3 ms·
This is nifty, although I wouldn't see myself using it. For starters, it looks like it's closed source, which makes it a non-starter for me. I'm personally tryi
by TheAceOfHearts 9y ago
This is nifty, although I wouldn't see myself using it. For starters, it looks like it's closed source, which makes it a non-starter for me. I'm personally trying to move away from locked-down hardware and ecosystems, although admittedly it is surprisingly difficult.
Furthermore, I already have a very powerful desktop hooked up to a large screen. I want to be able to leverage its power! So what I'd really like is a way to easily transfer activities or work between devices.
The best execution of this I've seen so far is from Apple, with iOS and macOS's continuity features. Unfortunately, I have an Android phone, which means I can't use that functionality.
Transferring files between devices is still such a huge pain! Between Apple devices, AirDrop has the best experience I've used. My cross-platform solution is running an HTTP server (`python -m SimpleHTTPServer 8080`) and zipping up the files I want to send. Since zeroconf is widely available, it's usually not much hassle to type in the address. If I'm dealing with devices on different networks, I use instant.io.
Here's a typical scenario for me: I arrive at home and want to play a game on my desktop while I continue to listen to the audiobook playing on my phone. In that case I'd love to pipe the audio from the game to my phone's headphones. That would let me move around to the bathroom and kitchen without having to pause the audiobook, let me know if the game match is starting so I can rush back, and avoid being a noisy neighbor with obnoxiously loud speakers.
There's so much more potential for ease of use improvements! For example, while programming, since my desktop is much more powerful, I'd love to offload builds from my laptop when I'm at home. I know I can setup things manually, but it's a lot of hassle and usually ends up kinda brittle. Then if I take my laptop out to some place without network connectivity, I'll have to stop everything and perform additional setup.