OK, if you’re a programmer/coder/techie type, I’ve got a challenge for you.
After using Twitter for more than a week (follow me here), I’ve really grown to like the Twitterific app for the Mac. It has a really nice little interface, and scanning through new updates is easy.
I decided that I’d like to get notifications of new emails and RSS posts right inside of Twitter, so that I can get all my updates in one easy-to-read stream, without having to check in three different places (at Twitterific for tweets, Gmail for email, and Google Reader for RSS feeds). However, I haven’t found a service or hack that will do that.
There’s Twittermail for sending tweets via email, but if I forwarded my new emails from Gmail to Twittermail, they’d be broadcast to everyone who is following me. There’s Twitterfeed for sending new RSS feeds to my Twitter account, but again, these RSS feeds are broadcast to everyone who is following me.
I want the emails and RSS feeds to go to my Twitter account so that only I can see them, which isn’t the case with the two aforementioned services. There’s only one way to do that: through Direct Messaging in Twitter, from one Twitter account to another.
So here’s the hack I’ve figured out: set up a custom Twitterbot that will automatically Direct Message (DM) my Twitter account. Then I’ll forward new emails to the Twitterbot and set up RSS feeds to go to the Twitterbot, and they’ll be DM’d to my account — so only I can see them! Then I can read all my updates in Twitterific.
Sounds a little complicated, I know, but it’s not that hard, really. Here’s one of many articles on creating a Twitterbot. I just don’t know how to write code.
Thus, the Zen Habits Twitterbot Challenge was born.
The Zen Habits Twitterbot Challenge
Here’s the challenge: write a simple Twitterbot for me, and allow me to host it and test it out. If it works as planned, and you’re the first to submit, you win $50. However, I insist that you allow the code to be open-source, which means we’ll make it available to the public and anyone can use it.
In addition to the $50, I’ll feature your Twitterbot here on Zen Habits for a little recognition.
Here are the requirements of the Twitterbot:

• Set up a Twitter account for the bot.
• Write code that will use the Twitter API to do the following tasks.
• Receive tweets from Twittermail and Twitterfeed, and then DM them to another pre-set user account (in this case, zen_habits).
• Receive DMs from my Twitter account and then send an email with the text of the DM to my email account.
• The bot should automatically befriend my Twitter account when I follow it on Twitter.
• You will need to host this Twitterbot on a web server so we can test it out.
• You’ll also need a simple web interface so that we can configure the Twitterbot — tell it which Twitter account to DM, and which email address to send emails to.
• Ideally, this bot could be expanded, so that it can handle multiple users. Thus, I could sign up for an account with the bot, through the web page mentioned above, then add my Twitter account and email address and other info. And others can do the same, so that the bot would forward emails and feeds to the right Twitter account and email the right address when you DM it. However, this part isn’t a requirement for the challenge. It’s a bonus - because I think it would be more useful this way.
• Again, you have to agree to make the code open-source, and release it to the public here on Zen Habits.
• If there are multiple submissions around the same time, I will go with the first one that DMs me on Twitter, who also meets these requirements to my satisfaction. If the bot doesn’t work well and someone else submit a better one right after you, the second person will win.

So what do you think? Is it too confusing? Is it worth the effort? Let me know in the comments! If you have the bot ready for testing, just DM me on Twitter.
Two Excellent Ebooks You Might Like
If you’re not interested in ebooks, skip this part … but I thought I’d share a couple ebooks from other bloggers that I’ve read recently and found valuable:

• Wisebread’s Wise Driving Guide: 108 Tips to Raise Your Fuel Economy: This is from the guys at Wisebread, one of my most favoritest personal finance blogs. And they did a great job, with a well-researched book full of tips that, when used together, will definitely save you some cash on gas. What I love is that they give you the facts on a lot of tips that actually don’t work or that are too dangerous for a non-professional driver to try. Invaluable resource. This was produced in conjunction with Web Warrior Tools (I’m a co-owner of WWT), so you can get it for free (for a limited time) if you subscribe to Wisebread’s RSS feed, or you can buy it for $9.95 from Web Warrior Tools.
• Core Personal Values: A Practical Guide to Discover YOUR Personal Core Values: This ebook by blogger Lodewijk van den Broek is filled not only with great information, but useful exercises that will help you to turn the information into action. I really like the job Lodewijk’s done here … these are concepts that are useful in living a simple, successful and happy life. The book costs $14.95, and you can buy it here (this is an affiliate link).

Favorite Writing Blogs
Oh, also: you can nominate your favorite writing blog in a third annual contest. I won’t tell you which blog to nominate … you should nominate whichever you like best (hint: Write To Done is a writing blog).