Whereabouts clock

[pegkerr]

In the Harry Potter stories, Ron Weasley's family has a magic clock with hands assigned to each family member, indicating their location.

Now a prototype device from Microsoft Research Cambridge does a similar thing. The Whereabouts Clock allows family members to see where others are in four broad categories -- "home," "work," "school" and "elsewhere."

Creators hope the general nature of the clock's locations overcomes some of the privacy problems that the researchers think have impeded other location-based services from becoming more prevalent in the marketplace. For example, Sprint's Family Locator shows precise position on a Google Map.

"You can buy a service on your phone to keep track of your kids. There is even talk about putting electronic chips into kids, which is not what we want to do at all," said Abigail Sellen, senior researcher at Microsoft Research Cambridge.

Read the rest of the article here.

Whereabouts Clock

Comments

[wintersweet.livejournal.com]

I think it's nifty!

[lilisonna.livejournal.com]

That's pretty cool actually. I like the less fine-detailed tracking method; it seems less nosey that some, but it would still let me see where folks were generally. Speaking as someone who is a touch on the paranoid side, that would probably be a good thing.

I've wanted the Harry Potter version for a while -- although without the Mortal Peril part, please.