Pingie! Free RSS to SMS

Jan 02, 2008 in ,

RSS is great for when you’re at your computer or actively reading feeds on your mobile device but it’s not as pervasive and intrusive as SMS text messages. That may seem great, I mean who would want to be constantly bombarded by RSS updates on their phone? But for the very important feed or two, a new RSS to SMS service dubbed Pingie hopes to ensure you don’t get left behind.

Pingie - RSS to SMS

Pingie is a service from the folks at UNEASYsilence and a number of real uses for it already come to mind. Want to make sure you don’t miss out on the latest Slickdeal, or better yet PSTAM post? Pingie can help. However, those uses are a bit more pedestrian than potential uses such as sending campus news/emergency alerts to your phone.

Once you create an account on Pingie you can add feeds and later login to change settings. Don’t worry about becoming flooded with SMS messages though - you must reply to a text with “PING ME” to start the service and you can stop at any time by replying with “STOP PING”. Here’s what a Pingie SMS notification looks like:

FRM:pingie@pingie.com
SUBJ:Pingie: 2008 PSTAM Reader Roll Call
MSG: 2008 PSTAM Reader Roll Call

By default Pingie also sends email notifications, but I don’t care for that too much so I disabled it in my account settings. If Pingie had to change one thing, I would say the format of the actual SMS. There’s too much info in there that is superfluous and redundant. A simple “Pingie: [POST NAME] on [Website Name]” would suffice, with perhaps a link for iPhone users to tap on.

Do you think Pingie could come in handy for you?

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14 Responses to “Pingie! Free RSS to SMS”

  1. Arthur says:

    It could be very handy on the campus. We have a rss-feed where important news are posted, for example when a class is being cancelled.

  2. Mark Jaquith says:

    Would be nice to have control over the fromat, including defining rules with regex search/replace, so you can get rid of the cruft you don’t want. I’d use that.

  3. Danny Howard says:

    I look forward to seeing this FAIL on Uncov. :)

    -danny

  4. Adam says:

    After some brief playing, I think this is US only. I’ve tried with both normal and international phone numbers to no joy. Ah well, never mind.

  5. [...] users of Twitters out there that primarily utilize the service from their mobiles.  Paul Stamatiou today reviews a nifty little utility called Pingie, the purpose of which is to take RSS feeds and send them to your mobile phone via [...]

  6. Ptah Dunbar says:

    gotta love these simple ideas.

    hopefully they will take into consideration the format change, or maybe just give the user the ability to change it in their account. that would be awesome

  7. Dimitry says:

    I think it’s in FRM, SUBJ, MSG format because they send SMS via email (phone@mobile.att.net or w/e it is.. dunno), not via real SMS relay, so I think all the garbage is a bit out of their control (keeps their costs low though :p)

  8. [...] Like FeedM8, Pingie seems to be useful if you will be following a specific rss feed. Otherwise, If one placed the whole OPML caboodle can you imagine the number sms that will be received and the corresponding bill. The service’s importance is lost on me since my country is not covered but Paul Stamatiou reviews Pingie here. [...]

  9. Pratyush says:

    Hi guys,

    SMSGupshup (www.smsgupshup.com) has been providing a similar service in INdia. Do try it out if you are in India.

    Needless to say, I work at SMSGupshup - would love to know your comments, feedback, brickbats. pratyush [at] webaroo[dot] com

    PP

  10. Would have some use, but not an option it appears in Spain.

  11. [...] feed or two, a new RSS to SMS service dubbed Pingie hopes to ensure you don’t get left behind. Link Tags: mobile, Pingie, rss, sms Σχετικά [...]

  12. Roy Petter says:

    I spend some time trying to keep in touch with friends and family at home and abroad, this tool would enable me to send an sms to those who are not too active on the internet, just by publishing to my blog. It sounds like an interesting tool.

  13. David Moore says:

    always the best services are US only :(

  14. ck2007 says:

    Good tool
    Thx that was all what i need



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