Automated Testing for OpenTok Applications in the Browser

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tokbox-inc_markWeb Application Developers are used to being able to write automated tests for their applications and have them run with every PR and before deploying to production to give a level of confidence that things are not broken. OpenTok and real-time applications in general present new challenges when it comes to writing and running automated tests. There are challenges when it comes to getting access to microphones and cameras, testing multiple participants and installing the plugin for Internet Explorer among others.

There has been lots of work around WebRTC testing automation and our friends at rtc.io and &yet have written some great articles on the subject. However these articles don’t cover some of the specifics of testing OpenTok applications for example testing Internet Explorer and installing the OpenTok plugin for Internet Explorer. If you haven’t already I would recommend taking some time to read the articles by the folks at rtc.io and &yet before coming back to this. Also if you’re not familiar with Travis and Selenium WebDriver you might want to check those out too.

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Why WebRTC Will Drive the Next Billion Dollar Company

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We all have a fascination with the billion dollar startups. Venture Capitalists try and identify them early, media laud them (or bring them down to earth), and early adopters claim discovery. One new technology innovation has the potential to spark the creation of more billion dollar companies, and markets are starting to pay attention. So what is WebRTC, and why is there so much interest?

It begins with recognizing the emergence of two massive trends. The first is the increasing appetite for ‘on demand’. This is evident in everything from movies to car rides, hotels, relationships to groceries to well, everything. And communications is a core part of this, just look at Meerkat and Twitter’s latest acquisition, Periscope, bringing

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WebRTC on the TV: How content producers are turning the audience into even more content

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Lately, we have been thinking and talking about broadcast in multimedia. By now, you might have seen that TokBox is powering applications that go beyond the contemporary one-to-one and small group settings that are typically associated with the current generation of WebRTC apps, to a much larger scale of hundreds or even thousands of people watching and participating in the conversation. At a glance, this might not sound particularly groundbreaking; video has been distributed to large audiences for years. However, a closer look is necessary: with a shift in the underlying technology, TokBox adds the option of real-time communication to the existing large-audience reach of broadcast video, to enable a whole new class of applications.

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Coming Soon: The New & Improved TokBox Account Interface

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tokbox-inc_markSince we launched the new version of our platform back in 2012, one of our goals has always been to make it very easy to manage and understand how your applications are performing. In addition to simplifying how to build applications, we believe that those are the key elements for a great experience.

Over the last year we have been working on a completely new way to interact with your TokBox account. As our user-base grew and diversified, it was obvious that our previous dashboard was not enough and needed to be extended. With the number of new tools and services that are in the works, we realized that it was a good opportunity to future proof our stack and give you, our users, a much better experience.

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TokBox At FinDEVr: Why You Never Need People In A Branch Again

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As behavior changes and as technology continues to transform the financial services industry, it is no surprise that bank branches are closing. Analysts suggest that the number of bank branches open in the US could be cut by within the next decade.  This is to be expected as more and more of what we do as customers is online.  According to research conducted by Accenture customers engage with their banks an average of 17 times a month, but only two of those interactions involve human contact.

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Introducing the One-to-One Sample App

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tokbox-inc_markWe’re excited to announce the release of the OpenTok One-to-One Sample Application across web, iOS and Android.  This open-source application enables you to speed up your development efforts to set up interoperable, production-quality audio/video communication between users.

As you get started with this OpenTok sample, you will learn the best practices used to develop and manage the audio, video, and camera elements on mobile devices or in the browser. We recommend this is as your first step in delivering Real Time Communications (WebRTC) solutions on the OpenTok platform.

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Facebook & Live Video : Broadcast Will Never Be The Same Again

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“The big decision we made was to shift a lot of our video efforts to focus on Live, because it is this emerging new format; not the kind of videos that have been online for the past five or ten years” (Mark Zuckerberg, BuzzFeed)

This week Facebook introduced a suite of new add-ons to its Live feature that allows users to live-stream video. When Facebook announces a new feature, the world usually listens, or in this case watches. In the few months since Facebook Live was launched millions of live streams have been produced and subscribed to, from celebrities to chefs to everyday users.

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The New Way to Workout with WebRTC

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In today’s hyper-connected world, individuals are increasingly looking to online services and solutions to give them more flexibility in their day-to-day life. Industries across the board are now operating online to meet the needs of today’s consumers and make their services more accessible – from e-commerce through to banking.

The healthcare and wellness industry is no exception. Patients can already visit the doctor virtually through their smartphone, or communicate with a specialist on the other side of the world without leaving the comfort of their own home.

But one area which has traditionally relied on physical presence has been exercise. You have to go the gym to get fit, right? Not any longer. This status quo is being disrupted by technologies such as WebRTC and embedded communications, where real-time video makes working out from home not only possible, but also personalized, effective and enjoyable.

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A peek at the future of healthcare

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Over the last couple of years, we’ve seen a huge number of  innovative organizations across many verticals  integrating real time communications into their websites, apps or devices to create new forms of communication and collaboration.  Healthcare and, more specifically, telehealth is an industry in which we have seen a considerable amount of innovation.

We know that the global Telehealth landscape is rapidly changing and will continue to experience significant growth in the next few years.  The US will be in the forefront of this shift with a projected annual growth rate of 56%.

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The Future of Retail Financial Services

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Due to evolving customer expectations when it comes to service, organizations across a range of different industries are having to change their business models in order to retain and gain customers.  One industry in particular that is learning this lesson is the financial services industry.  When it comes to banking, there is always news of branches shutting down, more users using their mobile phones for banking and technology being used to make all transactions quicker and easier.

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