Bistri Button : One-Click WebRTC Video Calling
Create and customize your own Bistri “click-to-call” button then add it to any web site in few easy steps!
From now on and if you decide so, anybody can know your presence even before clicking on your Bistri button and then make a video call, start a chat conversation, or send files up to 100Mb each. And all that can happen in one click without the need to register or create and account.
You can customize the size of the button, choose to display or not your online presence on Bistri, and modify the label of the button. This is what it looks like:
and then… wait for the calls :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIfbghHdG1s
It’s that easy!
Bistri just hits 1,000,000 users!
New feature : be notified of new events in Bistri
Someone is sending you a file or commenting on your picture ?
Notifications allow you to not miss out on any event !
Find all the actions made by your contacts in the notifications panel :
- new comment on a file/picture
- new file added by one of your contact
- new friend joining on Bistri
Notifications are accessible in Bistri with a click on this icon : 
You can also see the notifications in the Facebook notifications panel if your gateway is activated.
You just need to click on the notification to access details about it.
Enjoy !
New features : delete, download or forward a file
Dear Bisters,
We listened to you and implemented brand new features so that managing your files on Bistri is easier.
From now on, you can :
- delete a file
- forward a file to another contact
- download the file on your computer
When visualizing a media, you will find those 3 functionalities :
How to delete a file ?
If you shared it with only one Bister, the file will be automatically deleted after you clicked on “Delete”.
If you shared it with multiple contacts, you can choose the specific sharings you want to delete :
How to forward a file ?
You can forward a file to anyone (from Bistri, Facebook, Gmail, Yahoo, Windows Live Messenger, VK) ! Even to an email address.
1. A panel is opening on the right hand side of the pop up :
2. Add a comment and select the contacts :
3. Click on “Send” to forward your file !
We hope you will enjoy these new features !
Enjoy Bistri, and feel free to write a feedback : http://support.bistri.com
Bistri panel participation during WebRTC Conf & Expo
Bistri was part of the panel “The Voice of the Endpoint” during the WebRTC Conference & Expo.
Key browser vendors discussed their plans for putting WebRTC into their products and how they support all of the functionality. The panel members talked about key user adoption issues and how the industry will support and integrate WebRTC.
Panel - The Voice of the Endpoint - Browsers and Application Coverage :
- Arnaud Budkiewicz, Co-Founder & CEO, Bistri
- Phil Edholm (Moderator), PKE Consulting LLC & UC Strategies.com
- Jan Linden Ph.D. , Senior Product Manager, Google
- Thomas Schiavone, Director of Product Management, Twilio
- Mark Weidick, Co Founder, TenHands
What can you say about WebRTC quality of service ?
Pretty good for desktop computer, but mobile devices need hardware codec for vp8 and opus : for now, the video frame rate is low and too much processor resources ( and also battery ) are used.
It’s a break for desktop and mobile interoperability.
How many end users will have a WebRTC enabled device by the end of 2013, 2014?
It will depend on browser’s implementation, interoperability between each other and native implementation on mobile devices.
Most of mobile WebRTC clients will be using native application at the beginning, and will be expended by futur OS support.
How are we going to assure interoperability between browsers and releases?
A version number could be added into PeerConnection object. We have to keep in mind that backward compatibility has to be in the core of the specifications.
How should we build notification into WebRTC (so that someone not on a site can be notified someone wants to interact)?
A solution can be to build a browser plugin using a peerconnection data channel with a dedicated server. When a push is received, the plugin will trigger an event to notify an opened web page.
What is the biggest development headache the implementers have with the current versions? How do we solve this?
For now, webrtc is splitted in two repositories : libjingle and webrtc. Only one webrtc library stored in webrtc repository would be better.
A more exhaustive documentation and more sample code pieces should be useful.
How do we assure that users understand when their node is transmitting audio or video?
For desktop : by turning the camera light on and showing information to the user (as it is already done in Google Chrome browser implementation )
For mobile phones : by using notification light (if any), otherwise a red blinking dot can be encrusted in a corner of the device screen.
How do we control rogue apps – for example one that send out two streams, one to the other party and one to a recording site?
It’s a complex issue : two streams can be sent at the same time if three people want to speak together.
Bistri awarded at WebRTC Conference & Expo
WebRTC Conference and Expo is the opportunity for companies, web application providers, investors and developers to understand the exciting opportunity that WebRTC opens and how it will challenge and change much of today’s communications landscape.
The Conference & Expo took place in San Fransisco between the 27th and 29th of november 2012 and Bistri was gold sponsor of the event.
The WebRTC demonstrations featured applications and solutions that utilize WebRTC today and Bistri took part of it ! Jas Dhillon, Phil Edholm, Carl Ford, Martin Geddes, Jason Hoffman and Blair Pleasant judged the demos to determine five award winners.
And one of those winners was Bistri !
Bistri received the “Beyond the Call” award for the best website implementation that uses WebRTC to communicate in a form other than a phone call.
Bistri video effects and possibility to take snapshot during your video call made a great impression on the jury !
Watch this interview by Blair Pleasant from UCStrategies after Bistri received the award !
New : Bistri introducing the Gallery
Dear Bisters,
Since we launched the private sharing functionality 5 months ago, you probably tried several times to find a picture or a document that you received or sent…
With Bistri, you can share any type of file up to 100 Mb (images, videos, music etc…), with multiple contacts.
From now on, you can visualize all the files shared with your contacts in a gallery of medias. The gallery is showing you all the files you sent or received via Bistri.
The gallery is always accessible with a simple click on this icon in the website header (or in the menu on Bistri mobile application) :
Once inside the gallery, you can filter it to see only the photos or the files shared.
Just click on an image or on a file icon to view it in big and/or download it.
It’s now super easy to see all your files in one place !
We are planning even more features to keep improving your experience with the gallery of shared medias :
- forwarding a file to new contact(s)
- viewing the comments made on a file and adding your own comments
Stay tuned !
Be the First to make WebRTC Video Calls
This is a big day today, with Google’s release of Chrome 23.
For a few hours now, we are really excited to see in real-time on the Bistri platform a number of users making video calls like never before, without Flash or plugin, and without any developer flag to activate.
- It just works -
We can never thank Google WebRTC team enough !
Google is the first browser that has implemented the new W3C P2P communication standard, from the network protocol to the audio and video codecs.
Anyone can enjoy this new experience on Bistri.
This is how to make it work.
1 - If you dont have it yet, download Google Chrome
If you have Chrome, check your version by typing “chrome://chrome/” in the address bar,
it must be > 23.0.1271.64.
Now you are ready to test WebRTC
2 - Make a video call with anybody on Bistri, who would like to test WebRTC with you guys.
He will have to setup is computer the same way as you just did.
If you want to try the demo on your own, just open an incognito window :
Use the keyboard shortcuts Ctrl+Shift+N (Windows, Linux and Chrome OS) and ⌘-Shift-N (Mac)
and copy/paste your Bistri Link to be reached in this incognito window. Your Bistri Link is displayed when your click on “Invite” on the right side of the header on Bistri :
3 - When you receive an incoming call, Chrome let you choose the Webcam and the micro you like to use on the top-right of the screen.
As the video call starts, don’t forget to click on “Allow” on the top bar.
At this moment, if you have more than one audio input or camera, you have the opportunity to change the device that Chrome will use. You can also click on “Always allow this site to use this camera and this microphone”. Note that Chrome will never ask you again about this question, but you can change this option later in the settings of Chrome.
If everything is fine on your computer, you will see this desktop notification :
After a few seconds, tada !
You will see the WebRTC logo on the right.
If you have any question about how Chrome access to your Camera and Microphone, this a direct link on the Google Chrome documentation.
Bistri Live Video Effects & Snapshots
If you click on “Video effects”, you will enjoy several HTML5 Live Video Effets :)
You can also enjoy the quality of the HTML5 Full-Screen Mode, and make some snapshots :
Click on “Take snapshot” :
Ready? Make your best smile, 3-2-1
Tada !
If you like your snapshot, click on “Save” :
Now you can share your snapshot on Facebook, Twitter, or just send the link via email / SMS…
Bistri joins W3C
Bistri has officially become a W3C Member to support open Web standards and contribute to the Web Real-Time Communications Working Group.
Two years ago, when the first drafts of the WebRTC and RTCWeb were written at the W3C and the IETF, we had the vision of a service that would be as simple as a click on a link, without any piece of software to install, respecting open and standards network protocol and codecs.
In June 2012, thanks to the Google implementation of WebRTC, Bistri provided one of the first service on the web that allows p2p video calls, on a production platform.
http://blog.bistri.com/post/26621841066/how-to-run-the-bistri-webrtc-demo-with-chrome-21
To run Bistri, we have experts in :
- JS (knockoutJS, strophe, knockoutJS, Requirejs…)
- WebRTC
- WebGL
- Websql
- XMPP
- …
In 3 months, Bistri reached +225k registered users around the world, 120.000 MAU and 10.000 DAU.
Here is a quick presentation as an introduction :
https://fileupload.bistri.com/58c960ru2v/20121030_Bistri_W3C.pdf
Aurélien Hiron and our CTO Emmanuel Venisse have recently joined as active members.
We’re looking forward to take part is W3C activities and to contribute to the WebRTC WG, as a first step.
UPDATE : W3C Interview: Bistri on WebRTC for Video Chat Services
References :
Video presenting Bistri ! Enjoy !
