Virus drives demand for online therapy
The coronavirus pandemic is driving up stress levels for many Americans — and new business for online therapy companies. More than four in 10 U.S. adults say worries tied to the outbreak are impacting their mental health, according to a recent poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation. Not surprisingly, companies that offer online therapy are seeing increased demand for video and text-based ... READ MORE
An app that answers ‘What’s that plant?’
The ability to identify plants and trees was once the sole province of experts such as naturalists, botanists and master gardeners. To this day, scientists are still discovering an average of about 2,000 new plants per year. Sometimes it can take years, even decades, for biologists to confirm whether one of those plants is a unique species. Luckily, identifying garden-variety... READ MORE
Links and apps
Caregiver help via chat Recently, the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America (AFA) introduced a new way for families affected by dementia to get free, immediate help. Now people can “chat” with licensed social workers on the foundation’s website. Callers can ask about signs and symptoms of Alzheimer’s and other dementias, how to develop a care team and support network, how... READ MORE
Some tech terms everyone should know
Technology changes very fast, and new terms are coined all the time to describe it. Here is a glossary of common terms that may prove useful to you: App: An app is short for the word “application.” It’s a program for your smartphone. There are hundreds of thousands of different apps for many purposes — hence the saying “There’s an app for that” — from helping you learn... READ MORE
Make money at home selling used items
Especially with more of us spending time at home, and often looking for ways to raise some needed cash, what better way to “declutter” than by selling off items we no longer need? For the past three years, Melanie Heltke, a 61-year-old realtor from Connecticut, has been making money online selling purses from her “very large collection” of Louis Vuitton handbags, along with... READ MORE
Developing tech to spot risk of dementia
An effort to use voice-assistant devices like Amazon’s Alexa to detect signs of memory problems in people has gotten a boost with a grant from the federal government. Researchers from Dartmouth-Hitchcock and the University of Massachusetts, Boston will get a four-year $1.2 million grant from the National Institute on Aging. The team hopes to develop a system that would use... READ MORE
Will heirs or hackers get your digital assets?
A bank or brokerage can’t just take your money when you die. If you don’t have a will or other estate plan, the laws of your state determine who gets the value in those accounts. Your digital assets are a different story. Your online photos and videos, frequent flyer miles, cryptocurrency and other digitally stored files may well disappear without a trace if you don’t make a plan... READ MORE
Surveillance products grow in popularity
From the face scanner that checked in some attendees to the cameras-everywhere array of digital products, this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas was all-in on surveillance technology — whether it called it that or not. Nestled in the “smart home” and “smart city” showrooms at the sprawling consumer tech conference were devices that see, hear and track the... READ MORE
Cracked iPhone screen? Where to fix it
Apple is loosening its grip on how its products are repaired to give customers more options for fixing cracked screens and other defects on their older iPhones. Under the new policy announced last summer, Apple will begin selling its tools and parts to more independent phone repair shops in the U.S. Apple will expand that to other countries later. Repairs at these shops, though, will be... READ MORE
Congress acts to fight hated robocalls
The Senate approved a bill on December 19 to crack down on robocalls, sending to President Donald Trump a measure meant to combat a persistent and costly problem for Americans. The bill, which Trump is expected to sign, would stiffen enforcement and require that phone companies offer free consumer tools to identify and block scam calls. It also calls for tougher fines when individuals... READ MORE
Technology 2024
