8 ms·

Icecomm – Add Serverless Video Chat and Data Transfer to Your Site

179 points by trizko 12y ago

mijoharas 12y ago
I get a bunch of 520 errors for the js resources and a 500 for the d3.js (charting). In addition: Uncaught Error: [$injector:modulerr] http://errors.angularjs.org/1.2.18/$injector/modulerr?p0=tawnyOwlApp&p1=Err…gleapis.com%2Fajax%2Flibs%2Fangularjs%2F1.2.18%2Fangular.min.js%3A18%3A139)
- nodejsisbest 12y ago
  Same for me. Getting 500 errors everywhere. I'll just check back at a later date when the resource is back up!
  - nmandel 12y ago
    Thanks for your patience. It should be working fine now!
chicofarm 12y ago
is this a service to help easier establish a peer-to-peer connection? If so, how much will it cost? and what are the long term plans?
- willsentance 12y ago
  Hey Will here (one of the creators). Yep we wanted to make setting up WebRTC - allowing P2P connections client-to-client, without a server as simple as possible. The pricing plan is not fully worked out- we're thinking something similar to Kimono labs with free up to a certain number of connections and then potentially a paid tier to cover costs
  - willsentance 12y ago
    But it's early days - thoughts on the kimono labs route?
qznc 12y ago
Why isn't there a Google Hangout clone with WebRTC already? It seems so easy to setup (similar to url shortener or pastebins), but there is no standard site everybody uses (like tinyurl.com before everybody made his own). edit: Thanks for the suggestions, I appreciate your work. My point is that there is no standard yet. Is it just too early or does Hangout/Skype have some inherent advantage?
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
- hbbio 12y ago
  There is https://tokbox.com/opentok/ https://tokbox.com/opentok/ It's probably the backend used by the forthcoming Mozilla Hello, as the two companies have ties (in Firefox OS).
  - Excavator 12y ago
    Looks like it (about:config?filter=loop.CSP) default-src 'self' about: file: chrome:; img-src 'self' data: http://www.gravatar.com/ http://www.gravatar.com/ about: file: chrome:; font-src 'none'; connect-src wss://.tokbox.com https://*.opentok.com https://*.opentok.com https://*.tokbox.com https://*.tokbox.com wss://.mozilla.com https://*.mozilla.org https://*.mozilla.org wss://*.mozaws.net; media-src blob:
- willsentance 12y ago
  That was part of why we built this. Give me a message at icecomm.io@gmail.com - I'd love to help you build one!
  - fit2rule 12y ago
    Thought of doing a TogetherJS-like feature, too? I'm already using TogetherJS, and icecomm.io and TogetherJS seem to play pretty nice together .. but it'd be nice to have it all in one package, obviously ..
- zongitsrinzler 12y ago
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
tmcdonald02 12y ago
I believe google hangouts has just started offering webrtc https://gigaom.com/2014/07/06/so-long-plug-ins-google-hangouts-works-with-webrtc/ https://gigaom.com/2014/07/06/so-long-plug-ins-google-hangou...
- joemccall86 12y ago
  It's plugin-free if you use their own browser (chrome/chromium). So I have to assume there's something non-standard going on or else Firefox wouldn't need a plugin.
superpope99 12y ago
JSFiddle confirmed my preconceptions of the demographics of Hacker News
- Gigablah 12y ago
  Go on...
EGreg 12y ago
What's wrong with just using WebRTC with an open source layer on top? Tried this on an iPhone and getting a blank black box.
- trizko 12y ago
  WebRTC is only extensively implemented on Desktop Chrome, Desktop Firefox, and Android Chrome.
  - dagingaa 12y ago
    Opera and the newly released Vivaldi also works, but they are based on chromium/blink engines so.
- nmandel 12y ago
  Hey, it's Nick, another one of the creators. Icecomm provides the STUN/TURN servers and backend signaling servers for convenience/ease of use for the frontend.
  - fit2rule 12y ago
    Can you elaborate on whats needed on the backend to make this happen? I'm new to WebRTC, and am very excited about the possibility of adding realtime video chat to my site - but I really don't want another third-party involved (no offense). I'd be quite happy to purchase a server license, as long as I could run that server wherever I wanted and not depend on hosting it elsewhere ..
    - nmandel 12y ago
      We actually have a page dedicated to the behind-the-scenes stuff that should answer your question: http://icecomm.io/how-it-works http://icecomm.io/how-it-works
      - fit2rule 12y ago
        Cool - thanks for that! I'll dig into it.
splitbrain 12y ago
The HTTPS version shows just a withe page. I had to disable my SSL enforcer for the domain to see anything.
chias 12y ago
I keep trying to sign up but the verification link doesn't seem to do anything? Just plops me back to the homepage, subsequent logins fail, and subsequent registration attempts with the same info succeed (to the point of sending me the confirmation email)... am I doing something dumb?
- nmandel 12y ago
  Hey, thanks for the heads up- we are taking a look at this right now, seems like it was a scaling issue.
  - ionwake 12y ago
    How many connections can you have until one has to pay? what does signing up offer?
    - nmandel 12y ago
      Since the app is so new there is currently no paid component to it. Signing up allows you to get an API key which you need to include in your Icecomm code.
- fit2rule 12y ago
  I found the verification link doesn't say anything, but after login I was presented with the API key and then I was able to get things working...
iagooar 12y ago
Looks like you can create a chatroulette clone with just a few lines of JS, not bad as a demo of what you can do with it.
sagivo 12y ago
it's not 8 lines.. you need to manually add 8 lines but you also link another source file that is pretty large: http://cdn.icecomm.io/icecomm.js http://cdn.icecomm.io/icecomm.js
- treehau5 12y ago
  You can say the same thing in any language. "it's not 8 lines.. you need to manually add 8 lines but you also import java.util.ArrayList that is pretty large" or to stick with dynamic flavors.. "it's not 8 lines.. you need to manually add 8 lines but you also include this module: <link to large module>"
  - sagivo 12y ago
    so there is one line NoSQL server? `git clone git@github.com:mongodb/mongo.git` the point is that you have to choose your wording and make sure you say that it's not "only" 8 lines of code, it's only 8 lines of settings...
- stephenboyd 12y ago
  It's 8 lines to add Icecomm to your site—hundreds of lines to create Icecomm.
mwignall 12y ago
Whoa, instant awkwardness going on in the jsfiddle page from people who changed the 'audio' parameter to true
sagivo 12y ago
jsfiddle is the new chatroulette!
ddebernardy 12y ago
The jsfiddle demo doesn't seem to be working (OS X / Safari)
- 7Z7 12y ago
  Same here (CentOS / Chrome)
- razster 12y ago
  After a few tests it seems to work with Windows/Linux while running chrome only. I had issues with FF/Opera/Saf/IE.
tombrossman 12y ago
This looks interesting but when I scrolled down I saw the message "Built for Chrome" and I'm left with the impression that this software is for Chrome only. Is that correct? I use Firefox so won't be able to use it. If the notice is just about the website, I'm left wondering why they would include an advertisement for a browser from an advertising company on the site? Users that are okay with ads and vendor lock-in already have plenty of bigger and more established options, so I'm still trying to figure out how this service might appeal to me - maybe not at all?
- hardwaresofton 12y ago
  My guess is that their product is supplying the fallback TURN/STUN for WebRTC connections, and some multi-person call algorithms. WebRTC is by no means Chrome only (see: http://blog.mozilla.org/futurereleases/2014/10/16/test-the-new-firefox-hello-webrtc-feature-in-firefox-beta/ http://blog.mozilla.org/futurereleases/2014/10/16/test-the-n...). They may currently only have tested on chrome browsers (maybe someone tried it once in FF and something broke so they didn't bother).
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
- trizko 12y ago
  built for chrome, still building for firefox.. lol The 2 browsers still have not agreed completely on implementations for WebRTC, but we are definitely working on it. Thank you
  - tombrossman 12y ago
    Okay, well good luck with the project then. I think I'll stick with Firefox Hello for now, but I'd love to be able to implement a 'video click to call' button on a website using WebRTC. Much like Skype but using no plugins and with the option to self-host it.
ionwake 12y ago
Has anyone been able to login yet? what is the benefit of signing up?
- trizko 12y ago
  We're having some scaling problems that will be resolved very soon. The benefit of signing up is getting the API key so that you can start using Icecomm. Thank you everyone!
fit2rule 12y ago
Looks pretty good .. but I had some hiccups that I haven't quite debugged yet. It appears that the <video> object needs to be instantiated somewhere earlier than the (in my case bowser'ified) icecomm script .. and it was kind of hit and miss between me on Chrome/OSX, my buddy on Chrome/OSX and my other buddy on Chrome/Linux whether we could get the Linux-guy into our session .. I'll chalk it up to a loose and fast hack at trying to make this work on our site, but .. generally .. its freaking awesome! Felt like the intro to the Brady Bunch when we got some connections, lol .. EDIT: doesn't work with Safari on OSX, it seems .. dunno why, maybe autoplay=true is not valid? I'm not a web guy, though, so could also just be PEBCAK.
trizko 12y ago
UPDATE: Signup/Login problems have been fixed! Please let us know if you are having more troubles. Thank you
spiritplumber 12y ago
Does this work with Android?
- trizko 12y ago
  Chrome for Android should work, but we've only tested on 1 Android device so far.
- Grazester 12y ago
  Sure does work with the latest Chrome on Android
ChicagoBoy11 12y ago
What's the advantage of this over PeerJS? What is your guys' pricing going to look like? Can I deploy this to something with thousands of users already?
gmyameen 12y ago
This is a silly question. How is this not a "thing" already? What am I missing? None the less, great work!
alexhawkins 12y ago
This is sick!

179 points by trizko 12y ago

I get a bunch of 520 errors for the js resources and a 500 for the d3.js (charting). In addition: Uncaught Error: [$injector:modulerr] http://errors.angularjs.org/1.2.18/$injector/modulerr?p0=tawnyOwlApp&p1=Err…gleapis.com%2Fajax%2Flibs%2Fangularjs%2F1.2.18%2Fangular.min.js%3A18%3A139)

nodejsisbest 12y ago
Same for me. Getting 500 errors everywhere. I'll just check back at a later date when the resource is back up!
- nmandel 12y ago
  Thanks for your patience. It should be working fine now!

chicofarm 12y ago

is this a service to help easier establish a peer-to-peer connection? If so, how much will it cost? and what are the long term plans?

willsentance 12y ago
Hey Will here (one of the creators). Yep we wanted to make setting up WebRTC - allowing P2P connections client-to-client, without a server as simple as possible. The pricing plan is not fully worked out- we're thinking something similar to Kimono labs with free up to a certain number of connections and then potentially a paid tier to cover costs
- willsentance 12y ago
  But it's early days - thoughts on the kimono labs route?

qznc 12y ago

Why isn't there a Google Hangout clone with WebRTC already? It seems so easy to setup (similar to url shortener or pastebins), but there is no standard site everybody uses (like tinyurl.com before everybody made his own). edit: Thanks for the suggestions, I appreciate your work. My point is that there is no standard yet. Is it just too early or does Hangout/Skype have some inherent advantage?

deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
hbbio 12y ago
There is https://tokbox.com/opentok/ https://tokbox.com/opentok/ It's probably the backend used by the forthcoming Mozilla Hello, as the two companies have ties (in Firefox OS).
- Excavator 12y ago
  Looks like it (about:config?filter=loop.CSP) default-src 'self' about: file: chrome:; img-src 'self' data: http://www.gravatar.com/ http://www.gravatar.com/ about: file: chrome:; font-src 'none'; connect-src wss://.tokbox.com https://*.opentok.com https://*.opentok.com https://*.tokbox.com https://*.tokbox.com wss://.mozilla.com https://*.mozilla.org https://*.mozilla.org wss://*.mozaws.net; media-src blob:
willsentance 12y ago
That was part of why we built this. Give me a message at icecomm.io@gmail.com - I'd love to help you build one!
- fit2rule 12y ago
  Thought of doing a TogetherJS-like feature, too? I'm already using TogetherJS, and icecomm.io and TogetherJS seem to play pretty nice together .. but it'd be nice to have it all in one package, obviously ..
zongitsrinzler 12y ago

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

tmcdonald02 12y ago

I believe google hangouts has just started offering webrtc https://gigaom.com/2014/07/06/so-long-plug-ins-google-hangouts-works-with-webrtc/ https://gigaom.com/2014/07/06/so-long-plug-ins-google-hangou...

joemccall86 12y ago
It's plugin-free if you use their own browser (chrome/chromium). So I have to assume there's something non-standard going on or else Firefox wouldn't need a plugin.

superpope99 12y ago

JSFiddle confirmed my preconceptions of the demographics of Hacker News

Gigablah 12y ago
Go on...

EGreg 12y ago

What's wrong with just using WebRTC with an open source layer on top? Tried this on an iPhone and getting a blank black box.

trizko 12y ago
WebRTC is only extensively implemented on Desktop Chrome, Desktop Firefox, and Android Chrome.
- dagingaa 12y ago
  Opera and the newly released Vivaldi also works, but they are based on chromium/blink engines so.
nmandel 12y ago
Hey, it's Nick, another one of the creators. Icecomm provides the STUN/TURN servers and backend signaling servers for convenience/ease of use for the frontend.
- fit2rule 12y ago
  Can you elaborate on whats needed on the backend to make this happen? I'm new to WebRTC, and am very excited about the possibility of adding realtime video chat to my site - but I really don't want another third-party involved (no offense). I'd be quite happy to purchase a server license, as long as I could run that server wherever I wanted and not depend on hosting it elsewhere ..
  - nmandel 12y ago
    We actually have a page dedicated to the behind-the-scenes stuff that should answer your question: http://icecomm.io/how-it-works http://icecomm.io/how-it-works
    - fit2rule 12y ago
      Cool - thanks for that! I'll dig into it.

splitbrain 12y ago

The HTTPS version shows just a withe page. I had to disable my SSL enforcer for the domain to see anything.

chias 12y ago

I keep trying to sign up but the verification link doesn't seem to do anything? Just plops me back to the homepage, subsequent logins fail, and subsequent registration attempts with the same info succeed (to the point of sending me the confirmation email)... am I doing something dumb?

nmandel 12y ago
Hey, thanks for the heads up- we are taking a look at this right now, seems like it was a scaling issue.
- ionwake 12y ago
  How many connections can you have until one has to pay? what does signing up offer?
  - nmandel 12y ago
    Since the app is so new there is currently no paid component to it. Signing up allows you to get an API key which you need to include in your Icecomm code.
fit2rule 12y ago
I found the verification link doesn't say anything, but after login I was presented with the API key and then I was able to get things working...

iagooar 12y ago

Looks like you can create a chatroulette clone with just a few lines of JS, not bad as a demo of what you can do with it.

sagivo 12y ago

it's not 8 lines.. you need to manually add 8 lines but you also link another source file that is pretty large: http://cdn.icecomm.io/icecomm.js http://cdn.icecomm.io/icecomm.js

treehau5 12y ago
You can say the same thing in any language. "it's not 8 lines.. you need to manually add 8 lines but you also import java.util.ArrayList that is pretty large" or to stick with dynamic flavors.. "it's not 8 lines.. you need to manually add 8 lines but you also include this module: <link to large module>"
- sagivo 12y ago
  so there is one line NoSQL server? `git clone git@github.com:mongodb/mongo.git` the point is that you have to choose your wording and make sure you say that it's not "only" 8 lines of code, it's only 8 lines of settings...
stephenboyd 12y ago
It's 8 lines to add Icecomm to your site—hundreds of lines to create Icecomm.

mwignall 12y ago

Whoa, instant awkwardness going on in the jsfiddle page from people who changed the 'audio' parameter to true

sagivo 12y ago

jsfiddle is the new chatroulette!

ddebernardy 12y ago

The jsfiddle demo doesn't seem to be working (OS X / Safari)

7Z7 12y ago
Same here (CentOS / Chrome)
razster 12y ago
After a few tests it seems to work with Windows/Linux while running chrome only. I had issues with FF/Opera/Saf/IE.

tombrossman 12y ago

This looks interesting but when I scrolled down I saw the message "Built for Chrome" and I'm left with the impression that this software is for Chrome only. Is that correct? I use Firefox so won't be able to use it. If the notice is just about the website, I'm left wondering why they would include an advertisement for a browser from an advertising company on the site? Users that are okay with ads and vendor lock-in already have plenty of bigger and more established options, so I'm still trying to figure out how this service might appeal to me - maybe not at all?

hardwaresofton 12y ago
My guess is that their product is supplying the fallback TURN/STUN for WebRTC connections, and some multi-person call algorithms. WebRTC is by no means Chrome only (see: http://blog.mozilla.org/futurereleases/2014/10/16/test-the-new-firefox-hello-webrtc-feature-in-firefox-beta/ http://blog.mozilla.org/futurereleases/2014/10/16/test-the-n...). They may currently only have tested on chrome browsers (maybe someone tried it once in FF and something broke so they didn't bother).
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
trizko 12y ago
built for chrome, still building for firefox.. lol The 2 browsers still have not agreed completely on implementations for WebRTC, but we are definitely working on it. Thank you
- tombrossman 12y ago
  Okay, well good luck with the project then. I think I'll stick with Firefox Hello for now, but I'd love to be able to implement a 'video click to call' button on a website using WebRTC. Much like Skype but using no plugins and with the option to self-host it.

ionwake 12y ago

Has anyone been able to login yet? what is the benefit of signing up?

trizko 12y ago
We're having some scaling problems that will be resolved very soon. The benefit of signing up is getting the API key so that you can start using Icecomm. Thank you everyone!

fit2rule 12y ago

Looks pretty good .. but I had some hiccups that I haven't quite debugged yet. It appears that the <video> object needs to be instantiated somewhere earlier than the (in my case bowser'ified) icecomm script .. and it was kind of hit and miss between me on Chrome/OSX, my buddy on Chrome/OSX and my other buddy on Chrome/Linux whether we could get the Linux-guy into our session .. I'll chalk it up to a loose and fast hack at trying to make this work on our site, but .. generally .. its freaking awesome! Felt like the intro to the Brady Bunch when we got some connections, lol .. EDIT: doesn't work with Safari on OSX, it seems .. dunno why, maybe autoplay=true is not valid? I'm not a web guy, though, so could also just be PEBCAK.

trizko 12y ago

UPDATE: Signup/Login problems have been fixed! Please let us know if you are having more troubles. Thank you

spiritplumber 12y ago

Does this work with Android?

trizko 12y ago
Chrome for Android should work, but we've only tested on 1 Android device so far.
Grazester 12y ago
Sure does work with the latest Chrome on Android

ChicagoBoy11 12y ago

What's the advantage of this over PeerJS? What is your guys' pricing going to look like? Can I deploy this to something with thousands of users already?

gmyameen 12y ago

This is a silly question. How is this not a "thing" already? What am I missing? None the less, great work!

alexhawkins 12y ago

This is sick!