Tomb With a View
By: Rekha Shetty Source: AARP The Magazine Date Posted:
How's this for voices from the grave: California inventor Robert Barrows is seeking a patent for tombstones that display video messages from the dearly departed. For a small fee, the bereaved or the merely curious could view any of the screens in the cemetery by renting wireless headsets and remote controls.
Don't want strangers hearing your life's story? Barrows plans to add a signal blocker so that only approved viewers can watch. He expects a patent ruling in the next six to 12 months; if he gets the okay, he hopes that customers will shell out 20 to 30 percent more for talking tombstones than for nongabby graves.
Other entrepreneurs have already made the leap into high-tech grieving. Making Everlasting Memories, a Cincinnati-based company, has a patent for grave screens that display photos and family tributes. And a new online service, LastWishes.com, lets you e-mail posthumous messages, video clips, and audio clips to loved ones after you're gone (you write the notes before you die, of course). Which means you can now nag family members well into your next life.
Green Graveyards—A Natural Way to Go (AARP Bulletin)
Remembering & Celebrating a Loved One (AARP.org)
Funeral Arrangements and Memorial Services (AARP.org)
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