A relatively new web service, IFTTT (If This And then That) lets you automatise tasks between other popular services much as Dropbox, Twitter, Evernote, Facebook, Instapaper, and many others. IFTTT works aside telling it what task you want carried out, what will activate this task, and it will put it into action for you.

Channels, triggers, actions, ingredients, recipes... these are some of the terms used aside IFTTT, and although it English hawthorn seem complicated at first glance, it's really extremely easy to use.

Here's a practical example in case the overall concept doesn't ring a gong yet...

Sound out I want to conserve with how a predestined country is doing in the Capital of the United Kingdom 2012 Olympic Games. First, I enable the ESPN channel and immediately I'll cost asked to gear up a actuate from a number of predetermined options. In this shell I'll choose "new Olympic medal by country". Next, I'll specify which country to follow and make over the trigger. That's the 'If This' voice.

You'll need to choose a channel for the second portion of your recipe.

Since I want to be notified by SMS I'll select that channel -- though you can do a number of unusual things like automatically posting it on interpersonal networks Beaver State your personal calendar. After activating the SMS channel I'll choose the 'Send me an SMS' execute and configure the message to my liking. That's the 'Then That' function.

The resulting recipe is shown with a self-explanatory graphic along with options to share it publicly.

The cognitive process is very easy to follow on IFTTT's site. In that location are currently fifty different channels, including social networks, essentials like email and RSS feeds, and even Belkin's WeMo devices to bring IFTTT tasks to the sensual world. IFTTT's tagline is "Put the internet to wreak for you" and that's exactly what information technology does.

Of course, you don't receive to produce all tasks from the ground up, as there are already countless of useful recipes being shared. I've pass-picked few of my favorites and created a fistful others to get you started.

Freebies and Deals

  • Receive daily Microcomputer gimpy deals via email, IM (Google Talk), or SMS. The deals are sourced from steamgamesales.com's RSS feed and include information from 9 distinguishable stores. Optionally, you can set an alert for whenever a limited game gets a discount and receive it via email, IM, SMS.
  • Find Amazon's every day Gold Box deals by email, IM, or SMS. If you're annoyed with too many alerts that are dull to you try creating your own formula using a specific keyword such as SSD or LCD, for example. Scarce use Feed as the trigger with the Universal resource locator https://rssfeeds.s3.amazonaws.com/goldbox.
  • Get notified of Apple's official unfreeze app of the calendar week via electronic mail, IM, or SMS. If you are an Android user, there's also a recipe for Amazon's Appstore unrestrained app of the day notifications by email, IM or SMS.

    • Backing up and Interpersonal Networks

  • Automatically send off starred tweets containing links to Instapaper to grab up reading later (note: many Twitter clients already include a 'send to Instapaper' option but it may amount in handy if you use the official client surgery WWW interface.) A similar recipe is available for starred items in Google Referee.
  • Automatically ship every Facebook pic you're tagged in to your Dropbox folder. This recipe serves some as a relief and a way to ensure that any photos attached to your cite will represent come-at-able to you in the least multiplication, still afterwards it's been deleted from Facebook. You'll need to sync your Facebook and Dropbox accounts.
  • Save all Instagram photos to Dropbox. Similar to the IFTTT recipe above, this unrivaled will help Instagram users keep a local backup man of all their faux vintage photos by synchronizing them with Dropbox.
  • Archive your Foursquare check-ins to Google Calendar. Although I'm not a huge fan of check-in founded gregarious networks, this one can interject Handy while traveling if you want to keep a log of the places you've been to -- landmarks, restaurants, etcetera -- whol with their respective dates happening your calendar.
  • Synchronize your Chirrup profile picture with Facebook's. This uncomparable is self explanatory and it basically will save you the extra steps to update your Chirrup profile picture by using Facebook's whenever it changes.

    • Others

  • Textual matter to escape. Need an exempt to hightail it from a boring surgery awkward situation? This recipe lets you trigger a customized call margin call to your cell by sending a text subject matter to IFTTT. You can customize the call message Beaver State make up multiple messages triggered for different situations. Only US numbers are supported.
  • Heat-up prognosticate. This recipe lets you schedule a call to your phone at a specific time and day of the hebdomad.
  • Text weather. There are a number of weather-related recipes on IFTTT, you can take to get the weather every morning by SMS, for example, or just a warning to lease you love it will rain or snow.

    • Other fashionable services that are available as channels that we didn't mention here include Blogger, Gmail, Flickr, LastFM, YouTube, Wordpress, among others.

    Considering you too rag play with RSS feeds, you potty possibly create automated tasks for any given website. As before, if you want to make up your own recipe you john later plowshare that with other users on the web site or borrow present ones.