PHOTOS: Airvana's femtocell demonstration

Samantha's boyfriend is in the house!

PHOTOS: Airvana's Femtocell Demonstration

26 June 2009 16:45 GMT / By Duncan Geere

Airvana is a company from Boston that makes femtocells - tiny mobile phone masts that are designed for homes that don't get particularly great mobile reception.

But the technology can be used for more than that. In a bizarre demonstration to Pocket-lint, the company's founder, VP Marketing and VP Technology took us through another application, which it called "The Boyfriend Buster".

Samantha and Nicole are two dolls. Samantha is blonde, and Nicole is brunette. They're our daughters apparently. They come in the house, and we get two texts, saying "Airvana HubBub Alert: Samantha/Nicole is home". The founder plays "Here come the girls" tinnily from a small laptop.

But then, we get another text. "Samantha's boyfriend is in the house!" it reads. Sure enough, A massive knitted orange Minotaur doll wearing a judo uniform has entered the room. That's "Chuck" apparently.

In stroll two more creatures, each looking like a cross between a rabbit, a teletubbie and a pair of neon 80s hotpants. They're Steve and Jennifer, Airvana's founder tells me happily.

Our phone buzzes again - "Airvana HubBub Alert: There is a party going on with 5 people! Attendees are: Steve; Jennifer; Chuck; Samantha and Nicole". We can then view all the guests and their phone numbers on a remote screen. "Party time" rocks out of the tinny speakers.

We sternly reprimand our daughters, who politely tell us where we can shove our femtocells. All dolls leave the house, and we get a text saying "The party is over".

A delightfully insane demonstration, but we couldn't help feeling a little bit of sympathy for poor Samantha and Nicole. Once upon a time, kids were able to learn a bit of subtlety by sneaking around their parents. Will that no longer be the case in the future?