Easy When You Know How
After forming dubious theories about the pressures of modern life, Daniel Booth attempts to…
Daniel Booth sends photos from his phone to his PC
I’ve got a theory that when people complain about modern life being “just too busy”, it proves the exact opposite. It’s only when you have time on your hands that you can start contemplating whether life is getting too hectic. It’s not a luxury our grandparents enjoyed 100 years ago, when mangles and carpet sweepers had yet to be replaced by washing machines and vacuum cleaners.
I’m capable of fits of impatience that would embarrass a toddler, so I’m always looking for shortcuts
It ties in with another pet theory: that the more time gadgets save us, the more impatient we get. We don’t put that time saved to good use reading Shakespeare or listening to Mozart. Instead, we simply moan that a program is taking 30 seconds to download rather than 20. In a few years, we’ll moan that a program is taking 20 seconds to download rather than 10.
Yes, that sense of permanent dissatisfaction is important as a driver of innovation. Successful companies treat unhappy customers as an opportunity to improve their products. But I worry that it traps us into a cycle of brief fulfillment followed by bitter frustration.
However, just because I recognise this behaviour doesn’t make me immune to it. I’m capable of fits of impatience that would embarrass a toddler. It’s why I’m always looking for shortcuts to make life a little easier.
One time-saver that I’ve known about but had never got around to trying is automatically sending photos taken on my iphone to an online account. You can do this using IFTTT, which isn’t the noise a punctured tyre makes, but a vast collection of tools (called ‘applets’) that perform an action if triggered by a previous action. It stands for ‘If this, then that’ – so if I take a photo on my iphone, then it’ll get sent to an online account.
I started by visiting https://ifttt.com/join then clicking the small ‘sign up’ link at the bottom and following the instructions to create an account. My aim was to get photos sent to my Google Drive account, so I searched for IOS photos Google Drive. I clicked the tool called ‘Automatically back up your new IOS photos to Google Drive’ (you can go straight there at www. snipca.com/35200), followed by the large Connect slider.
That connected me to my Google account, which asked me whether I wanted to grant IFTTT access to my Google Drive. I clicked Allow. Next, I installed the IFTTT app on my phone from Apple’s App Store, then signed in (using the same details I created a moment ago). The ‘IOS photos to Google Drive’ tool duly appeared, showing I was Connected.
Wow, I thought. Is that it? I took some photos to find out, then opened Google Drive, clicked the My Drive dropdown menu and saw an ‘IFTTT’ folder I’d never seen before. Inside was an ‘IOS Photos’ folder, and inside that was a Camera Roll folder (named after the location photos are saved to on your phone). I clicked it, and waiting for me were the blurred pics I’d taken five minutes earlier. From there, it’s easy to drag and drop them into more specific folders. Marvellous!
‘Camera Roll’ is a dull name for my pics, though, so I went back into the ‘IOS photos to Google Drive’ tool and clicked the Settings cog at the top right. Then, in the ‘Drive folder path’ box, I typed the album name ‘Daniel’s pics’ (see screenshot below left). Seconds later it appeared in my Google Drive, nestled alphabetically between my Christmas and Holidays folders (see screenshot above).
If you don’t use Google Drive, there are IFTTT tools for sending iphone pics to Dropbox ( www.snipca.com/35204) and Onedrive ( www.snipca.com/35205), plus loads of Android equivalents (just search for them). And you’ll find brilliant tools for most other ways you use the web – email, social media, calendars, Wi-fi and so on. So many, in fact, that I promise to write about them in future columns. If I can find the time, of course.
Need help with automating tasks on your devices? Let us know: noproblem@ computeractive.co.uk