When it comes to older relatives using technology, the hardest challenge is finding them devices they'll actually use. Family Circle Magazine's Lynya Floyd joins Cheddar to reveal the easiest tech solutions for the senior loved ones in our lives. She discusses why the issue is so important as millennials get older, and become caregivers in their own right.
Floyd says it's always best to start with smartphones when thinking of the right tech for seniors. She recommends an easy-to-use device called Jitterbug. Technology can help make it easier for people to maintain their independence as they get older.
Some everyday gadgets like Roomba, Nest, and Amazon's Alexa are a perfect fit for older people. Floyd says their simple interfaces will ensure your relatives actually use them. We also learn about a company that ensures people never forget to take their medications at the right times.
Nothing says CES like a robot dog powered by powerful sensors ー and that's exactly what Sony brought this year. Sony's robot dog Aibo came back from the dead last year, and now, the robo-pup is getting some cool new upgrades, Sony Electronics President Mike Fasulo told Cheddar's Hope King on Tuesday.
What do Alinea, Eleven Madison Park, and The French Laundry have in common? Aside from their Michelin stars, the restaurants all offer reservations through the booking platform Tock. Acclaimed restaurateur and [Tock](http://exploretock.com} founder and CEO Nick Kokonas hopes his software platform can wrestle the reservations monopoly from the almost 20-year grip of OpenTable and launch bookings into the 21st century.
Cloudera and Hortonworks, longtime cloud and data rivals, have decided it's better to take on Amazon Web Services together than apart. Cloudera CMO Mick Hollison told Cheddar how the merged company, with 2,000 customers, fits in the cloud wars.
Car-sharing and ride-hailing companies have changed the way we get around ー and now they're about to change the way we buy car insurance. In an interview with Cheddar at CES 2019 in Las Vegas, Nev., Allstate CEO Tom Wilson said that simply insuring your car will become a thing of the past, since many consumers are increasingly ditching the buy-and-drive model.
AT&T's ad division Xandr is beginning to flex its muscle as a potential advertising powerhouse by allowing brands to use customer data to advertise on WarnerMedia's Turner.
Apple has topped the charts once again ー but this time it's on buy-back site DeClutttr's list of 2018's most unwanted items. The iPhone 7 may have been the company's most traded-in item last year, but according to Anthony Catterson, DeClutttr's president and CEO, that's not necessarily a bad thing.
Plaid, the company that connects consumer bank accounts to fintech apps like Venmo, Coinbase or Robinhood, is acquiring competitor Quovo, according to a Tuesday morning blog post by the Plaid founders.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2018.
Investor sentiment is easy to track on the public markets, but private trends are more opaque ー and tech investors are increasingly prioritizing profitability over valuation. That's good news for companies looking to go public, like Airbnb and Lyft, but Uber might want to consider an alternative path to liquidity, J. Michael Ostendorff, director for Lagniappe Labs, told Cheddar on Monday.
Vocera wants to get patients in and out of the hospital as quickly and efficiently as possible ー and it's using Star Trek-inspired, connected badges to achieve that ambition. "We believe that by delivering the right information to the right caregiver at the right point in time, we can really eliminate some of those frustrations and delays and interruptions ー and allow \[patients\] to have a more seamless path through the hospital," Vocera CEO Brent Lang told Cheddar Monday.
