The best IFTTT recipes for international travelers – CNET
It’s officially summer — aka vacation season. There’s no better way to vacation than with streamlined, barely-there tech.
IFTTT, or “IF This, Then That,” is an online automation service that connects apps and services so that certain actions can be set up to automatically trigger other actions. I know that sounds complicated, but it actually makes your life less complicated by automating simple tasks that you would otherwise spend valuable minutes doing.
IFTTT is especially helpful when you’re traveling, because it’s difficult to juggle all of your tech, social networks, and photos while you’re exploring a different city or country. That’s why we’ve come up with several IFTTT recipes that will help keep your travels simple and stress-free. (Each of the images below is linked to its respective recipe; just click and all will be revealed.)
Make an offline travel file on Evernote
You probably keep all of your travel information in your email account (maybe you even have a special “travel” folder). But to access your email account, you need the internet — and if you’re traveling overseas you may not have that luxury. With IFTTT, you can set up a recipe that will pull all of your travel docs from your email account and put them in a handy, offline-accessible Evernote notebook.
Back up your vacation photos to the cloud
The good news about using your smartphone as your primary camera is that you can use IFTTT to automatically back up your vacation pictures to the cloud service of your choice.
For iPhone users:
For Android users:
Collect photos from your traveling companions
Your traveling companions — including people you meet along the way — will most likely have more photos of you than you do. Collect all of these photos in the cloud storage service of your choice with an IFTTT recipe that grabs Facebook pictures you’re tagged in.
Make a travel log
If you use Foursquare’s Swarm app to check in to local hotspots when you’re traveling, this IFTTT recipe will automatically log each check-in to your Google calendar.
And if you have a mother who likes to see what you’re doing while you’re adventuring overseas, this recipe will send her an email every time you tag a check-in with #mom. (This isn’t just for suck-ups — if you’re traveling alone, it’s always a good idea to keep someone informed of your whereabouts.)
Get your public transportation game on
Get a map of the Underground when you arrive in London:
Or a map of the Metro when you arrive in Tokyo:
Boston:
New York (Android and iOS):
San Francisco:
3 ways to estimate how much propane you have left – CNET
It’s finally summer, which means it’s time to break out the grill, slap some patties on it, and have your first backyard cookout of the year. But how do you know how much propane is left in the tank? Most propane tanks don’t come with a gauge to let you know how much fuel is remaining. And you definitely don’t want to run out and have to make a trip to the store in the middle of cooking.
Fortunately, there are actually a couple ways to quickly check the level of propane before firing up the grill. Here’s how it’s done.
With water
One of the quickest ways to approximate the fill level of a propane tank comes from the “Fix It Home Improvement Channel” over on YouTube. All you need is a bit of hot water.
- Fill a cup or a small bucket with hot water from the tap.
- Pour the water down the side of the tank.
- Run your hand down the side of the tank and feel for a cool spot.
The top of the cool spot is the fill level of the tank. What’s happening here is the liquid propane inside the tank is absorbing the heat from the water, which makes the metal wall of the tank cool to the touch, whereas the tank wall above the fill line will be warm.
This doesn’t give you a very accurate measure of how much propane is left, but rather a decent approximation. It’s certainly enough to let you know whether or not you should head to the store before starting to cook.
By weight
Of course, if you’ve been dealing with propane tanks for a long time, you can approximate whether it’s time to get it refilled simply by picking it up. But to get a better idea of how much gas is remaining, you will need a scale.
All propane tanks come with a few numbers stamped on the handle — most commonly the WC (water capacity) and TW (the weight of the tank when it’s empty). Most propane tanks for grilling weigh around 17 pounds (8 kilograms) when empty and hold roughly 20 pounds (9 kilograms) of propane.
To measure how many pounds of propane are remaining, weigh the tank and subtract the tare weight. For instance, if you weigh the tank and have 27 pounds (12 kilograms) total and have a tare weight of 17 pounds (8 kilograms), you have 10 pounds of propane — approximately half a tank — remaining.
Buy a gauge
Quirky
That said, if you want to keep track of your propane tank’s fill level, you can invest in a gauge. Propane tank gauges come in several different forms.
- Inline pressure gauges install between the gas line from the grill and the cut-off valve on the tank. These gauges work on pressure and give a readout letting you know when the tank is full, low or empty.
- Analog propane scales work much like luggage scales, except they’re already tared for the for the weight of the tank. Slip the hook through the handle of the tank, pick up and read the remaining gas level.
- Digital propane tank scales work by constantly weighing the tank and provide a digital readout of remaining cook time and gas fill percentage. The Quirky Refuel even gives you a readout on your smartphone.
These gauges and scales range from about $10 (£6.81 or AU$13) to $50 (£34.05 or AU$66) and might prove useful if you do a lot of cooking on the grill.
GE GTD45EASJWS dryer review – CNET
The Good For a modest price, the GE GTD45EASJWS dryer provides relatively short cycle times and removes water from wet clothes with impressive speed. The dryer also comes equipped with moisture sensors that automatically shut the machine off to avoid overdrying.
The Bad The GE GTD45EASJWS dryer lacks steam modes and other specialty cycles. The bare-bones appliance doesn’t have a display or status lights and uses all-mechanical controls, many of which feel frail and cheaply made. Also, the dryer’s control panel is mounted in back, which rules out stacked configurations or placing the machine on a pedestal.
The Bottom Line The budget-friendly yet high-performance GE GTD45EASJWS dryer makes a lot of sense for penny pinchers, but those who expect higher quality design, controls and features should look elsewhere.
Visit manufacturer site for details.
The $650 GE GTD45EASJWS dryer is a throwback to an age before laundry appliances resembled sleek home-theater gear or digital computer systems. Judging from its all-mechanical knobs and dials (not to mention the lack of a screen or even lights), this machine could easily be a relic from the 20th century. Don’t be fooled by the GE GTD45EASJWS’s antiquated looks, though, because inside its hospital-white facade are powerful components capable of pulling moisture away from wet laundry loads in short order.
This isn’t a showcase product suitable for your dream home laundry room. For that, you’ll have to spend at least twice as much on artfully designed dryers like the $1,100 Electrolux 600 series and $1,500 LG DLEX 5000. Still, while the GTD45EASJWS dryer is devoid of trendy steam cycles or the myriad of fabric-specific modes that you’ll get with other modern competitors, the appliance’s basic abilities also mean it’s dead simple to operate. If you’re in the market for a new dryer but must stick to a strict budget, this GE model is worth a serious look.
Design and features
If I didn’t remove some of its packaging myself, I could have easily confused the freshly minted GE GTD45EASJWS dryer with a laundry appliance from decades past. This contraption cuts a classic profile meant to match traditional top-loading washing machines and has controls placed on a back-mounted panel. It contrasts the modern trend of appliance makers who now favor front-loading washers and dryers with forward-facing controls. As a result of the old-school control layout, this dryer doesn’t support pedestal upgrades or stackable arrangements to save space or create more storage in your laundry room.
The control panel harkens back to classic 20th century design.
Tyler Lizenby/CNET
The GE GTD45EASJWS dryer’s panel lacks LED indicators, a display, or lights of any kind. It’s downright spartan compared with the confused mess on GE’s own GFDS260EFWW model, and appears a half-century behind the cutting-edge consoles you’ll find on the Electrolux EFME617S Perfect Steam and LG DLEX 5000. The GE GTD86ESPJMC, another dryer with a rear control panel, benefits from an updated design that sports eye-catching blue LEDs, and a smoothly spinning cycle dial.
This GE GTD45EASJWS dryer’s cycle knob is anything but smooth. It takes a surprising amount of force to rotate and makes disconcerting grinding sounds while you do so. Whether the cause of the dial’s jarring motion is due to gears, sprockets or chains, turning this control feels unpleasant, to say the least.
The main cycle dial handles the dryer basics.
Tyler Lizenby/CNET
Garmin Vivoactive HR review – CNET
The Good A wealth of features including all-day activity tracking, smartphone notifications, built-in optical heart-rate sensor, GPS, multiple sport profiles and always-on display; can be worn in the shower and while swimming.
The Bad Bulky design. Occasional connection and syncing problems. Confusing mobile app.
The Bottom Line The Vivoactive HR’s versatile, multipurpose function and design make it one of the better smart GPS fitness watches on the market.
I’ve had a busy month. I’ve been running, cycling, swimming, rowing and hiking. And I’ve done all of this while wearing a single watch, Garmin’s Vivoactive HR. Unlike many of Garmin’s other products, the watch won’t appeal to just athletes. It’s an everyday fitness band, but with smartwatch elements. It gives Fitbit a run for its everyday-fitness money, and is a compelling solution for anyone with an active lifestyle.
The Vivoactive HR seems to be able to do it all. There’s all-day activity tracking (for things like steps, floors climbed, calories burned and sleep), smartphone notifications from your iPhone or Android device, a built-in optical heart-rate sensor and GPS for tracking a variety of activities. In addition to the ones I mentioned above, the watch can track golf, downhill and cross-country skiing, indoor cycling, indoor rowing, walking, strength training and even paddle boarding.
Hands-on with the Garmin Vivoactive HR (pictures)
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Even more impressive is that it can do all of this without having to be charged each night. The watch will last up to eight days, or around 13 hours with an active GPS signal. I typically got about a week, but that included five days of GPS workouts of between 40 and 50 minutes.
It’s pretty clear that I’m a fan of the Vivoactive HR. It’s a watch that active consumers will really enjoy and the $250 (£210, AU$400) pricetag is pretty reasonable (given all it does), but there a few things you need to know before you go out and buy one.
The design won’t appeal to everyone
I really liked the slim design of the original Vivoactive, but the HR model is nothing like the original. It’s similar to the Fitbit Surge, but that’s not necessarily a good thing. The watch is big and bulky, and it’s not something you would want to wear to the office, let alone a wedding.
It’s not all bad, though. The Vivoactive HR is waterproof up to 50 meters. It also has an always-on display, which is easy to read outdoors, but can look a little dull when inside.
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Sarah Tew/CNET
Wrist-based heart rate is getting better, but it’s not perfect
The heart-rate sensor on the back of Vivoactive HR will be good enough for most people. It’s relatively accurate on easy runs and when measuring resting heart rate (it does so continuously throughout the day). It’s also a lot more convenient than wearing a chest strap.
But, like all wrist-based heart-rate solutions, it’s not perfect. I did notice a slight delay of between five to seven seconds when compared to heart rate data recorded on a Polar H7 chest strap, but that’s pretty standard for wrist-based sensors. I also found that it fluctuated when doing a hard interval workout, although it didn’t perform as badly as some other devices (like the Gear Fit 2, for example).
YouTube announces mobile live broadcasting coming ‘soon’ for everyone
Though the likes of Periscope and Facebook Live are the talk of the town right now in mobile live video broadcasting, YouTube is now ready to get into the game. Taking to the YouTube Creator blog, Google has announced that live broadcasts will be coming to the YouTube app “soon” and that it’ll be “more reliable than anything else out there.”
Though YouTube makes the point that its service offered live streaming for events since 2011, it has sorely lacked the latest hot feature of direct broadcast from your phone — the only way to go live to YouTube from your phone directly was to have one of the few that supported the feature, namely recent Sony and Samsung phones.
With this change, everyone with the YouTube app will be able to start broadcasting live to millions of people (well, at least potentially) with no extra strings attached. The thought of “better late than never” certainly applies here, but with Facebook Live already showing huge growth in such a short period, you have to wonder how YouTube will catch back up and win over users.
American Express teams up with Facebook to offer Amex Bot
If you’re an avid Facebook user and American Express customer, you might want to pay attention. American Express has announced Amex Bot, the product of a collaboration with Facebook to offer its card members special ways to keep up with their finances and purchases.
The Amex Bot, as it’s called, will allow American Express cardholders to receive real-time notifications about their balances, card benefits and services related to recent purchases and more. All of these notifications will come down via Facebook Messenger, allowing for real-time information to pass through with helpful information.
These messages could include special restaurant recommendations paired with a hotel reservation, how to access special Centurion Lounge privileges or a number of various other bits of information to ensure customers get the most they can out of being American Express cardholders.
The Amex Bot is expected to launch in the next few months for eligible U.S. Consumer and OPEN customers who opt-in to give it a try.
Source: American Express
Steam summer sale is poised to make a dent in your wallet
Are you ready to snap up a ton of PC games to add to your ever-growing backlog? Steam’s summer sale has begun, and as always, it offers big discounts — some bigger than others — on over 12,000 titles. They include everything from popular franchises, such as Assassin’s Creed and GTA, to new virtual reality experiences. And in case you want everyone to know you’re a sucker for Steam sales, you’ll get a “Summer Picnic Sale” trading card for every $10 you spend that you can display on your profile. The event will go on for 11 days until 1PM Eastern on July 4th. Since Steam won’t be holding flash sales or adding any more titles to the list, you can start scouring all the available deals right now.
Source: Steam
YouTube for iOS Will Soon Be Able to Live Stream Video
Today at its VidCon keynote address, YouTube announced that its mobile app will be getting updated with a brand new live streaming option, allowing users to easily stream video from their iPhones directly from the YouTube app.
YouTube mobile live streaming will be baked right into the core YouTube mobile app. You won’t need to open anything else, just hit the big red capture button right there in the corner, take or select a photo to use as a thumbnail, and you can broadcast live to your fans and chat in near real time.
The feature will work similar to Facebook Live and Periscope, with streamers having the ability to see live comments from viewers. However, YouTube’s live streaming will take advantage of the company’s live streaming infrastructure, which it has been enhancing since its debut in 2011. Mobile live streaming has become increasingly popular since Meerkat launched in 2015, and has been used to document a variety of events, from NBA Final press conferences to the sit-in at the House of Representatives.
YouTube opened up live streaming in 2013, after two years of testing the service with big events like the Royal Wedding and Felix Baumgartner’s leap from space. The video platform then began expanding it to verified accounts and creators with at least 1,000 subscribers.
Live streaming will launch today for select YouTube creators The Young Turks, AIB, Platica Polinesia, SacconeJolys, and Alex Wasabi, and will be rolling out to all users in the near future.
YouTube for iOS is available in the App Store for free. [Direct Link]
Tag: YouTube
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Facebook Live to offer Snapchat-like lenses through MSQRD app
One of the coolest features in Snapchat are those mask thingies.
With Snapchat’s camera view pointing toward your face, you can long-press on the screen to let the app recognise your facial features and serve up a bunch of mask-like filters that perfectly overlay on top of your face. These masks are actually called “lenses”, and popular examples include heart eyes, puking rainbows, a zombie vampire monster, and an aging filter. They make Snapchat both addicting and dynamic.
READ: Facebook Live: Here’s how the broadcasting tool works
Well, Facebook has plans to make its live video platform just as unique. It’ll soon support the ability to go live on Facebook directly from the MSQRD app, allowing broadcasters to use Snapchat-like lenses, filters, and even a face-swapping technology while they’re live. Keep in mind Facebook bought Masquerade, the Belarusian startup behind MSQRD, in March, and Snapchat acquired a similar startup, Looksery, last year.
Fidji Simo, Facebook’s director of product, announced this new MSQRD integration while at the VidCon annual online video conference in Anaheim, California, according to The Verge and Venture Beat. The social network also revealed at VidCon that starting this summer you’ll be able to invite a friend to join a live broadcast, opening up new possibilities such as interviews, debates, duets, collaborations, and more.
READ: What’s the point of Snapchat?
Facebook Live will also add the ability to schedule a live broadcast. It’s even building a lobby for people to wait in before a broadcast starts. Both features will have a limited launch this summer and won’t be widely available until sometime after.
Online security for life: Pay what you want for IPinator VPN
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