October 2019 Summaries

Sending bulk emails in PHP using Twilio SendGrid is a great method for keeping attendees informed about an event, as timely and detailed messages are necessary to avoid confusion. To accomplish this task, one must first set up a Twilio SendGrid account and install the required dependencies, including Composer globally installed and the SendGrid PHP library. The code to send bulk emails involves creating a new Mail object with a primary recipient, adding additional recipients using the Personalization class, and sending the email using the SendGrid API. The Personalization class allows for personalization of each email sent to individual recipients, making it possible to modify content based on their email address. Once the code is written, it can be tested by running the `php email.php` command in the console window, which will display a success message and the status code and headers from the email.

The post introduces ReactiveX programming and the RxJS library for JavaScript, showcasing its fundamental concepts, including Observables, Operators, and error handling. It highlights key differences between RxJS Observables and JavaScript Promises, emphasizing the importance of understanding asynchronous programming in JavaScript. The author provides practical examples and resources for further learning, aiming to help developers master ReactiveX programming and improve their skills in asynchronous JavaScript development.

This Halloween, developers can create spooky-themed projects using Python, Raspberry Pi, Arduino, and more. A Pumpkin Pi project combines a Raspberry Pi with custom code to control LED lights inside a carved-out pumpkin, while another project uses Spotify playlists to power Halloween sound effects. A dark theme for Terminal and other applications is also available, along with an impressive hardware project that incorporates an Arduino Uno, Raspberry Pi, and light strip LEDs. Additionally, there are resources available to help developers learn more programming through games like TwilioQuest 3, and a post highlighting unusual Python techniques that may be used in code but should not be.

Sending transactional emails in PHP has been made easier with the use of Twilio SendGrid, a tool that ensures emails arrive successfully every time. The tutorial covers setting up a composer project, installing necessary dependencies, and creating code to send a transactional email using the Twilio SendGrid API key. With less than thirty lines of code, developers can now easily integrate transactional emails into their PHP applications, providing a better user experience and preventing spam filters from blocking their messages.

The key points of the text are that open source projects need a governance system to ensure they have a clear direction, conflict resolution process, and a psychologically safe culture. The author shares their experience with Electron project in transitioning to a formal governance system, which led to establishing core values and a structure for decision-making and community engagement. With this new system, the community feels more included, and maintainers report feeling empowered to make choices that benefit the project's health. Governance is not a one-time solution but an ongoing process that requires continuous evaluation and improvement to adapt to changing requirements and goals.

SHAKEN/STIR, an initiative to authenticate calls in the telephony network, aims to verify the authenticity of calls and reduce unwanted robocalls. This technology uses JSON Web Tokens (JWT) and certificates to authenticate callers and determine if they are authorized to use the number they're using to place the call. A new trust-anchor, Secure Telephony Identity Policy Administrator (STI-PA), is introduced to select certificate authorities and provide Service Provider Code tokens for service providers to acquire private keys for signing calls and public keys for verifying calls. The technology uses a standardized SIP header with an identity field containing a Base64 encoded JWT that includes payload information related to the origination and termination numbers, as well as a cryptographic signature. SHAKEN/STIR is expected to roll out in 2020 starting with mobile operators, allowing users to verify their ownership of phone numbers and reducing the volume of unwanted robocalls. The initiative has garnered support from industry organizations and regulatory bodies, including the FCC and US Telecom.

Twilio has successfully launched the Open Pixel Art project, an open-source initiative aimed at teaching developers how to create their first pull request. Over 1000 contributors have merged their pull requests into the project in its first four weeks, with contributions ranging from adding pixels to the canvas to improving tests, filing bugs, and translating guides. The project's goal is to guide newcomers through the process of contributing to open-source projects, providing a mission-based game called TwilioQuest that will help users step-by-step towards creating their first pull request.

The future of enterprise contact centers will be shaped by three critical factors: a changing workforce that expects flexibility, work-life balance, and collaboration; process automation through technologies like conversational IVRs, virtual assistants, social media, and chatbots; and customer expectations for personalized service on their chosen channel. To cater to the millennial and Gen Z workforce, contact centers will need to focus on employee engagement and empowerment, while process automation will require agents to handle more complex cases and collaborate with each other. Ultimately, the goal is to provide a seamless and personalized experience across all channels, leveraging emerging technologies like AI, NLP, and cloud platforms to meet the increasing demands of customers and stay ahead of the competition.

This tutorial covers how to build a straightforward Django project with SMS capability that transmits messages to multiple recipients using the Twilio SMS API. The application uses the Twilio helper library to make it easier to send text messages from Python, and requires a free Twilio account to authenticate and receive credentials. The code includes setting up a virtual environment, installing dependencies, creating a Django project, defining URLs for sending SMS, coding the broadcast app, accessing the Twilio SMS API, testing an SMS broadcast, and wrapping up the application.

Introducing Twilio Developer Evangelist Daizen Ikehara, a seasoned developer with over 10 years of experience in the Graphical User Interface (GUI) world. He has worked with various programming languages and frameworks, including .NET, XAML, JavaScript, Objective-C, Java, jQuery, TypeScript, Angular, and React, and has gained valuable experience with UI components and Rapid Application Development tools like Visual Studio. Ikehara's passion for gaming led him to create a lasting community around EverQuest, where he met many friends from around the world. He also served as a Microsoft MVP seven times, which gave him recognition in the developer community and opportunities to visit new user groups and meet other developers. With his extensive experience and enthusiasm for software development, Ikehara is now excited to share his knowledge with others through his role as Twilio Developer Evangelist.

To create SMS notifications from tweets, retweets, and mentions with JavaScript and Twilio SMS, developers need to have Node.js, Ngrok, Twitter Developer account, and Twilio account. They must first set up a Twitter app by creating an app on the Twitter Developer page, enabling sign-in with Twitter, and setting permissions. Next, they need to generate credentials for their Twitter account and Twilio account. Then, they can create a Node.js project using Express and install required dependencies. The application will use Twilio's SMS API to send notifications. To receive notifications, developers must register a webhook on the Twitter Developer page. Once registered, the webhook will listen for incoming events from the Account Activity API and send corresponding messages as SMS using Twilio.

Detecting toxic language with Twilio Chat and TensorFlow.js is a powerful tool to combat the spread of hate speech in online communication. By using a pre-trained TensorFlow model and integrating it with Twilio Programmable Chat, developers can create applications that classify text as obscene or toxic on the client-side, providing users with a safer online experience. The application uses machine learning to analyze chat messages and display warning text if a message is deemed offensive, giving users an opportunity to reconsider their input before sending it. This approach not only enhances user safety but also provides a robust solution for detecting toxic language in various messaging platforms.

The article describes building a wake word detection assistant using Ratchet for WebSockets and Twilio SMS in PHP, allowing real-time data processing and communication with users via SMS. The assistant is designed to detect predefined keywords such as "eat" and "drink" in user input and send responses accordingly. A client-side application is also created to test the wake word detection functionality, enabling users to interact with the bot through a web interface.

Marcus Battle's tutorial offers a comprehensive guide on creating a WebSocket server in PHP using the Ratchet library to facilitate real-time bi-directional communication between clients and a server. Despite PHP's lack of native support for WebSockets, Ratchet emerges as a powerful tool for real-time development, enabling low-latency connections that allow both clients and servers to send and receive messages simultaneously. The guide walks through setting up a basic WebSocket server using PHP 7+, Composer, and ngrok, illustrating the process with a simple chat application that displays messages in real-time across multiple browsers. Key components include creating a WebSocket class with essential methods like onOpen, onMessage, onClose, and onError, and setting up an HTTP server to listen on port 8080. The tutorial concludes with instructions on testing the server and highlights the necessity of running the server as a background service to maintain persistent connections.

Hacktoberfest is a month-long event that encourages open-source contributions, and being prepared can make a significant difference in the experience. Maintaining a well-organized repository with clear guidelines and automation tools can help attract contributors and reduce headaches. A clearly labeled issue system and automated linting can facilitate collaboration and improve code quality. By implementing these strategies, maintainers can create a welcoming environment for contributors, even when faced with an influx of pull requests or few contributions. The event's organizers also offer support resources, such as DigitalOcean swag, to encourage community engagement and outreach. By following these tips, maintainers can successfully navigate Hacktoberfest and foster a positive open-source experience.

Twilio has launched its WePledge Program, an employee impact program that empowers Twilions to take action as individuals and create a meaningful global impact as a whole. The program provides a framework for giving in ways that fit the lives and schedules of individuals, enabling people to create impact in meaningful ways important to them. Through WePledge, Twilions make a commitment to contribute 1% of their individual time, money, or both to causes they personally care about, with Twilio providing an employee engagement platform, matching funds, coordinated volunteer opportunities, and ongoing support. The program aims to amplify the impact of Twilions' personal passions and scale it globally, ultimately empowering others through collective efforts that have the potential to make a significant positive impact on a global scale.

With Python tools like Beautiful Soup, developers can scrape and parse data directly from web pages to use for their projects and applications. This allows them to access a wide variety of information programmatically, even if it's not available through a dedicated REST API. The article uses an example of scraping MIDI data from the internet to train a neural network with Magenta that can generate classic Nintendo-sounding music. It covers setting up dependencies, getting familiar with Beautiful Soup, parsing and navigating HTML, downloading files, and provides a practical example of using Beautiful Soup to scrape data from the Video Game Music Archive. The article emphasizes the importance of keeping code up-to-date as changes to web pages' HTML might break it, and encourages readers to explore possibilities for working with scraped data, such as cleaning it up or training neural networks.

A .NET developer can create a web application that uses Twilio to phone friends using Blazor and C#. The application is built with Visual Studio 2019, includes an API project for handling Twilio calls, and uses Ngrok to tunnel the API to the public internet. A Blazor page is created to handle user input, such as entering a phone number, and wire up buttons to initiate and end phone calls. The application also logs messages to display in the UI. To use the application, start a Ngrok tunnel in Visual Studio, configure Twilio's client SDK, and run the application.

This tutorial provides a step-by-step guide to integrating Facebook login into a Node.js application using Passport.js, a popular authentication middleware for Node.js. The project uses the MVC (Model View Controller) pattern and is set up with MongoDB as the database. To get started, developers need to create a Facebook developer account, install the necessary dependencies, including Passport and Passport-Facebook, and configure their application's callback URL. Once configured, users can authenticate with Facebook by visiting a specific URL, entering their credentials, and being redirected back to the application upon successful validation. The application then exchanges the authorization code for an access token, which is used to request resources from the resource server. The tutorial concludes by providing a working project example and encouraging developers to try implementing Facebook authentication in their own applications.

SOCless is a serverless framework designed to automate security workflows and respond to threats quickly and at scale, allowing organizations to defend their customers against threats more effectively. It was developed by Twilio's Security Operations team as a solution to the challenge of automating threat investigation and response procedures for large-scale businesses. SOCless is open-sourced and provides a modular and extensible architecture that enables security teams to focus on designing runbooks while executing them quickly and effectively. The framework uses AWS Lambda functions, Step Functions, API Gateway Endpoints, and DynamoDB tables to coordinate workflows and integrate with security products or scripts. It also includes a Python library called socless_python that abstracts away the complexities of its architecture, allowing developers to focus on implementing use-cases. SOCless has already been successfully used by Twilio's Security Operations team to automate various security runbooks, including phishing email detection, anomaly investigation, and compliance auditing. The framework is designed to be easy to manage, extend, and adapt to match an ever-changing environment and threat landscape, making it a valuable tool for organizations looking to scale their security incident response capabilities.

This tutorial teaches developers how to create an SMS reminder system using Laravel, MySQL, and Twilio's Programmable SMS. The system allows users to set reminders for specific dates and times, which are then sent as SMS alerts when the due time is reached. The application uses a database to store reminder information and a custom daemon command to send SMS reminders at scheduled intervals. The tutorial covers setting up the project, installing dependencies, configuring Twilio's SDK, creating a database and model, building the user interface, and testing the application.

Brad Williams, a computer programmer living in Philadelphia with his wife and son Lucas, is the Co-founder and CEO of WebDevStudios.com, a WordPress design and development agency. He uses Authy for two-factor authentication (2FA) on both personal and business accounts. After using Google Authenticator for years, Brad switched to Authy due to its multi-device syncing feature. The company's 2FA requirement has been in place for many years, with Brad enabling it on every service that offers the option. He recommends Authy to his entire company and uses it across multiple devices.

Codes of Conduct are essential tools for promoting inclusion and protecting members from harassment in online communities. However, designing and enforcing them can be challenging, especially when there's a lack of clear processes and policies in place. The author shares their experience managing the LGBTQ+ community Slack, where they learned hard lessons about effective management and enforcement. They then experimented with a new approach by creating a separate community called WeAllJS, which adopted a detailed Code of Conduct and an innovative enforcement process that prioritized community involvement and nuanced decision-making. By sharing these insights, the author aims to provide guidance for community managers and open-source project maintainers looking to create more inclusive and effective communities.

Psalm is a PHP static analysis tool that helps developers catch errors and improve code quality by analyzing their codebase before running it. It's particularly useful for identifying nullable type issues, which can be problematic if not addressed. By using Psalm, developers can ensure their code is maintainable, efficient, and meets the standards of modern software development. The tool provides a high level of strictness levels, allowing developers to focus on critical problems first and work their way up to more stringent levels. With its ability to infer types for 93.79% of the codebase, Psalm helps developers identify potential issues before they become major problems. By integrating Psalm into a continuous integration system, developers can catch errors early and ensure their code is of high quality.

TensorFlow is an open-source library developed by Google Brain to make it easier for developers to build, train, and work with deep learning models and data. It supports multiple languages, including Python, JavaScript, Swift, C, Go, Java, Haskell, C#, and more. TensorFlow has various tools, such as TensorFlow Serving and TensorFlow Lite, that simplify machine learning development. However, it requires a good understanding of machine learning concepts, as it is a low-level library. When using TensorFlow, developers need to be aware of the differences between TensorFlow versions, understand how constants and variables work, and handle data types. Additionally, gathering and preparing training data can be challenging, and there are alternatives to TensorFlow, such as PyTorch and Keras. Despite its complications, TensorFlow offers great GPU support, a flexible design, and community support, making it a powerful tool for developers building machine learning models.

Asynchronous JavaScript uses Promise objects to refactor code from callbacks, enabling robust, reusable, maintainable, and readable asynchronous functionality. The project refactors an existing program with multiple API calls using traditional callbacks into a structure based on promise chaining using the `.then` method. It demonstrates error handling with the `.catch` method and incorporates external modules into the asynchronous functions called in the promise chain. Promises can be chained together, include error rejection events, and errors are handled once throughout the chain. The refactored code is more maintainable and easier to debug than traditional callback structures.

This post explains how to use JavaScript promises with the .then, .catch, and .finally methods to manipulate the results of asynchronous operations in a chain of promises. It also demonstrates how to work with collections of promises using static methods such as Promise.all, Promise.allSettled, and Promise.race. The author provides examples and explanations for chaining promises together, handling errors, and managing the flow of control in code. The post aims to help developers understand the benefits and use cases of promise chaining and working with collections of promises.

Businesses can leverage SMS and marketing email together to create a more powerful customer experience by sending targeted messages that improve their overall experience. Combining these channels provides a seamless, connected experience for customers, inspiring trust and encouraging them to look forward to messages. Email and SMS work in tandem to provide reinforcement of each other's messages, amplifying engagement efforts across the entire customer lifecycle. Key use cases include reminders, alerts, confirmations, notifications, and multichannel marketing campaigns. When implementing a new SMS or email channel, it's essential to consider factors such as message timing, content, and branding to determine the most effective communication strategy for your business. By using both channels together, businesses can create a more engaging and interactive experience for their customers, ultimately driving loyalty and revenue.

By Linda Peng, a software engineer at Mailchimp, this article shares 10 lessons learned from maintaining an open source community, CodeBuddies, over four years. The author reflects on the growth of the community, its challenges, and how they were addressed through various strategies such as hosting live code walkthroughs, using GitHub's features to advantage, recognizing non-monetary rewards for contributors, managing conflicts, taking breaks, and prioritizing roadmap decisions. The article emphasizes the importance of creating a sustainable open source project by giving back to the community, recognizing contributors' efforts, and taking care of one's own needs as a maintainer. The author invites readers to contribute or participate in CodeBuddies, an international community that has grown into a vibrant ecosystem of learners working together to improve their technical skills and explore new technologies.

To build a video chat application using Twilio Video and React with functional components, you need to create an App component that renders a header, footer, and a VideoChat component. The VideoChat component uses React Hooks such as useState, useCallback, useEffect, and useRef to store data, memoize functions, clean up effects, and attach DOM elements. It also connects to the Twilio Video service using the token and room name, joins a room, and displays participants' video and audio streams. The Room component is used to connect to the Twilio Video service, join a room, and display participants' identities. The Participant component uses React Hooks to attach video and audio tracks to DOM elements and clean up effects when the component unmounts.

A developer built an app that sends a daily SMS message using Azure Functions and Java, fetching weather and affirmation data from external APIs. The app uses a TimerTrigger to run daily at 7:30am UTC, sending a formatted message with today's date, weather, moon phase, and affirmation. The code is available on GitHub and can be deployed as an Azure Function. The developer provides instructions on how to set up the project, add dependencies, fetch data from APIs, format the message, and send it via SMS using Twilio. Once deployed, the function can be tested in the Azure Portal, and the developer invites readers to extend the app with additional features and share their own implementations.

This tutorial demonstrates how to create a reusable webhook notification system in PHP using Lumen and Twilio for sending SMS notifications. The system allows developers to be alerted via SMS when different events occur on third-party services integrated with their application, as long as they provide webhooks. The system consists of two main components: the API endpoint that receives incoming webhooks and triggers an SMS notification, and the controller that handles creating and dispatching webhook notifications. To test the endpoints, developers can use Ngrok to create a public-facing URL for the application and then use Postman to send requests to the API endpoints. The system is designed to be flexible and reusable, allowing developers to easily integrate it with their own applications.

Training a Neural Network on MIDI data with Magenta and Python involves installing the Magenta library, creating a dataset of music files in MIDI format, converting them into "NoteSequences" that are easier to work with for training, creating "SequenceExamples" to be fed to the model during training and evaluation. Once trained, the model can generate new polyphonic tracks using the `polyphony_rnn_generate` command, allowing users to experiment with different parameters and hyperparameters to create unique music outputs. After generating music, users can bundle the model into a portable file for easy sharing or use on other devices.

A developer created a Twilio phone number that plays computer-generated NES music using Magenta and Flask. They installed dependencies, including Magenta, Twilio, Flask, RQ, and Redis, and set up a Flask app to handle incoming calls. The app uses Redis as a task queue to generate music asynchronously without slowing down the web requests. When a call is received, the app queues an asynchronous task to create new Nintendo music using Magenta's polyphony recurrent neural network model, converts the MIDI file to audio using Fluidsynth, and updates the Twilio REST API with the URL of the new audio file to play it over the phone. The project uses ngrok to make the Flask app visible from the internet and sets environment variables for Twilio account credentials.

To send daily SMS reminders using PHP 7 and Laravel, this tutorial provides a step-by-step guide. First, create a new Laravel project with Composer and install the Twilio PHP helper library. Next, obtain Twilio credentials and set environment variables for the account SID, auth token, phone number, and recipient phone number. Create a new model called `Reminder` that extends the Eloquent model class, which will be used to send SMS reminders. The `sendSMS` method uses the Twilio PHP helper library to send an SMS to a specified phone number with a custom message. A new command is created using the `artisan make:command` command to test and execute the code on a regular basis. Finally, a cron job is set up to schedule the command to run daily at 6am, ensuring that reminders are sent regularly.

Probot, a Node.js framework for building GitHub Apps, can help improve an open source project by automating tasks and enhancing communication with new contributors. Probot apps can welcome new contributors, enforce community norms, and streamline workflows. Six specific Probot apps discussed in the article are All Contributors Bot, Prosebot, Welcome Bot, Stale, No Response, and Auto Assign. These tools can aid open source maintainers by automating tasks, reducing the burden of manual work, and promoting inclusivity and productivity. By leveraging Probot and its ecosystem of open source apps, developers can create a more efficient and welcoming environment for their projects.

Send a Slack Notification When Laravel Jobs Fail in Laravel 6 using Queue Failing` is an article that provides instructions on how to set up a Slack notification system for failed jobs in Laravel. The author, Michael Okoko, explains the pre-requisites and installation steps required to achieve this functionality, including installing the `laravel/slack-notification-channel` package and updating the `.env` file with the Slack webhook URL. The article then guides readers through creating a custom notification class that sends a Slack message when a job fails, as well as configuring the `AppServiceProvider` to route failed jobs to this notification. Finally, the author provides testing instructions and concludes by suggesting alternative approaches for handling failed queues.

Aligning with the unique intent of an open source project has helped Evelyn Masso feel more satisfied with her contributions to p5.js, a browser-based creative coding library. She realized that working on p5.js was different from other projects like React due to its accessibility-focused intent and the importance of translating documentation, adding new tutorials, and improving compatibility with screenreaders. To understand the intent of each project, Evelyn suggests asking questions such as "What makes this project unique?", "Why was it started?", and "Who is this project for?" She also emphasizes the importance of setting boundaries and aligning expectations with contributors, including response times to posts on GitHub, and sharing perspectives on intent while allowing space for differing opinions. By doing so, she aims to create a more inclusive and effective open source experience for all contributors.

The technology company Twilio has made a commitment to furthering board diversity, including having three highly accomplished women on its Board of Directors who bring diverse skill sets and experiences. The company's CEO, Karyn Smith, recently participated in the 2019 DirectWomen Board Institute class, which aims to increase the representation of women lawyers on corporate boards. DirectWomen is a resource that fosters creativity, innovation, and success by providing a platform for accomplished women executives with diverse backgrounds to contribute to companies. The organization's mission is to identify, develop, and support a growing group of senior women executives who can serve as directors of major U.S. corporations. Achieving diversity in corporate executive positions and boards has been shown to be beneficial for business success, with companies that are more ethnically and gender diverse outperforming their competitors. This is because diversity brings different viewpoints, which cultivates higher levels of creativity and innovation. Every company must make a conscious commitment to diversity and inclusion, starting with the recruiting process and extending it into daily experiences.

Hacktoberfest 2019 has officially started, and Twilio is excited to participate in various ways. The event aims to encourage people from around the world to contribute to open-source projects over the next month. To help new contributors get started, Twilio created a project called Open Pixel Art, which guides users through creating their first contribution using git and GitHub. Additionally, Twilio has partnered with maintainers of open-source projects to share knowledge on how to create and maintain welcoming communities. The company also hosts various meetups and events throughout October, allowing participants to connect with others who share similar interests. Moreover, Twilio is offering swag to contributors who meet certain conditions, such as submitting a pull request or contributing multiple pull requests to their projects.

The Open Pixel Art project is a collaborative art project that aims to teach people how to contribute to open-source projects while collaborating on an art project. The project is based on simple principles, such as every user being able to contribute exactly one pixel with a color of their choice, and pixels can be layered. To contribute to the project, users need to create a pull request where they add their pixel to the `data/pixels.json` file. Once validated by bots, the pull request is automatically merged, and the changes are deployed on Netlify. The project also includes a special TwilioQuest mission that guides users through the process of contributing to the project from scratch. The mission teaches various concepts related to open-source projects, including Git and GitHub, and awards experience points as the user progresses.

The Twilio SendGrid Email Validation API has been launched in beta, providing developers with a flexible and efficient way to validate email addresses and improve sending reputation. The API uses machine learning to detect typos, inactive, non-existent, disposable, or shared email addresses, as well as proper syntax, DNS record checks, and suspected bounces. By integrating the API into their workflow, businesses can reduce bounce rates, signal better list hygiene practices, and optimize their sending reputation. With generous monthly allotments for Pro and Premier Email API plans, developers can integrate the API quickly and easily, using comprehensive documentation and real-time data to inform their email validation decisions.

Glitch developed an "Ask Mindy Anything" app that lets hosts solicit live questions from the audience, showcasing Twilio APIs during a SIGNAL 2019 interview. The app uses Twilio's Programmable SMS service to handle incoming questions and includes a form on the landing page for users without roaming plans. The back end of the app consists of an Express server in Node.js, which handles secure HTTPS connections and sets up endpoints for fetching and manipulating submitted questions. The app also has a human curation element to control for abuse, presenting a curated subset of questions to the interviewer during the live event.