A student from MIT has put together a very interesting new program that combines wi-fi local aware technology and Facebook. Lillian Dai is currently a Ph.D. student at MIT working on architectures and algorithms for wireless mesh networks, I knew her when she was a resident of the Sidney Pacific graduate residence at MIT where I was one of the housemasters (she is also a fellow Calgarian!). I think Rakket is an interesting hybrid of a location aware service and a social networking website. Given the traction behind Facebook, I would not be surprised if this really took off.

\”Rakket is location-based social networking software that automatically discovers other users on your local network and gives you the option to interact with them in a variety of ways. Whether in a dorm, in a classroom, at a coffee shop, or at the airport, you can meet other Rakket users nearby, find people with similar interests, form study groups, listen to others\’ music, and share your favorite photos. It\’s a whole new world of spontaneous local networking. In addition, Rakket is the ultimate complement to Facebook, giving Facebook users instant messaging and instant Facebook alerts!\”