news
08-26-2015, 08:47 PM
GOOD Magazine: Now Your Friends Can Keep You Safe by Digitally Walking You Home at Night (http://magazine.good.is/articles/companion-app-never-walk-home-alone)
http://i.huffpost.com/gen/3305770/original.jpg
(http://start.westnet.ca/newstempch.php?article=news/whats-working)
It turns out there may be an upside to surveillance via GPS tracking.
A free new iPhone (https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/companion-never-walk-alone/id925211972?mt=8&ign-mpt=uo%3D4) and Android (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=io.companionapp.companion) app called Companion allows users to let friends or family members identified as “companions” keep an eye on them through their GPS location while traveling to their destination. When they make it home, companions are automatically notified via text message, as is the case should users not arrive at their destination by their GPS-predicted arrival time.
Companion also allows users to contact their pre-identified friends, family members or local police department with just one tap of their phone, should they feel nervous or if trouble arises (http://companionapp.io/), according to the app’s website. And companions do not need to download the app themselves in order to receive alerts.
As Rafi Schwartz writes in GOOD Magazine (http://magazine.good.is/articles/companion-app-never-walk-home-alone), the app "affords users the sense of comfort that comes with being among friends."
Companion was developed by a group of University of Michigan students concerned about campus safety and sexual assault complaints (http://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/index.ssf/2015/03/u-m_police_hope_to_use_new_stu.html), Danny Freed, one of the students, told the Ann Arbor News.
The idea has caught the attention of the the school’s Department of Public Safety and Security, which is hoping to work with the developers to use data from the app to improve its approach to campus patrolling, as well as the university’s Michigan Business Challenge, which named the app “best overall business” out of 80 teams earlier this year.
MORE:
Grist: A Hawaiian clean energy plant makes electricity from seawater and ammonia (http://grist.org/news/a-hawaiian-clean-energy-plant-makes-electricity-from-seawater-and-ammonia/)
Slate: Guarding Machu Picchu: How Peru is using drones to protect its archaeological treasures. (http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2015/08/how_peru_is_using_drones_to_protect_machu_picchu_a nd_other_archaeological.html)
The What’s Working Honor Roll highlights some of the best reporting and analysis, from a range of media outlets, on all the ways people are working toward solutions to some of our greatest challenges. If you know a story you think should be on our Honor Roll, please send an email to editor Joseph Erbentraut at joseph.erbentraut@huffingtonpost.com with the subject line "WHAT'S WORKING."
Also on HuffPost:
-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. (http://start.westnet.ca/newstempch.php?article=terms.html/) It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/234567819291/u/0/f/677045/c/35496/s/49521d96/sc/28/rc/1/rc.img (http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/234567819291/u/0/f/677045/c/35496/s/49521d96/sc/28/rc/1/rc.htm)
http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/234567819291/u/0/f/677045/c/35496/s/49521d96/sc/28/rc/2/rc.img (http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/234567819291/u/0/f/677045/c/35496/s/49521d96/sc/28/rc/2/rc.htm)
http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/234567819291/u/0/f/677045/c/35496/s/49521d96/sc/28/rc/3/rc.img (http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/234567819291/u/0/f/677045/c/35496/s/49521d96/sc/28/rc/3/rc.htm)
http://da.feedsportal.com/r/234567819291/u/0/f/677045/c/35496/s/49521d96/sc/28/a2.img (http://da.feedsportal.com/r/234567819291/u/0/f/677045/c/35496/s/49521d96/sc/28/a2.htm)
http://adchoice.feedsportal.com/r/234567819291/u/0/f/677045/c/35496/s/49521d96/sc/28/ach.img (http://adchoice.feedsportal.com/r/234567819291/u/0/f/677045/c/35496/s/49521d96/sc/28/ach.htm)http://pi.feedsportal.com/r/234567819291/u/0/f/677045/c/35496/s/49521d96/sc/28/a2t.imghttp://pi2.feedsportal.com/r/234567819291/u/0/f/677045/c/35496/s/49521d96/sc/28/a2t2.imghttp://feeds.huffingtonpost.com/c/35496/f/677045/s/49521d96/sc/28/mf.gif
More... (http://feeds.huffingtonpost.com/c/35496/f/677045/s/49521d96/sc/28/l/0L0Shuffingtonpost0N0C20A150C0A80C250Cbangladesh0E child0Emarriage0In0I80A453640Bhtml/story01.htm)
http://i.huffpost.com/gen/3305770/original.jpg
(http://start.westnet.ca/newstempch.php?article=news/whats-working)
It turns out there may be an upside to surveillance via GPS tracking.
A free new iPhone (https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/companion-never-walk-alone/id925211972?mt=8&ign-mpt=uo%3D4) and Android (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=io.companionapp.companion) app called Companion allows users to let friends or family members identified as “companions” keep an eye on them through their GPS location while traveling to their destination. When they make it home, companions are automatically notified via text message, as is the case should users not arrive at their destination by their GPS-predicted arrival time.
Companion also allows users to contact their pre-identified friends, family members or local police department with just one tap of their phone, should they feel nervous or if trouble arises (http://companionapp.io/), according to the app’s website. And companions do not need to download the app themselves in order to receive alerts.
As Rafi Schwartz writes in GOOD Magazine (http://magazine.good.is/articles/companion-app-never-walk-home-alone), the app "affords users the sense of comfort that comes with being among friends."
Companion was developed by a group of University of Michigan students concerned about campus safety and sexual assault complaints (http://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/index.ssf/2015/03/u-m_police_hope_to_use_new_stu.html), Danny Freed, one of the students, told the Ann Arbor News.
The idea has caught the attention of the the school’s Department of Public Safety and Security, which is hoping to work with the developers to use data from the app to improve its approach to campus patrolling, as well as the university’s Michigan Business Challenge, which named the app “best overall business” out of 80 teams earlier this year.
MORE:
Grist: A Hawaiian clean energy plant makes electricity from seawater and ammonia (http://grist.org/news/a-hawaiian-clean-energy-plant-makes-electricity-from-seawater-and-ammonia/)
Slate: Guarding Machu Picchu: How Peru is using drones to protect its archaeological treasures. (http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2015/08/how_peru_is_using_drones_to_protect_machu_picchu_a nd_other_archaeological.html)
The What’s Working Honor Roll highlights some of the best reporting and analysis, from a range of media outlets, on all the ways people are working toward solutions to some of our greatest challenges. If you know a story you think should be on our Honor Roll, please send an email to editor Joseph Erbentraut at joseph.erbentraut@huffingtonpost.com with the subject line "WHAT'S WORKING."
Also on HuffPost:
-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. (http://start.westnet.ca/newstempch.php?article=terms.html/) It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/234567819291/u/0/f/677045/c/35496/s/49521d96/sc/28/rc/1/rc.img (http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/234567819291/u/0/f/677045/c/35496/s/49521d96/sc/28/rc/1/rc.htm)
http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/234567819291/u/0/f/677045/c/35496/s/49521d96/sc/28/rc/2/rc.img (http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/234567819291/u/0/f/677045/c/35496/s/49521d96/sc/28/rc/2/rc.htm)
http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/234567819291/u/0/f/677045/c/35496/s/49521d96/sc/28/rc/3/rc.img (http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/234567819291/u/0/f/677045/c/35496/s/49521d96/sc/28/rc/3/rc.htm)
http://da.feedsportal.com/r/234567819291/u/0/f/677045/c/35496/s/49521d96/sc/28/a2.img (http://da.feedsportal.com/r/234567819291/u/0/f/677045/c/35496/s/49521d96/sc/28/a2.htm)
http://adchoice.feedsportal.com/r/234567819291/u/0/f/677045/c/35496/s/49521d96/sc/28/ach.img (http://adchoice.feedsportal.com/r/234567819291/u/0/f/677045/c/35496/s/49521d96/sc/28/ach.htm)http://pi.feedsportal.com/r/234567819291/u/0/f/677045/c/35496/s/49521d96/sc/28/a2t.imghttp://pi2.feedsportal.com/r/234567819291/u/0/f/677045/c/35496/s/49521d96/sc/28/a2t2.imghttp://feeds.huffingtonpost.com/c/35496/f/677045/s/49521d96/sc/28/mf.gif
More... (http://feeds.huffingtonpost.com/c/35496/f/677045/s/49521d96/sc/28/l/0L0Shuffingtonpost0N0C20A150C0A80C250Cbangladesh0E child0Emarriage0In0I80A453640Bhtml/story01.htm)