Year 1

This time last year we had been sitting up all night trying to take the concept of Perch and put it into something tangible. After weeks of imagining on white-boards and deep discussion, Perch had finally rooted itself as an entity.

Those initial weeks were spent working out of our office in the heart of Vancouver’s Gastown, where the majority of our time was focused on the development and direction of the company. I want to mention that we had one of the most beautiful office views in Vancouver, which we were very lucky to have, and also which helped fuel our vision for Perch.

Everyday we’d come into our office with our vista of gorgeous mountains and the Pacific Ocean stretched out in front of us. Our intent was to build something as big as the landscape out our window. It was a truly awe-inspiring view, and we had set out to build something that would inspire the same.

Days to Remember

I figured it would be fun to travel the first year of Perch with a historical timeline. Below you’ll see a few dates that stood out for Perch and the team.

May 1, 2012:
Perch takes a name thanks to the wonderful Maura Rodgers.
(There’s a tribute easter egg on our website. Prizes to those who find it.)
May 23, 2012:
One of the best dance videos ever was capture from our always-on Perch camera.
September 9, 2012:
Perch website gets a facelift.
September 15, 2012:
Lance Fu joins the Perch team, effectively doubling the development department.
November 22, 2012:
Our launch! The first version of Perch finds its way to the App Store.
February, 1, 2013:
Adam Stanton our “Ruby Unicorn” is a welcome addition to the team.
April 18, 2013:
2.0 brings Perch into the world of business with the introduction of work groups.

Images

There’s also nothing like going back in time through photos. Check out how Perch has changed over the past year.

Year 2

This next year promises to be a big year for Perch. The whole team is geared up and ready to take Perch to the next level. We’ve got some revolutionary new tech that’s going to change how people communicate. I’d love to give out more, but I’ve been sworn under Perch secrecy to not mention any future plans.

Although, I can say we are on a hiring binge and if you want to spend the next year(s) with Perch, head over to the career page and see if there’s a spot for you on the team.

Hope you enjoyed this past year as much as we have, and a big shout out and thanks to all the people who have helped Perch get off the ground!

The post One Year In appeared first on Perch.

Our initial launch into the video communication world was a huge learning experience. Over the past four months, we chatted with our users as much as we could to find what they wanted to see in the next version of Perch and to see how we could improve the overall experience. What we discovered from our users was truly exciting and it has shaped the version we’re releasing today.

All of us at Perch are excited to announce that Perch 2.0 is now live and available for download in the App Store!

Perch With Your Co-workers

While Perch is a great tool for connecting families and keeping you closer to the people you care about, it also encompasses more than just family. Perch 2.0 combines the effortless communication used at home with the ability to seamlessly connect with your co-workers and your workplace.

2.0 is designed so anyone with the same work email domain (eg. name@work.com) joins Perch they will automatically be added into that Perch conversation. This removes all the heavy lifting of inviting teammates and lets you jump right into the conversation as it’s happening.

If you’re as excited as we are about this update head over to the App Store, update Perch, and start adding your team to the app straight away.

The Perch 2.0 Upgrade

Adding your co-workers isn’t the only new feature in Perch 2.0. We’ve also redesigned the camera, menu, added a new tutorial, squashed some bugs, and increased the overall app performance for speed and reliability.

The Perch website has also been refreshed and revitalized to bring some visual goodness to all you lovely Perch People. Take a cruise through the new about page, homepage, blog, and jobs section.

Share Power!

Everything we’ve built for 2.0 has come from the feedback of our users and has been designed to make Perch work best for you. Once you’ve downloaded Perch 2.0, send it around to your friends and co-workers with a tweet or an update.

Our team of highly trained support professionals will also be tuning in to our feedback channels at support.perch.co and feedback@perch.co. Please feel free to send any questions or comments their way.

The post Perch 2.0: Bringing Perch to Work appeared first on Perch.

The Old

The ability to take a photo that spans the length of a room or even city has been around for awhile, but that tech wasn’t exactly pocket sized.

Now with iOS 6, you can take a panoramic image with the sweep of your hand, on a device that fits in your pocket. Very cool, but for matters of Perch, we needed the full 360° view of the room.

The idea was to use a 360° view to let the user monitor and interact with the room from a single lens. In that process, we got to check out some really interesting tech.

The New

Panoramas are cool, but 360° interactive panoramas are like panoramic photos on steroids. This camera from Ricohi Inovations does exactly that.

The camera is still in development, but it’s a great look at how companies are innovating on 360° cameras.

The App

Ever wanted to spin your iPhone 5 around and capture an entire room? Me neither, but Cycloramic has an app out that takes 360° photos with the tap of a button. The idea is that you put it on a smooth surface, tap record, and it ‘strategically’ vibrates in a circle.

I tried it out to see what it could do; here’s the view of our office:

Even though there are two Pat’s in the frame, and Steve looks like he got a Mike Tyson tattoo, the app did a good job of capturing the room. It’s worth the 99¢ even if it’s just a party trick. Just be careful on their homepage, it has rotating iPhone 5 that may put you into hypnosis.

The Robot

What would a Pech tech post be without a robot? I just had another robot sent to the office last week. – The Galileo by Motrr.

The device found its wings on Kickstarter and raised 7× the amount they asked for. They’re currently shipping these beauties to the developer community to play with.

The software they ship with is pretty bear bones, but once the Galileo finds its way into the hands of a few more creative dev’s it has the potential to be a very cool toy.

The post Images in 360° appeared first on Perch.

Here are a couple of gadgets I’ve been toying with lately:

The Kubi

This remote controlled robot arm from Revolve Robotics is a superb bit of gadgetry. Not only does it work well with Perch, it’s also a robot. And that is Ian-speak for “awesome”.

The Kubi “allows the remote user to ‘look around’ during their video call by commanding Kubi where to aim the tablet using intuitive remote controls over the web.”

Gotta love those robots.

Mounts

Perch’s quest to find the perfect mobile mount is never ending. I’ve tried almost every type of mount under the sun; everything from DIY solutions to professionally designed-and-built mounting units. We even experimented with our own mount using a 3D printer. But decided to focus on the app and let the hardware specialists do their thing.

Mounts aren’t necessarily super-tech, but I always geek out a bit when someone has a fresh idea for a mount or when a new one is sent to the office.

Video Software

Software is also on the playtime docket. Recently, we’ve been testing real-time video platforms for group chat.

Of course, there are the industry leaders – Google Hangouts and Skype come to mind – but it’s the up-and-comers that are starting to make waves in the telecommunication world that I’m really interested in.

Zoom

One of the most impressive group video communication companies I’ve used is Zoom. They’re “a cloud service that provides a 3-in-1 meeting platform with HD video conferencing, mobility and web meetings. UMX also offers the first available mobile-screen sharing and an innovative hybrid cloud service.”

In other words, you can use video to talk real-time in HD – from mobile or computer – and share your screen. And get this – it works like a charm.

I’ve tested it on 3G, LTE, Ethernet, and WiFi and it’s a consistent experience. Definitely worth a gander.

On the Lookout

I’m always on the hunt for new tech in video communications, robotics, and pretty much anything else that seems like it came from a H.G. Wells novel. If you’ve got some cool tech that you want to share, send it our way or post the link in the comments below!

The post Tech Talk appeared first on Perch.

A Walter Cronkite broadcast in 1967, sheds a little light on how long the idea of telecommuting has been around:

As you can see, we’re very much living in the futuristic world described. Almost everyone has one of Cronkite’s “computerized communication console[s]” in the palm of their hand. So what’s the issue? If we have the means to work from the comfort of our homes, why aren’t we all doing it?

Hurdles

The fact that the vast majority of people who could work from home don’t do so, shouldn’t be too surprising. Humans are inherently social creatures; it’s in our DNA. Most of us need to interact with people, talk to others face-to-face, and feel physical social interaction. This can’t be replaced by a Twitter feed or a Pinterest board; it’s something that is more primordial than that.

Another limiting factor is the technology that is currently used in telecommunication. Yes, we have the means to telecommute, and at this point in time we’ve never been better equipped to do so. Where we’re limited by our tech is not in the function, but in the interaction. The Facetimes, the Skypes, the IMs, the Basecamps, the Flowdocks — all of these are meant to bring us together as a team. They do to an extent, but they aren’t that natural connection we desire and crave as human beings.

Facts

A study on telecommuting from Wrike uncovered some interesting results about how people want to work from home. An overwhelming majority of the surveyed employees were actually willing to cut out consumer social tools if they were enabled to work from home.

Another interesting fact to note, is the “visibility into colleagues activity” challenge. When you’re at home, there is no water cooler chat or lunchtime jaunts. You’re not keeping up on the daily shenanigans that happen at work. Which, according to the study, can hinder how effectively we telecommute.

Way of the Future

Creating tech that helps us connect naturally and build camaraderie with those at a distance is the next step in this equation. By developing subtle and intuitive communication solutions, we can facilitate a natural and organic connection through technology.

Even though telecommuting is become more and more popular each year, it’s not for all of us. Some folks will always need to come into work. But for those of us who are willing and able to work from home, this reality isn’t too far away. It won’t be long before Walter Cronkite’s idea of the modern home office will be realized and the work will truly “come to us.”

The post The Home Office appeared first on Perch.

A Bit of Background

Adam came to us from Tictalking, a company designed to help you create more meaningful conversations online. His experience in online communication coupled with his magical Ruby skills and affinity for perogies with bacon, made him a perfect fit for Perch.

Originally from Brisbane, Australia, Adam left in 2003 with plans to travel and work his way through Europe and SE Asia for a year. This was before he met Canada (and maybe slightly more important, his future wife). It only took one trip to the home of the True North Strong and Free and Adam was hooked. He packed up all his gems and made the move to Whistler, BC where he got hitched and had a couple of baby Stanton’s.

From The Source

After Adam settled in at Perch, I sat down with him to ask a couple questions about how he balances family life and startups and what made him say yes when Perch popped the question.

Ian: What’s it like working at a startup and being a fulltime Dad?

It’s all about routine right now. I spend most of the weekend with the kids (skating lessons, sledding, library, keeping them busy etc) and date night with my wife most weeks. We all try to get out of the city as much as we can.

Ian: You have 15 years of coding experience and working with some great companies, why was Perch so hard to resist?

When Danny described the story of his daughter showing him her report card through Perch, I immediately understood what made Perch unique. Being a family man too, my kids can come straight home from pre-school and tell me about their day in a way that’s natural, light and easy. With Perch, families don’t have to miss out on these kind of moments. Also, putting on my developer hat, it’s a pretty exciting problem to work on. I’m glad I have the opportunity to work with an awesome team to build a great product.

Love this guy already!

Outside of Perch

Adam’s an active contributor online and you can check out his Git profile, Twitter, and website by clicking those linked words. You’ll find more than geekery on his Twitter timeline.

When he’s not busy coding like a champ, you can find Adam shredding up the local mountains, which was the reason he moved to BC in the first place.

We’re elated to have Adam board, and we know he’s going to make Perch proud.

Welcome to the team Adam!

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The first comparison most make is to Skype and FaceTime. All three platforms use a similar concept to create real-time video, but the main difference is that WebRTC is open source and available for anyone to use or develop on.

There are plenty of benefits to having this type of technology open to the public. Without getting too technical about WebRTC, its most obvious advantage is the ability to have real-time video communication on a variety of web browsers. Removing the need for software or plugins, you can simply connect with another person over a browser that supports WebRTC.

Here are a couple projects that are currently using WebRTC for communication:

Twelephone

This system uses WebRTC to send videos to other Twitter users. It basically creates a giant directory on Twitter and allows you to have real-time video conversations or leave a video message. The program is still in its early stages but has seen a huge increase in users after a recent article written in TechCrunch.

Wello

Wello offers live personal training over two-way video using WebRTC. You can use their service to do everything from intense workout sessions, to yoga taught by a professional in the comfort of your home.

Plivo

Plivo uses WebRTC to provide a thrid party service rather than a specific product. This use of WebRTC as service is gaining traction within the world of video communication. Offering a service where you can seamlessly integrate a real-time video chat into your current website is appealing to a lot of companies.

Future of WebRTC

There’s still speculation about WebRTC and the role it will play in the world of video communications. There is one thing that is certain, WebRTC is here to stay and it’s going to revolutionize the way we’re able to exchange information over distances.  It won’t only influence the way we communicate but also the way we manage our day to day lives.

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It’s tradition to start out 2013 by talking about 2012, and for Perch, 2012 was a big year.

2012 was a year of firsts for Perch. We had our first launch, our first new hire, our first user, our first piñata party… basically everything was brand new for us as a team at Perch.

The team came together from different parts of the world and different backgrounds, all aligned with the common purpose to build something amazing. There were ups and downs, but we managed to pull out some major accomplishments in 2012 that we feel should be noted, so we’re going to get a little nostalgic with this post.

Founded

May 1, 2012 was the official day Perch was founded. Since that point we launched our app in the App Store, built up our team and closed a seed round of financing.

Anyone who has been in startup land and launched a product knows how exciting the founding of a company can be, almost as exciting as finally launching it into the wild!

Funded

Perch closed its $1M round of seed funding from Michael Perone, Zach Levow, Dan Martell, Mike Edwards, and Paul Judge.

A huge thanks goes out to not only our investors, but also everyone else who helped get Perch out the door. The list is long and we hope you know who you are.

Featured

There was also quite a bit of coverage from media outlets everywhere from here in Vancouver to Japan and Taiwan. Here are some of the articles Perch was featured in over 2012.

Perch is an iOS app, though there isn’t an iPad-specific version yet. The idea is you take an iOS device like an iPhone, attach it to your wall, and start up the Perch app. It just hangs out there, waiting for someone to come along.

Vancouver’s Danny Robinson and his six-person team has been quietly working on Perch for 12 months and this morning they announced that their iOS app is now available in the App Store.

Cameras are all around us, but most of them are turned off throughout the day. Two ambient video startups want to change that: Koozoo wants to provide live feeds of public places, and Perch wants to turn your old iPod touch into an always-on video messenger.

Perch is a new way to use your old iOS device. Got an iPod Touch or unused iPhone/iPad laying around the house with nothing to do? Perch is an app which turns it into an always-on portal, letting you just walk up to it and show things to other Perch users in your network.

Danny Robinson’s Vancouver startup set out to build a better home security system. But his wife and two young children had other ideas.

2013 – The Year of the Perch (not the fish)

Thanks to all the wonderful feedback from our users, our idea bucket is now overflowing with new concepts and innovations for Perch. The new year promises to be an even bigger year than 2012 was. We may not be realeasing a 1.0, but we’ll be bringing Perch even closer to its full potential.

We’ll also be expanding the Perch team, and getting close with other innovative companies looking to move video communication into the mainstream.

Keep an eye out for Perch in 2013, we’ll be shooting for the moon.

The post A New Year, A New Opportunity appeared first on Perch.

Congratulations to Riu Qing for getting the winning ballot and an iPad mini along with some Perch swag!!

More to Come

We’ll be running more contest for Perchy prizes so if you didn’t win this time don’t fret. There will be plenty more chances to win! To make sure you don’t miss any upcoming contest, be sure to follow us on Facebook where we’ll be posting all of contests.

The post iPad Mini Contest Winner!! appeared first on Perch.

At Perch, we believe that feeling connected with your family and loved ones should be something that happens more than once a year. It should be a daily feeling. We understand that time is a precious commodity, particularly in the holiday season, so we’ve decided to help relieve a little stress from holiday gift-givers with a holiday sweepstakes.

The Prize

Since it’s our duty at Perch to bring families closer together, we’ve decided to give away one of those nifty iPad Mini’s so you can setup Perch in your home. Yep, a lucky winner will be getting an iPad Mini along with some cool Perch swag and a mounting kit.

If this tickles your fancy, head over to our iPad Mini Sweepstakes page for the chance to win.

We’ll be closing the contest Dec. 18, 2012, so your prize should arrive just in time to get it under the tree for that special someone.

Share for More Chances to Win

To win the full sweepstakes prize, which includes Perch swag and an iPad Mount, you need to head over to our contest page, fill out the contest form and click submit. You only get one entry, but as a little bonus we’re letting you gain additional entries for every person you refer to the contest.

Good luck in the sweepstakes and be sure to share the contest once you enter!

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