Dr. John Huth

Digital Signature Software

Sue Ovall of Wacom has sent a list of inexpensive annotation software for use with Tablet PCs:

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http://www.cic.com/

>

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http://www.dailytoast.com/

>

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http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/assistance/HA010451251033.aspx

>

<

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/FX010858031033.aspx

>

<

http://www.openoffice.org/

>

<

http://www.phatware.com/

>

<

http://www.ritemail.net/

>

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http://www.evernote.com/en/products/evernote/user-stories.php

>

Hope this helps.

REgards,

Sue Ovall

Customer Service

800.922.6613 ext 173

Blog By Email

Dear Dr. Huth,

Just to let you know you can now blog by email. I'm sending this message to your blog by email.

Regards,

Jim Buie

Bedside Computers in Hospitals

"Lahey Clinic in Burlington has just installed 274 bedside computers, one in each hospital room. Patients use them to watch television, search the Internet and send e-mails. Within the coming year, doctors and nurses will also be able to use them to access the patient's medical records and scan bar codes on medication. " -- Newburyport, MA Daily News (posted by Jim Buie)

Innovative New Hardware and Software Present Opportunities for Senior Citizens

Several new hardware and software innovations make our mission easier. As we illustrated, Tablet PCs translate handwriting to text. You just scribble on a tablet with a special pen and the tablet will transform handwritten letters to typed letters.

Voice recognition software translates speech to text. You just speak into a microphone, and with practice, the software will "learn" your accent and learn to translate your spoken words into written words.

Other innovations include low-cost web cameras, video email, live video-conferencing over high-speed broadband connections, and low-cost laptops that connect to the Internet over a wireless hub.

These technologies are likely to interest residents who otherwise might be "computer-phobic." If all they have to do is look into a camera and speak, with the assistance of a volunteer, the stress of learning how to use a complex computer disappears.

With these technologies, even residents with speech impediments, arthritic hands, or the inability to speak or to hear can now access the outside world with relative ease...especially if assisted by a computer-savvy high school student. 

Internet Blogs and Hotlinks Can Enrich Lives of Senior Citizens, and Others' Appreciation of Them

Let me tell a little bit of my own story, to illustrate two things:

(1) how a blog like this can give voice to any senior citizen, to let them tell their stories, so that when they enter a longterm care facility, they won't be just an anonymous face without a past, but indeed a person with a rich history. I would like to see volunteers, particularly high school students, assist every senior citizen in telling his/her story online. Everyone has a story to tell, a life of interest, something to share and teach young people about the past. By posting biographies, photos, audio and video clips, senior citizens also achieve a bit of "digital immortality."   

(2) how hotlinks to Google and other web sites help me and other senior citizens to discover new things about our past, about subjects we are interested in. Internet biograghies with hotlinks can also help to connect individuals to larger events in history, to great institutions, projects and causes.

Internet searches are a heck of a lot more interesting than television soap operas and a lot better for keeping the brain sharp than sitting dazed and dozing in front of a blarring television!