Muggle versions of magical artefacts: the family awareness clock

[Tim Regan]

Hi All,

I cannot resist pointing this one out to you all, as the Seattle 
Times has picked up on a project I've been working on at Microsoft 
Research's Cambridge Lab that may remind you of something.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2002195164_m
sftresearch03.html
http://tinyurl.com/4xfkc

Here's the quote:
>>> The people-tracking clock is an idea out of Microsoft's research 
laboratories in Cambridge, England. Technology in cellphones these 
days can easily track a person's location, and that information 
could be sent to the clock to be seen by those at home. 

"It sounds very trivial but it has very nice properties," said 
Andrew Herbert, the managing director of the Cambridge lab. "You can 
glance at it and know where everyone is."  <<<

Our designer built a number of different user interfaces for the 
Family Awareness Clock, but the one that the Seattle Times 
photographer chose to use is the one most like the WB realisation of 
one of the Weasley's magical clocks:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/ABPub/2005/03/02/2002194917.jpg
http://tinyurl.com/5kbrk

The funny thing is that although everyone at work knows I'm an HP 
fan (I gave them all a run-through of the planned research for my 
Accio conference paper) the idea to try building a FamilyAwareness 
Clock for real wasn't mine in this case.

Anyway, it is fun when work collides with an out-of-work interest.

Cheers,

Dumbledad.