Tag: HOMELESS

A homeless man in New York City used a prepaid cell phone to sign-up for a Twitter account and find his estranged daughter. Daniel Morales was given the phone by the Unheard in New York project, which uses social networking to give a voice to the city's homeless. On Wednesday, Morales tweeted that he was looking for his daughter, as well as his phone number and a picture of her at age 16. ...

A handful of New York's homeless residents are now on Twitter, thanks to a new awareness initiative called Underheard in New York. Created by advertising interns Rosemary Melchior, Robert Weeks and Willy Wang, the program provided four homeless men with their own pre-paid cell phones, a month of unlimited texting, and separate Twitter accounts. The four men -- Danny (@putodanny), Derrick ...

The memories of 2010's viral stars still remain fresh and frustratingly ingrained, but a 'Net newcomer named Ted Williams has arrived to help expunge any thoughts of ephemeral heroes like Antoine Dodson, Sad Keanu and the Old Spice Guy. Discovered on the side of the road by a Columbus Dispatch reporter, the homeless and gifted Williams has instantly attained iconic status. A video detailing ...

Is it not enough that robots are taking our jobs? Now they need to take our unemployment, too? Chris Eckert's 'Gimme' 'bot is a panhandling droid that relentlessly demands spare change from a roomful of viewers. Controlled by an Arduino Pro Mini (a favorite of amateur electronics geeks) and a sensor that searches for possible donors, 'Gimme' rolls about the room with the help of two stepper motors ...

Mark Horvath, a former executive, probably didn't think much about the destitute while he was working in TV and making six figures. But, thanks to a drug and alcohol addiction, Horvath found himself jobless, penniless, and ultimately homeless. For years, he sat outside the Chinese Theater in Hollywood with his pet iguana, named Dog, collecting a dollar from tourists who wanted to take a picture ...

Like the citizens of most large cities around the U.S., folks in Atlanta, Georgia worry about crime. No one likes crime, of course, but controversy arises when people begin to discuss how to deal with the problem. After hearing one Atlanta business owner's idea, expect an avalanche of controversy in the Southern city. A 57-year-old pub owner, environmental engineer, and potential mayoral ...

Even for the homeless and destitute, communication increasingly depends upon technology, leaving those without access out of the loop. And while Google has helped get the homeless set up with voice mail (using its former Grand Central service), and some cities (like New York and San Francisco) are getting the homeless connected to the Internet, one modern convenience has seemed out of reach: the ...

Homelessness and technology may seem incongruous, but they are not as far away from each other as one might expect. Cities like San Francisco and New York are helping the homeless to become more connected, through the unlikely means of Facebook and Myspace. Although the homeless may not have physical mailing addresses, they want to have virtual ones through free social networking sites. ...

Look, we're just as down on crazy Japanese stereotypes as the next guy. We watched 'Lost in Translation.' We're with it. We know it's not all cosplay and weird game shows (but seriously, that human Tetris one? Awesome) and people dressing up as vending machines (pictured). That said, this story isn't doing Japan any favors. A homeless woman was recently arrested in Tokyo after living undetected ...

Google's one phone number for everything service, GrandCentral, is getting a new trial of sorts. Google is taking its 'Do no evil' mantra to the streets of San Francisco -- literally. A partnership between Google, the San Francisco city government, and Project CARE (Communications and Respect for Everybody) is offering a free phone number and voicemail box to every homeless person in the city for ...