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SMS to control lighting

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bkenobi:
I purchased MyHouse Online when I bought my AHP kit last year, but never looked into it's actual capabilities.  Well, after looking into things, I've come to realize that it won't do exactly what I want.  Rather than dogging on how bad the software is (which I can't say from personal experience anyway), I'll just say I'm not going to use it.

So, what I've decided will work for me is using my mobile phone to send SMS text messages to my automation server and have it interpret into actual commands.  There's a number of reasons to go this route, but the simplest explanation is that I'm cheap.  The most likely use for this feature is to turn on lights after they normally would turn off so that the dogs aren't left in the dark.  Typically, this would be when my wife and I are at a sporting event that runs later than expected.  I have my lights set up to turn off at 11pm, but I'd like a way that doesn't require paying $5+ to turn the lights on once (thank you very much CenturyLink  B:( ).

I know that I can send a SMS via an email from a PC using the correct email address (done it many times).  I know I can send a SMS to a PC by entering the email in the text number field (also done it).  So, I guess all I need to figure out is how to tell the computer to check wherever those messages are sent.  I don't have a need for an email server other than for this, so I'm not sure if that's the best route.  Perhaps there is a lightweight app that can parse gmail (or somewhere else) for messages and then delete/mark as read?  I'm mainly looking for other user's thoughts on this so I can at least firm up a concept to work on.  If anyone has a link for a similar project, that would be even better!

Thanks!   >!

Noam:
I don't have time to search for it now, but there was an SMS-to-X10 3rd party app, that was free.
I think it used Google Voice on the receiving end.

Separately there was another one I found a few years ago, I think it was called "X10 EmailComm".

It is a series of scripts that run, to check a pop3 account at whatever interval you set, and pass the commands in the specially-formed e-mails over to the AHP SDK.

bkenobi:
I did a search using your suggestion and found a post for exactly what I was hoping for...but the project doesn't look to have been finished.

http://forums.x10.com/index.php?topic=18256.0

I found a few more projects (both Linux and Windows), but nothing that's a free module.  It looks like Adaptive Home Logic Software has this capability built in, but I wasn't really looking to switch to another paid application.  Who knows if it will work for me in the long run.  I hate buying programs without knowing if they are really want I want...

http://www.acentient-software.com/ahl3/default.htm

I searched for around an hour and didn't find the projects that you mentioned.  If you get a chance to take a look or even just post some additional search terms to consider, that would be spectacular.  Thanks!

bkenobi:
Of course, just after I post this, I decide to search a different way in one last try.  And...the google voice sms program thread pops up.  I'll have to review that more thoroughly.

http://forums.x10.com/index.php?topic=21583.0

and

http://forums.x10.com/index.php?topic=24267.0

and

forums.x10.com/index.php?topic=19197.0

Noam:
The X10 emailcomm script was created by Warren Bell, back around 2004.
Unfortunately, the URL that it was hosted at isn't there anymore, and I can't find any other traces of it.

If anyone here knows how to contact him, perhaps we can ask him if he can repost it again.

I don't know if any of the other 3rd party apps (live BVC or PCC) can check pop3 email.
Hopefully, their authors will chime in and give more detail on what they can do.

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