emergency

MyForce Pushes a Panic-Button App for the Campus

Lauren Goode in Mobile on December 8, 2011 at 3:20 pm PT

A Colorado-based security company is looking to bring a one-touch mobile app to school campuses for emergencies.

A Device for When You’re Hurt, Lost or Feeling Scared

Katherine Boehret in The Digital Solution on October 18, 2011 at 3:48 pm PT

The 5Star Responder from GreatCall Inc. is a 1.8-ounce gadget with a speaker, microphone and a large button that calls an always on-duty agent.

Skype Talks About Just How Full That Half a Glass Is (Updated: Glass Now 90 Percent Full)

Ina Fried in Mobile on December 23, 2010 at 10:27 am PT

The Internet telephony service is still not back to normal after a massive outage, but a number of services have returned, it says. Skype estimates that some 10 million of its users are now online.

Skype Details Problems, Says May Take Hours to Fix

Ina Fried in Mobile on December 22, 2010 at 11:36 am PT

Amid a widespread outage on Wednesday, Skype said it had identified the issue, but cautioned it may take several more hours to resolve. The problem with the peer-to-peer network is that it can’t reach a number of its supernodes, which are key to the service’s proper functioning. Its solution, believe it or not, is the creation of “mega-supernodes.”

SkypeOut: Service Is Down for Millions

Ina Fried in Mobile on December 22, 2010 at 10:23 am PT

No, I can’t hear you now, say millions of Skype users as the Internet telephony service experiences a widespread outage on Wednesday.

The Freak-Out Flight Attendant's Internet Moment: Facebook Fan Page, Ballads on YouTube and, Yes, a Taiwanesed Treatment!

Kara Swisher in News on August 11, 2010 at 5:15 am PT

BoomTown has not been much of a fan of Facebook fan pages, finding most of them sterile affairs with empty marketing messages and little in the way of real life. But things are actually hopping if you click over to the one created for JetBlue flight attendant Steven Slater, who went loco after an encounter with a belligerent passenger, opened the emergency inflatable slide and got out of Dodge.

Viral Video: The Ad-Whispering Google Phone

Kara Swisher in News on May 18, 2010 at 12:15 am PT

You just know those big brains at Google’s HQ in Mountain View, Calif., have already been at work on this spoof idea from The Onion: A new mobile phone service that “whispers targeted ads directly into users’ ears.”

Displaying Contacts Without a Code

Walt Mossberg in Mossberg’s Mailbox on April 15, 2009 at 3:30 pm PT

Walt answers readers’ questions on how to display emergency contacts on an iPhone before entering a passcode, and whether Fusion software affects a Mac’s security.