With the 2010 World Cup, the vuvuzela joins the ticking stopwatch on "60 Minutes" and the piercing signal of the Emergency Broadcast System in the pantheon of nonmusical sounds that instantly tell you what is on TV even before you've entered the room.

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This allowed us to create sample scenarios to showcase ingenuity and innovation, including how the mobile app can alert individuals on its location and areas to avoid for a fire, flood or terrorist attack, all by aggregating emergency frequency broadcast and GPS technology.

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In most towns and cities, loudspeaker systems can broadcast emergency information to residents.

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In an acknowledgement of the seriousness of the situation, Thein Sein declared a state of emergency in Meikhtila in an announcement broadcast on state television.

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We have been working on the Emergency Alert System, trying to move past just broadcast media.

WHITEHOUSE: Press Briefing

Mr. RAYMOND OROZCO (Executive Director, Office of Emergency Management and Communications, Chicago): A jumbotron that will broadcast the evening's remarks.

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In Japan, Mr Noda cancelled a speech minutes after the broadcast from Pyongyang and rushed back to his office to chair an emergency meeting of senior ministers.

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While its creator, Professor Takushi Tanaka, has said the Morse broadcast has "no practical aim, " we think it would make a good emergency beacon for natural disasters (or, more worryingly, alien invasions).

ENGADGET: Japan's LED-stacked cubesat will burn Morse code into the heavens