December 2011 Summaries

Twimlbin is a hosting solution for TwiML, the Twilio Markup Language, that allows users to host TwiML without a webserver, making it easy to set up a new Twilio phone number for Voice and SMS. The service uses PHP built on top of Codeigniter with robust caching and a Redis database layer, and provides features such as tracking calls with Google Analytics. Twimlbin was created by Jonathan Kressaty, a long-time Twilio developer who has experience building various applications, including Betwext and VUURR, which is his current partner company.

Adrian McDermott, VP of Engineering at Zendesk, discussed the company's scaling challenges and successes in building its Voice product, while Oren Jacob, former CTO at Pixar, talked about life at Pixar and how to build developer-friendly tools. Alexis, a UX/Human Factors/Brand Strategist, created sketchnotes from these talks, aiming to make complex topics more memorable through humor and metaphor. The talks were part of TwilioCon 2011, where Alexis also shared her expertise on creating sketchnotes and is now teaching a class in San Francisco.

Callin' Oates is an example of how Twilio's API can be used to create a successful app that reached hundreds of thousands of users, built from someone's first experience with the platform. The app was created by Michael Selvidge, a corporate communications manager at Twilio, who developed a basic phone menu allowing callers to choose their favorite Hall and Oates song. After sharing it with private eyes, the app snowballed into a viral sensation, reaching mainstream media popularity and attracting over 300,000 calls. The Twilio team was caught off guard by its success, but took advantage of the instant scaling capabilities of the platform to support the surge in traffic. The app's popularity led to numerous news hits, social media conversations, and even appearances on TV shows, making it a brilliant example of how Twilio can be used for innovative marketing and public service initiatives.

As a sales engineer at Twilio, Evan Cummack combines his technical background with customer-facing sales skills to help businesses adopt cloud-based communication solutions. He spends most of his day talking to interesting people from various industries and companies, gaining insights into how different sectors operate. Evan's typical interactions involve providing solutions advice, overcoming technical hurdles, and helping developers with the Twilio API. His role requires him to delve deep into both sales and engineering aspects, communicating with various teams at Twilio, including Enterprise, SMB, and Strategic Sales managers, as well as the Product team. The ideal candidate for this role should have a working knowledge of software development lifecycle, experience in large enterprise opportunities, and a shared excitement about Twilio, cloud computing, and future communications.

The Shopify Hack Till You Drop contest recently concluded with three winners who showcased innovative solutions to enhance the shopping experience for customers. Buzzy, an automated doorman app created by Sam Wilson, allows tenants to receive access codes for package deliveries, integrating seamlessly with Shopify. CallBack, built by Josh and Steve Conley, automates phone surveys for shop owners, providing instant customer feedback. Helpline, developed by a team of developers, offers customers the ability to click-to-call store owners directly from their product pages, providing visibility into specific products being inquired about. These solutions highlight the creativity and ingenuity of the developer community, with the top prize winners taking home a range of exciting prizes including an 11-inch MacBook Air, a Kindle Fire, and LEGO Mindstorms swag.

Txt2wrk is a mobile app that aims to help felons get back into the workforce by leveraging voice broadcasting and SMS alerts to match them with job listings, bridging the gap for those who lack access to the internet or smartphones. The idea was born out of a hackathon where a team including Elise Ackerman, David Chiu, Alex Tam, and others came together to build a prototype using Twilio's cloud communications platform, which enabled them to send out voice broadcasts and SMS alerts efficiently. The app has since been developed into a platform that can be used by social service organizations to communicate with their clients, offering a solution to the barriers faced by felons in finding employment.

The Twilio Rube Goldberg Developer Contest is a two-weekly contest where developers are encouraged to build a digital Rube Goldberg machine using multiple APIs and Twilio capabilities. The contest aims to promote creativity, innovation, and problem-solving skills among developers, with the use of holiday-themed ideas receiving extra bonus points. The winner will receive a MacBook Air and a full-sized Christmas Story Leg Lamp, while entries must be submitted by January 1st and adhere to specific rules, including using Twilio API and submitting to the Twilio App Gallery for extra bonus points.

The Twilio API Mashup Developer Contest is a holiday challenge where developers are encouraged to build a digital Rube Goldberg machine using multiple APIs and Twilio capabilities. The contest aims to encourage creative use of Twilio's platform, with a focus on building something awesome every two weeks. The challenge requires participants to submit their project by January 1st, with bonus points for submission to the Twilio App Gallery and use of Twilio Client. Winners will receive a MacBook Air and a full-sized Christmas Story Leg Lamp, showcasing the creative potential of developers using Twilio's cloud communications platform.

Keith Casey, a Twilio evangelist, had a conversation with Michael Kimsal of WebDev Radio about Austin coworking, Twilio Connect, and his experience as a startup life outside Silicon Valley. The discussion covered topics such as the benefits of coworking spaces like Austin's hub, as well as resources available on Twilio's developer community platform, including API reference documentation, SDKs, and sample apps. Casey also shared insights into his first days at Twilio and offered advice for developers building communications and digital engagement experiences with the company's services.

Twilio has partnered with Zappos for an API Hack-a-Long Contest where participants will be judged by Zappos employees and the winner will receive a Kindle Fire, chosen by Twilio using its own API. The contest features three categories: Best Overall Application, Most Fun and Weird Application, and Best Mash-up Application. Participants have until Friday at 5pm PST to submit their entries, with more information available on the Zappos Developer Blog.

Twilio has expanded its SMS capabilities to Canada, allowing developers to send and receive text messages using local Canadian numbers, reducing international fees between U.S. and Canadian numbers. This move aims to improve communication for Canadian users and developers, and has already shown success with customers such as RandomType in Calgary. The new service is also being well-received by the press and influencers in Canada, and Twilio offers various resources to help developers get started with its Canadian SMS service.

Hack Hatched At Twilio Conference Grows Into Full Business` Nearby Now is a new service that enables service providers to create online marketplaces for their services, allowing them to interact with customers from a feature phone or through iOS and Android applications. The service aims to simplify the process of running daily business, making it possible for providers to conduct all interactions with customers without needing advanced technology. Nearby Now is now available in the App Store and online, along with an introductory video to help users get started.

Scaling High-Availability Infrastructure in the Cloud High-availability infrastructure is crucial for ensuring that critical systems are always available, with a goal of achieving 99.999% uptime or "five nines" availability. This requires automated recovery from failures without human intervention, as manual processes can be impractical and time-consuming. One of the most challenging components to automate is the database, due to its complexity and need for significant human intervention in configuration and fail-over. The root causes of downtime often include data persistence issues and change control mistakes, making it hard to scale and manage stateful components. To build high-availability cloud applications, it's essential to differentiate between stateful and stateless components, avoid storing data where possible, and use unstructured storage instead of structured storage. Clearly defining human-mediated processes for change control and pragmatically selecting the right data storage technology are also crucial.

TheInterviewr uses Twilio for call recording, SMS reminders and more` TheInterviewr is a new interview app built on the cloud communications platform of Twilio, which was instrumental in its development due to its ease of use and affordability. The app was launched in July 2011 and quickly gained popularity among journalists and bloggers. It offers features such as scheduling interviews, sending automated SMS reminders, handling call recordings, and storing related documents in one place. Since its launch, the platform has expanded to cater to professionals working in human resources, public relations, lawyers, and researchers, who use it as a relationship manager for their interview processes. The app's founder, Roger Stringer, plans to add new features such as video interviews in the next version.

Twilio and Heroku were used to create a simple voice reminder system for tracking litter box cleanliness in an effort to improve cat care and hygiene. The system uses a REST API to interact with phone calls, allowing the user to initiate actions such as making a call to remind them of their tasks. A custom XML format is used to control phone conversations during the call, enabling the user to respond to prompts and receive reminders. The system was built using Heroku for deployment and Twilio for its voice capabilities, with a Rakefile task initiated by the Heroku scheduler to run daily. This project showcases how accessible APIs can be used to solve everyday problems.

The Twilio Fund, a micro-fund started by 500 Startups and SV Angel, invested $250,000 in nine Twilio-powered startups at the first annual Twilio Conference. The fund aimed to support companies building new-generation communications applications for business. Companies such as Talkdesk, Mobonics, FastCall411, and Proven received funding, while others like Remind 101 won a People's Choice award. The investments were made possible by the presence of prominent investors on stage, including Dave McClure and Ron Conway. Additionally, a second $250,000 seed fund, Twilio Fund CONNECT, was announced to empower entrepreneurs to integrate telecommunications into successful applications.

Twilio has secured a Series C funding round of $17 million from Bessemer Venture Partners and Union Square Ventures, marking the company's continued expansion internationally with several products in beta in European countries. The investment will support Twilio's mission to unlock the black box of telecommunications and serve existing customers better while building new products. The company has seen significant growth, expanding its employee base from 25 to nearly 100 in just one year. This funding round comes as a vote of confidence in Twilio's platform and its potential for global expansion, with investors also bringing valuable expertise and network support to the company. With this investment, Twilio aims to continue innovating and building new products that improve communication between people and systems around the world.

Chext is a mobile app that enables users to share bank accounts, track spending, and stay on top of their finances with the help of Twilio's SMS gateway, allowing for easy communication between account holders and promoting financially proactive behavior.

Twilio Celebrates: Three Years of Telephony in the Hands of the People` Over the past three years, Twilio has expanded its capabilities with new products like Twilio SMS, Client, Connect, Shortcodes, Open VBX, and Conferencing, while reducing pricing and hosting events such as the inaugural Twilio Conference. The company recently launched UK Voice and opened an office in London, serving nearly 75,000 developers worldwide. With this growth, Twilio aims to connect with new communities and continue innovating, including its upcoming plans to draw owls around the world.

SafetyGrid is a voice and SMS broadcasting app that provides families with peace of mind by instantly notifying friends and family in case of an emergency. Hankins, the founder, was inspired by his friend's tragic experience at the World Trade Center and wanted to create a location-based app that could help ordinary people in danger. With Twilio-powered voice and SMS broadcasting, SafetyGrid allows users to quickly alert their loved ones with just a few taps on the panic button, providing a sense of security and reassurance. The app is designed for parents, children, spouses, and international travelers who want to stay connected and safe in emergency situations. Hankins' experience as a senior network architect and his success in integrating Twilio's service into SafetyGrid demonstrate that even complex technology can be made accessible and user-friendly.

We built a prototype click-to-call app at the Twilio Conference in September and refined it into Custard, a website widget that allows owners to easily add click to call functionality without required phone or software downloads. We are using Python, JQuery, and the Twilio API with Pusher and MongoDB for infrastructure. Our future plans aim to maximize customer conversations value for online businesses, including sales and support space developments. We found integration with Twilio to be seamless, leveraging its technology since we were fans of it before launching our app.

The article emphasizes that APIs should be designed with humans in mind, not machines. It highlights the importance of making the common case easy, simplifying the surface area of the API, and being mindful of backwards-incompatible changes. The author shares examples from their own experience designing APIs for Twilio, such as the AvailablePhoneNumbers resource, which had to balance competing requirements and simplify its design over time. The article also stresses the need for transparency when making changes to an API, using client libraries to abstract away complexities and make it easier for users to upgrade. Ultimately, the goal is to build APIs that are easy to use, maintain, and extend, serving human developers who need to get things done.