Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with automated

My blog subscribes to your podcast, and gives my readers links to your shows.

Wild_Eep — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 11:20:40 -0800

I want my blog to aggregate links to video podcasts on a specific topic. I have the subscription information. Can anyone recommend a (free) WordPress plugin that will allow my blog to subscribe to a video podcast and provide my readers with the links to see the videos? So far, I've tried feedwordpress and WP-o-Matic. They're both close, but they don't provide the url for the enclosure.

There also is a for-pay plugin whose name escapes me...

There are dozens of hits for plugins that allow one to /publish/ their podcast on their WordPress-based blog, but very few that allow a blog to publish content from an existing RSS feed.

Any ideas?

Save me from making 60 calls

mysterious1der — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 06:18:16 -0800

Asking for a co-worker: Is there a service, web-based or otherwise, that will record a message from me, then call a list of phone numbers I provide and play it back to them? This is not cold calling, in fact it's not telemarketing at all. This is for our church which is hosting a summer camp next week. The recording contains last minute details and other reminders about camp (including the implicit "remember, camp is next week!" message.)

All the recipients will welcome the information and the phone call, so there's nothing even remotely "spammy" about this, it would just save me the actual labor of making 60 calls.

Yes, I've googled, but all the hits are either preventing telemarketing or selling you hardware, which I'm not interested in since this is a one-time deal. Yes, I saw this, but it's also not really applicable. This was promising, but I need voice calls, not faxes.

How can I setup automated drop folder (hot folder) printing?

monsta coty scott — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 09:43:14 -0800

How can I setup automated drop folder (hot folder) printing? I would like a folder to be watched, and when a PDF gets copied to this folder it gets printed right away. I am running Vista x64 and our legacy office copier/printer doesn't have drivers available for this operating system. I have both PCs and an Apple Xserve available to setup hot folders on, so software for either system is an option, as is applescript.

Ideally I would like a series of folders setup for different print options. So if I drop a PDF into folder 1 it prints letter size, drop a PDF into folder 2 and it prints ledger.

I've seen graphic RIP systems with this functionality, but this is a bit overkill and expensive for my basic needs. Does anyone have software or script suggestions for such a task?

Automated Cropping and Straightening

masymas — Thu, 04 May 2006 10:54:50 -0800

Is there a freeware utility (PC) that takes in an image file containing a scan of multiple photos, then removes each individual photo, straightens, crops, and saves each photo as an individual file? Here is a sample if my description is unclear. It seems my photoshop 7 will not do it (although newer versions do).

Good automated educational software?

mrkohrea — Thu, 05 Jan 2006 18:30:45 -0800

Good automated educational software? Has anybody experienced any automated educational software that they really liked? By "automated" I mean software that quizzes you on a question and gives you more and more hints until you get it right.

I'm particularly interested in software that teaches linguistics; automata and formal language theory; statistics; and information theory. However, I'm also interested in people's experiences in other subject areas too.

The website which prompted this question was gradiance. I've also have come across aleks.

I'm trying to find a good online fax broadcast system.

trbrts — Fri, 21 Oct 2005 12:51:34 -0800

I'm trying to find a good online fax broadcast system. I work for a company that sends out a snow report to a list of subscribing hotels, ski resorts, rental shops, etc... We currently use an old Windows 98 system with two modems to send out these faxes. This is sometimes unreliable and we would like to be able to send these from home rather than come into the office. Does anyone have an online fax company that they would recommend?

AutoReply E-Mails?

ParisParamus — Thu, 15 Sep 2005 10:36:29 -0800

AutoReply E-Mails: with what software do I do this, and what does it $? To promote my little consulting biz, I am interested in setting up Auto-reply e-mails; you know, "send an e-mail with "WORD" in the subject line, and x documentation will be sent to you (possibly in the body of the e-mail; possibly as an attachment)." A primer, please. By the way, I'm using Mac OS X.

Are there websites that will purchase airline tickets automatically?

sublivious — Fri, 27 May 2005 09:42:33 -0800

I'm looking for a travel website that will purchase airline tickets for a specific date automatically once the price goes below a specified amount. I'm pretty sure this service is available for purchasing stocks. But is it for airfare?