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Explosions near Boston Marathon finish line

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Re: Explosions near Boston Marathon finish line

#121

Post by pc86 »

nwh wrote: post #23
antr wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

c'mon, people have smartphones. companies like facebook, twitter, foursquare, etc know your location and should be able to push notifications alerting people to stay away/at home. EDIT: Thanks for the downvotes guys, here I was trying to show a real need. I've been calling friends in NY/Boston the past 30min asking to see if they are OK + stay at home.

Strangely enough, iPhones do have an ability to receive geographic-targeted alerts like this. I've seen them used for severe weather warnings. They look like this — http://i.imgur.com/gWrDXFD.jpg

I received an Amber Alert for a girl from Philadelphia a few months ago on this system (or a similar one). It was surreal being in a restaurant and hearing over a dozen phones go off almost simultaneously.

Re: Explosions near Boston Marathon finish line

#123

Post by mindcrime »

belorn wrote: post #93

I am seeing a lot of comments which makes assumptions about this being detonated explosives. Has there been any confirmation about this?

Listening to BFD radio, you hear a lot of chatter about additional "secondary devices" and "suspicious packages" even now. Apparently they have a large group of bomb-sniffing dogs they are moving around to check these things out.

Re: Explosions near Boston Marathon finish line

#125

Post by TannerLD »

austenallred wrote: post #47

While this is buggy/not ready for release, here's a way to follow this on social media. http://fastlane.grasswire.com/ PS. Here's our launchrock page if anyone cares http://grasswire.com

I am interested in what this was as it sounds cool, but it is down at the moment. Could you tell us a bit more about it?

Re: Explosions near Boston Marathon finish line

#126

Post by scarmig »

lifeguard wrote: post #104
recoiledsnake wrote: post #2

Edit: Boston police reporting at least 2 dead, 22 injured and 10 people losing limbs. http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/04/15/explosion-reported-near... Looks like there were two explosions. Picture: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BH6fCgFCQAERWMB.jpg:large More details http://www.wcvb.com/news/local/metro/Explosions-reported-nea... "Witnesses said several victims lost limbs, and the area was being evacuated. Many of the in…

For some reason this reminds me more of the Atlanta Summer Olympics or Moscow than the attacks on the World Trade Center. [edit to add links for clarity] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_apartment_bombings#Ryaz... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centennial_Olympic_Park_bombing Condolences to friends and families of the injured and dead.

The aim of the WTC attack was to make a very symbolic action: the goal was to destroy three symbols of American power, its military, economic, and political might, though the last ended up physically unscathed. Obviously a huge number of deaths associated with it, but the symbolism was key. You knew exactly where the attackers stood--American power is evil--once you heard a description of the attacks.

This, in contrast, is incomprehensible violence. I can think of a dozen different viewpoints that could have driven it, but we'll have to wait for some idiotic statement from the criminals who did it before we have a clue "why" they did it.

Re: Explosions near Boston Marathon finish line

#128

Post by ConstantineXVI »

mrb wrote: post #55
ConstantineXVI wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most current (~2012) cellphones do in the US, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commercial_Mobile_Alert_System (I'm unclear on how these are delivered within the network, seems to be SMS but I can't source that)

I was in Hawaii 2 weeks ago, and they were broadcasting these types of alerts to my girlfriend's phone (Android 4), to warn about a risk of flash floods. Android was even using text-to-speech to read the alert out loud, and automatically, which woke us up during the night!

Think how exactly the alerts happen is up to the OEM, beyond 'loud noise'. The iPhone uses something similar to the EBS tone in 1s bursts (it was 1AM when mine fired, so I can't say with certainty if it was the same tone or not). I've heard similar from other Android users, but I've shut off the alerts on all my phones since.

Re: Explosions near Boston Marathon finish line

#129

Post by pc86 »

antr wrote: post #21
antr wrote: post #12

>Boston scanner: "EMS is reporting another device" in front of Mandarin Hotel https://twitter.com/katz/status/323878815245946880

c'mon, people have smartphones. companies like facebook, twitter, foursquare, etc know your location and should be able to push notifications alerting people to stay away/at home. EDIT: Thanks for the downvotes guys, here I was trying to show a real need. I've been calling friends in NY/Boston the past 30min asking to see if they are OK + stay at home.

I can guess as to why you're being downvoted.

Capitalization. Nonsensical reference to corporations that has nothing to do with this event. Lack of domain knowledge regarding already existing FCC notification systems. Random mention of New York, which is neither geographically proximal to Boston nor affected by this event.

EDIT: I know there's a statement regarding NY being "on alert" but there is no indication they have any reason to do so, or are doing so in reaction to anything.

Re: Explosions near Boston Marathon finish line

#130

Post by film42 »

flyt wrote: post #76
austenallred wrote: post #47

While this is buggy/not ready for release, here's a way to follow this on social media. http://fastlane.grasswire.com/ PS. Here's our launchrock page if anyone cares http://grasswire.com

"Favorites" is a morbid word to have on this page. Maybe consider "Highlights" instead.

Good call, thanks for the feedback!
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