Microsoft version of Harry Potter

As we’ve read the book and seen the Harry Potter movies, Ron Weasley’s family has a magic clock with hands assigned to each family member, indicating their location wherever they are. Well, Microsoft improvised the idea and are working on a similar prototype device from Microsoft Research Cambridge.

They call it “The Whereabouts Clock.” What it does is, indicates / allows the family members / friends (whoever has the access) to see the whereabouts of the person they are tracking with tags “home,” “work,” “school” and “elsewhere.”

The Whereabouts Clock works by using cell phone data. When a family member’s cell phone is on, it automatically transmits SMS messages to the device when that person moves from one registered zone (such as “home”) into another registered zone (such as “school”). Registering these zones only needs to be done once for each zone when the software is first installed. Thereafter, users need do nothing except switch on their phones. If they do not wish to be shown on the clock, they simply switch the application off. Additionally, users are given the option of texting in more specific information about their activities in each zone. So, for example, if a person is “out” but shopping, they can text “shopping” and the text will appear under the person’s icon on the Clock.

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