New Apps

I haven't updated this blog for a while, though I continually updated the apps. But they are incremental updates, not much to post about. I did renamed ReelPortal Public to ReelSquare, to completely separate the two. So we have

ReelPortal - private room version for family/friends.

ReelSquare - public room version to talk to other users, i.e. strangers, and restricted to adults only.

I also have been working on some new apps, for video surveillance. This is if you want to use mobile devices as surveillance cameras for your property. More about them here:

http://reelcam.blogspot.com

Check them out!

Tutorial Videos

This is a complete set of videos to watch and learn how to use the app.

Public  Room Version
Introduction Video
Menu Options

Private Room Version
Introduction Video
Menu Options

Common To Both Versions
Zoom In Feature

Server Setup (if you want to run the server yourself)
Windows Version
Linux Version

Broadcast Mode

With the new broadcast mode, you can distribute your live video to a bigger audience. Just enable it via button1-->Call Settings-->Broadcast Mode.

When in broadcast mode, anyone calling your nick will automatically connect to your video stream. You do not connect to theirs, but you get a notification in your text chat window. Just like before, you can still connect to anyone by calling their nick, or join their private room.

So in theory, you can still receive up to 4 incoming video streams, with many other viewers watching your stream.

Front Camera on Android Works Now!

Adobe AIR 3.0 is now available on Android Market.  Install it now, and ReelPortal will be able to access your front camera (you must have Android 2.3 or above).

Adobe also indicates that AIR itself can be packaged with the app as one item, so users don't need to install them separately.  I will look into doing this in the coming weeks.

ReelPortal is now on Android Market: 
https://market.android.com/details?id=air.com.reelportal.ReelPortal

Web Client Auto Fill

Important:  You need at least Flash 10.3 in your browser for this feature.

You can have the ReelPortal web client automatically fill in these fields: name, room, and key.  To do that, you need to specify them in the URL of the ReelPortal web address.  Here's an example:

http://www.reelportal.com/?name=John,room=Test,key=123

You can specify any combination of the 3 fields.  If you just want someone to join you in a room with no key, just send them this URL:

http://www.reelportal.com/?room=MyRoom

All they need to do is click on the URL, enter a name, then click OK to sign on.

FaceBook Page

You can help spread the word on ReelPortal, by Like this FaceBook page:

ReelPortal on FaceBook

LimeTrip had created a video of ReelPortal on the Playbook here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_K_IHdJQzo


If you decide to make a video, please let me know :).

New Features Added

Note:  iOS users will have to wait for version 1.0.2 from the App Store.

The following commands have been added to the text chat window:

/j  [room] [key] - join or create a room
/p  [room] - join or create a Public room
/p - join the Main Public room
/r - list all public rooms
/w - list users in the current room
/w [room] - list users the specified public room.
/i [nick] - invite a user to join your room
/o - log out
/q - quit app

All public rooms shall have a "." (dot) prefix to allow users to distinguish them from the regular private rooms.  For example, a room name ".test" is public, whereas "test" is private.

Use the "/r" command to list all public rooms currently active.  Then use "/p" to jump between public rooms.  When you jump to another room, your video/audio connections to all users in the current room will be cut, and the user list of the new room replaces the old user list.  Also, there are a couple of differences between public and private rooms:

- private rooms automatically establish video connections between users in the room, whereas public rooms do not (text chat is available in both cases)
- private rooms have a limit of 5 users per room, whereas public rooms do not

The "/o" command logs you out and return you to the home screen at the start of the app.  You can then sign on as a different user to a different room, and perhaps use a different server, etc.

The "/q" command exits the app, just like the Exit button.  This command is not applicable on iOS, since you can exit via the Home button there.

Note that the original commands are preceded by the slash ("/").  However, in this NEW version, you can also use a period (".") instead.  So ".h" is the same command as "/h".

Future version will incorporate these new features into the GUI as well.

Forums Page

I've just added a page with forums, so users can ask questions and get answers here directly, instead of having to search through various forums.  And I don't have to repeat my answers all over the web.

ReelPortal Forums

Since the app currently treats every room as private, if you wish to make your room known to other readers, post it in the "Public Rooms" sub-forum.

I'm new at this forum stuff, so bear with me as I sort it out.  It will improve with all your feedback :).

iPhone/iPad App Now Available on iTunes

Note:  ReelPortal will be available on other markets outside the U.S. once export paperwork is approved.

ReelPortal is now officially available on iTunes App Store in the U.S. and Canada.  At this time, I want to limit the roll out to see if the ReelPortal server can handle the increased load.

The original goal is to have many independent servers at different locations, so people can choose the server that works best for their location.  It would also avoid the single-point of failure scenario.  However, with limited budget, I can only afford one small server on the East Coast USA currently.

You can help out with a donation here.  Or if you can host a ReelPortal server for public use, that would help.  Otherwise, you can also click on the various advertisements on this blog ;).

Note: If you are on a single-core iDevice (i.e. not iPad2), set your video resolution to 320x240, because the CPU can't really handle the higher 640x480 resolution.

New to ReelPortal?  Click how-to-use.

Adobe AIR 2.7 for Mobile Platforms

I'm disappointed to discover that only the desktop version (Windows/MacOS) of AIR 2.7 has echo cancellation support.  AIR 2.7 for all mobile platforms do not have it!  They should have used a different version number for them, since obviously, the features are different.

I was hoping 2.7 would solve all the audio problems folks had been complaining about.  There's no word of when Adobe will put this echo cancellation feature into the mobile versions.

Anyhow, the latest release of ReelPortal app (v1.0.5) has code to use it, just like the desktop version.  So it should automatically be enabled in whichever AIR version Adobe chooses to provide the feature.