There was a big 100mph+ storm a few months ago and they sent out an alert telling everyone to stay inside as there were literally trees getting ripped out of the ground and hitting people.
That was the first time I ever saw my phone use this functionality, scared the crap out of me.
Amber alerts specifically I have indeed never seen, ever.
What's crazy to me is how a device that claims to be 110DB at max volume could tear apart someones ear drum and damage their cochlea. I've been around many race cars on Dyno's literally right next to them at times with or without earplugs and I don't think this has ever happened to me. I'm curious of the medical science behind this.
Different frequencies also have different properties, as well. IIRC low frequencies are less painful and less hazardous than mid and higher frequencies.
It was when we started making speaker phones, meaning the previous headset speaker was no longer adequate. We of course put in a bigger speaker and lowered the volume when the phone was being used next to the ear.
One thing we didn't initially test however was receiving a text or another call when already on a call. Lets just say it was unpleasant to have the full alert/ring tone blasted into your ear at volumes designed to be heard several meters away :)
My first portable CD player had a hardware switch for a loudness limiter, so it's not exactly a new idea.
It's like they need to really sort out and map every single "interrupt" sound that can occur e.g. hang up, amber alert, etc, and ensure that it maps to a correct volume setting that doesn't damage your hearing.
The other day I woke up to an alert of some AirPods stalking me and a button to press to have them play the alert to find them. So, of course, I hit the button to annoy some unsuspecting truck stop employee but I’m guessing their shift was over as the AirPods were no longer in range.
Now I absolutely have to buy one of those AirTags so I can have my laptop set off every apple device that comes into range…
I literally got an email today for a sale. It was something I’d wanted for awhile, but whatever, it wasn’t worth what they were asking. Anyway, I was on my mobile and tapped the link. It required me to login so I tapped my saved credentials. The login button stayed disabled and said my password was empty. Fantastic. As soon as I removed a character from my password, it would allow me to login, but now my phone didn’t prompt me to insert my saved password.
I just gave up. They lost a sale today, but it was clear nobody had ever tested logging in with saved credentials from a mobile device on this major site.
Multibillion dollar companies ship broken, or temporarily broken, software and products all the time, presumably because they will still make gobs of sales due to momentum.
They don’t realize that they simply devalue these labels by using them in this way. Amber alerts are often just custody battles between both biological parents. While one party may be in the wrong, there’s no life being threatened and I have little faith that the government is on the same side I’d be on.
But yes, I've never seen it being used in any other country aside of the Netherlands either.
On the other hand, in Germany not even the sirens are working properly, so that's not very surprising to me.