencing feature. Somehow, they never doubled dipped by using the two cameras for their video function.

Enter 2CamShoot. This is how the company describes it. “ Without this app, the only way you can record a video that showcases yourself and something else is by attempting to swing the phone around, losing sight of the screen, and just guessing what image is being recorded. Certainly not a smooth option. 2CamShoot ends that awkward bumpy camera move. By using this app, you are able to simply switch between the front and back cameras by just touching the icon on the screen. Video recording on your iPhone will never be the same. Put yourself into the video and make every shoot a 2CamShoot.”

And yes there is a video of Steve using the app right on the 2CamShoot website. Here is a prediction. Apple buys the company that produced the app and Steve becomes the next famous Steve at Apple.

MY ONLY ENCOUNTER WITH DICK CLARK

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I can’t remember whether it was a consumer electronics or video company that hosted a press conference featuring Dick Clark at the Ed Sullivan Theater in 1991, but I can remember the conversation I had with him. I wormed my way up to him after the press conference and asked if he would consider acting as an advisor to a newspaper my husband Eliot and I wanted to publish. It was a newspaper for teenagers written by teenagers. Remember, this was way before we all knew about the Internet.

I explained the entire concept. Teenagers would write about the world and local politics, education, current events, pop culture, entertainment, fashion, music, and sports. He listened courteously and immediately told me it would not work.

The world’s greatest authority on teenagers had squashed the idea that Eliot and I were working on for months in a matter of seconds. We already spent a lot of money on focus groups, a dummy layout, business plans, advertising presentations and editorial staff assignments.

I was devastated. I tried to reason with him. We thought it was a natural. In fact, during the time of our research we discovered that there was another group trying to do the same thing. How bad of an idea could this be? We thought teen reporters writing for other teens was just brilliant.

I remember looking straight into Mr. Clark’s eyes for some reassurances.  He simply said that the majority of teens don’t read and nothing in the world was going to change that. One more time, I pointed out that our concept was the solution. Teens writing for each other would be groundbreaking and they would learn about topics they never before explored.

No matter how long I talked, Mr. Clark was not going to change his mind. He continued to keep his eyes focused on mine. The more he looked at me, the more I wanted to just run away and pretend the entire discussion never took place.

I told him that I still thought he was wrong and that I would get back to him with our progress.  Needless to say, the project went no place fast for a number of reasons.  Before he left our little huddle he said, “May you go with God Speed.”  For years I wondered why he said that and what it meant.  I looked the phrase up yesterday and realized I never got back to him to tell him he was right, but I think he already knew it.

TECH HICCUPS

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Can you imagine how mortified we were when our client didn’t bring her invention to the press conference we organized at the Consumer Electronics Show to announce its existence? This is just one of the many insane stories we’ve experienced over the years repping entrepreneurs, inventors, investors and all kinds of startups in tech. Some of the major brands we’ve worked for were wacko too, but more about those at a later date.

The tech business attracts the most fearless because there is so much money to be made. We’ve had our fair share because our agency was well known and we provided credibility to those who so desperately needed  it. Like most psychotics, you couldn’t tell those clients were crazy at first but when their neuroses popped out you couldn’t tuck them back in.

The client who didn’t bring her so called 3D TV alternative to the CES press conference felt very justified because it wasn’t ready. She didn’t feel she owed anyone an explanation because this invention was a game changer and it was worth waiting for.  The press went crazy at the conference calling her all kinds of names and to this day, those few who are still in the business rib me about it every chance they get. The client continued to pull off shenanigans like that for a few years until her Silicon Valley investors pulled the plug. The reason why she was able to survive for so long, was because she capitalized on her Cal Tech degree and her ability to BS the investment community. There is nothing more vulnerable than a bunch of deep pocket money men who are desperate for a big hit.

Then there was our other more recent client who suddenly disappeared for a week after the servers for his iPhone app collapsed because of the big story we secured about his invention in the NY Times. The servers were not capable of handling the 72,000 downloads that were activated within a short period of the story hitting. Instead of handling all of the hundreds of complaints we received, he took a powder and we had to field the never ending inquiries. He resurfaced when everything was up and running again. We took the heat, but his checks were well worth it.

The stories go on and on.  The last one I wanted to mention for this post, is one of our most recent clients who just couldn’t articulate what his website was all about.  He was the founder, creator,  and technology genius behind the entire creation.  He was also very handsome, smart and personable. But the “nerd” in him took over every time he had to verbally explain what his company actually did. No matter how many times we asked him to write it down and keep it as his boiler plate, the more complicated his explanations became.  We would cringe when he was interviewed on TV because he would take up the entire segment spitting out the details of his company.

I am not sure if these stories are just specific to the tech industry, but I can surely tell you they are prevalent here. Geniuses just think differently.

TO BE OR NOT TO BE

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One of the greatest things about being in the tech industry for so many years is that I get to meet hundreds, maybe thousands, of people who have a dream of building or creating something. I can probably tell within minutes of meeting that person if he or she is going to be successful. 

Scary isn’t it? Not really. Most of the time the person’s success really depends on his or her personality. There are certain ingredients that an inspiring entrepreneur must have in order to be successful. Sadly, most people just don’t have what it takes. I know a lot of seniors live vicariously through some of the young folks today who created something out of nothing and sold it for a billion dollars, like Instagram, or now have their companies valued at a $100 billion, like Facebook. I have to tell my generation that 99.9 per cent of the young people in the digital world today are not capable of inventing something and turning it into gold. 

My advice is to hold on to your money. I am not trying to be mean or negative. I just want to be the conveyor of reality.  Most angel investors are prepared to lose their money. They deal with percentages. If one out of 10 deals work, they have made back their losses and if they are really lucky they made a sizeable profit. Investing in social marketing or smartphone apps is an art. The average person doesn’t know what questions to ask or how to evaluate the business plan. A word to grandparents. If you finance a grandchild’s dream, consider it a gift. You most likely will never see a return. 

Everyone thinks they are Mark Zuckerberg or Steve Jobs but the truth is unless today’s tech entrepreneur is obsessed with his or her work, compulsive, controlling, fearless, articulate and a problem solver, they will fail sooner or later.  I even dare to say that unless today’s entrepreneurs are willing to give up quality time with their families, they are dead ducks. That is just what it takes to make it in the age of the Internet where one week is like one day, one day is like an hour and one hour is like one minute. Internet time is much different than what the rest of the world is used to. Everything is instant response and instant gratification. 

I have witnessed so many people with tons of ideas that went nowhere fast. They just didn’t know how to execute. They were either so in love with their concept that they thought it would just take off, or they liked the idea of creating something but really had no interest in exerting enough sweat to see it to fruition. I can remember so many times, when I truly got excited about handling the public relations for a new invention or service only to have the creator flame out.  Many of these guys are screw ups and can’t handle success so they unconsciously do something that causes their downfall. 

My next blog post will be about some of the characters I’ve come across over the years. Get ready for a good laugh. You can’t make this stuff up.

WHAT ME WORRY?

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At 64 I am one of a few people in the United States who is trying out a new app called Placeme by Alohar (www.alohar.com). Many people are going to be horrified by this app but I love it. I am as paranoid and insecure as the next person but I think the advantages and benefits of Placeme far outweigh any of the concerns people have today about apps that track your whereabouts. The correct terminology is mobile location or ambient location technology.

I am not going to spend time convincing anyone to use Placeme. The same people who refuse to use Facebook and other social marketing platforms will be the last to adopt ( or maybe never) a technology that follows you around and automatically logs where you have been day by day. I remember when New York and New Jersey first introduced E-ZPass. A client that worked for a huge TV manufacturer was furious that the state was going to be able to track how many times a day he traveled back and forth from home to work. He refused to use E-ZPass for the first few years. He would wait an extra 15 minutes in the cash lane on the George Washington Bridge twice a day just because he believed that some higher authority was going to use this info against him or provide his employer with data he didn’t want them to have.

Guess what this guy does for a living today? He sells advertising on Facebook. I guess he came to the realization that you can’t stop progress. I haven’t questioned him about this in years but I bet he would deny ever doubting E-ZPass. There are plenty of other people like him. From my observation, the people who are afraid of getting involved with any kind of tech that shares information usually have nothing to hide. These aren’t criminals. They are just people who play it “safe” their entire lives. They think they are some kind of hero for keeping the status quo. They love being stubborn.

I love needling them when they finally breakdown and become a part of the digital revolution. They all have their excuses for finally succumbing. All of them are lame, but I eventually let them get away with it. I truly enjoy when the 55-plus crowd appreciate what is being created and developed during their lifetime. I am not saying that young folks too don’t question ambient technology. It is one of the biggest “privacy” discussions today. However, they are all using mobile apps that broadcast their every move. The popularity of Facebook’s “Places” and Foursquare are proof that this is the direction we are all going in the next year or two. If you question what I just said, just remember how scared you were the first time you entered your credit card information online to buy something.

Placeme is not a social marketing app. It shares nothing unless you specifically ask it to. The purpose of the app is to give you a personal diary of where you have been every day. When communicating with Alohar’s servers, the Placeme App uses industry standard SSL technology. SSL encrypts all data communications between your phone and Alohar’s servers, so your personal information is always safe from hackers.

I don’t know about you but having a digital diary that automatically files the locations that I visit each day of my life is like giving me a picture book of my personal journey. I am so busy multitasking plus nailing down what I need to do in the upcoming days, I can barely remember what I did yesterday, much less a week ago. Yes I can check my Outlook calendar, but do you think I update my records that methodically? No! I can’t begin to tell you how wonderful it is to relive what I did a week, a month, a year ago. I can’t remember the names of restaurants, plays, concerts, or museums that I’ve been to. Not only is everything listed, but because of Google maps I can get to see the actual places again. Just think of reliving a vacation, or a fabulous date, or a special Meetup. It is all there for my viewing with Placeme. I feel like I am getting a life bonus.

I feel so fortunate to have a technology that affords me this ability. Just for the record, I do not work for or with Alohar. I found out about the app (which has not been publicly announced yet) from their marketing manager who used to work for one of my former clients. You can get the app too. It’s available in the iPhone (http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/placeme/id501165259?mt=8) and Android app stores.

MIRROR, MIRROR ON THE WALL

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All of the nips and tucks in the world aren’t going to make me look young again. My workforce is filled with skinny, hip, fashionistas who drink the drink and smoke the smoke. Their heels are as high as skyscrapers and their handbags are as large as bread boxes. Oops, no one knows what that is anymore. The guys in the tech business try to look like rock stars or tattoo artists. Disheveled hair or no hair, crumpled shirts, and dirty, low-hanging jeans are the uniforms. I am not sure if they have showered in the last few days or have any intention to. They all know the latest tech terms and trends and who is developing what before they even surface because they hang in circles where all that is being discussed.

My friends talk Medicare, Metamucil, and Sore Muscles. Sometimes when I am out to dinner with people my age I try to engage them in discussions about the latest apps or improvements in Smartphones. I hate when they cross their arms to tell me that Apple is becoming a monopoly so they refuse to buy iPhones, or they won’t post on Facebook because Big Brother is watching them.

Oh, they are eager to talk tech if the subject is the stock market or who bought what and for how much. All of a sudden you find out that some of these couch potatoes are heavily invested in the tech industry and are angel investors in products they are clueless about. I am not saying that everyone is ignorant but by and large people of my generation invest in companies because they are either “safe” or “cool.” By “cool” I mean because a friend told them the company was ripe for purchase. If you ask them what the company does they will give you the appropriate sound bite but they could never defend their true, practical purpose.

I shouldn’t be pointing my heavily bejeweled finger with its long red acrylic nail at anyone. My husband and I have invested in Broadway productions because of the famous people we might possibly meet or the Tony we could win as a so-called “producer.” Ha!

I really yearn to be around folks who want to experience the technology revolution. We are living in the most exciting times of innovation. We are lucky to be alive and see the things we get to see. Who wouldn’t want to spend every waking hour being a part of it?