2008-10-18

Yahoo! HackU + iPhone + GrandCentral = Visual Voicemail

I've had an iPhone since somewhere in July, and had GrandCentral since last September.... GrandCentral gave me visual voicemail on my BlackBerry and saved me minutes (since it used my unlimited data plan, but this doesn't really matter since T-Mobile now give unlimited minutes to voicemail). Sadly, Google never made GrandCentral's mobile (or other) site work on the iPhone, so I was left in the dark.

I quickly realized why Mobile Safari couldn't play what GrandCentral mobile returns, but I was too lazy to do anything with that knowledge. That is, until Yahoo! and God himself (creator of PHP) came to my school.

The Premise of HackU is "a day-long festival of coding, camaraderie, demos, awards, food, music and jollity (it’s a real word, look it up). It’s not about perfect code, just your creativity, a cool idea and a working prototype." [HackU Oct 18, 2008] Well, this isn't really a prototype... it's a full blown product! I owe any style (in the buttons and background), and the multiple message code to Jeffrey Sung.

If you have an iPhone and a GrandCentral account, try it out by going to http://rectu.ms/iphone on your iPhone! (Note: the site will only display properly on Safari, Mobile Safari, or Google Chrome) Also, I have submitted the WebApp to Apple for possible inclusion at their WebApps page.

If you're really interested, you can see the presentation I gave at HackU bellow... or even email me for the code (soon to be released under GPL).

11 comments:

  1. Looks great - but I think people might feel a little uncomfortable entrusting their login info to a url like rectu.ms. ;)

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  2. True, I can change that... It was a bit of a joke anyway. Or at least an attempt at humor at 3 am in a room full of geeks.

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  3. Any thoughts about releasing the server code so others can host? I do not feel so much uncomfortable about the domain name as logging into any site except those I know directly or grandcentral itself.

    Taylor

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  4. " I quickly realized why Mobile Safari couldn’t play what GrandCentral mobile returns [... ] "

    So why is it? Especially given that if you go to GC's mobile site in a desktop browser, click the play button, save the mp3 it gives you, and email it to an emailbox you can read from your iphone, it plays fine?

    And do share your php code. I'd love to test it, but I cant do that unless I can look at the php and put it on *my* server.

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  5. Well honestly all my code does is basically what you did... just a tiny bit more elegantly and completely automated. I will be releasing the code when I get time to clean it up (commenting and optimization) and make sure of some other things. I promise to get it up, but I am a full time student so give me a little time. Thank you all!

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  6. Not understanding all of this paranoia - very close to insulting, IMHO. But you've been very gracious, despite offering something very useful for free and getting the types of comments above.

    Nonetheless, this is an amazing move forward you've made - the iPhone/GC community may not understand that yet (or it could just be this crowd). But they will.

    Take your time releasing the code - or don't even do it. Either way, you've got a great thing as it stands today!

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  7. how can I get gc acct? google won't even show me where gc is! I'd love this app, cuz (long story) I'm locked out of installer, my 90+ 3rd p. apps, wifi (thanks, zibri), even a few apps it cane with! (1.1.4, 16g / ziphoned dammit--not by me!)

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  8. If you're looking for how to get a GrandCentral account, you have to register here http://www.grandcentral.com/home/reserve
    As for your iPhone, I'd recommend updating it's software to 2.2
    To do that, you need to download the update (but not install) from iTunes. Then use QuickPwn or PwnageTool to unlock it. ZiPhone is way out of date.
    Read more about that and find downloads at http://blog.iphone-dev.org/

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  9. Qays,
    Any update on releasing your code? I would really like it in any form you have it.

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  10. My tool is now useless, hurrah! :-) Google finally finished Google Voice and is upgrading GrandCentral users to that. Many new features have been added, including transcription and iPhone support. Login to grandcentral.com on your computer and follow the upgrade procedure, it really is worth it.
    A little late now, but I put my ugly code into a repository at mivoicemail.rectu.ms/svn/ incase anyone is still interested, which you probably aren't.

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  11. I'm waiting for your updates. I get to used some of your codes here. Thanks!

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