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IFTTT's automation app can watch your Android phone's battery
Thanks to a slew of updates, IFTTT's automation apps just became decidedly more useful -- especially if you're religious about your smartphone's battery. If for Android now includes a battery channel, so you can tell your phone to perform certain duties depending on your charge state. You can have the app mute your phone as soon as you plug it in, for instance. Also, the existing device channel now works with Bluetooth, music, navigation and WiFi, so you can turn off wireless features when your power is low or get directions to your favorite fishing spot every weekend.
Amazon's voice-guided speaker juggles your IFTTT tasks
You can tell Amazon's Echo speaker to directly control certain apps and services, but what if you want it to send information to other apps that you use more often? That's where IFTTT's new Alexa channel might save the day. Give the Echo a command and IFTTT will relay certain tasks to key apps. You can deliver your to-do list to Gmail when you ask the speaker about your itinerary, for example, or add your grocery items to Evernote without touching your phone. Frankly, this makes the Echo a lot more useful in daily life -- you no longer have to change some of your app habits to make the most out of Amazon's audio cylinder.
IFTTT's new tools tackle tasks with a single tap
IFTTT comes in handy for automating everyday tasks like setting the temperature on a Nest thermostat at bedtime or tweeting your Instagram snaps as native Twitter images. The software aims to lend even more of a helping hand, though, and its new trio of Do tools will, well... do just that. All three skip the actions that the usual recipe-based activities require, assigning the final result to a single tap. First, Do Button takes things like the aforementioned temperature adjustment, but instead of waiting for you to silence your phone or a certain time, it sets that Nest with one press of a button. Android users can load up to three tasks on the Do Button widget as well, offering quick access to the new control.
Logitech wants to link the living room with the rest of your smart home
You might've written off the idea of a connected home up to this point, and if so, Logitech wants you to give it a second chance. Together with Harmony (its living room wing), the outfit's working on an API that allows developers to link all of the connected devices in your home so they work in concert. The example the firm gives is, say, once you started watching a movie on your Samsung flatscreen via Apple TV, the Philips Hue lights in your living room would dim accordingly. Harmony claims this programming tool is the first of its kind and gives developers access to over 270,000 home entertainment and automation devices, creating a platform of sorts for smart home experiences that haven't been seen up to this point.
Mother welcomes developers into her creepy connected world
It's often said that "mother knows best," but sometimes, even mothers need council. Alright, so perhaps that's not true for tough, human matriarchs, but it does apply to Mother: the creepy-looking, internet-connected hub that's intended to make your dumb home smarter. You see, Mother communicates with small, multipurpose sensors called "Cookies," and instructs them to monitor one thing or another and report back, so it in turn can relay data and notifications back to you. Sense, the company behind Mother, has come up with various uses for Cookies, such as monitoring steps or sleep, but now it's seeking external inspiration. That's why, next month, it's launching a public API so developers can start dreaming up all kinds of new applications for the sensors. They'll also be able to plug data from Cookies into other apps and platforms -- your step count from a pedometer Cookie could be fed into a third-party fitness app, for example.
Save 'Sports Illustrated' articles anywhere you want, automatically
What was that? You wanted to get some recipes going for news-content automation in addition to push notifications to grab an umbrella for tomorrow? Well, lucky you because Time Inc. announced it's adding IFTTT (If This Then That) support for five of its publications: Entertainment Weekly, InStyle, People, Sports Illustrated, and of course Time. The outfit says it's using in-house tech to make it easier to automate stuff like sending all NFL articles to Pocket so you can read 'em on the subway, for example. Another is getting a weekly movie summary sent straight to your email from Entertainment Weekly. This update benefits both Android and iOS users alike and it's available right this minute. Now its just up to you to see if too many cooks can spoil these recipes.
60 seconds with a simple but smart home monitoring device
There are already plenty of ways to keep an eye on your abode from afar, so any new home monitoring product better have a fresh approach if it wants to stand out from the competition. For start-up Form Devices, the goal wasn't to create an elaborate, connected home security system that did more than existing products, but to make something simple, affordable and user-friendly. And, it must've done something right with its Point home monitoring device, which cruised past its $50,000 Kickstarter goal just two days after the campaign went live, and is now participating in our Insert Coin competition at Engadget Expand. The plain white, palm-sized puck hosts sound, humidity, temperature, air quality and particle sensors, but no camera. This was a very intentional omission, not just because Point is supposed to be small and inconspicuous, but so users have peace of mind that nobody will ever be watching them.
Point: Keeping an eye on your home with electronic ears
When it comes to home security, sometimes those little webcams can be a little too obtrusive. For example, let's say that you share your home via AirBnB -- do you really want to see your guests walking around in bathrobes (or less)? Likewise, the guests might not like having the all-seeing webcams staring at them all the time. Well, a couple of Swedish entrepreneurs -- one with a long history of design work at Apple -- have just the solution. Point (US$79 pre-order price) is a Kickstarter campaign aimed at creating an inexpensive home monitor designed to listen for important events, then tell you when something is going on via an app. As co-founder and CEO of Form Devices Nils Mattisson (ex-Apple) notes, "Peace of mind when you're away from home shouldn't have to mean cameras at the dinner table." The Point device listens for ambient sounds, can sense smoke particles in the air, and informs you when events like windows breaking, alarms going off, or guests coming into a home occur. The small round connected device can be set up to respond to events based on rules that you set up. If guests are partying too loudly, it can glow yellow to remind them to keep things quiet. A loud noise at night can act as a trigger for Point to light up, hopefully scaring off would-be burglars. Point features integration with IFTTT so that you can create your own notification mashups with other sensors, and is powered by batteries so it can be installed just about anywhere. The Kickstarter campaign kicked off on Tuesday and has already surpassed its US$50,000 goal with four weeks to go. Supporters can expect to get their Points in July of 2015.
Feedback Loop: Bad Apple, app automation and more!
In this week's edition of Feedback Loop, we discuss Apple's rough September, share our favorite tools for automating tasks and talk about Google's Project Ara. Head past the break to find out what Engadget readers like you have to say.
Pavlok needs you to shock more people into breaking bad habits
There's no way you'd use a shock collar to train your beloved dog, but you wouldn't mind using one on yourself if it means breaking your nastiest habits, eh? If that's the case, then your day has come: Pavlok (a wearable band that can zap you with electricity) is now up on Indiegogo, with its designer hoping to raise $50,000 to develop more features and to begin mass production. In order to train yourself to stay away from bad habits or continue doing good ones, you'll need to program the Pavlok app -- for instance, you can instruct it to zap you awake if you hit snooze twice on your alarm. The good news is that you can set the electricity the wristband zaps you with from 17 to 340 volts, so you can adjust it accordingly and make sure each it's not strong enough to actually hurt.
The future of IFTTT includes paid plans and hardware harmony
Several of us here at Engadget HQ employ If This Then That's (IFTTT) recipe-based automation chops to keep app-driven tasks in order. The software outfit has been keen on adding new functionality often, with channels opening up recently for Nike+, Eyefi, Square and more. So what's down the road for the handy add-on? Paid plans. The New York Times reports that the upcoming options will cater to users who want more than what the regular free version offers, and of course, generating some revenue to help pay the bills. The example given in the report is a social media manager linking various Twitter accounts to the service in order to automate tasks for each. What's more, the company is aims to create "an operating system" for the so-called Internet of Things that weaves together mounting pile of connected gadgets introduced on the regular. With a recently raised $30 million in funding, doubling staff to focus on both design and business development is the first step towards more automated living for us all.
The marriage of Eyefi Cloud and IFTTT is a very fruitful one
Eyefi SD/WiFi cards are a great solution for anyone who wants to shoot photos and immediately have those images sent from a DSLR or point-and-shoot camera to a Mac, iOS device, or even a cloud storage alternative like Dropbox, Flickr and especially Eyefi's own Eyefi Cloud service. Now the Eyefi team has created an If This Then That (IFTTT.com) channel for creating automatic scripts or "recipes" that run whenever other actions take place, adding an entirely new level of usefulness to Eyefi cards and Eyefi Cloud. To make use of the new channel, you'll need to have an Eyefi Cloud subscription (US$49.99/year), which many Eyefi owners find useful anyway because of its ability to grab photos from your DSLR and back them up in the cloud immediately. Once you have the subscription and a free IFTTT account, the magic begins. Activate the new Eyefi Channel, and you'll find a number of pre-tested recipes all ready to do wonders with your photos. There are currently two triggers for the Eyefi Channel – Photo Uploaded and Photo Tagged. With the first trigger, any time you shoot a picture with your DSLR and it's uploaded by that Eyefi Mobi card to Eyefi Cloud, you'll be able to launch another action. That action can be something as fun as sending copies of photos you upload to Eyefi Cloud to friends via Gmail – perfect for keeping in touch with buddies while you're on vacation. You can also send all your photos to Tumblr, or just those photos that you tag with 'tumblr'. Of course, IFTTT can go the other way as well. Let's say you have photos that you shoot with your iPhone or iPad and send to Instagram. You can have IFTTT move those Instagram moments to your Eyefi Cloud account, a sure way of instantly backing up those photos. It's easy to use an IFTTT recipe to send those images – or any photos you take – to Google Drive, Microsoft OneNote, or even Facebook for posterity. Best of all, all of this power available through IFTTT is free for you to use... of course, you will need to have that all-important Eyefi Cloud subscription, but IFTTT – at least at this time – is still free to use. And now, TUAW readers, what do YOU use IFTTT for? I tend to use it for all sorts of important things, like keeping a spreadsheet toting up all the time that I spend at my favorite pizza joint or keeping an eye on what other Apple websites are writing about. Leave your favorite uses for IFTTT in the comments.
ADT wants to automate your home with the help of IFTTT
Now that home automation is all the rage, household security outfit ADT is looking to dive further into the fray with a hand from If This Then That (IFTTT). Using the home alarm company's Pulse system and the appropriate channel from the recipe-based app, you'll be able to leverage automated chores from IFTTT's library of tasks including disarming the alarm when your wearable switches out of sleep mode. You can also set a coffee maker in your kitchen to start brewing when your phone alarm wakes you and get a real-time video clip when the doorbell rings. ADT Pulse allows for remote control of a home security system from a mobile app, sending alerts and sorting remote video monitoring, too. It can the wrangle the connected thermostat and outlets for lighting and small appliances as well. Right now, the cooperative effort is looking to enter beta testing shortly with plans to open up a channel to the public afterwards that's full of pre-made recipes alongside the ability to create your own.
IFTTT's recipe-powered automation now works with Square mobile payments
Consumers have been automating apps with IFTTT (If This Then That) for awhile by, say, backing up Instagram photos to Dropbox whenever they snap a photo. Now, businesses will be able to take advantage of IFTTT directly from the Square mobile payment app. For instance, rather than just yelling "Booyah!," a company can send out a company-wide congratulatory email after closing a huge deal. Similarly, a text alert can be issued to team members to follow up a customer refund -- all of which can be pre-programmed into IFTTT. It'll also work with services like Google Drive, Twitter and SMS, to name just a few. Hopefully companies won't abuse it -- we'd hate to see a tweet after buying a particularly sensitive item.
Nest devices start talking to Google, washing machines and your car
Nest's Learning Thermostat and Protect smoke detector are now part of a much, much larger universe. The company has just launched a developer program that lets third-party apps and devices talk to Nest hardware, making it do things that aren't possible through official software. The initiative is kicking off with a whole host of partnerships in place, in many cases with feature updates either available now or due in the near future. Chamberlain's garage doors can now tell your Nest thermostat when you're home, while Mercedes-Benz lets you check the temperature on the road; Logitech's Harmony Ultimate remote can lower the heat in mid-movie, and Jawbone's Up24 fitness tracker can tell Nest when you wake up.
IFTTT now automates tasks based on your Fitbit activity
If you're sporting one of Fitbit's activity trackers, you can now automate tasks and reminders with the help of IFTTT (If This Then That). The recipe-based software announced a dedicated channel for the sporty gadgets today, handling duties based on goals, activity, sleep, weight and more. For example, you can now log a weigh-in via text message or automatically beam sleep stats to a Google Spreadsheet each morning. Of course, those are just a couple of the possibilities, and users can construct their own formulas as well. Those who prefer Jawbone's wearables have already been privy to the automated life logging, with other wrist-worn devices like the Pebble smartwatch supported too.
IRL: Letting IFTTT automate my life
I've come to rely on different services to help power me through the day: Foursquare to find new coffee shops, Pocket for my reading habits and Instagram and Flickr for photo sharing. As great as these apps are, though, I find myself wishing they could do more -- especially when it comes to how they all talk to each other. Being programming-inclined, I've been turning to If This Then That (IFTTT) to connect these various services, as well as automate some of my more basic tasks.
Revolv Smart Home Hub and app eases home automation setup
As noted in my Macworld/iWorld 2014 talk on using Siri to control the "Internet of Things", there's one big problem in the home automation world right now -- too many standards! Now I know that sounds like a contradiction in terms, but there are a number of competing standards available: Z-Wave, Zigbee, Insteon, Sonos, Belkin WeMo and more. Several manufacturers are attempting to corral this stampeding herd of standards with smart hubs. We've already reviewed one here at TUAW (the US$99 SmartThings Hub) and now it's time to take a look at the $299 Revolv Smart Home Hub and the companion app that controls it. Over the past few years I've been building up my home automation world by purchasing bits and pieces as I've had a chance. As a result, I have a number of Belkin WeMo switches, wall switches, and motion sensors, some SmartThings sensors (moisture, motion), and some other Z-Wave devices that I've picked up along the way. In this review, I'll tell you about how the Revolv hub is set up, how it recognizes and controls the various devices, and how the free Revolv iPhone app works to tie all of your home automation devices together. Setup The Revolv Smart Home Hub is incredibly simple to install. You just plug in the included AC adapter and plug the other end into the red teardrop-shaped hub. There's no need to run an Ethernet cable to the Revolv hub, which is quite different from competing hubs. Instead, you launch the Revolv app and tap a button to begin the new hub setup. That basically requires you to identify the network that your iPhone and the Revolv hub will be on, and then enter the password for that network. Once that's done, you're asked to put the camera flash from your iPhone right over the top center of the hub, and the fireworks begin. What kind of fireworks? Well, all sorts of rapid-fire flashing takes place as your iPhone communicates to the hub via light. Wait a short while and then the hub is up and running. At that point, you can have it begin to search for connected devices on your network. This is where things got a little interesting. At this time, I have a number of devices on my home automation network, including some door/window switches, moisture sensors, and a number of Belkin WeMo devices. Well, the Revolv hub found a few (but not all) of the WeMo switches and a WeMo motion sensor, but couldn't find the other devices that communicate on the Z-Wave protocol. Revolv has a list of compatible devices online, and even has links to those products on Amazon. But if you have devices that just aren't compatible, your only choice is to let the company know through a "suggestion box" and then hope that others vote for that device to be added. In comparison with the SmartThings hub, the Revolv hub doesn't appear to me to have as much range or as much compatibility with a wide variety of sensors and switches. I initially started out with the Revolv hub in nearly the same spot as the SmartThings hub was during its testing, and it couldn't detect many of the devices that the SmartThings hub picked up immediately. Even moving the Revolv hub to other locations didn't seem to help. Actions Rather than use IFTTT to allow mashups in an almost-infinite variety, Revolv's app has the ability to create actions. One of my first tests was to do something that took me no time to accomplish with WeMo's own rules and that's to have a specific light in the house turned on when someone trips the sensor, then turn off the light after a certain amount of time has elapsed. When I tried using Revolv's actions to do this, I could get the light to turn on, but then it turned off immediately. As far as I could tell, there was no way to get that to turn off after a set period of time. What I finally ended up doing was something that's supposed to be resolved with a hub: using an app specific to the problem at hand, in this case the WeMo app. That's not to say that Revolv's actions and app aren't useful -- they just weren't in this particular case. Some of the other actions include having lights go on as you get near your home, as the hub determines its location during setup and the app uses iOS 7's Location Services to figure out where you are at any particular time. Along with location-driven actions, the Revolv app also provides actions based on the status of a device (on or off) and on time. Design Although the Revolv hub costs about three times the amount of the SmartThings hub, it looks cheaper. The red, plasticky exterior of the Revolv hub might be attractive to some home automation fans, but to me the sleek white exterior of the SmartThings hub is preferable and blends into a lot more homes. On the other hand, not having to plug in an Ethernet cable makes it possible to place the Revolv hub in a lot more locations. Conclusion The Revolv Smart Home Hub wins kudos from me for its simple setup process. However, the lack of breadth of sensors that can be controlled (moisture sensors, for example), the inability to create mashups with IFTTT, and the relatively high price are three sticking points for me. IFTTT integration vastly expands the abilities of the competing SmartThings hub, making it possible to do such bizarre things as receive a phone call from your house when a plumbing leak is detected or activate an alarm when severe weather is approaching. I won't count Revolv out of the picture yet -- the company says they still have three more radio standards to implement in the device, and it appears to be moving forward on adding support for new devices all the time. Rating: 2-1/2 stars out of 4 stars possible
IFTTT brings its recipe-based app automation to Android
iOS users have been privy to IFTTT's (If This Then That) formulaic behaviors for automating app tasks on their mobile devices. Well as of today, the Android faithful can get in on the action too. The outfit's software is now available in Google Play, bringing with it photo, call, notification, SMS, location and device settings channels specific to Google's OS. What does that mean for you? Well, you can tweak the setup to have your ringtone silenced when you connect to the office WiFi, automatically set your latest Instagram snapshot as your device's wallpaper and get a push notification if you'll need an umbrella tomorrow. Selecting all of those "recipes" can take some time, so we'll let you hop to it via the source link down below.
IFTTT for iPad brings service/device mashups to your favorite tablet
I have an amazing amount of love and respect for IFTTT.com, an online service that provides an easy way to connect apps, devices, and services in ways that make them much more useful. Want to get a phone call from your house telling you that your basement is flooded? Use IFTTT, a moisture sensor connected to a SmartThings Hub, and the IFTTT phone call channel. Maybe you want to keep track of how much time you spend at a local bar... Pull up IFTTT and use the iOS Location and Dropbox channels to create a log file of every time you go to or leave that bar. Up until now, IFTTT fans either had to log into the desktop website or use the iPhone app to create new recipes or tweak old ones. Last week the free IFTTT for iPad app showed up, and it's a no-brainer download for anyone who uses IFTTT. The app is designed perfectly for the iPad and iPad mini screen, featuring a browser mode that reminds me of nothing less than the App Store. Curated collections, featured recipes, all-time favorites, recipes that are trending, and new recently added recipes all have their place on the Browse screen. If you'd rather manage your existing recipes and see a log of when they were triggered, just tap a good-sized toggle in the upper right corner of the app display and you are in "Manage" mode. The left side of the management screen provides a running timeline of when your recipes were triggered, while the right side has a list of your recipes. To turn one off or on, there's the familiar iOS 7 green switch on each recipe. With a tap of the recipe, you can turn notifications on or off, check the recipe, edit it, share it, or delete it. Large arrows on the personal recipe display let you scroll left or right through those recipes, making group edits (of a phone number change, for example) quite simple. For new IFTTT users, the iPad app provides a very simple five-screen introduction to the service the first time the app is launched. You can sign in if you're already an IFTTT user, or create a new account from the app. If you're not currently using IFTTT, it's time to give it a try -- especially if you're an iPad owner. The app is beautiful, sweet icing on the IFTTT cake and you're going to love it.
