IFTTT, or If This Then That, is a productivity service that aims to streamline common Internet tasks by stringing together services like Dropbox, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. IFTTT lets you combine channels, triggers and actions into tasks; for example, you could configure IFTTT to send you an email if tomorrow's forecast calls for rain, automatically send a thank-you tweet each time you're mentioned or retweeted, or cross-post all of your new TwitPics to Flickr.
IFTTT is getting a lot of attention from the tech community; most recently, it raised over $1.5 million in funding from top venture capitalists and angels. Founder Linden Tibbets hopes to one day transform IFTTT into a service that connects the Internet to physical devices.
Several IFTTT recipes can boost productivity. Here are a few I found during a quick perusal of the Recipes page:
- Twitter Favorite to Evernote: Create a new note in Evernote each time you favorite a tweet.
- Google Reader Star to Instapaper: Send any starred items in Google Reader to Instapaper to read later.
- Email From Craigslist Search: Automatic emails with Craigslist search results for the query you specify (e.g. gigs, job prospects, apartment listings).
- Send Wordpress Posts to Google+: See this post for a step-by-step tutorial.
- Record Ideas to Email: Leave IFTTT a voicemail with your ideas, then get an email with the recording.
I'm currently testing Recipe No. 4 above to automate posting to Google+. IFTTT users, what are your favorite recipes?
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