Earthquakes Meter

Earthquakes Meter is a desktop gadget that you can use to monitor earthquakes reported all around the world, courtesy of US Geological Survey (USGS) and European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC).

The tool is very simple to install, and it comes bundled with an intuitive set of options for all user levels.

The interface is based on a small frame that you can move to any position on the screen, with the help of the mouse cursor. You can view the latest reported earthquakes and click an entry to get additional information, namely map position via Google Earth, latitude, longitude, depth, local and UTC time.

As far as gadget options are concerned, you can modify the refresh rate and data source, enable sound alerts and select the sound type, specify the minimum magnitude for gathering alerts along with a specific location, as well as adjust the sound volume level.

You can customize the frame when it comes to the size, colors, and data row number (settings can be restored to default). Thanks to the default Windows options, it is also possible to make the frame stay on top of other windows and to adjust its opacity level.

As expected, Earthquakes Meter has minimal impact on system performance, running on a very low amount of CPU and RAM. It has a good refresh rate and delivers accurate information. There were no issues with the app in our evaluation, as Earthquakes Meter did not hang, crash or pop up error dialogs. Thanks to its intuitive layout and options, even first-time users can fiddle with it.