Hurricane Irene has taken its toll on the Northeast. Thousands of us are still without basic necessities like heat and electricity. In the face of this natural disaster, we rely on utility companies to deploy their emergency teams to restore normalcy to our lives, heat to our radiators, and power to our computers.
We all know what it feels like to be disconnected from the Internet--a situation many without standalone Wi-Fi routers face during an electrical outage. It's disconcerting to feel out-of-the loop from the rest of society. We are unable to access a wealth of knowledge that usually is at our fingertips.
Although we could all use a break from checking up with our favorite celebrities on Twitter, the Internet could provide us with vital information usually inaccessible during an electric outage. For example, wouldn't it be wonderful if you could track the progress of companies like National Grid as they fix power lines in your state? Wouldn't you appreciate being able to see an updated estimate of when your street will be restored to full power?
In this day and age, many families have at least one smartphone in their household, which may be the only link that family has to the Internet during an outage. A mobile application, designed to disseminate electrical restoration information during a blackout, would give many families piece of mind during this distressful situation. It could allow them to easily report outages as well as track the progress of their electricity provider's recovery effort. Just knowing exactly when power will be returned to their home will eliminate much of the anxiety associated with outages.
Creation of a mobile application to deal with this problem would be simple, but would do so much good for those devastated by natural disasters. How long will it be before the first electric company comes out with a reliable app? How will this change the way we deal with outages? Answer in the comments below.
