MakeUseOf » alerts

Public Alerts Added To Google Maps, Keeps You Informed Of Severe Weather [News]

Matt Smith — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 21:01:55 +0000

If you’re a ridiculous geek (like me) the first thing you do when you hear about something bad happening is to check it online. Sure, the power might go out – but that’s what 4G LTE is for, right? Now checking for official emergency alerts is easier than ever before. Google is combining data from the US National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration and the National Weather Service with Maps to provide location-based emergency information through Google Maps.

Alerts will appear when users search for specific locations and emergencies. For example, typing “Portland Flood” will bring up any flood related alerts for residents of the Portland area. This only seems to be working through the Maps page, for now – typing the same into Google Search doesn’t provide the same result.

You can view all public alert data by going to the new Public Alerts page. Areas under a warning that is considered particularly severe (such as a high wind or tornado warning) are colored in dark orange, while other alert areas are colored light orange. Clicking on an alert area provides you with a link to the official alert statement.

Since Google can’t resist the opportunity to catalog and rank data, each alert is also rated for how likely it is to impact you, how soon it will impact you, and how severely you will impact you. How Google rates each alert isn’t clear.

Weather alerts are only provided for the United States, but international earthquake data is available.

Source: The Official Google.Org Blog

8 Top Hurricane Tracking Websites on the Web

Saikat Basu — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 19:00:22 +0000

If you remember Hurricane Katrina, then you would also remember the images of devastation it left in its wake. Developed or developing, no country can withstand the onslaught of tropical storms like hurricanes when they decide to run amok. Hurricane Katrina is also the costliest natural disaster as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes in the U.S.

All these alarming facts should put the need for hurricane early warning systems (and hurricane tracking websites relying on such systems) in perspective. Hurricane tracking websites are especially important during the hurricane season. For individuals, it could serve as a caution when planning vacations or packing up with essential supplies. For example, the vacation hotspot of The Bahamas fall slam bang in the middle of a few hurricanes now and then.

Keep an eye on the storms with the help of these hurricane tracking websites.

The National Hurricane Center (NHC)

This is perhaps the go to site for constant and the latest weather updates. It is the official mouth piece of the U.S. government and covers the North Atlantic and the Eastern North Pacific Ocean areas. Information is very detailed as it is collected from satellite imagery, aerial recon, and radar among other weather forecasting tools. You can also learn a lot about hurricane preparedness on the site and via its outreach programs. Updates are also available in alternate versions on mobiles and PDAs.

Stormpulse

Stormpulse monitors weather changes in the continental United States and Caribbean. You can subscribe to the site’s weather tracking reports as it tracks tropical storms. It is primarily focused on business solutions, but individual users too can catch the updates on the map. You can track individual storms on the map and check their activity status. The information is sourced from the National Hurricane Center and other agencies and displayed on the map mash-up. This detailed article gives you a more complete review.

My Hurricane

My Hurricane is a neat site which overlays storm forecasts and data on a Google Map. You can use the toggle switches to choose the information you want to have displayed. For instance, you can switch on (or off) the historical path of the storm and also forecast its path as it develops further. You can setup alerts and receive them on Twitter. (Directory mention)

The Weather Underground Tropical Weather Page

Infrared heatmaps and satellite imagery make this site and its tropical weather page a must visit if you are planning a vacation anywhere during the hurricane season. The site is available in a Lite version, a mobile version, and an iPhone version too. Check out the downloads section for the many aids you can use with your devices. The WunderRadio and WunderMap for iPad could be two of them. The site also has a comprehensive archive of hurricane related articles.

IBISEYE

This hurricane tracking tool covers the North Atlantic and gives you updated news on current hurricanes. It displays it all on a large Google Map supported with satellite imagery overlays. You can browse through a list of the latest storms and locate them on the map. Easy to use map controls also help to make sense of the complex weather data.

MyFoxHurricane

This graphics heavy site comes courtesy the Fox Television Network. With satellite imagery, climate models, and animated maps, this site offers good visualizations for understanding hurricanes. Interactive radar maps cover Florida, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean.

BoatUS Hurricane Resource Center

The storm tracking page of the BoatUS issues public advisories as it tracks the latest storms to hit U.S. coasts. Images and weather information is sourced from NOAA. The site is simple without any interactivity.

Storm Advisory

Storm Advisory plots tropical cyclones, typhoons, hurricane paths and gives you the projected status information on Google Maps for Atlantic, Eastern Pacific, and Western Pacific. The site is again very simple and gives you a glimpse of the developing storm fronts at a glance.

Bad weather disrupts. It affects every area of our lives and has an economic cost. The least we can do is to be forewarned about it and prepare to the best of our ability. Are you a weather watcher? Which are the other tools you use to track weather? Let us know if you have ever been severely affected by hurricanes and the value you place on these hurricane tracking websites.

How To Get An Automatic Text Message When Your Favorite TV Show Is On

Dave LeClair — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 00:31:31 +0000

Almost everyone enjoys watching some TV at one time or another. It is a terrific way to take your mind off the world around you and relax. The problem for me is that I always seem to forget when the shows I want to watch are on. I will be sitting around playing some Call of Duty or Skyrim, and the next thing I know, the show I was waiting for has come and gone.

Having a DVR certainly helps rectify the situation, but there is something to be said for watching the show live, as it happens. There is nothing worse than forgetting the show is on, then having a friend text you and utterly spoiling the end of the episode for you. I want to be mad at them, but it is my own fault for forgetting to watch the show in the first place. Thankfully, through the magic of IFTTT, my poor memory problems are solved. If you are unfamiliar with IFTTT, you should check out this delightful MakeUseOf article to learn the basics.

Setting Up A TV Show RSS

IFTTT does not have a native app in place for TV show reminders, but it does have the ability to alert you of the latest changes to an RSS feed. This is where mytvrss comes in to play. With mytvrss, you can set up an RSS feed for all your favorite TV shows simply by checking their name off a list.

After you finish choosing the shows, scroll down to the bottom of the page and click “create feed.” This will bring to a screen where you can choose to enter your email address to be emailed when a new show is on, and where you will be given the URL for your new RSS feed.

By default, mytvrss can email you reminders about your favorite TV shows, and if that is good enough, than read no further. However, for me an email is not enough, as I do not always check it. I need the text message to get my attention. This is where IFTTT comes through, and where the next step in the process begins.

Setting IFTTT To Send Text Message Alerts

Make sure to copy the URL from step one, and then go to IFTTT to set up text alerts for the RSS. For the basics of IFTTT make sure to check out this article from Justin. It breaks down all the basics of using the app.

Register for an IFTTT account if you do not already have one, and click the “Create Task” button on the top right of the page. Next, click the “This” link. Click on the button called “Feed” with the big orange RSS symbol.

Next, paste the feed that you copied from mytvrss and click “Create Trigger.”

Next, click the “That” link. Scroll down and click on “SMS.” Enter your phone number in the box that pops up and IFTTT will send you a four-digit pin number. Enter the number provided to confirm that you wish to set up IFTTT texting.

Click on the “Create Action” button. The last step is simply to enter a description for the task. Click on “Create Task” and you will be all set to receive text message reminders for your favorite TV shows.

Conclusion

It seems as if every day there is a new and creative use for IFTTT. It seems poised to become one of the single most useful web apps ever created, and as they add more and more channels, it will only get better. Try it out for television shows, or whatever cool use you can think of, and I promise it will make your life a little easier.

Image Credit: ShutterStock

Getting Better Notified With Your Revamped Notification Center (iOS 5)

Bakari Chavanu — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 17:01:24 +0000

Nearly all iOS Apple and third-party apps incorporate some type of notification feature. For many of us, our iOS devices are the hub where we access information and communicate with others throughout the day. We want to stay up-to-date with emails, important news items, weather reports, direct Twitter messages, game updates, calendar appointments, and the like, without having to always open individual applications.

Before the recent release of iOS 5, app notifications would pop up in the middle of the screen of an iOS device, which was sometimes annoying, especially if you’re talking on the phone or playing a game. But with the new Notification Center, getting notified is nearly trouble-free. This core feature is perhaps one of the main reasons why most iOS users will want to update to the new iOS.

How It Works

Notification Center basically collects all of your notifications – emails, text messages, calendar appointments, Reminders—all in one place. You get the option of having Notification Center display in Lock screen mode, briefly display banner format at the top of the screen from within any application; and best of all by swiping down with one finger from the top of the screen—again, from within any program.

You can swipe or tap on any notification to view it within its respective app. So basically Notification Center allows you to view all of your new notifications at a glance.

Setting Up Notifications

Since most iOS apps include some type of notification feature, you would definitely want to take some time to enable or disable which notifications you want to receive alerts from, and how you want to receive them. These options have been in the iOS since the last two upgrades, but they are significantly enhanced in iOS 5. As you might have guessed, making changes to the notifications is done through the Settings >Notifications app.

Inside Notifications, you get a list of all the apps currently enabled in the Notification Center, and the ones that are not.

First off, notice that you can sort the order in which you want groups of notifications to appear in the Notifications display. By default, they are sorted by app. So for example if the Weather Widget report is not at the top of the list (pardon the pun) of information you need to know, you can click the Edit button on the top-right and move that notification lower on the list.

On the other hand, you can sort apps by the date and time they arrive or are updated. Notifications will appear grouped by the most recent update.

Fortunately, you can disable notifications for any app. So if you don’t have stock to exchange on the Stock Market, you can simply tap that Stock Widget and turn it off, which is enabled by default. The same goes for other apps in your list that you want to enable or disable.

Alert Style

Next, you want to decide how notification alerts will display. Apple has set it up for them to appear either in the form of a small banner at the top of the screen, or as an alert notice in the Lock Screen mode. Banner alerts appear for a few seconds and then automatically go away. You can also of course choose to not get alerts this way by tapping “None.”

iOS apps have various types of other alerts, including sound alerts, little red numeric badge notifications that display on app icons, and alerts that appear in Lock Screen mode.

As you use these style features, you will see which ones work best for how you want to be notified.

You will also want to decide how many recent items you want to receive at a time from particular applications. For example, if you receive a lot of email messages, you may want to limit them to the most recent five. Unfortunately, you can’t mark email messages as read from within the Notification Center display. You can only clear or close notifications.

When a single alert arrives in the Lock Screen, you can swipe to have that item open directly in its respective application.

Wish List

There’s much to look forward to with Notification Center, such as a “Quick Look” preview of email messages, the ability to tap a Reminder item as done, and voice announcements of designated messages or alerts – similar to the Siri digital assistant in iPhone 4S.

See this article for other amazing new features in iOS 5.

Stay On Top Of The Latest Online Fraud Alerts With These 6 Websites

Tim Brookes — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 23:30:58 +0000

Online fraud, scams and phishing emails are bound to instill a sense of dread in all of us, so when it comes to protecting yourself online it’s important not to simply rely on software to keep everything in check.

As a general rule of thumb: if it looks too good to be true, it probably is – and this advice is well worth remembering.For extra peace of mind you can also do your own research and investigate the current threats yourself.

The more prepared you are, the easier you’ll be able to spot a scam and steer clear – so without further ado here are some resources to keep you, your friends and family wise to online fraud.

USA.gov – Consumer Frauds and Scams

Probably the best governmental resource for US citizens concerned about fraud, this section of the country’s main online political portal contains a bounty of information about scams in the wild. There is plenty of in-depth, easy-to-understand information on a huge variety of schemes designed to trick and steal.

News is provided courtesy of other sources at the foot the page, and while more regular updates would be nice, the service is a fantastic resource for anyone concerned that they have been hit with fraud. Detailed descriptions of known scams will also help you identify potential dishonesty.

LooksToGoodToBeTrue.com

The aptly named LooksToGoodToBeTrue.com tracks known scams and reports the findings in their Action Centre. The website comes recommended by several government portals (including USA.gov above) and contains more advice for those concerned about fraud.

On a very human level is the Victim Stories section which invites victims of fraud to share their experiences in the hope of raising awareness. The website also has a File A Complaint section which provides the links to several US government department including the FBI-run Internet Crime Complaint Centre.

419 Legal

Named after the 419 scams that once ran rampant online, 419 Legal is in fact a message board where the active community reports on scams, phishing and general fraudulent schemes. Due to the fact that it’s a community and not a news agency or government body, reports are a lot more frequent than on comparable sites.

As well as the Scam Alerts forum where users submit their own reports, there is a General News section, 419 News and archives of past scam email templates to help identify potential scam emails. 419 Legal is a fantastic site with a supportive community and years of archived scam identification techniques.

ActionFraud

ActionFraud is the UK’s national fraud reporting centre, and contains plenty of information that resonates not just in the UK but all over the world. If it’s alerts you’re after then the News & Alerts section contains a run-down of the latest known threats.

As well as news, the rest of the site serves as a useful portal for anyone who has been hit by or is concerned about the dangers of online scams. As well as being able to report the fraud, victims can find out information about what to do next, who to contact and future prevention.

MillerSmiles.co.uk

Despite being a UK-based site, MillerSmiles is a definitive resource for phishing and email scams wherever you are in the world. As well as the latest reports of known scams the website conducts a weekly analysis of all reports submitted.

It is possible to subscribe to alerts via RSS, submit your own scams and search the database of past incidents. The website also organizes threats by company, so if you have received a dodgy looking email from your bank, PayPal or email provider it’s easy to check it against the list.

ScamWatch.gov.au

The final resource on this list comes all the way from Australasia and is a joint effort between the governments of Australia and New Zealand. The ScamWatch Radar keeps track of known threats down-under and it is even possible to subscribe via email for alerts in your inbox.

The rest of the site is packed with helpful advice regarding every kind of scam you can think of, and there is an area to report local scams.

Conclusion

Even if the sites on this list aren’t specific to your locale they can still help identify known scams, phishing attempts and other fraudulent correspondence. If you do receive a suspicious email requesting personal or financial information then alarm bells should always ring. Your bank won’t ask for that information in an email, and if they do then you should always contact a local branch first. Bargains at unbelievable prices usually aren’t bargains and if you use online dating sites then never hand over money to someone you hardly know, no matter how nice they seem to be.

Good luck out there, it’s a big bad Internet!

Have you been scammed, defrauded or had information stolen? Do you know any other good websites that cover the latest frauds and scams? Share your links and experiences in the comments section!

Image Credit: Shutterstock

3 Apps To Alert You Of Natural Disasters [Android]

Tina Sieber — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 16:01:25 +0000

Volcano eruptions, earthquakes, floods – it seems like mother nature is striking back. Yet natural disasters are exactly that – natural – and they have been happening for millions of years. In fact, we owe our existence to a series of the same. Humans have become largely detached from nature and disasters are a reminder of how dependent on mother nature we remain to this day.

This article features three Android apps that provide alerts for storms, earthquakes, and other natural disasters. These apps cannot replace professional alert networks, but they do offer an overview of what is going on in the world and a way to easily follow the development of a disaster.

If you are interested in natural disasters, but don’t want to use your Android device to follow them, check out this article - 4 Web Services To Keep Track Of Earthquakes & Storms Around Us.

Disaster Alert

Disaster Alert is an app from the Pacific Disaster Center (PDC). It displays information on current global disasters, including droughts, floods, wildfires, earthquakes, and heavy storms.

An overview of natural disasters is shown on an interactive world map. You can click on the disaster alert symbol to receive a summary of the current event status, when it was first reported, and when it was last updated. For more information, you can visit a page dedicated to the event on the PDC website by clicking the blue arrow symbol.

Earthquake!

As the name suggests, this app focuses on earthquakes. Earthquake locations and magnitudes are shown on a world map. A list on the left-hand side, which shows the latest events first, summarizes the location, magnitude, and exact day and time of the incident. Clicking on an item in the list will move the map to the respective spot and open details about the earthquake, including a link to the earthquake’s page on the USGS website.

To get an idea how earthquakes are connected, you can run a ‘playback’ and see in which order they occurred.

In the settings you can control the frequency of automatic updates, select a minimum magnitude for earthquake reports, and choose which notifications you would like to receive. If you choose to enable location based tracking, you can also define the maximum distance of the epicenter that is to be reported by the app.

StormTracker

If you are in the US, you will find a host of applications for storm alerts on the Android Market, most of them released by TV weather stations. It’s up to you to find the one for your area.

This application is also restricted to the US for storms, but includes earthquake reports for locations worldwide. You can click on each mark on the map for a summary of the ‘disaster’, including type, speed, direction, region, date, time, magnitude, etc. For hurricanes the app displays the track of the storm from where it started to its predicted path, including expected time points in the next hours or days.

We have previously featured 3 Great Radar Storm Trackers For The Android Phone.

Being alerted is one thing, but being prepared is a completely different story! If you live in an area prone to natural disasters, you might be interested in FEMA, the app from the (US) Federal Emergency Management Agency. It contains information on how to prepare for different types of natural disasters, including checklists, planning and recovery tips.

How do you prepare for natural disasters and do you think alert apps are helpful?

Image credits: Sergej Khakimullin

5 Websites That Alert Book Lovers About New Book Releases

Saikat Basu — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 19:31:13 +0000

Any book lover will tell you that there’s nothing that beats the pleasure of browsing the aisles of a bookstore and leafing through new books. Discovering new books and new authors (and liking them) is akin to El Dorado for a book lover. But just like everyone else, the digital age has given the book lover another set of eyes to find out what new books are getting released and where to grab them. Welcome to the world of book tracking and notification services.

Today, we have social communities built around books (Shelfari, GoodReads), online recommendation engines (e.g. What Should I Read Next), and online retailers like Amazon which can alert you when a book becomes available. All of them have their own way of notifying you of new book releases. Some are tailor made around your interests while some are broad based with weekly or monthly newsletters. The five book recommendation websites mentioned below belong to the former and are like homing missiles when it comes to alerting you about new releases.

Track New Book

Tracknewbook.com is one of those neat book discovery websites that helps the book lover stay informed with a timely notification service. You can track a book by its author, subject, or your own keywords. You can track books across all formats from hardcover to audio books. But it’s the option of Seed Book (beta) tracking that had me interested in their offering. Seed Book lets you pick any book as a ‘seed’, and then you receive alerts on other books that are similar to the one you picked as the seed. It’s great for stumbling into new books and new authors, especially if your reading habits are very selective.

The Book Discovery service is also a unique install that you may not find elsewhere. It’s a browser plug-in supported for most browsers that recommends books that are related to web site you visit. For instance, if you visit Makeuseof.com you can expect to receive recommendation related to computers. It’s not always perfect though. (See Directory mention)

Book Buzzes

Book Buzzes is far simpler than the previous new book notification website. You just have to log-in and then enter your favorite author into the Author text box, choose what type of book you’re interested in and your locale, and thus create a ‘buzz’ which will land in your inbox as soon as it spots a new release. The book title in the alert is linked to Amazon. (See Directory mention)

Any New Books

This new book alert service also follows the same pattern. You have to select the genres you want to receive alerts for, and then they come into your inbox every week. You can select multiple genres of course for the once-a-week alerts. You can also opt for a general weekly email that will feature a generic selection of the best new books each week. You have categories for Kindle eBooks and audio books too. Sign-up is very quick with just your email address. (See Directory mention)

Author Alerts

Authoralerts.com lets you create a watch list of authors whose new book releases you would like to be reminded about. The site uses news release information from Amazon. You get the information on new releases via email or a RSS feed. Ten alerts are allowed.

Wowbrary

Wowbrary treads a different path by focusing on U.S. libraries alone. You feed it your zip code and the service lets you know by email or RSS about your chosen public library’s newest books, movies and music. The service is free and U.S. specific. (See Directory mention)

Alert and notification services remove the drudgery from watching out for things yourself. Book lovers have more ways to keep track of books. Here are two more for you to read –

The only thing you have to keep your eye on is your inbox. Let us know the value of new book release alerts amidst all the other book web apps you may have encountered so far.

Image Credit: Shutterstock

3 Tools To Create A Price Drop Email Alert

Ann Smarty — Tue, 24 May 2011 01:30:43 +0000

Shopping online is hardly a new habit for anyone. We have all quickly found how easy and exciting it is to spend money online. But what about saving?

Couponing can be a great and effective way to save a penny or two and there have been quite a few useful money-saving sites shared so far… But who has the time? Tracking coupons online requires a huge time investment which may never pay off: you need to first find reliable and effective coupon sources, then create various tracking and organizing systems, etc.

I have found that nothing works better than a relevant and timely price tracking email alert. Here are a few tools I am using to create one:

New Coupon Alert

There are a variety of coupon directories and aggregators out there. One’s choice is really based on personal preferences and trial and error experiences. The one I am currently using is Rather-be-Shopping which has (luckily) added the coupon alert feature with the latest update.

I like the tool because the coupons listed there seem to be hand-picked and more often than not prove to be reliable. One of the newest and most useful sections added as well is a free shipping one.

To add an email alert, you will need to create a free account, proceed to “Your Coupon Alert Settings” ad check what you want to be alerted of. You can receive alerts (1) by category or (2) by store (or both):

FreeShipping.org’s “Favorite Coupons” feature that I mentioned in another shopping-related post quite a while ago is another option to try here but it only allows you to add price alerts by merchant.

Price Drop Email Alert

Like with coupon aggregating, price tracking sites are quite a few. I’ve been using one of the most established and popular of them: PriceGrabber. To create a price drop alert you will need to use the search feature to locate your product (range), then create an account and use “Add Price Alert” link.

The alert settings will let you specify:

Quality preferences (New, Used, Import, Refurbished, etc);
Merchant range (you can include or exclude any merchants names);
Desired merchant rating:

The actual alert will look like this:

Any Email Price Alerts

Google Alerts which you can have plenty of fun with is another tool we need to mention here. The best thing about the tool is that you can actually create an alert about anything while using the flexibility of Google Advanced operators:

Get new product result within the specified price range: [laptop $500..$1200] – use two dots between the prices
Include several products in one alert: [laptop coupons OR mobile phone coupons]
Control the proximity to include various models: ["nokia * coupons"]

Almost with all those queries, scrolling down to “Web results” in your alert (like in the screenshot above) will give you most useful results.

With as much flexibility, why not use Google Alerts and that’s it? Unfortunately, the tool results are far from being perfect. In my experience, Google Alerts are most useful when applied for some type of research (for example, if you want to get daily updates on what people offer and which products exist based on your query). The tool won’t give you any actionable updates (unlike the two tools above).

Another tip to mention here is that you probably want to create a separate email account for these types of price alerts so that they do not clutter your main inbox.

Do you save money using your email? Please share your most successful money saving tricks!

Take Control Over Your Weather Viewing With Meteo [Mac]

Steve Campbell — Fri, 13 May 2011 21:31:34 +0000

I never used to be too concerned with the weather when I would wake up in the morning, usually because I would be getting into my car regardless of whether it was rain or shine. Since I moved to New York City, however, I take public transportation and walk everywhere, so the weather is very much a factor in my daily routine. In fact, checking the weather has become one of the first things I do after waking up in the morning.

There are a lot of apps and websites out there dedicated to forecasting weather. Some are better than others, and on a Mac, Meteo is one of the best I’ve seen. Meteo, or Meteorologist, is a free weather program for OS X. It allows users total control over their weather viewing, with support for multiple cities, interlaced weather reports, weather alerts, and much more.

How Do I Start Using Meteo?

If you’re ready to start using Meteo, the first thing you should do is navigate over to the homepage, located on SourceForge, and click on the 1.5.2 (latest version) link at the top of the page.

When you first run Meteo, you’ll be on the Cities tab, where you can remove the default city (Cupertino, CA), unless you live there of course, and add the cities you would like to track the weather in. To do that, just click the Add City button, type in your desired city, state, or zipcode, and click Search. Your city will be displayed at the bottom for you to select.

You can also select which weather and forecast items you would like to display for your searched city with the tabs at the top. You can select anything from Temperature and Forecast to Visibility and UV Index. Just click Confirm when you’re done.

On the Updating tab, you can select how often you would like active locations to update. By default, this is set to 15 minutes. Also by default, Meteo will be displayed in the Menubar at the top of your Mac’s screen, but you can change this to “Dock” or “Both” if you like as well.

If you would like to receive alerts about the weather, you can set that up on the Alerts tab. Weather alerts can be in the form of an email, beep, a song you select, bounce, or message.

Once you have Meteo set up, you can click on your city in your Menubar and click Weather to be taken to Weather.com for an updated forecast, or simply mouse over Current Conditions to see what it’s currently like outside or Extended Forecast to see that information for over the next 3 days.

Conclusion

If you’re really into weather forecasting and would like to include this type of information on your blog or website, whether for your own reference or if it pertains to your readers, you should also check out this article by John entitled Top 5 Sites to Download Weather Widgets For Your Blog or Website.

Meteo is a simple program that can give you as much in-depth information about the weather as you want it to. For my purposes, checking the weather every morning, it does the trick. Are you impressed with Meteorologist for Mac? What other apps/websites do you use to keep track of what’s going on outside?

3 Great Radar Storm Trackers For The Android Phone

Matt Smith — Thu, 12 May 2011 15:31:19 +0000

As the recent tragic tornados in the American southeast once again proved – as well as the massive flooding across the midwest – weather is a force to be reckoned with. Even today, with all of our technology, we can do nothing more than get out of the way of nature’s wrath.

Before you do that however, you have to know there is reason to worry. Although the national weather services almost always catch dangerous situations as or before they develop, it’s not practical to carry a weather radio everywhere. You can however carry your Android – and load it up with useful radar storm tracker apps.

My-Cast Weather Lite

There are more weather gadgets, radar apps and forecast apps available on Android that you can shake a stick at. After going through all of them I could find, there was one that I kept coming back to – My-Cast Weather Lite.

This radar storm tracker app really does it all. It includes current conditions, forecasts, maps and alerts. There are plenty of apps on Android that provide local radar coverage, but only a handful of them provide radar coverage and local weather alerts and a clear, easy to read forecast.

As if that weren’t enough, My-Cast Weather Lite also provides an RSS weather news feed that can be found in the social section. This news feed isn’t meant to provide you with current weather news (that’s what alerts are for) but it does provide interesting information about recent weather events.

Local Weather Apps

When it comes to weather, local information is always the most relevant. There’s always weather somewhere, but it’s only important to you if it’s where you are.

Often, local weather apps made by news organizations are a great choice for information. This caught me by surprise, at first – local news and high-tech don’t associate in my mind – but after trying out some local apps produced by various channels, I found that their quality is usually on par or better than your average Android weather app.

Better yet, these apps often provide the best local information, such as forecasts and weather alerts. The radar storm trackers in these apps usually do a better job of highlighting potential dangers than the radar you’ll find in an app that’s built to cover an entire country, continent or the world.

Rainy Days

I like My-Cast Weather Lite, but it is a full-fledged app, not just a radar storm tracker. Those who are looking for the radar and nothing more should consider Rainy Days.

There’s not much to this radar storm tracker app, really. It takes radar information and places it on Google Maps. There is a time-lapse available which covers an hour of time at once. The radar information available is detailed, and it’s possible to zoom in close and check out the weather above your home.

My biggest beef with this app is the lack of alerts. This decreases the usefulness of the app in dangerous situations, but if you just want a radar storm tracker to watch a line of storms you know is coming, Rainy Days will do well.

Conclusion

Talking about the weather is one of the most mundane topics in the world, but knowing about the weather can literally save your life. Storms don’t mess around, and they go where they want. Knowing that severe weather is headed your way means you can find shelter or move out of the way before you’re in danger.