In the vein of Samsung’s mobile patient monitor, Myrimis, a “real-life” location based social network (LBSNS), launched a mobile version last week. Available for free on internet-enabled phones, the previously desktop-only service allows you to display the location of your family members, friends, pets, photos taken and even your personal assets (like a car or home) on a digital map. Think of it as a real-time Facemap.
The service has a tracker application that sends you regular updates on everyone’s locations and lets you message them (like Buddy Beacon, Loopt, uLocate and Sniff). It can tell you nearby points of interest like hotels and restaurants as well as give you turn-by-turn directions. It also has as a geotagging function for photos that you can use to create a visual diary a la Flickr.
All good stuff, but the really cool part here here is the ability to not only monitor, but care for things remotely. According to the press release, “The location information is so valuable for those who are alone, get loss or miss a meeting spot. Thus, appropriate actions or assistance can be provided by their loved one or friends at once.” This means you can “take virtual care of your kids or elderly” by setting up geo-fence functions that alert them when they leave a prescribed area or letting them alert you at the press of a button. You can even have other people watch them on their phones when you are busy. It also lets you control temperature, alarms and lights of your home, your cars, even your boat.
Another service from SK Telecom actually goes one step further, allowing users to feed their pets via mobile phone. When you dial in, a box on their end rings, calling your pet and let them know its chow time. Then you press a button to dispense the food and can watch them eat via streaming video from the device’s built in webcam. It’s classical conditioning using modern technology. Just make sure to press the button before they drool all over the webcam.
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