A team of computer scientists at MIT may have just solved one of the digital age’s most annoying occurrences, one that somehow has not been addressed in any real way by major device manufacturers. It’s the I-have-something-on-my-computer-screen-that-I-need-to-transfer-to-my-phone problem, and it plagues everyone. Now, a small software solution has come to our aid, allowing users to throw applications--in their same states--between computers and mobile devices using the smartphone’s camera.
Generally, this is where you start the process all over again on your smartphone. But a program called Deep Shot is drastically simplifying this process. Many Web applications convey information via a uniform resource identifier (URI)--this is the same long string of symbols that you see in a Google Maps link--and that can be exploited via computer vision algorithms.
Here’s how it works. Deep Shot requires installing a little bit of software on both your phone and any computers you want it to interact with. To toss, say, a map you’ve augmented with specific directions from your computer screen to your phone screen, you simply snap an image with the mobile device. Your phone identifies the app running on the computer screen and sends a request to the computer, where the corresponding software then extracts the URI from the designated app and sends it to the phone.
"Now, more than ever, the illusions of division threaten our very existence. We all know the truth: more connects us than separates us. But in times of crisis the wise build bridges, while the foolish build barriers. We must find a way to look after one another as if we were one single tribe.” -King T'Challa, Black Panther
The truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it. ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is. ~Winston Churchill
