What Is It Good For?

Absolutely nothing We spend a lot of time on our phones. We have become addicted to being connected, to the feeling that we have everything at our fingertips; and most will contest it’s not the greatest thing we’ve achieved as humans.

Altid attempts to facilitate the connectedness in another, less intrusive way. It allows you to take any service you normally use, Twitter or SMS or Discord or Reddit or this or that; and provide access to it from most any device; but not in a browser. A browser gives you all of this, but it gives it in a way that kinda sucks, in most cases; and requires you to have things like a keyboard and a mouse to be really able to interact.

The simplicity of Altid’s client protocol means you can create a client that matches the thing you’re building it for, and not have to compromise. A smart mirror can show a feed of your social media while you take extra time to brush your teeth. A small screen in the kitchen can show you a recipe while you take time to bake, leaving your phone on the table; and you know you won’t miss anything. (The Nest Home Hub also facilitate this, and hopefully one day will include an Altid client).

Reconnecting with yourself is obviously a stretch goal of Altid. But Altid facilitates a lifestyle that is less tethered to a mobile phone, while in the home. (For a whimsical look at what this could like, think Iron Man’s hyper-connected house and helmet in the recent Marvel movies. His world goes with him, and is available, he’s always connected and can focus on everything else. Literally never has to check his phone, he uses it as a tool instead. Cool tech, definitely inspirational)

No, That Sounds Silly

Just wait til you try it. Actually, wait til you realise you can add arbitrary endpoints to an Altid system, and suddenly each thing isn’t a specifically created appliance that only sort of works well with other pieces; it’s a portal into your world that sits in a convenient spot, while also providing its more base purpose - inside your network, not on a cloud. Full control to the user!

Wait, What?

Yeah, what I typed the last paragraph is a bit silly. In fact, it may not even make sense. My hope is that in a few months I can edit this, and add a video that shows how this all plays together, how damn nice it is to just leave a phone some where and still feel completely connected at home. Not in a dystopic, each wall is a screen with tracking algorithms and may break in a week if the server it relies on goes down, but within your control, within your specific tastes and your specific preferred interaction method.