Tokbox – Video Chat but No Sign Up Necessary!
I discovered Tokbox yesterday since it's installed with my Digsby application. Digsby is a multi-IM chat client that allows you to simultaneously be logged into services like AIM, Yahoo, GChat, Jabber, etc. Digsby uses Tokbox for video chat with other clients and I had been trying to figure it out. Up until yesterday, I would flip over to Skype, IM the other person to get on Skype and then do video chat. Skype quality is great for video chat but the hassle of being on it all the time when most people are in AIM or Yahoo or GChat made it fairly useless.
Enter Tokbox. Yesterday I initiated a video chat with a friend on IM. When I start it on Tokbox/Digsby, it sends him a link to a webpage where the chat is fully hosted. He doesn't have a webcam but no matter, he was able to view mine within a web browser session - WITHOUT having to log in anywhere or install any program. We were easily able to add more people to the chat - across multiple IM clients - because it actually just redirects you to the Tokbox page where everyone is chatting. We had 7 in the chat room, 2 with webcams - and it has the ability to share video, images, links, etc. For example, my son was in my office so everyone was forced to watch "Cars" when I played it for him through YouTube. Pretty awesome.
Tokbox was poorly represented on Lifehacker's High Five Best Video Chat Application poll, but I think if people realized how easy it was to use, it would have received more votes. It wasn't the greatest video quality, I'll grant that - but the ease of use, not having to log in for more users, and just some of the cool features makes it something you should check out.
