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September 09, 2007
Amazon.com Uses Technology to Help People in Need...
...but it needs your help!
Today Amazon.com utilized a subsidary called "Mechanical Turk" to help aid officals in a search for a lost aviator in Nevada. His name is Steve Fossett and you might recognize him as the guy who flew around the world in a balloon or the first guy to ever fly around the world without refueling. He has been considered missing since his flight failed to return.
Mechanical Turk is a service that automates things that require the human touch. In this case, Mechanical Turk is utilizing Google Earth to display satellite imagery of the areas where Steve might be given his flight path and simply asking that people look at them and flag it if anything appears to be there. For instance, if you see wreckage from a plane, or Steve himself.
This effectively covers more ground than the search organizations could possible cover with the man power available to them and is, in my opinion, one of the most oustanding uses of the web to date.
You can help too! Just click here
Help Amazon make a difference!
Posted by Decemberice at September 9, 2007 08:59 AM