The problem is that carrying around that jerry can of gas may not be particularly safe. There are fumes to worry about, not to mention the possibility of leakage and possible combustion, fire and explosions. A much safer alternative, it seems, is a product called Extra Fuel. It works with any regular gas engine in a car (pretty sure it doesn’t work as a diesel alternative), but it doesn’t contain the volatile chemicals found in conventional petrol gas.

The volatile gases–like butane, pentane, and hexane–are really the problem, because they can heat up on a hot day, pop a vent in the jerry can, and fill your car with dangerous fumes. Extra Fuel doesn’t have that, but your engine can still use it. Extra Fuel has an octane rating of 91 and is supposed to give the same kind of mileage as regular gas. Better still, it has a ten-year shelf life.

A half-gallon jug is $24.99, so Extra Fuel is definitely more expensive than the stuff you get at the pump, but it may be a very worthy investment for some road trip peace of mind.

[Source]

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In the hospital setting, medical professionals use something called “therapeutic hypothermia” with such patients, working to reduce their body temperature with chilled water blankets or cold drip catheters. Outside the hospital, though, what can you do to keep the patient as cool as possible in the instance of a cardiac arrest?

Developed by Hohenstein Institute in Germany, the prototype has water-filled cooling pads. These pads are then connected by a hose to a vacuum-pressurized metal container with zeolites, special silicate minerals that can rapidly extract heat from water. When activated, the water circulates through the zeolite chamber and gets to a near-freezing temperature very quickly. The vest is put on the patient and, hopefully, you’re able to get the core temperature down to 32-34C (89.3-93.2F).

The research team sees these vests being deployed in public buildings where anyone can access them in the case of an emergency. They’re currently looking for an industrial partner to further develop and hopefully launch the product.

[Source]

The post Cardiac Arrest Cooling Vest Could Reduce Brain Damage appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

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.

In an effort to combat parents’ lack of trust in college crisis management systems, IntelliGuard is offering a work-around for post-secondary institutions to bypass mobile networks with emergency alerts.

Many colleges and universities now use SMS messages to students’ cell phones to relay emergency information, such as in the recent string of campus shootings. But wireless networks quickly get bogged down, leading to delays of 20 minutes or more in some cases before students even know there’s a present danger.

With IntelliGuard’s RAVENAlert system, colleges could use a private wireless network to send messages to every receiver on a campus simultaneously, whether to keychain receiver devices, free-standing wall units or even a 53″ digital outdoor venue sign.

“Our existing layered emergency alert system relies on SMS/text and email, which are adequate when time isn’t a critical factor,” says Koren V. Kanadanian, director of emergency management at Providence (RI) College. “But when I have to send multiple messages of instruction during an emergency, I have no control over what the cell carriers do. Plus once an initial emergency alert is sent, the students immediately call their parents to let them know what’s happening, which only clogs the network further, adding to the delay of message delivery. With IntelliGuard, I know that everyone will get every message that’s sent out at the same time in seconds.”

The technology is already used in hospitals and paging industries, and is capable of sending emergency messages to an unlimited number of recipients at the same time in less than 20 seconds.

But if you tell any group of students they need to carry around an ugly keychain for the rest of their post-sec career, some will rebel. Some will get drunk and lose it.

Personally, I think it would make more sense to require manufacturers to embed the medium-range receivers in all new models of cell phones, smart phones, tablets; if they were designed to receive any emergency signal in range, the system could be a boon for security not only in campuses, but all other increasingly-usual targets of mass attacks such as airports. If that were the case, any personal electronics in use would display the emergency message to everyone in range.

[Intelliguard]

The post Emergency pagers for college students: Will it fly? 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]

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