Help Cancer ResearchersSmartphones have a whole lot of computing power — and if you care about solving the problems of cancer, you can use yours to help. That too, while you sleep. Vodafone’s Dream Lab app on Android connects to Australia to lend a helping hand to research on cancer.
You can open up the app while you sleep, choose the amount of bandwidth you are willing to give over (50MB is the minimum) and select a category of cancer from the list. This will work best if you have a good plan for Internet connectivity at home so that the DreamLab app can work on Wi-Fi. Now, while you snooze, the app will work on genetic sequences from the Garvan Institute of Medical Research and send the info back to the Institute for use.
Be There For MeA small team of entrepreneurs (Touchkin) decided they wanted to solve real problems with their startup, not just make a beeline for funding. So they developed an app called StayClose which uses your Android smartphone and those of people who you love, to stay in touch always. You can always call, of course, but sometimes, you just don’t. In fact, you don’t reach out and say, "I’m feeling lonely", "I’m unwell" , etc. You instead opt not to bother your loved ones.
StayClose connects family members and shows information that the others want to know. Like someone having gone to work — or not; someone being as active and chatty as usual — or not. Especially designed for those who live on their own and at distances from family, the app will alert others if there’s a change of pattern, whereupon they can call or get help.
Tackle That TensionMindshift is an app that is meant to help young people deal with everyday anxiety — social, jitters related to tests, dealing with some sort of conflict, etc. It’s available free on both Android and iOS.
While one should be wary of every passing mental health app because the very act of tracking and measuring anxiety or depression can just enhance it from the sheer focus, this one doesn’t look like it could do much harm. It uses no mumbo jumbo to test anxiety but asks the user to rate his or her own, keeping in mind a few signs like racing heart, stomach ache, nausea etc. Then the app teaches coping skills, thinking rationally, breathing right, relaxing muscles and more. It also gives an anxiety 101 so that the anxiety doesn’t become its own cause.
(This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 14-12-2015)
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Mala Bhargava has been writing on technology well before the advent of internet in Indians and before CDs made their way into computers. Mala writes on technology, social media, startups and fitness. A trained psychologist, she claims that her understanding of psychology helps her understand the human side of technology.
