Hard core FTF hunting

[+gc200]

Im running Linux and right now every little script and fiddling about with my system has something to do with geocaching. Im lost in geocaching so to speak...

 

Anyway this little tip is part of something a bit more complex, but i get back to that when its done.

 

I have set up my email, that is registered with geocaching.com, to automatically send a sms to my phone whenever a new cache appears in my neighbourhood, or at the latest 10 min after the mail was recieved from geocaching.com.

 

First the obvious. You have to set up a notification for new caches on the GC site, and you have to be Premium for that

 

Then when the email arrives in your inbox, i have set up a filter to forward this email to (my phonenumber)@sms.world-text.com that will send a sms to my phone.

www.world-text.com is a sms gateway service and so it costs money. But for the hard core FTF hunter a few $ per year may be worth it. Offcourse if you live in a BIG city and lots of ppl are planting lots of caches and you have set up your radius to 500 miles this will be expensive, so think with your wallet when you are setting up your notification.

This is really easy and fast to setup. Here is a picture of my filtersettings, it in swedish but I think you get the ide. This should work for any modern email client.

 

This thing also need for you to keep your computer with your emailclient running. But as i said this is just a part of something else.

If you dont want your computer running all the time, but still want to be able to have this working whenever you get the FTF itch. There is simple ways to remotely start your computer from your phone and if running linux there is simple ways to remotely shut them down.

To turn it on, it should be the same for any PC at least, running whatever system. Just enable WAKE ON LAN or WAKE ON RING or something depending on your BIOS. Then have a look at http://code.google.com/p/microwow/.

And as a Linuxuser i use http://www.xk72.com/midpssh/ which has macros to use for shutting down.

 

If you remotely start your computer you also need to autologin to your computer and have your emailclient start automatically.

 

This is how im running this right now, but the dream would be to have one script to do it all. So if any of you have some ideas on how to shell script this in a sweet way, i would jump of joy

 

Keep on hunting

[+Hynr]

You call that "hard core"?

 

This is much closer to hard core: get data plan for your mobile phone, get gmail email account, install gmail mobile client on phone, have geocaching.com use that as your address for notifications. Note that with a browser you can then look up the cache description.

 

So you don't have a phone where a data plan makes sense? Well,... how hard-core are you?

 

(In business meetings they will be impressed by how much in demand you are, especially if each time the signal goes off you get up to "take care of something urgent").

[+smstext]

or become a reviewer for your area

[+gc200]

You call that "hard core"?

 

This is much closer to hard core: get data plan for your mobile phone, get gmail email account, install gmail mobile client on phone, have geocaching.com use that as your address for notifications. Note that with a browser you can then look up the cache description.

 

So you don't have a phone where a data plan makes sense? Well,... how hard-core are you?

 

(In business meetings they will be impressed by how much in demand you are, especially if each time the signal goes off you get up to "take care of something urgent").

 

Yihaaw !! Sweet solution. I just installed gmail on my phone, never seen this before.

Only one thing though, how does this let you know when a new cache is published ?

Doing it my way, with sms, you get the notification instantly with a buzzing phone in your pocket.

 

I now have both, i just set up another notification with the same values and posted that one to my gmailaccount. This way i get alarmed instantly and thX to you I also have the link to insanely fast take me to the new cachelisting with links and coordinates and all.

 

Can we then agree that this have to be superhardcore ?!?!?

[+gc200]

or become a reviewer for your area

 

Yeah, sweet... How do you do that ?

[+Knight2000]

Yihaaw !! Sweet solution. I just installed gmail on my phone, never seen this before.

Only one thing though, how does this let you know when a new cache is published ?

 

have geocaching.com use that as your address for notifications. Note that with a browser you can then look up the cache description.

 

If you want it to go to two email addresses set up your gmail account to forward mail.

[+The Bakkers]

You call that "hard core"?

 

This is much closer to hard core: get data plan for your mobile phone, get gmail email account, install gmail mobile client on phone, have geocaching.com use that as your address for notifications. Note that with a browser you can then look up the cache description.

 

So you don't have a phone where a data plan makes sense? Well,... how hard-core are you?

 

(In business meetings they will be impressed by how much in demand you are, especially if each time the signal goes off you get up to "take care of something urgent").

 

Yihaaw !! Sweet solution. I just installed gmail on my phone, never seen this before.

Only one thing though, how does this let you know when a new cache is published ?

Doing it my way, with sms, you get the notification instantly with a buzzing phone in your pocket.

 

I now have both, i just set up another notification with the same values and posted that one to my gmailaccount. This way i get alarmed instantly and thX to you I also have the link to insanely fast take me to the new cachelisting with links and coordinates and all.

 

Can we then agree that this have to be superhardcore ?!?!?

 

I have my phone set to check gmails every 5 minutes so I get notified right away. Unfortunately I can not take off all the time. Plus it does not cost any extra if you have a data plan already. Then if you have a windows mobile phone you can install http://www.nicque.com/PQz/GCz.htm and go right out a retrieve.

[+kallt_kaffe]

I just installed gmail on my phone, never seen this before.

Only one thing though, how does this let you know when a new cache is published ?

 

Most people use choose gmail for this since they offer imap push-mail. imap-push mail i supported in most modern phones. I've personally used it with several Sony Ericsson phones as K550i, K850i and now a G502.

 

However, I am not using gmail myself so I cannot describe the necessary steps to set this up with your specific phone (I'm using my own mail server) but I'd be surprised if you cannot find instructions for this with a few google searches.

 

The advantage of imap push-mail is that you are instantly notified when a mail arrive and the amount of data traffic used is very small. Just make sure to use a gmail account for this that you do not use for anything else than notifies and the traffic should be mimimal.

 

EDIT: Here's gmail instructions (in swedish): http://geocaching.se/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5953

Edited October 14, 2009 by kallt_kaffe

[+gc200]

I just installed gmail on my phone, never seen this before.

Only one thing though, how does this let you know when a new cache is published ?

 

Most people use choose gmail for this since they offer imap push-mail. imap-push mail i supported in most modern phones. I've personally used it with several Sony Ericsson phones as K550i, K850i and now a G502.

 

However, I am not using gmail myself so I cannot describe the necessary steps to set this up with your specific phone (I'm using my own mail server) but I'd be surprised if you cannot find instructions for this with a few google searches.

 

The advantage of imap push-mail is that you are instantly notified when a mail arrive and the amount of data traffic used is very small. Just make sure to use a gmail account for this that you do not use for anything else than notifies and the traffic should be mimimal.

 

EDIT: Here's gmail instructions (in swedish): http://geocaching.se/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5953

Ha ha ... Jag har kört in gmail och fått push och sånt att funka nu... Alldeles lagom till att bli snuvad på en FTF av dig... Jag måste ha fått messet samma minut som du loggade på internet...

Hädanefter ska jag allt ge dig en match i FTF hunting KK Jag har 2,5 mil in till stan, men jag ska allt stampa pellen i botten när det ges tillfälle nästa gång.

[+gc200]

Im running Linux and right now every little script and fiddling about with my system has something to do with geocaching. Im lost in geocaching so to speak...

 

Anyway this little tip is part of something a bit more complex, but i get back to that when its done.

 

I have set up my email, that is registered with geocaching.com, to automatically send a sms to my phone whenever a new cache appears in my neighbourhood, or at the latest 10 min after the mail was recieved from geocaching.com.

 

First the obvious. You have to set up a notification for new caches on the GC site, and you have to be Premium for that

 

Then when the email arrives in your inbox, i have set up a filter to forward this email to (my phonenumber)@sms.world-text.com that will send a sms to my phone.

www.world-text.com is a sms gateway service and so it costs money. But for the hard core FTF hunter a few $ per year may be worth it. Offcourse if you live in a BIG city and lots of ppl are planting lots of caches and you have set up your radius to 500 miles this will be expensive, so think with your wallet when you are setting up your notification.

This is really easy and fast to setup. Here is a picture of my filtersettings, it in swedish but I think you get the ide. This should work for any modern email client.

 

This thing also need for you to keep your computer with your emailclient running. But as i said this is just a part of something else.

If you dont want your computer running all the time, but still want to be able to have this working whenever you get the FTF itch. There is simple ways to remotely start your computer from your phone and if running linux there is simple ways to remotely shut them down.

To turn it on, it should be the same for any PC at least, running whatever system. Just enable WAKE ON LAN or WAKE ON RING or something depending on your BIOS. Then have a look at http://code.google.com/p/microwow/.

And as a Linuxuser i use http://www.xk72.com/midpssh/ which has macros to use for shutting down.

 

If you remotely start your computer you also need to autologin to your computer and have your emailclient start automatically.

 

This is how im running this right now, but the dream would be to have one script to do it all. So if any of you have some ideas on how to shell script this in a sweet way, i would jump of joy

 

Keep on hunting

 

As it turns out, with a modern phone and gmail with imap push, this might seem medieval.

But it is still good for anyone with an older phone.

[+kallt_kaffe]

Ha ha ... Jag har kört in gmail och fått push och sånt att funka nu... Alldeles lagom till att bli snuvad på en FTF av dig... Jag måste ha fått messet samma minut som du loggade på internet...

Hädanefter ska jag allt ge dig en match i FTF hunting KK Jag har 2,5 mil in till stan, men jag ska allt stampa pellen i botten när det ges tillfälle nästa gång.

 

Det är inte mig du skall oroa dig för när det gäller FTF:er i falutrakten... Idag hade jag tur och jag har nästan dubbelt så långt att åka. Bork bork!