Tag Archives: Identica

Identica issues

Looks like we’re having issues posting to identica. They’ve switched to pump.io I think. Anyone know what that means for the API? I’ll probably look into it at some point, but if you’re hurting with the lack of Identica support, let me know in the comments, the more feedback, the faster it’ll get fixed.

Remember me and other tweaks

The remember me function now works. If you’re having issues, I recommend clearing cookies for this domain. The “remember me” text on the login page is also now a label, so clicking it will tick the checkbox. The devil’s in the details.

I’ve also deployed some behind the scenes changes that bring encryption to the application. If you created a link to WordPress before today, then the data you submitted was stored in plain text in the database. From today forward, this data is encrypted.

There was some discussion about whether or not this feature is important. Most people felt it was overkill to focus on security so early. I’m a big fan of the “better safe than sorry” philosophy when it comes to security, so I’m pleased that this code is live.

I also found a new deployment process, so bzr-upload replaces good old rsync! Deployments are now as simple as `bzr upload`.

Composer speaks SMS

Today I built an SMS API for Composer. It’s very basic, but it works. I just sent a text, had the message published, and got an SMS reply telling me which services succeeded (and sadly, failed).

Twitter failed because it wants to make every domain a link, and then wants to “shorten” that link to a 20 or 21 character t.co link. Very stupid. So twilio.com (10 characters) became http://t.co/Mnj6d4ZX (20 characters). With 3 domains (not urls) in my message, I gained at least 20 characters, and went over the 140 limit. But that’s another story!

I started out this morning (technically afternoon, but my morning 😉 ) building an SMS API for Composer. I wanted to be able to post from my mobile, without internet, and update my statuses. I chose Tropo because they’re free while in development. I figured it would be a while before I’d have the whole thing production ready, so a few months of free SMS gateway seemed appealing.

Alas, too many hours later, none of my texts reached Tropo, I couldn’t get a reply to work by IM or SMS, and so finally I decided to get agile and instead try Twilio. Bingo. It just worked. No issues, no bother. There are a couple of downsides. First, I got $30 bonus when signing up, but to “activate” my account I need to add a credit card. Second, it’s not free, it’s $1 a month per number plus 1c per text received and 1c to 7c or more per SMS sent, depending on the destination. But it works, and it worked in less than an hour.

I hard coded the mobile number to account id link, so if you want to use the SMS API, just let me know, tell me your mobile number, and I’ll add you to it! I’ll work on a better system where folks can register in time, but for now, it works. This is an MVP after all! 🙂

Now I can send one text message to Composer and update Facebook, Twitter, Identica and WordPress all at once. Happy days.