Earthquake

Apple is currently beta testing a number of features for the next version of its mobile OS, and one of them might have helped a little today.

It’s an earthquake early warning system, and iOS5 users can turn it on with the flick of a finger. It was originally included with Japan in mind, and it works with their existing well-developed  warning system.  But it shouldn’t be to hard to adapt it to also work with the notification systems here in the US.

Then again, it might not be all that useful here in Virginia, or useful in much of the US, in fact. Using this feature will likely help to drain battery life,and there just aren’t that many earthquakes in this region. Today’s quake inspired me to go see how many quakes have hit the DC area since I moved here in 2002. I found press mentions of 4 other earthquakes; I had only known of one and slept through the others.

Also, the US doesn’t have quite as sophisticated warning system as in Japan.

Japan has the most advanced earthquake early-warning system in the world. A nationwide online system launched in 2007, it detects tremors, calculates an earthquake’s epicenter and sends out brief warnings from its 1,000-plus seismographs scattered throughout the country, one of the most earthquake-prone nations on the planet.

via 9to5Mac

image by martinluff

Launch a social media campaign that will build your brand and deliver results in our online Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting June 7. Speakers include Abigail Cusick (Bravo Digital), Gregory Galant (Sawhorse Media), Alex Leo (Thomson Reuters Digital), Jim Tobin (Ignite Social Media), and many more. Read the reviews.

The comic book industry has banded together to raise funds to help the victims of last month’s tsunami and earthquake.

Japan Needs Heroes is going to be a collaborative effort from a dozen or more big names in comics. Industry giants such as Stan Lee, Peter David, Larry Hama, Jimmy Palmiotti, Ron Marz, Amanda Conner, Howard Mackie, Brandon Peterson, and others have volunteered to donate comics to this collection. All proceeds will be donated to the Japan Society  to directly help victims recover from the devastating effects of the earthquake and tsunamis that struck Japan on March 11, 2011.

It’s being funded as a Kickstarter project, and it has already exceed the goal of  $10,000 needed to pay for the print run. You can still contribute, and with a donation of $5 or more you will also get a free PDF of the graphic Novel. If you pledge $50, you can even get the novel as a hardback book.

www.JapanNeedsHeroes.com

Would you like to help victims of the March 11th tsunami? buy this eBook.

In just over a week, a group of unpaid professional and citizen journalists who met on Twitter created a book to raise money for Japanese Red Cross earthquake and tsunami relief efforts. In addition to essays, artwork and photographs submitted by people around the world, including people who endured the disaster and journalists who covered it, 2:46: Aftershocks: Stories from the Japan Earthquake contains a piece by Yoko Ono, and work created specifically for the book by authors William Gibson, Barry Eisler and Jake Adelstein.

All proceeds from the sale of this eBook will go to the Japanese Red Cross Society to aid the victims of the ongoing disasters in Japan.

Amazon