Sarah's Faves

Easily manage all your social network settings without giving access to your log in and password with newly launched Bliss Control.

It’s kind of like IFTTT, but not. Bliss Control simply links to the page(s) you actually need in order to manage your social network profiles. Thanks to founders Ben Lang and Alex Wolkov you can bookmark this page to streamline social minutia.

The best part? You don’t need to share your login details. With all the (valid) concern about online privacy, I’m thankful for a resource that doesn’t require the rites to your first born child. I’m kind of fond of mine.

You might still be wondering what it ACTUALLY does. Bliss Control helps you by providing access links to any settings page on the top social networks.

You can:

• Change profile picture
• Change bio
• Delete account
• Change 3rd party permissions
• Change connected accounts
• Change password
• Change design
• Change username
• Change email
• Change mobile settings
• Change email settings
• Recover password

Their future plans? Quoting Lang, “Get more people to use it.” Well, there you have it.

Have a question? Email Ben at: benmaxime [at] gmail.com.

ifttt puts the internet to work for you by creating tasks that fit this simple structure: if this then that. You either create your own “recipe” or use one another user created.

Make the web work for you

What does a recipe mean? An example might be “if I post a video to YouTube then a link to the video should go to a Dropbox folder.”

In order to use ifttt, you need to sign up for ifttt beta and click the confirmation link sent to you via email. Now on to the stuff you really came here to read. Here are 10 social tasks to help simplify your life:

1. When Facebook profile picture changes, update Twitter profile picture.
2. Send Google Reader feed to Evernote
3. Get an SMS alert before any event starts on your Google Calendar
4. Autosave Instagram photos to Dropbox
5. Post new Etsy listings to Twitter
6. When the official #foursquare blog is updated, send me a text  [Full disclosure: This is a recipe I created.]
7. When Free Music from Amazon is released, send me an email
8. Add YouTube videos to Storify
9. If I upload a photo to Flickr tagged ‘tweet’, post a link to Twitter
10. Save my email attachments to Dropbox

Feel inspired? Create your own recipes on ifttt.

photo credit: jenny downing via photopin cc

Mind. Blown.

I heart IFTTT so much that it now has it’s own category here on FAVES. That’s a big deal. Rrrrrrrrrrright.

1. Let the web be your virtual umbrella so you’re not caught in the rain. You can set up a Gmail recipe to alert you if it’s raining in the morning (or if it’s snowing). Now to figure out with umbrella goes with that outfit. (Or you can set up a text message to remind you to put the plants in the garage if it’s below a certain temperature. You’re on your own there. [To create this recipe you need Weather Channel and Gmail accounts.]
2. Ever worry about the photos you upload to Facebook getting lost (or ending up in Zuck’s secret stash)? There’s a recipe for that. Set up a Dropbox folder to house your Facebook photos after you upload them. [To create this recipe you need Facebook and Dropbox accounts.] NOTE: You could revise this recipe to work with your cloud storage of choice.
3. Want to get out of a really bad date? While I’d love to be available 24/7 to help you, now your phone can do it for you. Use the “text to escape” recipe to send yourself this message (or write a new one for yourself): “Congratulations! You have successfully planned your escape! Right now your friend is in dire need of…well SOMETHING! And it’s up to you to get there! Now! Hurry! Because it’s not like you want to get away from someone else, it’s just that you have to be somewhere else very soon. Now fly!” [To create this recipe you need a SMS channel and a mobile phone.]
4. Feel like you neve have time read all the starred content in Gmail? It’s probably because you haven’t built it into your schedule. Use this recipe to schedule time in your calendar to read your super starred emails. [To create this recipe you need Gmail and Google Calendar.]
5. Want to publish that killer Google+ update to Facebook? This. [To create this recipe you need Google+ and Facebook accounts.]
6. Create a recipe to email someone each time you use a specific tag in a WordPress post. For example if you mention your mom, you would tag her and an email with a link to the post would be sent. You need to edit this recipe as it’s currently personalized for another user. [To create this recipe you need WordPress and Gmail accounts.]
7. Enhance your Google Calendar with your Foursquare checkins. Just pop this recipe in the oven and you’re set–you’ll always know where you were. [To create this recipe you need Google Calendar and Foursquare accounts.]

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REMINDER:

What is ifttt? It essentially puts the internet to work for you by creating tasks that fit this simple structure: if this then that. You either create your own “recipe” or use one another user created. A recipe might be “if I post a video to YouTube then a link to the video should go to a Dropbox folder.” Yes, ifttt helps you do all this and more.

• Sign up for ifttt beta;
• Click the confirmation link sent to you via email.

photo credit: TangYauHoong via photopin cc