The Kinect reads your body motion, allowing you to bat a ball or follow a dance lesson as if it were happening in your living room. Having a computer recognize body movements could lead to several applications. Doctors already have begun interacting with a computer without touching it, saving them the trouble of scrubbing up after contact with dirty keyboards. (You can read about some of the experiments using this device and software by Googling “Kinect effect.” See also the “Kinect and motorized skateboard” brief video.)

Microsoft is giving the software away free to developers, a big switch from last year when they were threatening to sue anyone who tried to develop Windows/Kinect applications. Developers will have access to the software and hardware starting February 1, but it could be some time before the rest of us get our hands on one. The new Kinect will be $250, compared to around $150 for the older version that works with the Xbox.

So far only one protective cover has been certified by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) .  In their tests, the $50 “Pong” case diverted 65 percent of the radiation that would normally go into your head.  Admittedly, the tests involved dummies with gelatin brains, but we’ve all met people like that and the simulation is considered accurate by the FCC. Signal strength was not affected by the shield and the amount of radiation received was considered safe.

The Pong case is available for the iPhone, iPad, iPad 2 and Blackberry. (If you don’t have a 3G cellular connection on your iPad, which costs more than the WiFi-only iPad, you don’t need this protection.) The case snaps on easily and come in six colors.  According to the journal “Electromagnetic Biology and Medicine,” children’s bodies are twice as sensitive as adults to radiation.

Pong cases start at $50 for the iPhone, about $10 more than a standard  iPhone case, and go up to $100 for the iPad version. More info at PongResearch.com.

About 90 percent of all wheelchairs are push-rim propelled. With the RoChair, one push-pull of the adjustable lever arm rotates the chair’s front wheels up to two revolutions, depending on the gear you choose. Hills are no problem, they say. (We guess it depends on the hill.) We hope the price comes down, because it’s $5,000. More info at rotamobility.com.

It’s good when an elderly person has a cell phone at hand, to call 911 in an emergency. Even better is a big button around their neck.

Unlike other devices of this sort, the “5Star Urgent Response” from Great Call can be used outside the home. It can be clipped to a purse, backpack or keychain and used in place of a cell phone to make an emergency call. Just push the button. It could be handy for Grandma or a child who’s lost. Or for you when you feel you’re in danger or have fallen in a hole and can’t reach your cell phone.

The 5Star costs $50, with a $35 activation fee if you buy it at Sears or Walmart, or $25 if you buy it online. Because it connects through Verizon Wireless, there’s also a $15 a month service charge. Fortunately, there’s no contract or cancellation fee, so you could use it on a trip and then quit, but it only works in the U.S.

If you push the 5Star button lightly, it calls the 5Star response team from Great Call, the company who invented the Jitterbug phone for seniors. The response team has been prepped by your personal profile as to your medical conditions or prescriptions. They’re on duty 24 hours a day and will call 911 for you, or you can hold the button down for five seconds and it will call 911 on its own. The Responder pinpoints your location by GPS, and the responding agents can offer support in over 100 languages.

Watson will listen when a patient describes their symptoms, and then help the doctor reach the correct diagnosis. (Bob recalls that something very similar was done around 30 years ago, using a computer to diagnose a patient’s illness. The study found that the computer’s diagnosis was far more accurate than doctors’. This does not necessarily mean that doctors are stupid, he notes, but that humans can forget to ask key questions that would help in reaching the correct diagnosis, while the computer never forgets.)

WellPoint Inc. a giant company that operates BlueCross BlueShield programs, is creating a Watson application that will combine data from a patient’s chart and electronic records with the insurance company’s history of medicines and treatments and an enormous library of textbooks and medical journals. Any doctor with a computer, tablet or smartphone will be able to use it. The app will roll out next year in a pilot program at university medical centers.

The Samsung Jitterbug phone seems like a good choice for those needing easy-to-read numbers and an operator who’s there 24 hours a day. Now the company has added a $15 monthly service that goes beyond that.

They call it “5 Star Urgent Response.” Press the “5” on the keypad, and an operator who has access to your emergency contact numbers comes on the phone. The information includes allergies, medications and doctor’s info. The operator can stay on the phone until help arrives. The service includes a subscription to “LiveNurse,” which allows a registered nurse to help diagnose any problem.

While Jitterbug was early in this area, another phone that offers this kind of help is Doro PhoneEasy, from Doro.com. It has hearing aid capability, Bluetooth (hands-free calling) and easily activated emergency dialing. There’s an automatic “man down” alarm.  The monthly charge is $10.

You can get lot of information on phones of this type by going to ConsumerCellular.com and clicking on “plans,” then “senior phones.”

Tell Gojee.com the food and spices you love and the ones you hate, and it will give you a food-photo slideshow with recipes attached. These are among the most beautiful color photographs of food we’ve seen.

Joy asked a dermatologist about a spot on her forehead. He asked her to take a picture of it and email it back. His answer matched what her own dermatologist had said.