When I was working in a different city and separated from my family and friends for months at a time, I always thought it would be cool to have this always-on video chat device that wouldn't really be used for direct chatting, but more like leaving the door open so if we're bored, we can just "bump" into each other.

It's strange, but you sometimes miss the "mundane" parts of life. Especially if you are on assignment for several months, there might not be much to say day after day, but just having some company is a nice feeling.

I can also see how it would be helpful for remote teams. If these devices were just on all the time and team members could peer into what others were doing or listen in on spontaneous jokes.

Of course I know there are ways to do this now with existing solutions, but it's more of a hassle to get it setup and also to automatically reconnect if there are network problems.