Google Tone

And on top of that what sort of people are wanting/using this sort of thing? The url/image/etc. can be just as easily sent over an Instant Messaging service or email as you said with the bonus that you are not interrupted in the middle of what you're doing some some cat gif. I'm failing so see any demand for this, business or leisurely.

I dunno...room full of people (like a meeting or a large class) where you may not have everyone's email address or IM and want to "beam" out a link on the fly without a lot of fuss? Or maybe a way to sync up a performance with the people in the audience like Dan Deacon did a while back. In that case it was an app that picked up on tones in the music to control the graphics on the phones of concertgoers.

Off the top of my head I can think of a few neat things I could do in a room or building full of devices set up to listen in this way. Not everything is a cynical plot. I've found that most things can be exploited for malicious (or just pranking/annoying) ends but it doesn't stop us from trying out new things.

Edit: just thought of another one I might try out - use tones in audio track to send browser to a page that changes the color of my Hue lamps. Probably not super useful in the current state but the concept is great and would let me make synced lighting tracks. I wonder how well this would work with less audible (or at least less distracting) tones in a similar application?

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