Mobile breaking news alerts in action

The scene: The Polay kitchen at breakfast. My wife, Brandy, and I are at the dining room table, sipping coffee while the kids scurry to get ready for school.

Sean, rising from the table: Guess I better get my act together and get to work.

(Blackberry buzzes on the counter.)

Brandy: Guess so. They're already buzzing you.

Sean, reading from Blackberry: "Route 6 West: Police and rescue responding to rollover, prior to exit 3 westbound, traffic in area slowed."

(Siren volume growing in the distance.)

Brandy: That must be where they're going.

(Fire truck races by our house, headed in the direction of Exit 3. It's followed shortly thereafter by a police car.)

Sean: Now that's what I call a breaking news alert!

Update: One of our Cape Cod readers replied to this post via Twitter today, indicating she wished she'd known about the accident above, so she could have avoided the traffic. I shared CapeCodOnline's alert sign-up link, for which she was very appreciative. Here are the rest of the links to sign up for mobile alerts in our markets:

• Hudson Valley (NY)
• Nantucket (MA)
  
• Poconos (PA)
  
• San Joaquin (Stockton, CA)
  
• Seacoast (coastal NH and southern ME)
• SouthCoast (New Bedford, MA)
  
• Southern Oregon (Medford/Ashland, OR)
  

May I be alerted when a story is updated?

As I was checking out this story from recordonline.com this afternoon (received via HVMG's Twitter profile... thanks, HVMG!), it occurred to me that there was no way -- short of revisiting the Web site or keeping the page open so I could refresh it periodically -- to stay updated on the story in an automated, user-friendly way.

Thinking out loud (well, virtually out loud) here, but as a user I'd love to opt into an alert when an ongoing story I've caught in midstream is updated. Ideally I could choose from either e-mail, IM or text alert options, and maybe even an RSS feed specific to that story that I could quickly subscribe to it in my Google Reader.

It would function in much the same way as when you receive e-mail when your blog posts have received comments, or when your posts on forums have received follow-up comments.

I've not seen this functionality anywhere. Have you?

Twitter / redsoxcast

Check out the Red Sox Twitter page. Play by play, which you can follow online, or receive each "Tweet" as a text message.

Comes courtesy of new media guru C.C. Chapman. Wouldn't you know I learned about his blog post via his Twittering.

Track the candidates

Sure, you can sign up for breaking news alerts from Seacoast Online, but NH Primary Candidate Appearances are also among their offerings. Sign me up!

Speaking of candidates, coming tomorrow from Seacoast: thenewhampshireprimary.com

Let It Snow

Nice stormy weather landing page from Erik Gliedman and crew.

Pocono also had a nice tactic in their Morning Update to point to some of their existing landing pages:

If you're stuck at home it's a good day to explore this site, which has a lot more on it than just the breaking news. For information about where you live, we've got an entire section. We've also got some exhaustively detailed special reports on everything from gangs in the Poconos to the legacy of Tocks Island Dam to political protection for questionable mortgage practices in the Poconos that will take your breath away.

Cape Cod and Pocono also had a couple of good road condition text alerts, while Southcoast kicked off their school closings text alerts. I'd show them to you, but I'm still struggling with how to get the screenshots that my nifty new Treo program takes for me out of the bleepin' Treo.... Take my word for it for now.

Wired News: Italy Hails Laundry Text Alerts

In doing some research today, I came across this Sept. item from Wired: Italy Hails Laundry Text Alerts

Julien Buratto and Davide Bongianni..., a project manager and graphic designer respectively at a Milan web company, have launched a website called stendibiancheria.net (Italian for "hang out the laundry") that pairs a mathematical formula with forecasts from weather.com to arrive at a "laundry index."

In late August, just in time for the meteorological uncertainties of fall, they added a free text-messaging service so users know when it's time to high-tail it home and pull in the clothes. About 600 subscribers have signed up so far.

CLearly filling a void in Milan "Jobs to be Done."

The Power of UGC

The text alert came across today @ 4:27 p.m. while we were having the monthly call with the Middletown folks. That drew us to the site, where we noticed this comment posted at the end of the article.

Rebecca928
January 09, 2007 03:32 PM
I work for Dr. Luck right across the street from where the accident happend i seen the accident happen and was the first one to call for help. I would like to say that we are all praying that everone makes it through this. I dont know how many people are going to have to get hurt before they do something about this intersection on route 208 and spring mountain rd.Are prayers are with you.

Now THAT is news as conversation with the community.