TweetMyPC Uses Twitter To Remote Control Your PC

[ogss.sourceforge.net] This allows you to control your computer entirely via text-message. It works on Linux, Mac, and Windows.

mastahyeti

I'm not so sure I trust a twitter account to remotely control my PC, especially based on the latest twitter headlines: [news.cnet.com]

I've been having problems with it logging in. I know all the information is correct.

@Phoshi:

Here's a script to get you started.
[murphymac.com]

@SnagIt takes the screen capture & automatically uploads to FTP. The URL to the new image is automatically copied to the clipboard.

See this link over at the SnagIt forums regarding how to set it up.

You could take this one step forward using something like AutoHotKey to launch a new e-mail to a certain address, paste the link and send it.

jarhead

@this post at Lifehacker from last week?

jarhead

@stradric: A URL would be a great way to see the image, but how would I reach that solution? Wouldn't I still need a way to tell my remote PC to take the screen shot and then upload it somewhere? That first step is what's got me stumped.

The end result, whether it be email or web based, isn't a big deal to me. I just can't figure out a way to get to either of those options.

joe.glass wants to reply to comments

this is great. i've been thinking about something like this for awhile. now to add some more functionality.

This is cool, but I agree with Phoshi; this could do SO much more!

I'm also very surprised that nobody is talking about the Wolfram Alpha on this blog network. Supposedly the biggest change for the internet since Google.

[3007hq.blogspot.com]

I'm trying this and i kinda find it almost unresponsive at times. I cant get "Logoff" to work either.

Dilpickle1

@joe.glass wants to reply to comments: It's possible. Pretty much anything is possible. If I was going to do something like that, I would probably just implement it from the web server. Just visit a page on your machine and it serves up the screenshot. Why does it have to be in an email specifically? Isn't having a URL reference to the image a better solution?

I'm not familiar with Thunderbird scripting, so I don't know what kind of permission issues you'll run into.

stradric

This to me seems like a bad idea, unless the tweet commands are private. Otherwise, you're going to have twitter flooded with nonsensical 'shutdown' or 'start porn dl for later tonight' tweets.

Gustavo Tandeciarz

As much as this could be cool, I can't help but feel it could do so much more. email files to you, for example.

@joe.glass wants to reply to comments: Oh, and I'm wanting to receive the emails via my blackberry. Something like VPN or LogMeIn would not work in this situation.

joe.glass wants to reply to comments

Ok, more-so related to texting, or in my case emailing my pc, is there a script I can set up that does the following:

Outlook/Thunderbird receives an email with predefined subject, script runs to take a screenshot of my computer, outlook/thunderbird then replies to my email with the screenshot attached.

Basically I want to be able to get "status updates" from my computers while I'm away from them. Any ideas? Maybe I can even integrate AutoHotKey somehow.

joe.glass wants to reply to comments

Portable Thunderbird + Mailbox Alert extension + batch files or Autohotkey. Use sendemail commandline tool to communicate status.

Been featured here before, no?

@dsh: I'd like to know how to do this, too. I know there are ways...

@Robotask. It can automate virtually anything, including taking a screen shot and emailing the image to a particular email address.

It isn't free, but I recently purchased it and have been using it as a hot backup program. Essentially, whenever I plug in my external hard drive, or dock my laptop at work, it senses a pre-defined volume connection and performs whatever action I define. I know this program would work for what you need. Of course, for $120, it better do everything you need, and then some.

I know there will probably be a lot of comments to the effect of: "You can do this for free with ___ program." Great! I'd love to hear the suggestions. Bring 'em on!

@Gustavo Tandeciarz: If the natural language parser were that good, I'd download porn EVERY day! :D

@nad: Ta, I'll give it a look. I was planning to hack something together with c++ and autohotkey :D

Meh, I've been working on a linux based bot for Twitter that does so much more. The idea will be it'll download files and such based on DMs.

I would see a whole lot more utility in a setup that allows me to *turn on* my computer remotely.

@jarhead: I'd think you could also repeatedly upload screenshots (say every minute or two) to the same address/name on an FTP server, and then you'd always be able to access that as the latest image, right?

Jason

I am Shoban, Developer of TweetMyPC. Thank you for your comments. It was just a weekend hobby project ;-) to shutdown my system after downloads when I go out.

I am adding more features to it soon.

Thanks
Shoban

shobankr

Oh goodies.... More back-doors for the botnet/skynet to instigate the robot Apocalypse.

DriscollMelcator

So, what kind of security does Twitter support that makes this a good idea?

Certainly, nobody would use a username/password to remote control computers. ;)

TheFu

@DeadPlayerWalking: I would expect any of the old-style "live" cam programs could be used as a basis for what's described. In the old days, live web cams were basically snap-shot uploaded to a common site on some set frequency (15 seconds?) and the web page would auto-reload.

I'm sure there is something open source you could use as a starting point for your own code. And with the twitter API, you could implement something similar to TweetMyPC to kick off the process if you didn't want to be constantly uploading something.

@dsh: Not an easy task. It is posible but building one will be little costly. ;-)

shobankr

1. Learn VBA 2. Setup a rule to run your script when a certain message comes in.

ShreelaImbesol

@jarhead: ZING!

fiji.siv

The real question is can I have my router WOL my PC with something like this.

Can I tweet "SelfDestruct" in case the RIAA raids while I am out ?

Audi5000

@joe.glass wants to reply to comments: If you have a webcam just point it at your screen and install yawcam. It has an option where you could just browse to your computer's ip and see a stillshot at that moment. It's free and easy to setup.

jameless

Seems not to work after reboot. Apparently the app forgets the login credentials on every shutdown.

csapdani

Seems to me like the app could do a lot more than just shutdown functions. I'd like to be able to open or close programs (like uTorrent), start backups, start and pause winamp... all doable with either hotkeys or program execution, which an app like this should be able to build-in easily.

Drakar2007

@joe.glass wants to reply to comments: I haven't done exactly what you want to do, but I wrote a VBA code that will send my resume and contact information to any email address that I specify, so it should be a really good starting point if you know a little VBA (or know how to type VBA into Google). The code is rudimentary, but works. I wish I could help more, but graduation is 10 days away and I still have a 40 page thesis to finish for MS. Below are 2 macro files and one Help file

[dl.getdropbox.com]
[dl.getdropbox.com]
[dl.getdropbox.com]

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