It's Like Bluetooth, But Without All The Pain
from the all-hail-progress dept
The Bluetooth wireless communications technology has become commonplace these days -- almost in spite of itself. While Bluetooth can be exceptionally useful for short-range communications, it can also be an enormous pain to use, in particular because of the pairing process users must go through to connect devices for the first time. Enter the new TransferJet standard, which is being backed by a number of digital camera makers who want to simplify the transfer of images and video. TransferJet can operate at speeds up to 357Mbps, 100 times faster than Bluetooth, and it doesn't require any pairing, it simply kicks in automatically and begins transfers when a compatible device is placed within 2 millimeters of the "transfer area" of a receiving device, like a PC. The cumbersome pairing process from Bluetooth has been replaced simply by proximity -- the thinking is that if a device like a camera can be placed within 2mm of a receiving device, the owner is okay with the transfer. While obviously this sort of security doesn't work in every scenario, it's good to see engineers learning from the usability foibles of previous technologies.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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Filed Under: bluetooth, transferjet
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Yikes.
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New Transfer Technology
I prefer the pairing, where both units say, OK using a mutual password. although, I like the over 10mb transfer... 375mb is better but not a 1Gb, yet.
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easy fix....
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Really useful?
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Re: Really useful?
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Not just pairing; but also profiles
There is no guarantee that any two Bluetooth enabled devices will talk to each other in the way that you want them to, simply because each manufacturer is free to license only the parts of the stack that they think will be used.
Even determining what profiles are available and what they are used for can be daunting for the less technically inclined.
Great idea, appalling implementation - mainly due to how it is licensed.
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Is It IPv6 Based?
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Re: New Transfer Technology
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Re: Really useful?
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How do you determine 2mm?
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Backwards?
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Re: Backwards?
how is this better? 'Push button on device A then push button on device B' Seems pretty easy, and more secure. How long till someone builds/mods a receiver with a 8 meter range.just walking through an air port with something like that would give you disgusting amounts of data. "then make it password protected" Great, so legit users now to put them with in 2mm and enter a password. i'd rather push two buttons or use a cable.
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For there to be a security risk, the device containing the information to be swiped would have to be on. Simple solution: just turn off your camera/device whenever you're not using it.
Now, with cellphones, that's different....
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Re: Re: New Transfer Technology
Nothing says that this new protocol is "always on". Just that when it's on that the pairing process is simply a proximity check.
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I would like it better if the initial authentication required a cable.
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A mode to set the device into public mode, where it would automatically deny all requests.
Or a simple warning;
[DEVICE NAME] has requested a sharing session.
Allow - Deny
Even have private folders on the device which are not accessible over TransferJet.
There are many options to secure this.
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Re:
Did your Camera ?
My watch can turn on my Camcorder up to 300 ft away and I don't need to know what type of Camcorder it is. Casio builds really nifty watches.
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If it doesn't, it should.
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Easy Share
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Heh
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Re: Re: Really useful?
No exactly. You don't just "put it down and bam"; you have to precisely position it within a 2 mm area. That sounds like quite a fiddly proposition and much more difficult than mating a couple of USB connectors.
Most computers now have front panel USB connectors. For those few that don't or that have inconvenient front panel connectors they make USB hubs that can sit on the desktop. Much easier than keeping some device positioned within a 2 mm area.
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Re: Easy Share
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Re: Re: Really useful?
they also say "Users can specify and restrict which other devices can be connected by TransferJet." So it sounds like you don't have to "pair" devices, you have to "authorize" them instead. big difference?
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Product Marketing
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