I've actually been working on a side project related to this since about 2006.
Currently I have a working email-based proxy server, with Browse (HTML to email), Translate, Base64 Download, and Base64 upload.
I send the URL in the email's subject line, and Google App Engine fetches the page and replies to the sender. Base64 uploading is sent via POST to a PHP script on an OpenShift web server.
Email to SMS is also possible via gmail2sms (their blogspot is in Russian, but it's legit, I promise). That uses Google App Engine to copy emails to Google Calendar, which sends SMS event notifications for free. You need to authenticate your number first though.
I'm still missing some features though. Originally my purpose was to use SIP (e.g. Jajah, Voipcheap: Betamax services) to dual-dial a payphone and another phone number for a 5 minute free trial call. I almost got that working in early 2013, but ended up being banned by most Betamax services.
The other is how to initiate communications. I found a hack that allows me to send email for free while on prepaid 3G roaming with zero balance. There was another hack before that allowed me to receive email as well, but the website's format changed and it's no longer working. Also, most people just want me to have a "normal" local phone number instead of using my Google Voice SMS-to-email.
I've learned a lot about web technology through this ongoing project, though. Now I can code PHP and Python, browse using Elinks, script using Expect, and more.
On a meta-level though: is it worth it?
Internet access is basically used for just a few purposes:
- Information recall (Wikipedia)
- Maps (Google Maps)
- Communication (Email, Facebook, Twitter, Skype, etc)
- News
The first two can be completely offline using Wiki2Touch (7.5GB text only Wikipedia) and Galileo (1 GB map of Taiwan). It's only communication and news that change often, so I need to access them.
I can get news through FM radio (does anyone still use that? I'm pleased to have it on my Sony MW600 Bluetooth remote).
Facebook and Twitter have email APIs. Skype doesn't. WeChat, WhatsApp, KakaoTalk, QQ, LINE, and all those other chat apps are terrible for their lack of standard APIs. Why can't we all just use instant messaging that's compatible with email or Jabber? For the same reason, these apps aren't available on my Raspberry Pi.
The Cosmos Browser's SMS gateway doesn't provide communication links, just HTTP GETs of static pages. Pages that I can save offline beforehand.
Congratulations to the developers for some impressive coding, but I can't yet find a killer app for this.
And we should all switch to simple email instead of those pesky chat apps.
Currently I have a working email-based proxy server, with Browse (HTML to email), Translate, Base64 Download, and Base64 upload.
I send the URL in the email's subject line, and Google App Engine fetches the page and replies to the sender. Base64 uploading is sent via POST to a PHP script on an OpenShift web server.
Email to SMS is also possible via gmail2sms (their blogspot is in Russian, but it's legit, I promise). That uses Google App Engine to copy emails to Google Calendar, which sends SMS event notifications for free. You need to authenticate your number first though.
I'm still missing some features though. Originally my purpose was to use SIP (e.g. Jajah, Voipcheap: Betamax services) to dual-dial a payphone and another phone number for a 5 minute free trial call. I almost got that working in early 2013, but ended up being banned by most Betamax services.
The other is how to initiate communications. I found a hack that allows me to send email for free while on prepaid 3G roaming with zero balance. There was another hack before that allowed me to receive email as well, but the website's format changed and it's no longer working. Also, most people just want me to have a "normal" local phone number instead of using my Google Voice SMS-to-email.
I've learned a lot about web technology through this ongoing project, though. Now I can code PHP and Python, browse using Elinks, script using Expect, and more.
On a meta-level though: is it worth it? Internet access is basically used for just a few purposes: - Information recall (Wikipedia) - Maps (Google Maps) - Communication (Email, Facebook, Twitter, Skype, etc) - News
The first two can be completely offline using Wiki2Touch (7.5GB text only Wikipedia) and Galileo (1 GB map of Taiwan). It's only communication and news that change often, so I need to access them.
I can get news through FM radio (does anyone still use that? I'm pleased to have it on my Sony MW600 Bluetooth remote).
Facebook and Twitter have email APIs. Skype doesn't. WeChat, WhatsApp, KakaoTalk, QQ, LINE, and all those other chat apps are terrible for their lack of standard APIs. Why can't we all just use instant messaging that's compatible with email or Jabber? For the same reason, these apps aren't available on my Raspberry Pi.
The Cosmos Browser's SMS gateway doesn't provide communication links, just HTTP GETs of static pages. Pages that I can save offline beforehand.
Congratulations to the developers for some impressive coding, but I can't yet find a killer app for this. And we should all switch to simple email instead of those pesky chat apps.
Peter