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CMAS & Mobile Alerts
As reported on FirstResponder.gov yesterday, research and development funding for the Commercial Mobile Alert Service (CMAS) is available through the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T). According to the article (quoted below), there are three main research areas in which S&T is interested: public response to alerts and warnings, ensuring access for diverse populations, and geo-targeting. Continue reading »
Since the Commercial Mobile Alert Service (CMAS) began its rolling deployment on April 7th, no one has heard much from it. That changed last week, when handsets from Washington, DC to Portland, OR received CMAS messages on their phones around 3:00 PM EDT Wednesday (April 18) afternoon.
There has been talk of CMAS testing, and possibly the beginning of Required Monthly Tests (RMT), ever since the system’s first end-to-end test in New York Cityback in December. The messages received by many across the country this week may be the beginnings of this test. Continue reading »
Last week’s announcement by Google about “Project Glass” confirmed rumors circulating for months that Google is exploring augmented reality in an eyeglass form factor. The pictures show a slick piece of industrial design that might be considered stylish in the world of Star Trek, although a little too sci-fi to compete with Dolce & Gabbana and Tom Ford in the high-end sunglass market. However, the associated YouTube mock-up video (below) shows some very slick and compelling applications, unifying navigation, calendar, e-mail, instant messaging, and other smartphone activities through a lightweight augmented reality interface responding to voice commands. The video shows vignettes of a person going through his day, making plans, meeting people, taking photographs, and ultimately having a video-chat session with a far-away loved one, all through the lens of his glasses, hands-free, and worry-free.
This past Saturday, April 7, 2012 marked an important milestone in the alerts and warnings community. As the official deployment date and the beginning of the nationwide rollout of the Commercial Mobile Alert Service (CMAS), also known as Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA), this date means many great things in the effort to alert and warn the public during emergencies. Continue reading »
Mexico's New Seismic Alert System
Yesterday, The Economist published a story online about a new BlackBerry app just launched in Mexico City that gives citizens advance warning of earthquakes, usually providing people a minute or more to seek shelter. Mexico City experiences earthquakes throughout the year, most of which originate on the countries Western coastline. A version of this system recently alerted a session of Mexico’s Senate of impending tremors, giving them time to evacuate the building. Continue reading »
