October 2021 Summaries

There has been a recent phenomenon where marketing managers are adopting the "Community Manager" title to mean Social Media Manager, which is misleading as Community Managers in Developer Relations do much more than that. At Vonage, our team of Community Managers work behind the scenes to ensure smooth operations for developer advocates and connect with the community through events, sponsorships, and online initiatives. We support developers by sponsoring events, providing travel and accommodation assistance, and delivering commitments made to sponsorship contracts. Our team also hosts talks, workshops, and hackathons, where Developer Advocates share their expertise on Communications APIs. Additionally, we focus on social impact initiatives, such as environmentalism and diversity and inclusion, through partnerships with non-profits and underrepresented groups in technology. Community Managers also manage our online community by moderating social media accounts and building content, with plans to introduce a Community Hub in the future.

The Vonage Video API provides pre-defined layouts for broadcasting multi-party video sessions, including bestFit, Picture-in-Picture (pip), Vertical Presentation, and Horizontal Presentation. These layouts can be specified when starting a broadcast or changed during a live streaming broadcast using the OpenTok server SDKs or REST API endpoint. Custom layouts can also be created by sending custom as the type and a stylesheet property with CSS. The layout for a broadcast is created in a virtual DOM with a specific structure, and styles can be applied to streams using class selectors or pseudo-class selectors. The Experience Composer allows capturing the layout of a video call, including full web application elements, and broadcasting them.

Hackathons are events where programmers build something in a short period, often with a prize for the winning teams, allowing participants to improve their coding skills, build new things, and try new technologies. Popular hackathons include Hacktoberfest, HackMIT, MHacks, LAHacks, and TechCrunch Disrupt, each offering different experiences and challenges. For inspiration, ideas can be found in various categories such as general hackathon ideas, fintech & edtech hackathon ideas, and hackathon ideas for new coders, including projects like building a bot that trades cryptocurrencies, creating a coin, or developing a video conferencing app for teaching with graphs. With the right mindset and skills, hackathons can be an excellent opportunity to improve programming skills, socialize with others, and create something new and innovative.

The Vonage iOS Client SDK provides step-by-step tutorials on making and receiving phone calls in an iOS application, now available in video form on their YouTube channel. The tutorials cover three main topics: making an app to app call, making an in-app phone call, and receiving an in-app phone call. To follow along with the videos, users will need the Vonage CLI and Node.JS installed. The tutorials are designed to help developers build mobile applications that integrate voice calling capabilities.

beebee, a ride-sharing platform for electric scooters in Southeast Europe, has gained significant traction despite being founded and launched only last year, with over 27,000 rides completed and 11 tons of CO2 emissions reduced. The company's secret sauce lies in providing high-quality, user-friendly devices and technology designed with safety and sustainability in mind, differentiating it from competitors such as public transport, e-bikes, and taxi companies. Despite facing challenges, including not testing their platform on real users, beebee has proven to be an excellent alternative means of transport during the pandemic and is now poised for expansion into new markets and recognition as a sharing platform in SEE smart cities.

As a software developer with 15 years of experience, Matt has recently transitioned into Developer Advocacy at Vonage, leveraging his passion for passing on knowledge and helping others discover their own expertise. With a background in C# and previous experience as a network administrator, Matt is now focused on advocacy and community engagement. He enjoys live streaming on Twitch and interacting with people on Twitter, where he shares updates about his journey as a Developer Advocate. Outside of technology, Matt enjoys cycling, brewing beer, DIY projects, and spending time with his family.

This is a tutorial on building a Facebook Messenger bot that checks the status of a user's favorite restaurant using the Wolt API and alerts them when it's online again. The bot uses the Vonage Messages API to send messages to the user. The code sets up an Express server, connects to the Vonage Messages API sandbox, calls the Wolt API for restaurant information, checks if the received restaurant is online, sends a message to the user based on the restaurant status, and continuously checks the list of offline restaurants for a status change. The bot uses an in-memory database to keep track of each restaurant that gets requested. The code also includes features such as sending messages with emojis, adding restaurants to a list of offline restaurants, and using a constant variable SENDER to pass through the sender id information of the Sandbox account. The tutorial provides examples of how to use the Vonage Messages API, Wolt API, and Express server to build a messaging bot.

The Vonage Client SDK has released a set of Web Components that can be easily integrated into applications, allowing developers to focus on other aspects of their application while the components handle responsibilities such as event listening and sending. The main feedback received from users was around styling, which led to an explanation on how to style Web Components using CSS custom properties and the `::part` pseudo-element. This allows developers to customize various parts of a component without affecting the author's default styling. The Client SDK UI Web Components are demonstrated with examples, showcasing how to target specific parts of each component and apply styles accordingly.

The Vonage Dev YouTube channel hosts a video series called One Dev Minute, which shares knowledge in bite-sized chunks. The goal of this series is to educate developers about various topics related to Vonage's developer platform. In the latest episode, Amanda Cavallaro, a Developer Advocate at Vonage, discusses Call Control Objects (NCCOs), which are sets of instructions that instruct Vonage on how to control call flows in Vonage applications. NCCOs can be used to connect calls, send synthesized speech, stream audio, or record calls. The format of an NCCO is important, as it describes the flow of a call and must include one or more actions that are ordered in a specific sequence. Options can be used to customize these actions, and NCCOs are represented by JSON arrays. Developers can also join multiple calls into one conversation conference call and leverage speech recognition to handle user input, including accepting DTMF, speech, or both. The Vonage Dev YouTube channel provides more resources related to NCCOs, including links to the developer community Slack.

RestApp is a food and beverage industry startup that offers online ordering platforms and cloud-based sales automation for restaurants, aiming to deliver superior customer experiences, improve operations, and reduce costs by utilizing advanced technologies like artificial intelligence. Founded in 2018, RestApp has developed an easy-to-use sales system, marketing tools, loyalty programs, cost and stock management, online ordering system, and mobile applications to help restaurants focus on their core food and services. The startup differentiates itself through its focus and simplicity, offering a stable and loved ordering platform by customers. RestApp is self-funded and has overcome challenges such as cultural differences, customer behaviors, and laws in various countries by making its platform flexible.

The text revolves around an interview with Mike Driscoll, a software engineer and author of several books on Python. The conversation covers various aspects of his work, including his journey to becoming a Python developer, his experience as an author, and his contributions to the RealPython.com community. He shares his thoughts on popular Python trends and features, such as structural pattern matching, computer vision libraries, and mobile development. Mike also discusses his favorite Python libraries, including wxPython and ReportLab, and his wishes for future Python developments, like mobile support. The interview provides valuable insights into Mike's experiences and perspectives on the Python community, making it an interesting read for both beginners and experienced developers.

The Bots Brasil community has been instrumental in promoting conversational interfaces, artificial intelligence, and bots in Latin America since 2016. The 2021 conference, "bringing conversations together", was a success with over 1500 registrations, featuring talks on various topics such as careers, AI, and UX design. Vonage was a gold sponsor and had a booth where team members discussed APIs and bots from different angles and perspectives. The event showcased the potential of conversational interfaces to bridge distances through digital transformation and featured several successful use cases, including a Facebook Messenger bot and a WhatsApp bot for the Israeli Employment office.

I am Richard, Director of Developer Relations at Vonage, and I'm excited to introduce you to our amazing developer relations team. They're awesome, really nice, and fantastic, and they work hard to support developers like you with SDKs, tools, content, events, a startup program, and more. Whether you're into Ruby or Python, .NET or Java, iOS or Android, we've got an SDK for you, and our team is creating tons of amazing content to help you succeed with our APIs. We love events and want to meet you in person, and we're building a world-class startup program to connect you with the best resources and people. I'm looking forward to meeting you at an event and sharing my secret dinosaur stickers!

Richard Süselbeck, who is passionate about dinosaurs, has joined Vonage as the Director of Developer Relations. His enthusiasm for supporting developers through advocacy and management has been a driving force in his career for nearly a decade. At Vonage, he leads a team that creates robust SDKs, develops engaging content, and organizes community events to assist developers in utilizing Vonage's APIs effectively. The team also runs a startup program to connect entrepreneurs with valuable resources and communication APIs. Süselbeck emphasizes the collaborative and supportive nature of his team, which is dedicated to enhancing the experience of the developer community. He invites developers to engage with him and the team on social media for further interaction and support.