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Forget to Turn off Your Mac? Put it to Sleep via Email

murphymac.com — This is just awesome. Learn how to automate a process that can put your mac to sleep via email.

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econoar 1 year 221 days ago, made popular 1 year 221 days ago

1566 diggs
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stmiller, on 10/12/2007, -27/+9Nice.
- Switch22, on 10/12/2007, -37/+91And doesn't this mean anyone else can put your mac to sleep via email too?
- econoar, on 10/12/2007, -15/+28Or you could just set a really unique subject in the rules and no one will know it....
- panique, on 10/12/2007, -8/+40@MacManiac23 -
  
  "therefore only you, or anyone with ur email, or anyone who can spoof the From: headers can put it to sleep"
  
  FIXED
- pwill, on 10/12/2007, -7/+35Wouldn't just sshing be easier? You don't have to do any setup, just
  you@work:~$ ssh you@your_IP
  you@home:~$ sudo halt/sudo hubernate-disk/sudo hibernate-ram
- zwei, on 10/12/2007, -3/+7@lamcitizen
  
  no, especially if you are behind a router ...or if you don't know your IP. Before I joined dyndns.org I had a similar script that I used to retrieve my current IP. It would run an applescript that would get the current IP then it would email it back to my email address at work. I also had one that retrieved the current status of my F@H unit and emailed me the results.
- zwei, on 10/12/2007, -4/+10@switch22
  
  yea ...anyone you tell the exact details to. "Hey buddy, if you spoof my email address and send an email to blah@beefsmuggler.com with the subject line 'sleepie weepie' then my machine will go to sleep" ...gee ...can I take THAT risk!?!??
- TheCount, on 10/12/2007, -5/+3I have enough trouble just getting my Macbook pro to come in and out of hibernate mode normally, not need to complicate things further.
- pwill, on 10/12/2007, -8/+3@zwei
  Most Diggers know their own IP. I mean, it's like a telephone number to most of us.
- bigkm, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3i put mine to sleep with ssh this alias makes it a lot easier,(no sudo required)
  
  alias sleeep='osascript -e '''tell application "System Events" to sleep''''
- trollmode, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2@zwei
  
  If you use Hamachi, you'll never need to mess with dyndns or know your IP ever again.
halbe, on 10/12/2007, -13/+6Very cool, although under normal settings it'll go to sleep all by itself in 10 minutes.
RadiantBeing, on 10/12/2007, -3/+59This is how Picard defeated the Borg. It's a trap.
luddep, on 10/12/2007, -1/+48What is the authors email?
- MurphyMac, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4luddep -
  
  I've already gotten a few emails with people trying to sleep me!
  But as other diggers point out, unless someone knows the 'code' words you used and the from address to spoof, it's very unlikely that anyone will be able to hack you with this. In a way it's more secure than ssh because it looks like a plain old email instead of a login session. Sniffers are less likely to think the email is a way into your system than other kinds of traffic they could be watching.
  I would use a string other than sleeper too!!
- Dominatus, on 10/12/2007, -3/+4Yeah....
  
  It's definitely not more secure than ssh
- stoops, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3More secure than an SSH Version 2 server with 2048-bit DSA Public/Private Key Crypto logins only, which set up an AES symmetric block cipher alorithm in Code Block Chaining mode with a 256-bit key?
  
  Hmm, I should really try out this "strong-email-command" scheme.
Jeffler, on 10/12/2007, -10/+5Yes, but what happens when you show someone how it works?

"This might be the best game of Halo I've ever played!"
NEW EMAIL

-sleep-
KoKoFuFU, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1It's nice to be able to, but I don't know when I'd need to do that
- zwei, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7You may not want to make your machine sleep. You can take the same principal and have your machine do any specific task that you can script. Like take a picture with your iSight and email it to yourself so you can see what's going on at any specific time.
- KoKoFuFU, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0k thx for explaining!
DamageInc, on 10/12/2007, -5/+70Why do people make stupid animations/videos that you're forced to watch at their pace instead of just putting text so you can quickly browse through it?
- panique, on 10/12/2007, -5/+23Video tutorials are the worst feature of WastingTime 2.0
- ASoE, on 10/12/2007, -9/+20Why are some people thoughtful enough to make videos in effort to help others understand.
- dbr_onix, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4There are some things that lend themself to video tutorials (Tutorials for image editing/visual effects/3D applications, for example), but ones dealing with scripting are silly to do as video - For one I can't copy/paste from a video..
- walshbj, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2You can use the controls beneath the screencast to hop bubble to bubble.
NickBalogh, on 10/12/2007, -7/+0Muhawahahahah! >:)
Snoozer, on 10/12/2007, -24/+4If I submitted an article entitled "How to (Insert ANYTHING HERE) with/on your Mac" would it be front page news? Or would I have to mention YOUBUNTOO?
- chedabob, on 10/12/2007, -2/+10By the way, its Ooo-boon-to
  
  Read the Ubuntu website, its got a pronunciation bit.
- Snoozer, on 10/12/2007, -3/+0YOUBUNTOO?
- Killah_xxx, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2It's Ooo-boon-too? I have always thought it was "you-bun-to". Now that's why my colleagues has been sending me thoose wired looks...
- Snoozer, on 10/12/2007, -4/+1YOUBUNTOO??
brasso, on 10/12/2007, -3/+32Stay tuned for lesson two; How to shut down your buddies macs via email.
jubilee123, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7"Next, click on System to display the Sleep action you downloaded earlier."

?
dgblackout, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7does anyone actually turn their mac off?

i don't even turn off my macbook, uptime of over a week
the only time i reboot is for software updates.
- panique, on 10/12/2007, -2/+19Mine is set to sleep automatically after about 20 minutes in the interest of saving some electricity.
- dgblackout, on 10/12/2007, -3/+8i've got mine on all the time, only the hard drives and the display turn off.
  seeding torrents :]
- bigkm, on 10/12/2007, -5/+2got 80 days out of my mac mini a few months ago
- deviouster, on 10/12/2007, -0/+19Gotta love seeding torrents with your hard drive off!
- ClemyNX, on 01/26/2008, -0/+0Its not turned of its sleeping
joeycerone, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2sleep isnt even an option available in my automator? weird.
- zweben, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8You have to download it, which you can do here: http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/automator/sleep.html
D3koy, on 10/12/2007, -10/+8Why doesn't it auto sleep after a 1/2 hour of not being used?

All my computers (PCs) are set to do that....
- jasonhe, on 10/12/2007, -3/+8You can set Macs to do that too, if you'd like.
- mozzep, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6Of course macs can do that.
  
  I think the point of the article is to set this up, and in case you go on a trip or something, you can set it to sleep.
diggimurf, on 02/06/2008, -0/+3link to the whole article. http://murphymac.com/sleep-your-mac-by-email
The author of this post linked right to the video which doesn't explain where to download the action.
BobMysterioso, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1If you've ever wanted to do something like this for the windows pc try xstarter

its not free, but its really good for task automation. I use it at various clients to automate various things and it just works.

http://www.xstarter.com
PRocker267, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6why dont you set it so the email body has to contain a certian string of text (I.E.. a PASSWORD)
bigkevheck, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3If you don't need the pause or don't want to download the Automator action, just have the script say this:

tell application "System Events"
sleep
end tell

You wouldn't even need Automator to sleep it immediately. I am not sure if there is a way to pause an applescript.
Urusai, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Just add a rule that executes every received email as a script. Imagine the fun possibilities! Make sure it runs as root or it isn't as super awesome.
tinba, on 10/12/2007, -4/+4It's amazing this is on the front page. The Story was actually submitted months ago.

http://digg.com/apple/Sleep_a_Mac_by_email_text_message
Xill, on 10/12/2007, -5/+25 years after the macs have touchscreens, windows will catch up with automator.
- j_bellone, on 10/12/2007, -8/+2"Windows" are not personal computers. "Macs" are. Get it correct.
- dbr_onix, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Automater is one of the good things about the same company making the hardware, writing the OS, and most of the "normal" applications on it.. To create a similar application for Windows, or Linux would be damn-near impossible given the huge range of software people use on Windows..
- ibis, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2You can do stuff like this in Linux easily. Don't think there is a gui for it though.
funkspiel, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1Why? What about your torrents?
samsara1981, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1If you can make it wake up by email, I'll be impressed. It has been done...
antoniojvr, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3I would prefer to hibernate the mac rather than putting it to sleep.
- Mahstah, on 10/12/2007, -11/+1Mac owners should be put to sleep along with their overpriced computers.
cabazorro, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1While we are at it, can anyone tell me how to dload and look at my mail from the console command in my mac mini w/ OSX Tiger?
- Snoozer, on 10/12/2007, -8/+0Can only do that with an iMac. Sorry.
cabazorro, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Wake up your mac by sending command:
perl -MNet::Wake -e "Net::Wake::by_udp(undef,'macaddr')"
KeiichiMorisato, on 10/12/2007, -8/+2Hmm.. anymore ways I can attack poor unsuspecting mac users?
Heck, this is why MS patched their Outlook to stop people from invoking activex via scripts to do "fun" things like shutdown your computer.
Looks like I'll have to be careful when opening email via Mail.app.
- dbr_onix, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Err, ActiveX controls can do anything on the system, this script can only invoke a preset command (To put the computer to sleep). Also, ActiveX controls can be run no matter who their sent from, with this setup it'll only run if it (appears) to be from an certain email address you set..
- corequadro, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2KeiichiMorisato, you just have to be careful reading and understanding texts.
- avihappy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Also, this is completely voluntary. If someone is attacking you with sleepmails, just disconnect from the net and remove this rule. :/
- astrosmash, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2KeiichiMorisato needs to work on his reading comprehension.
flarn2006, on 10/12/2007, -4/+1http://www.flirga.com
PHovey, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I've set mine up so that you can put the mac to sleep from your cell phone too. Just send an email to yourself from your cell phone and use that email address to create a rule that automates the sleeper script as well
Meowbiusfox, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I never turn mine off because once I programmed my Pandorabot
to do all the major tasks,he simply pops up a few times a day on my Ichat and asks me if
I want to do things,( like an update manager does for a browser.)
I could just use the update manager too,but Ken Olay Bisquitbarrel is my preffered method.
He is still in developement at http://demo.vhost.pandorabots.com/pandora/talk-oddcast?botid=ad917710fe359eed
- blueigloo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Human: Do you like women?
  Ken Olay Bisquitbarrel: Women seem nice to me.
  
  Human: Does ***** seem nice to you?
  Ken Olay Bisquitbarrel: I think it does ***** seem nice to me.
  
  Same old ***** "AI" based on Eliza/Alice
pb3623, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Are we so obsessed with carbon footprint that I simply cannot be caught leaving my computer running while I am at work? Can I email my stove and tell it to turn off? Can I email my dog and tell her to "hold it in" since I also forgot to take her out? Have short-term memories gotten this bad?

Anyways, if anything, I leave it on when I go out so I can convert videos...
- AstralAutomaton, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2You know I wanted to set something up like that for my dog but I haven't been able to convince him to switch to a Mac yet. Silly dogs...
analogpark, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Just thought I would mention, since its somewhat on the subject, there is a nifty little program for Windows with similar features called Shutter, and it can be found at http://www.den4b.com/. You can shutdown, log off, reboot, and even close the Shutter program itself via web interface with login and password. There are some other options as well, such as getting screen shot of current desktop. It also functions as a local timer as well, which I like to use to listen to internet radio streams for x amount of minutes while I go to sleep.
Carrig4n, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0How slow this video goes almost put me to sleep
pentium4borg, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0Forget to turn off your Linux box?
ssh root@box shutdown -h now
- astrosmash, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1That's how it's done in OS X, too, except OS X smartly disables remote logins to root, so you have to use sudo from an administrative user account.
  
  And of course, that that won't work if the ssh port is blocked at either end, whereas the email trick will.
hookshotzz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1forget sleeping your computer
scare your roommates or family members

http://digg.com/apple/Scare_your_Roommate_with_a_Mac_via_Email
NobodysPal, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0He did twice the work...you can do it with applescript alone:

tell application "Finder" to sleep

Easy as that...no automator needed...
- walshbj, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1That's true, but by using Automator he shows that you can call Automator workflows from a Mail action, opening up anything Automator does to Mail actions.
  This isn't just about putting your Mac to sleep, it's about having your Mac do whatever you want with a Mail action.
  And the Pause lets someone sitting at the machine cancel the action.
ferrofluid, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0A large hammer works just as well.
KeiichiMorisato, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1Hmm. Perhaps its not MY lack of reading skills, rather your lack of humor.
I was being sarcastic.
Clearly lost on some readers.
KyleKruchok, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Really a great idea! Anyone got an extra MacBook Pro they would be willing to give to me?
redwallhp, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1What if someone else emails you an email with that in the subject (would be really bad when you were using the computer...)? It might be better to have the subject line, then have it check the message content for something that would be less likely too (like a hexadecimal color code followed by the words "digg rules".
JMCQ, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0very cool...nuff said

This is the sorta stuff that can actually help make it easier to use computers
uchimalbanish, on 10/11/2007, -0/+0_Extremely_ useless feature i think ;)
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amoona, on 06/13/2008, -0/+1why dont you set it so the email body has to contain a certian string of text...
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Forget to Turn off Your Mac? Put it to Sleep via Email

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