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At the Consumers Electronics Show last week, we saw thousands of new products that claimed would better our already pretty good lives. Fortunately for us, there are those who are using technology as a tool to help us and support good causes for free. This week, we present five great digital projects dedicated to worthy causes.

Codeacademy 

Tired of being lost among the masses of Internet jargon? Try taking a course at Codeacademy.com, a Web-based programming tutorial. Launched in August of last year, it received a lot of press due to a $2.5 million investment from a venture capitalist firm. Codeacademy’s aim is to teach people how to code for free. It attracted more than 200,000 users from more than 200 countries in the first three days after launching, showing that there is a definite demand for a good code tutorial. As technology advances, coding is going to increasingly become a valuable skill.

Instead 

Instead is a mobile application for Apple iOS that reminds users to donate to causes. Launched this month, Instead isn’t well-known yet but the concept is solid. After you download the app, you can set the amount of money that you want to donate. The app can also show you a list of different charities. Instead also has a feature where it can take the amount you have specified and shows you what else you can buy with it, such as food or drinks, illustrating how easy it is to donate to charitable causes.

Kickstarter 

Kickstarter.com is a crowdfunding tool to help creative types from around the world create their dream projects. Kickstarter, launched in 2009, is basically a display area for people to find worthwhile projects to donate to. You can submit your project to Kickstarter and it will be put online for a certain amount of time. There is a wide variety of projects including albums, films, games and stage plays. Kickstarter helps people create without relying on industry backing.

One Laptop Per Child 

The rapid growth of technology is quickly becoming an issue for the tech-illiterate unable to compete with people who have been privileged enough to grow up with the latest advances. One Laptop Per Child is a non-profit organization founded by people from tech giants such as eBay, Google and Advance Micro Devices. It provides sturdy and inexpensive laptops for underprivileged children. So far, it has helped about two million children in Latin America and 500,000 in Africa, and is partnered with countries in need such as Uruguay, Peru, Argentina, Mexico and Rwanda, and conflict areas such as Gaza, Afghanistan, Haiti, Ethiopia and Mongolia. It recently launched the XO 3.0 tablet, which can survive extreme weather, can be powered with solar energy and runs on Android and Linux.

Random Hack of Kindness  

With the slogan “Hacking for Humanity,” this group of good hackers embraces open technology by partnering with well-known groups such as Google, Microsoft and HP to provide solutions to technical problems. Results from RHoK are credible and are used by governments, emergency units and even the World Bank. The RHoK movement has a presence in 31 cities and has more than 3,000 participants.