If you spend as much time browsing Craigslist as I do, then you might just love a little tip I picked up from Jake at the Homestead Laboratory.
Turns out that some smart geeky folk made themselves a web service called IFTT, or If This, Then That.
If you already recognize the if/then from any forays into programming, then you will find IFTTT plenty useful.
Even if the term “programming” leaves you rocking, curled up in the fetal position from past encounters with a surly VCR, you will be pleasantly surprised to find that IFTTT is very easy to use.
It took me a matter of a few seconds to setup a “recipe” (IFTTT’s disarming name for a program) that will email me when a new listing for “Feed Bin” or “Steel Barrel” shows up on my local Craigslist.
These two items don’t show up terribly often on my local Craigslist, and are usually sold pretty quickly. By getting automatic notifications, I don’t have to spend as much time browsing Craigslist, but I’ll still know the moment the stuff I’m interested in is posted.
So far I just have a few “recipes” going on IFTTT, but it’s only a matter of time before I think up a few new useful things to do with it. With the kind of third-party support that IFTTT is getting, like Pushover and LIFTTT, it looks like the possibilities will only continue to grow.
