- Raven (Telepath):
- Blog
- My Idea
- About Me
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Round 2
This seems like the sort of idea that would be better as a web application, not a desktop application. If I want to be reminded of something via SMS at a certain time, that means my Mac running Telepath has to be awake and online at that time, too. I.e. how would Telepath send me an SMS when my PowerBook is closed and sleeping in my backpack? And speaking of backpacks, 37signals’s Backpack is a web service that offers exactly what I’m talking about, as web service.
My SMS skills are modest, but if I could use something like this to control devices at home, I’d be a happy little man. Hooking this up with home automation software/hardware and stuff like my TiVo would be a cream dream.
Telepath is a really cool idea on the outside but it would require a lot of time on he user’s end to set it up and make it work for them. Like Minerva, it is only as valuable as how much effort you put into it. There is potential here, I’m just not sure if people are ready to give up previous SMS messages to email notifications they don’t need.
Round 1
I see Telepath as potentially being very successful, as it’s basically a software upgrade for your phone for those without data service or data phones like a Blackberry. Sure, there’s text message fees, but unlimited text message plans can run as low as $5/month, and often data plans (at least in U.S. carriers) are much more expensive. So it’s pretty economical, and super useful if done right, pushing important emails, appointment reminders, and news to a regular phone from my Mac.
Telepath is a nice idea but I think it has some flaws. At first your Mac would have to be always on and on the net otherwise it couldn’t relay any messages to your phone. An alternative would be a hosted service which would require the Mac to upload upcoming notifications before it’s going offline. SMS are pretty cheap so that shouldn’t be a problem. The way back from the phone to the Mac has the same issues. Part of functionality of this idea could be solved by storing events with automatic reminders in your calender and then sync them to your phone that’s what I am doing today. Well, the issues with this workflow is the necessity to sync my phone.