Now every parent of a teenager will want this one invention in his or her home. The whereabouts clock will let you know where every member of your family is at all times. Great idea, uh?

If you have seen any of the Harry Potter movies or read any of the books then you must have heard about the Whereabouts Clock. Its inventor Abigail Sellen believes that it would serve its purpose better in the home environment but others also believe it would be great for executives. Then the boss would know where his or her employees are and at least have some kind of idea of what they were doing such as the real reason they had to miss work or were late for work.

As for me, I think it would also be great for home, you would know exactly what time to start dinner, if your children skipped school, or if your husband really had to work late.

The way it works is that it uses mobile phone signals and then cross-references which mobile unit they were in with pre-programmed locations, so I guess some people could cheat and have secret rendezvous with a different location being displayed. I guess there will always be ways around it if you really want to hide out.

Who do you think is working on creating this clock? None other than Microsoft Research. There design is similar to the one that was in the Weasley’s home in the Harry Potter books and movies. This clock would keep track of each family member. The Whereabouts Clock that Microsoft is designing will have “small photos of each family member’s head that float from section to section depending on their location.” The clock will receive text messages of each family member’s location and then update the clock in real time.

However, do not get excited yet. There Whereabouts Clock is still on the drawing board and is not planned to be available for another one to two years.