Telegram user here. I'm not anti-bot but puh-lease, spend this money on audited open-source crypto and secret-by-default chats rather than gimmicks like 'stickers' (yuk) and rewards for promising bots.
I want a messaging app that's simple, secure, open and cross-device. Not one that's splurging on daft bloatware features while the key issues go unaddressed.
[edit] to clarify the term 'cross-device' - I mean I want to see my conversations on my phone, tablet and laptop and easily swap from one device to another. Platform support is a separate, also-important issue that Telegram already has nailed.
I think you're missing the point. Bots now use ML and other forms of weak A.I. Facebook is building something closer to artificial general intelligence with Facebook M. The early forms of bots we'll see will do basic tasks but in the future they'll be as smart or smarter than us. This is a great long term play Durov took by incentivizing bot developers. Besides, Telegram doesn't have the same scale as Facebook (FB Messenger) and Microsoft (Skype) so they sorta need to do this to remain competitive in their hyper competitive market.
If I had any gripes about Telegram it's their lack of audio and video calling but I'm not going to complain about an excellent free product.
Don't discount stickers. Telegram's sticker support (and its ease of creating your own sticker sets) is one of the reasons I and a lot of my friends have moved to it for most of our messaging lately. I personally went crazy and did a set of like 50 stickers with one of my own characters, which can add a ton of whimsey to my casual conversations.
Telegram really doesn't seem like they're trying to be a secure chat client at all at this point. It seems like the focus is more on making a follow-up runet social network now that Durov no longer has control over VK.
It echoes VK in a lot of ways (pirated media abounds!), but channels are some weird cross between Twitter and 4chan as opposed to being a blatant Facebook clone. Direct messaging is still there but it doesn't seem like the network is focused on that at all anymore.
Underneath the original "wow factor", I think bots have a glaring UX problem. Developers just haven't figured out the real use-case for bots. In some ways, I think this current bot-craze is very similar to what happened with smartwatches 2 years ago. Simply cramming a phone app into a watch doesn't make it magically awesome or useful.
I think a lot of developers seem to be taking the same approach with bots. They are trying to create alternative UIs for their already existing mobile apps through bots. Mobile / web apps do a lot of the same stuff as bots in a much more user-friendly way. Take a look at https://storebot.me/ and tell me if there's one bot that can do something better than a mobile app.
I'm not anti-bot but I just think the bot-frenzy is premature,
I think that this is a better platform than mobile as it supports multiple devices, user accounts are already setup, it's easy to test and it has built in notifications.
One thing I did have an issue with, is showcasing what it's features were. One option is to create a lot of videos and screenshots which would take a lot of time. As further improvements were made, I would have to reshoot the videos.
What money? There's no platform for payments or advertising on Telegram. Advertising doesn't seem very practical with bots. Telegram has given no details or examples of what qualifies for the $25k rewards. It's not clear what level of production they're looking for... a bot that tells you the weather or a virtual girlfiend with full-blown NLP? Innovation prizes are cool but you can't play if you don't remotely know what qualifies as winning.
What about API library developers [1]? We haven't received anything yet but thanks to us others can build bots. I invented the Telegram bots back in 2014 [2] (there wasn't API) and haven't received any thanks from Telegram.
Would Telegram let you develop a "bot" that supports connections to other messaging systems? Or are they into the walled garden with spikes on top of the wall thing?
If they have $1M to invest, why don't they focus on securing their protocol (i.e. switching to authenticated encryption) and turning encryption on by default?
I'm not up to date, but didn't Telegram had a bounty for someone who could read a conversation even by knowing the phone numbers involved? If so, why the writer here didn't got the bounty?
So telegram is a non-profit. And they splurge 1M USD? What am I missing?
Edit: to clarify, what I meant is that I expected non-profits to make good use of their money and not give away large sums of money in prize competitions. Certainly, no NGO or non-profit I know of does this. Raises a red flag for me.
non-profit does not necessarily mean the company does not make profit. AFAIK it just requires that the profit made be spent on the company and/or cause rather than used as dividends or given to what would normally have been shareholders.
By now I haven't heard anything of how they make or will make money. It's like nobody addresses that. I know a messaging app is not exceptionally expensive to run but still. Anybody has any hints?
There are other nonprofits that do similar. The XPrize, for example, has similar contests for space travel. Contests like this encourage groups that may be happily in the shadows to come forward and be bold, and show off what they've been working on. The money definitely will help, but creating names can be more worthwhile.
@watchbot is a useful bot for monitoring uptime, but I am afraid that it also probably gives FSB my uptime information, and I do not have control over that.
So many negative comments, would like to see what happens if exact same title would be with Facebook, considering their scale lets say 'Facebook: $10Mln to Bot Developers. For free.'.
Do not forget, they may have some issues with security or user growth, but founder generally tries to promote his own product, everyone will behave like he does (promote in product in any legal way), when they have enough resources.
Why not allow charging for bots and stickers? It stifles bot innovation as there are many great bots that have real costs that must be sustained somehow. Same with stickers. Great artists have zero incentive to make sticker packs since they can't charge for them and anyone can give them away to other users.
Developers and artists should be treated like stakeholders rather than cannon-fodder and free labor.
Can someone explain to me what bots are for. It looks like using something similar to a REST API over Telegram. Whats the point / use / advantage of that?
We at Microsoft think about bots as somewhat "intelligent", as in - they understand your intent. There's a little example chat with a pizza bot: It's a subtle difference, but being able to have a conversation vs navigating a flow chart is pretty powerful for a bunch of applications.
Bots offer a gateway between human language and API actions. The future (which VC's are very excited about) is one where the human language commands evolve into something non-syntax specific.
Anything the bot-builder wants really. I think the aim of this grant is to explore the limits of what bots could be used for.
Bots don't have to use AI or ML to be useful: right now I use the @gif bot to search for and reply with reaction gifs inline (without having to launch browser->search->download->attach into chat). You can create a Jenkins/CI bot that chimes in when a build fails, or create a weather bot that tells you it's going to rain
[+] [-] mocko|10 years ago|reply
I want a messaging app that's simple, secure, open and cross-device. Not one that's splurging on daft bloatware features while the key issues go unaddressed.
[edit] to clarify the term 'cross-device' - I mean I want to see my conversations on my phone, tablet and laptop and easily swap from one device to another. Platform support is a separate, also-important issue that Telegram already has nailed.
[+] [-] secfirstmd|10 years ago|reply
iOS https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/signal-private-messenger/id8...
Android https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.thoughtcri...
[Blatant plug] If you want more info on managing digital/physical security threats, check out an open source free app we just launched called Umbrella: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.secfirst.u...
[+] [-] free2rhyme214|10 years ago|reply
If I had any gripes about Telegram it's their lack of audio and video calling but I'm not going to complain about an excellent free product.
[+] [-] egypturnash|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] fivre|10 years ago|reply
It echoes VK in a lot of ways (pirated media abounds!), but channels are some weird cross between Twitter and 4chan as opposed to being a blatant Facebook clone. Direct messaging is still there but it doesn't seem like the network is focused on that at all anymore.
[+] [-] nagarjun|10 years ago|reply
I think a lot of developers seem to be taking the same approach with bots. They are trying to create alternative UIs for their already existing mobile apps through bots. Mobile / web apps do a lot of the same stuff as bots in a much more user-friendly way. Take a look at https://storebot.me/ and tell me if there's one bot that can do something better than a mobile app.
I'm not anti-bot but I just think the bot-frenzy is premature,
[+] [-] Shoot_The_Moon|10 years ago|reply
I think that this is a better platform than mobile as it supports multiple devices, user accounts are already setup, it's easy to test and it has built in notifications.
One thing I did have an issue with, is showcasing what it's features were. One option is to create a lot of videos and screenshots which would take a lot of time. As further improvements were made, I would have to reshoot the videos.
Instead, I created a React component to simulate interactions with a bot. The React component is here: http://sevenleaps.github.io/chat-template/
The website for the bot is: http://www.mrwgame.com/
[+] [-] LAMike|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unicornporn|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dreamdu5t|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] cloudjacker|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] yagop|10 years ago|reply
[1] https://www.reddit.com/r/TelegramBots/comments/3bsec7/unoffi... [2] https://github.com/yagop/telegram-bot
[+] [-] Animats|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] CiPHPerCoder|10 years ago|reply
See http://cs.au.dk/~jakjak/master-thesis.pdf for more on why Telegram isn't secure and you shouldn't trust it (as it is today) for anything requiring privacy.
[+] [-] pdappollonio|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kpcyrd|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Natanael_L|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] educar|10 years ago|reply
Edit: to clarify, what I meant is that I expected non-profits to make good use of their money and not give away large sums of money in prize competitions. Certainly, no NGO or non-profit I know of does this. Raises a red flag for me.
[+] [-] hardwaresofton|10 years ago|reply
http://www.investopedia.com/terms/n/non-profitorganization.a...
[+] [-] JJJollyjim|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kelnos|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unlinker|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Sanddancer|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] cloudjacker|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ommunist|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tuyguntn|10 years ago|reply
Do not forget, they may have some issues with security or user growth, but founder generally tries to promote his own product, everyone will behave like he does (promote in product in any legal way), when they have enough resources.
[+] [-] johnieeboy|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dsp1234|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kome|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] deskamess|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dreamdu5t|10 years ago|reply
Developers and artists should be treated like stakeholders rather than cannon-fodder and free labor.
[+] [-] ommunist|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] collyw|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] felixrieseberg|10 years ago|reply
Hey pizza bot!
> Hey Jeremy! The usual tonight?
Nah, I'd like to try something new
> We have added three new items:
> 1) Hawaiian
> 2) BBQ
> 3) The Works
Option 3 please.
> Shall I send this to your home?
[+] [-] smcquaid|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] philipplgh|10 years ago|reply
also feel free to use the code when participating in the challenge
[+] [-] sangnoir|10 years ago|reply
Anything the bot-builder wants really. I think the aim of this grant is to explore the limits of what bots could be used for.
Bots don't have to use AI or ML to be useful: right now I use the @gif bot to search for and reply with reaction gifs inline (without having to launch browser->search->download->attach into chat). You can create a Jenkins/CI bot that chimes in when a build fails, or create a weather bot that tells you it's going to rain
[+] [-] unknown|10 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] chrisco255|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] fweespee_ch|10 years ago|reply
> We‘ll be giving out the prizes in several batches throughout 2016, so the final deadline is December, 31.
[+] [-] johnieeboy|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Shoot_The_Moon|10 years ago|reply
I created a GIF sharing game bot with a few friends and we are going to apply and it'd be great to get this!
We'd love some feedback - http://mrwgame.com/