Issue link: http://osercommunicationsgroup.uberflip.com/i/620712
C o n s u m e r E l e c t r o n i c s D a i l y N e w s 6 7 S a t u r d a y, J a n u a r y 9 , 2 0 1 6 CREATING TECHNOLOGY THAT SUPPORTS CAREGIVERS WITHOUT ALIENATING OLDER ADULTS By David Inns, Chief Executive Officer, GreatCall The market for technology for older adults and family caregivers is booming: today, those over 65 represent 14 percent of the U.S. population and by 2060 they will make up almost 28 percent. Making technology that meets the needs of both the family caregiver and their aging parents should be simple. Except it isn't. How do you create meaningful, easy-to-use technology that supports family caregivers without alienating the people they're caring for? It's something that GreatCall faces every day as we develop products and services for active aging. A recent study of more than 1,000 family caregivers conducted by Cognise, an independent research firm, showed that nearly one-third struggle in their caregiving role: 49 percent of family caregivers don't have enough time to do what they need to; 46 percent don't have enough energy; 42 percent worry they won't be available for an emergency; and 31percent say their older family member doesn't listen to them. It is clear family caregivers are frus- trated and stressed. However, they are very clear about how someone can help, with their top needs being: knowing when something happens to their family member immediately, no matter how much distance is between them; having someone there for their family member when they can't be; and giving their fam- ily member more confidence and helping to enable their independence. Their older family members want to lead their lives the way they choose – not nec- essarily as directed by their adult children. For marketers, it is dangerous to over- generalize when it comes to looking at the needs of those 65- plus because it is a large and diverse group. There is a wide range of care being provided, from light caregiving (18 percent of family caregivers) where they may simply be an emer- gency contact and occasional errand- runner, to moderate caregiving (37 per- cent), where the adult child is assisting with a daily function. The remaining group provides heavy caregiving, assisting with most daily functions. Depending on the stage of the caregiv- ing relationship, different tools and technology may be needed. However, three consistent desires are common: to stay more connected to friends and family; to stay in control of physical and mental wellbeing; and to stay pro- tected from harm. How do we, as tech companies in the aging space, please both groups – support the family caregiver while providing the older adult the safety, connections and control they want? At GreatCall, we looked at the core objectives for active aging solutions: keeping people in their homes longer, minimizing healthcare costs and improving the productivity of family caregivers while reducing worry. This provided the direction for a roadmap of products and services that would sup- port both groups. Creating technology that is meaning- ful in impacting the burden of care, both on family caregivers and the healthcare system, means it must be useful and used by both groups. As many companies are finding, that is challenging, but to a few that have achieved the balance, the rewards are there. For more information, visit www .greatcall.com. MAKE IT PERFECTLY WITH PERFECT BLEND Many people have invested in blenders for home use, but use them infrequent- ly because they end up with mixed results. They also demand delicious, yet nutritional recipes and the ability to count calories. Enter Perfect Blend ® . It combines the most accurate kitchen scale on the market with an innovative mobile app to ensure that blended recipes are both delicious and nutri- tious every time. What makes Perfect Blend unique? When blending, the order of ingredients, the blender's speed and the duration of blending are critical to reaching the desired taste and consistency when mak- ing blended recipes. The Perfect Blend app takes care of all that, automatically organizing the recipe ingredients to opti- mize consistency for the blender being used, then directing the consumer to the ideal blending speed and sounding an alert when the blending time is done. Perfect Blend measures ingredients in real time by weight. Why is this impor- tant? Measuring ice or fruit by volume is inconsistent. A cup of ice can hold vastly different amounts depending on the shape/size of the ice cubes. Measuring by weight is the only way to ensure that the same amount of an ingredient is blended each time, ensuring perfectly delicious results. To make the perfectly blended dish, choose a recipe, place a blender jar on the scale, follow the onscreen pouring instructions and watch as a virtual glass fills up in real time on a smart device. The Perfect Blend app knows the density of each ingredient and sounds an alert when the desired amount has been poured, compensating for an over-pour by instantly scaling the recipe. The Perfect Blend app fea- tures hundreds of unique and tasty recipes for smoothies, soups, sauces, milkshakes, doughs, baby food and more. The app can also suggest what recipes to make based around the ingredients on hand. Another unique feature – Perfect Blend app has nutritional information for all ingredients in its database. This allows it to calculate and track nutrition- al data for every recipe made. Perfect Blend can even measure portions, mak- ing it easier than ever to calculate and track calories, consumption and other nutritional values. There are two versions available: wired (Perfect Blend 2.0 Scale and App) and Bluetooth (Perfect Blend PRO Scale and App). Perfect Blend Pro features a sleek, stainless steel wireless scale, ideal for today's modern kitchen. This profes- sional-grade scale measures from five kg down to 0.1 grams, has a backlit LCD screen as well as directional but- tons, which can be used to navigate the app and light up to correspond with any in-app actions. The scale can also be used as a standalone kitchen scale and timer. Perfect Blend is compatible with all blenders, and the free Perfect Blend app is compatible with Apple devices with iOS 6.0 and higher, and Android devices with OS 4.3 or higher, including Kindle Fire and Nook. Prices range from $49.99 to $99.99. Each includes a smart scale and free app (downloaded for free from the Apple App Store or Google Play). For more information, visit www.makeit perfectly.com or stop by booth #74960. DRAMATICALLY IMPROVE CELLULAR RECEPTION WITH SURECALL An interview with Sharon Cuppett, Vice President, SureCall Consumer Division. CEDN: Tell our readers about SureCall. SC: SureCall is an industry leader in combining high quality technology with innovative designs for award-winning cell phone signal booster solutions that dramatically improve cell phone recep- tion for homes, vehicles and businesses. Founded in 2001 and based in Silicon Valley, our boosters are a profitable add- on for any job. CEDN: Who are some of your buyers? SC: Customers include NASA, govern- ment agencies, military, Beverly Hills Hotel, Chrysler, Hewlett-Packard and Exxon Mobile, as well as other major institutions, such as Stanford, Duke and Wake Forest Universities. CEDN: Why do people choose SureCall? SC: Separate uplink/downlink lanes. Shared lanes cause signal collisions resulting in dropped calls, poor voice/data quality and they don't support multiple users. The outer casing: All SureCall cellu- lar signal boosters are built with metal shells surrounding their inner workings. Beware of cellular boosters in plastic cases. Metal is much better at dissipating heat, an important element in cell phone booster functionality. Along with durability, SureCall's metal casings pro- vide a dual advantage to plastic cased competitive models. First to market innovation: SureCall signal boost- ers are built using compartmental- ized design. We design our cellular boosters using this proven method to provide users the best cellular reception with the least amount of oscillation and the most power. Other advantages of compartmentalized design is that it doesn't create oscillation, or noise, to the cellular towers and it pro- vides the power to support simultane- ous calls being made or received. Adjustable Gain: Another example of SureCall's first-to-market innovation is adjustable dB gain. Because cellular or wireless technology is not as stable as cable technology, there are a variety of factors that can affect cellular and data reception quality. Having the ability to adjust dB gain is just another way SureCall ensures that its products and their users will receive the best, most enhanced cellular reception on the mar- ket. LTE/4G: The current mobile tech- nology includes the ability to upload and download data with your 4G cell phone/smart phone. SureCall was the first booster company to develop 4G carrier- specific cell phone signal boost- ers for AT&T, Verizon and T- Mobile. Another first was SureCall's devel- opment of self-contained 5-band cell phone signal boosters, the Force-5 and Fusion5, which enhance frequencies for all 2G and 3G carriers as well as car- rier-specific Verizon, AT&T and T- Mobile 4G service. At one-fifth the cost and a fraction of the size of the next clos- est competitive model, it puts a cost- effective, all-in-one solution in the hands of medium-sized businesses, as well as the largest buildings and corporate cam- puses. SureCall carries the only line of highly linear cellular signal boosters. For more information, stop by CES booth #35345 or visit www.surecall.com.