'Hackers for good' build new apps for humanity

Not all hackers are bad after all, and at least 75 new apps they created to benefit humanity so far this year prove it. Google on Tuesday bared three winners of a hack-fest at its Mountain View campus - one of at least 19 venues of this year's "Random Hacks of Kindness (RHoK)" program. "In partnership with Microsoft, Yahoo!, (the National Aeronautics and Space Administration) and the World Bank, we founded RHoK in 2009 to build and support a community creating open source technology for crisis response. At RHoK #3, we expanded the mandate to include climate change, and we also recently announced that we’re broadening the scope in the future to tackle any development challenges," Google.org marketing's Mimi Kravetz said in a blog post. "Of the more than 75 solutions submitted for judging at this year’s global events, many are already on their way to making a difference around the world," she added. Kravetz said the three winners at Google's event include:

• SMS Person Finder, which enables anyone with a phone to interact with Person Finder, a software application that Google built to help people connect with their loved ones following a disaster. The Google Crisis Response team is working with this group to integrate their application into future Google Person Finder deployments;
• Hey Cycle, which makes it easier for people to reuse and recycle items by setting up email alerts when free items they are looking for are entered on freecycle.org; and
• FoodMovr, which connects people with excess food to others who need it through a simple live application.

"We’re proud to be one of the founding partners and ongoing sponsors of Random Hacks of Kindness and look forward to seeing these application make a difference," Kravetz said. Earlier this month, thousands of "hackers for good" gathered in more than 19 different global locations from Berlin to Nairobi, and Sydney to Sao Paulo to participate in RHoK #3. "These teams are now off and running, working with NGO and government advisors to finish their applications for humanity," Kravetz said. Kravetz said that of the more than 75 solutions submitted for judging at this year’s global events, many are already on their way to making a difference around the world. She said the United Nations, in partnership with the Colombia government, is considering adopting the shelter management system developed at RHoK Bogota to aid three million victims of winter flooding in South America. Of the nine hacks submitted for judging at RHoK Sao Paulo, two are already in use and two others may be further developed and incorporated into the restructuring of the National Weather Service. "The winning application at RHoK Philadelphia, developed in response to a problem proposed by the World Bank Water group, is set for further development at the WaterHackathon, RHoK’s first community-sponsored event, later this year," she said. — RSJ, GMA News