http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/29/virtual-doormen-becoming-more-ubiquitous/ Engadget Comments for Virtual doormen becoming more ubiquitous http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/29/virtual-doormen-becoming-more-ubiquitous/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/29/virtual-doormen-becoming-more-ubiquitous/Dec 29th 2007 1:57AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/29/virtual-doormen-becoming-more-ubiquitous/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/29/virtual-doormen-becoming-more-ubiquitous/Dec 29th 2007 2:09AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/29/virtual-doormen-becoming-more-ubiquitous/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/29/virtual-doormen-becoming-more-ubiquitous/
But then what would be the point of people? Are we obsolete? Should we be phased out? Or should we be lined up in huge lines of capsules, eternally kept alive in dream state, with the world run by machines?]]>Dec 29th 2007 2:28AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/29/virtual-doormen-becoming-more-ubiquitous/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/29/virtual-doormen-becoming-more-ubiquitous/Dec 29th 2007 4:07AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/29/virtual-doormen-becoming-more-ubiquitous/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/29/virtual-doormen-becoming-more-ubiquitous/
A virtual doorman voice would become irritating after a while.

*Stephen Hawking's voice* "Welcome home, Master Bates."
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Personality doesn't equal personal relations. Normal people can't have the same relationships with computers because a computer doesn't have a life. It is a bunch of electronic parts that only exist for a certain purpose. You can't invite a computer over for dinner. You can't give it a Christmas present.]]>Dec 29th 2007 4:20AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/29/virtual-doormen-becoming-more-ubiquitous/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/29/virtual-doormen-becoming-more-ubiquitous/Dec 29th 2007 4:34AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/29/virtual-doormen-becoming-more-ubiquitous/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/29/virtual-doormen-becoming-more-ubiquitous/Dec 29th 2007 10:46AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/29/virtual-doormen-becoming-more-ubiquitous/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/29/virtual-doormen-becoming-more-ubiquitous/Dec 29th 2007 5:25AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/29/virtual-doormen-becoming-more-ubiquitous/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/29/virtual-doormen-becoming-more-ubiquitous/http://logic-robotics.com/LisaServer.aspx]]>Dec 29th 2007 5:27AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/29/virtual-doormen-becoming-more-ubiquitous/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/29/virtual-doormen-becoming-more-ubiquitous/Dec 29th 2007 8:29AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/29/virtual-doormen-becoming-more-ubiquitous/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/29/virtual-doormen-becoming-more-ubiquitous/ ]]>Dec 29th 2007 10:21AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/29/virtual-doormen-becoming-more-ubiquitous/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/29/virtual-doormen-becoming-more-ubiquitous/Dec 29th 2007 10:40AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/29/virtual-doormen-becoming-more-ubiquitous/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/29/virtual-doormen-becoming-more-ubiquitous/Dec 29th 2007 3:54PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/29/virtual-doormen-becoming-more-ubiquitous/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/29/virtual-doormen-becoming-more-ubiquitous/Dec 29th 2007 6:24PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/29/virtual-doormen-becoming-more-ubiquitous/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/29/virtual-doormen-becoming-more-ubiquitous/
Basically the service is aimed at smaller buildings. The engadget quote of 250k is for a full time doorman service, which probably consists of 4 doormen's salaries, plus the costs of their benefits. There's a doorman union (32BJ) that a lot of buildings have doormen from, so the pay is probably standardized to some level although I couldn't find numbers on it. My building is 220 units, so we can afford the cost of the full time doormen, live in super, and porters. Smaller buildings like the walk ups that are being converted to luxury condos only have 10 units or so. Take the 250k and divide by 10 and a doorman would cost each unit 25k a year on top of the other building maintenance charges. I guess the aim is to add doorman "services" to smaller buildings that would typically go doormanless simply because of their size. Additionally, residents save by not tipping their doormen during the holidays. I recently dropped close to $1000 on holiday tips for my building's staff of 8.

As far as the service goes, the building is always locked and residents use a card key system to get in. When they have a delivery, the delivery person uses the intercom and the tenant buzzes them in if they are home to do so. If they aren't home, the delivery person uses the virtual doorman buzzer and then interacts with a live person in a remote monitoring center who decides whether or not to let the person into the building. The guy I talked to seemed to like it and had said that he didn't have any problems getting furniture delivered when he moved in (the building was new so I imagine that it was common at the time to have furniture deliveries). He said his lobby has a big package room where the deliveries get placed and that the virtual doorman can unlock that door as well.

I guess the whole idea is pretty cool. It basically seems like a "doorman timeshare" sort of system where you're only paying for a doorman when you need one. I didn't ask how much the service cost or what the billing plan was like (whether it was a flat monthly fee, or incremental billing like cell phone minutes). I've come back late at night to catch my doorman asleep at the desk, so I'm not sure that he's the best security money can buy, but at the same time, I know that if I was in danger, I could run into the building and a live person would be there to assist me and call for help if necessary. In the end it all comes down to what you can afford and what you can live with (or can't live without).]]>Jan 11th 2008 9:36PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/29/virtual-doormen-becoming-more-ubiquitous/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/29/virtual-doormen-becoming-more-ubiquitous/
www.virtualdoorman.com
www.cyberdoorman.com]]>Jan 11th 2008 9:47PM