February 2015 Summaries

We are excited to announce that we will be attending LeadsCon West with our partners Voicebase, CallerReady, WhitePagesPro, and Datalot. `LeadsCon West focuses on marketing technology and tactics to grow businesses. Our partners specialize in real-time marketing and will showcase how Twilio can integrate into marketing software for optimal communications results. We will also be giving away three Twilio-Powered Weekends to attendees who stop by our booth.

The Arduino Yun is a microcontroller board that can be used to send SMS and MMS messages using Python and the Twilio API. To get started, users need to install pip, the Twilio Python helper library, and set up their environment to use the SD card for package installation. The tutorial covers how to write a simple Python script to send an SMS and modify it to accept a message body from the command line parameter. Additionally, the tutorial explains how to send MMS messages using the same method, but with an additional `media_url` parameter to specify the location of the image being sent. Finally, users can use the Arduino IDE to create an sketch that runs their Python script, allowing them to integrate hardware and software hacking capabilities.

Authy has partnered with Twilio to make it easier for developers to integrate strong user identification into their apps, providing a secure and efficient way to implement two factor authentication. Authy's technology helps reduce the development cycle from several months to just a few days, making it more accessible for businesses to protect themselves against security threats. The partnership aims to empower developers to build better connections with users while keeping conversations open and security gaps closed.

Ahoy Authy: Welcome Authy To The Twilio Family` Twilio has announced its acquisition of Authy, a strong user authentication API provider. This move aims to enhance Twilio's two-factor authentication capabilities with reduced user friction. With the integration, developers can now build more secure and user-friendly identity verification solutions using Authy's APIs, which complement Twilio's existing voice and SMS APIs. The acquisition is expected to expand Authy's reach and provide a more complete solution for strong identity verification use-cases.

Twilio is a cloud communication platform that allows developers to build real-time voice and messaging services into their applications. In this article, Placona builds a personal assistant using Twilio and Google Calendar. He creates a script that connects to the user's Google Calendar account, fetches upcoming events, and sends SMS reminders with a link to join the meeting via phone call. The script uses the Twilio API to make calls and send SMS messages. Placona also sets up a MongoDB database to store the user's calendar data and token information. He uses the Agenda module to schedule tasks and the Google Calendar API to authenticate and fetch events. The script can be run on a server or locally, and it provides a simple way for users to receive reminders and join meetings with just a few clicks.

VoiceBase and Twilio have partnered to provide a comprehensive solution for speech analytics, enabling businesses to analyze call recordings with ease. The integration allows users to programmatically pull up call recordings, making it easy to identify key phrases, trends, and sentiments. VoiceBase's powerful API provides machine transcripts, time-stamped keywords, and search capabilities within minutes of uploading a recording. The partnership enables Twilio users to leverage speech analytics at disruptively low costs, revolutionizing the way businesses monitor agent compliance, detect hot leads, and extract valuable insights from customer interactions. By integrating VoiceBase with their apps, Twilio users can gain a competitive edge in the market, improve customer experience, and drive business growth through data-driven decision-making.

TaskRouter is a service that distributes work to workers who are skilled and available. Twilio has just launched TaskRouter, which solves problems like tracking and assigning work to humans in the Internet of Things (IoT). The author of this post created an app using Ruby and Sinatra that uses TaskRouter to create tasks for photo captioning based on images uploaded to Dropbox. Volunteers can sign up as workers via text message, and TaskRouter assigns photos to be captioned by workers. Once a worker completes a task, their status is updated in the system. The author provides instructions on how to set up TaskRouter, configure the app, and create a workflow that routes tasks into a task queue.

They Might Be Giants`, a renowned musical duo, are set to perform at `Signal`s After Party on May 20th, bringing their unique sound to fans in attendance. The band's history is marked by their ability to adapt and communicate with their audience, from the early days of answering machines to modern digital platforms. Through their dedication to their craft and engagement with fans, They Might Be Giants have built a lasting legacy that continues to inspire new generations of music lovers.

The text discusses the creation of a priority queue for a call center using Twilio TaskRouter in Ruby. It explains how to set up a workspace, create a workflow, and configure the application to receive webhooks from TaskRouter when a task is assigned to a worker. The code is used to build an endpoint that responds with a dequeue instruction when a task is assigned, allowing the call to be connected to the worker's contact URI attribute. To add priorities to the queue, the application must check if the customer called in on a priority number and set a status on the task. The workflow is then configured to prioritize these calls by adding a filter to the routing configuration. The example demonstrates how to create a call center that can prioritize incoming calls and distribute them amongst one or more agents using TaskRouter.

The text discusses building a multi-channel support desk using Twilio's TaskRouter, which allows customers to contact businesses through various channels such as phone, SMS, and email. The application is built using Flask, Python, and the Twilio helper library, with a focus on making it scalable and efficient. Initially, the support desk has a single agent, Ender, who handles all incoming calls, but as more agents are added, TaskRouter intelligently routes tasks to the best available agent based on their skills and availability. The application also includes features for handling SMS requests, email, and other channels, allowing customers to communicate with businesses in different ways. With TaskRouter, businesses can create an intelligent application that connects customers with the right agent at the right time, improving customer satisfaction and efficiency.

TaskRouter is a cloud-based API designed for developers to solve intelligent routing challenges in contact centers and other communications environments. It enables dynamic task assignment based on worker skills and priority, making it easier to match tasks with the right people or processes. This approach can help improve customer experiences and agent efficiency by leveraging real-time work assignments and empowering CRM platforms as primary communication interfaces.

The Arduino Yun is a single-board computer that can be used to build various projects, including a photo booth. The project involves connecting a webcam to the Arduino Yun, uploading images to Dropbox using Python, and triggering these actions with the press of a button. To achieve this, the user needs to install specific libraries and drivers for the webcam and Dropbox API, as well as write code in both the Arduino programming language and Python. The final result is a photo booth that can take pictures, upload them to Dropbox, and trigger these actions with a single button press.

The American Red Cross of Chicago & Northern Illinois streamlined their emergency dispatch process using an open-source application called Disaster Cycle Services Operations (DCSOps) powered by Twilio. The new system allows dispatchers to send text messages to volunteers, reducing the need for repeated phone calls and increasing efficiency. This has helped level the workforce playing field for new volunteers, enabling them to participate more easily in disaster response efforts. With over 3,000 messages sent per month, DCSOps is now used in several major Red Cross regions, including New York City, Los Angeles, and San Diego.

A developer has created a system that allows notes to be taken on-the-go using Twilio and Evernote. The system uses Ruby code, the Twilio Ruby library, and the Evernote API to send text messages with notes to an Evernote account. When a message is received at a Twilio phone number, it creates a new note in the Evernote Sandbox account containing the body text from the SMS. This allows users to capture information on-the-go without needing a smartphone app. The system can be further customized by setting the title and notebook name in the SMS message, retrieving notes from any notebook using an SMS workflow, allowing the user to send the note to an arbitrary notebook, and trying it out on actual accounts instead of the Sandbox.

In this series of posts we'll walk through building a Swift version of the Twilio Client's "BasicPhone" application, which allows users to make and receive VoIP calls. We've set up our project in Xcode, added the Twilio Client for iOS SDK, created a bridging header file, and defined a Phone class that interacts with the Twilio Client API's. The Phone class initializes a new virtual phone by generating a capability token from a server-side Node.js application, which is used to initialize an instance of the TCDevice object. We've also added functions to connect to Twilio and start an outbound call using parameters passed from the device to Twilio. With these pieces in place, we've created a simple UI that tests making an outbound call from our Phone class, allowing us to test the functionality of the app. The project showcases great Objective-C/Swift interoperability, with libraries like Twilio Client generally working seamlessly. We'll continue building on this foundation in future posts, adding support for answering incoming calls and notifying users when their phone is ringing even while the app is running in the background.

IBM Watson and Twilio have been combined to create an app that answers health questions via SMS. The application uses IBM Bluemix, Node.js, Hapi.js, and Twilio to interact with the Watson Question and Answer API and send responses back to the user through Twilio's SMS service. The developer built this app as a fun project to test new technologies and to demonstrate how users can access health data via SMS. The application allows users to send in health-related questions and receive answers from the Watson API, which is hosted on Bluemix. The response is then sent back to the user through Twilio's SMS service.

There are several ways to manage environment variables in Ruby applications, including using simple command-line exports, loading credentials into the environment from a configuration file, and leveraging third-party gems like Envyable, Figaro, and Dotenv. While each approach has its own strengths and weaknesses, the most effective solution involves combining elements of these methods to create a robust and maintainable system for storing and managing sensitive information. By using a standardized approach to load environment variables into the development environment, developers can improve their productivity and reduce errors related to credential management.

Package Zen is a software solution designed to simplify delivery tracking for offices, residential properties, and colleges by using intelligent software and Twilio MMS to ensure packages are accounted for and delivered on time, providing logs of when packages were scanned and enabling office managers to investigate lost or misplaced packages.

Katie McCorkell, a Computer Science major at the University of Washington, spent 12 weeks as an intern at Twilio's Software Engineering Internship Program, where she gained hands-on experience in writing, revising, and pushing code while also making time for volunteering and socializing. During her internship, Katie learned about Twilio's Data Warehousing, interacted with customers through support tickets, and contributed to the development of a Python library for interacting with production databases. She also volunteered at local kitchens feeding the needy and participated in company events such as a women engineering meeting and a company baseball outing. Throughout her experience, Katie demonstrated her enthusiasm and willingness to learn, even when faced with challenges like merging pull requests and debugging code.

The Arduino Yun is an Arduino board with WiFi built-in, allowing users to connect their sensors and buttons to the Internet of Things (IoT) without the need for a separate WiFi shield. The board comes with a second microprocessor running a lightweight version of Linux and Python preinstalled. To get started, users must prepare an SD card, upgrade OpenWRT, connect to a WiFi network, SSH into the Yun, and install the Arduino IDE on their computer. Once set up, users can write Python scripts that trigger LEDs, motors, and other actuators. The board also has three buttons for resetting the WiFi settings, Arduino chip, and Linux chip. Users can use the Yun to build projects such as a photo booth, send SMS and MMS messages, or even teach their dog to text selfies.

Alex Polvi, a curious individual, set up a 3G game camera and connected it to his Twilio number, which was also linked to a Google App Script that stored photos on Google Drive. The setup allowed him to capture images of wildlife in his yard, including a full-grown mountain lion, using just 20 lines of code. This unusual deployment highlights the potential for innovative uses of Twilio MMS and Google Apps Script, enabling users to remotely monitor their surroundings with minimal effort.

Twilio has compiled five tips for managing Twilio account passwords to prevent malicious access and minimize damage in case of a hack. Making strong, unique passwords with at least eight characters is recommended, as well as rotating them regularly. Using two-factor authentication can add an extra layer of protection, while password managers can help create, update, and verify strong passwords.