How often do you find yourself pointing at something (on the screen, or in front of you) while on a phone call, even though you’re fully aware that the other person cannot see what you’re pointing at?

Pointing is an fundamental, intuitive part of communication. “Which cable do you mean?” “This one.” “Ah, I see.” It’s so much easier to convey certain things when both parties are not only looking at the same thing, but can see what they’re each pointing at. A picture is worth a thousand words, but a finger on a picture seems to be worth a whole lot more.

As an architect, I often find myself on site, looking at a problem (say, a misaligned window). I’ll call my colleagues back in the office to try to resolve it. Often, this is a frustrating process: I seem to spend more time explaining the problem than solving it, and sometimes it’s tempting to say “Forget it, let’s wait until I’m back at the office and we’ll discuss this in person.” Emailing a picture of the problem helps, but it’s still painfully slow and unintuitive, without the ability to point at the picture. “Which cable do you mean? The second blue one? Counting from the left? And you’re saying the third bend is wrong?”

It’s like trying to eat with your hands tied behind your back.

What if…?

Naturally, technology can solve this. In fact, this is already largely solved where desktop-to-desktop collaboration is concerned, thanks to tools like desktop sharing applications, Skitch, and a thousand others.

But on the move, this is still a problem. The obvious next step is to bring this collaboration to the phone that we carry with us at all times. Why shouldn’t it be possible to point at something while talking on the phone? Why shouldn’t we be able to take advantage of this incredibly intuitive means of communication when we’re away from our desks — on site, on the move, or, god forbid, on holiday.

This is exactly what we’re trying to do with Woobius Eye. See below for a short sneak preview of how we see it working.

Calling for beta users

We’ve started development on Woobius Eye, and are now looking for beta testers. There are 50 places available. If you would like to be the first to try out Woobius Eye, drop us an email at eye@woobius.com. Please include, in the email:

• Your name and company
• How you intend to use Woobius Eye

There are only 50 places available, so be sure to email us now to avoid disappointment.