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

Originally uploaded by dbillian

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.

Tokbox Privacy Controls

Originally uploaded by dbillian

Receiving unwanted calls or video mail? If so, we have the solution with our awesome privacy controls. Here’s how to get to your privacy controls:

1. The privacy link near the red feedback button on the left sidebar.
2.You can also click on your profile link located on your contact list (your personal url).

Opening the page will present a variety of options for you to choose from. Simply choose the options you want to control & remember to press on ‘Save Settings’.

A video tutorial can also be found here (created by one of our fans).

An earlier post indicated that Tokbox Adobe AIR customers may have been having problems. Here’s an email we sent out to all customers we could identify:

We’ve just released a new version of the TokBox Desktop Client. If you haven’t upgraded yet, please go to the download page to get the latest version.

If you’re still running the old version and are seeing errors, you may need to upgrade the TokBox AIR Desktop Client. On the download page, go to “TokBox AIR Desktop Client” on the right, and click “Get it now”.

Upgrade should take just a few moments. Thanks for using TokBox!

Note: We also recommend working off of a recent version of Flash.

One of the most common issues we see in the customer service channel has to do with webcam and microphone detection issues. A sample of the questions we get:

My friend can’t see me (you need to set your cam and mic settings).

I can’t see my friend (your friend needs to set their cam/mic settings).

My friend can’t hear me (you need to set your mic settings).

I can’t hear my friend (your friend needs to set their mic settings).

Some quick pointers for detecting your camera and microphone:

Make sure you’re working with a recent version of Adobe Flash.

If you’re logged into your account, you can click on the “cam/mic settings” link on the left sidebar to step through fixing your settings.

In a call already? Simply click on the “Settings” option you will see in the call window.

Special cases:

Customers using Linux are more prone to these issues because of compatibility issues with Flash. Linux users should look for support from the Linux discussion forums.

In rare cases, if upgrading to a recent version of Adobe Flash doesn’t fix your detection issues, you might have to update your webcam drivers.

Customers that have recently upgraded to Adobe AIR 1.5 will receive the following message with the Tokbox Desktop client:

“This installation of this application is damaged. Try re-installing or contacting the publisher for assistance.”

We are aware of the problem & we’re working on a fix.  I will post an update to the blog when this has been resolved. I do apologize for any inconvenience.

UPDATE: This should be resolved very late today.

Our CEO, the fabulous Nick Triantos, can often be overheard telling employees that we need to “Eat our own dog food”. While I haven’t eaten dog food just yet, or entirely understand if that is what he truly wants, I take the statement as that he wants employees of Tokbox  to use the various Tokbox products as we would like our customers to. As such, I thought I would share how I use some of the Tokbox products…

Video mail: As I work remotely from Thailand at times, because I have a house and beautiful wife there, video mail is an essential way for me to quickly stay in contact with friends and family back home. Calling from overseas, even using Tokbox video calling, can be a challenge because of the time difference & a quick email can make people not worry about me (Thailand, for example, is about twelve hours ahead). Best of all, they can actually hear my voice and see me! I also recently had the displeasure of breaking my wrist, which means that it was difficult to type so video mailing people became a regular occurrence.

Video calls: If I am telecommuting, overseas or at home in the USA, a quick video call or video chat can prevent a lot of the back & forth that you will generally find with text email. When Tokbox released our sharing YouTube videos and SlideShare presentations in calls, I hadn’t yet had a chance to see it in action. A quick video call to our product & design person allowed me to see it live & capture a screen shot.

How are you using Tokbox? Would you like to make a feature request? Send a video mail to damon@tokbox.com.

Tokbox Video Mail

Originally uploaded by dbillian

Similar to Stephen Colbert’s “Better Know a District” series, Tokbox would like to introduce you to some of our video communication services. Today we focus on video mail.

What is video mail? Video mail is like email, only you can include video. Why would you want to use Tokbox video mail instead of regular email? A few reasons can be found below…

Road warriors, also known as traveling businessmen and businesswomen, will find it to be an easy way to communicate with associates while on the road. Video emails are also a great way to stay In touch with family back home.
Have children you want grandparents to see that live far away? Video emails are a great way to stay in touch.

Backpacking through Southeast Asia? Send a video email back home to let your friends and family know you’re doing fine (I’ve personally done this…without the backpacking part).

Teachers can use video mail to stay in touch with students.

Recruiters are using video mail to contact potential job candidates.

Some quick FAQs about video mail:

You can send video mail by knowing the email address of the person(s) you want to send it to. If you’ve added the person as a contact on Tokbox, you can simply drag their name from your contact list.

Tokbox video mail can be 15 minutes in length.

Tokbox video mail can be embedded on other web sites (locate the Link/Embed option).

Recipients of video mail do not need an account to view or reply.

Unlike some other video mail services you may have used, no special download is required to send a Tokbox video mail.

Additional questions? Visit our Getsatisfaction.com page. You can also send video mail feedback to damon@tokbox.com.

We realize that some of our blog readers may be new to the wonders of Tokbox. As such, we thought we’d help you out with some of the questions you may have about Tokbox.

What do I need to use Tokbox?

·         A webcam is required for video.

·         A recent version of Adobe Flash is recommended for best performance. While no downloads are required to use the service, our site does work off of Adobe’s Flash technology.

What services does Tokbox offer?

Tokbox offers the following video communication services:

·         Video mail: If a picture is worth a thousand words, imagine what video mail can do!

·         Video calling and video chat:  Voice calling is so 2007. Personalize your calls and chats with video.

·         Video conferencing: When talking to one person simply isn’t enough, our handy web-based video conferencing feature easily supports 20-25 people quite well (see it in action)

·         Video blogging tools: Make a public post to embed on your blog or web site. You can even use our embed features that will allow your site visitors to video mail or video call you.

·         Instant Messaging: Add your AOL AIM, MSN Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger & Google GTalk contacts in seconds.

Additional questions: We’re glad to report that many of our employees are active on Getsatisfaction.com. If you don’t find an answer to your question there, please don’t hesitate to contact Tokbox using our feedback form on the site.

Tokbox YouTube Sharing

Originally uploaded by dbillian

Wish that you could always add something more to those Tokbox video calls and conference calls you’ve been making? We listened! Tokbox is happy to announce that you can now share the following in your calls:

YouTube videos
SlideShare presentations
Tokbox video mail

Best of all, no downloads are required to make these new services work because you only need to know the url to get started. Simply click on the “Add Video” button while you’re in a call, or you can drop the url into the chat box to get the video playing in the call.

What does this mean for you? Participants in a call can now discuss these items in real time or just have fun watching each other’s reactions.

As always, please don’t hesitate to contact us with any questions or concerns.