Database Develop

Adding contact pictures to your phone from Facebook

Man, I wrote this tool ages ago. I completely forgot about it until I saw the other thread in this forum. Basically I wanted a way to get all my friend's facebook profile photos into my phone really easily.
Your phone syncs your contacts from your Gmail/Google. And Gmail supports contact pictures. I wrote an application that logs into your facebook, and finds any contacts that also exist in your Gmail account. If it finds a matching contact, it uploads that Facebook profile picture to your Gmail contact. And then those pictures show up on your phone! Pretty useful.
Usage (this application runs on your Windows PC):
0) Make sure you have .NET Framework 3.5. The application may crash otherwise.
1) Start the application and input your Gmail username and password.
2) The next screen will ask for your Facebook credentials.
3) Wait for it... Wait for it... Done! (The application will have finished syncing)
4) Wait some more... Your phone may take a while to sync the new images from Google's servers. But they'll get there eventually.
WARNING: This will replace any photos that may already be associated with your contact. Go ahead and modify the code if you don't want it to do that.
Download the Windows application and the source here:
http://www.koushikdutta.com/2008/10/synchronizing-google-and-facebook.html

Whoah dude! I can't use this (Mac!) but sounds great. I'm assuming you have all the API's down, have you considered building this as an Android app?

punkweakling said:
Whoah dude! I can't use this (Mac!) but sounds great. I'm assuming you have all the API's down, have you considered building this as an Android app?
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Just run it on a Windows PC then. Nothing is actually stored on the PC; it's just syncing pictures between servers (Google/Facebook). I ran it once several months ago and haven't thought about it since.
Yeah, I've thought about making it an Android application, but I don't think it would be that useful. Contact management and syncing between two servers is done much easier on a PC, for both the user and a developer. I'm thinking about improving the application to allow syncing between Outlook, Facebook, and Google. That would be handy, but difficult to use on a phone. The results, however, would show up on your phone.

I must say, great little app. I've given up trying to add pictures to my contacts. Worked perfetly once I got Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 installed. I hope you really consider making this an Android App. I can guarantee that it'll get thousands of downloads in the first day.
For those of you who do note have Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5, check out the link below.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...FD-AE52-4E35-B531-508D977D32A6&displaylang=en

this is very nice. i would love to use it.... if only i wasnt still using myspace... bleh

Facebook pics for gmail contacts...
worked great for me. Thanks!

If it is on Android, every time a new contact is added, the program searches for the profile image from Facebook or Linkedin. It might be cool. Is your source code under GPL? I am interested in converting your code into Java, so it can run on Android.

It's Creative Commons, not GPL. The application itself is less than 30 lines of code. It is just leveraging the .NET bindings to the Facebook and Google Data APIs.

So is this using phone numbers? Email addresses? Names? (to compare between Gmail and Facebook)?

momentarylapseofreason said:
So is this using phone numbers? Email addresses? Names? (to compare between Gmail and Facebook)?
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Just names. The Facebook API does definitely does not give you access to the email address. And the version I was using (and this may have changed) also does not give you access to phone numbers.

Koush said:
Just names. The Facebook API does definitely does not give you access to the email address. And the version I was using (and this may have changed) also does not give you access to phone numbers.
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Ahh... ok. I have a lot of my friends listed by nicknames etc. I understand that the phone/emails are actually images (I assume to thwart off spammers with automated catchers).
It would be awesome if this wasn't the case though. I have been spending the last hour adding email addresses from Facebook contacts so I can add a picture to their name.

good app but i wish it sync'd contacts by name instead of email...
meaning if two names match, sync. even if i just have a phone number for that contact and not an email.
but good app.

cboy007 said:
good app but i wish it sync'd contacts by name instead of email...
meaning if two names match, sync. even if i just have a phone number for that contact and not an email.
but good app.
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Actually, it only matches by name. You can't access emails or phone numbers through the Facebook API.

Koush said:
Actually, it only matches by name. You can't access emails or phone numbers through the Facebook API.
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Reading comprehension is not one of his strong points.

How can i change the way it matches? for example instead of names, i put my friends facebok id as "customer id" field on windows mobile outlook. and i want it to syncronize if they matches istead of names. this way there will be no confusion if names doesnt match because of a small difference. do you think it needs much work?

worked pretty well for me.. pic quality was a bit distorted on a few.. but what the hell.. they're photo's I didn't have before Thank You for a neat little app.

pixel-painter said:
worked pretty well for me.. pic quality was a bit distorted on a few.. but what the hell.. they're photo's I didn't have before Thank You for a neat little app.
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Agreed. Nice app, thanks

hate to bring back an old thread, but is there any plan to develop this for facebook/microsoft pic transfers? For those of us that don't have office, but use an @hotmail or @live, this would be great.
Thanks

It would be great if I could link the contacts to their Facebook account manually if their names do not match ^^.

There is also a facebook sync app on the market that works well for me. Hasn't missed a contact or had a false match for me.

Meebo! AIM, MSN, Yahoo, MySpace IM, Google Talk, Jabber *working solution*

Finally, a viable messaging solution for android. The current version of Meebo for the android platform(V6) surpasses the quality of BuddyMob. I(along with others) have confirmed that there are no disconnects while phone is asleep, no forced closing, and no lost incoming messages while phone is asleep. Also, the best part is messages are received almost instantly without using sms. Pure data. I am sooo excited I could cry. Now I can say my G1 is finally a competititor in the pda market. Thank You Meebo!!!!!!!!!
You can find meebo in the Android Market.
Also, please post your results here. Maby the developer will see our support and improve the app.

Interesting. I had a few issues with Meebo that made me switch to BuddyMob instead. I will definitely check the new version of Meebo out.

Ugh. Unfortunately it still won't remember my ICQ UIN/password between sessions. I really can't be bothered to type that in manually every time I log on. It's a pity, because Meebo does seem to have improved a lot in other areas, like how it's now listing my contacts' nicknames instead of their UIN's.

after 2 days of use, I noticed the battery life is better with meebo.
mannyb, have you added this comment to the market? The dev might add the feature if he/she sees enough request for it. I noticed my requested features were added.
Also, for the U.K. users who are upset about the builtin IM missing some networks. This is a good free solution. If we get enough ppl supporting the dev this app would ROCK.

palringo is being worked on too.

Im alpha testing palringo. Its quite promising

martijnvdp said:
Im alpha testing palringo. Its quite promising
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GReat to hear. Is push-to-talk included? That would be awsome!

RC33 have AIM / ICQ / MSN / Yahoo included in IM

its there a way to get the meebo or build in msn connected in sleep mode via wifi? allways disconect

McLin said:
RC33 have AIM / ICQ / MSN / Yahoo included in IM
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But the built in IM client really does suck, IMHO. Hard. I have a couple hundred buddies. (I use it for work and for play..) and have multiple accounts with multiple groups and I find that it takes forever to load, then populate with buddies... plus, the stock apps (as well as most of the other IM clients) insist on showing empty groups. So, I've got 15 empty groups showing...
Meebo combines all buddy lists in one, it's SUPER quick to load, can have more than one of each account signed in plus empty groups are ignored. I'm sold.

Plus, the built-in IM app uses text-message credits for both inbound and outbound IMs (with the exception of GTalk).
If Meebo would add Facebook chat to the Android client then this would be a no-brainer.
-tw

It has support for Facebook chat you just have to first set it up on meebo.com and then once you sign on with your Meebo account on the G1 your Facebook contacts will show up. I have tried it and it works well,.
twieder said:
Plus, the built-in IM app uses text-message credits for both inbound and outbound IMs (with the exception of GTalk).
If Meebo would add Facebook chat to the Android client then this would be a no-brainer.
-tw
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twieder said:
Plus, the built-in IM app uses text-message credits for both inbound and outbound IMs (with the exception of GTalk).
If Meebo would add Facebook chat to the Android client then this would be a no-brainer.
-tw
Click to expand...
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get an account on meebo.com and set up your facebook/aim/yahoo/msn/icq/myspace/etc... accounts. Then, sign in under "Meebo" on the android client and they're all there.
I know.
I know.
It's the ****.

kevev said:
GReat to hear. Is push-to-talk included? That would be awsome!
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Palringo PTT looks to be coming but is not in the alpha release yet (icons there). It's coming along nicely, but far from complete. I love that with Palringo you log in to one Palringo account and bam, all your other accounts come up and log in. Pretty hawt.

derekedw said:
I love that with Palringo you log in to one Palringo account and bam, all your other accounts come up and log in. Pretty hawt.
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Meebo does that too. Choose "Meebo" from the drop down list on your phone and any IM networks that you have associated with the Meebo web account auto-log in. I currently have MySpace, Facebook, G-Talk, 2 yahoo accounts, AIM, ICQ and MSN.
(Damn, I sound like I work for the company. (I don't))

nolageek said:
Meebo does that too. Choose "Meebo" from the drop down list on your phone and any IM networks that you have associated with the Meebo web account auto-log in. I currently have MySpace, Facebook, G-Talk, 2 yahoo accounts, AIM, ICQ and MSN.
(Damn, I sound like I work for the company. (I don't))
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DO any of these apps allow for status updates in aim?

There is so far a HUGE issue with Meebo. There is NO status updating. You cannot go "Away" or "Idle" or any of that, nor can you post your own status. To me this is a major drawback that needs addressing. I tried BuddyMob, it didn't really work very well. Ill be waiting on an update for Meebo. (there was actually one today, but did not address the problem at hand.)

So you can in fact utilize facebook and Myspace messenger within meebo? How does this IM application effect battery life? Is it push messaging or is the application just constantly polling a server?

I haven't noticed any major battery draw while using it... I don't always have it on. As for changing statuses, I just don't think that's a big issue for me. It I'm not available for chat, I just turn the thing off. The only issue I have regarding meebo is the notification is always on even after I've logged off, saying I'm still "signed on with x number off accounts."
@gimpeh - yes, sign on via the website and create a meebo account and you can add facebook and myspace as well as yahoo AIM, ICQ, etc... . Then, on the G1, dont sign on to each account (yahoo and aim, etc..) just signon to "Meebo" and you'll signed onto all of your accounts at once.

So far, none of the IM clients - online or real apps - can handle being in an environment where they lose signal on a regular basis. My office building has scattered signal inside for T-Mobile, and if I walk to another office, I'm bound to lose signal for atleast 15-20seconds. None of the IM clients can handle this. The builtin GTalk is the best, by far though. It's atleast able to reconnect after losing signal. But I will leave Meebo running and come back 30min later (After walking around the building a little bit) and it will ALWAYS be disconnected.
Is it really that hard for the developers to poll whether there is signal every few minutes and try to reconnect? It seems like the apps that "claim" to do the polling tend to give up after a certain number of minutes.
In my opinion, all IM apps should continue to poll for an active connection until the radio is shut off. I know it would be a battery drain to a certain degree after a while, but I know many people who are in my situation where they lose signal for very short amounts of time several times a day.

Best free Email client! Push For all!

I was browsing around and came across that Seven, www.seven.com
Has clients for the magic and the htc dream.
For those who don't know system seven is a great push email solution, It is free!
the beta sign up is here.
http://community.seven.com/choose.html

I'd hold off on this one. Have you seen their issue list for the Android version? It's longer than my leg!
It does look interesting though. Does it accomplish PUSH via SMS like everyone else? If so, can I register my Google Voice # to get SMS free? I should probably post this on their forums

thanks, imm downloading it now been wishing for a normal email client for ages!
ok tryed it!
the sign up is only for the forum you dont need to sign up for anything to use the app.
when i first ran the app it asked me for my phone number, i put in a bogus one out of curiosity and my push notifications still worked.
so needless to say, I LOVE THIS APP!!!!!!!

this is looking nice. a few bugs, like it keeps asking me if i want to add another account... and i don't have another to add but i guess its nice it asked ;p Should be nice once it develops.

fleebailey33 said:
For those who don't know system seven is a great push email solution, It is free!
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Yeah, read about this service last year. Interesting to know it is developing an Android client.
However, I can't be the only one who thinks that for a true smartphone platform like Android, it makes little sense (and indeed adds unnecessary uncertainty and security issues) to be routing mail through an intermediate party when there are applications that can connect directly to the mail server.

i looked around thier website but i didnt see anything about thier email being routed through a third party, where did you get that info?

Freedomcaller said:
i looked around thier website but i didnt see anything about thier email being routed through a third party, where did you get that info?
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Doesn't the mail have to go through their servers? How else would it be delivered via SMS?

its not delievered by sms.....

Freedomcaller said:
its not delievered by sms.....
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How else would they do push?

same way the gmail app does, and the iphone and every other phone out there does. through the interweb!
i dont know the details, but sms isnt the only way to push....

Freedomcaller said:
same way the gmail app does, and the iphone and every other phone out there does. through the interweb!
i dont know the details, but sms isnt the only way to push....
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As far as I know, all of the apps you just listed DO use SMS for push e-mail. That is the main reason people with Data plans that don't include messaging cannot use the stock GMail app.
The old "PULL" method is where the mail app reaches out to the server every so often and downloads any e-mails if it finds them. This of course wastes battery life since it does this polling regardless.
The "PUSH" is different in such a way that the server sends specifically-formulated SMS's that are intercepted by the GMail/iPhone Mail/other mail apps. These apps then prevent these SMS's from showing up as SMS, and instead they reach out and grab the e-mail from the server. This saves battery life by eliminating scheduled polling, while at the same time provides that "instant" e-mail feel.

Chahk said:
As far as I know, all of the apps you just listed DO use SMS for push e-mail. That is the main reason people with Data plans that don't include messaging cannot use the stock GMail app.
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The GMail app does not use SMS to push, it can maintain a TCP connection, as does most other "push" type applications.
If Seven does not use SMS to push then mea culpa. However, from the looks of their website, all data still has to route through their servers.

i read through thier privacy statement on thier website. is sais they dont store any of your data. altough it dosnt say it does not route through...

Freedomcaller said:
i looked around thier website but i didnt see anything about thier email being routed through a third party, where did you get that info?
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They ARE the THIRD PARTY

you can compare it simliar to how blackberry works. everything is routeted through blackberry's servers before it hits your phone. blackberry being the third party. that's why when you sign up for a BB plan, u get BIS or BES, it all goes through blackberrys servers. It isnt like microsoft's direct push where the connection is only from the server to your phone, no third party. I used seven when i had WMO, it was ok, it doesnt use SMS.
you download an app to your phone and you connect the app to seven's servers. this keeps a constant connection and when you get email, seven willl alert the app which notify you and download the email. it was ok, but the app was very laggy and it was a major battery killer.

Do you actually need a facebook account?

I have a family member on AT&T looking for a small-screen'd android device. This was my first thought, but she neither has nor wants a facebook account, and is not tech savvy at all. I also would not be able to help her set it up.
so the question is - how does setup go if you don't have a facebook account? do you just get dumped into stock android, or what?
(if someone can find a video of this that'd be amazing)

First thing the phone how's is ask you to sign into your Google account, like normal. Then it asks you to sign into Facebook, but you can hit the menu key, select home settings, and chose turn on Facebook home. At this point, you officially have a stock android experience.
Sent from my HTC first using xda premium

Not sure if this will shock anyone, but I'm in the same situation, and would be unsurprised in there were quite a few people looking at this phone for their non-tech savy older relatives that don't have, nor desire, a facebook account.
This just became a top contendor for my grandmother, who, funny enough, got an HTC Status due to its small form factor and keyboard despite despising facebook.
EDIT: I guess I have another question along these lines. Is a facebook account required to utilize Chatheads for SMS? I tried using it on my own Galaxy Note for just SMS, and I cannot seem to get past the Messenger login screen without an FB login, or the create account page popping up.

Daman09 said:
Not sure if this will shock anyone, but I'm in the same situation, and would be unsurprised in there were quite a few people looking at this phone for their non-tech savy older relatives that don't have, nor desire, a facebook account.
This just became a top contendor for my grandmother, who, funny enough, got an HTC Status due to its small form factor and keyboard despite despising facebook.
EDIT: I guess I have another question along these lines. Is a facebook account required to utilize Chatheads? I tried using it on my own Galaxy Note, and I cannot seem to get past the Messenger login screen without an FB login, or the create account page popping up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, a Facebook account is required to use Chat Heads, which is built into the Facebook Messenger app. The phone still ships with the stock Android SMS app though, so you're not completely boned by not logging into Facebook.
Sent from my HTC first using xda premium

Third-party email client secure?

Hello, just a quick question. I'm tired of using three separate apps for my various email accounts. I downloaded Blue Mail and it's great. But my concern is security since they store info on their servers. Is there any chance my passwords/emails/privacy are at risk? Or can I stop worrying and use the app? Thanks for any help offered.

You can use Gmail app for other email providers too.

Chris92881 said:
Hello, just a quick question. I'm tired of using three separate apps for my various email accounts. I downloaded Blue Mail and it's great. But my concern is security since they store info on their servers. Is there any chance my passwords/emails/privacy are at risk? Or can I stop worrying and use the app? Thanks for any help offered.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Secure if each account is protected by different passwords and 2fa enabled.
checkout https://protonmail.com
their servers are in the Switzerland and if you get a paid account you can add more emails. they are all 2fa enabled to view and if you're low on cash, use
https://appcloner.app/
its not necessarily the email account you should be concerned about, its which sites you use it for. from where the breach comes from.

There are mails like protonmail and others that provide a very secure mail. but if your'e just looking for an app shouldn't you be using actually like gmail or outlook? they're great and I guess you can turn off any personalization if you don't want to. give it a try