August 2016 Summaries

The Guestbook project is a demonstration of using CoreOS, Kubernetes, and Twilio to create a scalable and automated application. It utilizes CoreOS for container management, Kubernetes for orchestration, and Twilio for sending SMS updates when new messages are added to the guestbook. The application uses Redis as its database and implements a simple messaging system where users can add messages and receive notifications via SMS when their message is displayed on the website.

NEJS Conf` created an anonymous code of conduct reporting app to ensure a safe environment for attendees, with the help of developer `John Hobbs`. The app forwards messages and calls to volunteers anonymously, allowing users to report incidents without fear of retribution. John built the app in just a few lines of XML, and is sharing it openly on GitHub as part of his effort to give back to the community. By making this tool available, NEJS Conf aims to create a welcoming environment for all attendees, regardless of their background or identity. The importance of building a safe environment cannot be overstated, especially in tech communities where anonymity can be a concern.

A bot for Programmable Chat in Node.js was created by adding a simple bot that returns a GIF whenever asked. The bot intercepts messages, controls conversations, and sends its own messages to join the chat. It can be upgraded to send additional contextual information such as image attributes. The front-end needs to be updated to display the images properly. With this bot, developers are only limited by their imagination, and they can extend it to create more complex bots that perform various tasks, such as recommending restaurants based on conversations about lunch.

This tutorial provides a simple way to receive an SMS message using Ruby, Sinatra, and Twilio. To start, install Sinatra and create a file called `app.rb`, which requires Sinatra and defines a route `/message` that accepts a POST request with details about the inbound SMS. The code then parses the parameters, extracts the sender's number and the message body, and sends a response using TwiML XML tags. The app needs to be deployed to a publicly accessible URL or accessed via ngrok to receive incoming SMS requests from Twilio. Once set up, users can send an SMS to their new phone number and see a customized response with the sender's number and message body.

Shannon Turner built a pet camera system called BudgieCam using Django, Raspberry Pi, and Twilio, which allows her to receive photos and videos of her parrot in real-time via text messages. The system uses a POST request to trigger the Raspberry Pi to take a photo or video, which is then stored on the Pi server and sent as an MMS to Shannon's phone. This hack was created for fun and not for civic-minded projects like many of Shannon's other builds.

Ahoy! Get your boss on board SIGNAL London In just under 5 weeks, we'll bring SIGNAL to London for its first European chapter, featuring talks from developers and business leaders. At the conference, attendees will learn best practices, discover new technologies, add voice, video, messaging, and chat capabilities to their tool belt, and benefit from business content on transformational change in businesses. We're excited to have companies like ServiceNow, ING, Google, and DriveNow share their experiences and insights at the event. With a discounted ticket option available for £50 off using promo code BLOG50, we encourage all developers to attend SIGNAL London 2016.

Dimitri Akhrin, founder of IRIS CRM, has developed a customer relationship management (CRM) system that streamlines the daily functions of Independent Sales Organizations (ISOs), allowing them to manage their business at scale and market speed. The IRIS CRM portal consolidates multiple banks and payment processing platforms into one interface, reducing siloed and clunky reporting systems. By integrating call center functionality with its CRM solution, Akhrin's system has enabled ISOs to experience immediate efficiency gains, doubling revenue in seven months and signing up more clients than the previous two years combined. The IRIS CRM portal includes features such as screen pops, real-time call recording, and contextual tracking, all powered by Twilio's communication tools. By leveraging these features, Akhrin aims to provide ISOs with a comprehensive platform for managing their business, allowing them to coach novice salespeople, solve common problems, and improve overall efficiency.

At Twilio, they built CommsQuest IV, a retro-style labyrinth game using Twilio Sync, a programmable SMS and real-time state synchronization API. They found an open source JavaScript project called Astray on GitHub and used it as the base for their game. Using Twilio Sync, they were able to ship the game in just a couple of hours by sending text messages from the desktop browser to the mobile phone, which controlled the player character using gyroscope and accelerometer data. The team added four levels to the game, including a "telestone" call, a castle to light up, navigating through global communications infrastructure, and a maze of infinite rainbows. They used Twilio Sync because they needed to move fast and ship the game within a limited time frame. The project was completed in just an hour, and it showcases the possibilities of using Twilio's platform and API for creating new projects.

Scraping data from the web using Kanna and Alamofire in Swift is a viable option when APIs aren't available or well-structured, allowing developers to access various types of data, including upcoming metal shows in New York City. By setting up a starter project with CocoaPods, installing necessary dependencies, making HTTP requests, and configuring App Transport Security settings, developers can begin scraping HTML content from websites. The Kanna library is used for parsing the scraped content, utilizing CSS selectors or XPath queries to navigate through the HTML document. In this example, the code extracts text nodes containing concert data by using regular expressions to identify specific patterns in the HTML markup. Once the data is parsed, it's displayed in a UITableView for easy consumption, providing an interactive experience for users interested in upcoming metal shows. By leveraging web scraping techniques and Swift development tools like Kanna and Alamofire, developers can build iOS applications that access diverse types of data from the internet, expanding their creative possibilities.

Ryan Leslie, a Grammy-nominated rap and hip-hop artist, created SuperPhone, a platform that enables personal connections with an audience. He was recognized as a "DOER" at SIGNAL London's annual conference for developers, who have changed the world with a text editor. Ryan has personally replied to over 50,000 of his fans since creating SuperPhone, transforming his life and career. He will be joining SIGNAL London on September 20th, 2016, to share more with the developer community, using code BLOG50 for £50 off the ticket price.

FiveThirtyEight's treasure trove of data is available on GitHub and can be easily parsed using Python. The tutorial covers how to use the Pandas library to sort through csv data, download specific subsets of data, and perform calculations such as summing or averaging values in a column. By employing the help of Pandas, users can extract meaningful insights from various datasets, including Bob Ross's painting episodes.

SIGNAL London is an upcoming event that brings together experts from Twilio to share their knowledge and experiences on how to change communications with the power of code. The event features two tracks of talks, a hallway track for networking, and speakers from both within and outside Twilio sharing their expertise. Attendees can expect to learn about various topics such as debugging tools, integration testing, security, and more, as well as meet other developers and industry experts in the field. The event is scheduled to take place on September 20th, 2016, and offers a unique opportunity for attendees to be among the first to hear about new developments from Twilio.

To receive and reply to an SMS with PHP and Twilio, create a file named `message.php` that contains code to parse the incoming request and send back an HTTP response with instructions for what Twilio should do next. The response takes the form of TwiML, a subset of XML used to relay instructions back to Twilio, which expects an HTTP response in return. The code needs to have a publicly accessible URL for Twilio to reach it, so push it to a server or use ngrok to open a tunnel to localhost. After setting up a free Twilio account and buying a phone number, fill in the full path to the `message.php` file and click Save to receive an SMS and see a customized response.

By Shahzeb Khan, a junior at UC Davis studying Computer Science and Engineering, created a Lumen application using PHP and Twilio's PHP Helper Library to detect the release of Frank Ocean's new album. The project, named after the Twilio phone number used, pings iTunes, Spotify, and Twitter every minute for updates on the album's status. Shahzeb built the service as a way to save time waiting for news from his favorite artist, who has been teasing fans since 2013. The application uses Twilio's SMS feature to send notifications to subscribers when an update is available, and has reached 8,500 international subscribers. Shahzeb was surprised by how easily the service scaled and worked internationally without requiring additional code, making it a successful project that will likely outlast the wait for Frank Ocean's next album release.

To receive an SMS in Node.js with Twilio and HyperDev, first set up a Node.js server using Express and body-parser to parse the inbound HTTP request. Create a route to receive a POST request at /message, log the message details from Twilio to the console, and send an HTTP response back to Twilio with a reply message. Serve up a homepage and start the server. To set up Twilio, buy a number, create a new account, and plug in the URL of your Node app into the Messaging section. Send an SMS to your number and check out the HyperDev logs to see the inbound message details. The code can be simplified by logging only the body and from fields of the request body, and HyperDev will automatically save the file and restart the server when a change is made.

TypeScript is a superset of JavaScript that adds optional type annotations, improving development experience and tooling. It can be added to an existing JavaScript project by installing the TypeScript compiler and modifying the `tsconfig.json` file. The compiler can also be used to create a new project from scratch. To get started with TypeScript, install it locally in your project using `npm install typescript --save`, and set up your IDE to use Visual Studio Code or similar tools. Create a `tsconfig.json` file that defines the compiler options, such as target version and module system. Use definition files to get type information for existing libraries, and install them using `npm install @types/express @types/node @types/body-parser --save`. Write your first TypeScript file by creating a new class with public methods and annotating their parameters with types. You can also use generics to support polymorphism. Finally, you can compile your TypeScript code to ES5 JavaScript using the `outDir` option in the `tsconfig.json` file, allowing you to run your project on older versions of Node.js.

Twilio Decodes Online Marketplaces explores how marketplaces operate, focusing on two distinct business models: on-demand services and listing or directory services. On-demand services, such as Uber, use swipe-away frontends and sharing economy backends to connect buyers and sellers, with transactions taking place daily/weekly and requiring friction-reducing communication functions. In contrast, listing or directory services, like the yellow pages of yesterday, offer higher value products/services with longer transaction cycles, often charging subscription fees and using programmable phone numbers for each listing. Twilio's Communications Blueprint for Marketplaces aims to help marketplaces attract users, build trust, and deliver exceptional service by integrating communications building blocks into their platforms.

This tutorial provides a comprehensive overview of using Realm as a cross-platform mobile database engine for Android developers. It covers the setup process, including adding dependencies and configuring the Realm plugin, and then guides the reader through building an application that stores notes in a Realm database. The tutorial demonstrates how to add functionality such as auto-refreshing and swipe-to-delete capabilities to the RecyclerView using the RealmBasedRecyclerViewAdapter. Additionally, it showcases how to use the adapter's header feature to display organized data. Throughout the tutorial, the author emphasizes the ease of use and flexibility of Realm, making it an attractive choice for developers looking to build complex applications with a mobile-first approach.

The author of the text, Phil Nash, discusses how Twilio's Add-ons marketplace can simplify development by providing pre-built services that handle tasks typically requiring custom code. In this specific example, he replaces a sentiment analysis service using AlchemyAPI with an IBM Watson Message Sentiment Add-on, resulting in reduced code and maintenance requirements. The author highlights the benefits of using Add-ons, including saving time, effort, and code, and showcases additional available Add-ons that can enhance application capabilities.

The Siesta framework is used to build an API-driven iOS app, specifically a Pokémon Dex, using the Pokeapi as the data source. The app fetches and displays a list of 151 Pokémon, with each Pokémon's details displayed on a separate screen. The app uses Swift and SwiftyJSON for JSON processing, and Siesta for managing resources and handling network requests. The app also includes features such as caching, status overlays, and resource observers to manage the UI and handle changes to the data. The code is well-structured and follows best practices for iOS development with Swift. The app demonstrates how to use Siesta to simplify API interactions in mobile apps.

Amit Kulkarni, co-founder and CEO of Heymarket, aims to make SMS scalable for businesses by harnessing its simplicity and power. The company's app is designed around organization and insight, allowing users to segment clients into lists for more granular messages. With a 98% open rate and an 80% reply rate, SMS outperforms email in terms of customer interactions. Heymarket empowers customers to make an impact by sending the right message at the right time using the right medium, enabling two-way conversations and meeting scheduling. The company is currently working on a web app that allows businesses to send SMS directly from their browser.

This Bottle web app can send and receive text and picture messages using the Twilio RESTful API. It uses Python 2 or 3, the Bottle web framework, and the Twilio Python helper library to interact with the Twilio messaging API. The app has two routes: one for testing and another that handles incoming HTTP POST requests from Twilio when an SMS or MMS is sent to a phone number associated with the app. The app can send outbound SMS messages with or without attached picture messages, and it can also respond to inbound SMS and MMS messages using a Twilio POST request handler. Ngrok is used for localhost tunneling to expose the app's URL and allow Twilio to send HTTP requests to it during development.

Twiliq is a message backup system designed to save SMS messages from disappearing in case of Twilio endpoint failures, and it utilizes Node.js for its flexibility and robust libraries. The system is powered by Google Cloud Platform's Pub/Sub and App Engine, which allows for autoscaling in worst-case scenarios. Chris Johnson, the developer behind Twiliq, aims to empower developers to build new tools and lower the barrier to entry into the messaging space, making it easier for businesses to navigate the complexities of message queues. By providing a production-ready solution, Twiliq helps CTOs sleep better by minimizing worries about redundancy and ensuring that messages are not lost in transit.

A project called Pokemon Faux allows users to create fake Pokémon Go screenshots using Python, Flask, and Twilio MMS. The user needs to install Python, pip, Twilio, Pillow, and requests, then overlay an image with a Pokémon catching screen on it. A Flask app is created that receives picture messages and responds to them with a Pokémon being captured in the picture. When a message is received, the app saves the image, overlays a Pokémon on it, and sends it back as a response. The user can use this project to create fake screenshots of rare Pokémon caught in any arbitrary picture.