Proximity-Aware Push Notifications
Back in 2006, when I was sporting a nifty little Sony Ericsson. I had this desktop app called BluePhoneElite that would push notifications from my phone to my computer screen via bluetooth.
It was great! When I got a text message, I’d see an unobtrusive growl notification pop up. When someone called me, same thing; a casual little growl notification to nudge me and then fade away.
It was elegant. I could keep my eyes on the screen and not have to pick up my phone every time it beeped. And the notifications would only show up on my screen when my phone was nearby.
Fast forward to today.
Phones are way more capable. We have a hot new category of mobile devices in tablets. And with the announcement of iCloud, Apple clearly envisions consumers having more of these multiple devices.
We are now living in era of real-time information and always-connected mobile devices. Push notifications will continue to grow more and more a part of our lives.
So when you combine these two trends of push notifications and multiple devices, what do you get? I bet it’s something like this:
Text messages only beep on your phone.
New emails beep on Sparrow, your iPhone and iPad (but sound different on each).
IMs only beep on your Mac.
@mentions beep on both your phone and Mac but not your iPad.
Farmville beeps your iPhone and iPad but not your Mac.
Why do we have to look at different devices for different notifications? Why do we have to deal with different alert tones on each device for the exact same notification?
There has to be a better way. Something more elegant, like BluePhoneElite, but with that iCloud magic. Something that takes into account what device I am currently using. Maybe something like:
Proximity-Aware Push Notifications.
On Monday, Apple unveiled their new location-aware app, Reminders, which let’s you assign locations to your tasks:
Say you need to remember to pick up milk during your next grocery trip. Since Reminders can be location based, you’ll get an alert as soon as you pull into the supermarket parking lot.
Proximity-awareness is a similar idea. But instead of having your location defined as calculated GPS region, it’d be defined by where you are in relation to your other devices. Or specifically, where your mobile device is in relation to your primary computer.
Examples:
When you get a new email and your iPhone is not within 5 feet of your Mac, the notification is only pushed to the iPhone.
When you receive a text message and your iPhone is close to your Mac, the notification is only displayed on the Mac.
You get the idea.
A system like this means when we’re at the desktop, we can keep our eyes on the monitor. When we walk away from the desk, we bring our notifications with us. (Hell, just for kicks: when we walk away from the desk, make our screensavers and lock screens go up as well.)
You see, with push notifications, we have signals that facilitate interactions in our digital lives. A few years ago, things were simple: new text messages beeped on our phones, new email notifications beeped on our PCs. But now we are in an age of information overload with multiple devices and too many social web services.
Push helped us keep up with important messages. But now we need help keeping up with the push notifications themselves. We need something smarter system.
And proximity-awareness is the perfect place to start.
One Night Out with GroupMe
Karol: The show starts at 7pm, right?
Mel: Yeah. I’m heading there 5:45ish with Marlo.
Mel: Ness, are we supposed to save seats for you or you guys gonna be backstage the whole time?
Nessa: We’re in the first act, so we’ll sit with you guys after intermission.
Krystal: Save two seats for Karol.
That is a texting conversation I had with my friends on Saturday with the group texting app, GroupMe. We actually started playing with the app a couple nights before, but Saturday we finally saw its true value.
GroupMe as a Utility
As shown in the conversation above, GroupMe comes in super handy when going out with friends. Simple situations like, “Hey, I just got parked. Where are you guys?” can be easily addressed with GroupMe.
Without a group texting app, how would you solve this situation?
Twitter? You can, but you’ll easily piss off your mutual followers because you’re spamming their timelines with a private conversation that doesn’t concern them.
Call/Text people individually? Messy and inefficient. Plus, it leaves the possibility of someone accidentally getting left in the dark.
With group texting, you’re in touch with everyone that needs to be informed. Everyone is on the same page. Everyone is in sync.
GroupMe as Entertainment
During the concert, GroupMe switched from being a utility to pure entertainment. In a setting where it’s rude to talk to each other while the performer is on stage, GroupMe gave us the freedom we wanted.
(Okay, texting each other during a performance isn’t exactly the most polite thing to do either, but hey, at least it’s discrete.)
Because the chat is private and everything goes directly to everyone’s phones, the experience is a lot more intimate than Twitter ever could be.
What about Beluga, Disco, Fast Society, etc?
One thing that made GroupMe stand out to me over its competitors: it’s compatible with Google Voice.
Personally, I am a very, very loyal user of Google Voice. It’s the only number that I give out. I am absolutely addicted to how I can type out & send text messages from my computer. And so far with all of the competing apps I’ve tested, GroupMe is the only app the lets me use my GV number.
This is important to me because when friends install GroupMe and the app scans their Address Books, I will actually show up as a suggested friend.
With the competing apps, I simply couldn’t use my GV number; I was forced to use my cell phone number, which is the number that nobody has.
Closing Thoughts
With just one full day of using GroupMe in the real world, I can tell this app has serious potential for my nights out with friends.
Will it go mainstream? I hope so but I’m not sure.
There is always the possibility that Facebook might integrate their Messages 2.0 feature with Groups, Places, Events, etc. And we all know how Facebook has a knack for making early adopter ideas into mainstream hits.
Google has the opportunity to come up with something too. They have all the pieces: Gmail, GTalk, Google Voice, Disco for iPhone…I’d LOVE to see them integrate all of those technologies into one seamless experience.
Hell, Apple has the same opportunity as well, with Facetime, iChat, and iPhones. It’d be like adding that Steve Jobs magic to RIM’s precious BlackBerry Messenger.
But those are all pipe dreams of mine; 100% speculation on my part based on zero insider information.
In the meantime, I’ve got a group of close friends on GroupMe. The cool thing is, if I want more friends to get on this, I don’t even have to wait for them to install the app — I can just add them to a group.
Even if the app never catches on with the rest of my friends, I’ve already got my closest friends on it.
That’s good enough for me.
Android vs. iPhone
Q) What’s your Daily Social Media Routine?
asked by @TheRayson.
Here we go:
Wake up.
Check notifications on Boxcar (iPhone). Notifies me of new @replies, followers, DMs, and emails. Also notifies me of breaking news about Apple.
Check text messages.
Catch up on my feeds with my Flipboard app (iPad). Tech News then links/pics from Twitter.
Check personal Twitter account on my iPad. (It’s easier to skim through these since I’ve viewed all of the Twitpics with Flipboard already)
Promote with the @btvfam account. (Lots of the YouTubers like to promote late at night. I’ll (re)tweet the morning after to give the information a little boost for the day.)
Catch up on Tumblr and other feeds with Google Reader at the desk.
Facebook.
Respond to text messages via Google Voice.
Respond to emails.
Take off DND from AIM, Skype.
Check professional Twitter account. If there’s any breaking news that has been tweeted, I’ve probably already read about it from the news feeds.
I use Growl notifications on my Mac to passively update me with incoming tweets. Otherwise, I’ll catch up with Twitter every few hours.
I also tend to load up a ton of background tabs on my browser for things to check out when I have time.
My Top Tech for 2010
Inspired by Michael Arrington’s 2009: Products I Can’t Live Without, here are my vital tech products of last year:
- Google — Chrome, Voice, Gmail, Reader
- Apple — iPad, Magic Mouse, MacBook Air, iPhone
- Twitter — Twitter for iPad, Hootsuite, TweetDeck
- Boxcar for iPhone
- Skype
- Tumblr
- Flipboard for iPad
- Foursquare
- BlogTV
- TokBox
Honorable Mentions: Adium, Mozy, Dropbox
Heating Up for 2011: Mac App Store, AT&T MicroCell
Lost That Loving Feeling: Firefox, Google Wave, Netflix, Hulu
