An exciting time in the electronics industry

The Consumer Electronic Show in Las Vegas appears to have had a lot of products that should be useful for the older consumer.

The guy who runs Eldergadget.com reckons that as electronic devices get touchscreens, simpler interfaces and other upgrades they become easier to use for people of all ages - "Walking around, it dawned on me how amazing this is for seniors," he says.

Here are a couple of the products that particularly caught his eye.

Fitness related. Panasonic and NordiTrac have teamed up with iFit to create a treadmill, powered by Google maps, that enables you to walk about anywhere in the world where Google has been doing its street photography. Neat - see the video.


Converging user interfaces. Some of the products on show at the exhibition illustrate how it might be possible to share a common interface for all of your household electronic products rather than have countless controllers, all of them with their own interfaces. Common controls for an iPhone, iPad, TV and computer are nearly there. All of the interfaces being touch, motion and voice driven. Cannot be more than a year or two away.

This is a good article. Well worth a read. Dick Stroud