Rails ActionMailer Setup for Yahoo SMTP

I have been working on a new project lately. Today I decided to setup email notification system for it. I first thought of using AuthSmtp (http://www.authsmtp.com/) to send out emails to users but then I opted for yahoo email where I had also registered the domain.

I setup a new email address from which I am going to send out emails to the users of my system. Like activation emails, new message notifications, etc.

But the code kept throwing"Errno::ECONNRESET (Connection reset by peer):' error whenever I tried to connect to yahoo's smtp server and send a message. It took me a while to figure what the problem was: Yahoo told me to use port 465; whereas the correct port number to use is 587!

So to save you couple of hours filled with frustration and hair pullings, here's the action_mailer setup that works:


ActionMailer::Base.default_charset = "utf-8"
ActionMailer::Base.delivery_method = :smtp
ActionMailer::Base.smtp_settings = {
:address => "smtp.bizmail.yahoo.com",
:port => 587,
:domain => "www.your-domain.com",
:user_name => "username@your-domain.com",
:password => "some-password" ,
:enable_starttls_auto => true,
:authentication => :plain
}

'MeToo': WiFi based chat application for iPhone

Because of Mondus.net (http://www.mondus.net), I find myself thinking frequently about social interactions among strangers.
In Istanbul, a lot of people 'peek' around in their hang-out places using Bluetooth scanning. You scan, you see a list of 'bluetooth names', you pick one and try to create a connection. These people must spend a lot of time coming up with a catchy nickname.

My new iPhone app, MeToo provides a similar service.


Here's what it does:



When you run MeToo, it automatically starts broadcasting you in the WiFi network. (I guess now is a good time to mention that you need a WiFi connection to use MeToo.)

You can update your nickname, your profile image and your gender at any time and as frequently as you want. Your updates are always broadcasted to others running MeToo around you.

 

The 'Around You' tab shows who else is around you. If there are no users around, you won't see anyone of course. But MeToo constantly scans the network without having to restart it. So it may be a good idea to keep it running in case someone shows up.

 

When you click on a name to chat, that opens up the chat window and a connection is created. Once connected, you get to see the user's profile picture. If you don't send any message, he/she will never know you connected.
You can send chat messages, photos and if your iPhone allows for it there is even a button to automatically send your phone number to the other user (don't worry there is a confirmation message that appears to make sure you really intend to do so).

 

Photos appear small in chat message bubbles but you can see bigger versions if you click on them.

 

MeToo makes a sound when you receive a new message unless you are on the chat window with the sender in which case MeToo vibrates.

MeToo makes also a good effort in trying to figure out if the person you are chatting with logs out suddenly and notifies you.

I must add that this is version 1.0.0 (maybe I should have added another zero at the end). I put quite an effort into it but by no means would I claim it is flawless.

MeToo supports English and Turkish.

You can get it here:

Loto Climbs Up To Number 6

I didn't win the lottery but my Loto iPhone application climbed up to number 6 in the Top Paid Apps list in Turkish iTunes store. ;)

Loto - My New iPhone Application

Turkish National Lottery (Süper Loto) is now 34 million TL (roughly $19 Million) !
So I wrote a new iPhone application that gives you numbers to play when you shake your phone...


You can get it here:

Another iPhone App

I just released another iPhone app that works like the Magic Eight Ball.

You can download it here:

Safari 4.0 Beta is Available

I'm a big fan of Firefox. I like its plugins, the developer tools etc. What I like the most is the ability to set multiple websites as the homepage. So with one click on the 'home' icon I can open multiple tabs with the sites I read the most.
What I don't like about Firefox is that it gets slow and even crashes sometimes. And that happens pretty frequently lately. I guess the more plugins you install, the more you pay for it.

Safari version 4.0 Beta is now available. I gave it a test run. It has a very cool 'Top sites' functionality. I only wish Apple made it easy enough to add ad hoc sites to that view rather than picking most visited sites from history automatically. I simply want to add the sites I want myself. Sometimes too much system intelligence is simply that, too much.

I think I'm going to give it a go and stick with Safari for one week. Let's see what happens.

QCall is now QDial

I had recently announced the release of QCall.

That release was done under the Profesyo.net Apple Developer License. I removed it from the app store and re-released it with my personal developer license ('cagan327') and with a new name: QDial.