eQuake Alert

CNET Editors' review

by: CNET staff on May 29, 2012

Earthquakes can seem like isolated, uncommon events, but the truth is, multiple earthquakes occur around the world every day. If you want to keep track of this fascinating -- and sometimes terrifying -- natural phenomenon, try eQuake Alert. This Firefox extension can instantly alert you to earthquakes occurring anywhere in the world.

eQuake Alert installed easily and was ready for action after we restarted Firefox. The extension is highly configurable; you can select the frequency with which eQuake Alert checks for new earthquakes, whether to display a status bar message with the location and magnitude of each quake, and how the extension alerts you of new quakes. The default alert method is to shake the browser window in proportion to the magnitude of the quake. The extension can also display an alert box, and you can set the extension to notify you only of quakes of a certain magnitude. If you're not interested in worldwide seismic events and prefer to specify the region that eQuake Alert monitors, the Geomap feature will let you create a custom geographic area for which alerts will be sent. As is the case with most browser extensions, there's no Help file, but everything about eQuake Alert is easy to figure out. Overall, we think that eQuake Alert is an interesting and useful browser extension, and we recommend it both for those who live in quake-prone areas and those who are simply fascinated by the frequency with which the Earth shifts.

eQuake Alert installs and uninstalls without issues.