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Showing posts from August, 2020

Google is turning Android Phones into seismometers

Google   is launching a handful of new Android features today that don’t really have a lot in common but that are all interesting in their own right. There are updates to  Android Auto  and  Android’s    emergency location service , new accessibility features thanks to an updated  Lookout app , and the promise of better sleep thanks to the  bedtime tools  in the Android Clock app now rolling out to all Android devices running version 6.0 or later (this was a Pixel-only feature before). But the highlight of today’s release is surely Google’s new worldwide earthquake detection system and the new earthquake alerting feature it is launching for California. With this, Google is essentially turning your Android phone into a seismometer to create what the company says is “the world’s largest earthquake detection network.” Image Credits:  Google The company argues that smartphone accelerometers are sensitive enough to measure the P-waves that are the  first waves to arrive  after an earthquake