For the first time in its 41-year history, the 2009 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, held January 8-11, had a daylong exhibition and conference devoted to aging and technology. The January 10 Silvers Summit featured panels, presentations, and product demonstrations from companies such as Electronic Arts, Google, Hewlett-Packard, Intel, Microsoft, and Qualcomm.

The exhibition showcased the latest high-tech gadgets, brain games, consumer medical technology, and media “that keep ‘silvers’ engaged, entertained, connected, and healthy,” according to the Silvers Summit press release.

Here’s a look at some of the new products at the show:

• A bathroom scale by Tunstall sends a
  signal via Bluetooth to a control box, which not only reads the weight
  aloud but also asks you questions about how you’re feeling and records
  the answers for someone else (a family member or physician) to
  evaluate. The control box also works with gadgets measuring blood
  pressure, oxygen level, activity level, and other markers of health.
  You can instruct the box to alert you if a family member’s weight goes
  up or down by a certain amount or if answers to questions suggest
  trouble.
• A home monitoring system called GrandCare lets relatives upload photographs, appointments, or messages to a
  device that looks like a television with a touchscreen. The company
  charges a monthly fee to manage the flow of data.
• Motion detectors and sensors track whether a family member fell, opened
  a pill bottle, made coffee, used the bathroom excessively at night,
  wandered out of the home, hasn’t stirred for hours, or forgot to turn
  off a burner on a stove. Other devices monitor vital statistics in real
  time and automatically send the information to doctors. ”Smart”
  medicine dispensers remind people when it’s time to take pills.
• Clarity’s C900 mobile
  phone has a hidden keypad with very large buttons, an amplified
  earpiece, and a panic button on the back that automatically dials five
  preprogrammed numbers when triggered. This simple phone lacks the
  camera, music players, and other frills typical of other phones.