TokBox Blog

Even Santa has discovered TokBox

2008-12-15T18:17:06Z

Every year as a kid I would faithfully write my letter to Santa and leave it on the hearth hoping that it would be spirited away up the chimney and magically find its way in to the hands of Santa and his helpers. Of course I never got a reply, but more often than not I was lucky enough to get what I wished for.

This Christmas, my nephews, nieces, godchildren and little friends can rely on the magic of TokBox to send their Christmas list to Santa. As we speak they are busy recording their video mails to Santa, promising that they’ve been good all year and sharing their wishes for train sets and helicopters, as well as asking tricky questions like “how do you fit down the chimney, Santa?”.

The video mails they’ve sent are funny, heart-warming and I just want to play them over and over again. The good news is thanks to the wonders of TokBox I can do just that, as well as send them on to all their friends and family so that they stand an even greater chance of having their Christmas wishes come true.

Best of all, on or before Christmas Eve, all the children will be getting a personalized reply from Santa, something that never happened with any of my letters. So get the children in your life to send a video mail to Santa and experience a little Christmas magic.
Happy Holidays
Micky

Tacos and jobs in Sunnyvale

2008-12-11T21:53:11Z

A few days ago we heard the sad news that Yahoo was going to go through another round of layoffs. Since TokBox is still hiring, we thought we would try to get the word out about our open job positions, so we decided to bring a TokBox Taco Truck to near the Yahoo campus. We gave out free tacos and job listings to anyone who cared to come by to grab some grub. It’s unfortunate that Yahoo had to do a layoff during the holiday season, but we tried our best to lighten the mood. We had a great time, fed a bunch of hungry people, and ended up meeting a lot of great people from Yahoo and some of the other nearby companies. I’d like to specifically thank Thomas and his crew… they made some yummy tacos!

And obviously, if you’re interested in the roles at TokBox, we’d love to talk with you, even if you’re not a former Yahoo.

Sending Holiday Video Greetings for Charity this year

2008-12-10T19:04:51Z

It’s that time of year again, the Holidays, and as a Brit living in the US, right about now I normally start panicking about how on earth I am going to get Holiday cards out to all of my friends before December 25th. Sending Holiday cards requires me to co-ordinate so many moving pieces - cards, postal addresses, stamps AND a mailbox - that I find it overwhelming and often I give up before I have even started. But then I discovered TokBox and loved it so much I came to work here! So, this year, I am going to be sending a video Holiday Greeting to all my friends and family.
Given I communicate with all of them via email, it’s really quick and easy (and free!) to send them a Video Greeting Card and far more fun than a traditional, cheesy card. Better still, for every Holiday Video Greeting sent between 10th and 24th December, we will be donating $0.05 to Child Foundation. They do amazing work supporting children around the world, ensuring they get a great education and a great start in life. So, take a look at the templates and if you’re inspired, send a greeting card knowing that your friends and family will love it and you’ll be doing something great for charity.
Happy Holidays
Micky

New Stuff: Tokbox Holiday Video Mail Greeting Cards

2008-12-08T19:15:37Z

Tokbox Holiday Video Greeting Card TemplatesOriginally uploaded by dbillian
Just a quick post to highlight that Tokbox now has holiday greeting card templates available.

Better Know a Feature: Tokbox Video Conferencing

2008-11-25T23:18:25Z

Tokbox Video Conferencing

Originally uploaded by dbillian

Try Tokbox Video Conferencing when one person simply isn’t enough. As you may have some questions about video conferencing, I thought I would answer some of them for you…

Do other video conferernce participants need to have a Tokbox account?

-Only the party that initiates the video conference call requires a Tokbox account. You can simply send the URL by IM or email to the parties you would like to participate. If you would like to start a video conference from your contact list, you can do that too!

Do other participants need to have a webcam?

-Participants can decide to listen in only, if they wish.

How many people can I get into a video conference?
-20-25 works quite well. While you can squeeze in more, things like ambient noise and screen size do come into play.

Do I need to download anything to use video conferencing?
-No download is required. Simply make sure you’re working off of a recent version of Adobe Flash for best performance.

Is there a charge for the video conferencing service?
-No. Nothing is better than free, after all.

Have other questions or feedback? Send a video mail to damon@tokbox.com.

New to Tokbox? Contacting Customer Service

2008-11-20T19:28:40Z

New to Tokbox? Contacting Customer Service

Originally uploaded by dbillian

We all know that being new to any service can lead to a lot of questions. As we realize that we don’t have a lot of product tutorials on the site (yet!), I did want to take a moment to point you to some resources where you can get answers to most of our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs).

Our ‘Help’ link currently points to Getsatisfaction.com. The reasons we use Get Satisfaction are as follows:

1.You don’t need to register to use Get Satisfaction (you can search the help without registering).

2.Typing in keywords to your inquiry will return matches to relevant topics (the image at the top of the blog post shows what happens when you type in “cam” in the “Ask a question” box).

3.You can also specify which Tokbox feature you have a question with, such as Tokbox video mail, simply by going to the products and services listed on the right of the page.

4. It can help you get an answer to your question faster than we can respond.

If you still find that you need help from Tokbox Customer Service, here’s what we need to help:

1. Please use the red feedback button you see on various parts the site.

2. Your account email address.

3. The Tokbox product or feature you’re having an issue with (video mail, video calls, etc.).

4. A brief, detailed explanation of your problem. “Not working”, while brief, doesn’t help us identify what you’re having an issue with.

New Stuff: Tokbox Thanksgiving Video Mail Themes

2008-11-20T13:18:43Z

New Stuff: Thanksgiving Video Mail Templates

Originally uploaded by dbillian

Want a quick way to send a Thanksgiving message to friends and family far away? Send them a Tokbox video mail with a Thanksgiving theme. You will see the option under “Greeting Cards” when you login to your account (left sidebar).

Stuff You Were Afraid to Ask Tokbox

2008-11-20T02:34:55Z

tokbox

Originally uploaded by dbillian

Tokbox customers generally have questions about the service that may not be readily apparent on the site. As such, I thought I would help with some of the questions…

Is Tokbox a free service?
-Yes! While we may introduce premium services down the road, also called freemium products, the basic services should remain free.

Will Tokbox work outside of the USA?
-Yes. Just be sure to use a recent version of Adobe Flash for best performance. Keep in mind that the internet connection speeds of the other party may affect the quality to some degree (ADSL, for example, is not the same quality as someone working on a cable modem).

Do I need to be logged into Tokbox to use the services?
-If you don’t have our spiffy Adobe AIR download, yes.

Does Tokbox have a Facebook application?
-Yep. We have a Firefox extension to Facebook chat. We even have a Facebook Fan Page.

Do I need to download anything to do things like video conferencing?
-Nope. Just be sure to use a recent version of Adobe Flash for best performance.

Is Lauren single?
-No. Next question.

Are any employees on Twitter?
-Yes.

Other questions or feedback? Video mail damon@tokbox.com.

New to Tokbox? Adding IM (Instant Messaging) Accounts to Tokbox

2008-11-19T22:45:30Z

New to Tokbox? Adding IM (Instant Messaging) Accounts to Tokbox

Originally uploaded by dbillian

You’ve heard by now that Tokbox is the best way to have video chats and calls with your IM contacts. Problem: You don’t know how to get started adding your contacts from your IM services. Well, I’m here to help…

If you would like to add your IM contacts, simply go to the ‘Find Friends’ option you will see on your contact list. You would then want to click on the link for ‘Add IM Accounts’, which will then open up a window showing all of the IM services you can add as contacts.

Services currently supported:
-AOL AIM
-Yahoo Messenger
-Google GTalk (This does not add with GTalk working through Google Apps.)
-MSN Messenger

Adding the account(s):
If you want to add AOL AIM, for example, you would want to click on the icon for AIM (the little running guy) & then enter in the user name and password you use to access your AIM account. A few seconds (or a little more later) you should see these contacts appear in your Tokbox contact list.

What can you do once you’ve added these contacts?
-Instant Message them from the Tokbox site
-Start a video call or video chat with them

What can’t you do?
-Video mail (video mail requires a destination email address as well, something that IM alone doesn’t provide). You can, however, add friends by email address as well!

Fun fact:
Did you know that Tokbox powers the video chat on Meebo and Digsby?

Questions? Send a video mail to damon@tokbox.com.

New to Tokbox? Modifying Your Profile

2008-11-18T23:24:01Z

New to Tokbox? Modifying Your Profile

Originally uploaded by dbillian

UPDATE: The ‘Profile’ link can now be found on the left sidebar.

Tired of being an anonymous face in the crowd? If so, modify your Tokbox profile to let the world know how fantastic you are! Here’s how you do it…

If you login to your Tokbox account, which we hope you do often, you will see your personalized url at the top of your contact list. Clicking on that URL will show what your profile currently looks like, with an ‘Edit My Profile’ link appearing on the left of the page.

Clicking on the edit option will allow you to do things like:

Change your user name/url.

Upload a picture or change one.

Enter in items like your birth date, gender & location (don’t worry…we won’t disclose your actual birth date).

Allow who can see your contact list.

Enter in your interests and hobbies.

Have other suggestions for profile enhancement? Send a video mail to damon@tokbox.com.