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Vodafone Spain and Qualcomm - helping the elderly
The Vodafone España Foundation (FVE), the Spanish Red Cross (CRE) and Qualcomm have announced an alliance to launch a pilot project named “3G Connecting Generations.” The project aims to take advantage of HSPA broadband technology to connect the elderly to their caregivers and families by unifying voice and videoconferencing through a familiar device like television.
Apparently the video conferencing system will stimulate plenty of social interaction – in addition to which the Red Cross is goin to be able to do health checks of the participants. On top of that, there is going to be a networking function to allow members to increase their social circle, download content (like exercise videos), and also games, to help them stay active.
One hundred people will participate in this initial trial, of which the majority are in some way disconnected (usually by distance) from friends and/or family. Day centres will also be involved, having the technology installed there.
3G Connecting Generations was based on the experience gathered by the Spanish Red Cross and the Vodafone España Foundation through the PLATAS project, which was financed by the Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Commerce as part of the 2006-2007 Advance Plan.
Wow – good on Vodafone for doing something like this to help a segment of society that is all too often discounted from advances in Mobile Tech.
[Via: Cellular News]
About The Author
Ben Robinson
Ben is a 10+ year veteran of the Mobile industry – starting his career when SMS was a still a relatively new concept for most people (!), he has now consulted on everything from bleeding-edge Mobile content, to the next-gen accessories you might view it on. As a result he has a broad and deep knowledge in numerous areas of Mobile – from network operators to device vendors, to infrastructure and middleware vendors (not to mention content delivery) – and has worked for companies in all of these areas! He is based in the UK, a hotbed of activity for mobile, and recently became a father for the second time – as oppose to in his younger years when he was happy spend time tweaking all manner of mobile devices to 'nth' degree, he now looks for services and hardware that provide the most efficient, compact, and reliable improvements to his already manic life! It’s his opinion that Mobile solutions should be there to help to make your life better – if a particular solution (be it service or device) isn’t doing this, he believes you need to ask the very important question of why you continue to use it... His focus at IntoMobile is mainly on Mobile content, services, and infrastructure, particularly as regards the UK market – and with the occasional look at devices. Additionally, using his extensive experience in the industry, he will provide commentary on the industry at large, with regular (and hopefully thought-provoking) articles.
