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This was my first Amber Alert on my smartphone and frankly I found quite annoying. My iPhone squeeled loudly and vibrated waking my sleeping girlfriend. I under
by spikels 13y ago
This was my first Amber Alert on my smartphone and frankly I found quite annoying. My iPhone squeeled loudly and vibrated waking my sleeping girlfriend. I understand two kids may be in trouble but this seems like a very inefficient use of a very large number of people's time. We were lying in bed reading and sleeping nowhere near any cars. The signs on the highway seem completely reasonable.
Did they really send it to every modern smartphone in California? Are we expected to be on call for the police/government at 11pm?
I eventually figured out how to turn it off on an iPhone[1]. The first few results on Google were non-responsive - apparently being DDOSed by the Amber Alert!
[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6165049 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6165049
- rtpg 13y agoThe slight inconvenience it caused you (after all, you were just lying in bed reading) is worth it if it allows for many more people to be on the lookout for the vehicle (there aren't digital signs everywhere on the highway either). I honestly can't think of a better way of informing people of urgent events (natural disasters, mainly).
- numo16 13y ago> I honestly can't think of a better way of informing people of urgent events (natural disasters, mainly) I know that recently, at least in my area (Flint, MI), they started pushing tornado warnings (tornado touchdown confirmed) to smartphones in a way similar to the Amber Alert OP discusses. It was actually pretty cool the night in June, when we had 5 tornadoes touch down in the area, since I don't have TV and was too busy to notice the weather outside to check the weather online.