I think Bump happened a year or two latter, which was also fun. But it felt far more intermediated, like it was pulling down much more data. Looking at who in the area also bumped at just that instant to triangulate who to put in contact with each other.
I remember back in the 90's wear(able)-comp(uting) world, PANs were going to be a thing. Personal Area Networks. Your skin itself would be a low-baud rate modem, so you could shake hands & transmit your contact information. Definitely pre-covid. ;)
I really think Project Eddystone has many of the answers for how we ought to make ourselves visible to the world. It was mainly focused on commercialized entities, and people are scared of the internet, but I think there's still great potential. Alternatively, it seems weird that NFC, which is much more tightly coupled, 1:1, "safe", is so under-utilized. I'm not sure if there are good open standards for data-exchange over it. Meanwhile proprietary AirDrop and FastShare/Nearby Sharing are some of the few, tightly controlled offerings for offering files. All these manners of tech needs some champions to drive good protocols, enable more interesting futures. Sorry, I think I'm repeating myself again. Thanks for the fun comments dcsan.
Probably because corps don’t want us communicating with each other in any way they can’t know about.
less snark comment (but also true), just jaw dropping that these pocket PC's do so much. on the down sides, I think the main think that floors me, just stabs me in the heart, is that they are still almost totally trash at communicating with those around us. Google dropped Project Eddystone, that sucked; totally straightforward sensible way to broadcast a url to the world about you. Apple has their file sharing AirDrop, which Google continues to make floundering attempts at (Beam, then Fast Share/Nearby Share), & never via any open protocols or specs. amazing personal communicators... totally reliant on completely centralized infrastructure. The couple Bridgify/Open Garden alternatives, it all seems too stack specific & lacking the layering of protocols & extensibility that allows communication tech to grow over time, become of enduring value.
I forget what it is but someone was telling me the Bump competitor in Japan is still used, that you still have a physical little ritual with your devices that causes them to exchange contact info. That kind of real.world connectivity seems like it ought be just the start, for how tech can augment the real world, versus us needing to start & navigate the digital to connect. We're doing little favors, entrenching connectivity so reservedly in the digital all space.