Mobile technology's life-saving potential

Innovating for society is not hard, it's a question of method and identifying needs.

For instance, emergency care you want while you're unconscious—sure, you can put a DNR order on your wallet or clearly state your blood type, allergies, etc. but all that is old-fashioned and still leaves space for mistakes.

What are your needs? Accuracy, respect for your beliefs/wishes, no harm.

Besides the odd case when someone else has your cellphone, why doesn't it give doctors your information? How about having a passive RFID chip with this information under your skin? Either way, the doctor could scan your data, input what medicine he's planning to give you and a red alert would pop up if you're allergic to something or opposed to invasive methods. Simple and nearly foolproof. Of course, the law should clearly state that any information accessible from such technology is protected under doctor-patient confidentiality and inaccessible for other purposes.

How about disaster relief? Your only need in that case is to be found quickly. Why don't all cellphones have a trigger that can be remotely activated so they preserve battery life and/or signal their location? Considering that even in 3rd world countries a significant number of inhabitants have mobiles, considering a near 1 to 1 use of mobiles this could speed up rescues efforts significantly. Forcing all cellphones in an area to screech unless a button is pressed doesn't violate anyone's privacy and a feature like this could be activated as soon as rescue teams are prepared. It also avoids some of GPS's shortcomings (like being under rubble).

I know that these are only ideas, far from perfect, but I only brainstormed for needs, by myself, for 5 minutes. If you find a need, you can find a solution and iterate from there. What's important is to find a need; even if you don't have the skills to build a solution by yourself, a clearly identified need is like a vision and mission and its importance should never be underestimated. Where there's a need, somebody will find a way.