“A 99-year-old Lake Oswego woman stars in a YouTube video that’s gone viral,” Lynne Terry reports for The Oregonian. “Virginia Campbell sits on a sofa in her apartment in Mary’s Woods Retirement Community” using her new Apple iPad.
“Campbell, who graduated from Reed College in the early 1930s with a bachelor’s in English literature, has always been an avid reader,” Terry reports. “But she suffers from glaucoma, making it difficult to read.”
Terry reports, “Now she’s reading books on the iPad and writing limericks on it as well. ‘The thing that’s so neat is there’s nothing between you and the screen,’ Adelsheim said. ‘You can enlarge the print, and it has a much brighter screen so you can read on it more easily than with a regular computer screen.’
“Campbell, widow of former Lake Oswego Mayor C. Herald Campbell, has never owned a computer before — or a Kindle,” Terry reports. “But when she heard all the hype about the iPad she wanted one.”
Direct link to video via YouTube here.
Terry reports, “Campbell actually wrote a tribute in appreciation of her newfound freedom from the frailties of old age.”
To this technology-ninny it’s clear
In my compromised 100th year,
That to read and to write
Are again within sight
Of this Apple iPad pioneer.
Full article here.
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Help kill Adobe’s Flash:
• Ask CBS via online feedback form to offer HTML5 video here.
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• Ask CNBC via the customer support web form to offer HTML5 video here.
• Contact Hulu via email and ask them to offer HTML5 video:
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• Join YouTube’s HTML5 beta here.
• On Vimeo, click the “Switch to HTML5 player” link below any video.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Cascadians” for the heads up.]
That is awsome! Good for her!
I am trying to teach my 80 year old mother to use email, and it’s like trying to teach a snake to tapdance.
Simply amazing. Congratulations Virginia, and I hope you have many years ahead of you.
Isn’t Reed College the College Steve attended and then drop out?
Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. And his name is Steve Jobs.
(Great story!)
What an awesome video!!
Technology for people, the way things ought to be. Congrats Apple for making this, and congrats Virginia, for stepping out into a Brave New World. I see stories like this and I get goosebumps… technology good for everyone no matter their age. My year old nephew zips through my iPhone like a champ, and even knows how to call grandma.
And a great poem as well
To this technology-ninny it’s clear
In my compromised 100th year,
That to read and to write
Are again within sight
Of this Apple iPad pioneer.
Can’t explain it, exactly, but the video brought tears to my eyes. Here’s to staying YOUNG!
Do you want to sell sugared water or do you want to change the world?
Thank you Mr. Jobs,…. and everyone at Apple.
[tear]
That was moving. The iPad gave her back the things she loved.
I’d love to see that happens if she was handed a Windows XP based netbook. “I click on Start to stop it?”
That . . . was just cool to watch.
Note to developers and designers,
the ability to change the font to a bigger size is as valuable to her as it is to me! –0-0–
I wish they had added a third music source to make it even more irritating to watch.
My partner, who runs healthcare at Mary’s Woods, sent me this article yesterday. We are thrilled that our residents are finding renewed life thru the iPad! Kudos to Steve Jobs & Apple for producing another innovative and useful computer that changes lives for the better! Real-life testimony to the power and ease of the iPad. BTW I’ve worked at Mary’s Woods and know the residents and know how capable and thrilled they will be to have a fun tool like the iPad. Through the years the iPad will become more powerful, more adept at all tasks and more indispensable.
Leska Emerald Adams
Human user interface, that is yet one more aspect at where Apple excels. There is no surprise as to why Apple is doing so good financially.
“Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren’t used to an environment where excellence is expected.”
– Steve Jobs
You are only as old as you let yourself be…
The first thing that hit me when I first saw Steve-O using the ipad was that it was going to be a natural for the elderly and would set them free to take part in the information revolution. I’ve seen that proved several times over in the past couple of weeks. Never as touching as in this example, though.
MDN word: “better” as in this couldn’t be a better example.
Here’s to Virginia!
Yes! Virginia there is an Apple iPad for everyone
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So real … and it works!
You go girl!
Luurvly stuff.
btw she wrote ‘technical-ninny’
But can she play play Flash games while listening to Pandora in the background?!!!
: \
Heart warming.
Maybe there’s a more ergonomic position for her to read and type in? Once she started using the pillow she was more comfortable but that seemed like a half-measure. How about a rubberized, non-slip tray table that sits over her lap and has arm rests?