Source: http://lifehacker.com/5651114/did-you-feel-it-crowdsources-earthquake-monitoring

Did You Feel It is an earthquake monitoring project from the United States Geological Survey that not only gives you zipcode-by-zipcode data on earthquake reporting but encourages you to participate in monitoring seismic activity.

You can visit Did You Feel It simply to take a peek at earthquake reporting around the world but where the site really shines is in active participation. If you are in an area that experienced an earthquake they encourage you report in (even if you’re reporting that you felt nothing). If you did feel something you can report it by answering a series of simple questions like whether or not it woke you while you were sleeping, if it knocked free hanging objects were swinging, how difficult or easy it was to walk when the event was occurring, and other questions designed to gauge the intensity of the quake A few hundred people checking in after an earthquake generates data in a matter of minutes that normally would take the USGS months to compile and provides a rapid picture of how, on a street level scale, the earthquake impacted the region.

If you like the idea of contributing to a scientific pursuit you’ll definitely want to check out previously reviewed MoonZoo (you’ll help identify interesting features on the Moon) and our guide to putting your computer to work while you’re sleeping (check out the section about sharing your computing power with researchers).

Who Should Be Your TV’s New Best Friend? [Video]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5649560/video-box-battle-royale-who-should-be-your-tvs-new-best-friend

With new offerings from Roku and Apple, and the grand impending entrance of Google TV, the crowd of little plastic boxes that all want to stream your video is getting packed. And confusing. But we’re here to help you compare.

While you know an MP3 player will play MP3s, and a DVD player will do its thing, the new breed of boxes don’t wear their functionality on their sleeve. Set-top boxes, media boxes—we know they’re boxes, yes, but what’s inside? What are these boxes going to do for you? Some want to make renting movies a cinch, some want to help you stream the movies you already have—and some seem like they want to try to do it all. So take a look below, and see what matters most to you. (And remember to click to expand)

It might feel like comparing apples to oranges to turkey legs, but every device listed on the plate wants to help replace your TV. It should also be mentioned that the devices listed above are far from being the only ones of their kind in a swamped playing field—there are many, many others—these are just our highlights

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5650034/if-a-city-disappears-from-google-maps-does-it-still-exist

That’s the question that Sunrise, Florida had to ask itself because the city didn’t exist on Google Maps for nearly a month. Whenever anyone searched for Sunrise, FL they were re-directed to Sarasota, FL, a city that’s 200 miles away.

Shockingly, this is the 3rd time that Sunrise, FL has disappeared from Google Maps. For a small, unknown city like Sunrise, that’s no good. The local businesses in Sunrise, FL have felt the aftereffects of not being searchable on Google saying that business was down during the month because quite simply, no one could find them. If you searched for a plumber in Sunrise, none existed. If you searched for a florist, you’d be directed to drive 200 miles to Sarasota.

It’s an odd problem that, though fixed now, speaks to our heavy reliance on the Google. What’s the first thing that people do to find local shops these days? Google ‘em. How do we get there? Google will tell us. And it’s so easy! I’m just as guilty, I blindly follow whatever it is that the G tells me to do. I mean, I’m certainly not leafing through yellow pages and thomas guides to figure it out, that takes time.

So as funny (and scary) as it may sound, if you (as in your city, business, store, etc.) don’t exist on Google, you pretty much don’t exist to the general population. [BBC]

American Households Just Slashed Their Debt At A Record Pace

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/chart-of-the-day-household-borrowing-2010-9

We all know the American government is spending more and consumers are spending less, but the level of deleveraging in the household sector has picked up pace significantly, according to the Federal Reserve’s  flow of funds report (via Zero Hedge).

Approximately $300 billion in household debt was paid down in Q2 2010, according to the report. This is the 9th quarterly decline in a row in household debt, and was at an annual rate of 2.25%. The severity of the debt-slashing hit a new record.

Household wealth fell by $1.5 trillion overall in Q2.

That’s government borrowing in purple, and negative household borrowing in blue.

(via Zero Hedge)

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