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My last post about senior email referenced a review from Amazon that described the value families get from hooking up their parents or grandparents digitally. For this post, I asked someone who didn’t know anything about Presto to read about it and write down what they thought the value was. This provided an “outsiders” perspective that is uncolored by actual use of the product, or from any pressure to write a review than panders to a particular audience. I found it interesting and hope you like it. Thanks to the author (who asked to remain anonymous) — Peter Radsliff, CEO, Presto Services Inc.
“In today’s internet savvy world everything is done digitally including updating family members. But what about family members who don’t want to mess with email, can't afford a computer or simply do not want one?
Postal offices are quickly fading and a phone call can only provide so much.
It certainly can
A “gift for dad” chronicled through an Amazon.com review by S. Johnson in Dallas, Texas. This person captures the benefit of Presto’s email machine for seniors better than anything we could say.
Here is the text of the Amazon review that is depicted above:
[five stars] Christmas is coming up- Best senior gift EVER!!!, December 4, 2011
by S. Johnson "xxp00" (Dallas)
If you are searching for a holiday gift idea for that senior citizen/baby boomer in your life...THIS IS IT!!!
My mom was always the designated tech-ie...my dad would always had her the cell phone when it rang...she managed the computer and email account...and when we gave him his own laptop to try and bring him into the communication loop....he used it for playing checkers!
Envision the setting: Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisherthe high priest and priestess of technology from the Wall Street Journalonstage at their D4 All Things Digital conference in 2006,about to see Presto revealed to them, the audience, and the world.
Photo: Wall Street Journal
A photo of them is snapped by a Palm Treo smartphone, then attached to an email message, and sent. Moments later, that photo automatically prints out of a device the world has never seen before. A device that prints out messages and photo attachments sent via email, that are beautifully formatted, at high resolution, in full colorÂwithout being connected to a computer or the Internet! And with that single sheet of paper emerging from the HP Printing Mailbox, Presto computerless email was born.
Today, hundreds of thousands of family members rely on Presto to send their parents and grandparents not only email, but also airline boarding passes, Fandango tickets, medication reminders, Facebook photos and more. Â
As uninterested as I am in trying to piggyback on the misfortune of another, I feel compelled to write something about a person whom Ive never met, yet who has fundamentally changed who I have become: Steve Jobs.
My Apple journey started in 1983. I was taking one of my final courses at San Francisco State University learning how to program in Basic. I created a program that was aimed at teaching very young children the difference between interacting with a keyboard and just mashing all of the keys. My goal was to complete this final course and graduate with my B.A. in Industrial Arts. But what resulted was a lifelong fascination with technology, its uses, and misuses.
Part of that class experience resulted in my accidentally erasing all 4,000 lines of my newly finished code by using the wrong DOS command. As painful as it was to spend three hours retyping all 4,000 lines referencing a paper printout, not graduating by failing my last class would have been worse. I counted myself lucky, but learned an important lesson the hard way about the benefits of good user interface.
We've been thinking lately about what healthy aging is, for both the elder person and those who take care of them. Here are some articles on these topics that we find interesting. What do you think?
Title: Middle-aged women care for everyone but themselves
From: USA Today
Re: Middle-aged American women now have the lowest well-being of any age group, according to startling findings of a study by Gallup-Healthways.
Title: Lifestyle changes may cut Alzheimer's risk
From: Agence France-Presse
Re: Relatively simple lifestyle changes such as increasing physical activity and quitting smoking could have a dramatic impact on the number of Alzheimer's cases over time
Title: In old age, illness and dying can be postponed
From: NPR
Re: Research in aging shows that once people reach a certain age, rates of disease, disability and death start to decline.
There is an extremely helpful communications tool for family members who make decisions about the support and care of their aging parents and who need a simple, convenient, and cost-effective way to communicate with them.
It’s called “Presto” and it consists of a specially designed printer and online service that work together to bridge the technology gap and redefine the way families can share their lives, conversations, and information. And it does this while allowing everyone to still use the methods of communication each one prefers.
Here are the top ten reasons Presto has proven to improve the lives of parents or grandparents and all of their family members, as well.
10. Presto makes it easy to gamble on its claims. With a 60-day no-risk guarantee, you can “bet” that your parents or grandparents will love it, and if they don’t you can send it back for a full refund.
The 1968 movie “Wild in the Streets” put forth a proposition that all people over 30 years old be placed in "retirement homes" where they are forced to take LSD, taking the 1960s mantra "Never trust anyone over 30" to the extreme. But it seems that neglecting or discounting the contributions of our elders is something that has unfortunately become part of American culture. In an effort to remind us of the contributions of those who were past middle age, I thought I would post a few facts:
- Famous trumpeter Louis Armstrong is the oldest recording artist with a number 1 hit record: “Hello Dolly” which he recorded in 1964.
- Dorothy Geeben ofOcean Breeze Park,Florida, at age 96 was the oldest mayor in theUnited States.
- Betty White was the oldest host of Saturday Night Live at 88 years old
- Clifford Batt is the oldest person to swim theEnglish Channelat 67 years old in 1987
I was at my mother-in-law’s house and took note of the two Hummel figurines on her living room side table shown above. She is an avid collector of Hummel, Royal Doulton, Lladro, and Belleek figurines. Though not exactly my style, I always like to stay open-minded to what others perceive as valuable and artistic.
It got me to thinking of not only how my kids would remember their grandparents, but how I would want to be remembered by their kids when that time comes (I’ve got quite a few years yet before that). Will my “style” look as outdated and quaint to them as the frock coat, shawl and apron on the Hummel figurines look to my eyes?
Moreover, do my kids see their grandparents as “cool” in their own right? Or are they just nice “old” people who spoil them whenever they can? Are these questions even pertinent considering they are probably perennial?
Grandfathers! What describes yours best? I wish I knew the original author of the venn diagram above, because I think it is one of the funniest and most accurate expressions of what makes grandfathers special that I have ever seen. Put another way, what if I asked, “What do fedora hats, epic tales of adventure and body odor have in common?” Would you have said, “My grandfather!”?
This example illustrates how useful venn diagrams can be in helping you look at a topic from multiple vantage points. It also may just possibly help you better understand your elder loved ones.
What might you have put as the three disparate big ideas that ultimately overlap at “your grandfather”? How about: gravelly voice, questionably accurate stories, pencil-thin moustache, hard of hearing, yellow teeth, members-only jacket, technophobes, people with hearts of gold, freely given hugs…the list goes on.
If you are lucky enough to have a grandparent who is still living, what would their venn diagram be? Or what would you choose for the grandparents of your own children (i.e. your own parents). Moreover, what would your kids say about your parents?
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