For many individuals, greeting someone with a simple 'hello' is a common occurrence that can be accomplished quickly using a mobile phone. But what about older people who haven't mastered this type of resource? When they miss someone, how do they send a message like "good morning, I miss you"? It's something that might not be done if they don't have access to the necessary resources. This paper aims to explore technological empowerment for older adults by combining TV messages and voice commands. 110 people aged between 59 and 91 were interviewed to give their opinions on these two mechanisms. The main conclusions are that there is no consensus on notifications, but there is strong interest in the subject, particularly as a very familiar device is used. Voice features were fully accepted because they allow for more natural interactions, without the need for physical contact with a device. The combination of both features is another point that arouses curiosity in the group, whose opinions are described in detail throughout the paper.

Technology has been a link between people, and the use of cell phones, tablets and other devices contribute to reduce distances. However, while these devices can unite, they can also result in exclusion. That's what happens to a lot of seniors. This condition makes social isolation in this age group one of the biggest world's problems. Due to this reason, thinking of solutions aimed at the social integration of this public is extremely important to reduce the indicators of loneliness. In this study, we used a system that combines an Intelligent Personal Assistant (IPA) and interactive television (iTV) to verify if this type of approach can facilitate and promote the realization of audio calls to friends, family and caregivers. The prototype was used for seven days in a real context with people between 64 and 90 years old. In general, the acceptance of the system was quite positive and changed the routine of the participants in some way during the testing period.

Podcasts as a media format have been increasing popular in recent years. The ease of access to this format have contributed for its success story. However, the creation of Podcasts requires specific hardware and software for recording and editing it. Some platforms have emerged with the proposal to ease this creation process, namely by introducing Text-to-Speech (TTS) technologies removing the need for capturing and editing voice, reducing the effort necessary for producing this format, yet no platform allows the use of TTS in Portuguese of Portugal while retaining the scope of “podcast creation platform”. Taking these limitations in mind we present the proposal of an all-in-one Podcast Creation platform with the availability of TTS Technology in Portuguese of Portugal. The paper describes the usability testing (UX) of the platform using 3 methodologies being: Self-Assessment Manikin (SAM), System Usability Scale (SUS) and Attrakdiff. with promising results regarding its usability and desirability.

The increase in the consumption of digital formats has, in many cases, been a penalty for traditional media companies. In the adaptation to digital, the transformation of written news into audio formats, that guarantee spatio-temporal flexibility in its consumption, is one of the differentiating options. Artificial intelligence tools can help accelerate and automate the digitalization processes. It is, therefore, the objective of this paper to evaluate the integration of Text-to-Speech (TTS) technology in the process of creating news podcasts. The study comprised two surveys. The first corresponding to the validation of TTS services in Portuguese from Portugal, and the second for the validation of three models of news podcasts containing human voice, synthesized voice via TTS, and a hybrid model with TTS voice and human voice. The results point to a general acceptance of the integration of voices generated by TTS in news podcasts without prejudice to the consumer experience.

This paper presents the results of testing a second-screen mobile application designed for senior users. This work is part of the +TV4E project, a larger study which focuses on promoting info-inclusion among the senior Portuguese population by directly sending them information regarding public and social services. The developed mobile application was integrated into this project as a complement for the already existing iTV application, which delivered informative videos to seniors, serving both as a second-screen app, by augmenting the TV experience and as a standalone application, by allowing users to access their videos outside their homes. Initially, a prototype application was developed with the objective of being presented to a group of seniors in order to identify the major interface flaws, subsequently, the prototype was improved taking into consideration the gathered feedback.

The growing use of second-screen devices stresses the importance of finding a balance between engagement, distraction, and disturbance of its users, while simultaneously watching television. In this framework, this article reports on a study designed to analyze the efficiency, impact, and interference of different notification strategies aiming to identify the best approach to be used when an alert is needed in second-screen scenarios.A prototype able to deliver synchronized information related with TV content, with intervals of 10, 30 and 60 s, followed by individual or combined notifications (e.g., audio, visual, and haptic—on the tablet and visual—on the TV) was developed. A laboratory adapted to replicate a living room was set up and a test that involved watching three segments of a 20-min clip while using the prototype was carried with 30 participants, under a cognitive walk-through protocol.Quantitative and qualitative results show that receiving notifications while watching TV is effective in alerting users about new information, despite its inherent cognitive disturbance for the TV viewing experience. It was also possible to highlight that in an HCI perspective, the most suitable strategy for integrating notifications (considering type and cadence) should be based on a combination of a visual notification (displayed only on the TV screen) along with a haptic notification (vibration on the tablet); spaced by an interval of at least 30 s.