Peer-to-Peer Cell Phones
AlfaNatic writes "Seems like a new company has developed the technology to turn a cellular network
into a peer-to-peer network. Soon you'll be able to share music and files off of your cell. Gotta love it!"
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of course, if you had RTFA:
"The technology gives users a digital store cupboard for their own media files and lets them pass them on to anyone who wants to use, listen or look at them on their own handset. "
Of course, the word P2P is used incorrectly because I dont think this describes the topology, merely the end result.
This sounds like a centralized client/server topology.
But then people speak of XBOX, PS2 and CD Audio "isos", so using terms correctly isn't something that goes hand in hand with technology.
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
It's simply centralized data storage, a sort of global clipboard that allows users to share data. It seems they're simply buzzword huckstering. A real P2P phone system wouldn't be cell-based at all, but would transmit data directly phone to phone. There are projects like that out there, but there are serious issues of bandwidth and battery power, particularly with mobile phones.
It's not peer-to-peer. They call it a digital store cupboard. A professional would just call it a file server and yawn. The paradigm is client-server.
"I have opinions of my own, strong opinions, but I don't always agree with them." -- George H. W. Bush
This is not that great, IMHO... From the article:
Its peer-to-peer system gives users their own storage area into which they can upload images, music files and games for use on their handset or to pass on to anyone else.
First of all, if the storage is central as this suggests (and it is, _average_ phones can't store this much yet) then it is not true P2P. Also, if it is central then it is legally defeatable, so forget sharing CD tracks.
Third, at the current data speeds (even the best networks) heavy media transfer will be slow.
Don't get me wrong, this does have a place -- about 1.5-2 years from now, and for sharing personal media, like photos, voice clips, sound clips (like your cat meowing or your kid saying something funny), maybe screenshots from future mobile games, etc.
Come play Moral Decay!