June 01, 2012

Tried ifttt.com?

I have begun using ifttt as of late. It's an acronym for "If This Then That". It puts the internet to work for you. What you do is create triggers and actions. You automate things to make portions of your technological life a bit simpler. Some of those tasks that you try to do occasionally or even daily can be done for you.

Here are several of my recipes:

  • If I post a tweet to my Twitter account, that tweet gets archived in my Evernote
  • When I upload a picture to Facebook it also gets posted to my Flickr account
  • When @eMusic tweets their free #DailyDownload, I receive a text message. 
  • When a new album is added to Amazon's Top Free MP3 Albums, I receive an email. 

I have a number of these different recipe's automating various routines that previously would have required me to take some very specific action (if I remembered to!) My latest recipe is the reason for this particular blog post. When I publish a new blog post, a link to it will also be posted on my Facebook timeline. It takes a bit of tinkering to make some of your recipes work but it's worth the effort.

Trackside with Trains

I entered another "Trackside with Trains" reader favorites poll from Trains magazine. The theme for this installment was Trains Along the Water. I took this picture in Alviso, a small formerly unincorporated area of San Jose. It was a cool, still, March morning. The water was undisturbed except for the faint steps of a few waterfowl. Their mirrored reflections can be seen in the lower left corner of the picture. Last time I submitted a picture to "Trackside with Trains" back in March it garnered enough votes for a respectable third place showing. I'm crossing my fingers for a slightly better showing this time. I'll update and link when I hear the results.
It's been quite some time since I've been out anywhere taking pictures of trains (or anything other than grand kids). I will have to remedy that situation very soon. I need some ferroequinology paparazzo therapy. Update - 6/1/2012 Well this is rather disappointing. I didn't even make the cut. There were three reader submissions, none of which were mine. There's always the next one!