FAMILY RIBBON NEGOTIATES BETWEEN FAMILIES AND THE WEB

Family Ribbon on iPad The 9th Annual Silicon Valley Boomer Venture Summit was hosted by Santa Clara Clara University this week. Family Ribbon was one of the many products and services demoing and networking with funders over the day. Family Ribbon is an iPad app that offers to take the complexity out of "Facebook, Skype, Picasa, email, and Internet browsing." Family Ribbon stood out for me in contrast to Presto, the printer-based family communication tool I wrote about last year. Last year the focus was supporting family members who don't have a computer, this year it's about embracing the tablet.

From their announcement:

Family Ribbon was designed to simply and securely connect seniors online with easy access to Facebook, Skype, online albums and other key features. A family member can easily manage the application and user’s account via an intuitive remote administration feature. Illustrated step-by-step user guides can be downloaded and printed to help seniors master key online communication tools while additional security features make the online experience even safer.

Ivan Osadchiy, CEO (pictured here), explained that their design characteristics are built on a deep and personal understanding of how seniors would like to use the Internet, how family members can support seniors, and even physiological changes that affect our ability to control capacitive screens like the iPad as we age (dry skin can make the resolution of buttons an important consideration).

Ivan Osadchiy

Family Ribbon is offering an introductory price of $4.99 through July 1 (regular price is $9.99). They also offer Family Ribbon Light, a free, limited version of the app, for you to test drive. Visit the Family Ribbon website or the iTunes app store for more information.