Hasta La Gadget!

This article was written on September 05, 2012 by CyberNet.

It’s not a lot of fun when you’re caught outside in a storm without an umbrella, but the awesome If This Then That (IFTTT) service can be used as an advanced warning system for rain and thunderstorms. For those of you not familiar with IFTTT it’s basically a website that is able to tie multiple online services together. For example, you can have any image you’re tagged in on Facebook automatically saved to your Dropbox account. Or you can save any starred Google Reader items to Evernote. It’s a free and unbelievably awesome service that I have come to rely on.

IFTTT is also capable of sending you a notification via email or SMS based on the weather conditions. You can have it send out the weather conditions every morning if that’s what you want, or you can just have it give you alerts when it is about to rain. IFTTT checks the weather condition every 15-minutes, and if it finds that it is raining in your area it can send an email or SMS message so that you’re aware of the impending downpour. Alternatively you can have it push out a notification to you if tomorrow’s forecast calls for rain.

So how do you set these up? If you’re already familiar with IFTTT I’m sure you’ll be able to create “recipes” for these actions in just a few seconds. The good news is that IFTTT also lets users share recipes that have been created so that you don’t have to go through the hassle. Here are some pre-made recipes for getting notifications based on whether it is currently raining or whether it is supposed to rain tomorrow:

• Alert if it is currently raining
• SMS Notification
• Email Notification
• Alert if it is supposed to rain tomorrow
• SMS Notification
• Email Notification

Personally I set up alerts for both situations. I find that the notification about whether it is currently raining gives you about a 10-15 minute heads up which in some situations just isn’t enough. That’s where the daily notification comes in… each night IFTTT will send me an alert if it thinks it is supposed to rain tomorrow based on the forecast. That way I know whether I should grab an umbrella before I walk out the door in the morning.

Want even more weather alerts? IFTTT can handle any of the following conditions:

• Current temperature drops below…
  This Trigger monitors your local temperature and fires whenever the temperature drops below the value you provide.
• Current temperature rises above…
  This Trigger monitors your local temperature and fires whenever the temperature rises above the value you provide.
• Current condition changes to…
  This Trigger monitors changes in the current weather condition. When one of those conditions is met the Trigger fires. Currently only these simple conditions are supported: Rain, Snow, Cloudy, Clear.  
• Tomorrow’s low drops below…
  This Trigger fires every time tomorrow’s forecasted low temperature drops below a value you provide. 
• Tomorrow’s high rises above…
  This Trigger fires every time tomorrow’s forecasted high temperature rises above a value you provide. 
• Tomorrow’s forecast calls for…
  This Trigger monitors changes in tomorrow’s forecasted weather condition. 
• Sunrise…
  This Trigger fires within 15 minutes of the sunrise in your location. 
• Sunset…
  This Trigger fires within 15 minutes of the sunset in your location. 
• Wind speed rises above…
  This Trigger fires every time the wind speed rises above a value you specify in your location. 
• Current pollen count rises above…
  This Trigger monitors your local pollen levels and fires every time the pollen count rises above the value you provide (1-12). 

Copyright © 2013 CyberNetNews.com

Google’s feeling a bit nostalgic lately: in fact, today is the company’s 15th anniversary. However, its look at the past is a fleeting thing, and Big G is very much focused on the future. To that end, Senior VP of Search, Amit Singhal just revealed a host of new features for search. First up, tablet and mobile users will be seeing a new card-based UI that’s been making its way across all of Google’s services, and has defined the look of Google Now since its inception. In addition to providing a consistent brand appearance, the new look arrives in tandem with an improvement to the Knowledge Graph that delivers an easier way for folks to drill down on answers to their queries. For example, when searching for a particular band, a card will pop up at the top with a list of songs that you can scroll from side to side. In another example, search answered a comparison query with an expandable, columned chart card that displayed pertinent info about the two things asked to be compared. Plus, you’ll be able to see other cards with web and other results at the same time, instead of needing to navigate between pages to see all the results.

In keeping with the updated aesthetics on Android, Google’s also rolling out a new-look version of its iOS search app. The new app version will put users directly in a Google Now interface that’ll feel familiar to Android users, and brings notifications, reminders and hotwording to Apple-philes. Furthermore, the search app is now cross-platform, so if you add a reminder in iOS, it’ll show up on Android and vice-versa. %Gallery-slideshow98635%

Filed under: Cellphones, Internet, Google

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Source: Inside Search blog, Google+

Windows Phone’s future may involve more than just a few more home screen tiles. Elaborating on rumors from the summer, ZDNet claims that the next version of Windows Phone (possibly 8.1) will focus on Cortana, a personal assistant that goes beyond the likes of Google Now or Siri. The Halo-inspired component is reportedly more of a shell than an app, and would integrate the OS with Microsoft services like Bing. Ultimately, Cortana would find its way into versions of Windows and the Xbox One’s Dashboard.

The assistant might not be the only major feature in 8.1. Windows-Phone.pl has posted what it says are photos of the OS running on a smartphone. They suggest that the previously leaked notification center would reside in a Live Tile, and that users could group-select tiles like they can with Windows 8.1. There’s no guarantees that the images or the Cortana rumor are authentic, although they’re consistent with Microsoft’s publicly stated desires for both a notification center and a “service-enabled shell.” We may not get any official details for a while, however — if real, Windows Phone 8.1 might not ship until sometime in early 2014.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Microsoft

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Via: Windows Phone Central

Source: Windows-Phone.pl (translated), ZDNet

The simplest updates are sometimes the best. See the latest update to Google Calendar for Android as an example: the release adds notification syncing between Android devices, saving the trouble of clearing multiple alerts while hopping from tablet to phone and back. That’s the only major addition, but it could represent a big time saver for anyone with a busy schedule. If you’re in that camp, you can grab the new Calendar now through Google Play.

Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Mobile, Google

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Source: Google Play

Want iOS 7‘s notification center but don’t have an iOS device? No problem. There’s a new app called Control Center that will gives you a clone of that feature any Android phone.

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