Ribbit Phone, the VOIP library for Flex/Flash, is awesome and simply amazing. In less then 5 minutes, using the sample code, I was able to create a Flex project that made and received phone calls! Wait, it gets better. Not only can I make and receive calls, I have access to voicemail. As a developer, I can programatically manipulate my voicemail. Hold on, it doesn't stop there . . . voicemail is automagically transcribed to text!!
So, I'm in the throws of putting together Spyke. Spyke = Amazon S3/EC2 + IM functionality + webcam chat + Ribbitphone. Technically not so challenging, more a user experience nut that needs to be cracked. I might break down and get on the Facebook application bandwagon for exposure (once the Ribbit Phone forums open up, I'm going to find out the account setup process). Anyway, should be fun.
I know I know, I have been away too long. My startup was acquired and now I'm working for the MAN. I'm still working on multi-touch software (using diffused illumination now instead of FITR) but what brings me back to blogging is the anticipation of being able to develop a Flex/Air application based on the Ribbit Phone VOIP component. Here's a snippet of an e-mail I got today:
"You have been chosen as a finalist from among the hundreds of applicants to Ribbit's Phone Component pre-release program! We've whittled the number of applicants to a select pool of highly qualified folks with really cool ideas. Our next step is to listen to the details of your ideas and make our final selection."
My fingers are crossed. If I'm chosen I will blog about my experience developing Spyke, a real-time, ad supported social networking/collaborating video/phone/text chat application in Flex/Air using the Ribbit Phone Component for the front end and Amazon S3/EC2 on the backend. I plan on it being compatible with AOL/MSN/GTalk/YIM and OpenID/SAML/(whatever else is easy to port social graphs) and last but not least . . . open source. Yes, I will also create a "widget" for other networks using something like Clearspring/Gigya.
If I have enough time, I'm planning on adding a photo/Powerpoint slideshow and mp3 broadcaster. I am going to try and make this will work with FlashLite 3 too.
In other news, ffmpeg plans to decode NellyMoser!!!