LOL but @JeffJarvis sounds sloshed though, as if he’s been into your whiskey, @ant_pruitt. 
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Add another @ant_pruitt ism to the list “rotate it in post dadgumit”
I almost spewed my Maker’s Mark on that one.
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Very cool! At 41 minutes in Stacey mentioned that hearing aids are going to be OTC! This is wonderful!
I forgot to mention earlier why I find this so exciting. For decades, all hearing aids have been the exclusive domain of audiologists. But most elderly people do not need custom-fitted hearing aids, they just need a boost in volume. An audiologist hero of mine named Mead Killion of Etymotics Research has been fighting the audiologists for years, pointing out that they have OTC hearing aids in Europe and they sell for a few hundred dollars rather than thousands. He also pointed out that the “Hunter’s Ears” sold in sporting goods stores often out-perform expensive hearing aids. They are used by bow-hunters to boost their hearing to detect a deer browsing in the forest, and also can block loud noises like gunshots.
Based on his advice, I recommended that a client of mine - a former soldier artilleryman get a “Hunter’s Ear” from Cabella’s and he said it was far better than the $3000 hearing aids the VA bought him.
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Part of the discussion about hearing aids was the mention of a 94 year old having problems hearing the TV. From personnel experience with my elderly parents, now my wife’s parents, and helping elderly residents where we live, I believe we techies need to understand the majority of older people cannot and do not want to put up with all the things we do to make our tech gear work. They do not want to download an app to a smartphone, pair the bluetooth connection, power cycle the device, and mess with controls just to hear their TV (or whatever). No matter how much I try to simplify these things, the device does something unexpected when I am miles away, such as logging out of some streaming service app, that the elderly person just cannot overcome. I have one neighbour who comes to my door on a regular bases because something is wrong with their TV. It always turns out to be they dropped the remote, or grabbed the remote, or brushed up against the side of the TV, and accidentally hit a button that reconfigures the TV so there is no picture, or no sound, and they have no idea what to do.
I have used very simple RF wireless headsets to watch TV for 20 years. Phillips, Sennheiser, Sony, Panasonic, all make sets. But, having said that, each has three controls on the headset that I guarantee will confuse some older users. An on/off sliding switch, a 2 channel selection sliding switch, and a wheel based volume control. I would suggest gluing the channel selection switch so it cannot be moved. And, the headset must be plugged in every so often to recharge the battery, which I think would also end up being a problem.
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I have a lot of elderly clients and the one consumer product I most want is an ultra-simple remote remote control from Logitech. They would call it “The Clicker”. It would be programmed with all the same tools as a Logitech Harmony and can control all of the same things, but would only have a few buttons.
- On
- Off
- Channel Up
- Channel Down
- Volume Up
- Volume Down
- Mute
The “Channel Up” and “Channel Down” would only go through a preselected set of “channels” that can be anything - Cable channel, OTA channel, Roku App set to a specific program. Honestly, you wouldn’t need more than a dozen presets.
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This week, my sixtyish and extremely non-techy friend was in a panic because she couldn’t watch her reality TV because the TV suddenly wouldn’t work. She had called her Internet provider, and they said she was all paid up, so it should have been working. She had her grandson’s girlfriend come 20 miles from a nearby town to try and help her, but she couldn’t help. Once I was ready for a break from work, I took my turn at troubleshooting, but I quickly determined the problem was an account problem rather than a technical one. It wasn’t about her Internet account but her Dish account. It hadn’t occurred to her to call Dish. It turns out that she had forgotten to let Dish know she had a new debit card and the old one was cancelled, so she was in default with Dish. 10 minutes later she got her reality TV back. This stuff is way too complicated for most people. On the other hand, a whole day without TV seems like a win (speaking as a cord cutter). 
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Lol! Really? That’s a "regular’ word 
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Really great idea. The unfortunate thing is someone probably just read this, and decided to write an iOS and Android app to do that. “I can’t change the channel on my TV because my phone crashed”.
Wow, thanks I will tell a friend of mine who has VA hearing aids. He might like wearing them more if he could say, “Oh, I were Hunter’s Ears to block out loud sounds.”
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Cells make terrible remote controls. Remotes need physical buttons that your fingers can find in the dark (“haptic feedback” is not an acceptable replacement.) And looking at a glowing screen to change something stresses your eyes with different brightness levels as you shift your gaze from one screen to another.
I know @Leo has a Logitech Harmony Hub but he is using it with a phone. You need the actual remote to gain the full utility of the Harmony system.
Check them out. They are cheap enough. Here’s the 2004 Wall Street Journal article where I first learned of Dr. Killion’s battle with the entrenched forces:
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Hey Ant - I think your TWiG compatriots missed your allusion to Baron Samedi!!!
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A piece of trivia regarding Jeff’s mention of antique English being written without spaces: I think I remember that modern Japanese is written this way, except that punctuation symbols are followed by a space.
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What an amazing show… Jason I am enjoying your time as the host of TWIG and TWIT
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The Fitbit purchase is about the larger healthcare play. It will be part of patient monitoring for personalized medicine strategies.
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Hey thanks Sergio! It’s been fun filling in on the shows this month.
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When yoy say in AAA that you are filling Leo’s place for the show I can’t wait for it
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I finally agree with Stacy on something! You can never have too many Christmas lights.
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