Twitter Launches Emergency Alerts

TwitterOn Wednesday the social media giant Twitter, launched “Twitter Alerts”. When news breaks about a safety concern or a weather related emergency, a Twitter Alert will pop up in your feed from the appropriate organization handling the information during the emergency.

The Twitter Alerts program is available to any organization that will be providing the critical information to the public; these organizations can be local, national or international. Currently, Twitter has more than 100 government agencies that are enrolled in this program. If you believe your agency should be enrolled in the program, fill out their enrollment form.

Believe it or not, Twitter has already proven to come in handy during times of disaster. FEMA used Twitter as a way to communicate critical information for those in the path of Hurricane Sandy. And the Boston Police Department used Twitter to correct any misinformation that the media report and also used it to keep the people of Boston up-to-date during the citywide manhunt for the bombers.

For most people, checking their social media sites first thing in the morning is almost as important as that first cup of coffee. Be sure to check out the list of organizations already signed up for Twitter Alerts and follow those that are close to you so you can always be in the know.
Current list of Twitter Alerts users

Information from Twitter Blog

Wireless Sensor Tags alert you to movement and temperature changes, fit on your keyring

Wireless Sensor Tags alert you to movement and temperature changes, fit on your keyring

There’s plenty of sensor gear around for hobbyists to play with, but not so many polished products for the monitoring-obsessed. Cao Gadgets is attempting to fill that niche with its functionally named Wireless Sensor Tags — small devices which monitor movement and temperature, notifying you if anything’s amiss. A magnetometer registers movement by changes in its orientation, and can inform you of door openings or similar disturbances, while the temperature triggers are based on upper or lower thresholds. The $15 sensors (or $12 if you want three or more) have a battery life that should last several years depending on their setup, but there is one catch — you also need the Tag Manager hub ($50), which plugs into your router via Ethernet. It keeps in frequent contact with any subordinates in its 200-foot range, and if after several attempts it finds one MIA, a warning can be sent in case any of your home guards have walked or fallen asleep. The tags also have inbuilt beepers which can be pinged to track down any rogue possessions they’re partnered with, like your keys.

A lot of thought has been put into micromanaging the tags, which are customizable through web-based, Android or iOS apps, and will send out alerts via email, Twitter, or push notifications on slates and phones (text-to-speech is available if you’re too lazy to read). If you’re into your data, you can also access trigger statistics from the software, complete with graphs. The home monitoring kit is available now, and instead of crashing your browser with too many embeds, we’ve decided to point you to the source below for the half-dozen demo vids.

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Wireless Sensor Tags alert you to movement and temperature changes, fit on your keyring originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 22 Aug 2012 22:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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