sandy

Sandy knocks snark out of Twitter -- for a day

That awkward moment when your Twitter feed shifts from hurricane booze sarcasm to genuine fear. #sandy

— Ben Rossen (@benrossen) October 29, 2012

As someone writing on the West Coast, it's easy to feel at once a bit detached about Hurricane Sandy and deeply concerned for friends and family -- and everyone else -- stuck in the path of that once-in-a-generation natural disaster bearing down on the East Coast.

But for those hunkering down in places like New York City, Sandy represents real personal consequences -- and it would be natural to assume that those who've spent days nervously waiting to see if the hurricane is for real aren't laughing about it now that they're in the thick of it.

Yet, a quick look at Twitter today reveals that at least as many people have been tweeting quips about the storm as have been expressing real worry. The real question, though, seemed to be: How might the mood change once Sandy hit land and anticipation was replaced by the reality of being in the middle of a major natural disaster that's actively wreaking havoc? … Read more

NYC data centers hit by Hurricane Sandy

Power outages caused by Hurricane Sandy show why it's good to have a duplicate Web server located somewhere far away from New York City right now.

The local power company, Consolidated Edison shut down power to portions of lower Manhattan this evening in an effort to prevent damage to underground equipment.

That coincided with when Gawker.com and Gizmodo.com went offline. In a Twitter update at 4:21 p.m. PT, Gizmodo said: "We'll be back soon! There was a data center battery failure after the power went down in Lower Manhattan. Generators powering up." … Read more

Smartphone survival guide: How to stretch your battery life

With the smartphone increasingly becoming the lifeline for any household, keeping it alive is more important than ever.

But with Hurricane Sandy barreling its way across the East Coast, thousands of homes face the prospect of losing power for several days. That's bad news for power-hungry smartphones, many of which can barely last a day with normal use.

Fear not. CNET has compiled this handy smartphone survival guide to make the most out of your phone's battery. If a power outage hits, you'll know exactly what to do to ensure you remain connected. … Read more

Hurricane Sandy photos inundating Instagram

Hurricane Sandy is poised to become the superstorm of the century as it looks to go for a stroll across the Atlantic seaboard and right into the middle of America's largest metropolis. In the process, and certainly a bit perversely, this unholy marriage of a tropical storm and a Nor'easter is shaping up to be a feather in the cap of Instagram.

The photo-sharing app that Facebook snapped up earlier this year is reporting that users have already uploaded and tagged hundreds of thousands of photos related to Hurricane Sandy:

The Instagram community has been sharing photos from … Read more

Sandy is a disaster, but these photos are ridiculous

As almost everyone knows, Hurricane Sandy is bearing down on the East Coast, and when all is said and done, its likely to leave a wide, expensive, and potentially fatal path of destruction in its wake. Yet despite a massive number of legitimate photos of the storm being uploaded to every social network you can think of -- including 10 a second to Instagram -- a number of sensational photos seem to be dominating the conversation.

The photos show incredible images like the eye of the hurricane floating over the top of the Statue of Liberty. Or of a very … Read more

Wireless operators prepare for Sandy. But will it be enough?

Wireless companies up and down the East Coast have been preparing throughout the weekend to ensure that wireless service remains up and running for communities affected by Hurricane Sandy. But will it be enough?

Hurricane force winds, torrential rain, and tidal surges as a result of the storm are expected to wreak havoc along the coast on Monday and into Tuesday. Millions of people from Virginia to New England are expected to lose power. But the wireless phone companies are working to ensure their networks hold up during the storm.

Sandy has already caused some wind and flood damage in … Read more

NASA satellite gets a 3D view of Sandy's eye

Just in case your visual cortex hasn't been flooded with hurricane graphics yet, NASA has this interesting view of Sandy's interior.

The image was generated based on data gathered by the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite, part of a mission jointly run with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).

Launched in 1997, the satellite can measure rainfall and cloud heights in tropical cyclones, which include hurricanes like Sandy and the typhoons that frequently lash the Japanese archipelago, such as Typhoon Tip, the largest of its kind on record. … Read more

Instacane shows us Hurricane Sandy photos from Instagram

For non-East Coasters like myself, it's hard to picture what it's like going through hurricane prep, or even a hurricane itself. With Hurricane Irene last year, Twitter and Facebook were full of photos of what the storm was really like, by those who were in the middle of it.

As Hurricane Sandy approaches, the same type of photos are appearing again, but with a good amount of them coming from Instagram. To make it easy to follow the stream of photos on Instagram, a couple of developers made a Web site aptly titled Instacane.com.

Instacane monitors (from … Read more

Hurricane Sandy safety: There are apps for that

As Hurricane Sandy bears down on the East Coast, it's time to start thinking about your safety -- and that means stocking up on helpful apps.

First up, turn your iDevice into a flashlight. CNET's Lance Whitney just rounded up flashlight apps for the iPhone, which could prove to be the handiest thing you install all day.

Next, keep up on the latest hurricane news and warnings -- at least while there's still power to nearby cell towers. Kitty Code's Hurricane, one of the top-rated hurricane trackers in the App Store, features everything from animated satellite … Read more