TokBox is a new site that we just heard about moments ago. It’s completely live but appears to have been flying under the radar until now.
It allows you to set up a video chat channel in seconds. It instantly and accurately detected the camera and microphone on my Mac laptop after registration. At that point, I was prompted to invite someone to the chat via email, or send them to my user page on the site. They click on the link and can participate even without registration. The controls are simple - set volume, mute or kill camera. If the person is not there, you can leave a video message. That’s all there is to it.
If you enable browser popups you can pull the video chat out of the browser and go to other websites or applications without disrupting the conversation. The chat box can also be embedded on another website.
TokBox is also a basic social network - you can add friends who’ve registered to call them more easily. You can also tag yourself, suggesting that the site will try to find people with similar interests and put them together. That also suggests the site may be used for online dating, which is a big venture capitalist-pleaser.
While there are plenty of video chat products out there on the market, including Skype, most of them require at least some software download to the computer. Something about the simplicity of TokBox, which is entirely a web application, suggests it might get very popular very fast.
Update:
Ryan Merket whipped up a Facebook application that integrates the TokBox chat player.
Update2: Check out competitor YouCams as well.
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And they completely ripped off iminlikewithyou’s feedback button.
I wouldn’t exactly call a feedback button intellectual property.
Yeah, but it was a nice touch. I went on TokBox about 1-2 months ago, and this wasn’t up.
This is going to make a spectacular FB application. Video mail anyone?
Hmmm, better warn Chris Hanson.
all these noises sound like a bad game of centipede.
how the f do you make it work!
@Allen Stern
LOL Then there is this segment where is sounds like I just entered voice chat with someone.
I push talk, it says connecting, then makes outerspace noises. Then it says record a voicemail. I say ok. It does more noises then nothing.
I think this is a game - perhaps i need to shoot whatever is coming from outerspace?
Wow. What a cool product. Great find.
Facebook already has video mail.
i’ve been using tokbox for the last few months or so. While there have been a couple bumps here and there, overall it’s really impressive. i use it to talk to my not so savvy tech mom (who has a mac), and my buddies. i also use it at work to connect with the lead designer on the product i manage when one of us is out of the office. absolutely love it!
if you hear loud noises (as someone noted above), it’s because you don’t have a head set plugged in. turning down the volume might also help but the best solution i’ve found is the headset. as with all products in beta, you can’t really expect everything to work perfectly.
i dont know how to see online people
i mean how to search online people ????????
Ok - I just video chatted with Lauren from their company (go to the blog to try it with her). I think Mike doesn’t have it “on” and that’s why it’s not working.
Seems cute but nothing revolutionary.
I am surprised that FlixN.com didn’t follow through with “two way” like what TokBox is offering right now given that FlixN has been on the market for a while now.
definitely go to the tokbox blog and chat with Lauren. she is seriously hot. damn.
Allen - I had it on for about 5 seconds. Then off. If I use this, it will not be from the techcrunch account I created.
I am going to use this for a custom app we are writing that requires web broadcasting. I found it to be VERY easy to use and setup. They are basically taking care of all my flash media server needs for free! Thank you!
ok, I’m getting some pretty funny video messages. Some of you guys are pretty funny. That one dude needs to put some clothes on though. Hi back, Cars.com.
you can “share” video messages with tokbox contacts or via email. I really hope they give an embed code, too. Some of these messages need to be shared.
Oops. I think I just had a conversation with my wife about whether or not to shut down her computer while you were on the other line, Mike. Sorry about that. (For the record, she shut it down.)
k seriously, you don’t “have” to push that green button.
Michael, thank you for telling me about TokBox. I can see this video chat tool becoming very popular. For the TokBox owners, is it possible you’ll will allow some type of co-brand solution, so that website owners like me can add it to my website with my own name?
Thanks
ok I removed the embed. that was not working out well.
Very cool app–it’ll help out all of us who want to video chat with folks who don’t have Skype installed. For all that people say that downloads aren’t a big deal, downloads are a big deal. My mom will probably never download Skype, for example.
My own (horrendously biased) hope of course, is that as applications like TokBox make people more comfortable with live video interactions, it will drive more and more people to start broadcasting their own live channels on Ustream.
Viva la live video revolucion!
Yeah the embed on this post with the alien noises were taking my PC’s processes to 100, even though it is not exactly a slow machine.
Imagine the porn possibilities!
crap like this is going to force me to blog in something other than my pajamas.
Hi All,
We have removed the ring tone. Click shift-refresh to reload the client without the tone.
Kevin
btw- keep the great feedback coming! we’re listening….
Kevin, co-brand would be huge. Our clients are far behind the tech curve, so we’ve never been able to chat via webcam. This could be the solution. If so, we’ll buy 60 webcams and send them to our clients for Christmas.
Best,
George
Wow, very cool. Sounds a lot like Meebo for video.
who cares?
Get the Facebook application:
http://www.facebook.com/apps/a.....4949822817
Through it together in 30 minutes.
Feedback appreciated.
way to add constructive feedback, Don. ps - ur link takes me to an empty shopping cart. guess we all have useless information to share.
Michael,
This is the type of post and the type of young entrepreneurial company that made TechCrunch a must read long ago.
I don’t think I would be alone in mentioning that you should definitely include more of this type of post (and company) on TechCrunch.
Although ToxBox might nor turn out to be the next Google…it is still great to see a company that was under the radar (like most of us are) get a bit of recognition for a pretty good product.
I am a bit curious..how did ToxBox come to your attention?
This is a thousand times simpler than downloading stuff I need a manual to use - excited to share this with my friend right now!
Kevin, you really got something good. I would like to create a whole new website around this chat application or implement it in my exisiting website with my branded name.
Maybe you can charge a fee for this or just come up with different options for website owners.
Thanks
i second a taylor, i’m sick of hearing about companies who are being pushed to TechCrunch by the PR firm or VP, Marketing.
I like that it works equally well between Europe and the West Coast (tried and loved it!)
CUTE interface, e.g. the confetti hearts feature :)) makes it not only easy, but fun to use! Tokbox is a miracle, keep it up -
This is really cool, I have got to play with it a bit more.
Can’t believe this company is making this girl sit behind some desk at 9:30pm waiting to chat to people and offer “tech support” - they can’t be this cruel!!!
Mik, I like staying online - that’s why I have this gig
-Lauren
by far the simplest live video chat app i’ve used - great work guys in getting this up
michael - thanks for the great post.
Kirill
Yeah, this would work well with porn…
I cant connect with anyone i am going insane.
johny we are pushing new functionality to the service. It will be back up shortly
-lauren
thanks sweet cheeks
Lauren it was nice seeing you although I didn’t get on the Voice or Video Chat. I did put up a post quickly about your cool product.
I think it is one of the simplest and easiest to use, useful products around. It has potential for widespread adoption. Congratulations and great job!
http://founderscafe.com/2007/08/14/tokbox-is-cool/
Great now you can combine online dating/cybersex and video chatting all in one and make it so much easier for people to join you. Easier to introduce to the camera shy.
Be interesting to see how fast this grows.
Frikkin lasers http://www.dragonlasers.com
Extremely straightforward, ridiculously well-done, stylish but not pompous, and, most importantly - the founders are goddamn intelligent, they will soon make this product perfect!
EVERYBODY - register ASAP and take the most cool and popular names while they’re still available!!!
Hi,
I just did a quick test of TokBox with Simon Dudding from Australia. We both agree that the web-based video rooms offered by MeBeam have some advantages that make it superior to TokBox for our needs.
The video quality in MeBeam is much better, the service does not require you to register with the server in order to embed the Flash object on your web site, it is multi-party (up to 32 eventually), it offers text chat, and you can instantly invite people giving them a direct URL to your chat room.
No shares, no stocks, in case you wondered.
So? From a user’s perspective, mebeam has a rough draft feel, not even in the same category as this is right now. Tokbox is tastefully done; it’s the added features and style that makes it alluring to use and will draw people to it over and over. These guys look like they’ve got the right balance between what the product IS and HOW it does it, how it delivers the service to users (many of whom are still webcam averse, so they need those extra features to really begin to feel comfortable in a live webcam space). This will set Tokbox a category above a million “mebeams”.
suggestion: make it multiparty, take it on mobiles, do whatever, but always keep the user in mind with the styling!