March 2015 Summaries

With the introduction of Lookup, businesses can now retrieve detailed information about a phone number, reducing spam and improving deliverability by presenting numbers in the most local-friendly manner. This API allows users to identify and adjust international phone numbers into national formats, ensuring that they are presented in a visually appealing way. Additionally, it helps reduce spam by identifying invalid or suspicious phone number entries, and improves deliverability by providing information on carrier and type of phone numbers, enabling businesses to recognize when alternative delivery methods may be needed.

The article describes how to create an application that uses Twilio's SMS service to notify users when prices for products they are interested in have dropped on Amazon. The application accepts an Amazon product URL, polls Amazon to get pricing information, and sends an SMS with the new price if it is lower than the previous one. The application also generates a shortened link to the item, allowing users to buy it directly from Amazon. The application uses ASP.NET MVC 5, Entity Framework 6, and Hangfire to manage tasks and recurring jobs. It also includes features such as adding deals to the database, viewing tasks, and deleting deals.

CMT used Twilio to connect fans with the cast of its reality show Party Down South, allowing thousands of fans to call and speak directly with two cast members, Walt and Tiffany, before the season premiere. The service was used to protect the cast's privacy while also scaling to handle a high volume of calls from enthusiastic fans. The campaign resulted in 16,000 calls prior to the premiere and jumped to 21,000 on the day of the premiere, with some fans experiencing shock or excitement when they finally spoke with Walt and Tiffany.

A browser-based photobooth application was built using JavaScript, PHP, and Twilio. The application uses WebRTC's getUserMedia API to capture the user's webcam stream and display it on the screen. A "Take Picture" button captures a still image from the stream, which is then sent to a phone number via MMS using Twilio. The application also features a countdown timer before capturing the picture and allows users to share their pictures immediately via MMS. The final version of the code can be found on GitHub, and the authors invite developers to build their own photobooth applications with Twilio and WebRTC.

Leah Culver, a successful entrepreneur and developer advocate, has found her passion in open source technology through her journey with three companies: Pownce, Convore, and Grove.io. She learned the importance of working on something she's passionate about and values social communication. After being acquired by Grove.io, Leah joined Dropbox, where she now works as a Developer Advocate, delivering powerful tools to developers while ensuring users have a great experience with the product.

Harper Reed, a former CTO of President Obama's reelection campaign and lifelong programmer, emphasizes the importance of personal care and passion for developers to build products that are not just functional but also infused with humanity. He believes that innate hunger and passion in engineers can make them ideal candidates for his company Modest, where they ship great code and improve processes. Harper attributes his own passion for programming to a life-long interest in coding, which started at age five, and stresses the need for developers to remember that customers are people with personality and personhood, deserving of personal communication rather than just being treated as means to an end. He advocates for returning to the roots of communication, such as phone calls and door-to-door interactions, to solve bigger problems and build more meaningful relationships.

A dog named Kaira was taught by her owner, Greg Baugues, how to turn on a light and later how to send selfies using an Arduino Yun, a WiFi-enabled device with two microprocessors that can run programs in Python. The project uses the Arduino Yun's pin interaction capabilities to take a picture with a webcam, upload it to Dropbox, and then use Twilio to send an MMS of the selfie to Greg's phone. The system is simple, using less than 60 lines of code, and demonstrates how WiFi-enabled devices can be used to interact with web-based APIs in new and innovative ways.

A developer has created a service that allows users to send and receive tweets over SMS. The service uses Twilio's APIs, which were previously supported by O2 but have been dropped due to high costs. The developer has set up a Twitter app and deployed the application on Heroku, allowing users to access their personal Twitter account via SMS. The service includes features such as sending and receiving notifications of direct messages or @mentions from Twitter, making it useful for those who want to use Twitter without relying on data plans.

CarCodeSMS is a startup that uses text messaging to connect customers with car salesmen, aiming to re-establish trust and make buying cars more comfortable. The company's novel idea caught the attention of Edmunds, who acquired them after they won a hackathon last year. Since then, CarCodeSMS has seen significant growth, expanding to 4,500 dealerships and increasing mobile leads by three times compared to desktop leads. The acquisition has also allowed Edmunds to drastically increase the value they bring to car dealerships.

Here's a neutral and interesting summary of the text in one paragraph: Chad Stachowicz, CEO of Cloverhound, shares his experience with Twilio's Elastic SIP Trunking service, which allows businesses to connect their Cisco gateways to make and receive calls quickly and affordably. Chad uses this service to help clients get up and running with phone connectivity fast, often doing it overnight for cheap. The process involves provisioning the SIP domain and credentials, creating an IP Access Control List, and configuring the number to point to the SIP Trunk. To connect a Cisco ISR router to Twilio's SIP Trunking, Chad recommends using the B2BUA built into the IOS and following specific configuration steps, including setting up security features like the IOS Trust List to prevent toll fraud. With Twilio's service, businesses can enjoy spectacular audio quality, even when using a B2B tunnel, and pay significantly less than other providers, with rates starting at $1/month per number.

Twilio has announced the general availability of its Elastic SIP Trunking, which brings instant provisioning, transparent pricing, and global availability to the world of SIP Trunking. This new service addresses the slow process of getting SIP Trunking connectivity by providing on-demand provisioning, real-time quality measurements for routing calls to the best carrier, and a modern approach to using SIP, unlike the traditional technology that has been around since the 1870s. With Elastic SIP Trunking, Twilio aims to make SIP Trunking more accessible and user-friendly, offering features such as secure connections, emergency services calling, and data-driven routing, all backed by a guaranteed SLA.

Twilio has developed a simple way for businesses to integrate WebRTC into their PBX or call center, allowing employees to make voice calls from anywhere using only a browser or mobile application. The Twilio SIP to WebRTC solution enables seamless communication by transcoding calls from the existing PBX system to WebRTC, which is built directly into browsers and provides high-quality voice communications. With this solution, businesses can easily embed a WebRTC client into their web applications and start taking and receiving calls without requiring any additional software or hardware installation.

MSF/Doctors Without Borders have partnered with Twilio to improve HIV and Tuberculosis treatment in Zimbabwe through a text messaging system called Nimtone. The system was developed by Random Hacks of Kindness, a global organization that connects technologies with social impact organizations, and has been shown to be effective in reducing missed appointments by 50% among TB patients. The app allows clinicians to send automated text messages to patients about upcoming appointments, update patient information, and review daily activities. With its success, the clinic plans to expand the program to 1,300 HIV positive patients and roll out the app to MSF projects across the world. The system is open source and license free, making it accessible to medical groups worldwide.

The key points of this text are that All Good Text, a product from company All Good Text Delivers Critical Data via SMS, uses a French bulldog named Turtle to send weekly texts to nonprofits with critical Google Analytics and YouTube metrics. The goal is to make data fun and actionable for nonprofits by pairing data with humor, aiming to help them optimize their campaigns and improve their online presence. The service aims to provide a "dashboard" of key metrics in a concise manner that can be easily understood and acted upon, helping busy employees stay on top of their critical web data without getting overwhelmed by complex reports or spreadsheets.

Twilio will be attending Enterprise Connect from March 16th-19th, where they will participate in several talks and presentations, including "Life in a Cloud-Based, Software-Intensive Future" and "Contact Center In The Cloud". Manav Khurana, Twilio's Vice President of Product Marketing, will join a panel discussion on the rise of software and its impact on customer experience. Additionally, Twilio will be at booth #709, where they will be joined by partners to showcase their solutions for contact centers in the cloud.

Automating routine tasks with Twilio Alerts and Notifications can provide profound results by removing friction from an interaction and streamlining the customer experience. Twilio provides introductory developer training, including a new "Alerts & Notifications" deep-dive, which covers key decisions and workflow for sending alerts and notifications via phone or text. The training includes hands-on coding projects to jumpstart development, such as building automated appointment reminders, billing alerts, and mobile surveys. Additionally, Twilio offers a wide range of developer training and badges, including the "Twilio Explorer" badge for setting up your environment and introducing TwiML and the Rest API, and the "Doer" badges for lessons and projects on building apps using Messaging, Voice, and Client.

Dr. Ben Gerber, an internist and associate professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, uses Twilio SMS to power his research, leveraging coding skills developed through learning on a TRS-80 as a child. He built MyTapp, a system that sends daily SMS reminders encouraging patients to be physically active, which has been cost-effective and easy to implement with Twilio. Ben's work is focused on intervention research in low-income populations and those with limited access to health services, aiming to support healthy behavior and aid in chronic disease management in rural areas of Illinois.

The author, Phil, created a system to receive notifications about new beers at his local craft beer shop, Clapton Craft, using Ruby, Redis, and Twilio SMS. He built an HTML parser to extract beer information from the shop's website and stored it in a database using Redis. The system checks for new beers regularly and sends an SMS notification if any are available. The author deployed the system on Heroku and set up a scheduler to run the script every hour, allowing him to receive notifications even when his machine is turned off. This project demonstrates how to turn websites without APIs into an API that can be used to receive updates.

Passwordless SMS authentication allows users to log in without entering their password, by generating a one-time use token that is delivered via SMS. In this post, the author builds the iOS front end for a passwordless authentication system using Swift, starting with setting up a new Single View Application and adding a basic interface using Storyboards. The application sends a verification token to the user's phone number when they enter it, which can then be used to authenticate the user. The application uses SwiftRequest to make requests to the Laravel API built in part 1 of the series. Once the authentication is successful, the application moves on to a new view where the user can verify their token and access secure data. The author provides code examples throughout the post and invites readers to share what they've built or ask questions.

<Note Taking on the Go With Evernote and Twilio – Part 2`: This tutorial extends upon the previous part by adding support for MMS attachments to notes, enabling users to add images to their notes. The code adds a new method called `download_file` to download the image from the MMS message, and modifies the `make_note` method to handle the new parameters. Additionally, it introduces a voicemail system using Twilio's voice recording and transcription capabilities, allowing users to leave audio messages that can be transcribed and linked to their Evernote notebook. The tutorial concludes by suggesting next steps for extending the system, including adding support for multiple images, creating an IVR system, and implementing security measures.

Meet Signal Speakers: From Coding In The Newsroom, To Making You Sure Can Stream House of Cards` The Signal Conference is an event that brings together individuals who are shaping the future of communication. Some attendees may be familiar with them through their work in other fields, such as coding or media production. The conference features a diverse lineup of speakers from various backgrounds, including those involved in building and maintaining data security solutions for companies like Netflix and MinnPost. These speakers will share their expertise on topics related to APIs, SDKs, communication, and digital engagement experiences.

Twilio has announced a new tool called MMS Converter, which enables customers to reach audiences beyond the US and Canada where MMS isn't supported yet. The converter stores media, generates a link, and sends it to users via SMS when Twilio identifies an international number in an MMS campaign. This feature is available at no additional cost, with the same pricing as any SMS, and can be enabled through the Twilio account dashboard.