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FireChat messaging app unites China and Taiwan in free speech

caligarn 13y ago
I wonder if this app has more capacity than Twitter to start and sustain revolutions.
morenoh149 13y ago
I immediately looked up if android has the same functionality. http://stackoverflow.com/questions/19067794/ios-7-multipeer-connectivity-and-android-wifi-direct http://stackoverflow.com/questions/19067794/ios-7-multipeer-... sadly it does not
- rakoo 13y ago
  Yes it has, and it's far better: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.servalproject&hl=fr https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.servalproj... Advantages: - It's working in a mesh setting (although I don't see anything preventing FireChat to do the same) - It's based on a protocol named batman, which is a cool name - It's open source
  - unfamiliar 13y ago
    This is just an app, it doesn't indicate what networking capabilities are built into the OS.
  - kissickas 13y ago
    Luckily I speak French! I clicked the link and the headers were in French, so I went to my Google Account page and everything was in French... except when I clicked "Langue," it was set to English! Freaked me out for a minute. Thought it was a dangerous and late April Fools' joke. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.servalproject https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.servalproj...
  - FatalLogic 13y ago
    It doesn't seem to use Bluetooth. I guess that's not very important, and I'm not sure why FireChat uses both Bluetooth and Wifi. In very crowded areas, switching to Bluetooth could be a way of minimizing the radio interference footprint, perhaps?
teawithcarl 13y ago
Open Garden's new FireChat tool is superb. Just what the Taiwan / China doctor ordered. 台湾中国和自由 -- 加油！
kevin818 13y ago
I don't get it. Since the range is so low, at the point that you're close enough to chat via p2p, wouldn't it just be easier to actually talk? Or am I missing something?
- 3825 13y ago
  The promise of multipeer connectivity is that each additional node can potentially increase the network. So for Alice, who is in range of Bob but not Cathy, can talk to Cathy is Bob is in range of Cathy.
  - brador 13y ago
    Is it possible to map the network? How locationally anonymous are the participants?
  - leberwurstsaft 13y ago
    Only up to 8 nodes per session (at least, at the moment), according to the docs and this post: http://lightyearsoftware.com/2014/03/multipeer-connectivity-panacea/ http://lightyearsoftware.com/2014/03/multipeer-connectivity-...
tormeh 13y ago
Hey, libertarian "hackers"! If you actually want to make a difference stop messing with cryptocurrencies and make P2P networked chat. This is the kind of thing actually oppressed people need. Cryptocurrency is basically just cash without any of the regulatory benefits anyway. P2P networked chat is actually subversive stuff.
- Houshalter 13y ago
  There are a lot of potential benefits of cryptocurrency. And why can't we have both?
  - tormeh 13y ago
    Because there's a limited amount of ideologically motivated programmer man-hours available?
    - Houshalter 13y ago
      There has been tons of work done on mesh nets and secure messaging apps. It's not like it's been ignored.
matznerd 13y ago
I recently tested this app when I had no internet in South America and I was able to communicate with other members of my group who were nearby in the hotel, but different floors. It was cool and it definitely has potential for any off-the-grid situation, especially if it can do proper multipeering. I wonder how this will do at a place like burning man.
niklas_a 13y ago
Big congrats to Micha and team at Open Garden for this app. Really good work!
higherpurpose 13y ago
Hopefully with the arrival of the pCell [1] technology, the Wi-Fi Alliance will start working on even longer range and lower bands for Wi-Fi than the 2.4 Ghz band. Lately they've only focused on short ones, but to make Wi-Fi meshnets work we need Wi-Fi that's longer range and doesn't suffer from interference. As for FireChat itself, the disappointing thing about it is that it doesn't seem to encrypt the messages. So if there's someone listening within range, they can get that conversation. Obviously, this won't be a huge issue in the early days, but I hope they do intend to fix this eventually. [1] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6NEnLvhFCk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6NEnLvhFCk
tortilla87 13y ago
I am really excited about meshnet technologies. I think they could eliminate some today's problems with internet. (Censorship, spying, throttling) Lets set up some more meshlocals HN. https://projectmeshnet.org https://projectmeshnet.org
notastartup 13y ago
What about for Android? Where is such peer connectivity framework? What about connecting Android and iOS? What about Alljoyn SDK?
octapus 13y ago
Qualcoms Alljoyn has SDK for all platforms,and its supposed to be peer to peer without network connection as well. Not sure if it does the mesh networking thing... but for crossplatform Alljoyn peer to peer has been doing it for years now. https://www.alljoyn.org/about https://www.alljoyn.org/about

I wonder if this app has more capacity than Twitter to start and sustain revolutions.

I immediately looked up if android has the same functionality. http://stackoverflow.com/questions/19067794/ios-7-multipeer-connectivity-and-android-wifi-direct http://stackoverflow.com/questions/19067794/ios-7-multipeer-... sadly it does not

rakoo 13y ago
Yes it has, and it's far better: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.servalproject&hl=fr https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.servalproj... Advantages: - It's working in a mesh setting (although I don't see anything preventing FireChat to do the same) - It's based on a protocol named batman, which is a cool name - It's open source
- unfamiliar 13y ago
  This is just an app, it doesn't indicate what networking capabilities are built into the OS.
- kissickas 13y ago
  Luckily I speak French! I clicked the link and the headers were in French, so I went to my Google Account page and everything was in French... except when I clicked "Langue," it was set to English! Freaked me out for a minute. Thought it was a dangerous and late April Fools' joke. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.servalproject https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.servalproj...
- FatalLogic 13y ago
  It doesn't seem to use Bluetooth. I guess that's not very important, and I'm not sure why FireChat uses both Bluetooth and Wifi. In very crowded areas, switching to Bluetooth could be a way of minimizing the radio interference footprint, perhaps?

teawithcarl 13y ago

Open Garden's new FireChat tool is superb. Just what the Taiwan / China doctor ordered. 台湾中国和自由 -- 加油！

kevin818 13y ago

I don't get it. Since the range is so low, at the point that you're close enough to chat via p2p, wouldn't it just be easier to actually talk? Or am I missing something?

3825 13y ago
The promise of multipeer connectivity is that each additional node can potentially increase the network. So for Alice, who is in range of Bob but not Cathy, can talk to Cathy is Bob is in range of Cathy.
- brador 13y ago
  Is it possible to map the network? How locationally anonymous are the participants?
- leberwurstsaft 13y ago
  Only up to 8 nodes per session (at least, at the moment), according to the docs and this post: http://lightyearsoftware.com/2014/03/multipeer-connectivity-panacea/ http://lightyearsoftware.com/2014/03/multipeer-connectivity-...

tormeh 13y ago

Hey, libertarian "hackers"! If you actually want to make a difference stop messing with cryptocurrencies and make P2P networked chat. This is the kind of thing actually oppressed people need. Cryptocurrency is basically just cash without any of the regulatory benefits anyway. P2P networked chat is actually subversive stuff.

Houshalter 13y ago
There are a lot of potential benefits of cryptocurrency. And why can't we have both?
- tormeh 13y ago
  Because there's a limited amount of ideologically motivated programmer man-hours available?
  - Houshalter 13y ago
    There has been tons of work done on mesh nets and secure messaging apps. It's not like it's been ignored.

matznerd 13y ago

I recently tested this app when I had no internet in South America and I was able to communicate with other members of my group who were nearby in the hotel, but different floors. It was cool and it definitely has potential for any off-the-grid situation, especially if it can do proper multipeering. I wonder how this will do at a place like burning man.

niklas_a 13y ago

Big congrats to Micha and team at Open Garden for this app. Really good work!

higherpurpose 13y ago

Hopefully with the arrival of the pCell [1] technology, the Wi-Fi Alliance will start working on even longer range and lower bands for Wi-Fi than the 2.4 Ghz band. Lately they've only focused on short ones, but to make Wi-Fi meshnets work we need Wi-Fi that's longer range and doesn't suffer from interference. As for FireChat itself, the disappointing thing about it is that it doesn't seem to encrypt the messages. So if there's someone listening within range, they can get that conversation. Obviously, this won't be a huge issue in the early days, but I hope they do intend to fix this eventually. [1] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6NEnLvhFCk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6NEnLvhFCk

tortilla87 13y ago

I am really excited about meshnet technologies. I think they could eliminate some today's problems with internet. (Censorship, spying, throttling) Lets set up some more meshlocals HN. https://projectmeshnet.org https://projectmeshnet.org

notastartup 13y ago

What about for Android? Where is such peer connectivity framework? What about connecting Android and iOS? What about Alljoyn SDK?

octapus 13y ago

Qualcoms Alljoyn has SDK for all platforms,and its supposed to be peer to peer without network connection as well. Not sure if it does the mesh networking thing... but for crossplatform Alljoyn peer to peer has been doing it for years now. https://www.alljoyn.org/about https://www.alljoyn.org/about