Tech
Apps That Are Making An Impact On The World
From ordering food to booking rooms to getting travel plans organised, technology has evolved with every new app to help make the world a better place. For every small thing one does in life, there is an app that exists to make that task all the more easier. One of the positive sides of this is that now, apart from just the social angle of things, there are apps which help make the world a better place. Here are our pick of apps that not only contribute to the social betterment of the world, but help make an impact as well.
1. GlobalGiving
At its very essence, GlobalGiving is an organisation that helps in the growth of those foundations which are at the grassroot level. From raising money for building wells in Nigeria and to helping raise money for earthquake victims in Nepal, GlobalGiving works as the perfect facilitator. People who sign up on the site get connected to the cause they want to support and give money to, with regular updates on further donations as and when required. Since the time of its inception in 2002, this organisation raised almost $ 200 million from people around the world. Supporting close to 13,000 causes across the world, GlobalGiving helped improve the conditions of people all over the world.
2. LeftoverSwap
Leftover food is always an issue and when you do not know what to do with the excess food, it more often than not goes to waste. To prevent wastage like this and to harness the power of smartphones to good, the LeftoverSwap app was created. Using the swipe and connect principle, LeftoverSwap lets people take pictures of leftover food and share it on their app. Once that is done, volunteers who are already registered on the app collect the food and give it to either individuals who need the food or to charities who work with the poor and hungry groups of people in the world.
3. One Today
While donating to organizations is well and good, finding a legitimate cause can be quite tricky. One Today came to be as an attempt to resolve this issue and to remove middlemen from the picture altogether. Once you register on the website, One Today matches users to charities based on the users’ interests. Once you register and match with the charity of your choice, the app lets you donate $ 1 a day to these causes. Further, the app also allows users to increase the donations made by their friends, in an attempt to make a larger impact.
4. MindMate
At a time when dementia is an increasingly common disease, MindMate comes as a blessing in disguise. With over 350,000 regular users, this app helps people stay connected to their memory with regular exercises. With interactive games created using the latest scientific research in the fields of dementia and mental health, MindMate helps improve one’s memory. What makes this app so much more interesting is it also offers a wide range of information on how to stay active, fit and healthy by giving users information on regular health and exercise.
5. Tree Planet
What if you could lend a hand in increasing the number of trees by playing a game on your phone? Tree Planet, an app that does just that, recognised the growing addiction people have when it comes to their phones and helped plant over 500,000 trees in a period of four years. In the latest version of the game, every time the users save a tree from dying, Tree Planet plants a sapling/tree. Converting virtual trees into real trees, Tree Planet is making the world a cleaner and greener place, one game at a time!
Websites and apps like these have been specifically designed to make the world one cause and one issue at a time. If you think there are other apps like these that we missed mentioning, comment and let us know!
Google, as we all know, is the world’s most popular search engine. Whether we need a solution to a problem, find the lyrics of a favourite song, or get a quick update about the weather, Google is the one stop solution for everything. Founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin in 1995, Google, worth $ 748 billion in the market, is the third most valuable company in the world, after Microsoft and Apple. Here is a list of some lesser known and interesting facts about Google.
Interesting facts about Google
1) The founders of Google originally named the search engine ‘BackRub.’ It was then changed to Google in the year 1997.
2) The name Google originated by misspelling the mathematical word ‘googol,’ which is basically a 1 followed by 100 zeroes.
3) Larry and Sergey’s visit to the Burning Man Festival in Nevada resulted in the first ever Google Doodle on August 30th 1998. The doodle was a burning man stick figure and was added to the homepage to let people know they were out of office.
4) According to Alexa, Google is the internet’s most searched website. Well, this is not a shocker.
5) Google has a rotated version of itself called the Google Mirror. This version shows everything in a mirrored fashion. Have you ever tried this? If not, you can try it here https://elgoog.im/search/?q=hi.
6) Google handles over 1 billion search requests per day, using over 1 million systems. Apart from this, Google’s algorithm can analyze millions of pages in a second. This was just 30-40 pages in the initial years of its inception.
7) In 1999, Google founders wanted to sell Google to Excite for $ 1 million. Excite did not accept Google’s offer back then. Quite a regret!
8) Larry Page and Sergey Brin have their own runways at NASA’s Moffett Field airport. No other plane is allowed to land on their runways.
9) Google owns the rights to common mispronunciations of its name like Gogle, Gooogle, Googlr, etc.
10) Google employs the largest network of translators in the world and can translate more than 80 languages. Apart from this, Google earns 99% of its profits through advertising.
In 2000, Google became the world’s most popular search engine and ever since, it has adopted a unique style of doing things to keep things fresh and progressive.
Did we miss out on any other interesting fact about Google? Comment below and let us know.
Snapchat is one among the most used apps in the world, second only to Facebook. When it first launched, people thought of it as a photo sharing revolution. The app, which originally started off as a person to person photo sharing app, now evolved to feature “Stories” which last for 24 hours and even discover where brands and influencers can showcase their content. Started by Evan Spiegel, Bobby Murphy and Reggie Brown, this app currently has up to 190 million active daily users. Apart from the cool filters and stories, about what else is this app? Keep reading to find out some interesting facts about Snapchat which you probably did not know.
1) Originally called Picaboo
When it first launched in 2011, Snapchat was called Picaboo and was exclusive only for iOS users. Later, in 2012, the app was renamed to Snapchat and was made available to Android users as well.
2) Try till you succeed
The founders, Evan Spiegel, Bobby Murphy and Reggie Brown tried and failed at 34 projects before coming up with the idea of Snapchat. Spiegel, in an interview, mentioned, the idea of Snapchat came up they were working on a college project at Stanford University.
3) 3.5 billion pictures and videos per day
As of 2017, approximately 3.5 billion pictures and videos were shared and viewed every single day on Snapchat. Yes, everyone loves Snapchat!
4) Drinks are the most shared pictures
Recent stats show, a large number of Snapchat users share photos of their drinks with their friends. A shocking 93 % of people have used Snapchat for this.
5) Women form the majority users
As of April 2019, women account for approximately 61 % Snapchat users, with men forming only 38 % of the user base.
Most of the users belong to the age group of 18-20 years.
6) Zuckerberg wants Snapchat
Mark Zuckerberg has been trying to acquire Snapchat for a while now, but in vain. Zuckerberg first offered a billion dollars for Snapchat and when he was rejected, came back with $ 3 billion dollars, only to face rejection again. His final offer of $ 4 billion was also rejected by Snapchat. Till date, Evan Spiegel remains adamant about selling Snapchat.
Which of these facts about Snapchat surprised you the most? Comment below and let us know.
The year is 2019 and today, every household has at least 3 devices connected to the WiFi. While WiFi is widely used all over the world today, Nikola Tesla actually theorized its possibility way back in 1929. If you thought you knew everything there was to know about WiFi, think again. Check out some cool facts about WiFi here:
1. WiFi doesn’t mean what you think it does
Despite common belief, WiFi doesn’t expand to mean Wireless Fidelity. When the word was first made public, it was designed as a logo by Wi-Fi Alliance in the year 1999. The moment WiFi came to everyone’s notice, people started drawing parallels to the similar sounding acronym hi-fi, which means high fidelity. Annoyed with the comparison, Alliance wanted the term to be dropped, but by 2000, Wireless Fidelity became so widely used, it was unwillingly accepted as WiFi’s expansion!
2. Strange devices used as WiFi hotspots
With WiFi being used by people all over the world with increasing frequency, records say, by the end of 2017, there would be close to 9 billion WiFi devices all over the world! Did you know, there is a strange list of devices which are used as hotspots across the globe? Ranking on the first position on this list is the Masaya Volcano, Nicaragua. This active volcano is commonly called Mouth of Hell and is the first of its kind to double up as a hotspot because close to 80 sensors were installed inside the volcano. Your phones really aren’t the only things which could be used as a hotspot, clearly!
3. You are the biggest WiFi blocker
Since WiFi runs by using radio waves, it comes as no surprise water doesn’t promote this software, right? If you expand that thought process a bit more, you are also a WiFi blocker because of the very same reason. Didn’t get this? Think again. Since 75 % of our body is made of water, the above theory stands tested, don’t you think? If you still don’t believe us, then sit between your router and computer. The moment you experience weak signals, you will know we are right!
4. Singapore has the fastest Wi-Fi connection
According to the 2018 World Broadband Speed League, Singapore has the fastest WiFi connection in the world. At 60.39 megabytes per second (Mbps,) the WiFi connection in Singapore is five times stronger than the global average of 9.1 Mbps. Yemen, on the other hand, is ranked 200th on the list and has the slowest Wi-Fi connection at 0.31 Mbps. You know where you should go for the fastest wireless connection in the world.
5. WiFi was created in Hawaii
While people still dispute this fact, Hawaii is said to be the birthplace of WiFi. Originally called AlohaNET, a computer networking system developed the initial wireless network at the University of Hawaii. However, this wasn’t given as much credit as it should have been because two decades later, NCR Corporation and AT&T Corporation invented WaveLAN, which is considered the true precursor to WiFi. In 1997, the first version of the IEEE 802.11 wireless protocol was released. If only the world accepted AlohaNET as the original WiFi. Sigh.
If you think we missed out on any other facts about Wi-Fi, comment and let us know!
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