Info: MeBeam, a hybrid chat/image message board
Slogan: You see what I'm saying.
MeBeam is reboot of a relatively successful startup I had about 10 years ago.
The reason I wrote this service is because I guess it's a bit of an annoyance to get ready for a video chat if you're busy, don't look your best, or just don't want to.
MeBeam is something like a cross between instant messaging and imaging.
Messages are left on MeBeam using text and just as you send it, it takes a snapshot of you with your camera to further encapsulate the mood of the message.
There is no signup to MeBeam, you simply go to the site, and enter into or create a room and start messaging.
I have designed it to look and feel as much as possible like a native app, using PWA principles.
You can invite friends into a room using virtually any external app, (invite skype friends,messenger, sms etc)
There is no limit to the number of rooms you can create, either for public or private usage.
You can bookmark rooms for ease of use; and you can turn ON message alerts, so that any room you have bookmarked that receives a message while you are away, will send
you a notification via push.
The base engine uses canvas, so scrolling up and down is written from scratch to emulate a native mobile app as much as possible.
I have conducted a huge amount of alpha testing on my own, but am having issues especially with push notifications and all the different types of devices and configurations out there.
Second, as you can imagine without the need to signup there is a lot of smut that gets posted on MeBeam, and I would like to implement something between machine learned image recognition and moderation to handle the issue. (It is not an issue on private rooms)
Cpu usage is kind of high, but I will be optimizing that a lot - on older phones/tablets it can run fairly slow - but anything semi-modern it is very fast.
It's a fun idea and good beta, and it's easy to see how, with a few improvements, it could be useful for a few purposes.
More detail:
1)Sometimes when I'm messaging, I wouldn't want a picture taken - for example if it's first thing in the morning and I've still got bed-hair and I'm in my pyjamas. So for some messaging purposes, that would be an issue and I'd want to opt out of sending a picture, while still being able to send a message. The makeshift alternative is taking a picture of the ceiling or something irrelevant. I suppose denying the camera permission might work too? I guess if I where using this with purpose I'd try that. Taking pictures is fine as is for business or work related things, or anything else where its reasonable for all users to have an expectation of looking presentable. Though that does mean I feel it doesn't solve the annoyance of getting ready for a video chat when you don't look your best.
2)I couldn't see how to set up a private room if I wanted to - I saw it mentioned that that feature exists but it's a mystery how I'd access it
3)There's the age old issue for anonymous-ish public message boards with images - preventing misuse. You seem aware of this issue thankfully!
4)the mebeam keyboard looks cool but isn't as easy or efficient to use as a regular virtual keyboard. Personally I would just let users use their regular keyboard, rather than trying to create one just for this one service.
5) on my phone, whenever front or rear camera is mentioned it's referring to the opposite of how I think of front and rear. Holding the phone so I'm looking at the screen, if I choose rear camera my face is shown on camera, surely that would be the front camera? I can't tell if my cameras are getting switched round somehow or if I'm just wrong.
PhillyG, right off the bat thank you for your feedback.
Doing my best to respond to your queries.
1) This was the initial purpose of MeBeam; not having to start a video call and all the issues that go with this ( yes, having a bed head, or kids in the background)
To solve this, there is a few commands built into MeBeam which I have not made public as yet
If you type the following, ( fwd flash fwd slash fx = number ) applies a filter your image
to disable filters type the following and press go/return
//fx=0
to brighten in low-light type the following and press go/return
//fx=1
to darken type the following and press go/return
//fx=2
to blur your image type the following and press go/return
//fx=4
to extra blur your image type the following and press go/return
//fx=5
I will add an extra filter to blank your camera
//fx=6
2) To change the room or create a new one click on the options icon in the top right corner,
this will open the options screen and the last setting is 'change room' click on this
and a field will appear where you can enter another room name
3) Back in the day, I did everything I could to remove smut from the service ( 16 person multi video calls )
to no avail; I have some recent ideas which may help.
4) That's fine, if your on a device (such as a pc or laptop) which has a keyboard, you are not limited
to hitting the virtual keyboard; just use your normal keyboard and use the enter key to send
5) The camera description is not in the correct order ? .,. Assuming it is working besides the naming
of the camera, then it's a small bug I have introduced somewhere;
MeBeam is reboot of a relatively successful startup I had about 10 years ago.
The reason I wrote this service is because I guess it's a bit of an annoyance to get ready for a video chat if you're busy, don't look your best, or just don't want to.
MeBeam is something like a cross between instant messaging and imaging.
Messages are left on MeBeam using text and just as you send it, it takes a snapshot of you with your camera to further encapsulate the mood of the message.
There is no signup to MeBeam, you simply go to the site, and enter into or create a room and start messaging.
I have designed it to look and feel as much as possible like a native app, using PWA principles.
You can invite friends into a room using virtually any external app, (invite skype friends,messenger, sms etc)
There is no limit to the number of rooms you can create, either for public or private usage.
You can bookmark rooms for ease of use; and you can turn ON message alerts, so that any room you have bookmarked that receives a message while you are away, will send you a notification via push.
The base engine uses canvas, so scrolling up and down is written from scratch to emulate a native mobile app as much as possible.
I have conducted a huge amount of alpha testing on my own, but am having issues especially with push notifications and all the different types of devices and configurations out there.
Second, as you can imagine without the need to signup there is a lot of smut that gets posted on MeBeam, and I would like to implement something between machine learned image recognition and moderation to handle the issue. (It is not an issue on private rooms)
Cpu usage is kind of high, but I will be optimizing that a lot - on older phones/tablets it can run fairly slow - but anything semi-modern it is very fast.
I've just added a short into by going to https://mebeam.com or by clicking the logo at anytime.
The intro contains two screen shots of the interface and what the buttons do.
More detail: 1)Sometimes when I'm messaging, I wouldn't want a picture taken - for example if it's first thing in the morning and I've still got bed-hair and I'm in my pyjamas. So for some messaging purposes, that would be an issue and I'd want to opt out of sending a picture, while still being able to send a message. The makeshift alternative is taking a picture of the ceiling or something irrelevant. I suppose denying the camera permission might work too? I guess if I where using this with purpose I'd try that. Taking pictures is fine as is for business or work related things, or anything else where its reasonable for all users to have an expectation of looking presentable. Though that does mean I feel it doesn't solve the annoyance of getting ready for a video chat when you don't look your best. 2)I couldn't see how to set up a private room if I wanted to - I saw it mentioned that that feature exists but it's a mystery how I'd access it 3)There's the age old issue for anonymous-ish public message boards with images - preventing misuse. You seem aware of this issue thankfully! 4)the mebeam keyboard looks cool but isn't as easy or efficient to use as a regular virtual keyboard. Personally I would just let users use their regular keyboard, rather than trying to create one just for this one service. 5) on my phone, whenever front or rear camera is mentioned it's referring to the opposite of how I think of front and rear. Holding the phone so I'm looking at the screen, if I choose rear camera my face is shown on camera, surely that would be the front camera? I can't tell if my cameras are getting switched round somehow or if I'm just wrong.
Doing my best to respond to your queries.
1) This was the initial purpose of MeBeam; not having to start a video call and all the issues that go with this ( yes, having a bed head, or kids in the background) To solve this, there is a few commands built into MeBeam which I have not made public as yet
If you type the following, ( fwd flash fwd slash fx = number ) applies a filter your image
to disable filters type the following and press go/return //fx=0
to brighten in low-light type the following and press go/return //fx=1
to darken type the following and press go/return //fx=2
to blur your image type the following and press go/return //fx=4
to extra blur your image type the following and press go/return //fx=5
I will add an extra filter to blank your camera //fx=6
2) To change the room or create a new one click on the options icon in the top right corner, this will open the options screen and the last setting is 'change room' click on this and a field will appear where you can enter another room name
3) Back in the day, I did everything I could to remove smut from the service ( 16 person multi video calls ) to no avail; I have some recent ideas which may help.
4) That's fine, if your on a device (such as a pc or laptop) which has a keyboard, you are not limited to hitting the virtual keyboard; just use your normal keyboard and use the enter key to send
5) The camera description is not in the correct order ? .,. Assuming it is working besides the naming of the camera, then it's a small bug I have introduced somewhere;
ps. If you connect directly to https://mebeam.com without a room name as the url e.g https://mebeam.com/myroomname
,it will open mebeam to an introduction/help page which includes screenshots as to what the buttons do etc.
Thanks again for your feedback, ..!
Ash
I have fixed this now; thank you for pointing this out.