I read an article over at Geekzone Mobile that discussed an update for products from Vocera that will enable them to work over an 802.11b network.
When I went to Vocera’s website, I was amazed that they had in production a product much like the communicator badges worn in the Star Trek series of television shows and films. These badges allow voice communication wirelessly and hands free between users on a network. While I haven’t seen the products in actual use, the concept videos on the company’s website are very compelling.
As they continue to support standards-based networks, like 802.11, the product might be implementable in a more public way, similar to today’s IP telephone products. At a minimum, the geek in me loves the product. Long-term, this type of thing could replace cell phones.
What a cool product. I don’t know that I would want to be THAT accessible
…but would be productive in the right environs nonetheless. Great site here – will definately add it to my daily tech travels.
Cheers,
Luke
Thanks for adding me to your daily travels. I agree that the accessibility feature may be slightly unnerving, but one of the cool features that the video on their web site demonstrates is the ability to hold calls. For example, the user can press the button and say, “Hold all calls except Johnny.” When anyone but Johnny calls, they get a response that says something like, “Jamie Jamison is not available right now, but he will be notified of your call.” When the meeting or period of unavailability is complete, the user says, “Accept all calls,” and is greeted with something like, “Please contact Luke as soon as possible.” Pretty cool indeed.