Why can't computers do this?

[Hummmy]

I just transferring some movies over to my dad's laptop and was doing the old connect my external hard drive, wait for them to copy, take the HDD out, pass it to my dad who 2 meters at most away from me, he has to connect the HDD, and wait for them to copy over. You all know how it goes.

But it got me thinking. Why isn't there some form of technology like bluetooth (or something) but better so you can pretty much "throw" a file from my screen to his?
Is there a reason that this isn't in my laptop already? Can we even do something like this?

And I know that the whole process of transferring things now isn't that bad, but hey, it would be easier my way. Haha.

Thanks guys!

 

[Stoogie]

crossover cable or use wifi, must have a wifi access point in the house tho and both computers connected to it. u could also be like everyone else and use a switch/hub thin and use ethernet to every pc to reduce lag and increase bandwidth.

 

[zumbledum]

I just transferring some movies over to my dad's laptop and was doing the old connect my external hard drive, wait for them to copy, take the HDD out, pass it to my dad who 2 meters at most away from me, he has to connect the HDD, and wait for them to copy over. You all know how it goes.

But it got me thinking. Why isn't there some form of technology like bluetooth (or something) but better so you can pretty much "throw" a file from my screen to his?
Is there a reason that this isn't in my laptop already? Can we even do something like this?

And I know that the whole process of transferring things now isn't that bad, but hey, it would be easier my way. Haha.

Thanks guys!

a network drive would solve a lot of the issues

 

[zephyron]

This is actually a very common problem space called "file sharing." There's a metric ton of ways to do this, including a simple way built into Windows that's probably already active even if you don't know it. As long as two computers are on the same network (e.g., you're both connecting to the same router, a very likely scenario at home), the first computer can access any of the "Shared" folders of the second.
Accessing shared directories is slightly different from windows version to windows version, so feel free to google if this doesn't work for you-- I'll be giving Windows 7 instructions since I happen to have that in front of me at the moment. Go to Start Menu->Computer (or get to windows explorer any other way you like); on the left side will be various dropdowns, like Favorites, Libraries, etc. The last dropdown is "Network" which is a list of all known computers on your network. If you click on one of these you can see all of that computer's shared directories.
Sharing a directory is easy if you don't want to use the default shared directory. Say you want to share your "Movies" folder. Right click it and choose "Share with" and then an option based on how much access you want to give people (you probably want to give everybody read/write access). On older versions of windows, you might have to right click, choose properties and go over to the sharing tab.
Not working? Sharing might be disabled. Go to your control panel->"Network and Sharing Center"->"Manage advanced sharing settings." Make sure you have appropriate sounding stuff turned on. You may need to turn off password protected sharing, which I don't find very useful on a home network anyway.

EDIT: And I don't mean this as a personal attack or anything, but you might want to consider changing your outlook on things. Instead of saying "why can't computers do this?" because you don't know how, try saying "can computers do this?" and do a little research. Googling "file sharing" or "file transfering" might've helped.

 

[Joccaren]

My laptop has Bluetooth, even though I shut it off every time I log on. It also has the inbuilt filesharing that comes from being on the same network. My Desktop has the filesharing, but it has to be plugged in to an ethernet cable, which isn't too hard considering it isn't going anywhere. There is tech for it, maybe your laptop just doesn't have it.

 

[Joe Deadman]

Another option assuming both computers are connected to ze internet is dropbox, my group at college use that to share stuff like concept art and 3D models for our final project.

It's basically just a program that has a folder that once items are placed into they are uploaded on the internet and then anyone with dropbox installed and the right username and password will have their folder updated with that stuff.

Really though if your in the same place that's a bit of a long winded way of doing things and your better going with the sharing methods listed above.

 

[HeatproofShAdOw]

If both computers run windows 7, you can use homegroup and drag and drop the files over. It's slower, but a lot easier.

 

[Esotera]

If you're on the same network then you'll be able to copy files instantly. As mentioned above, Dropbox is a good idea if you're not on the same network.

And there's probably a way of doing it by bluetooth as well, although you might be there for a few centuries. Just google around for some programs, someone will have made one.

 

[Hummmy]

Well turns out its not at all hard to do..
Thanks everyone, I got it to work! lol.