Articles tagged with ‘api’

PamFax usability and API updates released

Today we released a few usability updates for PamFax 3.0. Since launch end of May, we have received some user feedback that it was hard to understand how PamFax works and how to sign up. Based on this feedback we mainly have redone the account creation and login screens. The social login has been improved too. The home page has seen an update as well to make clearer how PamFax works and how to sign up.

In the PamFax API we made some small fixes to address issues we found since we went live.

Announcing the new PamFax Developer Program

With great pride we announce the new PamFax Developer Program.

Based on the PamFax3 technology we now have an API available so you can integrate all the PamFax features into your solution. Our own solutions also use the same API.

Usage of the API and the development environment is completely free of charge.

Applying for API access is very simple and is done on the developer page linked below. Once your application has been received, we give you access credentials to the sandbox environment. You have access to the documentation, can look at sample code and start the PamFax integration.

We have created a nice logo which you can use in your solution and marketing programs.

Further (technical and commercial) information and how to apply is written on the developer page at http://developer.pamfax.com.

We’re back, new PamFax3 fully working

We’ve made it, PamFax3 is alive and kicking!

This time it was much longer than we had even dreamt of, but this was caused by a few server settings which our hosting partner fixed.

Thanks for hanging in during the upgrade process. I know some of you had a hard time when PamFax was offline.

Let me explain a bit why this update was so important and complex.

It all started last week when our hoster updated our server park to a full load balanced cluster. This was needed to cope with the increase in traffic we have had the past year. PamFax3 is much more efficient when it comes to scaling up so we decided now is a good time to put new hardware in as we need to do the upgrade anyway.

Then after the upgrade there were settings to be checked, etc. This took time. Then on Monday late afternoon (European time), we took PamFax offline. The team started to convert the databases and migrate users data to the new system. This is a huge amount of data so it took time. We unfortunately had to take PamFax offline to do this.

We did the databse conversion with the help of Amazon EC2 cloud servers, we had up to 15 running at a time!

After this we upgraded the core systems. These being the various modules PamFax consists of. PamFax3 is a complete new development and not a mere upgrade as the version number might imply.

Based on our experience and close monitoring of the PamFax2 system, we started designing PamFax3 back in summer last year. We wanted to have a very modular and scalable system which is able to process a lot of data and grow with us. We designed the system from scratch with these and other requirements in mind.

So, after the usual birth pains we’re now up and running. Thank you for hanging in during the upgrade process, I know it was not easy for some of you. I still hope you will forgive us this time as we do not do updates regularly (last one was PamFax2 in April 2009). We designed PamFax3 in such a way that we do not anticipate having to take the system down anymore!

You may now ask, what does PamFax3 offer? Well, first of all blazing fast fax delivery. In addition we redid the PamFax Portal design to be easier to use. There is also a new login/sign up screen. You can now login with your OpenID, Facebook, Twitter, Gmail and a bunch of other accounts. In addition many small improvements and features were added. The PamFax BCP was renamed to “My Company” to make the company group faxing capability a bit clearer.

Last but not least, in June/July we will also be adding a new client application of PamFax for Android.

For partners we now have the PamFax API, this allows you to fully embed the PamFax functionality easily and quickly into your application or device. We already have a few project going and plan to announce them soon. If you are interested to join, let us know. The same faxing cost model applies to the API as when using PamFax – however no additional charges are made when using the API.

We are very excited to have PamFax3 and hope you will enjoy our efforts. We’re back now with a very powerful platform and based on it we have many plans and ideas for new stuff. Stay tuned!

Pamela hotfix released (4.6.0.59)

Although Pamela 4.6 has been around for a long time we are still finding things that need to be fixed. Relatively shortly after we released the .57 version we release another update. This update has the following changes:

Bugfix: Irregular display of dialog “No sound data from Skype” although sound was OK
Bugfix: Fixed a potential crash situation at Pamela startup
Bugfix: When starting Pamela without Skype the call list would not be populated with the recorded calls
Change: Changed default voicemail greeting message
Change: Removed Skype API authorization warning window

You can update for free by opening Pamela and clicking on “Help” and “Check for update”.

Our plans moving forward are the release of Pamela 4.7. The main changes here will be the new sound engine which we will be using for Pamela5 as well as some fixes. The next release is not a feature release but we will add a “Recording Info” option which allows you to see all the details of a particular recording.

Pamela for Skype v4.6 Hotfix 2 released

Today we released the second hotfix for Pamela. This update includes the following:

Feature: Added WMA support so audio recordings can be in WMA format
Bugfix: Pamela 4.6.0.28 does not always recognize active call
Bugfix: Automatic inbound/outbound recording not reliably working
Bugfix: Memory usage optimizations in audio recording
Bugfix: On Windows 7 Pamela did not register MP3 correcty
Bugfix: Resolved potential crash situations
Bugfix: Video recording optimizations
Change: Improved error message texts
Change: Added a default setting for proxy ports
Change: Auto Skype Mood and Status change is now disabled by default

We made corrections for Windows 7 and also disabled by default the feature to change the Skype Mood and Status during a call. It seemed that Pamela was not always receiving the information that the call had ended and thus Pamela was not able to change the Mood and Status back to what it was before. We assume that Windows Messaging (the communication channel used by Skype API) is responsible for this. We are looking at how to resolve this with some changes.

Besides stability fixes in various areas, this hotfix also adds a new feature which is support for Windows Media Audio format (WMA). In case where you don’t want to use MP3 you can set Pamela to record in WMA format which is also compressed and easy to handle.

You can upgrade for free by downloading the latest version. Just open Pamela and click on “Help” and then “Check for update”. Download and run the installer which will upgrade your Pamela to the latest version.

No Skype Extras System anymore

Skype has just announced today that the Skype Extras System will not continue. This means no more third-party applications for Skype will be certified and no new extras will be added to the “Tools” -> “Extras” menu in the Skype client. All existing entries will not be removed until the certification period expires. This does not include the Skype Public API which allows third party software to connect to Skype and control some functions and do things like call recording etc. Skype says this API will be maintained in future.

But this shut-down also includes the Skype Credit payment, which will be switched off shortly. No third-party software will then be able to accept Skype Credit payments.

So how does this affect Scendix/PamConsult products? The simple answer is: not very much.

Read more..

PamFax Vista Sidebar Gadget + Skype Developer Days 2008 + TapiRex update

- The PamFax Windows Vista Sidebar Gadget was just published to the Windows Live gallery (see PamFax Gadget details page). Give it a try and experience a complete new feeling and comfort of sending faxes.

- In the next three days, Dick and myself will be in Athens, Greece at the Skype Developer Days 2008. This is a great yearly event and always a great opportunity to meet the Skype staff and a lot of interesting people working with Skype. After Prague, Czech Republic back in 2007 and Tallin, Estland in 2006, we are really looking forward to visit Athens this year for this event.

- TapiRex updated: We finally managed to update TapiRex to version 1.7.2. This update fixes some problems like the error message after wakeup, reverse lookup in Canada, …
Just download and install the newest version from the downloadpage.

We also started an experiment with Open Source: the next version of mceTapiRex has been published as Open Source. We have uploaded the complete source code of the current development version of mceTapiRex V2 to CodePlex: Open mceTapiRexV2 on CodePlex. We hope that many developers join us to develop this very nice TapiRex plugin to the next stage. If this works well, we can start thinking of making other components of the TapiRex system open source…

And the winner is: PamFax

I am just coming back from Prague, where PamFax was announced as the winner of the Skype Mashup Competition 2007!
This competition honored the best mashup of Skype’s API with other API(s). The Mashup Cup was presented to Dick and me by Paul Amery and Sten Tamkivi of Skype at Skype’s Developer and Beta Tester event last night in Prague. Read the complete announcement from Skype. Photos of the event will follow.

We are very proud to win this competition after being awarded as “Most innovative buyer’s applicatuion 2005″ by eBay Germany and getting the “eBay Star Developer Award 2006” from eBay USA.

Thanks for this honor and all the congratulations.