alerts

Customizing alerts on your iOS device is a great way to quickly personalize your device. With the release of iOS 5 last fall, Apple finally added the ability for users to change the default alert tones for services such as SMS and e-mails. This meant users could then purchase tones directly from Apple, create their own, or use an app to acquire some new tones.

One such app, SMS Ringtones Free (download link), is very easy to use and has a fun list of tones available for its users to download.

While there isn't a way to save the … Read more

A Twitter feed that alerted fans when spare Olympic tickets become available has been reinstated.

When the first events began, Olympic officials faced criticism over the number of seats remaining empty at events. One enthusiast, Adam Naisbitt, was so frustrated by the system that allowed games fans to buy up the spare tickets that he came up with his own alternative, the BBC reports.

Naisbitt set up a Twitter feed, @2012TicketAlert, which tweets information about spare tickets as soon as they are released. The feed leans on details gathered by his software from the official Olympics Web site, and has … Read more

Mountain Lion has pounced into the Mac App Store. If you haven't already upgraded to the latest version of OS X, you'll want to make sure your Mac is ready for the upgrade.

Once you have gone through the preparation and installation of Mountain Lion, you're not going to want to wait to dig right in and get all of the new features set up.

One of the (many) features OS X has incorporated from iOS in Mountain Lion is the Notification Center. If you use an iOS device, you're already familiar with how … Read more

Apple's Reminders app, introduced in iOS 5, works perfectly well at notifying you according to your time- or location-based criteria. But a new app called Checkmark (99 cents for a limited time) gives you location-based reminders using your GPS and important locations you enter, and with a great-looking interface that's easy to navigate.

You start by adding locations important to you such as Home, Work, the Gym, and a friend's house you often visit. You can locate yourself via GPS, but you also can search for an address on a map and add a location pin that way. The next step is creating reminders based on your locations.… Read more

Twitter just updated its Android and iOS apps with a long list of new features. We had a good idea of what to expect in the update, thanks to a leak, but now we get to see how it all works.

One of the more interesting features included in the update is the ability to get notified of tweets and retweets from specific Twitter accounts. This is sure to come in handy if you have a favorite celebrity you don't want to miss a tweet from, or are watching a company's feed for an announcement or contest.

To … Read more

You've got mail. You've got a new Facebook friend request. Someone wants to chat. You've been mentioned in a tweet. Your mom left a voicemail. Your gadgets are constantly trying to get your attention, but bell, ringer, and buzzer alerts get old fast.

Get some peace and quiet (or at least quiet) with the L8 SmartLight. The Kickstarter project consists of a small box full of 64 RGB LEDs in a grid on one side and a single super RGB LED on the other. Talk to your smartphone, connect to your social networks, and feed Internet alerts to the box through Bluetooth or USB.

The battery-powered L8 -- which measures 2.4 inches by 2.4 inches by less than an inch -- can be set to notify you of just about any event you want. Got a new e-mail? Get a flashing light. Status update from your sweetheart? Trigger a pulsing LED heart. Boss left a voicemail on your day off? Set it for an LED frowny face. A control app is coming soon for iOS. Android, and desktop computers.… Read more

Live in an area prone to flash floods, hurricanes, blizzards? Smartphone users will soon get a severe-weather alert from the National Weather Service, a division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The new nationwide emergency alert system, called the Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA), sends 90-character text messages to smartphones of people facing extreme weather conditions. Severe weather defined by the NOAA includes tornadoes, flash floods, hurricanes, extreme wind, blizzards and ice storms, tsunamis, and dust storms. Note that thunderstorms aren't on the list because they occur so frequently. … Read more

Here's an iOS 6 feature Apple didn't talk about at WWDC: the ability to receive government alerts during an emergency or disaster.

Devices running on the company's next mobile operating system, everything from the next iPhone to the iPhone 3GS and iPad 2, will be able to get wireless emergency alerts, also known as the commercial alerting system, according to the publication Emergency Management.

The system allows for the government to broadcasat emergency messages, as it's already done on television and radio. The push for alerts to appear on phones has gone on for a while, … Read more

At Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC 2012) next week in San Francisco we expect to see the latest iteration of iOS unveiled with a laundry list of updates to extend the growing appeal of the iPhone. But, there's still one key feature that Apple isn't likely to improve enough to catch up with Android.

While iOS 6 will reportedly include Apple's new 3D Maps app, Facebook integration, an update to Siri, and a revamped mobile iTunes store, the platform still has one big weak spot: Alerts.

It's hard to argue that Android is more usable … Read more