Every 16 seconds someone suffers a head injury and many of those result in cognitive impairment or memory loss. IBM has noticed that the inability of persons with cognitive impairments to recall their family and friends or to recognise common household items can cause great difficulty in their daily lives. Consequently, it has introduced Thinkable, a multimedia software program that operates on the PS/2 and is described as a multimedia solution for cognitive impairment. IBM is showing more than its usual business acumen by identifying a new market in the shape of the 12m Americans that it claims are suffering memory loss from injury, developmental disabilities, neurological disorders, degenerative disease and substance abuse. (With the exception of Marion Barry, does IBM really believe that crack fiends can afford a PS/2?) Anyway, Thinkable enables psychologists, occupational therapists and doctors to remind patients that they are no more out to lunch than the rest of us – I think, therefore IBM. The new software uses animation, photos and natural voice to prompt users through practice sessions. Thinkable multimedia software requires 4Mb of memory, a 30Mb fixed disk, and OS/2 Version 1.3. It will be available in March and costs quite a few lines of abusable substances at $4,800.
