A Prescription for Dementia - a Handeld Mouse?

The University of California (UCLA) recently carried out some research that indicates that the onset of dementia may actually be slowed by an activity as simple as searching the internet.

The research suggests that older folk can boost their brain activity by performing simple online searches, and that this action alone could well be a defence against mental decline.

A UCLA researcher, Teena Moody, states that “searching online may be a simple form of brain exercise that might be employed to enhance cognition in older adults”.

Looks like ‘Googling’ is particularly beneficial because the process involves a number of simultaneous mental processes, including memory of the original search term, and the comprehension and analysis of the results.

The study of 24 people between the ages of 55 and 78 were asked to do a series of online searches while having the flow of blood around their brains monitored and measured against against their prior baseline. During the activity, improvements were noted.

Over the next fortnight, the group was asked to conduct similar activities at home, and then the tests were taken again. The results of the second set of tests showed that the improvements detected in the initial scans had spread to other areas of the brain – areas responsible for memory and decision making.

So, exercising the brain through as simple an activity as searching the internet would appear to good very good for the elderly - but what about their capability to do so? I.e. can they use the technology tools to actually conduct an internet search? Have they the ‘where with all’ to cope with learning how to use a computer?

This is where we, as care givers to the older generation, need to invest the time. It doesn’t take much to show them how to use an email application, instant messaging or something like Skype, and how to conduct an internet search.

Give them the tools they need to communicate with family around the world. Expand their lives through the ability to search the vastness of the internet, and enhance their well being. As per the UCLA research, this should improve their ‘brain health’ as well as improving their daily enjoyment of life.


The tools are available for even those seriously physically disabled. Check out:
• ‘onscreen keyboard’ functions;
• wireless keyboards, (google this) and
• desk free and wireless mouse.

Correctly set up, there is no need for them to go anywhere near a desk!

What Do You Do With Yours?

I don’t know about you, but I spend a lot of time on my computer. So much so that my partner often suggests locking my office so that we can spend some time together – even if its just relaxing in front of a TV show or movie. In a (possibly) lame attempt to do both, I will sometimes bring a laptop into the lounge and check emails (only read - not answer them of course!), do some simple research, and flick through some websites, i.e. not an overly intense activity while watching said show.

Now here is the trick - trying to appear to be doing nothing on the laptop is difficult if you are typing away on the keyboard. It is also very hard to disguise working the laptop mouse pad (which is not very comfortable anyway while sitting on the couch all hunched over!) And as for the pile of telephone books stacked up beside the chair for the traditional computer mouse – forget it! Easily busted!

Well – for all those that can understand the situation and the dilemma – do I have the device for you! Check out The Weramouse for this fantastic wireless handheld mouse that you can hide in your lap, browse the web to your hearts content, while seeming at all time to be looking over your laptop screen at the TV, (conveniently in direct line of site) thus appearing to be enjoying the program, and completing the objective of spending time with one’s partner doing things together..

Post Script: This is not necessarily a practice to be recommended on a consistent basis as it can lead to a lot more trouble than missing a few emails might cause. But - if you really are good at doing more than one thing at a time…

Blog Directory Listings

Bloggers - it is always a good idea to list you blog with some blog directories. Here are the directories I have submitted to.

Blog Directory

blogville

Check them out and list yours too.

The WeraMouse Squidoo Lens

Check out the Squidoo Lens on The WeraMouse - The WeraMouse Squidoo Lens

While you are there - wny not build a Lens of your own.

Deskless Computing - the Way of the Future

Imagine if you will:

A stunning spring morning blazes into the kitchen as you lazily fill the kettle for your mandatory morning brew. You grab your WeraMouse media controller and turn on your 42 inch monitor on the wall opposite.

Your are immediately presented with your 5 home pages displaying:
• your news feeds,
• overnight emails,
• number of calls you missed yesterday, and from whom
• 5 requests to add you as a friend on Facebook,
• and confirmation that you recorded that midnight movie you wanted to see

You max the missed calls page – 2 video, 1 fixed, 3 mobile, and select replay on the video calls, as you raise the breakfast pantry with toaster and cereal selection.

Nothing urgent on any call, so next it is a quick review of the Facebook requests, (agree to 4 straight away but put one aside but flag to check later because the name is kinda familiar, but…).

As you pour the boiling water into the pot, you max the emails page and review what has come in overnight. You work your way through the list, reading the important, highlighting those you need to follow up, and binning the junk, at all times making sure you don’t put the WeraMouse down in the butter.

Armed with brew, toast and WeraMouse, you move to the table, and settle in to your breakfast, and the news from your favourite media channels, RSS feeds, blogs you follow, and new article postings of interest. A great start to the day.

The future? Not really. In fact, this is pretty much all available today – except for the device that allows you to manage your media the way you want, and from where you want to.

Proximity is not a requirement!

A desk is not a requirement!

The WeraMouse Trackball is the first product in a range of products designed for the new way we use computers. Computers are evolving -- the way we use them is evolving -- and now with the WeraMouse, the mouse is finally catching up.

Why has the Computer Mouse not Evolved?

It is fair to say that there is a generally accepted basis that technological capability doubles every 24 months. So -- what is it with the computer mouse that we have been using it the same way since 1963 when it was first invented by Douglas Engelbart?

Computers have advanced considerably since that time. In 1963, the largest computer (the SAGE System) weighed in at 250 tons and used 3 Megawatts of power. Today, you can put a computer that has more memory than a SAGE computer -- into your pocket.

Yes -- there have been some significant improvements to the operation of the computer mouse since that original design (that used two wheels to control the cursor position). A brief summary would include;
• 1972 -- the trackball inclusion
• 1984 -- the Apple one-button mouse
• 1991 -- the first wireless mouse
• 1999 -- the first optical mouse (that did not require a special, grid-lined mouse pad).

But on the whole, the computer mouse has remained pretty much the same for over 40 years - why?

To answer this we need to look at what burning need drives evolution. For those that can remember the 'green screen', the short cut keys and use of the Tab key were the most efficient way to move the cursor around the screen to the desired location. The mouse use in this scenario was a hassle and not that productive.

And with this, we are beginning to see why the computer mouse has not yet evolved - because such evolution has been dictated by the software applications we have been using. Given that businesses and corporations were pretty much the only market for computers and software up to the 80's and early 90's, the applications developed were all focused on efficient data entry, data manipulation and reporting.

But things have now moved on. The decrease in the price of technology has seen computers in almost every home in first world countries. Equally, the internet has changed what the majority of the world now uses computers for. Instead of primarily data input, calculation, and output, the computer is becoming more and more a tool for research, information, and entertainment.

Browser based computing is now a reality with the main interface to the computer being 'point and click' i.e. using a mouse.

The significant factor here is the dramatic change in the amount of time spent on the keyboard v the mouse as the primary interface device. Where in times gone by, the split between keyboard and mouse may have been (generally) 80% keyboard / 20% mouse, today it is more likely to be 40% keyboard and 60% mouse, or more.

And it is this move away from the keyboard as the primary interface to the mouse that presents the opportunity for the mouse to finally evolve. And evolve it must.

The requirement right now, and into the future is to satisfy the need to have a better interface device for the browsing manner in which computers are more commonly being used. Look at the online gamer playing a poker tournament. This could be a 3 hour stretch (if they were winning!) where the mouse could be the only device used to Pass, Bet, Raise or Fold.

Likewise, the student completing an assignment is more likely to spend the majority of time researching the internet, and then typing up the results.

And take the business person who sits down with their morning cup of coffee to devour the latest events via their various RSS links and favourite news sites -- without ever touching the keyboard.

The way we are using computers is different now. The time for computer mouse evolution is at hand! And that evolution has begun...

Check out this innovative  computer mouse for today's browser based computing.