5 ms·

I grabbed my phone a few seconds after feeling the quake and Googled "earthquake in california today". I'm amazed that the earthquake showed up as the top resul

I grabbed my phone a few seconds after feeling the quake and Googled "earthquake in california today". I'm amazed that the earthquake showed up as the top result with an exact coordinate and magnitude.

tsunamifury 4y ago
Those with pixel phones got notifications 10 seconds before the earthquake wave hit them.
- floydian10 4y ago
  Obligatory XKCD: https://xkcd.com/723/ https://xkcd.com/723/
  - elihu 4y ago
    Also relevant: https://xkcd.com/937/ https://xkcd.com/937/ (In this case it seems like the app worked.)
- baggy_trough 4y ago
  That would depend on where they were.
- jedberg 4y ago
  I'm guessing you're in SF or Oakland?
- mentat 4y ago
  Seemed even a bit longer before that on the peninsula coastside. The whole thing felt magical, to even know that much beforehand.
- rbolla 4y ago
  Is it true?
  - Fatnino 4y ago
    Yes indeed. Earthquakes move through the ground at the speed of sound. Once earthquake detectors on the ground near the epicenter detect it they send the information out at the speed of light, so even factoring in a little bit of delay for calculations, advance warning on the order of several seconds is possible depending on how far away the recipient is.
- tjohns 4y ago
  Depends on where in the Bay Area you were: https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/nc73799091/shake-alert https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/nc73799091... Santa Clara had 2 seconds of advance warning, and Sunnyvale had 4 seconds. San Francisco got 18 seconds of warning, though was outside the "ground motion" zone.
- rconti 4y ago
  myshake pinged my apple watch while i was recording a cat. Cat definitely did not detect it before myshake, I don't think he even noticed it until the actual shaking.
- eins1234 4y ago
  My Samsung got the notification from Google too, so probably not a Pixel exclusive thing. Though I wish it would have overridden silent mode. 10s of advanced warning isn't all that helpful if I only find out about the notification 10 minutes later.
  - modeless 4y ago
    You just reminded me to go into my notification history and turn on "Override Do Not Disturb" for the earthquake early warning notification. I really like the notification history for that; you can go back to a notification you dismissed hours ago and edit its settings.
    - eins1234 4y ago
      Was this under the "Crisis Alerts" category for Google? Going to set it for my phone too, even though this kind of thing really should be set to override do not disturb by default. Apparently my phone supports notification history, but it was also turned off by default... Bad defaults strikes twice in a row.
      - modeless 4y ago
        It's in Google Play Services under "Personal Safety". I wish there was an option for it to make noise despite the vibrate only setting as well.
        aidenn0 4y ago
        On my Android 11 phone the only thing under "Personal Safety" is "Silence notifications while driving"
- anarazel 4y ago
  My notification arrived minutes late, interestingly.
sosodev 4y ago
I believe can actually just type "earthquake" and it will show the same result!

tsunamifury 4y ago

Those with pixel phones got notifications 10 seconds before the earthquake wave hit them.

floydian10 4y ago
Obligatory XKCD: https://xkcd.com/723/ https://xkcd.com/723/
- elihu 4y ago
  Also relevant: https://xkcd.com/937/ https://xkcd.com/937/ (In this case it seems like the app worked.)
baggy_trough 4y ago
That would depend on where they were.
jedberg 4y ago
I'm guessing you're in SF or Oakland?
mentat 4y ago
Seemed even a bit longer before that on the peninsula coastside. The whole thing felt magical, to even know that much beforehand.
rbolla 4y ago
Is it true?
- Fatnino 4y ago
  Yes indeed. Earthquakes move through the ground at the speed of sound. Once earthquake detectors on the ground near the epicenter detect it they send the information out at the speed of light, so even factoring in a little bit of delay for calculations, advance warning on the order of several seconds is possible depending on how far away the recipient is.
tjohns 4y ago
Depends on where in the Bay Area you were: https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/nc73799091/shake-alert https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/nc73799091... Santa Clara had 2 seconds of advance warning, and Sunnyvale had 4 seconds. San Francisco got 18 seconds of warning, though was outside the "ground motion" zone.
rconti 4y ago
myshake pinged my apple watch while i was recording a cat. Cat definitely did not detect it before myshake, I don't think he even noticed it until the actual shaking.
eins1234 4y ago
My Samsung got the notification from Google too, so probably not a Pixel exclusive thing. Though I wish it would have overridden silent mode. 10s of advanced warning isn't all that helpful if I only find out about the notification 10 minutes later.
- modeless 4y ago
  You just reminded me to go into my notification history and turn on "Override Do Not Disturb" for the earthquake early warning notification. I really like the notification history for that; you can go back to a notification you dismissed hours ago and edit its settings.
  - eins1234 4y ago
    Was this under the "Crisis Alerts" category for Google? Going to set it for my phone too, even though this kind of thing really should be set to override do not disturb by default. Apparently my phone supports notification history, but it was also turned off by default... Bad defaults strikes twice in a row.
    - modeless 4y ago
      It's in Google Play Services under "Personal Safety". I wish there was an option for it to make noise despite the vibrate only setting as well.
      - aidenn0 4y ago
        On my Android 11 phone the only thing under "Personal Safety" is "Silence notifications while driving"
anarazel 4y ago
My notification arrived minutes late, interestingly.

sosodev 4y ago

I believe can actually just type "earthquake" and it will show the same result!