Writing on Computer, Posting via iPhone

December 17, 2008 12:10 PM

I'm going to be in the middle of nowhere for about a week on a retreat. I probably won't have internet access on my computer, but will at least have Edge access on my iPhone. I don't need to surf, but I'd like to be able to compose blog posts on my computer and be able to post them through my phone. How can I pull this off?

I have a jailbroken phone, so I can use PDAnet but I'd rather not pay for the service and I don't really want to be able to 'surf' anyway (must resist temptation.) But I would like to be able to write new posts and not do it on my phone.

So what can I do? Are there any apps or services that I can use that will allow me to compose something on my computer and then send the data in some usable format to my phone and let me post it using its connection?

Thanks.

posted by Gideon to Computers & Internet (11 answers total)

PDAnet is not a service, it's an installable application. Your iphone is jailbroken, so you can use Cydia to install it. Follow their instructions (http://www.junefabrics.com/iphone/index.php) and you should get internet access on your laptop via your iphone. At Edge speeds you won't be able to surf, edge is pretty damn slow!
posted by aeighty at 12:18 PM on December 17, 2008

What kind of blog software are you running? A lot of blogs have plugins where you can text in posts or email in posts to a specific email address.
posted by trbrts at 12:29 PM on December 17, 2008

I think what the OP was mentioning about not paying for the service is that the PDAnet software costs $29. The website that aeighty linked to, however, seems to indicate that the software has a trial period of two weeks, when it's fully functional. Maybe you should try that out?
posted by suedehead at 12:44 PM on December 17, 2008

iPhonemodem zsrelay is free from http://iphonemodem.de/en/index.html.
posted by wongcorgi at 1:31 PM on December 17, 2008

Response by poster: Yes, unfortunatly my trial has expired (and I only used it once - I don't generally need such a service.)

I'm using a self-hosted Wordpress install. I could text or email it - but I'm really looking to avoid typing something longish on the iPhone itself.
posted by Gideon at 1:31 PM on December 17, 2008

There's a free WordPress App if your install is 2.5.1 or above. I don't see how you would be able to avoid typing anything on the iPhone unless you're talking about pre-writing entries, saving them as drafts and then either scheduling a time for them to be automatically posted or posting them from safari.
posted by Bunglegirl at 1:50 PM on December 17, 2008

Best answer: That's odd. I just checked my PDAnet install from a month ago (when did 2.1 come out?) and it still works. Perhaps remove/reinstall would do the trick?
posted by aeighty at 1:58 PM on December 17, 2008

May I suggest that part of the purpose of the retreat may be to divest yourself of things that tie you to your everyday life, and that it will be a blessing to be fully untethered for 5 days?
posted by Roach at 1:58 PM on December 17, 2008 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: I am wanting to be untethered in general. But I will be writing a lot during this and my blog is how I've grown accustomed to doing this writing - it's a habit I've been able to maintain and so I wish to stick with it. Email, twitter, etc.. these things will go but I still want to write and don't want to post a dozen things when I get back.

This is one of the reasons I don't want to buy something like PDAnet - spending 30 bucks to send a post or two a day is not reasonable.

iPhoneModem seems to be giving me a lot of trouble. Any other ideas?
posted by Gideon at 4:09 PM on December 17, 2008

I'm sorry if I'm sounding like a broken record and/or misunderstanding, but PDAnet is free for iPhone.
posted by aeighty at 5:39 PM on December 17, 2008

Response by poster: Yes, it works still. The company that makes it claims they disable it if you don't pay for it.

So it's shareware, not freeware.

I'm just going to use that. Thanks everyone.
posted by Gideon at 5:48 PM on December 17, 2008