earthquake

The 404 775: Where we <3 Japan (podcast)

We're keeping Japan in our collective thoughts today as the country continues to suffer from the 8.9-magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami that hit this morning. Be sure to visit RedCross.org for how you can help with the relief effort.

As usual, Google is doing its part to help on the tech side with a Person Finder to help locate displaced family and friends in Japan. Google launched a similar project in February of last year amid the Chilean earthquake disaster.

It's hard to think about anything but our friends in the East, but today also happens to be iPad 2 day, and there are already people in line for the release at 5 p.m. tonight.

And after spending almost 41 hours in line (all the way through last night's torrents), college student Amanda Foote just sold her first-place spot in line for $900. She plans to use the money to buy Lady Gaga tickets.

This morning also marked the release of the trailer for JJ Abrams and Steven Spielberg's new sci-fi thriller "Super 8." The Twitter-exclusive full-length trailer finally gives context to the teaser we first saw in last year's Super Bowl ad, although we still don't know exactly what escaped from the train crash.

In typical Bad Robot fashion, JJ Abrams and his crew add to the mystery of the film with an Alternate Reality Game (ARG) alongside viral marketing that creates an entire world to discover around the film.

There's already a product page in place for Rocket Poppeteers that lets you sign up and create your own member certificate, as well as an easter egg editing room whose URL is seen in this frozen screenshot from the trailer.

After an extended chat about the origin of ARGs, Jeff and I both have stories to talk about that deal with our beats--video games and printers, respectively.… Read more

Nuclear emergency declared in northeastern Japan

Almost 3,000 residents near the Fukushima I nuclear power plant 170 miles northeast of Tokyo are evacuating the area after the 8.9-magnitude earthquake triggered a power outage that left a cooling system unable to supply water to cool the reactor. Radiation levels in the control room rose to 1,000 times above normal levels, Marketwatch reports.

Some radiation has now leaked outside the plant, Public Broadcaster NHK quoted nuclear safety officials as saying, with levels just outside the main gate measured eight times the normal level.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano told reporters that residents have been instructed … Read more

Online resources for Japan quake info

Early today, an 8.9-magnitude earthquake hit the coast of northern Japan, spawning aftershocks and a tsunami that swept across the region.

There are a number of outstanding online resources that are delivering solid information, up-to-date data, and forecasts on how the world will be affected.

Tracking the tsunami

CNN Live Blog: CNN is tracking all the events surrounding the earthquake and tsunami with a live blog. It's currently providing up-to-date information on all the news coming out of Japan as the country tries to address the impact of the natural disaster.

Reuters Live Coverage: Reuters is providing a … Read more

Japanese electronics firms grapple with quake's effects

Beyond the widespread damage and loss of life, the earthquake and tsunamis that hit Japan today are having an effect on technology and electronics companies in the country.

Japan plays a central role in the high-tech and consumer electronics industries, home to heavyweights such as Sony, Toshiba, and Nintendo. Many U.S. and European tech companies also have significant offices and operations in Japan. Overall, Japanese factories produced $216 billion worth of electronics last year, according to market analysis firm IHS iSuppli. That includes 16.5 percent of worldwide consumer electronics factory revenue.

All those companies are still in the … Read more

Tokyo quake puts data centers, cloud services at risk

Japan was reeling after an 8.9 magnitude earthquake and tsunami hit the Northeast coast and also impacted Tokyo. As a result, much of the Pacific Ocean is under a tsunami -arning. The disaster comes as many tech giants were setting up data centers in Tokyo to meet demand for cloud computing services.

It's unclear how data centers are holding up. TV reports indicate that mobile services are up in Tokyo, but spotty.

According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the quake hit 130 km (80 miles) east of Sendai;178 km (110 miles) east of Yamagata; 178 km (… Read more

Hitachi seawall closes automatically in tsunami

Japanese dam builder Hitachi Zosen has developed a seawater barrier that deploys automatically when tsunami waves approach shorelines.

The Neo Rise barrier is a form of floodgate designed to prevent damage from tsunamis, floods, and storm surges brought on by typhoons.

It's based on Hitachi's air-powered flap gates, which lie at the bottom of harbors and close them off in the event of a major change in sea level.

Neo Rise (from "no energy, no operation, rising seawall") is set up on land. It runs on hydraulic power associated with riding tides and closes automatically, protecting … Read more

Gates backs cell phone banking for Haiti

The massive earthquake in Haiti in January destroyed a third or more of the country's banks and ATMs, but even before the quake fewer than 1 in 10 Haitians had ever used a traditional bank.

Aiming to broaden access to financial institutions and aid in the recovery, the Gates Foundation and the U.S. Agency for International Development announced Tuesday a plan to back up to $10 million in funding to spur the use of cell phone banking, an approach that has worked elsewhere to bring financing to the poor.

"Out of the ruins of Haiti's tragic … Read more

How Go shaped a crowdsourcing business career (Q&A)

After the devastating January earthquake in Haiti, which left hundreds of thousands dead, many more injured, and more than a million homeless, the country's infrastructure lay in ruins. But because Haiti's cell phone network inexplicably survived, text messaging quickly became a way for people to put out pleas for assistance.

Not long after the disaster, the country's largest cell network provider set up the shortcode 4636, allowing Haitians to text a call for help. But with thousands of texts flooding the system, and a need for many of them to be translated into English, relief workers needed … Read more

Building a bridge that's ready for the big one

During the Loma Prieta earthquake on October 17, 1989, which measured 7.1 on the Richter scale, the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge nearly collapsed. Just one or two seconds more of shaking along the San Andreas fault zone, says Caltrans' Bart Ney, and the whole bridge would have come down.

Today, the seismic innovations being incorporated into the construction of the new San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge are far more advanced. The construction is a race against the clock, and engineers say the new bridge, once built, will be secure enough to survive a "massive level earthquake--the largest you would … Read more