Sitting silently in the corner, Amazon’s Alexa awaits the next command, ready to place online orders, adjust indoor temperatures or even provide a weather update. For senior citizens, the ability to manage a variety of tasks through voice command can help bolster independent living and provide caregivers with the ability to remotely monitor the health and safety of older patients. Whether used in the home or at a senior living facility, voice technology has the potential to modernize and personalize senior healthcare. Specialized Software As part of the Internet of Things (IoT), voice recognition technology has entered the mainstream, with more and more households are adding computerized personal assistants. As the hardware becomes ubiquitous, opportunities to add software specialized for seniors abound. For companies keeping an eye on their bottom line, the ability to add voice-command technology software to existing hardware allows a senior living facility to upgrade services without needing to upgrade current infrastructure. Even multiple operating systems can be navigated with ease, with most emerging software applications designed to be compatible with everything from Apple’s Siri to Amazon and Google home. “I believe the future of senior-related technology is customizing existing products through software,” says Laurie Orlov, the founder of Aging in Place Technology Watch, a market research firm that provides thought leadership and analysis on senior care technology. “We aren’t going to see senior living products that have their own hardware succeed [because] they can’t scale. Without the product being able to scale, you can’t make it work.” Virtual Caregivers For older adults, maintaining routines is essential, especially when it comes to medication management and other health-related tasks. While the plastic pill containers labeled with the days of the week can help keep seniors on track, the ability to preprogram voice-enabled...

What can Disney’s Beauty and the Beast teach us about smart homes and the impact of the Internet-of-Things on network security? At first glance, there doesn’t seem to be much of a connection between network security and a fairy tale about an enchanted castle, but a closer look reveals a surprising synergy. In a (mostly) tongue-and-cheek write up for Wired, Anna Vlastis argues that Disney’s live-action remake of one of their most celebrated films is nothing short of “a cautionary tale about the smart home.” Charmed Into Complacency It’s one thing to watch an animated teapot sing, quite another to see a live actor slip into its CGI rendering. As Vlastis points out, using humans to represent enchanted appliances makes the film “feel less like a workplace sitcom and more like dystopian novel.” Vlastis goes on to warn that consumers shouldn’t be fooled by the novelty of a “Stanley Tucci-voiced harpsichord.” These enlivened utensils hide a more sinister motive beyond entertaining musical numbers. Their anthropomorphism lulls us into complacency, allowing us to forget just what they are capable of. While Vlastis plays this insight for laughs, she makes a valid point. Our smart homes are vulnerable precisely because we underestimate the capabilities of our wired toasters and internet-enabled lightbulbs. In the wrong hands, these devices provide an easy entryway for hackers and ne’er-do-wells. “Over the last few years, we’ve been connecting anything and everything we can to the internet under the guise of simplicity,” writes Lifehacker’s Thorin Klosowski. “Security with IoT devices is so bad that when we hear about a hacked IoT device, we generally release a large collective shrug. This isn’t a huge deal yet, but it’s going to be.” “We’ve brought this stupid future on ourselves.” Surveillance through Passive Consent With...

The smart home’s weakest link may be that unassuming router tucked neatly next to your modem. [Update: Netgear has released firmware updates for the affected products. Click here for more information.] While the breach of one billion Yahoo! Email accounts continues to dominate the new, another internet security crisis continues unabated. As Lily Hay Newman reports in Wired’s latest issue, Nighthawk line of Netgear routers can be remotely exploited, allowing third-parties to take control of the devices, leaving thousands of home networks open to hackers and “”havoc-wreaking botnets.” “While Netgear has finally released a tentative fix for some models,” writes Newman, “the delays and challenges in patching all of them help illustrate just how at risk the Internet of Things is—and how hard it is to patch up when things go wrong.” Hacking the Home Like many of the smart devices that make up the “Internet of Things,” routers seem as common – and as low-tech – as a toaster or thermostat. But as has already been noted, the ubiquitous nature of many of these ‘wired” versions of our beloved devices make them almost invisible; and for many smart home inhabitants, invisibility is a weakness. “If we want to put networked technologies into more and more things, we also have to find a way to make them safer,” Michael Walker, program manager and computer security expert for the Pentagon’s advanced research arm recently told the New York Times. “It’s a challenge for civilization.” Routers Gone Wrong Andrew Rollins, a security researcher with the handle Acew0rm, notified Netgear about the security flaw back in August but never heard back from the company. As months went by with no fix – presumably exposing thousands of users in the interim – Rollins eventually chose to go public....

Thanks to the latest smart home technologies, today’s older adults can continue to live independently while staying safe, secure and connected. The hype surrounding smart home technology often focuses on how it affects the millennial generation. But as Sunrise Senior Living points out in a recent blog post, in many ways, it is senior citizens who stand to gain the most from today’s smart home innovations. Automation and monitoring provide a customized home environment that promotes safety and security. Even better, a connected home means older adults retain a measure of independence even as they begin to require more care. “Tech advances are changing seniors’ lives and the lives of their caregivers by allowing them to live more self-sufficiently, whether living on their own   or in a senior living community,” writes Sunrise Senior Living blogger Hannah West. “Comfort is as much a priority as safety,” West concludes. Alone But Not Lonely As part of a graduate project at the Umeå Institute of Design’s Interaction Design in Sweden, designer Kevin Gaunt envisions a smart home designed specifically for older adults. Rather than catering to millennials who “effortlessly interact with technology,” Gaunt chose to focus on how the elderly could benefit from having a living space configured with the latest apps and devices. “As new technologies arrive, we tend to assume that – as in the past – younger generations will be the early adopters,” Gaunt tells Fast Company, but he believes older generations are the ones who will really benefit from new, inexpensive smart home technologies. In Gaunt’s vision, seniors will live in bot-controlled homes outfitted with sensors. As the bots interact with the home’s inhabitants, a sort of symbiotic relationship develops. The bots can help sseniors stay connected with the outside world through shopping,...