One more way smartphones are changing the world:
Be My Eyes allows you to “micro-volunteer” tiny portions of your time, perhaps less than a minute, remotely via your smartphone.
The idea is to lend your sight to a blind person, via a one-way video link, and help them accomplish a task that is simple for you but impossible for them.
Imagine cooking a meal, but being unable to tell one can of food from another. Or receiving a letter and not knowing if it was a bill, a wedding invitation or junk mail. Or perhaps you have taken a taxi to an appointment but can't find the correct doorbell...More details at The Telegraph.
All of these problems can be solved by a stranger donating just a few moments of their time, thanks to some clever coding. Be My Eyes is already available as an iPhone app and an Android version is on the way...
When a blind user requests help, a call goes out to a random sighted volunteer. The clever part is that there’s no pressure: if you’re in the middle of something, you can ignore it, and another user will pick it up. But if you are free you can answer with a tap and help with their problem...
Already there have been over 23,000 such interactions - tiny portions of time donated to make someones life easier. More than 8,500 blind users have signed up to the service, and 103,000 sighted volunteers.
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