That Smith

Control Google Voice using text messages

Chad — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 00:00:18 +0000

Google Voice is awesome. I can’t stress that enough. Last week I demonstrated how to make it do some pretty neat things when paired with a web server and Android device, but what if you don’t have mobile web or a super phone?

As it turns out, one of my fellow Kansans had this issue but worked up a hack using Textmarks to search his contacts and place calls via SMS.

I liked the idea but don’t know a thing about Textmarks so I decided to make it so you can control your Google Voice account using PHP and messages you send to your own GV number.

Requirements:

Google Voice
Web server w/ PHP 5
Ability to set cron jobs

Part 1 – The PHP:

The first thing I did was make a script that would access my Google Voice account, check for new messages, see if they’re from me and say to call or text someone, and perform the action if necessary. It’s pretty straightforward, download it here.

Part 2 – Setup:

Add your Google Voice login and password to the top of the script and rename it to some-filename.php. Next, upload it to your server and set a cron job to run it every 5 minutes or so.

Part 3 – Usage:

Call out or send an SMS using your Google Voice number by texting yourself.

To place a call, send -

call 3165555555
dial 3165555555
ring 3165555555

Numbers can be in any format: 3165555555, 316-555-5555, 316.555.555, 316 555 5555, (316) 555-5555 and will ring on whatever line you sent the message from as long as it’s associated with your account.

To send a text message, send -

text 3165555555 Hey Chad, how’s it going?
sms 3165555555 Hey Chad, how’s it going?

Other things:

Yes, I’m aware you can call your Google Voice number to place a call, and there are a number of other ways to accomplish this, but what fun is that? I doubt I’ll use this method unless something terrible happens to my Nexus One.

Talk to @ksufinger if you want to hack something up that doesn’t require checking for new messages every 5 minutes. His method probably works faster since Textmarks calls his script immediately after a message is received.

I might integrate it with Twilio later and wouldn’t mind seeing the same functionality over XMPP.

Google Voice + Locale

Chad — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 03:39:24 +0000

About a month ago I purchased one of those awesome Nexus One Google phones and started tinkering to see what cool things I could make it do. I love the phone, and as many of you know, absolutely love Google Voice too.

I figure the only way Google Voice could be improved is if it magically knew where I am and make my phones ring accordingly – so that’s exactly what I made it do.

You can too with an Android phone, the Locale app and a web server.

Goal:

Tell Google Voice which phones to ring based on your current location or situation.

Requirements:

Google Voice
Android phone w/ internet and GPS
Locale for Android ($9.99, QR code)
Locale GPS Plug-In (Free, QR code)
HTTP Poster and Locale Plug-In (Free, QR code)
Web server w/ PHP 5 (uses cURL and json_decode)

Part 1 – The PHP:

Download googlevoice-locale.php
Add your Google Voice login and password to the top and save
Upload the script to a secret location on your web server

Part 2 – Configure Locale:

Create a new Situation with a condition of where or when your Google Voice settings should change (ie: while you’re sleeping, at home or in the office)
Add a Setting using the HTTP Post plugin to tell your server which phones to turn off or on
HTTP Post settings:
URL – http://yourawesomeserver.com/googlevoice-locale.php?on[]=home&off[]=work
Select GET
Save
Name, save and activate the Situation

The PHP script is set to toggle numbers using the names you assigned them on the Google Voice settings page, so if your phone is named “Work” use “work” (lowercase) in the URL.

The possibilities with Google Voice and Locale are endless. In addition to toggling phones based on your location, you can toggle them when you’re with your mistress, when your phone is charging or about to die, and can even route your calls through Gizmo when you’re connected to your home WiFi.

My favorite trick is to forward all calls to my wife by turning my phone face down.

Let me know in the comments if you need help or think of other useful situations for Locale and Google Voice. Enjoy.

XM Radio extension for Google Chrome

Chad — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 03:39:11 +0000

I released my first real extension for Google Chrome today – an addon that lets you access your XM Radio Online account without having to keep their ugly player open in an extra window.

I planned on making it for Firefox/Jetpack but decided I like Chrome’s addon capabilities and ease of development better.

The addon is pretty basic right now and requires a subscription to XM Radio Online and the Windows Media Player plugin.

Future versions will support VLC media player, will contain a prettier interface and features like volume control and a stop button.

Download from Google Chrome Extensions.

Google Wave Add-on for Firefox

Chad — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 05:31:56 +0000

Google probably isn’t going to be happy about this, but I present to you the first ever Google Wave Notifier… for Firefox.

This add-on reuses code from my other add-on, the Google Voice Add-on for Firefox (I’m great with names).

If you have a Google Wave account, enter your login and password in the settings and it will log you in and notify you of new wavelets in your inbox.

Let me know if you encounter bugs. Enjoy.

Latest Version: v0.0.3

In this release:

Changed “Incompatible Browser” error to “Cookies Blocked”
Third-party cookies need to be enabled for wave.google.com (this fixes the issue people were having with Firefox 3.5.3 and 3.7)
Addon sends custom user-agent per Google Wave Team’s request
Limits automatic inbox checking to a minimum of 5 minutes
Now only attempts to check the inbox if you are logged in

Planned for the next release:

Sandboxed HTTP connection for safer third-party cookies

Known Issues:

“Cookies Blocked” issue: If third-party cookies are blocked for all sites, an exception will have to be added for wave.google.com.

This is done by going to Tools -> Options -> Privacy -> Firefox will: Use custom settings for history -> Exceptions -> wave.google.com -> Allow.

This notifier is for regular Google Wave accounts, so Sandbox accounts will not work. If you would like to use it in Sandbox, let me know and I will upload that version as well.

Updates:

As of this time you will not automatically receive notifications of updates to the addon, so check this page regularly or follow me on twitter to be notified of new versions.

Support: Google Wave Add-on Wave

Compatibility:

This addon has been tested on and is fully functional with Firefox 3.x.x and 3.7a1pre. It has been tested using Windows XP, Vista, 7, Ubuntu, and OS X. It will install in Flock and older versions of Firefox but is unsupported outside of Firefox 3.5+.

License:

This addon is distributed without warranty under the MPL 1.1/GPL 2.0/LGPL 2.1 licenses. View the addon source or visit http://www.mozilla.org/MPL/ for additional information on the licenses.

Download:

Google Wave Add-on for Firefox v0.0.3

Donate:

Please consider buying me a beer if you find this plugin useful.

How to get remote page titles

Chad — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 13:00:54 +0000

If you’re an amateur web developer and have an application where you need to get the title of some other page, you probably know that doing so is no easy task.

Several of my applications already do this, but to make it easier for other developers and my future need, I made a service called Get Page Title.

At first glance, Get Page Title is just an extremely basic site where you type a URL to retrieve its title, however the bulk of the service is an API which can be called from any script or site.

The Get Page Title API is explained in more detail on Post Topic. It is a free service.

© That Smith, 2009. | Permalink | No comment
Post tags: API, Get Page Title, JavaScript, Mktg Dept, PHP, Scripts, Services

jQuery TinyMCE Plugin

Chad — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 13:00:49 +0000

A few projects of mine which are still in progress use TinyMCE for text editing. I can’t stand the TinyMCE configuration, so a while back I wrote a jQuery plugin to make it a little less painful.

The jQuery TinyMCE plugin differs from the standard TinyMCE configuration in that any jQuery object can be used to create an editor rather than all textareas or a specific DOM element by ID.

The plugin can be downloaded from the jQuery TinyMCE project page and documentation and examples can be found on Mktg Dept. The plugin is supported on Post Topic.

Mobile Browser Detection

Chad — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 01:38:05 +0000

It’s been a while since I’ve updated, but that’s only because I’ve been super busy coming up with new creative projects. Today I decided to move all future family and personal updates off-site, so don’t expect anything but project updates from here on out.

One of my recent projects is a set of open source scripts for detecting and redirecting mobile visitors to another version of a website, since that seems to be something a lot of people struggle with.

The scripts, which are simply called Detect Mobile Browser, are combined with a URL redirection service that separates mobile visitors from regular users and sends them to one address or another.

See my post on Post Topic for a more detailed explanation or head right over to Detect Mobile Browser to check it out. The scripts and service are both free of charge.

Six Years Ago

Chad — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 05:00:17 +0000

Today is an important day in my family, so I figured I’d wipe the dust off That Smith long enough to share what makes today so special.

On this day six years ago, I met this young lady for the first time.

We met at a Royals-Twins game at Kauffman Stadium, eventually started dating, and then about 3 years ago, got married.

Additional photos can be seen here.

Google Voice Add-on for Firefox

Chad — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 16:39:13 +0000

Google Voice is a popular telecommunications service from Google that gives you one number for all your phones.

This Firefox addon makes it so you can click-to-call numbers on any website using your Google Voice number and send text messages without leaving your browser.

There is no Google Voice API for development, but everything including SMS and recorded voice messages can be received via JSON and XML requests.

Screenshots:

Latest Version: v0.9.1

Changes in v0.9.1:

Fixes Gizmo5 support

Changes in v0.9.0:

Adds Gizmo5 support
Automatically logs out and in when username or password is changed
No longer requires a refresh when call out number is changed
Fixes “Loading Calls” bug on new installs

Features of Google Voice for Firefox:

Click to Call
Dial from Task Bar
SMS from Task Bar
Select text and double click taskbar to send as SMS
Select number and double click taskbar to dial
Auto Login/shortcut to Google Voice
Display most recent recent call/sms when hovered

Changelog

Features planned for future versions:

New message notifications
New call notifications
New SMS notifications
~~Option to hide number on status bar~~ removing number in v1.0
~~Send SMS from status bar~~ added in v0.2.0b1
Listen to most recently voice mail from the status bar
~~Switch from XMLHttpRequest to Sandboxed HTTP connections~~ no longer necessary in v0.6.0
Addon update notifications

Setup:

Uninstall GrandCentral Click to Call
Install this addon
Restart Firefox
Open Settings…
Enter your Google Account e-mail address & password
Enter the number you want to ring for outgoing calls (not your GV number)
Press OK

Known Issues

None in v0.9.0.

Common Problems

Unable to place call to XXX-XXX-XXXX

Problem: You entered your Google Voice number as the forwarding number, or
Problem: You entered a number that is not on you Google Voice account as the forwarding number

Solution: Enter one of the numbers set up on your Google Voice account

The addon does not detect numbers on “…..”

Problem: The page you are viewing contains frames, or
Problem: The number you are trying to click is loaded via AJAX after the add-on scans for numbers

Solution: If the content was loaded dynamically you can detect new numbers by double clicking the GV icon in the status bar. If the page contains frames (such as Google Contacts) there is nothing you can do at this time.

The addon does not work in Flock

Problem: You are using Flock

Solution: This is the Google Voice Add-on for Firefox. Quit whining and download Firefox.

I do not see the addon in the toolbar

Problem: You are looking in the wrong place

Solution: Make sure your status bar is not hidden because that’s where the Google Voice Add-on for Firefox is located.

Updates:

As of this time you will not automatically receive notifications of updates to the addon, so check this page regularly or follow me on twitter to be notified of new versions.

Compatibility:

This addon has been tested on and is fully functional with Firefox 3.x.x and 3.7a1pre. It has been tested using Windows XP, Vista, 7, Ubuntu, and OS X. Please notify me of any other compatible versions or platforms in the comments. The addon will install in Flock and older versions of Firefox but is unsupported outside of Firefox 3.5.

License:

This addon is distributed without warranty under the MPL 1.1/GPL 2.0/LGPL 2.1 licenses. View the addon source or visit http://www.mozilla.org/MPL/ for additional information on the licenses.

Download:

Google Voice Add-on for Firefox v0.9.1

Support:

Since the comments are getting a bit lengthy, please post bug reports and support requests here.

If you are looking to update or develop your own application for Google Voice, here is a little information to get you started.

Donate:

Please consider buying me coffee if you find this plugin useful.

Related:

For a fun preview of what you might see in future versions of the addon, try taking the Google Voice Captcha Challenge.

Wichita Domain Names pt. 6

Chad — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 16:12:36 +0000

As many of you already know, a quality domain name can go a long way in bringing relevant traffic to your website, and a good local domain name is no different when your goal is to serve the local market.

Up until this point, I have shared 125 available domain names from my list of 300+ that are excellent candidates to be used by local small businesses. See names 1-25, 26-50, 51-75, 76-100, and 100-125. This list covers numbers 126-150.

If your small business is new to the local web, welcome. You should know there are tons of good options out there for registering a .com, usually for around $7/yr, and countless places willing to host your website – ad free – starting around $4/month. (Read: Don’t be suckered into high prices.)

If you have questions about registering a domain at the lowest cost, or setting one up for e-mail, Mktg Dept and a handful of other local webbies are always willing to meet over a cup of Wichita coffee.

Disclaimer: Please do not register a Wichita domain name only to attempt to resell it. My studies show that most people in Wichita are NOT willing to pay extra for a name that is already taken.

© That Smith, 2009. | Permalink | One comment
Post tags: Available Domain Names, internet marketing, keyword optimization, SEO, small business, wichita