* Tokbox scores big for being 'installationless'
Much of the drive behind social networking is the desire to see and be seen. The problem is that typical video conferencing applications have to be installed, and therein lies the problem. No matter how excited the person you want to video conference with might be, undergoing the typical download, install, configure – and if you’re on Windows most likely reboot – cycle takes the spontaneity out of the whole deal. Not so with Tokbox a video conferencing service launched late last year that is now finding its legs.
Where Tokbox really scores is in being “installationless” – the software is a Web-based Flash application that once downloaded and initialized uses the Flash video and audio subsystems to gain access to your camera and microphone (you simply have to give your permission when the Flash subsystem asks for your authorization.
You can fire up Tokbox from your free Tokbox account and send a message with a custom link in it to anyone whether they are a Tokbox user or not inviting them to conference. They simply click on the link, which launches their browser and downloads and executes the Tokbox application and, if they have at least audio you are in business.
As a registered Tokbox user you can also send video mail messages of up to 15 minutes in length. All of the video hosting is provided free of charge by Tokbox.
You can create conference multiple users together or conduct multiple simultaneous one to one conversations – the only limitations are your bandwidth and processing power and there are “fallback” provisions that reduce frame rates as bandwidth becomes scarce.
Tokbox can also be embedded in social profiles on the likes of MySpace and Facebook, in blogs including Blogger and Typepad, and in Web pages.
Tokbox plans to offer premium services such as increased storage (currently there isn’t a limitation on this, but the company plans to introduce a cap sometime in the future) and broadcast services may be included in the future.
Tokbox also has an API and to date some 3,500 vendors have signed up and are creating diverse uses such as job search interviewing, dating services, and remote exam proctoring.
One use of Tokbox I found particularly interesting was as an online poetry jam. That’s the kind of social networking that shows you the sheer breadth of what uses people will find for technology that allows them to see and be seen.
