July 2012 Summaries

CloudPassage has developed a security platform that protects virtual cloud servers and the apps running on top of them, while being easy for regular employees to manage. The company's founding team, consisting of security experts with decades of experience, aimed to automate various security measures such as intrusion detection, host scanning, firewalls, and multi-factor authentication. CloudPassage chose Twilio as its SMS provider due to its ease of integration, scalability, and global reach. The development of the two-factor authentication service was made possible by Twilio's API and documentation, allowing CloudPassage's developers to build a reliable and user-friendly solution that has been deployed in over a dozen major geographies since its launch in 2012. This service offers faster and easier security for customers, enabling them to secure their cloud servers in just ten minutes.

The Twilio Developer Contest aims to encourage developers to create innovative event apps using the Twilio API. The contest is open to all developers, with a grand prize of a full conference pass to TwilioCon 2012 and a chance to showcase their app during the event. The contest has a deadline of August 19th, with submissions accepted via a provided form. Participants are encouraged to use the Twilio API and submit their apps along with a video or screencast. The winner will be announced based on the quality of their submission, while second place will receive $50 in Twilio credit and a Kindle Fire.

Windows Azure Contest: Triage.me and 10g.io Take Top Prizes` The Windows Azure contest was launched in July with a developer competition asking participants to build something great using Twilio capabilities hosted on the cloud. The submissions were impressive, showcasing innovative products and apps that leveraged Twilio's services. After careful deliberation, the top prizes were awarded to Triage.me, which won a full year of Windows Azure hosting, ample Twilio credits, and a pass to TwilioCon 2012, while 10g.io took second place with plenty of Twilio credits and another pass to TwilioCon 2012. Other notable mentions included #Docs, built by William Cheung, and Placemat, which connects people looking to enjoy meals or host dinner parties. The contest was part of a regular series of developer contests hosted on Windows Azure, with new ones launched every month to inspire developers to build new things using Twilio's capabilities.

The Twilio SMS Quickstart Screencasts provide a step-by-step guide on building a voice application that can send an SMS message from within a phone call. This feature allows developers to keep in touch with their users and send relevant reminders during a phone conversation. To get started, it is recommended to watch the first screencast to familiarize yourself with Twilio's basics, such as purchasing a phone number and replying to an SMS message via TwiML. As you follow along with the tutorial, you can also build your own Twilio app by tracking conversations and sending SMS messages using TwiML. The screencasts are designed to be interactive, allowing developers to refine their skills and improve their communication experiences. Additionally, resources such as APIs, SDKs, sample apps, ebooks, industry reports, webinars, and the developer community hub are available for further learning and support.

Make Calls Via Your Twitter Handle with Socialistr App Kofi Bosque-Hamilton, a senior developer at Oxfam America, created an app called Socialistr that allows users to make calls from one Twitter handle to another. The app is built on a Ruby, Python, and PHP stack and uses the Twilio Voice API for making calls. Kofi aims to unite social media users in a more personal way by allowing them to use their own voices to interact with each other through Socialistr. He hopes that the app will eventually move beyond just Twitter handles to allow hashtag-to-hashtag calls, enabling users to connect with others who share similar interests or passions.

You're looking for a summary of the text about Pusher and Twilio, two cloud technologies used to build real-time web applications. The article describes how to use these services together to create a simple app that receives SMS messages and incoming call notifications in real-time. The tutorial covers setting up both services, creating a Ruby back-end with Sinatra, establishing connections to Pusher using channels, and handling WebHooks from Twilio. The code is provided for the app, which can be tested locally or deployed on Heroku.

Jim McGeever, the former COO of Netsuite, has joined Twilio’s Board of Directors, bringing his expertise in cloud-based financials/ERP software suites to the company. The addition of Jim's experience and leadership skills is seen as a significant boost for Twilio, with CEO Jeff Lawson praising his track record at NetSuite. McGeever was instrumental in growing Netsuite and expanding its business into multiple countries before taking on the role of COO. He expressed enthusiasm for the culture at Twilio during an interview, recalling a memorable project meeting where he witnessed genuine enthusiasm from the engineering team.

Join leading mobile marketing experts for a deep dive into short code marketing at Twilio-hosted webinars on August 2nd and 9th, where you'll learn how to leverage short code marketing in your customer lifecycle and take control of your full short code campaign. The sessions will be led by Emily Emery and panel members Rodger Wells and Jonathan Kressaty, who share their expertise in short code marketing and mobile technology. You'll also gain insights on best practices for message delivery and the 9 most important tools to ensure success with your short code campaign. Register now for these two informative webinars.

Paul Finn, a software developer, was inspired to create Text2Page after talking to a chef at a local restaurant who wanted to update their website with daily specials, but didn't have the time. He mapped out the infrastructure for Text2Page on a napkin and used his previous experience with the Twilio API to build it efficiently. Text2Page offers real-time communication between business owners and customers, allowing updates to be posted in just 20 seconds, making it ideal for restaurants and other businesses that need to report critical information quickly. With its simple and user-friendly interface, anyone can add Text2Page to their website in just a few minutes, and it works with any SMS-enabled phone, making it perfect for clients who need to report critical information without access to a computer.

Today Twilio is announcing that all new users signing up for their platform will be able to choose their own phone number from a large inventory of numbers in 13 different countries, starting immediately. This change applies not only to new users but also to existing users who have not yet upgraded, allowing them to keep their chosen number even after upgrading. The trial phone numbers come with some minor restrictions, such as expiring after 45 days and including a note indicating that the number is a trial number, but these will be removed once the user upgrades. Overall, this change aims to improve the experience of developing Twilio apps by making it easier for developers to add voice and SMS capabilities to their existing apps.

We're thrilled to announce that Twilio has launched its SMS capabilities globally, enabling developers to send and receive SMS messages to over 150 countries worldwide using the same API. This move allows developers to reach anyone in the world with voice and SMS without geographical limitations, and supports dozens of languages including Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Greek, and Russian with Unicode support. To get started, visit your Twilio account and edit the country permissions dashboard to enable global SMS for specific or all countries. Pricing varies depending on destination, and recipients will be able to respond at their regular carrier price. UK is not currently supported for global SMS but UK Twilio numbers are enabled for global voice and local SMS messaging. For more information, visit the Twilio documentation and resources hub.

Twilio has joined forces with Etsy and Dwolla to host the eCommerce Hack Day in New York City on August 4-5. The event is open to developers who have already registered, while designers can still attend the demo session. To encourage participation, Dwolla created a puzzle in the hackathon's website source code that the first 200 developers who solve it will receive a free ticket. Various mashups using Twilio and other sponsors' technologies will be showcased during the event, including Dollar Thoughts, Anonysize.me, Custard, and Cone Patrol. Interested individuals can follow @EcommerceHackNY and #eCommerceHackDay to stay updated on the event.

The Twilio Hackpack for Sinatra and Heroku provides a simple way to build a full-fledged Sinatra app with Twilio integration, allowing developers to focus on writing their app without worrying about setting up phone numbers, application IDs, or Heroku configurations. To use the hackpack, developers can fork it from GitHub, install necessary gems, create a Heroku app, run the configuration file with their Twilio account credentials, and deploy online to Heroku. This hackpack is designed for Ruby developers who want to integrate Twilio into their apps without the hassle of setting up the underlying infrastructure.

Twilio has partnered with CoderDojo NYC and DoSomething.org to host a Mozilla Summer Code Party event in New York City, which aims to teach middle school and high school students about web development through HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. The event was led by Twilio Developer Evangelist Jack Aboutboul and took place at the DoSomething.org offices. The party included hands-on activities such as creating websites using Mozilla Thimble and coding simple animations and games using Scratch. The event saw a range of participants, including 6-year-old girls and 12-year-old boys, who created impressive projects like a website about their dog and a shrine to Michael Jordan. The success of the event has encouraged further participation in upcoming events, with details available on the CoderDojo NYC Eventbrite page.

Explore Montreal at Startup Festival with Context.io and Twilio Scavenger Hunt Join Context.IO and Twilio for a geeky scavenger challenge that will take you around downtown Montreal in search of major landmarks, minor landmarks, and bizarre sites/sounds. As a Startup Fest attendee, you'll receive an email with the scavenger hunt details on July 11th, and have until 6 PM to complete it. The challenge requires basic coding knowledge, a camera, and a sense of adventure. Your findings will be submitted at the Startup Fest kick-off cocktail, where the more challenges completed, earlier arrival, the higher your odds of winning prizes. Register now for this exciting event!