A first step to zero-effort alerts on product recalls. This app checks the user's email inbox and archives for references to purchased products, including product receipts and conversations with friends. All emails remain private to the user. The "Total Recall 101" app matches the referenced products against the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission's recalled products list, and is able to generate emails to alert users about recalls. These alert emails can be accessed on all devices, including desktops and mobile phones running iOS and Android. This app is free and open source, and is currently available for Gmail users.
-
Go to Google Apps Script and click "Start Scripting" to create a new "Blank Project".
-
Sign into your Gmail account, and copy and paste the Total Recall 101 code into your new blank project (removing all previous code). You may rename your project (e.g. to "My Total Recall 101").
-
In your project, go to "Run" > "totalRecall" on the toolbar. An authorization popup will appear. Click "Accept" on that popup.
-
Wait for the script to finish running and then check your Gmail inbox. You should have received a Total Recall email! If you encounter issues, you can email [email protected].
-
Set the script to run every week using "Resources" > "Current project's triggers" on the toolbar. The script saves information on the date of the last run, and will only show recalls issued since this last-run date.
Life gets busy. We should get recall alerts on products we use with zero extra effort.
In practice, no one place knows about all the products we use. We buy products from different retailers, both online and offline. Most of us don't have a habit of creating and updating a list of every product we own.
Our email archives may be the single most comprehensive source of information on our shopping history. We tend to keep the same email address(es) for many years. Online stores automatically send receipts to our email inbox. Offline stores have started to offer email receipts as an option too. Our email conversations with friends may also reference products we own.
Technology that can automatically review our email archives and alert us to recalls on products found in those archives would bring us closer to a world of zero-effort recall alerts. This submission, code named "Total Recall 101," is a working prototype that shows how current technology can positively impact the hundreds of millions of people who use email. According to ComScore, over 95% of Americans with email access use one of three email services: Yahoo, Gmail, and Hotmail. For demonstration purposes, "Total Recall 101" makes use of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission's Recalls API, Google Apps Script and Gmail search to create a functional app that users can install in minutes using a web browser. The app generates alert emails that can then be read from any device, including mobile devices.
More information: http://productsafetyapps.challengepost.com/submissions/23883-total-recall-101