5 ms·

Show HN: New cross-platform interaction between mobile devices

49 points by fab2722 12y ago

sktrdie 12y ago
I can't see the use case for wanting to send some information between devices this way. Perhaps PONG or other types of video games?
- ohyoonkwon 12y ago
  We're working on use cases like collectible card app where user can swipe cards between two. Social games for kids and classroom as well.
- pmontra 12y ago
  Definitely great for boardgames. A large tablet in the middle, phones or smaller tablets all around. And if somebody calls you, don't answer and keep playing :-)
lnanek2 12y ago
Can't actually think of a case where I would want or need this. Even my Chrome tabs followed me around is kind of annoying lately, since I lookup different things different places without much interest in them elsewhere. E.g. I'm not going to read HN on my phone.
- Spearchucker 12y ago
  Indeed. It's a nice proof of concept and immediately gets me thinking how I'd do it. However the Evernote demo makes it look like a solution waiting for a problem. I imagine there is a compelling use case - will be interested to see it when it appears.
andreasklinger 12y ago
Love this. Opens up a lot of very native interactions. Eg. snipping a document to the larger tablet.
- ohyoonkwon 12y ago
  Try out our SDK - it's free for experiment!
zillwc 12y ago
I couldn't get this to work between a S5 & Nexus5. What are the requirements? Same wifi? NFC or Bluetooth enabled? How does it know what sides the devices are on?
- stronglikedan 12y ago
  I'm not sure about the connection protocols, but it looks like it determines which side(s) each device is on by the direction that you swipe to connect them.
- fab2722 12y ago
  Hey zillwc, thanks for trying the demo out. The requirements are an internet connection (any should do; WiFi, 3/4G etc) and the availability of Location Services.
LazerBear 12y ago
I think this is fantastic, but I couldn't find API docs / tutorial anywhere on your site. Demonstrating use cases is important, but I don't think it's enough to get developers to download / register.
- fab2722 12y ago
  There is a link to the github repos in the 'Get Started' section, where it says "The demo apps are open source and come with the respective development guide." Unfortunately only the Android version is there now. Will try to make it more visible!
- ohyoonkwon 12y ago
  Indeed. We're working hard to release our first game making use of CloudMatch. Stay tuned!
chris_overseas 12y ago
This reminds me of Blinkendroid https://code.google.com/p/blinkendroid/ https://code.google.com/p/blinkendroid/ which was the first time I'd seen multiple devices interact with each other like this. Sadly that project never managed to get much traction despite how much potential it had.
coreymgilmore 12y ago
Reminds me (in a way) of Chrome Racer. (http://www.chrome.com/racer http://www.chrome.com/racer). Could this be using WebRTC for the fast device-device communication?
- fab2722 12y ago
  We use WebSockets :) WebRTC is definitely an option to consider!
  - coreymgilmore 12y ago
    Using websockets myself for my projects! Love the simplicity and speed.
shrig94 12y ago
It reminds me a lot of this awesome, open source, swiping library developed at the MIT Media Lab: https://github.com/Swyp/swyp https://github.com/Swyp/swyp
- ohyoonkwon 12y ago
  This is new for us. Great to know! Other example was http://www.mosaic.io/ http://www.mosaic.io/ but I reckon that most of examples are iOS only? Is that true?

49 points by fab2722 12y ago

I can't see the use case for wanting to send some information between devices this way. Perhaps PONG or other types of video games?

ohyoonkwon 12y ago
We're working on use cases like collectible card app where user can swipe cards between two. Social games for kids and classroom as well.
pmontra 12y ago
Definitely great for boardgames. A large tablet in the middle, phones or smaller tablets all around. And if somebody calls you, don't answer and keep playing :-)

lnanek2 12y ago

Can't actually think of a case where I would want or need this. Even my Chrome tabs followed me around is kind of annoying lately, since I lookup different things different places without much interest in them elsewhere. E.g. I'm not going to read HN on my phone.

Spearchucker 12y ago
Indeed. It's a nice proof of concept and immediately gets me thinking how I'd do it. However the Evernote demo makes it look like a solution waiting for a problem. I imagine there is a compelling use case - will be interested to see it when it appears.

andreasklinger 12y ago

Love this. Opens up a lot of very native interactions. Eg. snipping a document to the larger tablet.

ohyoonkwon 12y ago
Try out our SDK - it's free for experiment!

zillwc 12y ago

I couldn't get this to work between a S5 & Nexus5. What are the requirements? Same wifi? NFC or Bluetooth enabled? How does it know what sides the devices are on?

stronglikedan 12y ago
I'm not sure about the connection protocols, but it looks like it determines which side(s) each device is on by the direction that you swipe to connect them.
fab2722 12y ago
Hey zillwc, thanks for trying the demo out. The requirements are an internet connection (any should do; WiFi, 3/4G etc) and the availability of Location Services.

LazerBear 12y ago

I think this is fantastic, but I couldn't find API docs / tutorial anywhere on your site. Demonstrating use cases is important, but I don't think it's enough to get developers to download / register.

fab2722 12y ago
There is a link to the github repos in the 'Get Started' section, where it says "The demo apps are open source and come with the respective development guide." Unfortunately only the Android version is there now. Will try to make it more visible!
ohyoonkwon 12y ago
Indeed. We're working hard to release our first game making use of CloudMatch. Stay tuned!

chris_overseas 12y ago

This reminds me of Blinkendroid https://code.google.com/p/blinkendroid/ https://code.google.com/p/blinkendroid/ which was the first time I'd seen multiple devices interact with each other like this. Sadly that project never managed to get much traction despite how much potential it had.

coreymgilmore 12y ago

Reminds me (in a way) of Chrome Racer. (http://www.chrome.com/racer http://www.chrome.com/racer). Could this be using WebRTC for the fast device-device communication?

fab2722 12y ago
We use WebSockets :) WebRTC is definitely an option to consider!
- coreymgilmore 12y ago
  Using websockets myself for my projects! Love the simplicity and speed.

shrig94 12y ago

It reminds me a lot of this awesome, open source, swiping library developed at the MIT Media Lab: https://github.com/Swyp/swyp https://github.com/Swyp/swyp

ohyoonkwon 12y ago
This is new for us. Great to know! Other example was http://www.mosaic.io/ http://www.mosaic.io/ but I reckon that most of examples are iOS only? Is that true?