Follow The Breadcrumbs

Posted on June 20, 2012 by loiswhitmanhess

Before you go any further, be sure to read yesterday’s post about finding lost people, pets, and objects. Today’s topic is all about retracing your own footsteps. How many times have you walked into a room without the foggiest notion why you went in there in the first place? Kind of scary but it happens to people all the time. It gets scarier as we get older.

Just this morning a friend of mine over 50 couldn’t find his cell phone in my apartment. He couldn’t remember what room he was in and where he might have left it. He went into a complete panic mode even though Eliot and I were immediately looking for it. When we couldn’t find it, we simply dialed his cell from the house phone (Yes, we still have a landline) and it began ringing in his carry-on bag. He said he always puts his cell phone in his pocket so he was dumbfounded how it got in his mini luggage.

It is times like this that we all need to take a deep breath and retrace our footsteps to find out how we mindlessly misplaced something. It just takes a few seconds to forget what we were doing. If we could just drop a few breadcrumbs we could figure out where we were and where we are supposed to be going.

That is why I am introducing you to the Magellan eXplorist 110. . The GPS receiver is really for outdoor navigation when you want to repeatedly go to a specific spot when fishing, hiking, hunting, and biking.

However, some of my friends have resorted to hanging the GPS unit around their neck as if it was a mini compass. It records their every move with a series of digital breadcrumbs. They now can easily retrace their steps. No more threat of memory loss.
While this may be silly to some, to others it is a very serious solution to a nagging problem.

It retails for $129.99.

Lost And Found

Posted on June 19, 2012 by loiswhitmanhess

The more we travel, the more we hear about luggage being lost by the airlines for a day or two. I have had that happen to me a few times. I get to a destination only to find out that my luggage didn’t make it. It happened on a business trip to Taiwan 35 years ago, when we traveled to Eastern Europe five years ago and then just last year when we returned from India.

It is such a terrible, empty feeling. The older we get, the more nervous we get about the whereabouts of our luggage. I never pack my meds, extra eye glasses, jewelry, laptop, iPad, Kindle, chargers, and important papers. All that is in my carry on.

Tomorrow we leave for LA for a few days. This trip things will be a little different. I am using the PocketFinder Personal Locator.

Wait to you hear about this.

The PocketFinder is a personal GPS. It fits in the palm of your hand. You can use it to track people, pets, vehicles and in my case luggage from the web, the iPhone or Android mobile devices. It’s available for $149.00 and a small monthly charge for the service.

I am going to put one of the personal GPS locators in my luggage. When I get on the airplane tomorrow I will make sure the luggage makes it just by turning on my iPhone. The mobile PocketFinder GPS mapping application pinpoints the location of the device that will be in my suitcase.

Just think about the possibilities of tracking a person with dementia or your child, grandchild or even pets. Users can customize the map application by establishing zones that automatically send alerts if a loved one enters or leaves a zone on foot or in a vehicle. In addition, speed alerts can be set that notify users if a vehicle exceeds set speed limits. Alerts are sent instantly via email, SMS text, and push notification.

The devices are as easy to recharge as a cell phone.

PocketFinder’s GPS Vehicle Locator attaches to automobiles, recreational vehicles, motorcycles, boats, snowmobiles, jet skis – virtually any powered vehicle. It allows users to pinpoint the location of the vehicles as well as their speeds – capabilities especially welcomed by parents of teenage drivers. The compact GPS Vehicle Locator can also help authorities to quickly find a lost or stolen vehicle.

Don’t tell me that you don’t find this mind bloggling? Who ever thought there would be a day that we could track people and things from our telephone? What an unbelievable time to be alive!

Back To The Future With Polaroid

Posted on June 18, 2012 by loiswhitmanhess

Here is a scoop. A company in New Jersey that licensed the name Polaroid is about to introduce a new digital camera that also prints pictures. It should sell around $149.00. Yes, it is both a digital and instant print camera.
How weird is that?

I was a little confused when I first heard about this camera. I asked a company executive “Who would want a camera in this day and age that prints photos?”

Apparently there is a sizeable audience who wants printed pictures on-the-spot. Some of them could be music fans who want artists to immediately autograph their photos. Others are birthday party planners who like to post pictures on the walls during events. Another possibility are exercise or sports instructors who use instantaneous photos for coaching purposes.

This dual purpose camera may not
have made sense to me at first but it
does now. It hasn’t been introduced to the world yet. It debuts next week.
I have included a spec sheet below
for a closer look.

Happy Father’s Day

Posted on June 17, 2012 by loiswhitmanhess

Love, The DigiDame
With Eliot Hess, Steve Greenberg, and
Russ Rowland

Make This Holiday A Digital One.

Go into the app store, type in Greeting Cards in search, pick from 15 selections, and send someone a digital card.

I thank you, a tree thanks you and Al Gore thanks you

Card | justWink Cards & Mobile Apps

https://www.just-wink.com/pickup/4615402795267?source=jw999&rr=y

Help Me To Help You

Posted on June 16, 2012 by loiswhitmanhess

I am reaching out to the DigiDame audience because I know that some of you have access to information I need that will help all of us when we might be incapacitated. I want to turn the iPad into a resource that will help us with mental and motor skills.

I am starting this project for my client Senior Nannies, an elder care company in South Florida along with Project Tiki, a company that creates and finances mobile and web applications.

We are looking for programs that will help rehabilitate, challenge, stimulate, and encourage the elderly when they are in the care of others. Instead of wasting time watching TV or staring into space,
we want to create applications that will provide hours of hope and joy.

The iPad is the ultimate tool to accomplish this.

Claudia Wechter, Founder of Senior Nannies, along with her associate Gary Loffredo, want to pioneer the possibility of having their caregivers offer mental and physical iPad programs to their clients. “The majority of our caregivers can easily be trained to operate the programs,” said Wechter. “It is a win-win situation for everyone involved. There are just too many idle hours where nothing happens. If we had iPad programs that could offer a new, positive atmosphere for those who feel hopeless than we could turn dark days into lives worth living.”

John Hobson, a founding partner in Project Tiki, said that another reason why this project is so important is because “every eight minutes someone else is turning 65 on the planet Earth. I refer to it as a ‘Senior Tsunami.’ It has already been proven that seniors are the biggest audiences for iPads. They seem to operate them better than any other age group. We are witnessing the birth of a whole new revolution in digital technology.”

You can be a part of this exciting development. If you know of anyone who can contribute ideas, programs, content, finances and other resources, please contact us. This could turn this into the most rewarding and productive time for all of us.

Rx For Severe Panic Attacks— Use “Find My iPhone” or “Where’s My Droid”

Posted on June 15, 2012 by loiswhitmanhess

If you own a smart phone you’ve had to suffer several of those gut wrenching panic attacks that make you feel like you are going into cardiac arrest. I am sure everyone reading this post knows the feeling of despair that I am talking about. It comes about when you can’t find your iPhone or Android. Did you lose it or was it stolen?

This has happened to me several times when my iPhone had fallen into some mysterious dark hole in my handbag or I left it in my bathroom on a stack of towels while charging it.

I have had many panic attacks in my lifetime, especially when I am on a bumpy airplane or waiting to hear results from my doctor. However, nothing beats the emptiness and life threatening hysterics you get when everything you worked for and every detail of your life is now missing. My head is screaming, “What did I do with that iPhone? Dear G-d, if you give me back the iPhone, I swear I will never let it out of my sight. I promise never to eat chocolate again.”

Our lives depend on these handy little gadgets. As seniors, we have been taught for the last few years to get rid of all the paper and digitize everything. But no one has prepared us for what we do if we lose these little contraptions.

Do not wait another minute. If you have an iPhone, enable “Find My iPhone” in the settings menu under iCloud. If you have an Android phone go get “Where’s My Droid” from the Google Play Store. Both of these apps will help you locate the missing device and protect your data. You will be able locate your device on a map and lock or erase the information. All of this is can be done from another smart phone or the web using the Find My iPhone App or iCloud.com website for iOS or the Where’s My Droid website for Android. If you feel your phone was stolen you call the police and they will retrieve the unit for you.

Both apps must be enabled in order for them to work.

This is probably the best advice I can ever give you. Use these apps on your phones, your MP3 Players, your tablets, and your laptops.

Many people already know about these apps, but have been too lazy to download them. These are the same people who know about the shingles and pneumonia shots and do nothing. All of these offerings are a blessing in disguise. Get them. You don’t need the stress of an attack.

Don’t Postpone Your Joy

Posted on June 14, 2012 by loiswhitmanhess

(This blog post is dedicated to Ruth Schneider, my mother who died seven years ago today)

Len Marks With The Dalai Lama

One of my best clients at HWH PR used to say “Don’t postpone your joy” on his home and office voice mail recordings. That was way before anyone ever heard of Facebook and Twitter. I am sure that would have been his mantra as well in social media. Len Marks was a very well known litigator in the entertainment business. He was the rainmaker (the guy who got all the new business) at his law firm, Gold, Farrell & Marks. Clients included Paul McCartney, Elton John, Eddie Murphy, Billy Joel, and Leiber and Stoller. Yes I met all of them during their ugly litigation cases.

Len warned me about two things that I want to share with all of you. While I worked for his law firm for 12 years (we were one of the first PR agencies to represent a law firm — it is now commonplace) my last months with him were really at the beginning of email phenomenon. He made me promise that I would never put any details of the cases we worked on together in an email to the press or even to his law firm. Nothing ever was to be put in writing. It didn’t matter how innocent I thought the copy was. I was never to refer to anything in writing, anywhere, any place. I abided by his rules and if he were alive today we would still probably be working together.

The Real Len Marks When He Was Not Successfully Fighting For His Clients

Len recently died at the age of 69 after a 10 year battle with dementia. It is difficult to believe that this legal maverick who won every argument for his clients was reduced to years of silence. He was a total free spirit and led his life in forward-thinking ways that left the rest of us aghast. He was also one of the most generous human beings on earth who donated much of his earnings to charities that supported interfaith religious beliefs as well as international medical groups dedicated to reconstruction of those who were disfigured and harmed during war time.

I think of Len everyday when I see someone make a politically incorrect boo-boo on email. I have had my share, too, which is why I am so sensitive to them. One of the golden rules of email is not to copy everyone’s email address in your message for all to see. Use the BCC line. Many people do not want to share their email addresses with others. I was startled to learn recently that an increasing number of people have social email addresses and private ones. They rarely check their social ones so don’t expect to hear back from them on a daily basis. Another no-no is not to “reply-to-all” to those who still expose all of the email addresses in the To: line. It is very unnerving to get 25 “Congrats!” messages that were intended for the perpetrator, not you. What are people thinking? (Hint: they’re not thinking at all.)

The other lesson Len taught me was to make the most of each day. It may not be so easy to do but I am trying. I think of this glorious man in all of his wildness and wish there were more like him in my life today.

You Can Stop Feeling Stupid

Posted on June 13, 2012 by loiswhitmanhess

Sue Barkoe with me walking in Dubrovnik

Many people over the age of 55 have confided in me that they have taken their tech prowess just so far because they hate feeling stupid in front of their adult children. Most seniors are children-dependent when it comes to purchasing equipment and learning how to use software. The kids are okay for a while, but if you ask the same question twice or interrupt them when they are busy, watch out. The interaction can be pretty ugly.

Even the best children in the world will become impatient and question your aptitude to learn something new–especially if you don’t comprehend most of what they are explaining on the first round. My own daughter has remarked on a number of occasions that I may have short term memory loss because I ask the same questions over and over.

Sue with her friends on the trip. They are all tech savvy.

Fret no more. Help is at your local Apple store. I am not trying to push Apple because I am a fan. I am devoting a blog post to this subject because most of us are in the same situation. Apple just happens to offer exactly what you need. If anyone knows of other services do let me know.

Apple offers free workshops. Learn something new by taking one of the free workshops at an Apple Store. They’re taught by people who really know Apple products and are eager to share their knowledge with you. Learn the basics of Mac, iPad, iPhone, or iPod. Find out how to create instant slideshows in iPhoto, make a home movie with iMovie, or get directions on iPhone. Be sure to sign up in advance to reserve a spot. – http://www.apple.com/retail/learn/

And when you buy a new Mac, you can sign up for One to One training and take your skills to the next level. One to One will help you do more than you ever thought possible with your new Mac. First, we’ll set up your email, transfer your photos, music, and other files, and show you how to keep everything in sync with iCloud. Then, we’ll work with you to create a curriculum tailored to your goals, learning style, and experience level.

One to One is just $99 for a full year and is available only at the time you buy a new Mac from the Apple Retail Store or the Apple Online Store. – http://www.apple.com/retail/learn/one-to-one/

Susan Barkoe, one of my traveling companions for the past two weeks in Croatia, Slovenia and Montenegro, told me that getting involved in the One-on-One tutor program that Apple offers was one of the best decisions she has made since her husband died. “I used to refer to him as ‘my computer.’ He did everything for me. My son helped me at first but he only had limited availability. He recommended Apple’s in store program. I love it.

“I see one of the same three tutors during my sessions. They help me with any question I have. Nothing is stupid to them. They give me confidence and tell me how well I am doing. The session is an hour and I can ask as many questions as I want, covering as many topics as I need. I even ask them about non-Apple products like my digital camera. This program has given me a strong foundation for everything I need to do.”

Mrs. Johnson, the subject of yesterday’s post, said the Apple in-store assistance program has given her life a whole new positive purpose. “For most of my life I was a wife and mother. That was my focus. Now I want to do things for myself and that interest me. The Apple program has introduced me to opportunities that I never thought would be possible at my age. I feel like I was reborn. If you look at my app library on my iPad you will see that I am involved in bridge, religion, current events, word games, social media, novels, travel, charities and causes. I take my iPad with me everywhere, especially when I am traveling. I love posting on Facebook and keeping up with all my friends. There are not enough hours in the day to do what I want to. I feared semi-retirement for many years. Now I feel totally rejuvenated. I make a new appointment for my Apple visits the minute I finish a session. It is just a joy to be involved with young people who can share all this information with me and treat me like I am one of them. I think I have found the fountain of youth.”

A Case Of Mistaken Identity

Posted on June 12, 2012 by loiswhitmanhess

Being the snoop I am, I took a picture of what I thought was a Croatian family all glued to their personal electronics. It was almost midnight when I spotted them. Eliot and I, along with Ruth and Howard Greenberg, were having White Coffee (the term we use so Croatians know not to make it strong) on the veranda at our hotel in Dubrovnik, The Lapad.

I was attracted to the fact that the trio was also drinking coffee together but only interacting with their ebook, iPhone and iPad. I commented to my group, “Look at the Croatians next to us. They look so American.”

It turned out they were from Georgetown, Kentucky. They had just arrived in Dubrovnik from London where they had participated in the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. Now they were touring Croatia.

The Johnson’s take their electronics very seriously. Even though they were in Europe celebrating the dad’s 70th birthday, they were monitoring the sales levels of their mom and pop business back home. The Johnson’s are funeral directors. Mrs. Johnson explained that they check the obits in the vicinity of their business on a daily basis to see who is using their facilities and service.

Wow that was an eye opener. By the time I had the conversation with them, Mr. Johnson had retired for the evening frustrated over some technical difficulty with his company website. Mrs. Johnson was posting pictures on Facebook and her son was communicating with friends in Australia, where he now works as an interior design consultant for a local airline company. He ventured outside of the family business, but his sister is full time.

Mr. and Mrs. Johnson have been using iPads and ebooks for three years now and claim they could not be as free to travel if they didn’t have their digital equipment. I checked out the apps on Mrs. Johnson’s iPad and was astonished to see the depth of her library.

My next post is going to be all about how the $100 Mrs. Johnson spends per year for a personal assistant at the Apple store has changed her life.

The Streets Were Alive With The Sounds Of Soccer

Posted on June 11, 2012 by loiswhitmanhess

For some reason every time we travel to Europe we see things that make us feel like they are so ahead of the United States in terms of technology lifestyle. First it was the cell phone, then it was Wi Fi availability and now it’s flat panel TV sets being displayed outdoors at every bar, cafe or restaurant.

We all know that Europe has shown us the way in outdoor dining. Now they have all made provisions to entertain their patrons with big TV events. They actually have brackets on restaurant walls so they can display and remove TV flat panels in a matter of minutes.

Last night Croatia played Ireland in a soccer match for the EuroCup 2012. We were warned ahead of time that Dubrovnik was going to be very festive and very loud.

Croatia beat Ireland 3 to 1 so Dubrovnik was one happy town. The restaurants were filled with people singing, drinking and setting off fireworks. Everyone was focused on the game.

I have attached photos from some of the bars and restaurants so you can see how people gather together to watch TV events outdoors.

Share this post!

Share this post!

Share this post!

Share this post!

Share this post!

Share this post!

Share this post!

Share this post!

Share this post!

Share this post!