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Skype Journal: Skype the one you're with

June 29, 2005 08:22 AM
We're not lost. We're locationally challenged.
John M. Ford
Despite all efforts, I still live in my body. In Real Life. And (I'm assuming) so do you.

So, at this moment, I have a place. A chair, in a room, in a building, in a town, in a metropolis, in a province, in a nation, in a region, on a planet.

And I can move about. (Me walking about the room, waving arms, saying "La la la I'm moving about", then sitting down).

My Skype profile lets me pick a place in the world to call home. A country. And I can even type in a state or city.

But I need more. From the profile and from the Skype API.

I need:

  • Lattitude and Longitude in my profile
  • To search by proximity given a Lattitude and Longitude
  • A temporary address, perhaps one that expires in an hour and that I can update frequently
I don't have GPS in my phone yet (I am so last month to my Mobile Monday friends.) But soon. When that happens I'll update my temporary profile automagically.

This lets me build and use tools that do fun things.

  • Find people who have similar interests that are near me. Think local sports ("Did you see that kick?"), grassroots politics ("there's a rally this afternoon; can you bring signs?"), religious fellowship ("can you make a minyan tomorrow?"). Harry Potter fans.
  • Find people who are at a conference, even though they are not at home, to establish a conference backchannel.
  • Put people search results on a Google map.
  • People at a restaurant willing to do instant reviews of tonight's menu.
I'm sure I'll have more after today's Where 2.0 Conference at the St. Francis (Google satellite image).


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Comments (3)

Phil, i have requested these features many times. When i talk to people it would be nice to see where they exactly live (through MS Mappoint). I already created this in the past based on address info in the profile. Timezone should be in there too for convenience.

Posted by: Hans Blaauw at June 29, 2005 9:00 AM

Phil,

I agree with you totally.

Your comments inspired me and as a result I changed my Skype profile.

Posted by: scienceactive at June 30, 2005 12:35 PM

Looks like a proximity MoSoSo integration to Skype would be a very wicked combination.

For example - Bluetooth/wi-fi PAN messaging application, such as www.mobiluck.com

Posted by: Uri L. at July 4, 2005 6:05 PM