Bluetooth enabled IM presence monitor
posted by Brainwave on 27 October 2007 18:04
Problem context :
If you’re like me, you rarely log off your IM client or set your status to “away.” It's not difficult, but it is inconvenient to log off or set "away" every time you get up, especially when you'r'e in a hurry. The problem is, if you don't do that, people will ping you and sit there waiting for your response. It's just not polite, and sometimes, by the time you get back, whoever pinged you is away - it's kind of like phone tag for the 2000's.
Proposed Solution :
It would be great to have a small applicaiton you could install on your PC that would montior you are near your computer or not by tracking the bluetooth radio on your phone. When you step away (more than 30 feet obviously), your the application could be configured to automatically set your IM client would automatically be set to away or it would log you out. Then, if appropriately set up with the IM service, your messages would be sent to your phone. When you come back, it would instantly set the client back to "available" or it would log you back in. IM applications will often automatically go to away after a certain amount of time, but that's not always the best solution - at least not for me.
Can it be done?
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Infra Red technology could be an option
answered by ldavid on 29 October 2007 11:47
Like an alarm, I'd recommend to use Infra Red for monotoring the presence of somebody in front of the PC. It could be cheaper than bluetooh and easier to implement as it doesn't require a client side like a phone to communicate with this device.