Finally...

We've finally launched the beta version of OlderSibling.com.  We are extremely proud to have reached this milestone and are going out tonight to celebrate.  But before we do that, here's a blurb about our site:

The site focuses on location awareness (i.e. seeing the location of your friends, colleagues, etc.), but uses Bluetooth proximity, rather than GPS or other more expensive technologies. This eliminates the need for cell phone apps as well as GPS chips and WiFi to perform location searches.


A few aspects make this kind of location awareness preferable to GPS, or WiFi and cell tower geolocation.

First, Bluetooth Low Energy chips will begin to be widely distributed by Texas Instruments and Nordic Semiconductors later this year. This will allow anything to have a Bluetooth chip in it without the necessity of recharging it. The chips run on a watch battery and should last a year or more. A chip could easily be attached to your key ring, placed inside your child’s necklace, or imbedded in an employee ID card – all at a cost that makes these items only nominally more expensive.

Another important aspect is Bluetooth technology isn’t as intrusive as GPS. Seeing someone’s position requires their Bluetooth ID AND a detector (i.e. a Bluetooth enabled computer). So, for example, an employer could see when his employees are at work (if they had an Bluetooth enabled ID card), but nothing outside of that. And while there are certainly still privacy issues, it is much easier to navigate them when using proximity location awareness, rather than the currently available invasive techniques.