alerts

Three apps for tracking hurricanes on Android

Hurricane season is open, and that means keeping track of whether these storms will reach your hometown. Following the local news can be cumbersome if you're on the go, so why not use your Android device to help out? Here are three Android apps that can keep you informed on severe weather conditions.

Hurricane HoundHurricane Hound is an app designed specifically for tracking storms. Each storm is labeled by name with several icons denoting the path the hurricane is predicted to take. These icons are colored and labeled based on the category rating the storm will be at … Read more

How to add LED-style alerts to your Android

A lot of Android smartphones don't have an LED that can display color-coded alerts like the G1 or Nexus One. It's pretty handy to simply glance at your phone and already know if the alert you were out of earshot for is actually something important to check. NoLED is a useful little app that allows you to see a small colored dot or icon on your screen which will identify your different alerts received.

Note: It's recommended that you only use NoLED on AMOLED screens because it is not as battery-friendly on SLCD screens; however, it can … Read more

iOS 5 How To roundup

iOS 5 is packed full of new features that iOS users are sure to love. While most consumers will have to wait to get their hands on it until it's officially released this fall, we have been able to get our hands on a developer preview. So, we're bringing you How To blog posts to give you a preview of new features, and how they work.… Read more

Make custom iPhone ringtones, alerts with GarageBand

Tired of hearing the same old boring ringtone? We know the feeling--so we decided to make an easy-to-follow guide for making a ringtone using the music you already own. Making a ringtone on OS X is a simple process. You will just need to have have GarageBand 4.1.1+ and iTunes 7.5 or above installed on your Mac. … Read more

How to customize text alerts by contact on iOS

Knowing who sent you a text message before even looking at your phone is extremely convenient, especially if you are the type who receives many SMS messages daily. One way to know who is on the other end of that SMS you just received, is to customize the text alert, based on a contact, on your iPhone. It is a simple process to set up, but one that is easy to miss if you aren't paying attention.

While this capability has been around for those in the jailbreak community from early on, it's a fairly new feature having been introduced in iOS 4.2.

How to turn off the weather and stock widgets on iOS 5

Please keep in mind that this post is based off of a beta version of iOS 5. Apple can (and often does) change the behavior of features before the latest OS hits consumers hands. If anything drastically changes in regards to this feature in iOS 5, we will be sure to update the post.

When Apple announced a new Notification Center with iOS 5, it also revealed that iOS 5 would come with a couple of widgets: weather and stocks. The widgets are active in the Notification Center, the same place you will find the rest of your app alerts on iOS 5.

Some users may not want one or both of the widgets displayed on their iPhone or iPod Touch (as of iOS 5 beta 1, the iPad does not have widget support). This simple guide will show you where to find the toggle switch to turn the widgets off. … Read more

How to set custom vibration alerts on iOS 5

How to take control of iOS push notifications

Most iPhone and iPad users already know what it's like to be in the middle of an intense game of Angry Birds only to have a friend start sending instant messages, thus creating countless popups from push alerts, interrupting gameplay. The way iOS currently handles push alerts can be a real annoyance.

This simple guide will show you how to take control of the push alerts on your iOS device, allowing you to decide what applications are important enough to interrupt what you are doing with a text alert.… Read more

FCC to launch disaster alert system for cell phones

The Federal Communications Commission is expanding its familiar emergency alert system notifications sent over TV and radio to now include mobile phones.

Dubbing the new service PLAN (Personal Localized Alerting Network), the government would target the alerts in the form of text messages sent to cell phones of people who need or want to be notified in the event of an emergency. Developed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), PLAN would allow customers of any participating wireless carrier to turn their phones into personal alert systems.

The service will initially launch in New York City by the end of … Read more

The 404 795: Where we're shutting down for the weekend (podcast)

Two Natali Morris appearances in one week? It must be Friday. She joins us for the first half of today's episode, where we discuss today's top stories in tech and culture, including new terror alerts coming to Facebook and Twitter, a Vatican magazine that says hackers are doing God's work, a study linking physical pain to social rejection, and "LOL" earning its place in the English Oxford Dictionary.

The 404 Digest for Episode 795

The impact of a government shutdown. Terror alerts make their way to Facebook and Twitter networks. Vatican magazine compares hackers to the work of God. Scientists at Columbia link physical pain with social rejection. Laughing out loud all the way to the English Oxford Dictionary.

Episode 795 Subscribe in iTunes (audio) | Subscribe in iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more