How to build a webRTC
app
Tim Panton, Westhawk Ltd - @steely_glint
@steely_glint - westhawk Ltd - www.westhawk.co.uk
Adding webRTC to an app
Clone an app
Add some webrtc
Profit
@steely_glint - westhawk Ltd - www.westhawk.co.uk
Modemjs - 1200 baud modem
@steely_glint - westhawk Ltd - www.westhawk.co.uk
Code walk through
WebAudio
Respoke API
WebRTC
Familiar interface
@steely_glint - westhawk Ltd - www.westhawk.co.uk
Massive FAIL - Why?
Tech cool
But pointless
No user benefits
Only delights the geekiest of nerds (me)
Better ways to do the same thing
telnet anyone?
@steely_glint - westhawk Ltd - www.westhawk.co.uk
Stop!
THIS IS WHAT
WEB/APP FOLKS
SEE WHEN THEY
HEAR YOU TALKING
ABOUT WEBRTC !
POINTLESS
RECREATION OF
OLD DEAD TECH.
STOP IT NOW!
@steely_glint - westhawk Ltd - www.westhawk.co.uk
Communications has changed.
@steely_glint - westhawk Ltd - www.westhawk.co.uk
Communications has changed.
@steely_glint - westhawk Ltd - www.westhawk.co.uk
Kranky Geek 1
Talk on webRTC
Live code web app
For HTML5 audience
at Google SF
@steely_glint - westhawk Ltd - www.westhawk.co.uk
What to do?
Stayed with a friend
Has 3 pet birds
Social animals
Visible and audible
Gets bored when left alone
@steely_glint - westhawk Ltd - www.westhawk.co.uk
Perfect Joke web app
Bird UX
Simple
Cheap
No self view, no controls
YoPet.us
Did talk/demo
Seedfunding (joke)
… but actually
@steely_glint - westhawk Ltd - www.westhawk.co.uk
It might be a product
Market research
10million pet Parrots in the USA
Would anyone buy it?
Vox Pops.
showed market and price point
@steely_glint - westhawk Ltd - www.westhawk.co.uk
Think about delighting the users
Owner
Pet
2 Different needs in 1 app
This isn’t unusual, the phone just
makes us think it is.
@steely_glint - westhawk Ltd - www.westhawk.co.uk
The Owner wants
To use it anywhere in the world
To use their laptop
Easy
Secure
Good video/audio
To be in control
@steely_glint - westhawk Ltd - www.westhawk.co.uk
The Pet wants
Not to log in
Not to have a password
Not to have to answer a call
Not to get prank calls
Cheap device
Multi day battery life
@steely_glint - westhawk Ltd - www.westhawk.co.uk
How to turn it into a product?
Cheap android tablet on cage
Owner uses browser on laptop
Built HTML5 prototype in chrome
Test on other animals
Some ignore, some don’t.
@steely_glint - westhawk Ltd - www.westhawk.co.uk
An aside about federation
Federation has killed email
Federation has killed landlines
Federation is killing SMS
What’s app doesn’t federate
Open federation brings spam.
Leverage shared context instead.
@steely_glint - westhawk Ltd - www.westhawk.co.uk
Security
Essential -
(webcam hacks)
Old (18c military)
password - Nope.
Need new
thinking
Ownership/pairin
g
Duckling
Proximity creates
lifelong pairing
@steely_glint - westhawk Ltd - www.westhawk.co.uk
Demo QR pairing
See video on https://yopet.us
@steely_glint - westhawk Ltd - www.westhawk.co.uk
But the Pet needs a mobile app
Notifications
Sleep/Wake
Screen power up
Tablets are more robust
@steely_glint - westhawk Ltd - www.westhawk.co.uk
For MVP use Android webView
Lollipop web view has webRTC
support
Chrome updates out of sync
Breaks sometimes
Adequate to get pet/owner feedback
@steely_glint - westhawk Ltd - www.westhawk.co.uk
Code review
Permissions
Manifest
Inject Javascript
Remote debug
@steely_glint - westhawk Ltd - www.westhawk.co.uk
Security side benefit
No user data held
All on device
Lightweight server
Don’t have to trust the middleman
Patent filed
Signalling agnostic
Other applications….
@steely_glint - westhawk Ltd - www.westhawk.co.uk
Other apps
Granny Call?
Security cams?
Drones?
TVs?
Other ‘passive’ endpoints (IoT?)
Works with 2bn webRTC endpoints
@steely_glint - westhawk Ltd - www.westhawk.co.uk
Summary
Stop re-building 100 year old tech
Think about user benefits
Delight people
Or make their days easier at least
“Dad, making phone calls is horrible.”
“Yeah, but receiving them is worse.”
@steely_glint - westhawk Ltd - www.westhawk.co.uk
T.S Eliot - Journey of the Magi
This: were we led all that way for
Birth or Death? There was a Birth, certainly
We had evidence and no doubt. I had seen
birth and death,
But had thought they were different; this Birth
was
Hard and bitter agony for us, like Death, our
death.
We returned to our places, these Kingdoms,
But no longer at ease here, in the old
dispensation,
With an alien people clutching their gods.
I should be glad of another death.