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Nearby Connections 2.0: offline high bandwidth peer to peer device communication

android-developers.googleblog.com

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Re: Nearby Connections 2.0: offline high bandwidth peer to peer device communication

#43

Post by pmontra »

ekwogefee wrote: post #25
joosters wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Definitely! It's amazing that two people can have smartphones with wifi, bluetooth and other comms links yet there isn't a standard, platform agnostic way to send a file to another phone. So now we have Nearby Communications for Android and AirDrop for iOS and we still can't send stuff to friends in the same room, without sending the data through a remote third party service. The only standard supported mechanism for…

Shameless plug: Try Feem v4 ( http://www.feem.io ).

I found no links to the code. Is that closed source too?

Re: Nearby Connections 2.0: offline high bandwidth peer to peer device communication

#44

Post by pmontra »

reaperducer wrote: post #11
mataug wrote: post #3

This is basically Air Drop with extra features and an open API . As @pat2man mentions, It would've been great if Apple and Google made this an open standard instead of having their own proprietary solutions.

It's amazing how much things have changed since AirDrop. In the last two offices in which I've worked (both creative), AirDrop was indispensable. Even in a small team of 20 or so people, it was used hundreds of times a day. The new Apple era has strayed considerably from "it just works," except for AirDrop, which has been nothing but a pleasure to work with.

I don't have any Apple hardware so I don't know what AirDrop is. I should google it but my point should be already easy to see. If it's not interoperable it can't become as useful as it could be. Compare it with HTTP, SMTP, FTP etc which are open standards with multiple interoperable implementations.

Re: Nearby Connections 2.0: offline high bandwidth peer to peer device communication

#45

Post by Angostura »

dTal wrote: post #21
Animats wrote: post #14

Today we're announcing the availability of this API across all Android devices running Google Play services 11.0 and up. Of course, Google had to lock up peer to peer communication by tying it to their online store. It's also unencrypted and unauthenticated, so you don't want to use this for home control.

Play services is more than just the online store; it's a Faustian bargain of useful services in exchange for giving Google root control over "your" computer. I refuse to Play. I don't really miss the app store, but I'm sore I can't cast media at my friend's house (Chromecast requires Google Play, of course). This is another brick in that wall. This is more unethical and monopolistic than anything Micro$oft ever did,…

Does Chromecast really require a Play login? On iOS you can cast with no login at all

Re: Nearby Connections 2.0: offline high bandwidth peer to peer device communication

#46

Post by true_religion »

voltagex_ wrote: post #35
throwaway2048 wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://microg.org/ Google play store APIs and protocols ARE being reverse engineered and re implemented. I run microG with store apps with no issues with everything I have tried.

I meant more broadly: no one's reimplemented AirDrop, and MicroG won't have this new one for quite a while.

Did people used to widely reverse engineer protocols that weren't related to communications and chat?

Doing it to a chat-app has an obvious benefit: you can use your own application with your custom UX, and connect it with multiple networks at once, or multiple accounts at the same time on the same network.

Doing it with something like Airdrop is kind of a nebulous proposal. If you want to share files with someone next to you, and for some reason you hate Airdrop, then there's lots of other alternatives. Reverse engineering Airdrop gets you nothing special.

Re: Nearby Connections 2.0: offline high bandwidth peer to peer device communication

#47

Post by TeMPOraL »

jff wrote: post #12

> the TV urging you to continue binging on your saved guilty-pleasures watchlist The shelves in the grocery store calling out to me because they know I like potato chips! Can't wait!

I would love to go full Watch_Dogs on those shelves. They'll probably have those e-ink price tags that are now popular; it would be cool to make them display "IT'S A TRAP" instead.

Re: Nearby Connections 2.0: offline high bandwidth peer to peer device communication

#48

Post by Corrado »

I can see this as a way to configure IoT devices more easily. For example, setting up a new printer is often a hassle; using a tiny, barely workable, touch screen and an inefficient menu system is no fun. Imagine you could just plug it in and your smartphone comes to life with a nice GUI. It could even pre-configure it for you. Another example is Amazon's Alexa devices. Currently, you have to push buttons and install a custom app on your phone and it can be very confusing.

The classroom examples also ring true to real world experiences. My wife is a teacher and has used several different proprietary "voting" devices in the past to great effect. However, they all used different hardware/protocols and didn't integrate with their current environment at all. This year they are moving to Chromebooks and my hope is that Nearby Connections might provide an "open" foundation on which a new breed of apps can be built.

Re: Nearby Connections 2.0: offline high bandwidth peer to peer device communication

#50

Post by ksec »

reaperducer wrote: post #11
mataug wrote: post #3

This is basically Air Drop with extra features and an open API . As @pat2man mentions, It would've been great if Apple and Google made this an open standard instead of having their own proprietary solutions.

It's amazing how much things have changed since AirDrop. In the last two offices in which I've worked (both creative), AirDrop was indispensable. Even in a small team of 20 or so people, it was used hundreds of times a day. The new Apple era has strayed considerably from "it just works," except for AirDrop, which has been nothing but a pleasure to work with.

Can you describe the workflow of using AirDrop? Because for some reason AirDrop never really clicked for me. It is far too many layers or options before i get it across devices.

And I assume you are all using Mac?

Because In Cooperate World it is pretty much Windows Only.

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