We all do it at work, at home, in restaurants… tell somebody there’s a website they need to see, and then realize there’s no good way to do it. You can clumsily read off an address, or you can hand over your phone… or, thanks to a new Chrome plug-in called Tone, now just press a button and share a URL with any computer in earshot.
At The Tone
Here’s how it works. Anybody who’s used a dial-up modem knows that you can communicate digital information with a series of sounds. It uses dual-tone multi-frequency signalling, in fact, better known to you as “touch-tone dialing.” Yep, Google uses the same technology a landline uses to get a number into a system. Hence the name.
It actually started as a prank inspired by looking for security flaws in various browsers, but has since turned into a new twist on a dial-up modem. Thankfully, the signals are sent beyond the range of human hearing. You will need to turn up your speakers, and you will have to have the computer in earshot. Oh, and it’ll also need to have an active microphone and a Chrome browser with Tone installed. But once you clear those hurdles, hit the megaphone, and your friends will see an incoming link with your Google Account attached to it.
Dial This
Sharing URLs efficiently is still kind of a pain; Tone can’t go through walls and needless to say, it’s got a limited range. Google admits it’s a bit spotty in place. Once you try it out, though, it’s almost like magic. And it sure makes sharing on the Internet a lot easier.
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