November 2014 Summaries

Today, we're happy to announce that v1.2 of our Twilio Client iOS SDK is now available to all developers, delivering improvements in call quality and ease of use with features such as Global Low Latency (GLL) call routing, a new Mobile Quickstart application for easy deployment, additional debug logging, and official support on iOS 8 and arm64 architectures.

The Office Phone Manager application is built using Django, a Python web framework. It allows office managers to easily manage and customize their phone systems by creating configurations for specific phone numbers, schedules, and actions. The application interacts with Twilio, a cloud communication platform, to handle incoming calls and return TwiML responses. The application's data structure consists of Configuration, Schedule, Day, Action, Parameter, and TwilioNumber models, which are linked together through foreign keys. The application has a single endpoint that handles incoming Twilio requests, checks if the configuration is active, and returns either the standard action or the out-of-office action based on the schedule's availability. To deploy the application, users will need to set up a virtual environment, install dependencies, and host it on Heroku.

Ricky Robinett, a nostalgic 90s kid, wanted to recreate his old pager using Arduino and Twilio. He assembled the hardware, displaying a "hello world" message on an LCD screen, and then built a Node.js app that received text messages from Twilio, which were displayed on the LCD screen. The code was written in C++ for the Arduino and JavaScript for the Node.js app, with the serial port connection used to pass data between the two. Once the serial connection was established, the app could receive and display incoming messages, with additional features such as scrolling text and color-changing displays. The project showcased the possibilities of combining hardware and software technologies like Twilio with Arduino and Node.js.

The text discusses a solution to simplify expense reports by using Twilio's MMS and Concur API. The idea is to capture data from an incoming MMS, post the receipt image to Concur's ReceiptImages API, post the expense amount to Concur's QuickExpense API, and finally send a confirmation SMS to the user using TwiML. This solution aims to reduce time spent on manual expense reporting by automating the process with a single message. The code example is provided for developers to follow along with the tutorial, which includes setting up Twilio and Concur accounts, capturing data from MMS, posting images and amounts to APIs, and sending confirmation SMS.

Twilio has announced the launch of its Network Traversal Service (NTS), which provides low-latency, cost-effective, and reliable STUN and TURN capabilities for WebRTC and other communication platform developers. The service allows developers to define their own signaling solution without having to build out a global network traversal service for media relay, addressing challenges such as how to get media around firewalls and NATs. NTS uses STUN servers to perform basic signaling assistance, which is sufficient in most situations, but also includes TURN servers to handle symmetric NAT configurations that require relayed media, with the intelligent detection of geographically closest relay points to minimize latency. The service is deployed globally across five continents and offers a cost-effective alternative to building such a solution in-house, with pricing based on per gigabyte of relayed media.

Today Twilio announced the launch of Elastic SIP Trunking, a new approach to SIP Trunking that leverages cloud technology for instant provisioning, global reach and data-driven routing. This new offering provides an alternative to traditional SIP Trunking solutions, with features such as dynamic routing, call recording, and failover capabilities, all with flexible pricing based on usage per minute. With Elastic SIP Trunking, Twilio aims to bring a more modern and scalable approach to the market, making it easier for businesses to manage their IP communications infrastructure.

This project aims to build a real-time photo gallery that updates as new photos are received via Twilio MMS. The application consists of two components: a server-side Node.js Express server and a client-side web browser application built with HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and jQuery. When a user sends an MMS message to the designated Twilio phone number, the Express server receives the message, extracts the photos, and emits them to the client using Socket.IO. The client then updates its gallery with the new images, creating a real-time photostream that can be viewed in a web browser.

At AWS re:Invent, magician Doug McKenzie performed a magic trick where attendees selected a card, put it in their pocket without looking at it, and then received the correct card number via Twilio SMS. This was achieved using a few lines of code and decades of practice. The exact method behind the trick remains a secret, but it can be viewed by interested individuals. Doug McKenzie showcased his magic trick at the Twilio booth #1125 during AWS re:Invent.

You can now programmatically delete call records, SMS message bodies, and other data using the DELETE API feature in Twilio, giving you more control over data privacy and security. This new feature is free for all Twilio users and allows for the deletion of various types of data, including notifications, calls, recordings, transcriptions, messages, and message media. With this feature, you can easily manage sensitive customer data and protect your company's reputation by protecting user privacy. Deleting data through the API interface will prevent it from being exposed in logs or the Account Portal, ensuring that only authorized users have access to sensitive information.

VictorOps has launched the Transmogrifier, a tool designed to make being on-call easier for developers. The Transmogrifier provides incident alerts, escalation plans, and timelines to give team members insight into developing incidents. This is achieved through the use of Twilio SMS powered alerts, allowing on-call developers to access all necessary information quickly. The tool aims to eliminate "silos of data" and reduce incident response time by providing a tiered alert system that uses multiple channels, including push notifications, voice calls, and text messages. By addressing key challenges such as alert fatigue and information siloing, the Transmogrifier is designed to improve developer experience and efficiency.

Email reputation and engagement metrics are crucial for determining email deliverability, as Internet Service Providers (ISPs) use these factors to decide whether to deliver emails to recipients. Key reputation metrics include the spam complaint rate, which is the percentage of subscribers marking emails as spam; unknown users, which are non-existent email addresses resulting in bounced messages; and spam traps, which are email addresses set up to catch spammers. Engagement metrics involve subscriber actions such as open rates and clicks, with open rates counting only when images in emails are downloaded, while clicks refer to the number of link interactions. Other indicators of engagement include saving emails to folders and panel data, which involves user evaluations of whether emails are correctly marked as spam. Maintaining good email practices, such as ensuring list hygiene and monitoring engagement data, can help improve email reputation and deliverability.

Phonestagram is an Instagram-like application built using Node.js, Hapi, CamanJS, Twilio, and Socket.io. It allows users to send photos with various filters applied, which are then sent back to the user via MMS. The application uses LevelDB for storing metadata about the photos. The developers created a fully functional app in under 200 lines of JavaScript and markup, including installing graphics manipulation libraries on an Ubuntu server, creating a simple Node web application using Hapi, processing incoming photos using CamanJS, receiving and sending MMS messages using Twilio, updating a web page in real-time using Socket.io, and storing data about the photos using LevelDB. The app is MIT licensed and hosted on Github, with challenges left for readers to implement additional features such as displaying multiple recent photos and restricting public access to certain phone numbers.

Twilio is partnering with SAP to showcase how communication technologies can improve customer experience in the enterprise at SAP TechEd && d-code Conference in Berlin. SAP developers can now integrate Twilio's cloud-communications APIs with SAP Mobile Services and HANA Cloud Platform to enhance their business applications. The partnership aims to demonstrate the power of multi-channel communications technologies, including two-factor authentication and voice-enabled transactions, in improving security and efficiency. Developers can set up a free Twilio account and start integrating it with SAP applications today.

This tutorial demonstrates how to set up a Minecraft multiplayer server using Node.js and connect it to a Twilio phone number, allowing administrators to send commands to the server via text messages. The process involves creating a Node.js script that spawns a child process for the Minecraft server, managing its output, and handling incoming HTTP requests from the web application. The script also includes security measures to prevent unauthorized access and ensures that the Minecraft server process lives and dies with the Node.js process. The tutorial covers setting up a Digital Ocean VPS, installing prerequisite software, writing a Node.js script, and integrating it with Twilio for SMS communication.

You're preparing a technical talk on your new favorite open source project to present to your local software meetup group. You decide to create a Choose Your Own Adventure presentation using Reveal.js, Flask, WebSockets, and Twilio SMS. The final product will have decision screens where SMS votes from the audience are counted and displayed in real-time to determine the next step in the presentation story. To build the presentation, you'll need to install dependencies like Flask, Flask-SocketIO, Gunicorn, redis-py, Redis, and Twilio. You'll create a directory structure, set up environment variables, and write Python code for the Flask app, including views, templates, and websockets. The presentation will be served via a localhost tunnel using Ngrok, allowing it to be accessed from other computers. You'll also add a Twilio phone number on the screen, use Twilio SMS to let the audience vote, and persist votes in Redis. Finally, you'll set up websockets for real-time updates, allowing the presentation slide to update as soon as new messages are emitted by the server. With this setup, you can now create interactive Choose Your Own Adventure presentations with Reveal.js, Python, and WebSockets.

A Node.js application was built to deliver new XKCD comics directly to users' phones via Twilio MMS. The app uses SuperFeedr to monitor the XKCD Atom feed for new entries and Firebase to store a list of subscribers. When a new comic is published, the app receives an notification from SuperFeedr, parses the XML content using xml2js, and sends out MMS messages to all subscribers in the list. The application allows users to subscribe by sending a "subscribe" message with their phone number, and users can also request specific XKCD comics to be delivered to them.

Twiml_template is a gem that connects the Twilio::TwiML::Response object to the templating systems used by Rails and Sinatra, eliminating boilerplate code for generating TwiML responses. By using twiml_template, developers can write just the code needed to generate TwiML, saving time and reducing repetition in their applications.

Nordstrom has successfully increased store sales by leveraging Twilio's Mass Message (MMS) service, allowing their employees to send personalized messages with product images to customers via text messaging. The use of MMS has shown higher engagement rates compared to SMS and email campaigns, resulting in a drastic increase in retail sales for the company. By providing customers with a more interactive experience, Nordstrom's salespeople can share recommendations and timely reminders, giving customers control over their shopping experience. This approach is expected to be expanded to include additional uses of MMS, such as streamlining internal logistics.

Twilio will be attending Apps World Europe, a conference focused on multi-platform apps, and can be found at Stand #200. Twilio's representatives will participate in various talks, panels, and podcasts, including the "Extend The Lifeblood of Business Into Your Apps" talk with Devin Rader and the "APX: How To Design APIs Developers Want To Use" talk with Paul Hallett. The company is interested in meeting developers who build apps that integrate features like SMS, MMS, or customer engagement tools.

A developer has created a Pokémon-themed Pokédex application using Django, Twilio, and the PokeAPI. The application allows users to send an SMS with the name of a Pokémon, which then queries the PokeAPI for information on that Pokémon, including its description and sprite. The response is then sent back to the user as an MMS message via Twilio. The application is deployed to Heroku and can be tested by sending an SMS with a Pokémon's name. With this application, users can have a real-life, sophisticated Pokédex to show off their Pokémon knowledge.