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New Microsoft App To Coordinate Disaster-Relief Efforts
An anonymous reader writes "Microsoft on Wednesday launched a new mobile app powered by Windows Azure called HelpBridge that lets you both ask for help after a natural disaster, as well as offer to give it. In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, the launch is an excellent initiative to rally everyone around one cause: supporting each other during a time of need. You can download the app right now from the Google Play Store, the Apple App Store, and the Windows Phone Store. Unfortunately, it's only available in the US right now, but hopefully Microsoft will be expanding regional support soon."
How will this help if all power, all hotspots, and all cell towers are down? There were dead spots during hurricane Sandy .
The reviews are pitiful on the iOS app. Except for the one paid of course;)
I hope this app has a more foolproof way of preventing false signals.
Sent from my ENIAC
Maybe they can save the Ballmer's job with this new app
Wow what a complete waste of a app! Ever heard of Amateur Radio? It has voice,digital,low and high speed data capabilities with on ground on spot high availability communications! Dah
Help!-bluescreen-crap-reboot-Help!-bluescreen-Crap!-reboot-Help!-bluescreen-CRAP!-reboot
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
The natural disasters are managed on the artificial disaster known as the Windows Phone.
... not a single one is compatible with that app.
What a great thing it is that Microsoft is launching a program to let people say "give-me give-me give-me" when they build in a flood plane but don't want to bother to buy flood insurance. After all, they needed to money that they could have spent on flood insurance to pay for their fancy smart phone to run the app. And at least we will not be pestered by the truly needy, since they are the ones who don't have smartphones.
I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
Unfortunately, it's only available in the US right now, but hopefully Microsoft will be expanding regional support soon."
Making the app available in jurisdictions other than the US is a no brainer to me. If I am a company, all I want is to make as much dough as I can. So why would a company restrict availability of a product to a selected market at the outset; if making it available to a larger customer base is a matter of coding?
I have done it on behalf of my small startup which unfortunaltely, was aquired and the new owner discountinued the product. But for a number of customers outside the USA, our products were good. And we sold them without any support. Cusomers [still] bought. We made about 19% of our sales this way. Now Microsoft launches an app and makes it only availabe to those in the USA.
Why do companies do this? Let the customer purchase the product at his/her own risk. They will still buy - I mean some.
http://crisismappers.net/
OpenStreetMap, Ushahidi, Sahana ... in Haiti and in New York
M$ft, you innovate nothing
yeah. good luck with that.
Unless the app can turn your phone into more of a p2p network where everyone would be connected all at ones using wifi turning all phones into towers themselves for people to connect to and share what info they need to.
I just can't wait to try it out... do you think it'll work outside the beltway?
It seems incredibly stupid to me not to just use the web. Why limit it to people who just have a device of a certain OS? Oh right, making money.
What type of disaster? Are they referring to the BSOD?
I think that a Microsoft app aimed at coordinating disaster-relief efforts is going to be a... disaster!
Thats the key :) How long does your average suburban tower last without power? All the zoning, building codes, permits, environmental rules, costs, shareholders vs the FCC?
"A spokesman for the FCC said the agency will look at whether to require backup power."
http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2012/11/18/sen-schumer-cell-towers-should-have-backup-power-to-prevent-widespread-service-outages-like-after-sandy/
It was to be 8h min of backup electric power at most cell sites but that was lost in the need for more study?
So you have the "... disaster relief efforts near where you live and nationwide" tracking but it only works with power on.
What kind of event can you report on with the power on?
The human one.
So expect a nice option to attach a photo, send location information and enter details about suspicious people.
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
Invalid Disaster. Replace Disaster and try again.
We're going to die.
I think they should try to use it to coordinate their own disasters first, maybe then Microsoft will start to suck a bit less?
All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain... time... to... die...
I wonder what the costs involved would be to have backup power generators for each of the towers. I think it would be more cost effective to have people with mobile phones as walking towers then having a tower run for X amount of time and then you lost your connection. Not sure if either method would pan out though in the great scheme of things. I guess you'll know what method would work best ones your facing a disaster scenario first hand.
Hmm, a MS app to help with disaster relief? I can't think of a common analogy, but it seems a bit like hiring a bull to restock a china shop after another bull trashes it. Or maybe there is something about a pot and a kettle, I don't know.
This is a hacked account, for which the owner can not be held responsible.
http://sahanafoundation.org/
I applaud Microsoft's effort, but part of me thinks this might be more about PR than a genuine attempt to save lives.
There are very good commercial reasons why open projects like Ushahidi and Sahana dominate the field, and why PR tokens from large private firms will always be just that.
More power to 'em, but if it costs a city from deploying a mature and well supported (not to mention free) platform like the two mentioned above, well fuck 'em instead - that's trading lives for PR.
Yes! This is an awesome! Except when the power and infrastructure is out, which it would likely be in the event of a disaster, the mobile device will be useless.
Sometimes people baffle me with their stupidity.
The app causes the phone to self destruct, thus preventing it from hampering genuine relief efforts?
Sent from my ASR33 using ASCII
As a few others have noted, there are a few sites out there (e.g., Google's crisis response and Sahana) that seek to match people in need with responders.
If this were any other application, I would argue that competition is good, but I fear that the fragmentation of services for disaster relief ultimately puts more lives at risk. Why doesn't Microsoft through its support & resources behind a well-established, widely-adopted system for collective disaster management? To provide yet another service that is disconnected from all others seems to invite confusion and reduce the power of the network effect.
The only answer I can think of is that Microsoft (lacking the same philanthropic reputation as its competitor, Google) wants to take all the credit. How noble.
This application sounds suspiciously similar to a New Zealand finalist in the Microsoft Imagine Cup 2012. Read about the "Transparent Communication Network" entry by "Team Connect":
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/scottwylie/archive/2012/05/03/2012-microsoft-imagine-cup-new-zealand.aspx
After a series of small disasters in Australia and New Zealand, my previous employer tried to kick off a website to pair helpers with those requiring assistance. Several others popped up at the same time. There's nothing especially new about the idea; we were working on an android app at the same time. However, it would need a bit of policing to make sure idiots don't just sign up for free stuff.
Consciousness is a myth. Trust me.