A two in one video

My sister tells me that we're all on a conveyor belt, there's mum & dad, uncles & aunts up there in front of us, trundling along then suddenly, plop.. they're gone.. And then one day, we notice that there's no-one in front of us..

Received and understood (pun intended). Looking forward to seeing what comes next, whenever that is.

That radio is a great idea. I have an aging mother, myself and I am building a "dementia friendly radio". Not that she has dementia, on the contrary, she is still sharp but she is not an electronics native and is shaky so simple controls, LIKE that is what I want but with her various CDs she likes to listen to. I think that radio is a fantastic idea but just wouldn't work in my case. Thanks for the video and I wish you well in your family dealings. <- I know you didn't want that but I truly mean it.

Another great Techmoan video. Nice one Matt, keep them coming. I'm in my late 50's and knowing this kind of tech is approaching me faster than I like to acknowledge is worrying and comforting at the same time 😆😆😆

I hope it's not too maudlin to say I admire your attitude to the situation. I certainly get the impression that you really enjoy making videos, and I'm glad that you are still doing things you enjoy. I will say though, I'm 23, and I suspect I may know some of what you're dealing with. My own dad passed in March 2020 (not fishing for sympathy either), and my mom handled/is handling most of the resulting work, with me doing what I could/can to help. That sounds to me like the logistical position you find yourself in, though, of course, I don't know for sure. Here's hoping it goes as smoothly as it can for you and your family, and you can all get back to your lives full-time soon.

I had endless trouble with my 85 year old father pressing the picture size button on the TV remote control and then complaining the picture on the TV "looked wrong". I ended up opening the remote control and putting tape over the contact pad for the picture size button. No more problems with the wrong aspect ratio now!

Brilliant little device. Might come in handy for my mother. Also thanks for mention Radio 4 extra. Checked it out and lots of radio shows from back in the day. The Goon Show, The Navy lark etc... And I can listen to it from abroad without any copyright nonsense etc (like often with TV shows)

Definitely getting one for mum. She only ever listens to Radio 4, but has a weekly 'Talking Newspaper' delivered on USB. Also the fact that it's FM as well is a bonus as DAB reception isn't great where she lives. The fact that the USB is inside means that I'll have to find an USB extension lead and run it from the back to somewhere fixed, so she can plug in the USB sticks (currently has a dedicated USB player which the newspaper loan to listeners). Don't really want to cut into the back panel but I guess I could buy a spare from the company. Thanks Mat, for sharing this very useful radio.

Good video, cheers Mat. I think it's a good video because it's something you're interested in, at least at the moment anyway. You're really going to use it and your enthusiasm, if that's the right word, comes across.

Myself just in that same situation myself so I can definitely relate to your experience. My dad is in the UK and I'm living in Canada so the distance is a huge problem of course. Fortunately my brother is in close proximity to the care home that my dad is in. He managed to find a "desktop style" phone that takes a SIM so that is a god-send.

Well at least the monitor went to sleep before I did!! Been there, done that. It's a struggle, but I feel our elders deserve everything we can do for them as they had to change our smelly nappies when we were young! ;-)

I think we're of a similar mind when it comes to dealing with this stuff, but anyway take care Matt and I hope things get better in your life soon.

I've been staying at my mother's the last week and a half, and the neighbour opposite passed away, at home, this morning. I didn't know him very well, but it's been a week of seeing nurses drive up, put facemasks on, and going into the house. He's been ill for several years, so again, his wife and kids were all expecting it.

What is that screensaver you have on your computer behind you in the video?

Fantastic video on this radio! I wish I would have found this for my grandmother. We tried so many which were too small or too complex… While it is a niche product, we certainly need more of these simplified devices for those in our lives that need them.

Great video, Mat. My mother didn’t have dementia before she passed but she did have a series of strokes making it hard to manipulate objects or have precise movements. I think a radio like this with its simplified interface and big buttons would of helped her too. I hope for the best for you and your family.

Very interesting (the radio that is), I wish I knew of this radio when my granny was alive.

Question: what if a person selects "NEWS" and then instead of pressing "TALK" they instead HOLD it down?? Does it then create a dupe of the NEWS under the TALK button? A very nice concept in fact! Good it has good sound and I particuarly like the volume that doesn't go fully off. A great idea for forgetful old fools (like me) I've done projects myself where I have put the main keys as "large" and the lesser used keys somewhere whete they cannot be easily used in general use, not behind flaps, but sometimes with a "hold" switch or a "hold enable key while using sub keys" to prevent miss-presses. I'll leave the soppy condolences out at your request. I've just had two pass away im my circle and it's actually harder work managing the flood of "well wisher" messages etc than coming to terms with the sudden departure and organising sundry matters.

Matt, is England digital radio in its entirety? In the US we still have analog radio. Interesting.

I can relate, as my mother succumbed to pancreatic cancer as well. It's been a decade now. Although I still miss her to this day, I was also surprised by my own reaction once her passing was a fact — "Shouldn't I be more sad? Am I that cold?" Until I realized that I had effectively processed, and come to terms with, her eventual death for two years already up until that point, as the disease — in contrast to our hope — pivoted from remission to progression. I can imagine it being much the same for you, the way this horrible disease affects both the one afflicted and those close to them. The british "stiff upper lip" attitude is probably of benefit. Keep Calm and Carry On, as it were. Something for all of us to keep in mind in these troubling times. Anyway, perhaps this too was a lenghty and unnecessary intro? On to the product! My first thought was "Oh no, not another one of those horrible boomboxes", what with an unknown brand and all. But after the unboxing, I was pleasantly surprised! Looks like a quality unit throughout. Even the plastic seems to be of good stock — at least from what is possible to determine visually. One would hope it has been designed to withstand being accidentally knocked off a table, or dropped from a wheelchair. I agree with previous commenters that old radio shows on the USB stick would be a good idea for anyone considering this device. There's plenty of public domain stuff out there. Perhaps the recipient is a fan of The Goon Show? (Who wouldn't be?) Tip for anyone looking for OTR ("old time radio") content: search for "Dimsdale" in your favourite podcast aggregator. There are tons of RSS feeds by this curator/group, with lots of potential downloads. Definitely post the video, and spread the word on this radio! 👍

A lovely personal video Mat, please be sure to let us know how it works for your needs.

Loving the radio. Well designed, serves a clear purpose, really impressed. If the USB stick doesn't reset it's position on power on/power off, would the intended recipient like or be able to follow audio books? Oh, and please, if you feel comfortable, share this video. Visibility on accessibility devices like this is poor, having good quality reviews really helps.

Hi Mat. Went through similar with my mom-in-law some years back. It is EXHAUSTING! Be sure to take care of yourself! Change of subject.... are you familiar with Cartrivision? I was reading an article on "lost" Orson Wells projects (https://www.insidehook.com/daily_brief/movies/short-orson-welles-film-socrates-noah) and found a mention of this pre-VHS/Betamax format. Evidently, the system was released around the time of Sony's U-Matic. Perhaps I'm late to the party and you this is old news to Techmoan, but I found it a fascinating rabbit hole. Perhaps these analog cassette systems could feature on your channel in the future. Here's Time magazine article from 1972 discussing these technologies. I love reading about the future in the past! https://web.archive.org/web/20070527142615/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,906419,00.html

My grandmother doesn't have dementia but has problems reading small fonts and operating new tech stuff. If this worked with internet radio stations over wifi it would be perfect (DAB isn't a thing here). She loves classical, Sinatra era crooner music, news and audio books.

Brilliant device. The separate on/off switches will also help making the device simpler to use, although I find it hard to articulate as to why.

I really wish Banks would invent a similar physical product for the elderly as an alternative to their phone App. My parents struggle with with their banking Apps, especially with the new "Strong Customer Authentication", dodgy SMS texts, etc. With a separate tablet-like purpose made banking device, it could be as simple to operate as an ATM, i.e. insert your card, enter PIN and touch to confirm the transaction, etc. If the elderly person accidentally installs malicious Apps on their phone (which they're easily tricked into doing), there is no banking App to compromise either.

Mat, absolutely marvelous video, as always. Now I know what to get for my 90-year old dad! Hang in there, good sir.

It’s not my intention to make this about myself. I just related a LOT to this video. The introduction of course and the device you showed us. All this is so fresh in my mind, so forgive me for writing here. My ONLY intention is to say to you as a creator to creator, “I get it.” Also, thank you for validating how I have felt the last month or so. I’ve only been back one week since laying my father to rest. The words “Sorry for your loss” from a few people meant a lot. From a barrage of “social media people” - sure, okay, fine. Thanks. No one was ill-intentioned, most people are kind. I just know how draining it was. On top of the grief, sadness and the TRAVEL. I get it. My father retired to Mexico and it’s a three hour plus flight from my closest airport, then a 90 minute drive to his home. Seeing you say, “spare me the sympathy, I’ve been prepared for this, it’s a part of life.” I wish I had done a little more of that in the eloquent nature you presented it. Lesson learned for the future. Thank you for that. This device would’ve been really helpful to my father because his 2019 stroke left him with limited mobility and terribly obscured eyesight. No more reading or seeing the television. Also. short term memory loss which was very frustrating for him. While I do have fond memories of my father screaming, “ALEXA!” when the device didn’t do what he wanted, something more simple like this would’ve been terrific. I had to explain to him, “You know shouting at Alexa doesn’t help. It’s a robot, not a real person. Also, you shouldn’t yell at anyone that way in the first place!” We laughed at that. If I could’ve loaded up MP3’s of audiobooks, that would’ve been terrific. Maybe saved him some extra stress and shouting at Alexa. If she wasn’t a robot, there would’ve been a serious case for Alexa to sue him for verbal abuse! I also TOTALLY understand your desire to keep WORKING while all this has been going on. As painful as it is, there is comfort in work and keeping some semblance of your own routine as the people you love need you more than ever. There is still tons of paperwork ahead. I am grateful to my wife and a few close friends who have been wonderful. I am also grateful for my work projects and my own little Patreon audience who I have been trying to serve as I go through this inevitable, but difficult part of life. Mat, you don’t owe me ANY response to this just because it’s long. In fact, I apologize for using your comments section to write out my own stuff. I just don’t think I have seen a piece of media that has made me relate more since this has all happened. I wasn’t expecting it from Techmoan, but there it was. Thank you.

I’d say leave the intro on as I think many would u deratand snd I know you don’t want a load of “I’m sorry” comments as none of us can understand how each other deals with grief. But you explained what has happened in a way that everyone would understand x

I think this video deserves to be published on YouTube because there is a clear market for this product.

I’ve been through similar crap in the past few years. Care homes etc and jumping every time the phone rings. Good for you for keeping it together.

That's an outstanding product. It's very well thought out and looking on their website - I can see why. People with dementia would be very confused with voice-operated devices like Alexa and Google. From my experience they like things that are familiar enough to let them enjoy the time they have to themselves. Care home can be as grim as you'd expect. After years of independent living to be forced to live collectively in a place like that can be a jolt. I hope you can make your father's stay as happy as it can be. (Visits are just what they want. It can be very lonely in those homes).

Very useful product indeed. I would certainly release the video to the public. I actually recently bought this for my mother: https://www.bol.com/nl/p/eenvoudige-senioren-dab-radio-speciaal-voor-ouderen-mensen-die-te-maken-hebben-met-dementie-makkelijke-bediening-geen-verwarrende-technologie-aan-te-passen-gebruikerspaneel-tot-knop-zelfstandig-muziek-luisteren-dab-fm-usb-blauw/9300000058590897 It allows for hiding/removing buttons that the user doesn’t need or doesn’t understand.

That's a useful video, Mat. Make sure your title and description are Googleable by people looking for such devices. There must be thousands worldwide every day.

"Sometimes, life's a bitch and then you go on living" from Bojack Horseman - which you must watch if you haven't seen it. A cartoon comedy drama series with more truth in it than anything I've ever seen. That's a neat radio - someone put a lot of thought into that design . Sadly my mother's dementia has got past the point where one would be useful to her, but thanks for showing it.

I came here to give you my condolences but now after listening to your preamble, i just want to thank you for making me laugh.

Regarding that fourth "my playlist" slot: Pardon me if I am stating the obvious, but there are loads of evergreen spoken word mp3s that could populate that slot—modern podcasts, historical radio recordings, radio plays, audiobooks, etc.

Well thought out product. Agree it would be nice if there was the option to put a 4th station on the last spot.

I love that you frequently demonstrate technology that serves people who, for one reason or another, don't have access to the stuff aimed at mainstream users. Tech is of no use to those people who can only appreciate it academically. I'm glad that there are firms who try to make a business out of these niche markets, whether it's people with disabilities, people of severely limited income, or even people in prison.

Have to agree with above... A lot of people will need something like this and would be a service posting it so others can see this exists.... Also will do quite well and it's edited well also, so totally worthy of the channel. Would even share this on FB etc as it's so useful

Wow. Life aside, this product is very very useful. I listen to Radio 4 pretty much constantly. I might just like, buy this.

No sympathy card generics, but thanks for letting us know what's going on. You should release the video. I think there are many who would benefit from knowing about the item.

My condolences. I say this because I can relate. My mother in law passed in 2005, my mother in 2006, both of kidney cancer, my father in 2008 and father in law in 2011. We kinda got used to it and knew the routine. They cared of us (me and my wife) when we were young. We did what we could when they became old. There were funny things and not so funny things during the last years. Just the life as you said. I am happy to hear that you have had your parents and they have had you and wish many happy years for your father, you and all other your relatives. And I am happy to hear this information as people are supposed to share experiences, feelings and so on. In the past it only happened in person or in writing. Now it is possible with YouTube videos!

I was just thinking that the my playlist option could still be usable, for loading up more comedies and dramas as mp3's. If you knew a person's preferred shows you could load them up on a usb stick and they could use it as an alternative channel. There are communities out there who collect these shows so theorectically it could be possible to collect them easily. Of course, that would all depend upon the person. An interesting video though, got me thinking about what else you would potentially need and whether they would be useful for people with different issues - e.g. a volume limiter or a sleep timer button...

I'm 35 (so that puts me in the younger group here) and my parents are 75 and they listen to radio 3 & 4 about 12h a day. Currently they're fit and healthy, but the 'inevitable' is 'inevitable' one day, so thanks for making me aware of this - i'd not say I was 'looking forward' to buying it, but future me appreciates your review.

That's a really nifty and thoughtful device. Your review definitely warrants a wide release.

Also, I like the way the 'Off' sound on the radio is just like the short closing theme from John Craven's Newsround. There's a comment lost on anyone not from our shores.

Expecting news like this is sometimes the best way. It's a sudden death that would have the most impact. From diagnosis to the death of my father was seven years.

A nice feature I noticed near the end of the video: the ON button is concave, whereas the OFF button is convex. The designer of this radio really *did* think of everything. I'm sure your Dad will be very appreciative.

My parents loved music, and my dad had a large collection of reel to reel and cassette tapes which he had to stop using in his 90’s. I thought it would be nice to set up a playlist for both on an iPod and bought one of those boom boxes you could put your iPod in. But of course using the remote to find a playlist was beyond them. I’d like to think they did enjoy the thing just shuffling music from both playlists, but they did complain that there were too many of the other’s songs. After a month or so they just went back to watching the TV with the volume at about 130db.

I found the first part of this video very relatable, as I was dealing with a similar scenario a few months back, right down to the needing to bounce between hospitals. My Mum passed away after a long illness in one hospital, and my teenage son that had a serious health scare that put him in the other hospital. Mum's at peace now and the boy has fully recovered, but yeah... a lot of time was taken up with juggling commitments, as the real world won't stop just because close family members are ill. I'm a couple of years younger than you, but yeah... you've pretty much nailed the difference between your Patreon audience and YouTube audiences at large. Thanks for letting us know where you're at, Mat. Thanks also for keeping me sane(ish) with your videos.

Hey Mat; first just want to say I'm from England so I know some people may have seen your intro as possibly quite strange as most don't understand that British people deal with loss in the same way that we moan about how the petrol station charged £3.50 for a bottle of water. I just wanted to say, I've been a patron for a long time and I know you feel you have to make videos and I won't tell you what to do and not to do. Just remember you aren't Netflix or Disney+. People give you money because they believe in you, not for a service. Downtime, with your internet provider is not acceptable. Downtime with your life; is. Be well and I hope you aren't being completely sapped dry by the rising petrol prices, especially with all the travelling you are doing. Anyway, don't respond to this; because I know you would hate having to : )

Quite an interesting radio 📻 there matt all I am going to say is I lost my dad 5 years ago to cancer so I know what it's like to lose a parent

From experience I think the telescopic aerial is a mistake. My late Mother spent more than a year in a nursing home, where due to battery life a basic Roberts Analogue Radio seemed the best option, as she used it about ten hours a day. In fact we ended up with two to rotate. After two broken telescopic aerials I ended up replacing one with a "rubber duck" style car aerial. Having considered radios from the "My First Sony" range I thought at the time that there would be a market for "My Last Sony" which this is close to. To end on a lighter note, when she was living at home I bought her a Roberts DAB radio, then another so she wouldn't keep having to carry it between the living and dining rooms. On one vist she had both radios at her feet in the living room. When I asked her why she said "This one is for Radio 4 and this one is for Classic FM." I couldn't argue with that :-)

Really interesting video. My ol' mum would have loved it. Are the on and off buttons concave / convex so even poor eyesite users know which is which!? And the word 'volume' stays straight, so it's never hard to read... Absolutely fascinating piece of kit.

What a nice device! Thanks, Mat.

Good work Mat, this sort of thing is very helpful and a nice find. I said goodbye to my Dad last week, did the travelling and hospital thing. Keep up the great work!

Thanks Mat, great find and perfect gift for my elderly aunt who has only ever listened to one station for as long as I can remember - radio4. She has been looking at new cars and everything is touch screen in cars these days and she is frightened of pressing the wrong thing, but this radio is perfect level of tech she can manage.

I agree with Dungeoneer, definitely release it to the public. These types of devices are rare, friend of mine just introduced me to the Komp from NoIslolation, really innovative design with buttons rather than touch screen controls. I didn't know devices like this exist, much like this radio here. It's important to spread the word for those in similar situations. Thanks for the update Mat, very much appreciated.

I'm glad to hear the quality of the sound is good and at that price it's a great idea for someone who has lost some functionality. Too often it seems assistive media tech is sub par in that regard. These people in our lives deserve good quality too!

I think you should release the video, perhaps the majority of the Youtube audience are too young to appreciate but I found it very useful and unfortunately am in a somewhat similar situation to yourself with struggling elderly relatives. I wish there was more of a market for this sort of thing (easy to use tech) as once someone has had a stroke, fine motor skills can be lost.

Thoughts with you Mat at this difficult time.

Hope the radio worked out. I was thinking about this only yesterday when my dad phoned me(!) to say both the phone and the internet weren't working (they were).

A BB1 might be worth a review come to think of it - https://www.brennan.co.uk/itemcontent.php/content/newbrennan

I bough a Brennan BB1 thinking I'd make a lot of use of zipping up and down through playlists and stations: in fact I exclusively use the 3 streaming radio presets and the analogue volume control. Maybe for button 4 could stick a small usb drive with on file, just you saying "Button 4 doesn't work, press button 1, 2, or 3"

That volume knob is a brilliant idea and something I wouldn’t have thought of immediately. To be honest it should be more common, not just for this target market

Thanks Mat. I think we all appreciate you’re doing what you can. One benefit of Patreon over Ad Revenue I hope. This isn’t the first time you’ve covered one of these “accessible” items for your parents and I’ve kept a vague note that these things exist as my own parents are getting older. It’s really great that these products exist - hopefully your Dad finds it easy to use and it helps him to while his days away moderately cheerily.

I think that's a really great piece of design. I would definitely have got my nan one of these a few years ago when she was losing her mental faculties. I think you should put this on YouTube as someone might see it and buy one for a relative who would benefit from it.

Well Mat, I know exactly in what situation you are. My parents passed away 5 years ago, within 11 month. One difference: 6.5h by train, 8-9h by car if you lucky, to get to their place. And I was often there in these days. Thanks for sharing the info, and, take your time...

Mat, thanks for the video.

After watching the gadget portion of the video it looks like this Relish device is yet another item that I’ve seen on Techmoan which I may wind up buying for some relatives. A few years ago Mat’s video on the Sony SRS-LSR100 TV speaker got me to buy one for my mom which has proven very useful. I also found Mat’s video on the Ruark R4 very helpful when shopping for a new radio for my parents even though I got them something much simpler. Keep up the good work Mat.

My mom was diagnosed with head and neck cancer over a year ago. She's been though 3 chemotherapy regiments and radiation... nothing has worked to stop the cancer from spreading. She has tumors in her spine, breast, lymphnodes in her armpit and lungs. She's been in the ER multiple times. Last time (week ago) she was admitted for fluid around the lungs. They pulled out over 3000ml from the left & right put her on oxygen. Here in the US they have a service called Hospice that allows patients to stay at home and get palliative care until they pass. We start this today. They help with pain and other mobility issues without prolonging life. It is covered by insurance. I understand your feeling regarding people saying "oh I am so sorry". It just feels empty. Like what are you sorry for? It's life... people die. I am 30 and my mom is 58, it seems too soon but we are making the best of it. Dad died from lymphoma when I was two. I am an only child so my moms care takes a toll.

You're very unconventional Mat, I guess that's why you always have things to show and talk about. I know what you mean about people saying they're sorry to hear of something. But people can do very stupid things too, when my mum died (she also had dementia) the person I sat next to at work said "are you alright" upon my return to work, but the worst was one of the project managers buying some doughnuts to cheer me up.

That's a great design. As I was watching it my wife was leaving to visit my Dad. I've asked her to ask him if he likes radio, either talk or music. If she thinks he can handle it, I'll buy him one, so thanks. Thanks for the update too, btw.

*10 minutes after excessive teary blinking and lamaze breathing* Thanks for showing us the radio. It is thoroughly appropriate for this use case. I love the on-off chimes, too. On another positive: result with my MD player! With some discs purchased on eBay, and after percussive maintenance and pressing all of the buttons 100 times, it works!

I wonder if the mp3-skipping is due to a high allocation unit size? You don't need a lot of file system speed to play mp3, so you can try formatting using 32k or lower.

Great radio and design, I wish my mother who also passed away recently, could've had this one her last years too.

Many of us worry about getting old and developing dementia. For myself I do have to make up text files with things I need to action, more than remember. I had put off phoning HMRC and getting my married persons tax allowance transferred over to my wife who is still working. The only thing that prompted the action was seeing a program on ITV. This was something I should have pressed and demanded many years ago. The difference was this time I spoke to a woman rather than a cantankerous man who told me I would be taxed on some of my benefits which were exempt form income tax.

Thanks for everything Matt. This seems to be a great device for those of us who want to dumb things down, so to speak, as it gets to be too much a hassle dealing with over complicated things these days. Also, this is the first I have seen your LED hexagon. Where / when did you get it? Was it a bare bones one, or one premade? I recently completed one. I made it look like a cube with little white LEDs as the outline of the cube, with different single color flashing LEDs. I also stuck a color changing LED right in the center, for effect. Take care, and thanks again for everything.

There are different phases in life that we must cope with. Luckily most are positive. I myself is midlife orphan now since a couple of years, so I know how it is. Hope your work can take your mind briefly elsewhere.

Didn't even take it apart first! Something that took me apart, though, was losing my mother to cancer when I was only 14. Had to grow up faster, as I had a younger sister to take care of. So maybe I'm living my life in reverse. Now I get to have a happy childhood in my 50s.

A radio, a music lover and some relish, all in the same box! Sounds like an excellent deal.

Great video - I know exactly what you mean. Did you ever find out what was up with the other memory stick?

i can understand where you are coming from Matt my Mother passed away when i was 25 in 1979 my father eventually moved back down to Nottingham to look after his mother so when she passed away he used to come up and visit about every 3 month then he got cancer and could not travel so i used to go down to look after him every week for 3 or 4 days at a time and when you see someone slowly deteriorate you are prepared for the eventual outcome and all you can do is show them how much you love them and like you try and make their last days as comfortable as possible

It’s okay, us 20-somethings understand. My mom’s about your age, my dad’s a little older and they’re dealing with their own parents’ (aka our grandparents’) illnesses and deaths and it’s a struggle for everyone around 😞 This kind of tech is always an interesting challenge, and this one in particular looks very well thought. Hope it’s of use! 📻👴💜

Thank you. I really am thankful as this will be ideal for a very similar situation. Also the way I’m going I might just appreciate one for myself.

Thank you for the update, Mat. Your transparency is always appreciated.

Just lost my dad - I was fortunate in that although 92 he remained able to deal with tech right to the end. He had an Amazon Prime box thingy, which enabled him to watch whatever wanted and listen to music. Found 6 iPads, 2 laptops and a desktop in the house and he had 2000 followers on Twitter!

A friend had a stroke last year and has been in a care home since he left hospital. The solution for him has been an Echo Dot. Obviously this needs: 1. someone to set it up; 2. a working wifi connection; 3. having the ability to say 'Alexa, play Radio 4' etc. 4. the staff not carelessly unplugging it and leaving it on the floor under his bed. More success on the first three than on the fourth. The other huge benefit is that it can be used to make (free) phone calls. Unfortunately, the Google equivalent lost that ability some time ago, at least in the UK. Obviously the needs of a stroke patient will not be identical to those of someone with dementia, which is why a care home isn't a good place for him but that's another story.

I appreciate you filling us in on the details of what is going on in your life. It is similar to what I've had to deal with this past year. My mom and my stepfather in their 80s have declining health and stepdad died from cancer last March so during his last months I made the 4-hour drive from my home to theirs many times to assist in caring for him. Mind you that this is in the midwestern US and I can travel on fairly straight freeways in wide open spaces with probably less traffic than you encounter on your cross country drives. My mom is now living by herself in an apartment for seniors and does okay, although still needs some assistance so I was over there again this past week. Maybe these discussions more properly belong on the community page, but I just wanted to put something down here after watching the patreon part of your video. I also appreciate the no-nonsense attitude you have for these subjects. I don’t think there’s really a ‘right’ or 'wrong' way to deal with life’s difficulties, but I like hearing the stories you tell, be they about unusual audio formats or even more personal things. And I hope you don't get the idea that I (or any of the patrons) put you up on a pedestal and think you are a role model or anything other than an ordinary guy who likes to show other people things that we all find amusing.

Matt says “you can stuff your condolences in a hat, jerks”. Keep it real, Matt.

I wonder what these types of accessible devices will looks like in 30-40 years - when people who grew up on iPhones are getting older and need them. As usual, great video exploring something a lot of people wouldn’t consider.

So sorry to hear that I lost my dad 2 years ago and mum is in care so I can relate its your videos that keep me going

That is similar design idea to the big button phone I recently gave my mum. I have been thinking about getting her something like the Google Mini, but she has never been very good with technology, so I am concerned it may be too confusing for her, even if to us it seems simple enough to us.

Aw… haha, worst intro? Yeah, kinda. Gotta say you had me chuckle though, albeit being rather dark topic. But I getcha. I lost my mom two years ago and looking at dad going sooner rather than later. Still, I know what you’re going through so I respect you dealing with it your way. I think most people feel empathy more than sympathy as death is a more of a tabu topic we only reserve and put off until it’s there. So therefore it’s very overwhelming to most people. I know I relate much more to people losing their loved ones much deeper now that I have experienced it close hand. It’s something that grows on us as we get older I presume. :)