On the surface the Gridflicks application is simply a better “cam friendly” browser for cam sites that improves the user experience with a grid of streams and more convenient navigation.  But the vision behind the application is a bit grander than meets the eye.

For the first time in human history, we can communicate to all corners of the globe in real time using our own voice and image. The average citizen has powers today that heads of state didn’t have a single generation ago. From what we had for breakfast to voicing opposition to our country’s ruling party, our ability to communicate to anyone on the planet is nearly complete. Nearly complete that is, but not actually complete. Not actually complete simply because bandwidth and servers cost money and the entities paying for that bandwidth naturally have a say in what and how they allocate those resources. Not actually complete because social media algorithms filter our feeds to suit their own objectives. Not actually complete because repressive regimes censor the internet of voices challenging them. 

We created a better video browser in the hopes of more efficiently allocating the resources associated with distributing video.  Put simply, Gridflicks is a peer to peer video client.  Unlike other video clients, cam tools, or web browsers, the Gridflicks application is not just a video viewer but also a relay.  Other people in your vicinity viewing the same stream can get an anonymous feed from you instead of the main server.  Such distributed p2p systems form the backbone of much of the internet’s traffic and are responsible for its speed and resilience, and applying it to real time video streams is a natural step.

Our first target are cam friendly sites, simply because the often explicit nature of their content limits the options of participants to a small handful of content distribution networks (CDNs).  This in turn relegates the participants to a handful of sites with agreements with those CDNs and, in turn, relegates those sites to business models that often rely heavily on intrusive ads.  In the near term, the goal of Gridflicks is to better distribute those costs, reducing the need for such ads (this is the secret behind Gridflicks being a free download and ad-free).  In the longer term, we hope Gridflicks becomes a cam tool that can provide more options for all participants and put more power into the hands of content creators and allow them a more direct relationship with the fans that support them. Perhaps new business models will emerge that allow content creators to benefit in unique ways. 

It’s not just cam sites that can benefit from a user supported peer architecture, anyone who wants to distribute real time video without going through gatekeepers can benefit. Sometimes the only way important voices can be heard is if they can find a way to circumvent those gatekeepers.

Ultimately, we hope that Gridflicks can contribute to a more connected world that empowers individuals to connect directly and to restore some balance to a world where communication has been distorted by profit seeking algorithms, amplified misinformation and censorship. 

It’s a grand vision for a little cam tool, but as they say, the journey of 1,000 miles starts with a single step.

All in all, feel free to Download it for FREE , try it out and enter the whole new level of cam browsing!