,,Forget the pointless, shortsighted and overzealous rhetoric about the evils of technology. Tech isn’t good or bad. It’s a manifestation of intention. Period. When that tech is in the hands of the wise, it can save lives no different from a lighthouse in a wrathful storm, guiding lost sailors safely home.”
As such, today we’ll continue what we began during the Christmas days in 2012. Each month we’ll post an article of people who are a beacon of hope and compassion to the world.
So without useless banter, we’ll go on to show you some great mobile applications that can change the world for the better, and for some, at the right time, in the right place, can make the ultimate difference.
“What we are trying to do is make it safer for people to take medicines,” explained Simons, who was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in August. “In most parts of Africa, when you take medicines, you are not sure what you are taking.”
MPedigree is also providing drug companies with previously inaccessible market intelligence, including prices and drug sales. “We want to build a world-class, real-time pharmaceutical intelligence group providing governments and pharmaceutical companies with our prescription data,” Simons said.
Besides safeguarding people’s health, the app also aids law enforcement agencies in stamping down pharmaceutical counterfeiting groups and ensuring reliability and trust for both consumers and pharmaceutical companies.
Thank you Bright Simons 
The app uses sophisticated location-based services to alert citizens in a public place of the need for CPR. The application also directs citizen rescuers to the exact location of the nearest publicly available automated external defibrillator (AED).
The PulsePoint app also provides a virtual window into select 911 emergency communication centers giving users of mobile devices real-time access to emergency activity as it is occurring.
The American Red Cross released its official Earthquake App, putting lifesaving information right in the hands of people who live in or who visit earthquake prone areas.
This app gives users instant access to local and real-time information, so they know what to do before, during and after earthquakes,” said Dr. Steven J. Jensen, member of the American Red Cross Scientific Advisory Committee, and a professor in emergency management at California State University at Long Beach.
The Earthquake App can be found in the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store for Android by searching for American Red Cross.
Features of the app, among many, include :
Stevie Wonder, a UN Messenger of Peace, said he has already downloaded the app, learning facts such as the number of people in the past decade who have been vaccinated thanks to the efforts of the UN.
Mr. Wonder, who is blind, noted that the design of the app is particularly helpful for persons with disabilities.
Monique Coleman, the first ever UN Youth Champion, said the app allows the public, especially young people, to “go inside of the walls and go inside the doors [of the UN] and be able to really understand” its work.
Remas won the Apps for Good contest , a challenge that inspires developers to create apps to improve people’s lives . A list of apps trying to do some social good was featured in a great article on mashable.com.
If there’s one lesson to gain from this, is that the mobile industry isn’t just about making and selling games, integrating social networks in apps or offering a more convenient way to buy stuff through your mobile phone. Mobile apps can also help improve the quality of life and become a powerful tool to change the world for the better.
Our most humble thank you to all apptivists around the world. Be a hero today and share these apps with your friends and make the world a better place for everybody.
What would your idea be on a great app to help people? What does the world need and what should mobile developers focus on? Post your ideas below.
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