Assist during a riot?

A new smartphone application by TED innovators will help you alert your friends and family during a riot

Keeping up with the hard times in troubled cities across the world, it is encouraging to see the TED (Technology, Entertainment and Design) innovators come up with something interesting and useful yet again. A new smartphone application has been created by Salvatore Iaconesi, a newly created TED fellow and it was launched in Edinburgh a few days ago. Working in tandem with a host of social networks, the app lets people know what areas are affected by trouble when a riot breaks out. It basical- ly compiles data from a host of social networks and uses it to let people know what areas are least affected by trouble. In case you are caught in such a situation, you have to point your phone and a colour interface indicates the dangerous areas.

Saurabh Krishnan, a tech expert, believes it is a good application. He says that high-speed Internet connectivity is a must, especially in times of crisis like riots or terror attacks. “It’s extremely helpful since it would synthesize your contacts from Facebook, Foursquare, Flickr, Instagram and Twitter. The easy interface is also an interesting feature, which doesn’t confuse people and uses your usual indicators like red and green to show danger and safety respectively,” says Saurabh.

Tech geeks believe it is a visionary app and the integration of all contacts make it extremely useful. Abhishek Ray, a software professional, says he is looking forward to such an app in India. “Considering how difficult it is to reach people during a crisis since the phone networks get jammed, this is an excellent way to alert people. With half of your friends and family on your BBM and Twitter accounts, it should work here too,” he says.