IFTTT: Making the internet work for you

Organization and productivity, , , ,
IFTTT
Screenshot from here

IFTTT is an internet service whose name stands for ‘if this then that’.  The idea is that IFTTT lets you hook up two different internet services in an action-reaction manner: it watches service A waiting for some signal, and if it sees the signal then it is triggered to automatically take some action with service B. As an example, you could set it up so that being tagged in a Facebook photo will trigger that photo to be downloaded automatically to your Dropbox, or you could make it so that approaching your usual grocery store will trigger a text message reminding you to buy healthy food, or so on. The list of ‘channels’, meaning services which can be used as triggers or actions, is formidable: 183 in all ranging from communication and social media to Android and iOS to cloud backup, shopping, entertainment, business, and more. I’ve been hearing about IFTTT for a while, but I guess I always assumed that it would need a lot of work to do anything cool with it.  I’m happy to report that I was wrong about that, IFTTT is actually very easy to use!
Continue reading IFTTT: Making the internet work for you →

Cheryl’s birthday problem

Educational, , , , , ,

There’s a popular problem circulating this last day or two, having appeared in Singapore’s Math Olympiad.  As someone who grew up doing extracurricular math competitions, it was cool to see one getting so much attention, even if it was incorrectly claimed in some places to be a problem from a normal elementary school math test.  I’m sure there are a million websites explaining solutions by now, but here’s my version as requested by a friend who wanted to see what I meant when I said that I found a solution by drawing a graph. 🙂
Continue reading Cheryl’s birthday problem →

Mini-project: hydroponically raising a mature lettuce plant bought at the grocery store?

Hydroponics, ,

Last night I was grocery shopping and noticed that my Metro sells hydroponically grown lettuce.  Not just that, but lettuce that still has all its roots and is sitting in either water or a nutrient solution in order to stay alive until it is purchased.  Now, I’ve tried and failed several times at getting lettuce seeds to germinate and grow in my little Yamazen hydroponic system, so at $2.50 I decided to buy a head and see if I could plug it into my hydro system and get it to keep growing.

Continue reading Mini-project: hydroponically raising a mature lettuce plant bought at the grocery store? →

3D Modeling with TinkerCAD: making a keychain with a drawing on it

Uncategorized, ,

I’ve been learning about 3D modeling and 3D printing over the last month, and TinkerCAD is one piece of software which was recommended to me as a beginner.  I have to say, there’s a lot to love about it: it’s free, it’s easy to learn, and it’s web-based, which is a bigger advantage than you think.  A cloud server does all the computational work and also stores the models you make, so you don’t need to install anything, you don’t need a powerful computer, and you can access your files from anywhere.  I’m sure there are some things that TinkerCAD doesn’t do as well as the big non-cloud-based softwares, but it’s been more than sufficient for my needs thus far.

The post this time is a simple TinkerCAD tutorial that teaches a few useful tricks for beginners. Continue reading 3D Modeling with TinkerCAD: making a keychain with a drawing on it →

Hello, world. Let’s make stuff.

Uncategorized, ,

This year is going to be a year of many projects, and this blog will be my log of it all.

I’m probably at my happiest when I’m making, repairing, designing, or hacking something, especially if it involves learning new skills.  Even if I’m just learning to use a sewing machine, I love that it expands my toolkit for solving problems in daily life, making me that much more capable as a person.  I’ve known this about myself for a long time, and I’m always thinking of ideas for new projects, but I haven’t always made it a priority in my life to find time to carry them out.

For the last few months, I’ve been getting back into an old habit of mine, which is evaluating activities in terms of whether or not they’re ‘enriching’.  An enriching activity is one that permanently enhances me as a person, giving me something: new skills, a wider and/or deeper knowledge base, a new perspective.

Continue reading Hello, world. Let’s make stuff. →