Hello, PushBullet - push anything to your Android phone from your browser(blog.pushbullet.com)

43 pointsby Guzbavor 14 Jahren46 comments

blog.pushbullet.com

Hello, PushBullet - push anything to your Android phone from your browser

http://blog.pushbullet.com/2013/01/20/hello-pushbullet/

20 comments

Pushing files is interesting, but addresses, notes, and lists are easily done already.

Pushing an address:

1. Search address on Google Maps

2. Open up Maps on Android

3. Click on "My Places" from dropdown menu

4. Swipe to Recent

Pushing notes:

1. Create notes in Google Drive

2. Open on Android

Pushing lists:

1. Create list in Google Drive

2. Open on Android

Pushing websites:

1. Open website on laptop in Chrome

2. Open Chrome browser on Android

3. Select the "Other Devices" tab

4. Open website

I suppose you could push files via Drive as well.

Pretty cool though; I may give it a try.

Guzbavor 14 Jahren

I agree there are easy ways to do most of PushBullet's functionality through other means but I think there is a lot of power in not just actually getting the list on your phone with Google Drive, but actively pushing it into your notifications.

Glad to hear you'll give it a try :)

apoorvpvor 14 Jahren

Downloading it as I speak.

Not everyone knows how to push using those apps and I hope this makes life simple. :)

apoorvpvor 14 Jahren

And I might sound too demanding but a small icon on my Mac's menu bar will surely be handy.

mikeevansvor 14 Jahren

Pushing an address is even easier than that (if you're on 4.1+). Search for a place in Maps, and a minute later Google Now will have that place listed.

forcervor 14 Jahren

I have installed it. time will tell whether I will actually remember to use it when I need it.

One thing you should definitely fix - once you install Android app and run it for first time, it tells you that you need to sign in using your G account. I thought the reference is for the web-app since the android app already listed my G account email address at the bottom of the screen. In the web-app I checked I am signed in and yet I could not do any push. So I was frustrated why the wep-app does not recognize my android device. I touching the android app randomly and finally a random click on my email address made the connection.

Its definitely not obvious how to pair the device with the web app. You should make some button in the app

Otherwise I like it :)

Guzbavor 14 Jahren

Thanks a lot for the feedback. I 100% agree I need to make pairing more clear.

BHSPitMonkeyvor 14 Jahren

How does the data get from point A to point B? Does everything pass through your servers? Do I have any reason to feel that my URLs/maps/files couldn't be snooped upon by yourself or anyone else?

Guzbavor 14 Jahren

Good question. I use Google's Cloud Messaging to actually deliver the pushes but the data in a push is not plaintext, and the push sometimes doesn't even have the data at all (the GCM message is just a tickle). All interaction with PushBullet app servers is done by https. Overall, I don't think I've done anything stupid but I wouldn't trust PushBullet to anything you consider prudently private.

grncdrvor 14 Jahren

very interesting. If this had an API and/or a chrome extension I could see myself using it a lot. If you're looking for collaborators ping me (email in my profile)

moreativor 14 Jahren

Slightly OT, rather than Chrome to Phone I use https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/qr-code-tag-extens..., so I can send a URL to anyone in the room with a smartphone. Admittedly they have to install something like Google Goggles first

camtarnvor 14 Jahren

Giving this a go - I do have solutions for most of these things (Evernote for notes, Maps' built-in syncing, etc) but this sounds like it might be convenient, especially for files.

One small thing... when I started the app, it fired up my Twitter client O.o What's up with that?

Guzbavor 14 Jahren

Nothing in PushBullet should fire up your Twitter client. :? Very strange.

spinchangevor 14 Jahren

Downloaded app, installed, and added push URL to bookmarks bar. It's awesome as is, but as others have mentioned, any kind of browser extension that would facilitate capturing selected text to send as a note or in one of the given formats would make this superlative.

arpitvor 14 Jahren

For those asking for an API for something like this, take a look at PushOver(https://pushover.net/). While PushOver doesn't support files, it does have a nice API and can also be used in IFTTT recipes.

jaggsvor 14 Jahren

Doesn't work for me. Latched to my email and shows my phone on the dashboard, but when I try to push something nothing appears on the phone. I've tried pushing the sync button too. Is it US only? Or does it need wifi on the computer?

Guzbavor 14 Jahren

I did see in the logs that someone's Google account wasn't playing nicely. I should be passing along error messages better, hah. If you wanted to message me the Google account you signed up with, I'll look into it.

jaggsvor 14 Jahren

Yeah got it. Two factor authentication. That will kill it stone dead, won't it?

Guzbavor 14 Jahren

I bet your right. Too funny, you'll never think of everything you should test, right? :)

jaggsvor 14 Jahren

Heh, ain't that the truth. :)

[Update: I apologize greatly. Both my test pushes just arrived perfectly in my notifications bar. Nice!!! ]

Guzbavor 14 Jahren

Glad to hear they made it though the pipes!

jaggsvor 14 Jahren

Now I'd like the opportunity to edit the text notes I push, so I can copy paste into other apps maybe?

Guzbavor 14 Jahren

For sure, the ability to edit what you've pushed is something I'll be working on very soon. Right now it seems like Chrome extension would be a good next project as well...

rsingelvor 14 Jahren

How does this differ from the Chrome to Phone plugin?

yoavfrvor 14 Jahren

Just installed it. It's not a about pushing specific urls, but instead you push specific predefined data types. The ones available right now are "Note", "Address", "List", "File". Pushing is done by visiting the site at this time, though I can imaging a browser extension is in the works.

Personally, I don't think I'll use it - I use dropbox when I want to sync a file with my phone, Evernote for notes and lists, and just Chrome to Phone for addresses (via google maps) or urls.

bostonvaulter2vor 14 Jahren

I'm glad that it's not just through extensions, that was the major thing I didn't like about Chrome to Phone (since sometimes I use public computers).

Guzbavor 14 Jahren

Chrome to Phone has had a big influence on PushBullet. The convenience of things being placed in your notifications is huge but Chrome to Phone hasn't pushed past being all about web stuff.

I want to be able to put my own notes, lists, etc on my phone, not just webpages and links. And files too, of course.

Simply, PushBullet will be a superset of Chrome to Phone.

stephengillievor 14 Jahren

That's a great addition.

A big annoyance of mine with CtP is it's one-way, I can't send links to a browser. Would it be possible to PushBullet a file/link back to a browser? Maybe the last browser that pushed to the phone?

absolonvor 13 Jahren

Please add feature to direct picture send to phone. Now I have to save it to disk than using "File" to send to phone. Anyway great idea.

yesimahumanvor 14 Jahren

I still email myself things, or text myself something, which sucks. This seems like a serious replacement for that. Wish it was on iOS!

helloimbenvor 14 Jahren

I could definitely use something like this on iOS as well.

As a designer, I'm constantly making things I want to be able to show to others at any given time, so I constantly email mockups to my phone. The process currently sucks, and this would be really helpful.

guptaneilvor 14 Jahren

Sounds like Dropbox would help you with your problem.

gekko68vor 14 Jahren

So what's your business model? How do we know that you won't sell our e-mail addresses you get by signing in via Google account?

gekko68vor 14 Jahren

No answer?

I guess the business model is to sell the e-mail addresses after all.

Guzbavor 13 Jahren

No, its not. I just haven't had the time to get that far. It's a hard problem but selling emails isn't an option.

iosnoobvor 14 Jahren

Applaud a great start! Add iOS support and a chrome extension and reverse direction as well and I'd use this all day every day.

derwildemomovor 14 Jahren

There's something quite similar for iOS already, it's called beamapp [ http://getbeamapp.com/ ].

ipedrazasvor 14 Jahren

Is it ready yet? it never worked for me :(

fidzvor 14 Jahren

Why minimum version of PushBullet is android ICS? How about people that still use Gingerbread or below?

Guzbavor 14 Jahren

I optimized around getting the app out and supporting devices pre ICS got cut for now, that's all. (Holo theme + new apis means cleaner code and in my experience with other apps, ICS+ is much less quirky so I can guarantee a better quality of experience with much less effort)

voltagex_vor 14 Jahren

Would love an API so I can push IRC alerts to my phone. Growl integration would also work well.

tapan_panditavor 14 Jahren

OMG, yes! I was wondering why it wasn't easier to do any of this! Downloading now.

EFilvor 14 Jahren

Hello, why is the file limit 5MB? can you make it bigger?

jdanguvor 14 Jahren

Care to explain the difference with Chrome To Phone?

treeformvor 14 Jahren

Pushbullet is a superset of Chrome to Phone. Chrome to Phone can only send link while push bullet can send other Media as well such as addresses and todo lists.

o_sam_ovor 14 Jahren

Nice!

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