In case you live within the U.S., you’ve probably seen those anger-inducing emergency alert system test messages that interrupt your favorite programming on a weekly basis. Most folks have never seen the system utilized in an exact emergency, but come later this year, cellular phone users in Manhattan and Washington can have similar alerts pushed to their mobile devices — presumably without the aggravating weekly tests. Generally known as PLAN (Personal Localized Alerting Network), the free service will reportedly only work with smartphones (we’re guessing the GPS comes into play here) on AT&T&T , Sprint and Verizon . The secure messaging network will likely display messages as notifications, instead of texts, and can push to all compatible devices within an affected area in keeping with the phone’s physical location, not only its mobile number. Local, state and federal officials will send notifications based on disasters and other public safety threats, presidential announcements, and Amber Alerts . In other words: it’ll only be used for actual emergencies, so don’t expect updates at the whereabouts of your favorite captive reptile.
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