May 2019 Summaries

WebRTC development can be tricky, especially when setting up a local machine environment for video calls. To load pages securely, use https URLs or http://localhost as an exception to the rule. Testing first on Chrome is recommended due to its mature WebRTC support, and using ngrok to create HTTPS tunnels can help test actual video calls with multiple participants. Additionally, setting the allow property in iframes is necessary for WebRTC code running inside an iframe, and testing mic, camera, and network on a known-working site like webrtc.org can help troubleshoot issues.

You can control when a Daily.co video call API room is available for meetings and specify how long specific users are allowed to stay in meetings. Rooms have properties like nbf (not before) and exp (expires) that determine when the room is available, while meeting tokens offer more fine-grained control over individual user time limits. Meeting token properties include eject_at_token_exp and eject_after_elapsed, which override room settings for per-user session behavior. Daily.co API rooms can be created with custom properties like nbf, exp, eject_at_room_exp, and eject_after_elapsed to set time limits, and meeting tokens provide a way to control user session duration. The API allows for creating reusable rooms for teachers or other users, generating unique meeting links tied to the room, and setting up time-limited meetings that match calendar events.

We built Daily.co TV to make video conferencing and wireless presentations easy on a TV, providing an additional benefit of automatically displaying the company's logo or custom image when not in use. Modern TVs are high-quality but awkward to use in offices due to limited online applications and poor connectivity options. Our goal was to get office TVs out of this silo for video calls, with additional functionality such as 1-click custom meeting links, wireless presentations without cables, and customizable logos or artwork on the TV. The Daily.co TV supports a standby screen that displays a background image with the company's logo and a quick tagline, which can be customized by customers. When turned on, an always-on Daily.co TV automatically joins a designated live stream after a brief countdown, allowing the company's logo to be displayed on the countdown screen. The system takes care of operating system maintenance, and at any time, the TV can join a video call or share content with a simple remote control interface.

Daily is a video calling API that allows developers to add real-time video to their site or app with just a few lines of code, prioritizing developer experience and offering clear, affordable pricing. The platform provides several choices for integrating real-time video into applications, including building custom UX or using prebuilt UI features. Daily's API pricing is simple and easy to evaluate, with no need to talk to sales to start. The platform offers three tiers: Free, Launch, and Scale, each with additional minute flexibility beyond the included minutes. Features like dial-in, audio-only rooms, live streaming, and recording are easily added with custom enterprise plans or contact support for implementation. Pricing is calculated using participant-minutes for video calls and plain minutes for recording and live streaming, with discounts available for large users. Daily aims to make every interaction as frictionless as possible, supporting APIs for every stage of development.

Michie Cao is a designer based in San Francisco, who has previously worked at Twitter and Wildcard. She graduated from the School of Visual Arts in NYC with an MFA. Michie's journey as a designer began at SVA, where she learned about physical computing, coding, research, design, and more. This experience changed her career trajectory and led to connections that became mentors, peers, and close friends. After Twitter, Michie worked on projects such as designing the tweet anatomy and working on the home timeline. She then joined Sisu, a small startup where she is now leading design for an analytics tool aimed at helping companies analyze data automatically at a speed and scale unmatched by humans. As the lone designer at Sisu, Michie has learned to prioritize her time, lean into her strengths, and connect with the broader design community through her club, Day One Design Club. This club aims to create a supportive network for designers in startups, where they can share advice, provide feedback, and build relationships. Michie emphasizes that building culture and working with great people are crucial to producing great work and growing as a designer.

Welcome to Koan, a software company focused on improving the jobs of managers through their tools. Rob Sicat, Product Strategy & Design Lead for Koan, shares his story of how he came to join the company and what it's like working with a remote team. He discusses the importance of having clear expectations and principles as a guide for decision-making, as well as the challenges of balancing multiple responsibilities in a startup environment. Rob emphasizes the value of communication, simplifying complex ideas, and confidence in one's decisions as key to success as a solo designer at an early-stage startup.