Auto e-mail alert

[naifwonder]

I've got one interesting project on my hands. I have a program that automatically sends an e-mail to my server. From the moment the server recieves the e-mail, this is what has to be done:

1. I have a webpage that users will be viewing. As soon as the server recieves the e-mail, I need the page to update and display the text from the e-mail. I also have to be able to format the text in the e-mail so it displays properly.
2. Also, when the new e-mail information is shown, I need the page to play an audio file.

All of this has to be done as quick as possible from the moment the server recieves the e-mail. I'm guessing ajax and php together should do the trick. Although ajax isn't my specialty, I am familiar with it. Anyone have any ideas? Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

[webnick]

You'd need something client-side (javascript) to query your php after the page has loaded. If there's a result, show some div or alert with text. It might be easier to just have some php variable echoed on the next page after the query is true. Sounds fun...