5 ms·

Alt-C: A neat little app to copy text between your device and your PC

39 points by brettf 12y ago

joosters 12y ago
How secure is the information that I cut and paste? There's a brief mention of SSL on the website, but that doesn't clarify much. Can the app author read my clippings? Is my data stored on any servers? If so, for how long? How securely is it deleted? Is it stored encrypted? Who has the encryption keys? Who can retrieve or see my data?
- brettf 12y ago
  The information is transmitted over SSL. It is not stored on the back-end at all, only relayed via the backend & there is no way for the author to view the text.
  - brettf 12y ago
    Just to add, the data you see in the list is stored on the device/PC itself.
  - joosters 12y ago
    Thanks for clarifying, and good luck with the app. Data transfer between phones and computers is frustratingly painful right now, so anything that can bridge the gap is welcome.
  - pbhjpbhj 12y ago
    >there is no way for the author to view the text // Presumably that is according to the author or is there some third party that has audited the code.
  - gkoz 12y ago
    Is there a specific reason the author can't view the text?
amelius 12y ago
> Select some text on your Smart device and copy it This is the not-so-easy part. Especially if you have big fingers. A better interface would allow me to just make a screenshot, send that over to my PC automatically, and extract the text from it.
- microcolonel 12y ago
  Google's screen reader integration could be hooked into, would be better than OCRing a screenshot.
chris_engel 12y ago
I just assumed this would be a web project. Open a web page on two devices and just copy/paste data. I wondered if it would use webrtc for direct, private communication. Than I saw: oh, its "just an app". Meh. :D
Joona 12y ago
I actually thought about making an app like this. Glad someone made it! Any plans to include small file transfers (like photos)?
qball12 12y ago
Funny how they use MacBooks stack photos and iMac icons as examples and yet have neither iOS nor OSX app.
mxstbr 12y ago
Just use Pushbullet, it can do that and send files and send URLs, and send to friends, and, and, and,... http://pushbullet.com http://pushbullet.com
- Siliticxx 12y ago
  After using Pushbullet i really don't see the point in an app that does JUST this.
  - pbhjpbhj 12y ago
    https://blog.pushbullet.com/2014/08/20/introducing-universal-copy-and-paste/ https://blog.pushbullet.com/2014/08/20/introducing-universal... - blog post about the feature (only official "documentation" on the feature I could find).
pbhjpbhj 12y ago
Nice idea; however I'd be very surprised if there isn't already an implementation of this idea? It's kinda a streamlined Evernote (the way I use it) using the clipboard. Klipper (KDE's clipboard for ctrl+C content) has a useful "make barcode" feature that allows you to highlight any text, which then is copied automatically to the clipboard, and turn it in to a QR code (I've got it on alt-V). Then the barcode reader on my phone can read the code and show the text; then I can copy-paste it on the phone. Clunky but working and using tools I've already got, no web involved (but the barcode app writer could be stealing the clips just as easily as the app writer in the OP).
- XorNot 12y ago
  I recently hacked a similar plugin for Cinnamon it could both read and write text via QR code to and from the clipboard. Sin e most desktops/laptops have webcams it works really well.
krisgenre 12y ago
This is a lesson to me - if don't do your finishing touch properly, no one will notice. I had submitted my similar open source app a long time back - http://oneclipboard.crushingboredom.com/ http://oneclipboard.crushingboredom.com/. Sorry for the shameless plug :)
- microcolonel 12y ago
  Thanks, I was looking for something like this. Alt-C only supports android and windows, and will never support my desktop systems(GNU/Linux and OpenBSD). Thanks :) EDIT: If it's open source, though, where is the code?
  - krisgenre 12y ago
    Here - https://github.com/krishnaraj/oneclipboard https://github.com/krishnaraj/oneclipboard, its in Java though :)
    - microcolonel 12y ago
      Should work out of the box on OpenBSD's X11 as well, thanks to it being in Java. Though I'm not a fan of the language itself.
- laggyluke 12y ago
  This is kinda funny - we should all hang out together or something :) Here's my attempt: http://www.clipbrd.com/ http://www.clipbrd.com/ Was looking for something similar, couldn't find a thing that worked well, so I had to build it myself. Too bad I don't have enough time to polish it, but it still works well for me.
  - krisgenre 12y ago
    Me too! my need was something that works over the internet. Here's one that's LAN only - http://bdwm.be/cs/ http://bdwm.be/cs/. One thing I noticed is that none of us attempted an iOS version :)
GioM 12y ago
What's the interaction between this and password managers, which use copy/paste to get your passwords in & out?
aw3c2 12y ago
No end-to-end encryption, not even a privacy policy. Stay away...
- ToastyMallows 12y ago
  Right on the front page: "Alt-C uses Google Cloud Messaging with SSL connections to copy the text."
  - deleted 12y ago
    [deleted]
  - aw3c2 12y ago
    Argh, so it is not just them, but also Google who can read your texts? What do they or Google need the plaintext for?
  - Freaky 12y ago
    End-to-end encryption means it's encrypted between the endpoints - any intermediate servers just see ciphertext and never have access to the key to decrypt it. SSL just encrypts the link to Google's servers - it should be basically irrelevant since the data should already be encrypted and digitally signed.
JoelMcCracken 12y ago
I find it interesting that the "PCs" that are show are obviously a macbook pro and an iMac -- although there is not yet any support for a mac/ios app. Not sure what this means. It is interesting to me that the mac may now stand for a general PC.
Nursie 12y ago
While this is useful, it adds to the number of ways your data can leak, as to copy between devices that may be in the same room, your data will be crossing borders and potentially being exposed unencrypted on some server somewhere in another country. I would be very reticent about pushing any remotely sensitive data over a channel like this.
BlytheSchuma 12y ago
Scatter.to seems be a much better option since it also has a history and archive function.

39 points by brettf 12y ago

How secure is the information that I cut and paste? There's a brief mention of SSL on the website, but that doesn't clarify much. Can the app author read my clippings? Is my data stored on any servers? If so, for how long? How securely is it deleted? Is it stored encrypted? Who has the encryption keys? Who can retrieve or see my data?

brettf 12y ago
The information is transmitted over SSL. It is not stored on the back-end at all, only relayed via the backend & there is no way for the author to view the text.
- brettf 12y ago
  Just to add, the data you see in the list is stored on the device/PC itself.
- joosters 12y ago
  Thanks for clarifying, and good luck with the app. Data transfer between phones and computers is frustratingly painful right now, so anything that can bridge the gap is welcome.
- pbhjpbhj 12y ago
  >there is no way for the author to view the text // Presumably that is according to the author or is there some third party that has audited the code.
- gkoz 12y ago
  Is there a specific reason the author can't view the text?

amelius 12y ago

> Select some text on your Smart device and copy it This is the not-so-easy part. Especially if you have big fingers. A better interface would allow me to just make a screenshot, send that over to my PC automatically, and extract the text from it.

microcolonel 12y ago
Google's screen reader integration could be hooked into, would be better than OCRing a screenshot.

chris_engel 12y ago

I just assumed this would be a web project. Open a web page on two devices and just copy/paste data. I wondered if it would use webrtc for direct, private communication. Than I saw: oh, its "just an app". Meh. :D

Joona 12y ago

I actually thought about making an app like this. Glad someone made it! Any plans to include small file transfers (like photos)?

qball12 12y ago

Funny how they use MacBooks stack photos and iMac icons as examples and yet have neither iOS nor OSX app.

mxstbr 12y ago

Just use Pushbullet, it can do that and send files and send URLs, and send to friends, and, and, and,... http://pushbullet.com http://pushbullet.com

Siliticxx 12y ago
After using Pushbullet i really don't see the point in an app that does JUST this.
- pbhjpbhj 12y ago
  https://blog.pushbullet.com/2014/08/20/introducing-universal-copy-and-paste/ https://blog.pushbullet.com/2014/08/20/introducing-universal... - blog post about the feature (only official "documentation" on the feature I could find).

pbhjpbhj 12y ago

Nice idea; however I'd be very surprised if there isn't already an implementation of this idea? It's kinda a streamlined Evernote (the way I use it) using the clipboard. Klipper (KDE's clipboard for ctrl+C content) has a useful "make barcode" feature that allows you to highlight any text, which then is copied automatically to the clipboard, and turn it in to a QR code (I've got it on alt-V). Then the barcode reader on my phone can read the code and show the text; then I can copy-paste it on the phone. Clunky but working and using tools I've already got, no web involved (but the barcode app writer could be stealing the clips just as easily as the app writer in the OP).

XorNot 12y ago
I recently hacked a similar plugin for Cinnamon it could both read and write text via QR code to and from the clipboard. Sin e most desktops/laptops have webcams it works really well.

krisgenre 12y ago

This is a lesson to me - if don't do your finishing touch properly, no one will notice. I had submitted my similar open source app a long time back - http://oneclipboard.crushingboredom.com/ http://oneclipboard.crushingboredom.com/. Sorry for the shameless plug :)

microcolonel 12y ago
Thanks, I was looking for something like this. Alt-C only supports android and windows, and will never support my desktop systems(GNU/Linux and OpenBSD). Thanks :) EDIT: If it's open source, though, where is the code?
- krisgenre 12y ago
  Here - https://github.com/krishnaraj/oneclipboard https://github.com/krishnaraj/oneclipboard, its in Java though :)
  - microcolonel 12y ago
    Should work out of the box on OpenBSD's X11 as well, thanks to it being in Java. Though I'm not a fan of the language itself.
laggyluke 12y ago
This is kinda funny - we should all hang out together or something :) Here's my attempt: http://www.clipbrd.com/ http://www.clipbrd.com/ Was looking for something similar, couldn't find a thing that worked well, so I had to build it myself. Too bad I don't have enough time to polish it, but it still works well for me.
- krisgenre 12y ago
  Me too! my need was something that works over the internet. Here's one that's LAN only - http://bdwm.be/cs/ http://bdwm.be/cs/. One thing I noticed is that none of us attempted an iOS version :)

GioM 12y ago

What's the interaction between this and password managers, which use copy/paste to get your passwords in & out?

aw3c2 12y ago

No end-to-end encryption, not even a privacy policy. Stay away...

ToastyMallows 12y ago
Right on the front page: "Alt-C uses Google Cloud Messaging with SSL connections to copy the text."
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
- aw3c2 12y ago
  Argh, so it is not just them, but also Google who can read your texts? What do they or Google need the plaintext for?
- Freaky 12y ago
  End-to-end encryption means it's encrypted between the endpoints - any intermediate servers just see ciphertext and never have access to the key to decrypt it. SSL just encrypts the link to Google's servers - it should be basically irrelevant since the data should already be encrypted and digitally signed.

JoelMcCracken 12y ago

I find it interesting that the "PCs" that are show are obviously a macbook pro and an iMac -- although there is not yet any support for a mac/ios app. Not sure what this means. It is interesting to me that the mac may now stand for a general PC.

Nursie 12y ago

While this is useful, it adds to the number of ways your data can leak, as to copy between devices that may be in the same room, your data will be crossing borders and potentially being exposed unencrypted on some server somewhere in another country. I would be very reticent about pushing any remotely sensitive data over a channel like this.

BlytheSchuma 12y ago

Scatter.to seems be a much better option since it also has a history and archive function.