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New Apple Watch patent points to file sharing via handshake

Share a document with a high five? Why not!

 

Mike Wehner

Tech

Posted on Jun 29, 2015   Updated on May 28, 2021, 11:24 am CDT

We’ve reached a point where sharing a file online is now easier than sharing a digital file with a person standing directly in front of you. If a new Apple patent is based in reality, you might soon have the ability to share a file with nothing more than a handshake. 

WIPO/Apple

The patent, which relies on a wearable of some type (Apple happens to have just launched one of those) to exchange information based on detected gestures. Hand shakes, high fives, and bows are a few of the noted possibilities, and while the types of files that could be shared isn’t specifically detailed, the possibilities are quite endless. 

This kind of short-distance sharing isn’t particularly new—Bump famously pioneered the concept of sharing files by tapping two phones together—but it’s a very specific feature type with relatively few usage scenarios. Still, if syncing files with a business partner could be accomplished without even having to take your iPhone out of your pocket, Apple could be on to something. 

H/T Patently Apple | Photo via Blake Patterson/Flickr (CC BY SA 2.0)

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*First Published: Jun 29, 2015, 1:05 pm CDT