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Recovering from a second hip op within 7 months gives time to think about stuff. In our case it's how to apply SMART tech to enable older folk to extend the range of things they can do No matter how you fight it, getting older slows you down. Things stop working. For no good reason some things start to hurt. Other things need almost constant gentle first aid. Some things fall off - or out. Some things disappear. Other things double in size and visibility. But then if you read BH for more than a few minutes, you find yourself surrounded by people keen to improve things in the house. And lots of evidence of what can be done to make some of the challenges outlined above less daunting. But reading the threads can be hard work. The Tsunami of new terms and quaint acronyms add to the difficulty of wading through the wide array of market offers. I need things that can for example switch this on or off, or on and off randomly, or make it easy to switch that thing on when I'm not there tell me that the solar pv has finished charging the water tank tell me I'm likely to get a healthy dose of solar radiation tomorrow - less likely to need to boost my water tank let me look at a plug socket and tell me it's 'on' when I'm the other side of the room. [... ] insert your need here .... I'd like to use this thread to be a low-level introduction to help inform readers about the technical assistance that can be made available to help older folk make purchase decisions based on evidence presented and discussed here and elsewhere make recommendations based on user-experience. make judgements on whether a 'tech' approach to a problem can be thought of as DIY or not summarise common concepts make those concepts easy to understand give practical examples of how BH members have applied 'tech' to make their lives easier - with a particular focus on 'getting-on-a-bit' I'd like this place to be where we can present simply expressed evidence. And a place to encourage, and maybe put a smile in someone's mind.