Ever wanted to be alerted somehow when you are out and about, and get a reply to a node?

Well, picture if you will the ability to know when you've had a reply, anywhere you go on your mobile handset!

Sound far fetched? Let me convince you otherwise.

My first reaction would be similar to this:

But defyance how can that be pulled off??

I'd be glad to tell you my friend!

Well, the ability to use SMS services on your phone it done by a technology similar to a mail server. Most all wireless phones with the SMS capability have an e-mail address like so: 865363****@uscc.textmsg.com.(Not getting my number that easily) So something could easily embedded in the Everything code to send a message to your handset when you get a reply, similar to being notified in the chatterbox, only a mail routine would send a message to your handset with a short message. (Needs to be less than 147 char, not including the subject and from address) Another idea that tye brought up was the /msg-to-email function, which I think is an excellent idea. Don't want the function? Then why not have an option in your user settings to turn it on/off, that simple. This is of course another hair-brained idea that probably won't fly, but its worth a shot!

Please let me know what you think!

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perl -e '$a="3567"; $b=hex($a); printf("%2X\n",$a);'
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Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Away from home reply notifications.
by Beatnik (Parson) on Jun 20, 2002 at 19:36 UTC
    I hate to burst an american bubble but SMSs have been widely used all over the european continent (and oh yeah, in the UK too) for ages... Stuff like World Cup results, breaking news, horoscopes, chat boxes and even SPAM have been polluting european cell phones for years. There are several free and paying gateways and I think there are a few SMS modules on CPAN too :) why not (ab)use those since not all phone companies provide the mail2SMS service.

    Greetz
    Beatnik
    Perl is like sex: if you're doing it wrong, there's no fun to it.
[reply]
      We too have been using this feature for a coupla years at lest (not nearly as long as the bulletproof GSM networks in Europe), and there are numerous sites with SMS updates, weather reports, blah blah, and yes, I do know of some SMS modules on CPAN. What I'm getting at is a point that tye brought up when he suggested the /msg-to-email function, why write a patch for something like this, when you can use something that is already built. I have done some research on this, and am testing something that I wrote on my site that does this (Speaking of which, if anyone has this feature, and would like to use their phone as a guinea pig /msg me and let me know). In talking to some of the other carriers (the major ones at least) I can say that at least the top 10 cellular carriers in the US provide the mail2sms function.. Of course, I'm sure there are quite a few that don't offer this, or even SMS for that matter.. I just thought it would be kinda cool, heh.

      Did I understand what you were trying to communicate Beatnik??

      --~~--~~--~~--~~--~~--~~--~~--~~--~~--~~--~~--~~--~~--
      perl -e '$a="3567"; $b=hex($a); printf("%2X\n",$a);'
      --~~--~~--~~--~~--~~--~~--~~--~~--~~--~~--~~--~~--~~--
[reply]
        mmmm seems like I should stop the coffee for now... getting a bit kranky :) anyway, check other node I posted about grabbing the XML Ticker for your message inbox... you can do it yourself...
        But yes, tres cool stuff :) I ++ed too

        Greetz
        Beatnik
        ...Perl is like sex: if you're doing it wrong, there's no fun to it.
[reply]

      Because then you don't get /msg-to-email functionality thrown in for free?

      (My personal preference would be /msg-to-AIM, but I doubt I'll be submitting a patch for that anytime soon.)

      We are using here a powerful strategy of synthesis: wishful thinking. -- The Wizard Book

[reply]
        You can write a simple cron based XML ticker grabber and send it to your AIM/Yahoo/MSN/ICQ/Any IM or even send it to your cellphone :) without a patch :)

        Greetz
        Beatnik
        Perl is like sex: if you're doing it wrong, there's no fun to it.
[reply]

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