2 ms·

Is there a human service for this? I see lots of people recommending tools and browser extensions etc, and some people recommending that OP gets heavily involve

Is there a human service for this? I see lots of people recommending tools and browser extensions etc, and some people recommending that OP gets heavily involved. I wonder if there's room for a service that does something like this; rent/buy a laptop which is locked down and has recommended extensions preinstalled, and a phone service (or maybe even in-person) when the user needs help. I'm probably describing something that already exists, I just don't know it. Or maybe it isn't profitable at all.

troydavis 4y ago
I don't know of anyone trying to do this, and I looked. I can think of 3 ways to tackle it: 1. "MDM for seniors." Basically, make sure all the stuff we've talked about is installed, running, and current. $x/device/month. 2. Consulting like you described - sort of an "MSP for seniors." I think this would be pretty time-intensive/hard to productize, and thus prohibitively expensive. (There are MSPs which target senior living centers, just not individuals.) 3. A membership/mailing list -- imagine an "AARP Tech Recommendations" with the changes in these HN comments, delivered 2-4x/year. It would be a standalone document with implementation-level instructions, not part of a magazine. "Hand this flyer to your kids, grandkids, or a tech-savvy friend." To me, #3 seems most compelling. Obviously it relies on someone else to make the changes, but doing so would make it much cheaper. AARP publishes consumer tech news (https://www.aarp.org/home-family/personal-technology/ https://www.aarp.org/home-family/personal-technology/), but doesn't distill it to a quarterly-or-so cheat sheet. Arguably AARP would be the ideal distributor, and distribution through AARP might be the only way to get the CAC and price low enough. (If anyone wants to create #3 above as a service, contact me and I'll be your first paying customer. This HN thread inspired me to ask a slightly more directed version of your question on Mastodon: https://mas.to/@troyd/110130476826925592 https://mas.to/@troyd/110130476826925592. No replies yet.)

troydavis 4y ago

I don't know of anyone trying to do this, and I looked. I can think of 3 ways to tackle it: 1. "MDM for seniors." Basically, make sure all the stuff we've talked about is installed, running, and current. $x/device/month. 2. Consulting like you described - sort of an "MSP for seniors." I think this would be pretty time-intensive/hard to productize, and thus prohibitively expensive. (There are MSPs which target senior living centers, just not individuals.) 3. A membership/mailing list -- imagine an "AARP Tech Recommendations" with the changes in these HN comments, delivered 2-4x/year. It would be a standalone document with implementation-level instructions, not part of a magazine. "Hand this flyer to your kids, grandkids, or a tech-savvy friend." To me, #3 seems most compelling. Obviously it relies on someone else to make the changes, but doing so would make it much cheaper. AARP publishes consumer tech news (https://www.aarp.org/home-family/personal-technology/ https://www.aarp.org/home-family/personal-technology/), but doesn't distill it to a quarterly-or-so cheat sheet. Arguably AARP would be the ideal distributor, and distribution through AARP might be the only way to get the CAC and price low enough. (If anyone wants to create #3 above as a service, contact me and I'll be your first paying customer. This HN thread inspired me to ask a slightly more directed version of your question on Mastodon: https://mas.to/@troyd/110130476826925592 https://mas.to/@troyd/110130476826925592. No replies yet.)