a thoughtful web.
Good ideas and conversation. No ads, no tracking.   Login or Take a Tour!
comment by ecib
ecib  ·  3904 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: FireChat lets you text friends, even without a signal | The Verge

I saw an article and downloaded it last night. Appears to work over wifi or without, so there is someone to chat with (since pretty much everybody has a data signal that is using it).

They also have two channels to choose from: "Everybody" and "Nearby". Everybody is just a meaningless fast moving stream of randoms talking in such volume that you can't have a convoy, while selecting "Nearby" just says "one person chatting", which is me, since there is nobody talking in the stream.

Clever approach though, in both having a 'global' channel and the ability to work via traditional wifi and cellular signal as a default. This lets people actually talk to each other right off the bat and use the app not matter where they are, -even if they are just checking it out for fun.