October 3, 2025 • 30 mins
Ashish D. Aggarwal, PhD, is the cofounder and CEO of JubileeTV, a pioneering AgeTech company redefining how families support and stay connected with aging loved ones. Under his leadership, JubileeTV has transformed the television into a hub for remote caregiving, social connection, and independence, addressing a critical need as families navigate the challenges of aging at home. With more than 80 patents filed, the company has developed innovative solutions that simplify technology for older adults while empowering their families. Before founding JubileeTV, Aggarwal was at the forefront of consumer technology innovation. He launched Violet 3D, creating the world’s first self-calibrating, wireless 3D surround sound system. He led engineering teams at Harman International, shaping cutting-edge audio and video technologies, and played a key role as an audio architect at PortalPlayer, contributing to the development of the first-generation iPod for Apple. Aggarwal holds a PhD in electrical engineering from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and continues to push the boundaries of how technology can enhance daily life for families and older adults.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to Boomers Today with your host Frank Samson.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Oh, welcome to Boomers Today. I'm your host, Frank Samson.
Of course, each week we're bringing import and very useful
information on issues facing baby boomers, their parents.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
And other loved ones.
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(01:09):
show with peoples because we have wonderful guests and very
educational I'm not going to disappoint you.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Today.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
We have with us sheesh Agarwall, who has a PhD
and is the co founder and CEO of Jubilee TV,
a pioneering age tech company redefining how families support and
stay connected with aging loved ones. Under his leadership, Jubilee
TV has transformed the television into a hub for remote caregiving,
(01:39):
social connection, and independence, addressing addressing a critical need as
families navigate the challenges of aging at home. Argowell holds
a PhD in electrical engineering from the University of California,
Santa Barbara and continues to push the boundaries of how
tech analogy can enhance daily life for families and older adults.
(02:05):
So she's thank you so much for joining us on
Boomers today. I really appreciate it.
Speaker 4 (02:11):
Oh, Frank, It's my pleasure to be here.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
Yeah, So i'd like, you know, I.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
Certainly I want to talk about Jubilee TV, and I
want to, you know, find out a little bit kind
of what what went into that and uh uh the
brain you know, just kind of your thoughts and how
that all happened. And so I'm going to give you
the opportunity right now to talk about it. But you
are obviously very.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
Knowledgeable on h on aging and the wonderful things about
aging and the challenges about aging, and I'm looking forward
to having that discussion with you.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
All right, Yeah, but tell us more about Jubilee TV.
I mean, what was the catalyst for starting it? I mean,
I could tell you just one thing when I when
I read about it, I went, oh my god, this
is so needed. And the reason is I, you know,
as you know, my background you know is more on
(03:08):
the assisted living side of things and memory care. And
I'm not even making this up. I've been there more
than one thousand locations across the country. Okay, wow, And
I see, you know, people in their rooms and I
could just see them on their TV. Can't can't you know, frustration,
(03:30):
just frustration. I'm going, God, if somebody just came up
with a way to make it easy and you did, so,
congratulations on that. So tell us more about it.
Speaker 4 (03:40):
Yeah, thank you, Frank. Let's maybe just paint a picture
of what Jubilee TV is today, you know, and what
my aspirations on this company and myself are right very quickly.
So what we've done is connected caregivers, families who are
on their app and phone to yeah loved one, your
(04:04):
Aging Seniors TV. On the family side, On the caregiver side,
all you need is an app, whether it's on a
phone or on a browser. And on the aging loved
one side, you have a really powerful device that has
a camera, a microphone, and an AI engine built in
that connects to the TV and that becomes a very
(04:26):
powerful connection between these two worlds. So we'll go into
more details of what that connection is. You know, it
literally replaces the need of caregiver to be in the room.
You can see what's on the TV, you can fix
any issues with the TV. That's how it usually starts.
But then you start to realize you can put any
shoe or content that really helps. You know, we have
one trillion hours of seniors watching TV that is basically
(04:51):
not utilized at all because it's just junk, you know,
because it's hard to find good content, right, So they
start there and then it goes into social connections, so
video call, group calls, reminders, photo sharing, video sharing. It's
like very rich memories you can do. And then layer
that on with some insights and AI will talk about
(05:13):
that a little bit later in the show. I'm sure
that allows family caregivers to get a piece of mind.
So that's what Julie TV system is today. Right. I'll
try and draw a paint a picture during the show
as to what my aspirations are as we go and
why we started this. But for me as a tech entrepreneur.
You said, like, what was the genesis of this? Why
did I do this right? And I don't want it
(05:36):
to be a big monologue, but fundamentally, there were two
major instances in my life that made me realize that
I had to create tech to solve this problem. There
was one good instance and there was one not so
good instance, both one with my in laws and one
with my mom. The good instance in my in laws
was the fact that I saw on my earlier system
(05:57):
I had created, which was a universal remote done a
way to control TV. My daughter and my mother in
law were interacting in very interesting ways. My daughter in
my mother in law would ask my daughter how do
I watch something? Or she would say, Grandma, have you
seen this? There was such a rich connection around content
(06:19):
between the two of them. I'm like, wow, this is good,
Like you know you see this? You know It's like
in my tongue we say that the interest is more
interesting than the principal amount. You know, your grandkids are
your interest. Kids are your principal. But in case of
my mother, for example, Frank, she didn't tell us about
her cancer for over the year, and she yeah, because
(06:42):
she was worried that what like that the kids will
be worried. So it's like, I'm not going to tell them.
She didn't know it. She knew there was a big lump.
When we detected it. It was over nine centimeters change forward.
Luckily she fought it hard and she So my thought was,
can I created tech I live away from both of them?
(07:03):
Can I create a tech that replaces my need to
be there or my desire to be there twenty four
to seven in that room, I want to be it,
but I can't be a good job relocated hundreds and
thousands of miles away from there. Life doesn't change. They
don't want to come here all of that, right, So
that was the genesis for me. I'm a tech entrepreneur.
(07:25):
I want to create tech that solves massive, huge problems,
not just incremental. And this is the first step towards that, gotcha.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
So I'm gonna, as I understand it, kind of lay
out what I think the scenario is here, and then
you tell me if I'm correct or not. And so
Mom's at home, Okay, she calls you up, calls the
sun up and says, I can't find my station. This
(08:01):
isn't working, something's wrong with the TV. Whatever, it is right,
son gets on his app and just by being on
the app can correct that issue. Is that the gist
of it or much more than that.
Speaker 4 (08:22):
There are three parts of it. So the first part
is what you said, but I'll go a little bit
further than that. Typically Mom doesn't call you in right,
Mom is just watching something. The daughter or the son
can program the TV automatically. It's two o'clock, put the
show six o'clock.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
Yeah, you know what they want to watch?
Speaker 4 (08:45):
Right, or okay, it's time for cherioga mo. Like we
even have system where if mom is sitting idly for
two hours, go put a notification on a TV saying
Mom better move or do a small chaerio exercise. So
the idea is the TV is the best communicating surface.
It's the largest, super easy to interact. How do you
(09:05):
make it more powerful? It starts with content, as you said,
of course, when mom calls and says nothing is working,
that's a panic call. You can't drop everything and go
and fix mom's TV. That's where it starts. So where
you excited is exactly where it starts. This panic call
saying just kind of just that HDMI, you see that button,
like can you say what button? The language is Spanish,
(09:29):
like what like? You know? What do I do? Like you?
That call pretty much four times a week is what
we see people getting right when it starts. Now you
don't even get that call at all. It's it's so
simple that mom actually never calls you. So that's the
first real interesting thing that happens. But now you can
start to use that TV in such amazing ways. You
(09:52):
can put three hours of church service live from your
phone to your mom's TV. Mom can't go to church anymore, right,
My little one is in his first we meet next week, So.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
If they're doing a zoom or something like that from
the church, you can have it all set up.
Speaker 4 (10:08):
Yes, exactly. You can use your phone and live stream
three hours of your little one's little game right to
mom's tevie. Now that's a far more interesting scenario. Yeah, yeah,
Mom grew up in Canada. Let me put videos of Canada,
you know, for especially for somebody with cognitive impairment, you know,
(10:29):
getting them back to the roots. Let me put some
nice videos, birthday videos, photos. Now you start to think
about the next layer of what this is, right, So
it starts with fixing the TV that's what people are.
I need this right now. Yeah, and you see their
journey through this. The next part of this is is real.
(10:50):
Think about we have a camera and a microphone in
the room. Okay, if I'm a person in the room,
what I have are three things my eyes, my ears,
and my brain. That is the box today, Like as
simply as I could put, it's the dark black box
that is keeping an eye an ear in the room
and is telling you what's happening in the room. You
(11:12):
don't need to be there, it notifies you if mom's away.
We have heard so we got one comment yesterday, Like
we get almost around fifteen people writing us long stories
and have transformation. Yesterday's one comment was you have definitely
allowed my dad to stay in his own home for
at least one year longer. Right. We have heard people
said you've extended my mom's life, which is something I
(11:35):
would never have imagined to do with tech for instance, Right,
I mean I'm an electrical engineer, Right, I create tech
around consumption of content. Right, I am a technologies around
like I was iPod speakers, audio, So for me, entertainment
is key. To use that to impact life is a
(11:55):
fascinating jury, right, So you know what you said is
exactly where it starts, but then it goes into this
very rich interaction that transforms the way you are interacting
with your loved one, and your loved one is consuming
that interaction. Yeah, and I think that.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
I'm not sure if you're working. I don't even know
if it really matters. But sometimes people's homes may not
be their house home. It may be an independent living
location like fifty five and over, it may be assisted living,
(12:34):
and they it might be I know, you're in California
as I am, and there's a lot of small care homes,
you know, and people might be living there and they
have their bedroom and they.
Speaker 4 (12:45):
Have their TV.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
So this could be there too. It doesn't have to
be at their househome. It could be at you know,
at it's where they're living the rest of their life.
Speaker 4 (12:54):
Possibly. So thirty percent of our installations happen in a
community setting, not in their own home, right.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (13:02):
Absolutely, there are still a few communities that are scared
about a camera in a living room. I can't understand that.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
Yeah, but a lot could be done in their own bedroom.
Speaker 4 (13:14):
Yeah. Yeah, even as laws go, they're worried about caregiver
coming in and other things. But in spite of all
of that, if you look at our customer base, at
least thirty percent are putting in where mom actually has
sometimes even twenty four to seven care right, So I
can just dial in, I can talk to the care
(13:34):
provider and say what to do? You know all of
those So just that goodness. We heard a couple of
days ago through like a pilot, a very large company.
She said her grandfather told her, can I can you
move all my calls that happen on my phone and
today to the TV because we have close captioning on
video calls, so somebody who's part of hearing right can
(13:59):
now read lips. It's a big screen, it's like a
nineteen in screen. Now for three hundred bucks, they can
put on a giant wall and a very simple remote
interface with voice right, so you don't have to go
into your phone and you forget to charge that phone.
The phone is ringing somewhere, you don't hear it. All
those complications are going, yeah, fantastic.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
So we're going to take a real quick break. I
promise just to recognize our sponsor. We come back, give
you the opportunity to tell people all they could learn
more about Jubilee t And then we're going to talk
more big picture industry. What's happening in the senior world. Okay,
you and I will talk about that. So, do you
know anyone who may be concerned about an older driver well,
(14:43):
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(15:06):
or her with strategies and how to remain a safe
driver as they progress through the aging process. If driving
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(15:27):
seat to the passenger seat.
Speaker 4 (15:29):
So to learn more, go to www.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
Dot Beyond Driving with Dignity dot com to connect with
a Senior Care Authority advisor in your area. We are
back pardon me with sheesh agarwah agarwah who is the
co founder and CEO of Jubilee TV. So tell us
(15:55):
how people can learn more.
Speaker 4 (15:58):
Yeah, product perspective, you can go to www. Dot get
jubiltv dot com. So everything is there, very simple. There
is a sixty day risk free guarantee. We are convinced
within thirty days it is going to transform your caregiving needs.
You start it off. It's a simply month plan or
yearly plan, or you can if you don't like subscriptions,
(16:21):
just pay one time all in. So it's thirty nine
dollars a month or three hundred and eighty nine dollars
a year. You get it started. Ninety percent of them
stay through the end of the life of their loved one.
That's how powerful it is. So you're convinced it is
going to transform your relationship and your family's relationship with
(16:41):
your aging loved one, whether they're in their own home
or they're in a community setting. So that's the product.
Get jubil tv dot com is the website, So go
try it. But I do want to kind of step
back and to me, it is a little bit more
about the product. I know, I'm an entrepreneur, I'm a CEO.
I want everybody to expect against this, but I also
want people at large to understand how big this problem
(17:05):
is and how we're going to address this. That is
fundamentally super important to me. And I don't think while
we are talking enough, I don't see real big initiatives
in trying. Just before the show, we were talking everybody
wants to live longer, and that's great, and we are
going to live longer and longer, but that creates a
(17:27):
different kind of problem for the whole society at large.
So just imagine a world in which we were living
longer and longer. How does society work is a question.
The age pyramid started as a Egyptian pyramid. It is
already looking like I would say, a bird Khalifa building,
like you know, and it's soon going to look like
an ice cream cone, like an inverted pyramid. What does
(17:49):
it mean for society? It is as big as saying
we have the overwhelming that's going to destroy the world.
We have to go to Mars instead, right, things like that,
But we aren't doing that for this problem yet. And
I want to coin a word. What is tech? Like
I say, I'm a tech entrepreneur, what is tech really? Right?
Tech is anything that allows human beings to not do
(18:12):
what they were doing so that the tech does it
for them, or to do new things, which means we
are doing more with less number of people. And that's
exactly what that solution needs. Can we do more with
less number of people so the cost of care comes down,
we are able to live longer right as society goes
(18:34):
And this is that tech. And this is that tech
in its beginning that already causes dramatic impacts by replacing
pretty much or assisting your eyes and ears in the
room with AI. So when you draw that picture around
you and we talk about the TV and fixing TV
and putting content, that's how people consume it today. But
(18:57):
when I fast forward five ten years from now, this
is the tech that allows us to take the societal
impact of this growing population. Well, think about just.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
I know it does more than this. And the example
I brought up is just helping with the TV. But
what are people doing now, even in communities, they're having
to take the time of a caregiver to come into
the room and fix it right, And there's a shortage
of caregivers. So I mean it's just a very small example,
(19:33):
I know, But here's a way to kind of take
care of things and not have to eat up the
time of others. And again that's a small example.
Speaker 4 (19:47):
Yeah, but you also mentioned, like you said you visited
a thousand communities. I have also seen now probably I
would say thirty thousand seniors in my life. Okay, And
the picture I draw in front of me is the
last five years are so like disappointing, so discouraging, right,
(20:11):
Like there's no will to live. Like people are just
as you said, watching giving giving up. So to me,
the larger problem is the desire to be happy and live.
If we can fix that, a lot of things change, right.
Caregivers need to come in. Can we make them independent?
(20:33):
Can we give them You know, we are constantly focused
on teens and younger kids and giving them tools and
other things to live a better life. Education, But what
does it mean for an aging population? So to me,
I think we start to focus not yes, you're right,
like you know, now, can we cut down the need
for human beings to be there? The next step is
(20:54):
can we really empower those last five years to be exciting?
If they aren't exciting, there is victual live. You'll be healthier,
you won't need that help, right, So we've got to
go there.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
Well, I think, and you know this, to me, the
number one issue facing the senior population today and the
challenge is social isolation. So I you know, we didn't
get into it that much, but I'm not sure how
much Jubilee TV because when you use the term TV,
you're thinking you're just watching TV shows. But I'm sure
(21:31):
it does a whole lot more to help with the
social interaction because personally, I like to you know, both
my parents are gone, but if they were around I
and they were in front of the TV, I'd say,
come on, you got to get out and you know,
interact with people more and and all of that. That
(21:51):
that's what's needed. So talk to me more about that.
Speaker 4 (21:56):
I could go ahead, and yeah, and I am now
like just juxtapositioning the social media for my kids, which
is almost to a point where I compare it to
like a drug addiction. Right, So we have far too
much social media and you have and you have the police, yes, exactly.
(22:18):
And on the other side of the equation, we have
not enough social interaction. So what I'm thinking is balance
the world by moving some social interaction from from teens
to seniors. In whatever tools we could create. That's exactly
where the problem lies. We are far too focused on
creating social interaction for kids versus creating social interaction for seniors,
(22:43):
and TV is an amazing way today. TV is their
social interaction, which is really poor because it's just one sided.
How do we transform that, that singular interface into something
that is super exciting, even to the extent where somebody
is like, okay, now just do way too much TV.
You've read a book, you have played a game, you've
done like all these exciting things. Go out and go
(23:04):
for a while, Like, how do we make that happen?
That's exactly like now you draw the picture while we
say a fixed a moms TV. That's like, okay, fine,
you know that's your need today, right, But when you
think about how we can transform that and really really
solve exactly the problem you're talking about. We connect the
seniors of the world together through the excitement, right, and
(23:25):
let those last five ten years of life be absolutely connected, joyful. Right.
They will live happier, longer, healthier brain span, healthier health span,
and we can do all of that in very short
amount of time.
Speaker 2 (23:41):
Yeah, it's so important. I mean, I know the term
is overused today. But silver tsunami, you know, I know
that I use it. But tell me if you agree
in comparison to a real tsunami, it's just drizzle rain
right now.
Speaker 4 (24:01):
The winds haven't.
Speaker 2 (24:03):
Even picked up much. We're really there's still that it's happening,
but we're at a very early stage.
Speaker 4 (24:11):
It is happening. But you know how say, for example,
you hear to me, this is a challenge of distribution,
distributed problem. Right we have many people like you and
me living through that that period, but we don't have
an enough voice yet to create So for example, if
(24:32):
there was a brutal government ruling you know, citizens, it
still takes that whole country hundreds of years to create
a revolt. Why because you're dividing in concrete right right
now that problem is divided. We need to build it together,
like create a riot. If you know, in a good sense,
(24:52):
we are to all create a riot. There is tsunami already,
but it feels like a shower because you know, if
we all together, that rain would feel like a tsunami already,
right and in ten years, twenty years from now, we
won't be able to handle that. As the society goes
right even Yeah, I mean.
Speaker 2 (25:10):
The society is not ready for what's going to happen.
Speaker 4 (25:13):
Yeah, meaning our social security. Like when I'm doing my
financial planning, I don't think I can believe that all
the money I've paid into social security is that were
going to come back because it just how is there
going to be enough money to pay? Right? So? How
will we will we take care of this? Right?
Speaker 2 (25:30):
So you're taking care of elderly people right now through
the payments you made, so you're not going to get
it back, but you're helping somebody else exactly right, yeah, exactly.
So you know, talk to us about all these spans.
We hear terms health span, lifespan, brain span. Give you
(25:52):
just give me your overall thoughts. What does that all
that mean? So people understand those terms are used quite
often today?
Speaker 4 (26:00):
Yeah, just you know, on the global scale, our life
expectancy today is between eighty and eighty three in developed countries,
sometimes more than that. But our healthy life is is
at least five years below that, seventy five or so.
So we live five years in poor health on an average, okay,
and that number is going to go to fifteen years
(26:20):
soon enough. So we're going to allow our bodies to
live longer. So lifespan is when you close your eyes.
Health span is when you live healthy enough. Right, So
the difference between your health span and lifespan is the
time you spend in poor health. So today's five years,
it's going to be fifteen years. Brain span is when
(26:40):
your brain is active, the life of your brain versus
the life of your body. And today it's starting to
show like two three years on an average, and same
thing is going to happen around fifteen years. So imagine
taking care of people with poor health and poor mental
health for fifteen years of their lives.
Speaker 2 (26:58):
Well, okay, wait, is a way to help increase the
chances that that fifteen years will be healthier than it
is today.
Speaker 4 (27:14):
That is exactly the singular goal we should all drive towards.
Two goals, right, One is do that change, so change
the curve between that, and there are ways. There are
medicinal ways to do it, but there are also psychological
ways to do it, you know, brain games, for example,
keep mental acuity sharper, Right, do it a little bit
earlier in life. If you start doing it at fifty,
(27:35):
you have much less chance for those right, so yes,
we start to move that and through tech we can
do a lot of things and there are various techs
to do it. So we should do that as a goal.
And the second goal is even after we do that,
which is great, so older adults are living healthier with
great brain health and physical health longer. Give them the
(27:57):
motivation to live longer. So give them joyous moments live longer. Right,
that really helps when you're stressed and you're depressed, no
matter what medication you take, it is not going to
help you. That's one. And then you empower families to
take care caregiverers families, especially because you can't pay enough
to somebody else to take care of your mom. There
(28:17):
is never going to be enough money to pay for
somebody else to take care of your mom. Society is
never going to have enough money to do that. So
kids have to take care. Right, So while them need
less care, can we empowered tools for family.
Speaker 2 (28:30):
Careguers, which is a whole other challenge as you know,
I mean the statistics show and you have to look
at the statistics just between friends and family that so
many young young adults today are not marrying. They decide
not to have kids. They don't want to bring kids
(28:52):
into this society. Who's going to take care.
Speaker 4 (28:55):
Of them later? Yeah? Exactly right? And cost is going up? Right,
So we spend ten hours on an average today taking
care of our parents a week, right, Yeah, there's a
lot of time, and the savings are very low. Like,
we retire with an average one hundred and fifty thousand
dollars in the bank. Like, how is it all going
to work as a society? Right? A few children, Who's
(29:18):
going to take care of us?
Speaker 2 (29:20):
So we talked about some of the challenges. Of course,
we only have a couple of minutes left. I'm going
to leave it up to you. Let's send on a
good note, any words of wisdom.
Speaker 4 (29:31):
Yeah, look to me, Frank, thank you for this conversation.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
Right.
Speaker 4 (29:36):
I am a firm believer that when society presents problems,
society also presents solutions. And today what I see is
the appearance of AI okay, and tech is the one
that will allow us to solve this problem. I'm firmly
confirmed in that belief, so I'm marching very hard towards it.
(29:57):
And I'd love for everybody who's listening to this show
to go to the website and try it and see
whether we are on the right path. We have twenty
plus thousand family members actively using it, so I'm not
saying that go give it a try. I'm saying if, yeah,
in thirty days, if you haven't transformed your caregiving needs,
come and talk to me.
Speaker 2 (30:17):
Great, great, thank as, Thank you so much for joining
us today.
Speaker 3 (30:22):
Check it out.
Speaker 2 (30:24):
It's jubileetv. Is it Get jubiletv dot com.
Speaker 4 (30:29):
Is that it? That's correct? Fright? Get you Blee dot com.
Nice fac and you.
Speaker 3 (30:33):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (30:34):
Thank you everybody.
Speaker 4 (30:36):
Please be safe.
Speaker 1 (30:39):
You've been listening to Boomers Today with Frank Sampson. To
learn more about today's show, visit Boomers Today Radio dot
com and join us next time for another edition of
Boomers Today.
You're listening to Boomers Today with your host Frank Samson.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Oh, welcome to Boomers Today. I'm your host, Frank Samson.
Of course, each week we're bringing import and very useful
information on issues facing baby boomers, their parents.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
And other loved ones.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
And as I do on each one of our shows,
I thank all of you and I think all of
you because our listeners are growing each and every day, and.
Speaker 4 (00:37):
It's because of you.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
You're sharing our show individual podcasts.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
With friends and family.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Many of you listen right on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart Radio,
Audible or just you know, you could ask Alux or
Siri to take you to Boomers Today Radio, and you
know many of you go right to Boomers Today Radio
dot com. So thank thank you so much for all
your support. And I know why you are sharing our
(01:09):
show with peoples because we have wonderful guests and very
educational I'm not going to disappoint you.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Today.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
We have with us sheesh Agarwall, who has a PhD
and is the co founder and CEO of Jubilee TV,
a pioneering age tech company redefining how families support and
stay connected with aging loved ones. Under his leadership, Jubilee
TV has transformed the television into a hub for remote caregiving,
(01:39):
social connection, and independence, addressing addressing a critical need as
families navigate the challenges of aging at home. Argowell holds
a PhD in electrical engineering from the University of California,
Santa Barbara and continues to push the boundaries of how
tech analogy can enhance daily life for families and older adults.
(02:05):
So she's thank you so much for joining us on
Boomers today. I really appreciate it.
Speaker 4 (02:11):
Oh, Frank, It's my pleasure to be here.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
Yeah, So i'd like, you know, I.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
Certainly I want to talk about Jubilee TV, and I
want to, you know, find out a little bit kind
of what what went into that and uh uh the
brain you know, just kind of your thoughts and how
that all happened. And so I'm going to give you
the opportunity right now to talk about it. But you
are obviously very.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
Knowledgeable on h on aging and the wonderful things about
aging and the challenges about aging, and I'm looking forward
to having that discussion with you.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
All right, Yeah, but tell us more about Jubilee TV.
I mean, what was the catalyst for starting it? I mean,
I could tell you just one thing when I when
I read about it, I went, oh my god, this
is so needed. And the reason is I, you know,
as you know, my background you know is more on
(03:08):
the assisted living side of things and memory care. And
I'm not even making this up. I've been there more
than one thousand locations across the country. Okay, wow, And
I see, you know, people in their rooms and I
could just see them on their TV. Can't can't you know, frustration,
(03:30):
just frustration. I'm going, God, if somebody just came up
with a way to make it easy and you did, so,
congratulations on that. So tell us more about it.
Speaker 4 (03:40):
Yeah, thank you, Frank. Let's maybe just paint a picture
of what Jubilee TV is today, you know, and what
my aspirations on this company and myself are right very quickly.
So what we've done is connected caregivers, families who are
on their app and phone to yeah loved one, your
(04:04):
Aging Seniors TV. On the family side, On the caregiver side,
all you need is an app, whether it's on a
phone or on a browser. And on the aging loved
one side, you have a really powerful device that has
a camera, a microphone, and an AI engine built in
that connects to the TV and that becomes a very
(04:26):
powerful connection between these two worlds. So we'll go into
more details of what that connection is. You know, it
literally replaces the need of caregiver to be in the room.
You can see what's on the TV, you can fix
any issues with the TV. That's how it usually starts.
But then you start to realize you can put any
shoe or content that really helps. You know, we have
one trillion hours of seniors watching TV that is basically
(04:51):
not utilized at all because it's just junk, you know,
because it's hard to find good content, right, So they
start there and then it goes into social connections, so
video call, group calls, reminders, photo sharing, video sharing. It's
like very rich memories you can do. And then layer
that on with some insights and AI will talk about
(05:13):
that a little bit later in the show. I'm sure
that allows family caregivers to get a piece of mind.
So that's what Julie TV system is today. Right. I'll
try and draw a paint a picture during the show
as to what my aspirations are as we go and
why we started this. But for me as a tech entrepreneur.
You said, like, what was the genesis of this? Why
did I do this right? And I don't want it
(05:36):
to be a big monologue, but fundamentally, there were two
major instances in my life that made me realize that
I had to create tech to solve this problem. There
was one good instance and there was one not so
good instance, both one with my in laws and one
with my mom. The good instance in my in laws
was the fact that I saw on my earlier system
(05:57):
I had created, which was a universal remote done a
way to control TV. My daughter and my mother in
law were interacting in very interesting ways. My daughter in
my mother in law would ask my daughter how do
I watch something? Or she would say, Grandma, have you
seen this? There was such a rich connection around content
(06:19):
between the two of them. I'm like, wow, this is good,
Like you know you see this? You know It's like
in my tongue we say that the interest is more
interesting than the principal amount. You know, your grandkids are
your interest. Kids are your principal. But in case of
my mother, for example, Frank, she didn't tell us about
her cancer for over the year, and she yeah, because
(06:42):
she was worried that what like that the kids will
be worried. So it's like, I'm not going to tell them.
She didn't know it. She knew there was a big lump.
When we detected it. It was over nine centimeters change forward.
Luckily she fought it hard and she So my thought was,
can I created tech I live away from both of them?
(07:03):
Can I create a tech that replaces my need to
be there or my desire to be there twenty four
to seven in that room, I want to be it,
but I can't be a good job relocated hundreds and
thousands of miles away from there. Life doesn't change. They
don't want to come here all of that, right, So
that was the genesis for me. I'm a tech entrepreneur.
(07:25):
I want to create tech that solves massive, huge problems,
not just incremental. And this is the first step towards that, gotcha.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
So I'm gonna, as I understand it, kind of lay
out what I think the scenario is here, and then
you tell me if I'm correct or not. And so
Mom's at home, Okay, she calls you up, calls the
sun up and says, I can't find my station. This
(08:01):
isn't working, something's wrong with the TV. Whatever, it is right,
son gets on his app and just by being on
the app can correct that issue. Is that the gist
of it or much more than that.
Speaker 4 (08:22):
There are three parts of it. So the first part
is what you said, but I'll go a little bit
further than that. Typically Mom doesn't call you in right,
Mom is just watching something. The daughter or the son
can program the TV automatically. It's two o'clock, put the
show six o'clock.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
Yeah, you know what they want to watch?
Speaker 4 (08:45):
Right, or okay, it's time for cherioga mo. Like we
even have system where if mom is sitting idly for
two hours, go put a notification on a TV saying
Mom better move or do a small chaerio exercise. So
the idea is the TV is the best communicating surface.
It's the largest, super easy to interact. How do you
(09:05):
make it more powerful? It starts with content, as you said,
of course, when mom calls and says nothing is working,
that's a panic call. You can't drop everything and go
and fix mom's TV. That's where it starts. So where
you excited is exactly where it starts. This panic call
saying just kind of just that HDMI, you see that button,
like can you say what button? The language is Spanish,
(09:29):
like what like? You know? What do I do? Like you?
That call pretty much four times a week is what
we see people getting right when it starts. Now you
don't even get that call at all. It's it's so
simple that mom actually never calls you. So that's the
first real interesting thing that happens. But now you can
start to use that TV in such amazing ways. You
(09:52):
can put three hours of church service live from your
phone to your mom's TV. Mom can't go to church anymore, right,
My little one is in his first we meet next week, So.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
If they're doing a zoom or something like that from
the church, you can have it all set up.
Speaker 4 (10:08):
Yes, exactly. You can use your phone and live stream
three hours of your little one's little game right to
mom's tevie. Now that's a far more interesting scenario. Yeah, yeah,
Mom grew up in Canada. Let me put videos of Canada,
you know, for especially for somebody with cognitive impairment, you know,
(10:29):
getting them back to the roots. Let me put some
nice videos, birthday videos, photos. Now you start to think
about the next layer of what this is, right, So
it starts with fixing the TV that's what people are.
I need this right now. Yeah, and you see their
journey through this. The next part of this is is real.
(10:50):
Think about we have a camera and a microphone in
the room. Okay, if I'm a person in the room,
what I have are three things my eyes, my ears,
and my brain. That is the box today, Like as
simply as I could put, it's the dark black box
that is keeping an eye an ear in the room
and is telling you what's happening in the room. You
(11:12):
don't need to be there, it notifies you if mom's away.
We have heard so we got one comment yesterday, Like
we get almost around fifteen people writing us long stories
and have transformation. Yesterday's one comment was you have definitely
allowed my dad to stay in his own home for
at least one year longer. Right. We have heard people
said you've extended my mom's life, which is something I
(11:35):
would never have imagined to do with tech for instance, Right,
I mean I'm an electrical engineer, Right, I create tech
around consumption of content. Right, I am a technologies around
like I was iPod speakers, audio, So for me, entertainment
is key. To use that to impact life is a
(11:55):
fascinating jury, right, So you know what you said is
exactly where it starts, but then it goes into this
very rich interaction that transforms the way you are interacting
with your loved one, and your loved one is consuming
that interaction. Yeah, and I think that.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
I'm not sure if you're working. I don't even know
if it really matters. But sometimes people's homes may not
be their house home. It may be an independent living
location like fifty five and over, it may be assisted living,
(12:34):
and they it might be I know, you're in California
as I am, and there's a lot of small care homes,
you know, and people might be living there and they
have their bedroom and they.
Speaker 4 (12:45):
Have their TV.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
So this could be there too. It doesn't have to
be at their househome. It could be at you know,
at it's where they're living the rest of their life.
Speaker 4 (12:54):
Possibly. So thirty percent of our installations happen in a
community setting, not in their own home, right.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (13:02):
Absolutely, there are still a few communities that are scared
about a camera in a living room. I can't understand that.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
Yeah, but a lot could be done in their own bedroom.
Speaker 4 (13:14):
Yeah. Yeah, even as laws go, they're worried about caregiver
coming in and other things. But in spite of all
of that, if you look at our customer base, at
least thirty percent are putting in where mom actually has
sometimes even twenty four to seven care right, So I
can just dial in, I can talk to the care
(13:34):
provider and say what to do? You know all of
those So just that goodness. We heard a couple of
days ago through like a pilot, a very large company.
She said her grandfather told her, can I can you
move all my calls that happen on my phone and
today to the TV because we have close captioning on
video calls, so somebody who's part of hearing right can
(13:59):
now read lips. It's a big screen, it's like a
nineteen in screen. Now for three hundred bucks, they can
put on a giant wall and a very simple remote
interface with voice right, so you don't have to go
into your phone and you forget to charge that phone.
The phone is ringing somewhere, you don't hear it. All
those complications are going, yeah, fantastic.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
So we're going to take a real quick break. I
promise just to recognize our sponsor. We come back, give
you the opportunity to tell people all they could learn
more about Jubilee t And then we're going to talk
more big picture industry. What's happening in the senior world. Okay,
you and I will talk about that. So, do you
know anyone who may be concerned about an older driver well,
(14:43):
Senior Care Authorities. Beyond Driving with Dignity program is a
facilitated self assessment program for older drivers. This program has
been designed to serve as a vital tool to facilitate
older drivers and their families as they make appropriate decisions
regarding the future of one safe driving career. If the
individual is a safe driver, an advisor will provide him
(15:06):
or her with strategies and how to remain a safe
driver as they progress through the aging process. If driving
retirement is the appropriate decision, then the individual and their
family are offered possible alternatives, resources and a specific plan
to ensure a smooth and successful transition from the driver's
(15:27):
seat to the passenger seat.
Speaker 4 (15:29):
So to learn more, go to www.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
Dot Beyond Driving with Dignity dot com to connect with
a Senior Care Authority advisor in your area. We are
back pardon me with sheesh agarwah agarwah who is the
co founder and CEO of Jubilee TV. So tell us
(15:55):
how people can learn more.
Speaker 4 (15:58):
Yeah, product perspective, you can go to www. Dot get
jubiltv dot com. So everything is there, very simple. There
is a sixty day risk free guarantee. We are convinced
within thirty days it is going to transform your caregiving needs.
You start it off. It's a simply month plan or
yearly plan, or you can if you don't like subscriptions,
(16:21):
just pay one time all in. So it's thirty nine
dollars a month or three hundred and eighty nine dollars
a year. You get it started. Ninety percent of them
stay through the end of the life of their loved one.
That's how powerful it is. So you're convinced it is
going to transform your relationship and your family's relationship with
(16:41):
your aging loved one, whether they're in their own home
or they're in a community setting. So that's the product.
Get jubil tv dot com is the website, So go
try it. But I do want to kind of step
back and to me, it is a little bit more
about the product. I know, I'm an entrepreneur, I'm a CEO.
I want everybody to expect against this, but I also
want people at large to understand how big this problem
(17:05):
is and how we're going to address this. That is
fundamentally super important to me. And I don't think while
we are talking enough, I don't see real big initiatives
in trying. Just before the show, we were talking everybody
wants to live longer, and that's great, and we are
going to live longer and longer, but that creates a
(17:27):
different kind of problem for the whole society at large.
So just imagine a world in which we were living
longer and longer. How does society work is a question.
The age pyramid started as a Egyptian pyramid. It is
already looking like I would say, a bird Khalifa building,
like you know, and it's soon going to look like
an ice cream cone, like an inverted pyramid. What does
(17:49):
it mean for society? It is as big as saying
we have the overwhelming that's going to destroy the world.
We have to go to Mars instead, right, things like that,
But we aren't doing that for this problem yet. And
I want to coin a word. What is tech? Like
I say, I'm a tech entrepreneur, what is tech really? Right?
Tech is anything that allows human beings to not do
(18:12):
what they were doing so that the tech does it
for them, or to do new things, which means we
are doing more with less number of people. And that's
exactly what that solution needs. Can we do more with
less number of people so the cost of care comes down,
we are able to live longer right as society goes
(18:34):
And this is that tech. And this is that tech
in its beginning that already causes dramatic impacts by replacing
pretty much or assisting your eyes and ears in the
room with AI. So when you draw that picture around
you and we talk about the TV and fixing TV
and putting content, that's how people consume it today. But
(18:57):
when I fast forward five ten years from now, this
is the tech that allows us to take the societal
impact of this growing population. Well, think about just.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
I know it does more than this. And the example
I brought up is just helping with the TV. But
what are people doing now, even in communities, they're having
to take the time of a caregiver to come into
the room and fix it right, And there's a shortage
of caregivers. So I mean it's just a very small example,
(19:33):
I know, But here's a way to kind of take
care of things and not have to eat up the
time of others. And again that's a small example.
Speaker 4 (19:47):
Yeah, but you also mentioned, like you said you visited
a thousand communities. I have also seen now probably I
would say thirty thousand seniors in my life. Okay, And
the picture I draw in front of me is the
last five years are so like disappointing, so discouraging, right,
(20:11):
Like there's no will to live. Like people are just
as you said, watching giving giving up. So to me,
the larger problem is the desire to be happy and live.
If we can fix that, a lot of things change, right.
Caregivers need to come in. Can we make them independent?
(20:33):
Can we give them You know, we are constantly focused
on teens and younger kids and giving them tools and
other things to live a better life. Education, But what
does it mean for an aging population? So to me,
I think we start to focus not yes, you're right,
like you know, now, can we cut down the need
for human beings to be there? The next step is
(20:54):
can we really empower those last five years to be exciting?
If they aren't exciting, there is victual live. You'll be healthier,
you won't need that help, right, So we've got to
go there.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
Well, I think, and you know this, to me, the
number one issue facing the senior population today and the
challenge is social isolation. So I you know, we didn't
get into it that much, but I'm not sure how
much Jubilee TV because when you use the term TV,
you're thinking you're just watching TV shows. But I'm sure
(21:31):
it does a whole lot more to help with the
social interaction because personally, I like to you know, both
my parents are gone, but if they were around I
and they were in front of the TV, I'd say,
come on, you got to get out and you know,
interact with people more and and all of that. That
(21:51):
that's what's needed. So talk to me more about that.
Speaker 4 (21:56):
I could go ahead, and yeah, and I am now
like just juxtapositioning the social media for my kids, which
is almost to a point where I compare it to
like a drug addiction. Right, So we have far too
much social media and you have and you have the police, yes, exactly.
(22:18):
And on the other side of the equation, we have
not enough social interaction. So what I'm thinking is balance
the world by moving some social interaction from from teens
to seniors. In whatever tools we could create. That's exactly
where the problem lies. We are far too focused on
creating social interaction for kids versus creating social interaction for seniors,
(22:43):
and TV is an amazing way today. TV is their
social interaction, which is really poor because it's just one sided.
How do we transform that, that singular interface into something
that is super exciting, even to the extent where somebody
is like, okay, now just do way too much TV.
You've read a book, you have played a game, you've
done like all these exciting things. Go out and go
(23:04):
for a while, Like, how do we make that happen?
That's exactly like now you draw the picture while we
say a fixed a moms TV. That's like, okay, fine,
you know that's your need today, right, But when you
think about how we can transform that and really really
solve exactly the problem you're talking about. We connect the
seniors of the world together through the excitement, right, and
(23:25):
let those last five ten years of life be absolutely connected, joyful. Right.
They will live happier, longer, healthier brain span, healthier health span,
and we can do all of that in very short
amount of time.
Speaker 2 (23:41):
Yeah, it's so important. I mean, I know the term
is overused today. But silver tsunami, you know, I know
that I use it. But tell me if you agree
in comparison to a real tsunami, it's just drizzle rain
right now.
Speaker 4 (24:01):
The winds haven't.
Speaker 2 (24:03):
Even picked up much. We're really there's still that it's happening,
but we're at a very early stage.
Speaker 4 (24:11):
It is happening. But you know how say, for example,
you hear to me, this is a challenge of distribution,
distributed problem. Right we have many people like you and
me living through that that period, but we don't have
an enough voice yet to create So for example, if
(24:32):
there was a brutal government ruling you know, citizens, it
still takes that whole country hundreds of years to create
a revolt. Why because you're dividing in concrete right right
now that problem is divided. We need to build it together,
like create a riot. If you know, in a good sense,
(24:52):
we are to all create a riot. There is tsunami already,
but it feels like a shower because you know, if
we all together, that rain would feel like a tsunami already,
right and in ten years, twenty years from now, we
won't be able to handle that. As the society goes
right even Yeah, I mean.
Speaker 2 (25:10):
The society is not ready for what's going to happen.
Speaker 4 (25:13):
Yeah, meaning our social security. Like when I'm doing my
financial planning, I don't think I can believe that all
the money I've paid into social security is that were
going to come back because it just how is there
going to be enough money to pay? Right? So? How
will we will we take care of this? Right?
Speaker 2 (25:30):
So you're taking care of elderly people right now through
the payments you made, so you're not going to get
it back, but you're helping somebody else exactly right, yeah, exactly.
So you know, talk to us about all these spans.
We hear terms health span, lifespan, brain span. Give you
(25:52):
just give me your overall thoughts. What does that all
that mean? So people understand those terms are used quite
often today?
Speaker 4 (26:00):
Yeah, just you know, on the global scale, our life
expectancy today is between eighty and eighty three in developed countries,
sometimes more than that. But our healthy life is is
at least five years below that, seventy five or so.
So we live five years in poor health on an average, okay,
and that number is going to go to fifteen years
(26:20):
soon enough. So we're going to allow our bodies to
live longer. So lifespan is when you close your eyes.
Health span is when you live healthy enough. Right, So
the difference between your health span and lifespan is the
time you spend in poor health. So today's five years,
it's going to be fifteen years. Brain span is when
(26:40):
your brain is active, the life of your brain versus
the life of your body. And today it's starting to
show like two three years on an average, and same
thing is going to happen around fifteen years. So imagine
taking care of people with poor health and poor mental
health for fifteen years of their lives.
Speaker 2 (26:58):
Well, okay, wait, is a way to help increase the
chances that that fifteen years will be healthier than it
is today.
Speaker 4 (27:14):
That is exactly the singular goal we should all drive towards.
Two goals, right, One is do that change, so change
the curve between that, and there are ways. There are
medicinal ways to do it, but there are also psychological
ways to do it, you know, brain games, for example,
keep mental acuity sharper, Right, do it a little bit
earlier in life. If you start doing it at fifty,
(27:35):
you have much less chance for those right, so yes,
we start to move that and through tech we can
do a lot of things and there are various techs
to do it. So we should do that as a goal.
And the second goal is even after we do that,
which is great, so older adults are living healthier with
great brain health and physical health longer. Give them the
(27:57):
motivation to live longer. So give them joyous moments live longer. Right,
that really helps when you're stressed and you're depressed, no
matter what medication you take, it is not going to
help you. That's one. And then you empower families to
take care caregiverers families, especially because you can't pay enough
to somebody else to take care of your mom. There
(28:17):
is never going to be enough money to pay for
somebody else to take care of your mom. Society is
never going to have enough money to do that. So
kids have to take care. Right, So while them need
less care, can we empowered tools for family.
Speaker 2 (28:30):
Careguers, which is a whole other challenge as you know,
I mean the statistics show and you have to look
at the statistics just between friends and family that so
many young young adults today are not marrying. They decide
not to have kids. They don't want to bring kids
(28:52):
into this society. Who's going to take care.
Speaker 4 (28:55):
Of them later? Yeah? Exactly right? And cost is going up? Right,
So we spend ten hours on an average today taking
care of our parents a week, right, Yeah, there's a
lot of time, and the savings are very low. Like,
we retire with an average one hundred and fifty thousand
dollars in the bank. Like, how is it all going
to work as a society? Right? A few children, Who's
(29:18):
going to take care of us?
Speaker 2 (29:20):
So we talked about some of the challenges. Of course,
we only have a couple of minutes left. I'm going
to leave it up to you. Let's send on a
good note, any words of wisdom.
Speaker 4 (29:31):
Yeah, look to me, Frank, thank you for this conversation.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
Right.
Speaker 4 (29:36):
I am a firm believer that when society presents problems,
society also presents solutions. And today what I see is
the appearance of AI okay, and tech is the one
that will allow us to solve this problem. I'm firmly
confirmed in that belief, so I'm marching very hard towards it.
(29:57):
And I'd love for everybody who's listening to this show
to go to the website and try it and see
whether we are on the right path. We have twenty
plus thousand family members actively using it, so I'm not
saying that go give it a try. I'm saying if, yeah,
in thirty days, if you haven't transformed your caregiving needs,
come and talk to me.
Speaker 2 (30:17):
Great, great, thank as, Thank you so much for joining
us today.
Speaker 3 (30:22):
Check it out.
Speaker 2 (30:24):
It's jubileetv. Is it Get jubiletv dot com.
Speaker 4 (30:29):
Is that it? That's correct? Fright? Get you Blee dot com.
Nice fac and you.
Speaker 3 (30:33):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (30:34):
Thank you everybody.
Speaker 4 (30:36):
Please be safe.
Speaker 1 (30:39):
You've been listening to Boomers Today with Frank Sampson. To
learn more about today's show, visit Boomers Today Radio dot
com and join us next time for another edition of
Boomers Today.
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