Wednesday, September 14, 2011

"Words are also actions, and actions are a kind of words". Ralph Waldo Emerson

Have you ever wished you could program some websites to alert you when certain things happen? As an example I want a text message if my username on Twitter gets used but how do I go about it? First head over to if this then that (ifttt) and sign up. Yes it’s for free. Now you have two choices start with a premade recipe or create your own. I would recommend for the first couple of times to use the premade recipes till you fully understand it. In the recipes you will see both triggers and actions. The recipe I setup last night was very simple. IF the local temperature drops below 40 degrees THEN text me to bring in the plants before they freeze. All I have to do is choose the recipe and change any of the details like how I get informed (text, phone, email) and what details trigger it like the exact temperature. You can create your own using channels. This is the name they have given to websites or services. I could create a recipe that saves me time. As an example, when I post something on Twitter I want the same thing to be written on my Facebook wall. Again I choose the channels, twitter, and Facebook, then what actions to happen. It is so easy and elegant that I would recommend just heading over to the site to play around. Finally someone has taken all the wonderful services and allowed them to speak to each other.

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