[thinkling]

I've actually long wanted something like this and proposed it to friends but never built it.

When my friends and I got married and started having kids, contact fell off a lot -- we just didn't call as much, you get busy and you assume the others are busy putting kids to bed, etc. etc.

What I wanted was a way to say "we're available to chat right now" for a handful of people I know and trust. My idea was to create a webcam into our kitchen with a limited view, turn it on when we were interested in chatting with friends, and when on it would be displayed on a dedicated tablet in our friends' kitchen, showing them that we were around and available to chat.

It seems Alexa Drop-in is getting pretty close to this idea.

(I think chat/messaging systems are still missing this explicit "I'm available for a synchronous chat right now" flag. Being "online" in Skype is just not quite the same thing.)

[thaumasiotes]

> I think chat/messaging systems are still missing this explicit "I'm available for a synchronous chat right now" flag.

Seems identical to the long-established distinction between "online" and "away" status.

[thinkling]

I think there's a difference between "I'm available if you need me" (but I'm actually busy doing something right now) and "I'm relaxing and actively interested in chatting". I think that difference does not map well to status modes I've seen in Skype and the like.

[panda88888]

IIRC in the good old days, ICQ had separate status updates for Available and Available to Chat.