Tell me there's something better for this than the iPad...

[Fretty]

My parents have no idea how to organize their phone book/contacts. Right now they have over 100 stickies, loose papers, notes written on the back of garbage, etc. with important contact information for our relatives, emergencies and so on. I think they are beyond the help of a traditional old fashion address book, they need something else.

I have to admit, it was the iPad that made me think of this, but I don't necessarily want the iPad itself, since it has way more features than needed along with a larger than wanted price tag. What I would like though is something that can be an address book, wall mounted, touch screen and a decently sized view screen for easy reading and navigation. I would like to have it on the wall by the phone in the kitchen, allowing for a one stop shop for all the contact info that they may need, as well as allowing them to clean that horrible mess up that's been building for over 20 years (no lie, some of those scraps are over 20 years old, ie: I'm 29 in a week...they still have the number down there for the baby sitter who they use to call for me).

Does anyone know of something that can help me here? The reason the iPad made me think of this was because of it's slim design, large and bright view screen with touch. It would be easy to use and read and be out of the way all at the same time.

[Arsilon]

I could have sworn I saw some telephone with the full graphical display for addresses book, calendar, etc. somewhere at some point. I'll have to see if I can find it again. It certainly wasn't large enough to be picture frame sized as you describe. For that, if you're throwing the whole "mobile" thing out the window then you can drop the price point quite a bit with a really cheap laptop or even low end desktop with LCD display.

Most anything else thats even remotely marketed as a stand alone digital address book/contact management would be sized to fit in a pocket/drawer I would think.

[Arsilon]

Another thought would be digital picture frames...I know some have calenders, clocks, music features built in but don't know that I recall seeing any that have address book functionality.

[Airyth]

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[Kakarat]

I read through your email Rolodex came to mind. But Airyth Beat me to it.

You can get a fancier one where it is covered so its easier to dust.

[grizzle]

My parents have no idea how to organize their phone book/contacts. Right now they have over 100 stickies, loose papers, notes written on the back of garbage, etc. with important contact information for our relatives, emergencies and so on. I think they are beyond the help of a traditional old fashion address book, they need something else.

I have to admit, it was the iPad that made me think of this, but I don't necessarily want the iPad itself, since it has way more features than needed along with a larger than wanted price tag. What I would like though is something that can be an address book, wall mounted, touch screen and a decently sized view screen for easy reading and navigation. I would like to have it on the wall by the phone in the kitchen, allowing for a one stop shop for all the contact info that they may need, as well as allowing them to clean that horrible mess up that's been building for over 20 years (no lie, some of those scraps are over 20 years old, ie: I'm 29 in a week...they still have the number down there for the baby sitter who they use to call for me).

Does anyone know of something that can help me here? The reason the iPad made me think of this was because of it's slim design, large and bright view screen with touch. It would be easy to use and read and be out of the way all at the same time.

It sounds like you are asking for two things - one, a software organizer for stickies, notes, papers, etc., and two, a piece of digital hardware to hang on the wall by the phone. Since the latter is a very focused piece of hardware, it either has to be created/invented just for that purpose, or else you'll need to mod/hack an existing piece of hardware just for that purpose. I've never heard of anything like what you are looking for, but it sounds like someone needs to invent it!

For the former, Microsoft OneNote absolutely rocks for this and so much more. I was just recently turned on to it by a friend, and have found it useful for daily notes, To Do lists, notebooks worth of content, outlines for books, pages of original sheet music, videos, images, cut/paste from webpages, email excerpts, etc. Definitely look into it for an organizer solution. Let us know if you discover the digital wall phone contact list thingy - would really be useful.

[Jakensama]

How about an etchesketch?

[Vanraw]

..... ie: I'm 29 in a week...they still have the number down there for the baby sitter who they use to call for me).

Technology wont solve this . Parents from pre mass market computer age, are hard to change. I bought my Parents a digital frame loaded with pics from the whole family. Kinda cool, it scrolls through all the pics.

They take it out when we visit.... Other wise its in its box in a drawer. They dont get that it can be powered up and running all the time, and thats the point. I also tried to get my Dad a PC and it does nothing for them or their lives. Its just takes up counter space.

[Fretty]

Well, through some research my girlfriend found this:
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://yourfamily.o2.co.uk/o2familyjoggler">http://yourfamily.o2.co.uk/o2familyjoggler</a><!-- m -->

It's by a company called O2 based in the UK (I believe). It seems like it has everything I want, but I can't find out some basic information that I would like to know, such as screen size, etc. I also want to know if it's functional over here in North America without any kind of data/wireless plan from O2. It has wifi and sounds like it'll do everything I am looking for.

Have any of you heard of this or know anything about it?
I can pick it up on Ebay, but I don't want to blow $100 or so if it won't work without a service plan.

[Arsilon]

According to one review I found it has a 7 inch screen.

Given the price point of about $150 you can still go with a low end netbook and not have to worry about the whole UK vs US thing for example.

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.buy.com/prod/visual-land-v-net-7-netbook-windows-ce-5-0-248mhz-32-bit-64mb-ram-4gb/q/loc/101/213636803.html">http://www.buy.com/prod/visual-land-v-n ... 36803.html</a><!-- m -->

[Zouji]

You know you could just buy
1) Some string
2) Some tape/or even a nail!
3) A Large legal dictation pad

They can write numbers in there and everything. I mean wow. That's some fancy technology. Also it will save you loads on batteries and electricity and you never have to charge it! You may have to show your parents how to turn the pages though as it may be slightly too complicated in the technology department.

[Diggles]

You know you could just buy
1) Some string
2) Some tape/or even a nail!
3) A Large legal dictation pad

They can write numbers in there and everything. I mean wow. That's some fancy technology. Also it will save you loads on batteries and electricity and you never have to charge it! You may have to show your parents how to turn the pages though as it may be slightly too complicated in the technology department.

Pfft that technology is so stoneage, get with the times Zouji.

They could have a blacksmith create 3 metal 'rings' that hold a predetermined amount of paper together. The paper would need to have some sort of holes stamped in them that the rings could go thru. Perhaps you could organize the contacts via the alphabet in some way and if needed put new sheets in when you have filled a page!

[Fretty]

Well, I think the learning curve on Zouji's idea is a little too steep. =P

Diggles' idea, I actually have a real response to. Unfortunately when a number gets written on a piece of scrap paper, the odds of it making it into the address book are pretty slim. At best, the scrap paper itself with the number on it will be put into the address book...at best. This is actually a fear I have even if I were to get a touch screen device for them; give them a week and the screen will be covered with scrap paper notes and numbers taped all over it in a completely nonsensical order.

[Diggles]

Well, I think the learning curve on Zouji's idea is a little too steep. =P

Diggles' idea, I actually have a real response to. Unfortunately when a number gets written on a piece of scrap paper, the odds of it making it into the address book are pretty slim. At best, the scrap paper itself with the number on it will be put into the address book...at best. This is actually a fear I have even if I were to get a touch screen device for them; give them a week and the screen will be covered with scrap paper notes and numbers taped all over it in a completely nonsensical order.

If they're too lazy and stupid to write numbers into a rolodex or address book, anything electronic is lightyears past their abilities

[Zouji]

Well you could get them started by buying them a notebook, legal pad, or even a folder. Put some colored page dividers or clip on page dividers in or on the thing and make sure you can put labels on the dividers. This will help them get started so that way they can do it mostly on their own. But if they are as unorganized as you say they are then they most defiantly will need at least some form of help to get them started.

You could just divide up all the numbers into

1)Emergency Numbers
2)Family
3)Friends
4) Various repair/construction companies
5) Others who may do work for them
6) Business associates of theirs
7) Food places/take out, barber/salon number, any other retail services that do not fall under 4 or 5
8)Organizations they may belong to. [(church, axe murderer club) You know the usual community groups)]
9) Miscellaneous numbers that do not fall into any other broad category (Diggles's gay porn phone sex lines, secret underground midget tossing events, etc...)


Also you may want to consider buying them a magic jack too if they make a lot of long distance calls. All you need is a phone, a computer with a usb port, and a high speed internet connection. Doesn't really matter what speed the connection is cause I doubt they stream any torrents or watch movies online. Also their is nothing fancy to it. You will probably have to set it up for them because I doubt they know what a usb port is. But, once you set it up they can give you a phone number in whatever area code you want. The program loads on its own when the computer starts up. So as long as the cord stays plugged in, their internet has to be working, and their computer has to be on; then the phone will work. I got one because I only had a cell phone (as my only phone) with prepaid minuets on it and my friends kept eating up my minutes. I got I believed it was a 5 year plan for $60 I think. Might have been for 4 .

Plus you can program the phone numbers in the magic jack phone list and all they have to do is click on the phone number and it dials it. I think that's how it works. I've never done that myself since I have all of my phone numbers in a txt file on my computer.

That brings me to another suggestion. If they know how to create and open a .txt document then they could just leave all of those numbers on a list in the computer. That's what I do.

[Crice]

Anything Apple will work well for old people.

crice