Are You Dead?

Long story short: Are You Dead? is a new iPhone app that has quickly gone viral in China before spreading worldwide.

It's dead... simple: click on the green button daily (up to every two days) to automatically send an email to your chosen emergency contact that indicates you're still alive.

From the app (top): 

"If you haven't checked in for 2 days, the system will send an email to your emergency contact in your name on the next day."

Way better than those stupid red buttons old people wear around their necks that they're supposed to press if there's an emergency.

How about a disabling stroke or heart attack — good luck with that.

What I like is that Are You Dead is literally is built around the concept of the Dead man's switch: if action isn't taken, stuff happens.

This BBC article has more about this app, originally developed for young people living alone but now undergoing a redesign specifically aimed at the elderly in a country where over one-fifth of its population is over 60.

From the app's company website: "We would like to call on more people to pay attention to the elderly who are living at home, to give them more care and understanding. They have dreams, strive to live, and deserve to be seen, respected, and protected."

Find it on the U.S. app store listed as Demumu in Utilities.

99 cents — cheap at twice the price.