Pipe, a file transfer app for Facebook, launches in beta next week

Millions of people already live much of their internet lives on Facebook, using it to send messages, find news, chat with friends, play games... so why not add sending files to that list? That’s the thought behind Pipe, a new Facebook-based file transfer service that will be officially unveiled and launched in beta at the London Web Summit next Monday. According to GigaOM, Pipe uses Adobe’s real time media protocol flow technology to let Facebook users swap files up to 1GB in size — Adobe’s tech is primarily used so Air or Flash apps can communicate with each other, but Pipe’s team has figured out a way to send files through its cache. It sounds like Pipe has ambitions beyond Facebook, with iOS and Android apps in the works, but its founders are hoping that a Facebook launch will help the service gain traction. Facebook already allows for file transfer through its messaging system, but Pipe should allow for much larger files to get pushed between users of the world’s biggest social network.