Early Earthquake Warning System In iOS 5

tekgoblin writes "A very important and functional feature has been added to Apple's iOS 5 for Japanese users: an earthquake warning system. This new feature may allow the people of Japan to be warned early enough to get out of harm's way and ultimately save lives. Most phones sold in Japan have some way to warn the user of Earthquakes."

Comments

That won't work

[Anonymous Coward]

http://xkcd.com/723/

Re:That won't work

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't expect people in Japan to behave just like you guys do.

Re:That won't work

[Salvo]

http://xkcd.com/937/

This is a better one, but covers Tornadoes instead.

Re:That won't work

[That Guy From Mrktng]

A typical Windows user don't even know that they can try to fix shit themselves
A Microsoft evangelist wouldn't acknowledge that Windows needs extra help.

Everybody that uses Windows and could not care less about labels just download sysinternals and it's done with it.

Obligatory XKCD

[itsdapead]

I can't wait to see the reviews!

Re:Obligatory XKCD

[JustOK]

best xkcd EVER!

Re:Obligatory XKCD

[JustOK]

couldn't be. the other one wasn't the best xkcd ever.

Re:Obligatory XKCD

[Blackeagle_Falcon]

You forgot the other obligatory XKCD reference for this topic.

Re:Obligatory XKCD

[gullevek]

There wont be any reviews. This is a push service from the japanese government. Japanese phones have this system since a view years and if there is a major quake then an alert will be sent to your phone.

After the 3/11 quake (which was not alerted in Tokyo as the epi center was up in the north) the ringing sound was constant thing at the office.

Re:Obligatory XKCD

[kmoser]

The phones need a nuclear plant meltdown alert warning system.

vibration alert?

[Anonymous Coward]

The alert causes the phone to vibrate?

Re:vibration alert?

[JustOK]

no, to stay still whilst all around it things are moving.

Re:vibration alert?

[Anonymous Coward]

... and then you'll be a Man, my son.

(with apologies to R. Kipling)

Re:vibration alert?

[Gilmoure]

*golf clap*

In other countries:

[Anonymous Coward]

South Korea: North Korean invasion alert option
China: US dollar value alert
United Kingdom: Riot alert
Greece/Portugal/Spain/Italy/Ireland: Financial meltdown alert
United States of America: Obama birth certificate alert

Re:In other countries:

[Midnight Thunder]

Then there is also the bonus Donald trump birth certificate alert. Then again if it was Fox News doing this it would be 'breaking news alert' every 5 minutes, followed by commercials.

Re:In other countries:

[rossdee]

Caribbean/Gulf of Mexico: Hurricane alert
Iceland: Volcano alert
North Dakota: Flood alert
California: Wildfire alert

Re:In other countries:

[delinear]

United Kingdom: Riot alert

Wouldn't work. The aftermath of our football matches would set off too many false positives.

Re:In other countries:

[newcastlejon]

Don't forget Starbug: Swirly Thing Alert!
All hands on deck, etc etc.

Re:In other countries:

[jones_supa]

Finland: Cell phone manufacturer going down alert

Re:In other countries:

[Yamioni]

Slashdot: Interesting Article Post

Unfortunately it never got out of Beta because the testers couldn't tell if it was working... 'Is this thing on?'

Re:In other countries:

[ZombieBraintrust]

Regional Tornado alerts would be cool in the United States. An optional integration into the Emergency Alert System would be cool. Basicaly they would just port the sytem already in use on telivision to phones. Would need to be optional. Some people wouldn't want their phone tracking their location for a goverment service.

Re:In other countries:

[dougisfunny]

You could work the other way. Rather than querying the EAS with a location, it could retrieve all the EAS data for the entire country and then alert on the phone only that which applies to the location the phone is in.

Re:In other countries:

[RoFLKOPTr]

California: Wildfire alert

California is perhaps (I say "perhaps" only because I don't feel like googling to make damn sure I'm completely correct) the most seismically-active region in the United States. I don't understand why Apple is limiting this warning system to only their Japanese users. Hell, Apple is IN California, they should be just as concerned as anybody else. It seems like California is getting closer and closer to being one of the only seismic hotspots that hasn't seen The Big One(TM) in the last couple decades.

Re:In other countries:

[node 3]

I don't understand why Apple is limiting this warning system to only their Japanese users.

They aren't. This system uses Japan's earthquake warning system. If California (for example) had an analogous system, Apple could use it.

Re:In other countries:

[RoFLKOPTr]

If California (for example) had an analogous system, Apple could use it.

We do.

Apple cocksucking

[bjourne]

It is also believed that most phones sold in Japan have some way to warn the user of Earthquakes.

Great, so now when the stupid iphone gets the same feature other phones have had for years it is somehow news?

Re:Apple cocksucking

[drinkypoo]

Everyone remembers Chrysler as the first manufacturer with standard electronic ignition even though Fiat actually did it first. Why? Because it was fucking Fiat.

Re:Apple cocksucking

[Lennie]

I think if people only see news about iPhone first-smartphone-with-app-x then that is a probably not good, this news might help to balance that view a little.

Re:Apple cocksucking

[Anonymous Coward]

It's already had this feature, via 3rd party apps, for years...

Re:Apple cocksucking

[Sockatume]

Because people love copying other people's stories but can't be bothered to read them first, that's why. The originator of the story was quite clear that this was correcting a conspicuous omission rather than adding a novel function.

Re:Apple cocksucking

[dzfoo]

Who was fucking Fiat, Chrysler? I thought nobody liked the French. Or are they Italians? Cool then.

            -dZ.

Re:Apple cocksucking

[Anonymous Coward]

And then it was fucking Chrysler. What's your point?

Re:Apple cocksucking

[Anonymous Coward]

Yep. A much better version of the story is available on the Register, based on 9to5mac.com's story, which seems to be identical to TekGoblin's, but was maybe published earlier according to time stamps in an unspecified time zone.

Basically, iOS 5 will support a feature that Japanese phones have universally supported for the past several years. And that third-party apps have added to the iPhone itself since iOS 4 (when Apple finally realized UNIX is multitasking).

Re:Apple cocksucking

[scorp1us]

From what I know, they just used a regular SMS alert. What this probably means is it bypassed the SMS, and uses the apple push notifications API.

Re:Apple cocksucking

[vlm]

It is also believed that most phones sold in Japan have some way to warn the user of Earthquakes.

Great, so now when the stupid iphone gets the same feature other phones have had for years it is somehow news?

The news is, the business model is to roll out AFTER the once in a lifetime disaster. I predict California residents will have to wait until a couple months after their "earthquake of the century" to get their warning system.

In a way it makes sense, if you deploy an earthquake sensor network right before the earthquake of the century, you'll only get a couple years use out of it before its destroyed in the earthquake. But if you wait, and deploy after the quake of the century, then you'll get something like a centuries use out of the monitoring system before its destroyed again. Kind of like buying car insurance after the crash, or health insurance after you're dead, sorta.

Re:Apple cocksucking

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, because Apple marketing are that fucking good.

From the iPhones that have survived falling from skydivers, to the guy who supposedly got a free iPad from Apple saying "Apple said yes" because he had to return it with the reason "Wife said no", all of these sorts of stories are orchestrated attempts to ensure Apple is consistently in the news.

This is why many people sincerely believe Apple has like 90% of the smartphone market, when in reality they only have about 15% - 20%. This is why we have "Well Apple just works" memes when iTunes is the worst PoS method of getting content on your phone going, and when the store leaves a lot to be desired on the iPad. This is why people harp on about Android fragmentation when it's the iPad that has a whole bunch of apps that only take up a quarter of the screen but give you some button to double size the app to manually fix that, horrendously pixelating it like a throwback to the early 90s computing.

Apple marketing are fucking genius, like the Church of Scientology, despite the blatant and obvious bollocks that emanates from them, they're still capable of roping thousands of supporters in, praying on weak minds with psychological trickery.

Re:Apple cocksucking

[UnknowingFool]

Well the post informed that it may be part of iOS 5 and that most phones in Japan have this feature. Two things I didn't know so its news to me. Is it earth-shattering? No.

Re:Apple cocksucking

[Anonymous Coward]

You mean the same "fucking" Fiat that owns Chrysler?? (And Maserati and Ferrari!)

Yes, Fiat is still crap. And so is Chrysler.

Also, your "everyone"... Actually you just mean you, right? And perhaps a few of your peers that you vaguely talked about cars with, 10 years ago. ^^
Certainly, it doesnâ(TM)t include people outside of your country.

Don't worry. That's normal. But don't call it "everyone", unless you're talking to yourself again, OK? ;)

Re:Apple cocksucking

[drinkypoo]

Also, your "everyone"... Actually you just mean you, right? And perhaps a few of your peers that you vaguely talked about cars with, 10 years ago. ^^

I studied Automotive Electronics in preparation for the ASE exam which I never took, at Yuba College in Marysville, CA, under Mike Morse. I got an A.

Don't worry. That's normal. But don't call it "everyone", unless you're talking to yourself again, OK? ;)

You're only supposed to wink when you say something clever. When you say something fucking stupid, you're supposed to shut up.

Please log in so I can foe you and not see your ignorant nonsense.

P.S. Chrysler used to be known worldwide as a leader in automotive technology. Obviously, those days are long gone.

Re:Apple cocksucking

[Sockatume]

I'm not sure that this feature is even in the release notes of the beta, much less marketing.

Re:Apple cocksucking

[Anonymous Coward]

Because Slashdot ran out of Anti-Google / anti-android stories for a while. Give it some time and it would be back to normal.

Re:Apple cocksucking

[S.O.B.]

I remember when Fiat meant Fix It Again Tony.

Re:Apple cocksucking

[Kyusaku Natsume]

The system already works in iPhones since it goes as a network SMS IIRC, but the change here I think is that it will override the silence setting that most people here in Japan will be using because the polite thing to do on board of public transportation is to put your cellphone in silent mode and turn it off when you are near the reserved seats for elderly, pregnant women and handicapped. The end result is that most people have their phones in silent mode most of the time.

Now, what I would love the networks to do is to send the damn alarm even for foreign issued phones even without a roaming plan zince it is a emergency service. My wife's iPhone received expensive useless SMS from our original operator but it don't receive calls for lack of roaming an it did't receive any warning in the two quakes that we have felt in our two weeks stay in Tokyo.

Re:Apple cocksucking

[Kyusaku Natsume]

You're only supposed to wink when you say something clever. When you say something fucking stupid, you're supposed to shut up.

Very clever I would say, thanks for my new mail sig.

Re:Apple cocksucking

[Anonymous Coward]

Now that FIAT owns shitty Yank crap manufacturer Chrysler, the joke is on you asshole

Re:Apple cocksucking

[Pikoro]

Is it earth-shattering? No.

I see what you did there...

Re:Apple cocksucking

[bennomatic]

I know, right? I mean, if the primary audience of /. readers were residents of coastal Japan who were considering iPhone purchases but who wouldn't switch until this feature was available, this would be HUGE. But while it's a cool feature, its appeal is to a fairly limited demographic, and since it's not a major new innovation, it's really just a bullet point in a sales sheet as far as mobile phones in Japan go.

Re:Apple cocksucking

[UnknowingFool]

Try the veal, I'll be here all week.

Re:Apple cocksucking

[catmistake]

This is why many people sincerely believe Apple has like 90% of the smartphone market, when in reality they only have about 15% - 20%.

Weird... I could swear when Jobs first announced Apple would release the iPhone, he said they were only interested in capturing 1% of the market. What the Hell went wrong?

Re:Apple cocksucking

[That Guy From Mrktng]

yay! USA vs Europe car industries bitchfight it's on!

Meanwhile Asian car industry laughs all the way to the bank. Gotta love when you forget to cocktease and focus on doing your shit right.

Re:Apple cocksucking

[gmhowell]

I remember when Fiat meant Fix It Again Tony.

Ahh, Saturday. I remember that time well.

Re:Apple cocksucking

[Anonymous Coward]

They don't send an alarm for every quake you would feel, the alarm is used only for the big ones.

Re:Apple cocksucking

[Anonymous Coward]

Phone market >> smartphone market.

These systems don't work

[Anonymous Coward]

I saw a couple of these 'early warning' systems in action during the Christchurch earthquakes. At best the alert came a few seconds before the quake - hardly early enough to save lives.

Re:These systems don't work

[Sockatume]

You're forgetting tsunami. If you detect an offshore earthquake and immediately sound the alert, people have valuable minutes to take shelter.

Re:These systems don't work

[fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

I saw a couple of these 'early warning' systems in action during the Christchurch earthquakes. At best the alert came a few seconds before the quake - hardly early enough to save lives.

Their value depends pretty sharply on where you are relative to the epicenter and what the threat is.

Unfortunately, geologists are Not Ready Yet on actual earthquake prediction(they are, to be fair, pretty good at determining that a given fault is starting to look real damn unhappy; but pinning an event within a decade or a century, or even a year is pretty good on a geologic scale, not so useful for humans. So, if you happen to be standing on top of, or very near, the epicenter, sucks to be you, I hope the local building codes are good; because building buildings that don't fall over, crush their occupants, and then catch fire is pretty much all we can do about that..

If, on the other hand, the epicenter is located some distance away, you get more time to take basic measures like moving to the least collapse-prone/most likely to form a survivable pocket areas of a building(or, in lightly settled districts, running outside).

And, of course, if the epicenter is deep underwater, hundreds of miles away, you'll have fairly decent time; but you'd better start moving uphill now...

Re:These systems don't work

[bakarocket]

The benefit of the system depends on your distance from the epicentre. I routinely get earthquake warnings up to 15 seconds before the actual shaking starts.

Though I should note that I got no warning from the March 11th quake. My phone battery was dead.

Re:These systems don't work

[iamhassi]

A few seconds warning is better than no warning at all, and if this system saves just one life than it works.

Re:These systems don't work

[Agripa]

The geometry is significant. For an early warning, the sensor has to be closer to the epicenter than you are and you have to be located some distance from the epicenter. With the southern California network more than 10 years ago, warning times were more than 10 seconds and left plenty of time for me to take action. Of course latency on that system was on the order of milliseconds.

Re:These systems don't work

[DinDaddy]

I saw them repeatedly in Tokyo in April with all the aftershocks going on. Most of them gave enough time to have gotten out of a bldg easily in enough time to be useful. Some were as much as a minute before the quake.

Re:These systems don't work

[fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

I'd imagine that the Japanese sensor system has to be pretty good. With their earthquake frequency, population density, and available resources, they'd be nuts to skimp on that.

real history, truth continue to emerge

[Anonymous Coward]

only to be re-buried, on make-it-up-as-we-go-along monday, & all the daze to follow. you're still calling this 'weather'?

Feature of OS? Or just another app?

[sunderland56]

How is this a 'feature of the OS', and not just another bundled app?

Apple seems to call it an app if you install it after the OS, from their store; but call it a feature of the OS if it is installed at the same time. Huh?

Re:Feature of OS? Or just another app?

[Sockatume]

They're providing support for an SMS emergency alert standard that all 3G phones in Japan are expected to have. It's built into the OS at a low level. It's not a user-facing app.

Re:Feature of OS? Or just another app?

[Anonymous Coward]

Please mod parent up. Why does an OS need a earthquake/tornado/whatever warning system? Why not an app?

Re:Feature of OS? Or just another app?

[dzfoo]

Notice that at no time is Apple calling it anything. In fact, Apple hasn't announced the feature at all, whether app or bundle.

        -dZ.

Re:Feature of OS? Or just another app?

[hcs_$reboot]

There is already an app called yurekuru (shaking ahead).
The app utilizes the push feature in order to trigger alerts on iPhones (subscribing to the service).
Japan territory is covered with sensors that transmit the quakes information quickly to organizations (like Japan weather) and other companies who send, in turn, the alerts to iPhones and other mobile devices (there are also public and automatic announcements in the streets in Tokyo - improved since March 11).
Since the quake waves are much slower than the signal sent by the sensors, the farther the earthquake the more time you have to find a shelter.

But after March 11, the app got a tremendous success in Japan, and it seems it impacted the push service (or the company that deals with sensors signals), and alerts took more and more time to arrive... being almost useless now.

I hope the new low level iOS5 implementation will behave better.

For the record, that service was already available since a few years ago on phones like DoCoMo (iPhone is SoftBank). I was in Tokyo on March 11 with people who subscribe to that service on a DoCoMo phone: no alert was triggered.
(Maybe because the earthquake was far from Tokyo, and the software that evaluates the potential risk for the capital based on the distance+magnitude simply failed to make the right estimation).

Re:Feature of OS? Or just another app?

[That Guy From Mrktng]

yes, wake me up when some phone gets a P-Wave sensor.

Could a P-Wave sensor in a phone be actually useful since it's not attached to any structure?

Well see it soon, after Apple launches iOS 6 with the innovative iPee-Wave sensor and It's standalone adapter to bolt your phone to the wall in pentabular fashion, now theres no excuses to hold it wrong!

Re:Feature of OS? Or just another app?

[AmiMoJo]

I have been in several earthquakes over there, including the big one in March. Immediately after it happens, sometimes while it is happening, there is a warning on all TV and radio stations, and now on phones too. The thing is that Japan is largely earthquake proof - they have magnitude 5 quakes regularly, at least several times a year. Anything that isn't build properly won't last long, and the building regs are very strict and well enforced.

When the magnitude 9 quake hit everything shook and some stuff fell off shelves and walls, but it wasn't like you see in other countries that are not prepared. Buildings didn't collapse, ceiling tiles didn't fall... To be honest it wasn't very frightening, and I say that without wanting to sound macho. I have never felt in any imminent danger during an earthquake in Japan.

The real problem is tsunamis. Within 30 seconds of the quake they announce on TV and radio if there is going to be a tsunami and how big it will be. Often it is less than 50cm and you don't need to do anything. I am somewhat surprised that more people didn't evacuate the areas that were flooded, but apparently the message just didn't get out fast enough. Most shops and restaurants will have a TV or turn on the radio after a quake, and some places have a PA system too. I suppose in those more rural areas somehow people didn't find out, or didn't realise just how devastating it would be. That is the real tragedy, there was enough time for people to get away but they didn't.

Why not text?

[Anonymous Coward]

Seems completely redundent, why not just send everyone a text? The mobile companies have every number, so technology base is irrelevant. Is there such a thing as a broadcast text they could send just by cell/mast location, that would be cool.

Re:Why not text?

[AlecC]

It is a text, just a special text which sounds a special alarm rather than the usual text arrival alarm.

Re:Why not text?

[Spiflicator]

I'd guess such an emergency notification would have capability to unmute your phone, etc, and give generate a uniquely distinguishable alert.

Re:Why not text?

[Yamioni]

I for one would love to have it say: "Get to the shelter! GO! GO NOW!"

Bonus points if it's actually Arnie saying (yelling?) it.

Next up

[moonbender]

Next up: Geiger counter.

Re:Next up

[Anonymous Coward]

I honestly keep waiting for this feature, while occasionally peeking out my window to glare at human civilization, before withdrawing to count my bottlecap collection.

Re:Next up

[fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

Not that you'd want to be in a situation where this is relevant; but I'd be interested to see if, by shielding the processor and a small amount of RAM in an otherwise unshielded computer device, you could use software that runs within the shielded processor and RAM and monitors the unshielded system RAM for radiation-induced bit-flipping as a crude radiation sensor...

Substantially less sensitive and accurate than a real Geiger counter; but skipping the delicate-glass-tube-and-high-voltage-drive-circuit in a high density embedded device would be nice, and it'd be a cute stunt.

Re:Next up

[mad flyer]

Been there, already done that:

http://www.radiation-watch.org/p/blog-page.html

No need for wanktastic radiashiun induced memory errors or other bull...

Re:Next up

[zuzuzzzip]

Justin Bieber proximity warning app

Re:Next up

[ColdWetDog]

Right! Good for detection radiation in the range of "OMG, your hair is falling out! or "What's that shiny glow coming from?".

Just a little late for anything useful.

And thank you, no, I'm not interested in beta testing it.

Re:Next up

[fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

This is one piece of software where skipping the alpha and beta testing stages is totally reasonable: Neither would make it through the chip packages.

Bring on the gamma-testers!

Re:Next up

[jandrese]

There's something fishy about that plugin, namely that it connects via a 3.5" DIN plug that is somehow on the bottom of that iPhone.

Re:Next up

[Yamioni]

Most men have that built in already, we call it gaydar.

Re:Next up

[Anonymous Coward]

That only works in North Korea.

Call me when...

[Anonymous Coward]

They have Godzilla alerts.

Why report this?

[QuasiRob]

If most phones in Japan have this feature anyway, why is this news?

Re:Why report this?

[Anonymous Coward]

Because it's Apple. They pay a massive amount to the "press" to release "articles" on Apple products. Factor in the huge zealotry of this cult, and you'll see why the media perception of Apple usage is over 99% of the population.

Re:Why report this?

[Anonymous Coward]

If most phones in Japan have this feature anyway, why is this news?

Just so that Android guys know whose IP is this idea. You've been warned about OS built-in warning system!

Re:Why report this?

[Kyusaku Natsume]

Because you can't ride a single train with at least 2 iPhone users in the same wagon here in Tokyo. For what I have seen it is by far the most popular cellphone here.

Re:Why report this?

[Anonymous Coward]

They pay a massive amount to the "press" to release "articles" on Apple products.

Prove it.

Re:Why report this?

[That Guy From Mrktng]

Do you think that some Apple employee actually lost it's yet to be released iPhone 4G that magically ended in a gizmodo review? And all the subsequent drama related?

"Oh I Accidentally advertised your next product, oh noes Apple is MAD, oh yeah were cool now."

Really? Do not attribute to accident whats perfectly explainable from marketing.

http://gizmodo.com/5520164/this-is-apples-next-iphone

Do not read TFA

[cowboy76Spain]

The summary has almost more info about the system than TFA. Do not waste your time reading it; do not feed click-whores. Even the time.com article linked in the TFA only talks about earthquake detection but nothing about this iOS feature.

Now up to the question: What is the issue with the OS? Does it detect vibrations characteristic of an earthquake or it is just an app that connects to a warning center? In the later issue this is as related to iOS as, say, Notepad is related to Vista.

Re:Do not read TFA

[Sockatume]

Everything you need to know.. It's based on SMS-CB, and is essentially a high-priority all-points SMS broadcast.

Re:Do not read TFA

[cowboy76Spain]

So basically it is an app that will come installed by default. Another "duh" news from the /. editors.

Re:Do not read TFA

[Sockatume]

It's not even an app, it's a notification with a toggle switch in Settings.

Re:Do not read TFA

[vlm]

Everything you need to know.. It's based on SMS-CB, and is essentially a high-priority all-points SMS broadcast.

You mean:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cell_Broadcast

I think I'll wait for the 2600 article explaining how to send my own SMS-CBs. That could be big fun, I look forward to it. I know from reading mass media that SAME broadcasts have been repeatedly hacked; I've read reports of flash freeze alerts in the summer in FL, coastal flood warnings being broadcast in Montana, etc.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Specific_Area_Message_Encoding

Re:Do not read TFA

[Relayman]

If you check, you will see that this is a blog post and that the blogger submitted it to /. to get page views. Did it work? You bet!

Late to the game

[Bushcat]

Japan-manufactured phones have had to support this feature since 2007. The way each carrier supports it differs slightly. Basically, Japan's EEW/EWS triggers a broadcast cell broadcast (SMS-CB) in the affected areas. Most European carriers also support the SMS-CB feature. Consumer-grade EEW is also broadcast over the air and internet: compatible radios and TVs will retune when the alert is received, and turn on if necessary. As far as I'm aware, somewhat oddly the internet service is not free. Similar warning systems are used to cut power to shinkansen, and to trigger equipment shutdowns in various industries such as semiconductor manufacturing. Apple's late to the game here, but on the other hand Softbank only got the Android app out a month or so ago (Apple's a Softbank exclusive).

Re:Late to the game

[JanneM]

It's worth noting that there's been a free Android app for this on the -a href="https://market.android.com/details?id=jp.twiple.android.quake&feature=search_result">market (including Softbank phones I assume) for a good long while already.

It works quite nicely; I've gotten alerts for every small quake we've had since I installed it, before they happened. You get a graphical display with the epicenter and you can set your minimum strength, distance and shindo (surface effect) to filter out uninteresting warnings. It sits and waits for push notifications and alerts you immediately when it gets a quake that exceeds your filter settings.

You don't need any low-level OS support or anything in other words. Surely there must be a similar app for iOS already?

Re:Late to the game

[Anonymous Coward]

>You don't need any low-level OS support or anything in other words. Surely there must be a similar app for iOS already?
Yes you do. App-based EEWs are too slow and heavy on bandwidth because they are based on IPv4. SMS-CB is a broadcast messaging service, which is faster and more reliable by design.
Sadly this new EEW for iOS seems to be also IP-based though...

Re:Late to the game

[Anonymous Coward]

Recently stayed at somebody's place where somebody had an iPhone, and she obviously had some kind of early earthquake warning functionality, as the thing went off one time. It also said how much longer it would take for the earthquake to arrive in our neighborhood. My phone didn't go off BTW. And the earthquake didn't come either. However, I've also gotten false alarms on my (regular Japanese) phone when nothing happened, and I've experienced countless earthquakes I didn't get a warning for even though the epicenter was far away enough. Didn't even get a warning for the M6.8 earthquake the other day. (Admittedly, it was only about shindo 2 where I was.) And it reduces your battery runtime by around half.

Re:Late to the game

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, there is; Yurekuru... and as with other apps it is too slow to give proper warning for all quakes. Unless those Android apps take advantage of the same broadcast message, it's not going to be anywhere close to competing.

Inertial Sensors

[devnullkac]

Would have been sweet if they'd been able to develop an algorithm to detect an impending earthquake from the slight vibrations in the iPhone itself. Then it could work no matter where you are. Oh well.

Re:Inertial Sensors

[ColdWetDog]

Would have been sweet if they'd been able to develop an algorithm to detect an impending earthquake from the slight vibrations in the iPhone itself. Then it could work no matter where you are. Oh well.

Not so much for the iPhone, but for a MacBook, there is something fun. Amuse your friend(s), scare your coworkers! Look like you're doing real work!

Kinda a neat, pointless application.

Re:Inertial Sensors

[Ksevio]

The earthquake warning system works because it can warn people before it gets to the point that their phone can detect it. By the time the earthquake gets to that point, there wouldn't be enough time to evacuate the building or whatever people plan to do, not to mention people riding on trains of listening to music where there could be similar vibrations.

So what does this do

[DrXym]

... that can't be achieved by writing an app? In Android (for example) an app can listen to SMS messages and do anything it likes in response, e.g. set off an audible alarm. This app could even be baked into the phone, or available from marketplace or some official site. I assume iOS can do the same right?

Re:So what does this do

[Sockatume]

Nothing. In fact there already is an iOS app that does this. However there's an expectation that this function be integrated into the handset, and I believe it's mandatory for domestic manufacturers to include it.

Re:So what does this do

[Anonymous Coward]

The app most folks were using was called Yurekuru ("shake coming"). Problem is it frequently delivered notifications too late, and folks took to calling it Yurekita ("shake already came"). It relied on push notification instead of SMS, so I'm guessing the author was picking up the signal and then redistributing it. Apple is just cutting out the middle man here.

Re:So what does this do

[DrXym]

Can't iOS apps read SMS messages then? I know several apps on Android which do it (with the owners consent). e.g. the Prey Project allows you to send an SMS to a stolen phone to activate tracking.

Motion Sensor.

[Anonymous Coward]

For a moment there I thought they were talking about using the motion sensors in iphones for some geolocated monitoring. But no, boarring..... Earthquakes and Destruction, yeah, there's an App for that.

How come they did not have this before !?

[demiurg]

This is truly an illustration of a recent joke where each new iPhone feature raises the same reaction - damn, they did not have it before !?

Earthquake and Tsunami Warning System (ETWS) has been available for years...

So what?

[Snotman]

I am not sure how this is news. Sure, it is fascinating that Japan has a system to alert for earthquakes through phones. But according to the article, most phones in Japan have this feature. So, how is iOS being late to the game news? And the article is very GRAND about how iOS does this for the people of Japan. Bullshit. It does it because of the feature that is supported on iOS finally.

Big whoppee! IS slashdot being used as a marketing spam engine like bitcoin to get any news out on Apple? Gimme a break!

Re:So what?

[ColdWetDog]

Big whoppee! IS slashdot being used as a marketing spam engine like bitcoin to get any news out on Apple? Gimme a break!

All right, you want that Slashdot start covering Michelle Bachman? Sarah Palin? Ponies?

We've already run through the 'beat up Google / Microsoft / RIM and bog help us, HP" this week. What else are we supposed to do here? Besides, tangled amongst the Apple hate and the weak jokes (and I might add, several run on sentences and NO 'IN SOVIET RUSSIA' jokes) is a description of a rather cool alert system and the social reasons why it's important.

Obviously, this is of only intellectual (and I use the term loosely) value. From what I gather, the importance of the system is it forces cell phones to make an audible / tactile alert in the event of an imminent quake. Apparently many Japanese leave their phones on 'silent' so as not to be obnoxious jerks in public. This system would be of limited utility in the US since everyone's cell phone is set to wail some god awful discordant noise at volume 11 at all times.

Re:So what?

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, and it's a cool alert system that has already been in place on EVERY SINGLE OTHER PLATFORM for years. Why wasn't it brought up then? This is what the Snotman meant. Even Sockatume notes that this feature is mandatory for all mobile phones.

This article is nothing but "Company A got a feature that everyone else on platforms B,C,D got several years ago". It definitely has a feel that Slashdot is shilling for company A.

Windows Phone 7 has this...

[Anonymous Coward]

http://www.wpcentral.com/fujitsu-is12t-features-earthquake-early-warning-system

Quote:
Luckily, the Toshiba-Fujitsu IS12T is no different as it features the app/system built into the phone. Tezawaly from NanaPho lets us know that it works too:

"On August 1st, 6.1-magnitude earthquake hit Shizuoka Japan. The warning arrived on IS12T a few seconds before the earthquake hit. It has two button "save" and "close". You can save it as a SMS clicking on the save button."

Now that's a smartphone if you ask us and we're glad those in Japan can have this potential life-saving tool built into that Windows Phone, exclusively for KDDI.

I hope...

[FranktehReaver]

I hope it just vibrates in the event of a earthquake...

The app is called

[Anonymous Coward]

appropriately, iShake.

In unrelated news the geiger counter app underdevelopment is named iMelt.

Worst Subject Ever

[Anonymous Coward]

This has nothing to do with iOS. I don't see how they plan on predicting earthquakes enough in advance to make this warning worth while. The time delay of an SMS could prevent the user from getting it on time. What about people on vacation who get an alert just because of where they purchased the phone. Tsunami warning would be a better warning. This is just a waste of money.

Also in Android

[vboivie]

They are not the only one. ETWS (Earthquake and Tsunami Warning System) was added in Android in 2.3.5 (Gingerbread)

perspective

[Anonymous Coward]

It's only important if you think it is. I don't live in an earthquake prone region so I think it's a useless feature. While you feel it is important because you obviously have family or live in the region.

Early warning for Earthquakes

[j.boulton]

http://www.roam3.com/ are developing a system to give early warning of earthquakes to USAR here in Christchurch.

Apple Marketing Department

[Anonymous Coward]

Coincidence that this feature is announced and two 100 year quakes occur the next day? No, I think this is the kind of marketing you buy with 76 billion in cash on hand.