BY Michelle Howie 25 May 2020
Here at TelstraDev, we hope you're continuing to thrive and innovate, staying safe and healthy inside your homes, amidst the #COVIDcrisis raging across the globe. If you’ve been working on an innovative API or IoT project while you're indoors, let us know!
Get virtual
It's been an incredibly disruptive time for all, with the logistics of remote work and school taking up a lot of our brain power. But some amazing things have been happening online. Now the barrier to entry for attending community events is lower than ever, with the whole world going virtual. No more missing out on epic meetups and conferences that are too far or difficult to get to. Just change tabs!
We've been able to say yes to more things, like attending IBM's weekend long #CallForCode ANZ Hackathon and the international #StayHomeHack, where distance was no obstacle, and we could hustle and hack with teams across different states and countries. The resources for that live workshop are available on our GitHub. Not to mention epic pivots from the likes of QODE Brisbane, who put their entire tech conference online, VR expo – and all in just one week.
If you have an API, IoT, or just general dev virtual meet-up in the pipeline, let us know at telstradev@team.telstra.com, or tag us on twitter @TelstraDev.
The importance of communication in times of uncertainty
We've also been seeing some amazing examples of solidarity across the world. Locally, we have published our IOT coverage maps with an unbeatable ~4 million sq km of coverage on our NB-IoT network. Plus, our public APIs are here on demand, especially as communication is extremely important in times of social isolation and uncertainty. The rapidly unfolding pandemic has created a health and social emergency, that emphasises how critical telco infrastructure is, beyond simple connectivity and communication. We'll be sharing updates in a future blog about Communication in Times of Crisis, and where APIs and IoT fit into all of that.
Get in touch
What's the best use case you've seen for IoT and APIs in battling COVID-19? Let twitter know @TelstraDev or post in our new Community Forum for sharing project ideas.
I'm Michelle, the newest addition to the TelstraDev team. I've jumped in as the Developer Advocate (voice of the peoples!) and API product specialist. I've worked in Networks Engineering at Telstra for the last three years, most recently as Tech Lead of our 5G Innovation Centre on the Gold Coast. It's great to spread the exciting truth that Telstra is more than just selling carriage and mobiles.
In the emerging technology space, Telstra is connecting everything from cars, robots, and drones, as well as developing the end to end hardware/software stack through our Telstra Labs, the Telstra Ventures wing and Telstra Purple managed services. Here in API land I love seeing all the amazing applications of our services that YOU the developer are putting out into the world! We'd love to hear more and feature them on our blogs and community forum to inspire everyone; from first time tinkerers to hardcore devs, to create and innovate with our APIs and IoT Marketplace.
We want to hear what you're working on!
What we're working on
- More how-to guides and tutorials on things like Integrating our Arduino MKR NB 1500 device on IoT Platforms for device management
- Increasing the Telstra Messaging API throughput to be able to send 50 concurrent API calls per second (up from 10)
- Updating the portal registration process to make it easier for users that are already across other Telstra platforms (keep an eye out for a new log-in interface)
- Launching a brand-new portal
Is there anything else you want to see? Post your product and feature suggestions on our new Community Forum Channels!
Until next time, stay safe, stay healthy, and stay connected.
