IFTTT & Evernote - Make your life easier

While we're busy developing website applications and learning tools, we get a lot of satisfaction out of sharing pet applications and discoveries with our clients. As we're so immersed in new technologies, it's sometimes easy to forget how many great (often free) services there are out there that make life easier but that not everyone is aware of. So here are a couple of applications I have recently recommended to clients who had never heard of them. http://ifttt.com/ aka 'If this then that'. Not a great name but believe me this is a great service that's only been around a few months. Its core aim to to glue together two web services to do something incredibly useful for you. So IF this happens THEN do something. Sounds like programming? Well, the approach has its origins in the most basic programming syntax but without ever writing a line of code, you can make your life a whole lot easier by selecting from a wide range of pre-built recipes. For example, if you'd like to receive an email alert if the weather forecast tomorrow morning is bad - there's a recipe for that.

What about if you want to receive a SMS if an important colleague or someone in your family sends you an email - no problem. Worried about losing photographs? Automatically back up photos from Facebook to a DropBox folder. I believe you could integrate a rule on a Drupal website to trigger I love the IFTTT interface - huge buttons, clear language - choose a recipe, type in your details - job done. It's fast becoming indispensable! Evernote.

Unlike IFTT, this service has been around a long time now but I'm still surprised more people don't use it. Again, I've recommended it to friends and clients and have won over many converts. As the name implies, this is a note storing application. If, like me, you make a lot of notes - work & personal - then you'll find Evernote incredibly useful. I use the app on my phone, desktop and as an extension in my web browser - it's my default method for capturing website content to review or share. Automatically synchronise notes, keep lists to hand at all times.

I maintain work notes, technical notes, shopping lists, household to dos. You can even get really fancy and integrate it with your calendar. Once again, this has become an essential part of getting things done for me.