[ale] Ring, ring, it's your computer calling. Your process has completed.

Vernard Martin vernard at venger.net
Mon Dec 10 16:18:33 EST 2012


On 12/10/2012 09:15 AM, Richard Bronosky wrote:
>
> For the ATT mobile hackathon on the 30th I made a project that uses 
> call management web APIs. (Because it increased the prize pool from 
> $300 to $500. This was a good choice as I ended up winning first prize.)
>
> One of the gems was that I learned how to use a simple curl command to 
> call my phone. Now, doing something useful with that call (text to 
> speech, speech to text, or IVR menu tree) gets pretty complex, however 
> making the call can be pretty powerful alone. Let's say you put curl 
> command in a script named "callme". You can then go:
> rsync /path server:/path || callme
>
> Then, if that rsync command that you expected to take 4 hours fails, 
> you get a call and don't lose half your day. Or, you can use a 
> semicolon instead of the double pipe and it calls you no matter what. 
> There will be no one on the other end of the call, but in this most 
> basic form it is still pretty useful.
>
> With a little bit more work I ought to be able to make it except an 
> argument that gets passed to the text to speech API. Then you could 
> use it for alerts of a less binary nature:
> callme "I just met you and this is crazy"
>
>
Take a look at qpage (http://www.qpage.org) This plus any analog modem 
plus a few TAP to SMS gateways and you can have your computer send you 
text messages. And since this uses a honest to goodness phone line that 
is "out of band" for most systems, i'll work when your network is down. 
I set this up originally at the Emory School of Public Health about 6 
years ago and they are still using it to this day (new server and such 
but same basic design).

V


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