A wonderful and extremely useful app appropriately named “Help!” has made its way to Kickstarter for a bit of a boost. Its creator, a developer named Joe Reilly has described it quite well:

Help! is an emergency smartphone app that, at the touch of a button begins recording audio and video while simultaneously uploading the footage to a remote server. When the server connection is broken (turning off the app, battery dying, etc) an email goes out to 1 or more addresses you have designated to alert your family, friend, lawyer, etc that there is a video waiting for them and that you may need help. This way you are never without an alibi, a witness, or someone who knows what’s going on. The email comes with a message that tells the recipient you have activated “Help!” along with your location and a link to view or download the footage.

No one can steal your phone and destroy the evidence because it’s already backed up and distributed.

I would personally would love to see the owner’s voice able to activate the app too, not just by pressing a button. A victim might be subdued at the moment and not in the position to fumble with his/her phone so a voice command might be life or death.

Your Android phone itself could be stolen too,  or confiscated in the first place. That is, before the app activation could even take place, or even before you realize you’re in a dangerous situation. Personally, I would prefer an Android wristwatch doubling as an emergency phone, or any concealed cell phone capable gadget dedicated for a dedicated “Help!” function and any other supporting features like location finder, photo and video distress calls. Just throwing out ideas, but Joe seems like he’s on the right track.

The situations and circumstances where you could use this app are, well, mostly emergencies.

Have a feeling something isn’t right or you think some creep might be following you down a dark alley? Activate “Help!” just in case, until the danger passes. You can always call your emergency contact(s) and tell them to disregard the email.

Are you getting pulled over and want to make sure the law enforcement follows the rules? It’s your word against theirs without “Help!”

Witnessing a robbery or hostage situation? “Help!” gives no visible indication it is activated unless you set it to.

At a protest and things getting out of hand? Help serve truth and justice without worrying that someone can get away with anything by confiscating or breaking your phone!

This App could save your life or keep you out of jail someday!

Everyone you love should have this app on their phone.

I also would add cases of strokes, heart attacks, and all other acute health conditions that might normally be served by 911 calls, but could be rendered inaccessible for such a patient.

Joseph Reilly guy has so far collected pledges in amount of $866 for just two days of the “Help!” app being announced as a Kickstarter project. His goal is $7,700, let’s hope he will get it in the next 29 days of  funding period or else.

The post Help! The Android Emergency App That Could Save Your Life appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Whether it’s a fire, a bank robbery, or a stroke, the idea is that you’ll be able to pick up your cell phone and fire off a quick SMS to 911. Emergency dispatchers will send help your way and, thanks to the beauty of text, there is potentially less ambiguity regarding location.

That’s one advantage, but there’s one other big one: Users won’t be overheard while reporting an emergency. Imagine that you are in a hostage situation and you want to call for help. Calling 911 can get you in trouble with your captors, but secretly texting 911 can be much more stealthy on your part. That is, if we ever ran into that situation.

I’m thinking that the FCC is going to be a minor speedbump in getting such a system implemented compared to the funding concerns that would go along with getting it all set up properly… especially the personnel to respond to the influx of emergencies that would be reported. Making it more anonymous may get more reports, but I would imagine the texter would receive an immediate call back in order to provide more information.

Recently, PowerPhone Inc. received a US patent for their “Integrated Call Handler and E-Mail Systems and Methods.” This will allow “Incident Linked Multimedia” (ILM), meaning photos and video will be able to be transmitted to 911 too. [Mobile Burn]

The post 911 emergency reporting upgrade coming soon appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

The Rogers HTC Dream has gone from Dream to nightmare fairly quickly for its customers. First it was announced that it would not receive a new OS upgrade … after Dream owners retaliated, Rogers announced that Dream customers could upgrade to a Magic.  Now there is an issue with Magic; making an emergency call to 911 will not work without first making some setting changes.

911 emergency calls cannot be connected if the location-based services are enabled, (step-by-step instructions follow).  News arrived today that HTC and Rogers are working on a fix to the problem, and while they do the HTC Dream has been pulled from the shelves and online.  Dream owners have been contacted by text message.

This is what Mobile Syrup received:

“I’m writing to share some urgent news with our Rogers HTC Dream customers.
We have contacted all of our Dream customers by text message asking them to disable GPS location on their HTC Dream device to ensure all 911 calls complete.

HTC is expediting a software fix to the 1.5 Android Operating System that will address this issue – and provide several other improvements to the OS.

We expect this upgrade to be available very soon. In the meantime, Dream customers need to follow these steps:
1) Select Menu
2) Select Settings
3) Select Location
4) Uncheck Enable GPS Satellite

Please note that the Rogers HTC Dream is the only device affected.
Protecting our customers’ safety is our top priority and we communicated with our customers as soon as we were made aware of the issue. We have texted all affected customers and we have immediately requested that the device be taken off the shelf until HTC implements its upgrade.”

The post A Dream turns to Magic, to nightmare: Rogers pulls phone due to 911 glitch appeared first on Mobile Magazine.