quickly send webpage text to sms?

May 1, 2009 12:32 PM

Is there a quick way to take a snippet of text from a webpage and send it as an sms?

Google toolbar used to have this capability, but ended it. The ideal workflow is to highlight the text, select "send to sms" and then select a phone number (either pull from goog contacts, or else input once and save thereafter).

Current workflow is copy the text to clipboard, go to gmail, open a new mail, put my mobile number in the to: line, and past the text in the body. Looking to streamline that. Thanks in advance.

posted by stupidsexyFlanders to computers & internet (7 comments total)

txtdrop.com -- they have a few different widgets/apps to make it easier.
posted by nitsuj at 12:49 PM on May 1

If you use AIM you can add a phone number to your buddy list in the format of [phone] and send messages to it. You still have to cut and paste but it's easier than opening an email.
posted by mikesch at 1:17 PM on May 1 [1 favorite]

ZiPClip might work for you.
posted by mr_crash_davis mark II: Jazz Odyssey at 1:23 PM on May 1

If you're not using Ubiquity yet for Firefox, you should be. It's very helpful.

AutoSMS has an SMS command for it. So all you need to do is highlight the text, CTRL+SPACE, "SMS THIS TO <NAME>"

I'm sure there's more SMS plugins, I found that one with a quick google search.
posted by teabag at 1:33 PM on May 1

Oh yeah, AutoSMS (upon actually reading the site) seems to put SMS functionality in the toolbar as well, which gets you back to where you were.
posted by teabag at 1:34 PM on May 1

If you use Firefox, then you're in luck. Have you heard of Ubiquity?

Thanks to nitsuj, I was able to come up with something that should work for you if you have Ubiquity installed in Firefox.

First, you'll need to go to txtdrop.com and generate a MySpace widget.

Here's an example with a non-working number:

form action="http://www.txtdrop.com/send.php" method="POST" target="_blank"
input type="hidden" name="number" value="p4futf1946t7"
textarea name="body" rows="3" cols="25" size="145">Drop Me A Txt
input type=submit value="Text Me"

Can you see how they hide the real phone number from you? (it's p4futf1946t7)

Once you have your 'number' and Ubiquity installed you can go to the Ubiquity command editor by typing this into your address bar in Firefox: chrome://ubiquity/content/editor.html

Now, in your command editor you want to create your new command "sms"

CmdUtils.CreateCommand({
name: "sms",
takes: {"message": noun_arb_text},
preview: function( pblock, message ) {
var msg = "Sends the SMS " + trim(message.text.substr(0,125)) + " to me";

pblock.innerHTML = msg;
},
execute: function( message) {
var baseUrl = "http://www.txtdrop.com/send.php";
var updateParams = {
body: message.text.substr(0,125),
number: "p4futf1946t7"
};

jQuery.ajax({
type: "POST",
url: baseUrl,
data: updateParams,
error:function(){displayMessage("SMS not sent");},
success:function() {displayMessage("SMS sent");}
});
}
})



Make sure you change the number variable to your MySpace widget number.

Now you're ready to test it out. Highlight some text on your screen and then press CTRL+Spacebar for the Ubiquity UI to open up. Then type "sms this" into the UI and the selected text will be sent in an SMS. Or type "sms thanks trueluk this works great!" and "thanks trueluk this works great!" will be sent to your phone.

On preview, I noticed AutoSMS but it sounded like you would have to create an account and all that jazz in order to use it, so I wrote this up instead.

And on second preview, it seems like I may have misinterpreted "put my mobile number in the to: line,..."

I'm posting anyways dammit.
posted by trueluk at 1:50 PM on May 1

Okay okay. I fixed it.

Now you type "sms this to 4025555555" to send the selected text or "sms whatever you want \to type in a message to 4025555555"

You must escape the word 'to' or change the key word which sends the text. Also, change the emailfrom field to your own email address so the message receiver knows who sent the message.

Here is the code to input into the Ubiquity command editor, no AutoSMS account creation required.

CmdUtils.CreateCommand({
name: "sms",
takes: {"message": noun_arb_text},
modifiers: {"to": noun_arb_text},
preview: function( pblock, message,mods ) {
var toNum = mods["to"].text;
var msg ="Sends the SMS " + trim(message.text.substr(0,120)) + " to " + toNum;
pblock.innerHTML = msg;
},
execute: function( message,mods) {
var baseUrl = "http://www.txtdrop.com/index.php";
if(mods["to"].text.length!=10){
displayMessage("Need 10 digits");
return;
}
var areacode=mods["to"].text.substr(0,3);
var local = mods["to"].text.substr(3,3);
var number = mods["to"].text.substr(6,4);
var updateParams = {
body: message.text.substr(0,125),
emailfrom:"[e-mail]",
npa: areacode,
exchange: local,
number: number,
submitted:"1"
};

jQuery.ajax({
type: "POST",
url: baseUrl,
data: updateParams,
error:function(){displayMessage("SMS not sent");},
success:function() {displayMessage("SMS sent");}
});
}
})


I'd be happy to modify that for you some more if it's not what you're looking for.
posted by trueluk at 2:33 PM on May 1