tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57329441937421546372024-03-14T01:18:51.310-07:00GVMaxGVMaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13093003674635504194noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5732944193742154637.post-14741236702716140052013-12-17T15:45:00.000-08:002013-12-17T15:45:13.678-08:00Working on open source versionI have started working on an open source version of GVMax.<br />
It will probably take me a week or two until I am ready to publish it.<br />
I have been cleaning up the code and trying to simplify it to make it easier to maintain.<br />
Some of the changes include:<br />
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<ul>
<li>Reviewing/Cleaning the code.</li>
<li>Moving all the code into a single repository (was split into 3)</li>
<li>Getting rid of JMS (potential cause of the problems I have had recently)</li>
<li>Removing build system configs from poms and settings files.</li>
<li>Some documentation</li>
</ul>
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Unfortunately as part of this revamp I will make changes to how I store data which will not allow me to upgrade the existing users. So once I release this version you will need to re-register.</div>
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I will give advance warning on the GVMax forum and Twitter.</div>
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Regards,</div>
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Hani</div>
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GVMaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13093003674635504194noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5732944193742154637.post-1146640120671492712011-11-23T09:14:00.001-08:002011-11-23T09:37:23.412-08:00New version of GVMax releasedYesterday I released a new version of GVMax. I have not had time to update the documentation on the website yet, but thought I would write something here until I do.<div><br /></div><div>Although to most users nothing much changes, this version is in fact an almost complete rewrite. I completely restructured GVMax to make it much more robust. I is now split into 6 different programs:</div><div><br /></div><div><ul><li>web: The website and api endpoints.</li><li>smtp: The mail server in charge of receiving the SMS and VM emails</li><li>server: Where all the magic happens</li><li>relay: In charge of handling GTalk messages and out-bound emails (runs on appengine)</li><li>keyman: In charge of encryption keys (runs on appengine)</li><li>queue: Holds the incoming emails and GTalk messages until server picks it up.</li></ul><div>I can now upgrade the server for example without bringing down the web interface and without losing any messages while it is down. </div></div><div><br /></div><div><b>Encryption</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>This new version of GVMax is also much more secure. Each user's settings is stored in the database using a user-specific encryption key which is based on their email and pin. What this means is that even I cannot decrypt the data unless the user tells me his email or pin. </div><div><br /></div><div>Additionally no keys are stored in the server, key management is handled by 'keyman' which is running on appengine. When I start 'server' for example I must enter my 'master' password as well as a 'OneTimePassword' generated by a Yubico key. So for anyone to be able to get the required keys they would need to know my password as well as have access to my Yubico key. Additionally an email is sent to me whenever someone attempts to authenticate with 'keyman'</div><div><br /></div><div><b>New Features</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>This version does have a number of new features as well as some bug fixes</div><div><ul><li><b>Missed call notifications</b>. You can now get missed call notification. (Note you will have to log into GoogleVoice and ensure that GoogleVoice is sending missed call notification emails, since I have not updated my account creation code to do it automatically as I do with SMS and Voicemail.</li><li><b>Group SMS</b>. Sending SMS to groups in the old version was hit and miss. It should be working much better in the new version. Note that I will stagger the sending of these SMSs to ensure I don't get blocked. I have access to 50 odd numbers for testing and can send a group SMS to those numbers with no problems. Another user let me know that he was able to send it to a group containing 260 contacts.</li><li><b>Two-factor login support</b>. You can now use GVMax even if your Google Voice account uses two-factor authentication. You will ofcourse need to generate a application-specific password for GVMax.</li><li><b>Extended API</b>. I have extended the functionality of GVMax's API, so instead of only being able to send SMS, it now has all the functionality available to GVMax (for example you can change settings etc) </li></ul><div>There are a number of other small features that I have added and quite a few bug fixes, but I can't remember them right now.</div></div><div><br /></div><div>ps: Since there was so much change under the hood, I am sure I have also introduced a few bugs, but hopefully I can iron these out quickly.</div><div><br /></div><div>Hope you guys like it.</div><div><br /></div>GVMaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13093003674635504194noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5732944193742154637.post-86690180789079458242011-05-28T17:26:00.000-07:002011-05-28T17:32:53.159-07:00smoking cessation program - Auto ResponderI created an app engine application that performs the same task as GVMax's autoresponder.<br /><br />Basically it will send an SMS back to any person who sends you an SMS.<br /><br />I did this app for a smoking cessation program and wanted it to be more reliable than GVMax.<br /><br />In addition to what GVMax does, this app allows the admin to specify multiple SMS responses so if a client sends multiple SMSs he gets multiple different responses.<br /><br />I will probably open source this aswell (like gvmax-post), but I still need to remove some stuff specific to the particular smoking cessation program I was working with.<br /><br />ps: The app allows the admin to manage multiple numbers as well.GVMaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13093003674635504194noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5732944193742154637.post-14324235328088651942011-05-28T17:24:00.000-07:002011-05-28T17:26:26.146-07:00HTTP Post ServiceGVMax has been a bit moody the last few weeks and the problem is probably related to GTalk notifications.<br /><br />Since a lot of the new users use GVMax to perform an HTTP Post (mainly WM7 users) I decided to split that functionality out into a separate service .<br /><br />To use it you will need to :<br />1- Forward your GV emails to gvmax@gvmax-post.appspotmail.com<br />2-Log into the service at https://gvmax-post.appspot.com and type in the HTTP Post URL you want to use.<br /><br />I will probably provide an API for WM7 Phone developers so that they can do step 2 for there users automatically.<br /><br />As for step 1, you create the gmail filter in the same way you would do in GVMax (if doing it manually (https://www.gvmax.com/filters)), but forward it to gvmax@gvmax-post.appspotmail.com instead.<br /><br />This app runs wholly app engine it should be VERY reliable, since it does very little.<br /><br />And by the way it is open source ( http://code.google.com/p/gvmax-post/ )GVMaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13093003674635504194noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5732944193742154637.post-3972491533948360882010-12-13T17:19:00.000-08:002010-12-13T17:24:25.988-08:00GVMax being used by a couple of WM7 GoogleVoice clients.I always thought the api and http post functionality of GVMax was pretty nice, but until recently very few people used it.<br /><br />Now it looks like a couple of Google Voice clients have started to make use of it.<br /><br /><a href="http://blog.taotaotech.com/setting-up-push-notifications/">GoVoice</a> and <a href="http://ashterisk.wordpress.com/2010/12/12/free-talk-push-notification-setup-using-gvmax/">FreeTalk</a>GVMaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13093003674635504194noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5732944193742154637.post-27280843782509035182010-09-19T09:34:00.000-07:002010-09-19T09:49:34.483-07:00For iPhone usersThere are many reasons to use GVMax these include:<br />- Being able to get SMS/VM notification on your computer's desktop via GTalk (and being able to reply from the IM program)<br />- Sending group SMS messages<br />- HttpPost and general API access to GV.<br />- Auto responding to SMS<br /><br />But I suspect most people use GVMax for the original reason it was built for, namely to be able to be notified of SMS/VM on the iPhone. Of those people I would say around 2/3rd of them use it via an IM client on the iPhone such as Beejive or Meebo. This is because until recently this was the most seemless way to integrate GV with a non-jailbroken iPhone.<br /><br />Recently Apple has allowed a couple of Google Voice native applications into its AppStore. This is great news ofcourse. Unfortunately currently both of these applications do not provide push notifications. This can be fixed by using GVMax together with Prowl. GVMax monitors your GV account for SMS/VM and tells Prowl to notify the user. The cool thing about Prowl is that it is them able to redirect the notification straight into GVMobile+ or GV Connect.<br /><br />So to these people I suggest that they switch to using the GVMax/Prowl configuration (see my previous posts on how to set that up).GVMaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13093003674635504194noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5732944193742154637.post-61065805383456084562010-09-18T22:01:00.000-07:002010-09-18T22:07:07.345-07:00GVMobile+ also released on Apple's store.Well done to Sean for getting <a href="http://www.seankovacs.com/index.php/gv-mobile/">GVMobile+</a> into the Apple Store. It is a pity that it appeared a day after <a href="http://homepage.mac.com/aamann/GV_Connect.html">GV Connect</a>, since I think it is better than GV Connect.<br /><br />If you need push notifications of SMS and Voicemail, you can follow the same instructions from my <a href="http://gvmax-at.blogspot.com/2010/09/native-iphone-google-voice-app-at-last.html">previous post</a> but select GVMobile instead of GV Connect (note: I have not tried that yet, so let me know if it works, ie prowl can redirect properly).GVMaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13093003674635504194noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5732944193742154637.post-11799828416925303202010-09-17T22:44:00.000-07:002010-09-17T23:01:20.380-07:00Native IPhone Google Voice App at last!So Apple finally allowed a native Google Voice app into their store. Read about it here:<br /><a href="http://lifehacker.com/5641283/apple-finally-approves-a-native-google-voice-iphone-app-again">http://lifehacker.com/5641283/apple-finally-approves-a-native-google-voice-iphone-app-again</a><br /><br />It is called <a href="http://homepage.mac.com/aamann/GV_Connect.html">GV Connect</a><br /><br />It looks pretty nice (the interface is functional although it could use a little polish).<br /><br />It does not have push notification though, which is a pain. But using <a href="https://www.gvmax.com">GVMax</a> together with <a href="http://prowl.weks.net/">Prowl</a> solves this problem. Here is how to do it:<br /><br /><ol><li>Purchase <a href="http://prowl.weks.net/">Prowl</a> on your iPhone. </li><li>Register at <a href="https://www.gvmax.com">GVMax</a>. Note you do NOT need to provide your GV password to GVMax. (If you don't provide your GV password you will need to create a gmail filter manually, instructions available <a href="https://www.gvmax.com/filters">here</a>. If you do provide the password than all the config is done automatically)<br /></li><li>Once registered, change your default notifiers, select Prowl and enter your Prowl API key.</li><li>Start prowl on your phone, 'Settings'/'Redirections'/'Add a New Redirection' </li><li>Under 'Application Name' type 'GV SMS' and select 'GV Connect (SMS)</li><li>Repeat step 4</li><li>Under 'Application Name' type 'GV VM' and select 'GV Connect (Voicemail)</li></ol>Now when you receive a google voice SMS, GVMax will send you a prowl notification, which in turn causes prowl to display the SMS as a notification and opens up GV Connect so you can reply etc...<br /><br />If I get sometime (unlikely) I will post a more detailed tutorial.<br /><br />Regards,<br />HaniGVMaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13093003674635504194noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5732944193742154637.post-41991290914965882882010-08-14T12:02:00.000-07:002010-08-14T12:12:53.106-07:00GVMax after my move to AndroidI have got a number of users asking about GVMax's status now that I have stopped using my iPhone.<br /><br />Well, I will continue to run and support GVMax since I still use it on the desktop, but even if I was not using GVMax at all I would continue to support it. I would only consider shutting it down if Apple and Google got their problems sorted out. (Even then desktop integration via XMPP is something I use so would probably keep that going).<br /><br />In the meantime any donations are welcome :)<br /><br />HaniGVMaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13093003674635504194noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5732944193742154637.post-63996117821802424032010-02-18T22:41:00.000-08:002010-02-18T22:54:01.860-08:00Finally release webservice version of GVMaxToday I have finally released the webservice version of <a href="https://www.gvmax.com/">GVMax</a>. I hope people like it.<br /><br />It is loosely based on the appengine version in terms of functionality, but it was an almost complete rewrite.<br /><br />Maintaining so many copies of the appengine version was getting out of hand. This new version has a lot of new stuff, some of which are not readily visible. For example the GTalk integration is a lot better, providing better feedback and is more robust. If you get logged out of GTalk it GVMax will fallback to Prowl or Email notifications.<br /><br />I also tried to make it as easy as possible for people to try it out. If you link your account at GVMax to your Google Voice credentials, GVMax will automatically do all the setup for you. Even if you don't on the page that describes how to setup the filters I have a button to set it all up for you (it will ask for your Google Voice password) but will NOT store it.<br /><br />The new HTTP Post and developer API I also think is nice. I will be working on the API side of things in the next couple of weeks and will be adding what I think is a real cool feature. Stay tuned...<br /><br />A new Twitter notifier, right now this is very simplistic but stay tuned....<br /><br />Anyway so far so good, only had to redeploy the app once due to a small bug I found.GVMaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13093003674635504194noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5732944193742154637.post-61633266547523068392010-02-10T02:15:00.000-08:002010-02-10T02:36:49.780-08:00New version of GVMax coming soonHave been working on a 'webservice' version of GVMax. This works a bit like GVMax-Lite used to in that users don't host an application on app engine. Instead they simply sign-up via a web interface.<br /><br />Signing up is really easy, just enter your google voice email and password and gvmax does everything including creating gmail filters etc...<br /><br />The Google Voice password is not a requirement. Users can choose not to use their Google Voice password but that means they will not be able to reply to SMS using IM or email. They can still get notifications via email, prowl, xmpp and httpPost (new).<br /><br />Some of the new features include<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />HttpPost notifications</span>: A new notification method, where GVMax performs an HTTP post with all the information related to the SMS or Voicemail notification.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">More Robust</span>: This code is alot more robust than the current one. For example if you set to receive xmpp notifications and gvmax cannot send you a notification (if you are not logged in) it will attempt to fallback to other notification methods such as prowl. The user is also notified whenever an error occurs.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">FREE</span>: Since I will not be installing app engine applications and the whole setup has been automated, all features are completely free.<br /><br />So what does this mean to existing GVMax users. For those that payed for GVMax-Pro they<br />can continue to use it as is. I will keep the current buddy server going for a little while, but will<br />eventually shut it down (for non GVMax-Pro customers). I will stop adding new features to<br />GVMax-Pro and only release essential bug fixes. It is simply too much work trying to maintain<br />so many copies of the program (where users don't always upgrade to the latest versions etc...).<br /><br />Ideally everyone should switch to the webservice version.<br /><br />This version will NOT be opened sourced since I use some proprietary code in it. The current code of course remains open source.GVMaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13093003674635504194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5732944193742154637.post-53748853092526959652010-01-20T14:53:00.000-08:002010-01-20T15:06:52.989-08:00Open source GVMax day 2So far so good. A few users have managed to install GVMax without my help (if you are one of these people please consider improving the projects documentation).<br /><br />Also got some users who paid for me to install the app for them which means my server costs are covered for a couple of months. For them it also means they don't need to worry about upgrades as I will automatically update their applications when new features and or bug fixes are released.<br /><br />I realize that the installation process is still very hard. If you think you can help me documenting the process or help make it easier please email me at gvmax@gvmax.comGVMaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13093003674635504194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5732944193742154637.post-4372983662903757512010-01-19T16:00:00.000-08:002010-01-19T16:04:48.925-08:00Google Voice on real VoIP phoneToday I got a <a href="http://www.voiplink.com/Grandstream_GXP280_Small_Business_1_Line_IP_Phone_p/grandstream-gxp280.htm">Grandstream GXP280</a> Voip phone to play with.<br />Trying to get my GoogleVoice number to use it via Gizmo.<br />Will be following <a href="http://samalolo.blogspot.com/2009/08/google-voice-with-real-phone-for-free.html">these instructions</a>.GVMaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13093003674635504194noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5732944193742154637.post-47228486129719324192010-01-19T15:56:00.000-08:002010-01-19T15:59:53.424-08:00Finally got the website updatedAfter hearing about gvxmpp's problem I finally decided to sit down and finish updates required to the website and code to fully release GVMax as an opensource project.<br /><br />Installation of GVMax is still quite complex and I don't really expect anyone except for Java developers (with AppEngine experience) to manage a full installation but hopefully with time people will start to contribute installers etc.. I don't have much free time to work on that in the short term.GVMaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13093003674635504194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5732944193742154637.post-43328544802107499962009-12-10T18:01:00.000-08:002009-12-10T18:03:44.038-08:00GVMax is now open sourceI am currently in the process of releasing GVMax as an open source project.<br />It will be hosted at code.google. I will have more details once this process is complete.GVMaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13093003674635504194noreply@blogger.com3