Home Networks
11 Holiday Gift Ideas for Better SLEEP
12/16/2011
The gift of Sleep has benefits beyond the gift itself since it can improve your loved one’s health, vitality, productivity, and even earning capacity.
As Dr. Bruce Meleski (Dr. Mell) wrote in previous articles here and here, good quality sleep impacts your life in a positive way. But it’s not just the amount of sleep; it’s also the quality of sleep. Slow wave sleep allows the body to recover and the cells to rejuvenate. Without this cellular repair, there’s a higher risk of disease, obesity, depression, and hypertension. Quality sleep also impacts work productivity, memory recall, focus acuity, athletic performance, and reaction time.
11 gift ideas presented below (Holiday Gift Ideas: Sleep Gifts For Better Zzz’s provides details & high-res photos).
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UPnP Forum wants TVs to make you Healthier
11/15/2011
Staying Well Connected: UPnP Forum Targets Health and Fitness Networking
It’s True — TV Can Now Make You Healthier and May Lower Your Energy-Bills
BEAVERTON, OR–(Marketwire – Nov 15, 2011) – Leading global home networking standards group, UPnP Forum, has announced the formation of an E-Health and Sensors (EHS) Working Committee. The new body intends to address consumer-electronic (CE) industry opportunities in the areas of home personal health and wellness, as well as the increasing availability of sensor applications to monitor and control devices within the home.
RX Integration
09/15/2011
This article by Lee Distad is republished with permission from ResidentialSystems.com.
Finding Opportunities for Health Care Technology Integration
In the AV and automation channels there are categories that are widely adopted, such as AV distribution, as well as ones that are less so, such as energy management. At least at present, home health care is a category that is in the latter group. But a partnership between CEDIA and manufacturers of these technologies is seeking to make it both better known and a successful profit center for integrators.
CEDIA’s director of technology, Dave Pedigo, has been personally embedded in home health care research for the past year. As he puts it, “The elevator to get on and understand the category would be to take away the technology for a second and look at sheer numbers: there are 100 million in the U.S. alone who are reaching retirement age. At the same time there’s a serious shortage of doctors: as many as 150,000 fewer than needed according to the Wall Street Journal.”
TeleHealth: The Doctor Will See You Now, Remotely
09/09/2011
Derived from a paper by Iboun Taimiya Sylla, Texas Instruments
There’s a fairly new option for after-hours medical care that connects you with practitioners anytime, anywhere. It’s called Telehealth or Telemedicine, and it’s offered by companies like American Well, MyNowClinic, and OptumHealth.
Hospitals already use high-speed Internet connections to share medical information among specialists within the facility or in different locations. And they can even put a rural patient in front of a big city specialist miles away. But as Internet use permeates people’s everyday lives, health care professionals are able to connect with patients in real time over any distance without traveling or scheduling an office visit. Previously when you were sick, you had to go to the doctor. Now she can come to you, electronically 24/7. Some services also provide in-home visits by physician assistants to supplement telehealth.
“While having access to a doctor outside of normal office hours is a popular telehealth service, it isn’t the only one. Doctors can also Read the rest of this entry »
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Telikin, a Boomer-optimized Touch Screen Computer
09/09/2011
Telikin is a new all-in-one, touch-screen computer optimized for seniors. It forgoes the Microsoft Windows operating system for a custom version of Linux and is billed as “quite possibly the world’s easiest computer.” Telikin comes with several useful software applications pre-installed, so you can just plug it in, connect to the Internet, and you’re ready to go, according to the website, but it still requires someone capable of doing that. It comes in two sizes with a 18.6-inch or 20-inch display and slightly .
After power-on, the system presents a home screen designed for accessibility. Use the mouse, or tap the always-visible sidebar menu with your finger, to access the applications, which include video chat, email, photos, calendar, address book, weather, news, web browsing, games, calculator, CD & DVD player, file browser, word processor, and common utilities.
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National Demonstration Home for Universal Design, Part 1
09/08/2011
Rosemarie Rossetti, Ph.D. (used with permission)
Thirteen years after a freak accident left her paralyzed, Rosemarie found a new mission in life: sharing what she has learned about Universal Design. She founded Universal Design Living Laboratory and is building a national demonstration home that will be opened to the public this fall. I’ll be writing a series of articles about her project and start with this, her story.
About The Demonstration Home Project
My Story
On June 13, 1998 my husband, Mark Leder, and I decided to celebrate our anniversary by going on a bicycle ride. It was a beautiful day with a clear blue sky, perfect biking weather. I was riding down the path ahead of Mark, when he heard a loud crack and yelled, “Look over there something is falling!” I glanced back at him and suddenly a 3 1/2 ton tree came crushing down on me, leaving me injured on the bike path. My life was changed in that instant! I was paralyzed from the waist down with a spinal cord injury.
10 Hot Home Automation Trends
07/20/2011
Crestron’s UFO-like touchscreen remote
10 Hot Home Automation Trends
The latest buzz when it comes to managing and controlling your home.
by Lisa Montgomery, from Electronic House, November 11, 2010
Home automation, or home control as it’s also called, is constantly changing. And like most technologies, it improves with age. It gets smarter, less expensive and easier to use each year. We’d be remiss not to mention some of the improvements and enhancements destined to hit the marketplace—and your home—in the very near future. From 1 to 10, in no particular order, here are the hot topics.
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Thought Control of Surroundings & Communication
07/18/2011
A new study by G.Tec allows participants to translate thoughts into smart-home commands.
This Future Watch topic was inspired by Can the Mind Control the Home?, an article by Rachel Cericola published in Electronic House, 7/8/2011. The general idea of brain-machine interface research is to give disabled people more control over their surroundings, but market ready products still seem years away. Watch the videos below and let us know what you think in a Reply below.
Think about how helpful would it be if air conditioning came on automatically when you felt warm, without having to use a remote control? Or how valuable it might be if doors could open themselves when you approach with hands full? Participants in new research can also control lights and thermostats, and even publish Twitter posts, but with today’s technology they have to wear special head gear with EEG sensors.
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ActiveCare combines Technology and Remote Monitoring
06/28/2011
More and more companies are getting into the Home Healthcare market with products and services. Some, like Intel-GE Care Innovations, are large. Others, like ActiveCare, are small. And some will succeed while others, like Google will fail or leave the market.
I noticed in the press release below that ActiveCare is using the same ActiveHome software and X10-based sensors that I’ve used in my own automated home(s) for years as a Digital Home consultant. X10 is a mature networking protocol that communicates over radio signals or 110V power lines. It’s not the latest technology, but it’s cheap and works, usually.
With Launch of New ActiveHome Monitoring System, ActiveCare Opens Its CareCenter and Showroom to the Public
SALT LAKE CITY, June 27, 2011 — /PRNewswire/ — ActiveCare, Inc. (ACAR.OB) a leader in senior care technology, today announced the opening of its CareCenter and showroom to the public. Moving into its new state-of-the-art home earlier this year, the CareCenter operates 24/7/365 monitoring the health and well being of its members. Read the rest of this entry »
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When will the Digital Smart Home market take off?
06/23/2011
Digital Smart Homes, including some of the same sensor and networking technologies that we promote for home health care, have long been associated with large and expensive new homes with custom installation. It’s a market that has languished as a niche for over 40 years now and has never managed to find its way to mainstream consumers. Why?
Someone asked that question in a forum I monitor, and I had to add my two cents, which I include here for perspective.
Contrast the Digital Smart Home with a modern car. When you buy a new car, it comes with everything included and already integrated to work together. There are many things you DON’T have to buy separately and install yourself, including tires, air conditioning, radio, CD-player, navigation, antilock brakes, towing package, etc.
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