Approximately one in five teenagers suffers from depression, but providing treatment for this group is often tricky. That’s one reason why some psychologists are turning to technology to help connect teenagers with the mental health care they need.
Tag: apps
Baltimore Restaurants Test Out Dine-and-Dash App
My least favorite part of a restaurant meal generally comes after I’ve eaten, but before I walk out the door: the dreaded check-splitting-and-paying phase. Fortunately, a group of some of the best restaurants in Baltimore have banded together to beta test a new, locally-developed app that promises to make paying for food quicker and easier.
Johns Hopkins Student Wins Google App-Building Contest
In her May commencement address, YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki encouraged Johns Hopkins students to take the future into their own hands, and to take risks necessary to make the future a more exciting, dynamic place. Clearly, Hopkins student Phani Gaddipati is on his way to becoming part of that bright future: The junior majoring in biomedical engineering just won top prize in a major Google app-building contest.
Baltimore-Developed Parking App: Will It Solve Your Federal Hill Parking Woes?
This morning, the Baltimore Sun has a big article on a new app developed by a 24-year-old Canton man. Haystack aims to help beleaguered Baltimore drivers find parking spots by allowing users to alert each other to open parking spots. Why Haystack? Because “anyone from Canton, Fells Point or Federal Hill knows that finding parking can be like finding a needle in a haystack.”
Of course, Haystack developer Eric Meyer doesn’t expect people to engage out of the goodness of their hearts. If you find a parking spot using Haystack, you pay $3; if you leave a spot that someone else takes, you get $2.25. Haystack pockets the remaining 75 cents.
Not everyone is excited about Meyer’s app, which he describes as “kind of like Uber meets Tindr,” and which he predicts “could be big for Baltimore and really help solve a major problem.”
This guy is everything that’s wrong with South/East Baltimore. I hope he fails miserably. http://t.co/BlV4tjyz6a
— The Baltimore Chop (@ThBaltimoreChop) May 27, 2014
The app should be available for both Android and iOS systems as of this evening.
Anxious? Paranoid? Hypochondriac? Johns Hopkins Has an App for You!
It’s not easy being an anxious, paranoid hypochondriac. You try to tell people that either an anthrax attack or a pneumonic plague breakout is immanent, or that you’re sure that you (and everyone else on your street) will surely come down with the flu in the next few days–and no one will pay attention. Well don’t worry, worrywart! Johns Hopkins has some (free!) apps that can help you out.
How Your Cell Phone Could Save Your Life
Imagine this terrifying-but-all-too-common situation: you’re knocked unconscious in an accident. When the EMTs arrive, they can’t find your IDs (maybe you left your wallet at home that day). They have no idea who you are, who to contact, or whether you have any medical conditions.
Here’s one potential happy ending: the EMT glances at your smart phone. Since you’ve downloaded LifeBridge Health‘s new In Case of Emergency (ICE) app, she can get vital information — such as your name, emergency contact info, and any important allergies or medical conditions — from the home screen of your phone, without worrying about bypassing your password protection. As you speed to the hospital, the EMTs note that you’re allergic to penicillin. They call your wife to apprise her of the situation. Things are still scary, but a lot less mysterious.
You May Never Get a Parking Ticket Again, Thanks to this Baltimore-Developed App
Baltimore City publishes its parking citation list online. For most people, the citation roster is just a reminder of how frustrating it is to find one of those ominous neon-green envelopes nestled under your windshield wiper, but for local programmers Shea Frederick and James Schaffer, it was an opportunity.
University of Maryland Students Test Brand-New Insta-Poll App
Pre- and post-debate polls are so twentieth century. In our instant-reaction, smart-phone era, the newest trend is for pocket-sized software that instantly records viewers’ reactions as they’re watching the debate. It’s real-time data, and it’s being beta-tested at the University of Maryland-College Park.
Yeardley Love’s Mom Teams Up with JHU Expert on Domestic Violence App
In her interview with Katie Couric last week, Sharon Love said that she had “no idea” that her daughter Yeardley’s relationship with boyfriend George Huguely was violent. Two years after her daughter’s death, Love and her daughter Lexie have teamed up with a Johns Hopkins expert on intimate partner violence to create a smartphone app to help determine whether a relationship is potentially abusive.
Goucher Students’ App Name-Checked in the NY Times
Do you ever think about how much better your college experience would’ve been if you’d had an iPhone back then? If a lecture got boring, you could just watch some cute cat videos on YouTube; if an attractive stranger walked in the cafeteria, you could Facebook-stalk him before he finished up at the salad bar. But today’s college students are way more creative than that; they’re developing apps that let students track free food events on campus, find out how full the dining hall is, or locate your next class. When the New York Times recently tracked down the best apps for navigating campus life, and an app developed by students at Goucher, Drexel, and McGill — Involvio — got a prominent mention.
Involvio’s point is simple: it helps students sort through the often-overwhelming number of parties, events, club activities, and sporting events that are happening on campus at any given time. Involvio’s founder, Ari Winkleman, a Drexel senior, says he got the idea after noticing that “students always feel like they’re missing out. It’s all too common for students to think, ‘There’s probably something better happening than the thing I’m doing right now, I just don’t know about it.” He recruited Goucher alum Evan Siegel and current student Adrianna Edgerly-Moore to help bring the app to Goucher, where 200-plus events are currently listed.
