How Google’s Earthquake Alerts Protected Millions — And How to Turn It On in Quake-Prone Countries When two massive earthquakes (7.2 and 7.5) struck Venezuela recently, the country had no national early warning system. But millions of Android phones lit up with loud alerts seconds to minutes before the shaking hit — giving people precious time to drop, cover, and hold on. Google’s clever system turns the accelerometers in over 2 billion Android phones into a giant crowdsourced seismic network. It detects the first waves, confirms the quake, and blasts notifications to users in the affected area. In Venezuela, it reached 11.4 million people — proving technology can save lives even where governments can’t. How to activate it (works in nearly 100 countries): Open Settings on your Android phone. Tap Safety & Emergency (or search for “Earthquake alerts”). Select Earthquake Alerts and toggle it ON. Keep Location services ena...
The OnePlus 6 Avengers Infinity War Edition is the latest special edition device from OnePlus. Following the Star Wars Limited Edition from last year, OnePlus has once again teamed up with Disney on a popular franchise for their new release. The good thing this time is that we know right at the outset that this edition exists, unlike the Star Wars edition which sneaked up on us a month after the standard 5T went on sale. The bad news is that it's not coming any time soon. But to make the wait more bearable here's a quick hands-on. As with the Star Wars edition, the star of the show is the packaging. While the standard edition comes in a boring white box, the special edition gets a new black square box with the Avengers logo on it. Open up the box and you'll see the phone up front - we'll be back to it in a second. The box opens up further to reveal the standard DASH charger and cable on the right and on the left is a card with the Avengers logo and a me...