What do you do when you have to send a file to someone, say your colleagues at work? E-mail an attachment? Go to file-hosting sites and upload your file? Use services such as Dropbox, SkyDrive, Google Drive, etc.? Or how about just sending it directly via Facebook?
A start-up from Germany created a Facebook app called Pipe which is by far the most simple file transfer service I’ve ever tried. If you and your buddy have Facebook that is.
Pipe is so simple to use that your 70-year old grandma can do it. What Pipe does is utilize your available bandwidth to directly create a peer-to-peer (p2p) connection with the person you’re sending the file to. It taps your online Facebook friends for your list of available recipient. You can send files as big as 1GB, depending on your browser’s available cache, there’s no download or upload speed limits and lastly, it’s free to use.
Allow me to show you how it works.
Once you open Pipe as a Facebook app (it should be on your left sidebar once you allow it to access your profile), it will ask you to select whom to send the file to. It will show your online friends in Facebook, pick one.
If your friend also has Pipe on his/her Facebook, you will be presented a”¦ well, a pipe. Just drop your file into the pipe to begin sending. Yes, it supports drag and drop.
After a few seconds, a notification will appear on the screen of your Facebook friend asking whether to accept the file or not. Once they accept it, they will see the progress bar on the outer rim of the Pipe. Since this is a peer-to-peer connection, expect it to be as fast as your bandwidth can handle.
After the transfer is done, your friend can now save the file to your computer. Just click the Save as”¦ button.
Hit Save and that’s it. It’s so simple and easy. You can send any file types, of any size. There’s an option available to block some of your friends if you want to, as well as audio notifications.
Pipe is still on a limited invite-only release though, I just got mine from The Verge. But there’s a simple rule, if you want to send a file to your friend, they’re already invited to use Pipe too.
Editor’s note: This post is contributed by Neil Ross Goco with some slight revisions by the editor. Neil aka Mr. Jonjon is a certified geek kid who loves to tinker with all gadgets he can get his hands on. Don’t let his childlike demeanor fool you, he probably knows more about current tech than you. He looks up to Abe Olandres of Yugatech, thus friends call him Yugatech Jr.