ideas with SMS

[Robert Michel]

Salve Richard!

On Thu, 07 Dec 2006, Richard Franks wrote:
> On 12/7/06, Robert Michel <openmoko at robertmichel.de> wrote:
> >?cologne
> >I will go to cologne by train on 10.12.2006 14:12h from Aachen central 
> >trainstaion.
> 
> ?cologne.*
> Have affair at 19:00, don't tell wife or bishop.
> 
> The issues I see are:
> 1) The feasibility of entering all of your day-to-day info in such detail

Cologne would be an example because I use this rail trip from time to
time. Some other of my friends, too - but I would not call them to ask,
when they will go. So sometimes it happens that I see them in the same
train - but even when we use the same train, sometimes only at the
end of the trip...

So when I enter the date and time when I will use the train, someone
will join... 
It was just an example how the Neo1973 could serve others information
requestable by SMS. Of course something like that could be combined
with an email service ;)

Just for the idea to find people to travel together - people could
anounce their travel as well:
!travel Aachen Cologne car 2-freeplaces 10.12.2006 14h


> 2) How to logically secure access to that information once it is present
> 
> This goes a bit beyond the medium (SMS) and into the mechanism (???).

I know that SMS could be send with free choosen sender ID - but when
they ask me with a faked sender ID
?cologne - the answer would go to friend.
(only Numbers on a white list are allowed to ask me)

To add a secret code for your friends like
?14123cologne
would make no sence, when I fear that someone with connections to the
network operator would use this to fetch private data from me - I should
encrypt my SMS instead.

The only point would be that when I collect data e.g. when other friends
will go to cologne - hey I would contact them inbetween that I like to
join the trip - or travelling one time allone because someone made a
joke with a faked SMS... 

Or what was your concern about "secure access"?

> The latter interests me more as assuming you have this information
> available to SMS, you have it available for any other application too?

Yes - but remeber my idea to use linux-vserver only trusted application
would have the access :) (would also (not so safe) work with different 
user accounts)

> A computer you carry in your pocket is a very different beast than one
> you go to work or university to meet. It knows you more intimately
> (location/recent contacts) for a start. Although I suppose that
> difference - the ease-of-access to that information is a function of
> the reduced complexity of the platform, which is endangered by the
> steady advance of OpenMoko. When there's only one of every type of
> application - it's easier to integrate.

I just thougt to enter the information in my agenda list and give
a sms-infod the access to answer questions of my friends.

And again this should be just an example that a service could
answerd questions via sms - the most common data service via GSM.
It should be just the first bridge for others to interact with
my OpenMoko/Neo1973 system without the need for them to have
J2ME, GRPS, WAP or email access...

> But I wonder if there are general-knowledge schema's which would
> actually benefit the user and aid in collating information?
> 
> For example, you enter "trip to cologne" in your calender, an
> unintrusive UI element changes in relation to this - e.g. the phrase
> is highlighted. So you follow that link:
> 
> * Obtain return date
> * Disambiguation - "trip to Cologne, Germany" vs "trip to Cologne
> Museum, Stinkville, USA"
> * Query whether user wishes to enter info about:
> - accomodation (if yes - who with? Add contact list entry?)
> - business or personal (or, as in this example, both)
> - meetings (contact info, specific location details, time etc)
> - attractions
> * Access info
> - notifications?
> etc, etc.

Ok maybe I started to complicated. 18h Frank is in the near of my home,

?home
Hello Frank - I'm still at work, and thought to be at home at 20h, but
when you ask, I can stop working and be home at 19h.

The advantage would be that he does not need to call me (and disturb me) 
to get this information from me. So he could send me another SMS 
! 19h
hello rob, 
I'm in town and would like to visit you at 20h home, ok?
Frank


> But then, assuming this information is available system-wide.. another
> utility could independently compare GPS locations with commitments -
> one button press to email apology with estimated time of arrival.
yes ;)

> Do knowledge based schemas like that exist anywhere in the public
> domain? Is it worth the trouble of implementing them?

I have the experiances of a service for radiostations by sms and I 
sold around 2000 a solution to a kind of dot.com company with featurs
like:
- ask the name/title of the song at the moment
- get an information "your bubblegum-boy-group will be again on 102
  radio in the next 3 minutes ..." for the next 3 times after sending
  an SMS with "abo bubblegum"
- abo topnews localfootball blitzer(=traffic controll info)

At one station (the first one) have been up to 27000 users on the SMS-list 
for football, 18000 for topnews and similar to traffic controll info
and some 50-100 SMS ask for name/title of songs.


Of course you could use a Webpage with login for your friends to share
some private informations - but when your friends are on the road?

What I started with example of privte life could also have be use in
business - 
?office
to ask when a coworker is back in office again, without to disturb him.

There could be many better solutions when everyone would have a Neo1973
but I wanted to show that just one Neo1973 and no GPRS/Internet/Wap
could power up the communication with advantages for the Neo1973 owner
and his contact persons.

And that around SMS are still solutions possible that no other
smartphone serve. Especialy the combination with AGPS give space
for many new solutions.

I agree, it would not make sence for every user,
and to much commands could make it to complicated,
but for some users it would be a nice solution.

Greetings,
rob