Those who spend most of their time in IRC can now bring their website visitors in to their favorite channel by adding the mibbit widget! Mibbit is the leading online IRC client and is the best one as for now. Its clean, easy to use and works really well!

Get your widget now from http://www.mibbit.com/widget.html

Here’s an application most of you wished for! comes Digsby, an application that acts as an instant messenger, email client and a social network! Isn’t that cool?

digsby is a multiprotocol IM client that lets you chat with all your friends on AIM, MSN, Yahoo, ICQ, Google Talk, and Jabber with one simple to manage buddy list. It can also works as an email notification tool that alerts you of new email and lets you perform actions such as ‘Delete’ or ‘Report Spam’ with just one click. digsby also works as a social networking tool that alerts you of events like new messages and gives you a live Newsfeed of what your friends are up to.

So this could really be a handy tool in this connected world. They also have a widget which you can put in your blog, website or social network to chat directly with visitors!

This is the time when internet crimes are on a rise but what about your right for freedom of expression over internet? Maybe you can tell some of your close friends that you hate someone and you can use any kind of ‘expression’ to do it. But when it comes to the internet if you don’t maintain the secrecy of your personal thoughts, well you could end up like the 22 year-old techie from Guargon, Rahul Krishnakumar Vaid!

It seems like he hated Sonia Gandhi , the premier political leader of Indian Natoinal Congress. So he set up a community in Orkut, the most popular social network in India. According to a complaint lodged by Amol Bhokare, a Congress activist from Pune, Rahul was arrested for using vulgar words against Sonia Gandhi. The cyber crime cell approached Google to track down the user. Google was ready to help and things were easy for the police.

He was arrested on Friday and could be imprisoned for upto five years if proved guilty! So to all of you out there thinking you can say anything in internet be aware!

As micro-blogging and other mobile related web services are being born quickly, its time for everyone to make use of the craziness surrounding SMS or texting. Most of the time it would be costly to setup an SMS gateway with providers such as Clickatell. So what you could do to reduce the cost and still have a complete control? The answer would be to create your own SMS Gateway! Now this is not as hard as it sounds.

Still there are some more options where you can opt software available all over the internet ( just google sms gateway software), which you may pay and could make your life a lot easier. But I’m not ready to pay a single penny for it! So I went open source

There are two efficient open source tools Kannel and Gammu, which could fit right in. If you ask me which one should you go for, well that would depend on what your level is.

Gammu works in both Windows and linux but Kannel yet has to provide a Windows version. Also Gammu is far more easy to work with. It has an SMSDaemon, which if activated gets the job done.

I will soon write an article on transforming your server into an SMS Gateway with the help of Gammu and your mobile phone. So keep in touch… Till the explore the possibilities yourself

Well… when I gave this title to this post… I got an idea… Wouldn’t be it cool to create a site where you can talk about the people you met today online? Well I met some interesting personalities today… and possibly I have nothing technical to write too. So thought to write about them.

I was checking out the artwork at www.allavatars.com and found a girl named Eva, who was really good in painting. I added her to my buddy list thinking I could partner her for some of my upcoming web designs. But when I talked to her in the evening things turned out to be more interesting. She is an amateur singer. But I believe she sings as good as any of the professional singer. Go to http://www.evapaez.es/ and hear them… I bet you would raise your hat.

Then she forwarded me to another interesting person. This time a poet and photographer. Her name is Janne Landet, and she has a website http://www.jannelandet.com/, where she writes some really inspiring poetry and puts her photographs. Also she has a really crazy idea of writing about the dream she had last night!

Thats two cool people to checkout… So… where was I? Yeah A site to talk about the people you met today… Hmm got to think about that…

It is the dream of every web application developer to run their application on the Google infrastructure. Here is your opportunity. Google announced the Google App Engine at the Campfire One on April 7 2008.

With Google App Engine you can host your web application on Google’s state of the art web server! Isn’t that something you can’t afford. But the first 10,000 users can make use of this opportunity to run their application on Google’s server. Visit http://code.google.com/appengine/ for registering.

At the moment Google supports only projects created in Python, but they tell that the engine is language independent. But other language developers will need to wait for some more time.

Every Google App Engine application can use up to 500MB of persistent storage and enough bandwidth and CPU for 5 million monthly page views.

Here’s the hottest news on Internet, Google Australia has come up with a search revolution! Now you can search the news results or anything that would be on the web tomorrow! gDay with Mate is the latest technology release by Google. Check it out now… and remember the day

Google always keeps a surprise…

I recently had to create a messenger bot for some of the leading Instant messengers such as MSN, Yahoo and Gtalk. After some googling I realized the best way to do it would be using Bitlbee, an open source IRC to other chat networks gateway. Bitlbee helps in managing other chat networks such as MSN, Yahoo, GTalk, ICQ, AIM and Jabber. from an IRC channel.

I do not intend to make this an introduction to Bitlbee, my aim is to provide you an insight into bot development using bitlbee and PHP.

If you are new to Bitlbee I would reccomend you to read http://quark.humbug.org.au/publications/internet/bitlbee.pdf

You can find other documents at bitlbee.org

So lets get into the bot development. After you set up your bitlbee account you can use the following PHP code

< ?php
/*
Bitlbee - IRC MSN Bot by Amal R S
*/

/* Variables that determine server, channel, etc */
$CONFIG = array();
$CONFIG['server'] = 'im.bitlbee.org'; // server (i.e. 127.0.0.1 if using localhost)
$CONFIG['nick'] = 'msnbot'; // nick (i.e. username used to loginto bitlbee)
$CONFIG['port'] = 6667; // port (standard: 6667)
$CONFIG['channel'] = ''; // leave this as it is
$CONFIG['name'] = 'msnbot'; // bot name
$CONFIG['admin_pass'] = ''; //do not use any password here

/* Let it run forever (no timeouts) */
set_time_limit(0);

/* The connection */
$con = array();

/* start the bot... */
init();

function init()
{
global $con, $CONFIG;
/* We need this to see if we need to JOIN (the channel) during
the first iteration of the main loop */
$firstTime = true;
$logged_in = false;

/* Connect to the irc server */
$con['socket'] = fsockopen($CONFIG['server'], $CONFIG['port']);

/* Check that we have connected */
if (!$con['socket']) {
print ("Could not connect to: ". $CONFIG['server'] ." on port ". $CONFIG['port']);
} else {
/* Send the username and nick */
cmd_send("USER ". $CONFIG['nick'] ." devUnite devunite.com :". $CONFIG['name']);
cmd_send("NICK ". $CONFIG['nick'] ." devunite.com");

/* Here is the loop. Read the incoming data (from the socket connection) */
while (!feof($con['socket']))
{
/* Think of $con['buffer']['all'] as a line of chat messages.
We are getting a 'line' and getting rid of whitespace around it. */
$con['buffer']['all'] = trim(fgets($con['socket'], 4096));

/* Pring the line/buffer to the console
I used <- to identify incoming data, -> for outgoing. This is so that
you can identify messages that appear in the console. */
print date(”[d/m @ H:i]”).”< - ".$con['buffer']['all'] ."\n";

/* If the server is PINGing, then PONG. This is to tell the server that
we are still here, and have not lost the connection */
if(substr($con['buffer']['all'], 0, 6) == 'PING :') {
/* PONG : is followed by the line that the server
sent us when PINGing */
cmd_send('PONG :'.substr($con['buffer']['all'], 6));
/* If this is the first time we have reached this point,
then JOIN the channel */
if ($firstTime == true){
cmd_send("JOIN ". $CONFIG['channel']);
/* The next time we get here, it will NOT be the firstTime */
$firstTime = false;
}
/* Make sure that we have a NEW line of chats to analyse. If we don't,
there is no need to parse the data again */
} elseif ($old_buffer != $con['buffer']['all']) {
/* Determine the patterns to be passed
to parse_buffer(). buffer is in the form:
:username!~identd@hostname JOIN :#php
:username!~identd@hostname PRIVMSG #PHP :action text
:username!~identd@hostname command channel :text */

// log the buffer to "log.txt" (file must have
// already been created).
// log_to_file($con['buffer']['all']);

// make sense of the buffer
parse_buffer();

// now process any commands issued to the bot
process_commands();

//find whether logged in or not
$find = strpos($con['buffer']['text'],"in other folders");

//if logged in set flag $logged_in to true
if($find !== false){
$logged_in=true;
$inputComing = false;
}

//check whether its from the root and contains the final intro message to pass identify

$find = strpos($con['buffer']['text'],"If you've never used BitlBee before, please do read the help information using the");

if($find !== false){
if($con['buffer']['username']== "root"){
cmd_send("PRIVMSG &bitlbee :identify password"); // the password for your bitlbee account

}
}

//checks whether the incoming request is to add the bot to the buddy list
$find = strpos($con['buffer']['text'],"wants to add you to his/her buddy list");

if($find !== false){
//set request to true to accept the friend request, if not accepted the user wont be able to send messagess(especially in MSN)
$request = true;
}

//checks whether the request is to add the user to bot friend list
$find = strpos($con['buffer']['text'],"Do you want to add him/her now");

if($find !== false){
//set request to false to not add the user into the bot's contact list
$request = false;
}

//checks whether a yes/no question is asked
$find = strpos($con['buffer']['text'],"commands to accept/reject this request");

if($find !== false){
if($con['buffer']['username']== "root"){
if($request == true){
//accept the request to be friends
cmd_send("PRIVMSG &bitlbee :yes");
}else{
//prevent the user from being added to the contact list
cmd_send("PRIVMSG &bitlbee :no");
}
}
}

//get messaged from other users except root and add it into db only if its a private message
if($con['buffer']['username']!="root" and $con['buffer']['hostname']!="im.bitlbee.org" and $con['buffer']['private'] == true and $con['buffer']['username']!= "" and $con['buffer']['text']!=""){

//send notification to the sender
$command = "PRIVMSG ".$con['buffer']['username']." : Your Message was received!";
cmd_send($command);

/* This is where you can write the code to update your mySQL table.
* $user contains the complete email address of the user who sent the message
* $message contains the message sent by the user
* All you need to do is just add them to your mySQL table.
*/

$user = $con['buffer']['identd']."@".$con['buffer']['hostname'];

$message = $con['buffer']['text'];

}

}

$old_buffer = $con['buffer']['all'];

}

}
}

/* Accepts the command as an argument, sends the command
to the server, and then displays the command in the console
for debugging */
function cmd_send($command)
{
global $con, $time, $CONFIG;
/* Send the command. Think of it as writing to a file. */
fputs($con['socket'], $command."\n");
/* Display the command locally, for the sole purpose
of checking output. (line is not actually not needed) */
print (date("[d/m @ H:i]") ."-> “. $command. “\n\r”);

}

function log_to_file ($data)
{
$filename = “log.txt”;
$data .= “\n”;
// open the log file
if ($fp = fopen($filename, “ab”))
{
// now write to the file
if ((fwrite($fp, $data) === FALSE))
{
echo “Could not write to file.
“;
}
}
else
{
echo “File could not be opened.
“;
}
}

function process_commands()
{
global $con, $CONFIG;

/* TIME */
if(strtoupper($con[’buffer’][’text’]) == ‘.TIME’) {
cmd_send(prep_text(”Time”, date(”F j, Y, g:i a”, time())));
}

/* NICK */
if (substr(strtoupper($con[’buffer’][’text’]), 0, 5) == “.NICK”){
$args = explode(” “, $con[’buffer’][’text’]);

if (count($args) < 3)
cmd_send(prep_text("Nick", "Syntax: .nick admin_pass new_nick"));
else
{
if ($args[1] == $CONFIG['admin_pass'])
cmd_send("NICK ". $args[2]);
else
cmd_send(prep_text("Nick", "Invalid password"));
}
}

/* Noob */
if(strtoupper(substr($con['buffer']['text'], 0, 5)) == '.NOOB') {
$args = explode(" ", $con['buffer']['text'], 2);
$name = (!empty($args[1]))?$args[1]:"beginner";
cmd_send(prep_text("Beginner Help", "Welcome, ".$name.", to PHP! Some tutorials: www.codedemons.net, www.zend.com, www.phpbuilder.com, www.php.net"));
}

/* No PMs */
if(strtoupper(substr($con['buffer']['text'], 0, 5)) == '.PM') {
cmd_send(prep_text("please"," Please do not send PMs to ops/peons unless you have asked first."));
}
}

function parse_buffer()
{

/*
:username!~identd@hostname JOIN :#php
:username!~identd@hostname PRIVMSG #PHP :action text
:username!~identd@hostname command channel :text
*/

global $con, $CONFIG;

$buffer = $con['buffer']['all'];
$buffer = explode(" ", $buffer, 4);

//set private to false
$buffer['private'] = false;

/* Get username */
$buffer['username'] = substr($buffer[0], 1, strpos($buffer['0'], "!")-1);

/* Get identd */
$posExcl = strpos($buffer[0], "!");
$posAt = strpos($buffer[0], "@");
$buffer['identd'] = substr($buffer[0], $posExcl+1, $posAt-$posExcl-1);
$buffer['hostname'] = substr($buffer[0], strpos($buffer[0], "@")+1);

/* The user and the host, the whole shabang */
$buffer['user_host'] = substr($buffer[0],1);

/* Isolate the command the user is sending from
the "general" text that is sent to the channel
This is privmsg to the channel we are talking about.

We also format $buffer['text'] so that it can be logged nicely.
*/
switch (strtoupper($buffer[1]))
{
case "JOIN":
$buffer['text'] = "*JOINS: ". $buffer['username']." ( ".$buffer['user_host']." )";
$buffer['command'] = "JOIN";
$buffer['channel'] = $CONFIG['channel'];
break;
case "QUIT":
$buffer['text'] = "*QUITS: ". $buffer['username']." ( ".$buffer['user_host']." )";
$buffer['command'] = "QUIT";
$buffer['channel'] = $CONFIG['channel'];
break;
case "NOTICE":
$buffer['text'] = "*NOTICE: ". $buffer['username'];
$buffer['command'] = "NOTICE";
$buffer['channel'] = substr($buffer[2], 1);
break;
case "PART":
$buffer['text'] = "*PARTS: ". $buffer['username']." ( ".$buffer['user_host']." )";
$buffer['command'] = "PART";
$buffer['channel'] = $CONFIG['channel'];
break;
case "MODE":
$buffer['text'] = $buffer['username']." sets mode: ".$buffer[3];
$buffer['command'] = "MODE";
$buffer['channel'] = $buffer[2];
break;
case "NICK":
$buffer['text'] = "*NICK: ".$buffer['username']." => “.substr($buffer[2], 1).” ( “.$buffer[’user_host’].” )”;
$buffer[’command’] = “NICK”;
$buffer[’channel’] = $CONFIG[’channel’];
break;

default:
// it is probably a PRIVMSG
$buffer[’command’] = $buffer[1];
$buffer[’channel’] = $buffer[2];
$buffer[’text’] = substr($buffer[3], 1);
$buffer[’private’] = true; //sets the message as private not a command, which should be captured
break;
}
$con[’buffer’] = $buffer;

}

function prep_text($type, $message)
{
global $con;
return (’PRIVMSG ‘. $con[’buffer’][’channel’] .’ :[’.$type.’]’.$message);
}
?>

The lines you’ll need to edit are the bot name and password. Remeber not to use any administrative password. The place where you want to provide your password is

if($find !== false){
if($con[’buffer’][’username’]== “root”){
cmd_send(”PRIVMSG &bitlbee :identify password”); // the password for your bitlbee account

}
}

Thats all you need to get your MSN bot running. If you want to create bots for other chat networks try digging more… Enjoy the bot.

Recently I was thinking about the way website traffic ranking is measured. As Google went down to fourth behind, Yahoo, YouTube and Windows Live, the seriousness of reliability in the website ranking has arise.

Alexa computes the ranking from the visitors who have installed their tool bar. Now my question is how many internet users does know about Alexa?

A major portion of internet users use Internet Cafe or University library for access. These are places where they won’t be able to install additional software, due to administrative restrictions. So how does they analyze the traffic?

I wish the W3C come up with a universal solution for this ranking issue. Another thought is maybe if the major browsers such as FireFox, IE, Opera, Safari etc. incorporate a ranking system inside them. This can be more reliable than the existing solutions.

The time has come for us to seriously think about the reliability of website ranking. What do you think?

It has been one day since semantichacker was flagged off and I had written about it. I checked whats happening and found that already there are two applications out! One is a chat application while the other is a vb.net example. You can find them in the semantichacker forum This does give a good feeling that soon there will be more cool and useful applications coming. So what are you working on?