Cellphone Amber Alert

The public alert system is a great idea but either half the roadside board's bulbs are broken or the 60 mile-an-hour driveby leaves little time to read the content. So it seems like it was just a matter of time before local and state-wide alert systems moved to a more direct line of communication like the cell phone. Police in Arizona and Washington recently sent out AmberAlerts (kidnapping announcements) to a web portal which were then reconfigured for different types of broadcasts, like road signs, info phone lines, or online content. Cellphone users could then sign up to receive online public alerts about anything from severe weather warnings to terrorist threats, from county, state or even federal agencies. Companies like HP, Symantec and Intel have also gotten into the mix to help set up the new system, which will be implemented in 10 different states.