Hi all,
After always forgetting to message my loved ones that I'm safe when getting off a plane, I decided to build something to do it for me.
Drizm automatically sends a SMS to an Australian mobile number once your plane lands.
What better time to release it than over the long weekend when I imagine many of you would be travelling.
To test the waters I've made it free for OzBargainers, in the future I'd be adding a small fee (~$1) to cover the costs.
Yes it does, I haven't worked out how to account for that just yet.
How about an update to support drag & drop?
SOS in Morse perhaps…
Anyway, nice service.
Thought about making it an App?
That is definitely a possibility based on how well it is received. Making an app would allow it to be linked to your contacts and possibly flight info to have that information pre-filled.
@coyney:
You might even be able to convince/license https://www.tripit.com/ to integrate it into their app.
I had a drizm in my pants once, but this sounds much better,
in the future I'd be adding a small fee (~$1) to cover the costs.
Are you associated with 0p?
If not please use ">" to quote someone next time.
>Like this
Coyney and I spent about 6 weeks working on the business case. Based on current projections, the sale of your travel data is worth about $6.8 million p.a.
This estimate is based off the current offer from a Nigerian Prince who was looking to invest in tech startups. He promises there is much more to come.
What's the estimated value of a mobile number indirectly associated with a public flight? Is now the time to invest?
Edit: wow $6.8 million p.a. BUY! BUY! BUY!
Coyney have you contacted Solomon?
Can this send the msg even if the phone is out of battery?
Yes it can! It schedules it on our server so you it doesn't matter if your phone is out of battery or in airplane mode. I can see it being handy for when you're travelling overseas and don't have reception but still want to contact people back in Australia.
thanks mate, this is supremely helpful then
i had trouble finding someone at the airport because i ran out of battery
agree with poster below that most useful once it can adjust for delays etc.
So if I'm understanding this correctly after reading your message here and looking at the site, all it's doing is scheduling a future SMS to send out to someone at a time the airline has scheduled the flight to land? And it doesn't matter if my phone is off, it will still send the SMS? Can you please address how this service responds in the following scenarios
Seems like there could be nothing more horrific for one of my loved ones in the last two scenarios than getting an automated text I've landed safely when I'm either captive, injured or dead. Are there contingencies in your system to update the schedule of the SMS based on what is happening with the flight, and if so where does that data come from, how actively updated is that dataset and how accurate is it?
Other than the ability to work when your phone is flat, could you please also address the value in this service (especially for $1/use which is 4x the cost of a consumer SMS charge for people not on unlimited plans and 8x the cost of volume purchasing) over something like simply using the scheduled SMS feature that comes inside most modern SMS apps that will send out the SMS at a time you schedule?
I usually just set a scheduled text that sends ~15 minutes after my eta. Nice site though. May I ask what it's built on/with?
Thank you, it's built with PHP and a couple of APIs.
Does this work off the published schedule or the actual landing times?
Currently it is based on the scheduled time. Although, I'm working on making it only when the plane has actually landed (This will cost more to support and would be where a small fee comes in).
You probably want to have the option of an app using encrypted Internet data given that the government, sorry gum mint, is collecting all SMSes now.
I don't mean to sound rude, but what's the point? If they're being told automatically based on the schedule regardless of whether it's actually landed or not, how's that better than just telling them the time beforehand?
And not meaning to be too morbid, but does that therefore mean if the plane explodes mid flight they'll still receive a text saying they've arrived safely?
I hesitate to criticise someone trying to do something good, but this seems completely useless. Sorry!
You could charge $5-20 per year for this service
Hang on. If I'm telling the Mrs I'm going to LA for business, will it actually send my Las Vegas arrival details instead?
Hang on. If I'm telling the Mrs I'm going to LA for business, will it actually send my Las Vegas arrival details instead?
More to the point what if you're going with your wife's best friend, sister, mum, grandmother or father and she receives a message for each of you arriving in LA on the same flight?
I swear, it's a coincidence!
Drizm automatically sends a SMS to an Australian mobile number once your plane lands.
What if the plane crashes?
What if the plane is never seen again?
What if the plane loses part of the fuselage and you get sucked out?
What if you pass away on the flight? It would be insensitive to send a message "Hey guys, plane has arrived and all is great" at the same time the police are knocking on your parents door.
Buy waterproof one.
Should ask those pesky aliens in Bermuda's triangle if they are willing to try the app.
Buy one of those rugged phones like earlier Nokias that survive anything.
Get heart monitor hooked to your phone.
Easy
Sweet, free anonymous way to troll people, given the "message" field is customisable.
Did someone say "better not share this on /b/"??
So the deal really is "Send FREE SMS to anyone! Just find a flight landing at the time you want to send the text" :)
No need to ruin a good thing. If I was to have set messages it would lose some personal touch.
Local Man Ruins Everything.jpeg
You do need to consider people exploiting your system in unintended ways. Charging a fee would be a deterrent but $1 a message, when a charged SMS costs people 20c or so, would probably also deter legitimate users.
seems pretty stupid to be honest
charging for a service that collects data
no thanks
can see this being hacked in a few hours
Why worry. No one stopped the government from snooping on you, so your data is out there anyway.
Should have thought about it before. https://www.cnet.com/au/news/happy-national-get-a-vpn-day-ap…
Sure, you have nothing to hide, why worry… yet, we still get innocent people ending up in prisons…
Just like when I tried to take a cordless drill with me on my flight, to be told nope, it had to go with other baggage. You know I could bash someone with it. Then again why worry, when they give you metal forks and knives on the flight. Just hack them to death. Much easier to stab someone to death, than bludgeon them. Plus, they tell you, you have to have Li-Ion batteries with you, yet they were happy to put 2 batteries with the rest of cargo.
Go figure.
good effort OP.
Wrong place to advertise / drum up some support, place is full of whingers, Anyway wish you luck.
I use tripit for things like this but good work.
Interesting business, but I don't think it would be successful if the information is just based on established schedules - much more useful to know the actual landing time.
The next update will only send the text when the flight actually lands so stay tuned!
Question. What api are you going to use as I know of quite a few free ones out there for when you first start up (they limit the amount you can get firstly) then work out a deal when you get bigger? (unsure how big it is already though)
So,
This can send free anonymous message to any number in Australia.
Since you don't collect any info illegal activity could be carried out by your service.
Imagine a plane crashing then getting a i have landed message because this is based on predictions lol.
Also your telco will come after you.
Because you seem to be basing this on a phone relaying all sms's…
Go back to dev school and learn how to use an sms based API.
ALSO
@0p is this open source?
This does use a "SMS based API"
Then why is the number showing?
Try broadcast a name and remove reply functionalities…
Would recommend:
Reminds me of a previous deal. OP you should probably take the site down asap
There is no anti-spam protection whatsoever, just did a search on an airlines website for a random flight around the time I want my message to go out and used it to schedule troll SMSes to people I know. A bot could be written to pull flight numbers from airline websites and schedule SMSes very easily, and there doesn't seem to be any IP address capture going on in the code so could be useful for organised crime.
so could be useful for organised crime.
… that escalated quickly.
I'm pretty sure organised crime syndicates have enough resources at hand to not have to resort to using a bot that pulls flight numbers from airline websites to schedule SMSes via a free service for whatever purpose.
Or even disorganised crime. :)
Wow, it assumes one isn't being dragged off a United Flight I guess.