19 September 2018

NostraChuckus’ Crystal Ball of Common Sense vs. Apple Watch

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A quick comparison of NostraChuckus’ Crystal Ball of Common Sense and the new Apple Watch:

crystal apple

Our Pick: NostraChuckus’ Crystal Ball of Common Sense

While both offerings are worthy, we prefer The Crystal Ball because it can actually tell the future of the Apple Watch:

image_thumb1NostraChuckus in 2014:
Never Leave The Hospital! Health Tech Wearables, Implanted Chips
… Wired ‘n Monitored will create a whole new disorder for the mental health industry. Having devices wrapped around you or implanted that constantly flash and beep will cause over-the-top anxiety.

Image result for washington post logoWashington Post in 2018:
What cardiologists think about the Apple Watch’s heart-tracking feature
.. Some doctors said that including heart-monitoring tools in such a popular consumer product could trigger unnecessary anxiety and medical visits.

Modern (and ancient) tech gadgets can be helpful – but picking the right one for you is often a challenge. Do you want to know all about the present? Or the future?

It all comes down to personal preferences.

11 September 2018

From The Nothing New Dept : Retail’s New Niche

imageRetail's new niche: Aging baby boomers
The number of senior citizens in the United States is expected to nearly double by 2050, creating a fast-growing niche for retailers and manufacturers.

Odd sentence. What is an ‘aging’ baby boomer? I guess one who isn’t dead.

How about ‘fast-growing niche’? I guess in the grand scheme of things, thirty-odd years is a nanosecond. 

The Baby Boomer Market is a ‘niche’?  I guess the Pacific Ocean is a niche.

imageExecutives at Gillette have for decades defined shaving as a rite of passage … in recent years, executives have begun to see another milestone emerge in their customers’ lives: the moment when sons begin shaving their aging fathers.

Smart that Gillette understands the difference between 50-70 year-olds and an 80-100 year-olds. Few advertisers do.

A touching, sweet video:


… At Best Buy, the focus is increasingly on aging Americans who live at home …

Step one: Make it easier for adults to keep tabs on their aging parents. The company’s Assured Living program, introduced a year ago, uses a network of sensors to alert caretakers to changes in routine.

Best Buy’s acquisition of GreatCall … (has) two Jitterbug phones — one with a touch screen, the other a flip phone.

imageWill their youngish sales force be trained to differentiate between fifty-sixty somethings and eighty-ninety somethings?

I’m sixty-seven. If I walk into a Best Buy and say, “I’m looking for a smartphone,” and the salesperson steers me to a Jitterbug, I’d turn around and walk out. If I walk in and say, “I’m looking for a smartphone for my father” – I would be happy if he/she steers me to a Jitterbug.

We’ll see.


Yours Truly is participating in a project/startup:

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