Hacking an old pager with AI
A developer describes setting up an old pager as a Twitter notification device using modern cloud services. The system routes Twitter API events through Cloudflare Workers, Resend email service, and Gmail to finally deliver notifications to the pager's email address.
Summary
The speaker explains a creative hack that connects a legacy paging network called Spoke to Twitter notifications. Spoke is one of the last remaining paging networks and comes pre-configured with both an email address and phone number. The developer set up a multi-step pipeline to receive Twitter interactions on this outdated pager. The workflow begins when any interaction with the speaker's Twitter account or tweets triggers an API event. This event is sent to a Cloudflare Worker, which processes it and forwards it to Resend, an email service. Resend then sends the email from a custom domain to a Gmail account, since the pager's native email address cannot accept custom domain emails. Finally, the Gmail account forwards the message to the pager's email address, where it displays on the device. The speaker acknowledges the system is outdated but functional, requiring multiple intermediary steps to bridge the gap between modern social media APIs and legacy paging infrastructure.
Key Insights
- Spoke is described as the one remaining paging network still in operation
- The pager comes pre-configured with both a network email address and phone number, requiring no manual setup for basic functionality
- The pager's native email address has restrictions and cannot accept emails from custom domains, necessitating a Gmail intermediary
- Twitter interactions are funneled through a Cloudflare Worker that acts as the initial processing layer for all API events
- The complete notification pipeline requires at least four separate services (Cloudflare, Resend, Gmail, and the pager network) to function end-to-end
Topics
Transcript
[0:00] There is one paging network left and it's called Spoke. And that's what I did for this. It comes set up with a network. It got comes set up with an email address and a phone number. So, I have it set up as a Twitter pager. I use the Twitter API to send notifications to my Resend email and then it sends it to a Gmail account because the email address that comes with the pager doesn't accept new custom domain emails. [music] It's very outdated. But, the Twitter pager I'll kind of walk you [0:30] through it here. So, every interaction that anyone has with my Twitter account or my tweets get sent as an API event…
Full transcript available for MurmurCast members
Sign Up to AccessMore from How I AI
Enterprise AI fails on governance, not the model
The speaker discusses the importance of skill management and governance in enterprise AI platforms, emphasizing that enabling people to build skills is insufficient without proper monitoring, maintenance, and telemetry. The focus is on providing automatic platform-driven suggestions to keep skills current and using data insights to promote high-value skills while deprecating low-value ones.
Onboard your employees to Cowork in 15 minutes with this system
The transcript describes a workstation operating system that streamlines employee onboarding through an intuitive chat-based interface. The system automates tool connections, role confirmation, colleague mapping, calendar integration, and personalization to get new employees productive from day one.
Your prompt is a spec, and a good spec is the whole game
A prompt acts as a specification that defines quality criteria for AI outputs. By clearly articulating 5-10 defining characteristics of what makes something good (whether a garment, photo, or illustration), you provide the AI with the same level of detail a human creator would need to produce excellent results.
How I use ChatGPT to run my fashion business
Yana Welander demonstrates how she built an AI-native fashion brand using ChatGPT and Codex as her technical co-founder, automating design, production, and business operations from sketches to manufacturing and e-commerce. She shares how AI unlocks previously impossible garments while highlighting remaining challenges in pattern generation and realistic image rendering.
The biggest barrier to AI adoption is not fear of technology. It's the absence of muscle memory.
The speaker argues that the primary barrier to AI adoption is not fear but lack of muscle memory—the habitual use of AI tools. Success requires building collaborative practices through empathy, accessible training, and establishing regular workflows rather than overcoming technological anxiety.