The moment I saw how Pownce handled links to Flickr photos (here is my first Flickr photo that I Pownced) I knew I had to modify a script that I found and had modified for Twitter. The script would automatically "tweet" when I posted a photo to Flickr using my iPhone.
The script isn’t anything special mind you, all it does it "watch" any Flickr feed for new entries. To be more precise, my server runs this script every 15 minutes and checks for new photos, when there is one, it creates a TinyURL and posts it to Twitter (like this).
But I wanted this to work for Pownce.
I immediately dove head first into Pownce’s API only to find out that the API didn’t allow posting anything. I thought my Powncing days were over until, out of some crazy stroke of coincidence, I read an article on TechCrunch that said Pownce was due to release a new version of their API the very next day. Turns out, I didn’t even have to wait that long and the Pownce wiki was updated to include [documentation for version 2 of their API](http://pownce.pbwiki.com/API Documentation2-0).
Without blinking an eye I finished my script, grabbed myself an app_key, and Pownced the script (you’ll need to be logged in, and be my Pownce friend to see this Pownce message). Once I figured out that I couldn’t Pownce a file to the general public, I knew I had to find some time to write this post.
Since then I read that Dave Winer also enjoys the way Pownce shows links to Flickr photos and that he is running a similar script. So I thought I’d put this out for everyone to use.
Powncer!
Enough beating around the bush, you can download the script here which includes an XML parser for ripping through Flickr’s RSS feed. You’ll need to edit the first few lines of powncer.php for it to work, so this isn’t your run-of-the-mill plug-and-play type script, unfortunately, but for the PHP savvy of you, you should be able to get it up and running pretty easily. If you need help getting it setup, just ask in the comments.
I run this script here on cdevroe.com every 15 minutes using cron. You may run it however you’d like.
