tech talk redesign
Having a lot of electronic connections for our lives can make things easier for us. My phone reminds me to do all kinds of things, from giving the animals their flea, tick, and heart worm medications to taking the recycling to the station to going to any of my appointments. My husband frequently says that he believes I'd lose my mind without my phone reminders. But I also use my phone to follow family and friends on Facebook and Instagram, catch some news and socialize on Twitter, post pictures to Instagram, and track my running on Nike+. And sometimes keeping things organized and in sync can be . . . challenging.

"If-Then Statements are Cool Again!" by Christine Johnson (CatholicMom.com) Copyright 2017 Christine Johnson. All rights reserved.

 

[tweet "Sync your real life with your electronic life using @IFTTT. #techtalk by @CatholicMomVA"

IFTTT is an app that coordinates your social media, sends you reminders, and more. Little "applets" that run on "if this, then that" statements work between your apps and services and make your life easier. There are applets that others have built that are easily used, like posting your Instagram pictures as native pictures on Twitter (with a shortlink to the IG post) or adding your Nike+ runs to a Google calendar automatically. You can have IFTTT send you notifications from NASA, ESPN, or WeatherUnderground (take an umbrella tomorrow - or pack your running shoes!) You can use premade applets to coordinate your blog with Facebook and Twitter, save posts to Evernote, and more.

"If-Then Statements are Cool Again!" by Christine Johnson (CatholicMom.com) Copyright 2017 Christine Johnson. All rights reserved.

If you don't see an applet that meets your needs, you can build one yourself, and the app takes you through the process step-by-step. It's actually quite easy, and I built one that will email me any screenshot I take. (Which is how I got the picture below.) It was easier than my first BASIC program that I wrote on the Apple IIe in seventh grade!

"If-Then Statements are Cool Again!" by Christine Johnson (CatholicMom.com) Copyright 2017 Christine Johnson. All rights reserved.

IFTTT is a free app that works with Android and iDevices, as well as the Apple Watch.

Read more of our Tech Talk columns.

Copyright 2017 Christine Johnson