Category Archives: senior lifestyle

TECHNOLOGY CAN HELP YOU MEDITATE  

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Check out the Muse Headband. I had no idea that this product existed. I was passing by the Muse booth, last week at CE Week, in NYC, when the headband caught my eye.

I asked one of the executives at the booth, Ben Nachman, head of sales, Muse, Toronto, what this product was all about.  

He said, “Most people don’t know if they are meditating correctly. Even meditation teachers can’t really tell if their students are meditating the proper way.”

Muse is a brain sensing headband. It works with the Calm app. It give users real-time biofeedback of their mental state during practice.  It has 7 sensors, and collects data in 4 channels. It comes with a regular micro-USB cable, and a simple, 10 pages “getting started” manual. The battery lasts for up to 5 hours of use. 

When your mind is calm, you hear calm winds. When your mind is active, the winds blow harder.  The goal is to teach your mind to stay calm. 

Retail price on Amazon is $248.54. 

I have no idea why, but Ben gave me a unit to try out. I’m going to start later this week. Stay tuned.

Thanks Ben  

An Art Gallery Aimed At Seniors   

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If you read the New York Times last week, then you must have seen the story about an art gallery, in the Chelsea area of New York City, that focuses on exhibiting the work of artists over 60 years of age. 

The minute I read the story, I knew that we had to visit the Carter Burden Gallery, at 548 West 28th Street, to see if they would be interested in exhibiting Eliot’s photos. 

Carter Burden was a very wealthy businessman and a New York City Councilman in the early 1970’s. He served as chairman of the committee on health and championed the betterment of health and housing for the elderly.  

The newspaper article said his father was a great-great-grandson of the railroad and shipping magnate Cornelius W. Vanderbilt and a partner in the family investment-banking firm. His mother was Flobelle Fairbanks, a niece of the actor Douglas Fairbanks.

Today, the mission of the Carter Burden Network is to “promote the well-being of seniors, 60 and older, through a continuum of services, advocacy and volunteer programs in NYC oriented to individual, family and community needs. The Network is dedicated to supporting the efforts of older people to live safely and with dignity.” 

We walked around the gallery for a half hour, looked at the art work, checked out the pricing, and talked to the gallerist in charge. Eliot may have a long wait since there are several hundred applicants. 

We are in no rush, so we just may submit Eliot’s photographs in the next few weeks. Check out The NY Times story to learn about the current exhibit and the artists behind the works. 
Thank you to the late Carter Burden for caring so much about the senior sector. 

 

Algorithm Detects Risky Heart Rhythms

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A group of researchers from Stanford University claim they found a more accurate way to diagnose abnormal heart rhythms. This new efficient method could mean the difference between life or death for many millions of Americans a year.

The researchers developed an algorithm that detects 14 types of arrhythmia. The algorithm can quickly detect arrhythmias that requires immediate attention.

The researchers hope the algorithms will be used in wearable devices one day soon to predict signs of stroke, heart failure or cardiac arrest in at-risk patients.

Engadget has a more detailed story on this subject.  Also, watch the above video for more details.

Fake News 

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I posted this earlier today on Facebook. The reaction was overwhelming.

Adam Levine, Maroon 5, stopped by the HandL booth at CE Week to say hello to me. He is such a doll. Wants me to be a judge.


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The View From Our Security Camera 

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We did something different this 4th of July. Instead of having one of our big shindigs, we decided to celebrate the arrival of some friends who migrated from Venezuela. We are thrilled they are safely in this country.

I was so busy chatting with friends of my friends, I forgot to take photos of the night. A few days later, Eliot was checking our Arlo home security system when he discovered that a number of videos were taken for us. We found this pretty amusing. We forget Arlo was on. 

I took photos of the videos to share with you. It’s very reassuring to know that I have some sort of a security system that I can remotely access through my smartphone. It’s also nice to have some memories of that evening. 

Thank you Arlo. 

Tom Hanks Typewriter Movie

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Thanks to Hollywood, typewriters are going to be making a big comeback soon. Tom Hanks and John Mayer recently made a movie discussing their love of typewriters. Called California Typewriter, the movie is a documentary about the antiquated writing machine.

The movie also features comments from historian David McCullough and playwright Sam Shepard. Both men claim the typewriter “is still their go-to writing device.”

Most people don’t know it, but Hanks owns more than 250 different typewriters. He says most of them are in working order.

Hanks passion about typewriters is real.  He recently launched a typewriter app named Hanx Writer which provides the sounds of the keys banging, hard returns and the chimes that sound when you reach the end of a line.  

Hanks, plus millions of other people, miss that.

The movie, California Typewriter, will hit theaters on August 18th. Thank you Rolling Stone for the story.

I can’t wait to see it.

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Take A Shower Anywhere

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Every time we go to the beach, we just love it. What we don’t love is all the sand that sticks to our feet when we have to put on our shoes again. It doesn’t matter how hard we towel dry our feet, we always have some sand stuck to us.

It would be so great if we could wash away the sand  and go home clean. There are public showers at the beach but the lines of people waiting to wash themselves are usually too long. All we want to do is go home and take a full shower. 

Someone must have heard us, because a company named Helio has invented a portable shower that will give us enough water to clean ourselves off. Watch the video for a complete demonstration.

The unit is explained and sold on Amazon. “Unlike conventional gravity-fed systems, our Helio™ systems rest on the ground and are pressurized by their integrated foot pump, delivering excellent water pressure for showering, cleaning dishes, or rinsing off gear.”  

This kind of unit is for perfect camping, hiking, and outdoor backyard showers.

The LX model has a 22L/5.8 gallon capacity with a 7’/2.1m hose, providing 7-10 minutes of water pressure.

Retail price, $139.95.

Cheers

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Every time we go out for drinks, Eliot always rates the bartender. If he likes a drink, he will always tell me “that’s a good restaurant.”

I wonder what he will say when a robot makes his next Old Fashioned.

Robots are becoming bartenders in Vegas and that means this trend will catch on in other cities across the United States. 

The first robotic bartenders are being debuted at the Tipsy Robot Bar in Planet Hollywood in the Miracle Mile Shops. To order a drink, you download the Robot app and make a selection. An alert will let you know when your drink is ready.

Watch the video to see how the robot bartenders operate.  
It’s kind of impossible to tell your troubles to a robot bartender, but boy do they make a precise drink.

Read all about robotic bartenders in the Las Vegas Sun. 
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Inside Tech: An Industry Podcast 

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Uber’s Travis Cordell Kalanick, Kara Swisher of Recode, and Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook.

Vanity Fair’s tech expert Nick Bilton just did a remarkable podcast with Kara Swisher, the legendary technology reporter and co-founder of Recode. The two of them dish about leading members of the tech industry in ways you never heard before and Kara talks about her intentions to run for Mayor of San Francisco. 

It’s fun listening to them banter about their personal lives and what they really think of Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, Travis Kalanick of Uber, Steve Jobs of Apple, Bill Gates of Microsoft, and others. Find out about which CEO has panic attacks before interviews, which one has an inferiority complex and the one they dislike the most. 

I truly can’t believe they revealed so much, including information about their personal lives, career desires, and challenges at work. I felt like I was eavesdropping. It was interesting to hear their opinions and insights.

If you want feel like an industry insider, be sure to listen to the podcast. Click here.
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