Re: Should Netflix and Hulu give you emergency alerts?

[Sean Donelan <sean () donelan com>]

> [JL] Going onto to hardware like a smart TV will still result in lower 
> penetration that if you went to the app layer that is where attention 
> time is spent (which may be on a laptop or non-cellular-connected tablet 
> or a game console).

I should also mention the desktop Windows and Linux operating systems 
don't lock down their APIs like the smart device ecosystem owners. That 
makes it easier to create an emergency alert app on Windows or Linux, 
which can interrupt foreground programs and use sound/video drivers.
There is also the downside that ill-behaved applications can be very 
disruptive on Windows and Linux.

As a midnight/skunkworks project a wrote a proof-of-concept emergency 
alert app on Windows.  Partly to learn Windows 10 Apps, Visual Studio and 
C-sharp; but also to try out NOAA's and FEMA's alert feeds.  As a 
proof-of-concept the app worked, but not ready for commercial use.
But using a desktop PC is not the same as a smart TV or smart speaker to 
anyone, other than a nerd. Not spouse-approved for use in any other room 
in the house :-)

I spent about a year (skunkworks time, so not full-time) trying to figure 
out how to make emergency alerts work on Amazon Alexa and maybe 6-months 
on Google Assistant. Never could get past the virtual front-door at Apple. 
There doesn't seem to be a supported way to do it, and the smart 
device ecosystem owners seemed to oppose any attempt to bypass their 
control.