'Companion' // Uriel Cruz, Period 6

 Crime's at a new high on campus, what are you going to do? Use the karate skills you learned in elementary school on the bad guys, or create an app to help prevent any incidents? Surprising a burglar with a roundhouse kick to the face may have worked, but five college students at the University of Michigan chose to create an app. This app is called Companion and it makes sure you "never walk alone." It was released two weeks ago for Android and iOS, and it's gotten a lot of attention. It has mixed reviews but the team seems to have everything under control for seniors in college. It works like a GPS/Tracker sort of thing and you can invite people in your contacts to join in. If anything weird happens like dropping your phone or even just unplugging your headphones, your phone will sense it and ask if you're still alive and well. If 15 seconds pass without an answer, your buddies who joined in will be alerted. Sounds pretty handy.

This app may lower the number of incidents that occur when people are walking home alone and they look like they are an easy steal for a number of antagonizers. This could really help end these kinds of problems and lead to a safer America and safer world. We've dealt with these situations so much that they've appeared in films, tv shows, literature, etc. This can make late night jumps spooky campfire stories or fictional tales. If this app works as well as anticipated, we'll look at that kind of hostility like we see the Titanic or the World Wars. We'd become so accustomed to a safer environment that when people's grandparents recall a time they were robbed, they'd stare in aw and say, 'Wow, this really happened back then?' just like we would with, as above-mentioned, the Titanic or the World Wars.

To see article, click here. Link below if it doesn't work.

http://money.cnn.com/2015/09/18/technology/companion-safety-app/index.html