Article by George Norman

On 04 May 2009

The H1N1 swine flu is all over the news: on TV, in the newspapers, online, and so on. While there is no denying that the swine flu can put your life in jeopardy, and we may be faced with a pandemic here, we have to wonder about one thing: how is the software world taking this?

Starting with Apple and the iPhone, the developers over at IntuApps have announced that they will bring out a dedicated app called Swine Flu Tracker. The app, upon passing Apple’s notoriously ridiculous App Store approval process, will be able to provide the user with: the current threat level, as it has been determined by the World Health Organization; Google Maps locations where suspected or confirmed swine flu cases have been detected; news from around the world related to the swine flu.


Moving on to the Microsoft camp, the Internet Explorer team has announced the availability of a swine flu dedicated Web Slice – available for download here. “We on the Windows Team are excited about a small role we’re playing here putting Center for Disease Control and Prevention health tips and World Health Organization news updates at the top of people’s browsers through a new Swine Flu Web Slice for Internet Explorer 8. Education and awareness is key to helping prevent the spread of this threat and in furthering medical knowledge around the globe and we’re hopeful this solution on Internet Explorer 8 can play a role in helping people stay up-to-speed,” commented Windows Communications Manager on the Windows Client Communications Team, Brandon LeBlanc.

Over in the security camp, experts are issuing warnings that spammers and malware spreaders are using the swine flu hype as a means to propagate spam and malware. You are well advised to ignore spam messages boasting sensationalistic subject lines such as “Madonna caught swine flu”, or even toned down subject lines such as “US swine flu statistics”. If you can’t resist the urge to open these spam messages, at least do not click on the links provided within them. And if you would like to get more details about the swine flu, an article with several sources to get proper info about on the matter is available here.

Last but not least, the online gaming world is also taken by storm by the swine flu pandemic – or better yet, by a swine flu inspired online game called Swinefighter.



Tags: Apple, iPhone, Swine Flu Tracker, iPhone app, Microosft, IE8, Web Slice,

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