Tuesday, September 16, 2014

September News - News from TRI

A number of years back we built a pond in our back yard. As it turned out, it was one of the best additions to our home we ever made. All year, our little brook carries water down a rocky path and falls briskly into the pond. What a glorious sound. Over the years, we have hosted koi, gold fish, dragon flies, frogs, tad poles, water spiders, mink (they ate our koi), water iris and the most wonderful lilies. A new family of frogs are growing up among the flotilla of leaves. It is a lesson in meditation to sit at pond edge in stillness waiting to catch a glimpse of a frogs tongue snap up its prey.

In This Issue
September 2014

GeoReminder

If This Then That

Word Press Plug-ins

Welcome to News from trif.com! First time readers, I am glad you're here! Returning readers, welcome back!

Greetings and welcome to our Newsletter! We wanted to share the many photos we have taken of places, people and things throughout the country and beyond. Each month our headline photo will be something new and different. The caption will present a small explanation. We hope you enjoy. Keep in mind, we don't want to waste your time. Articles will contain generally less than 250 words. Please have a look and give us your feedback. By all means, forward to a friend using the link at the bottom of the Newsletter. Thanks. Questions? Send me an email!

Technology solutions are a part of doing business just like sales and marketing, It is an important component in servicing customers, managing costs and controlling operations. Our capabilities bridge database design and development, Internet services, network and computer sales and support, document imaging, bar code scanning, corporate communications, fax and email programs, mobile applications, cloud computing and help desk services. Interested in taking a step forward with technology? Looking to take advantage of the latest advances? Or just want to take advantage of your new computer?

Email me at rmj@trif.com The first consultation is always without charge.

GeoReminder and more...

Have you ever made a trip to Home Depot and forgotten 4 of the 12 things you needed or walked the aisles of the grocery store not remembering to get milk? It happens all the time. Well now your phone can help you remember just by following you around as you travel from place to place.

You can add reminders based on the geographic location of destinations. So not only can you keep a list of things you need, you can connect that item to a location. You can tag Home Depot as a location and add to-do's associated to that location. The next time you visit Home Depot, a reminder will pop-up, much like the graphic to the left that reminds you to pick up a screwdriver or whatever it is you need.

Keep in mind, for this App to work, you will need location services turned on at all times. The downside here is that GPS can drain your battery faster than normal.

It makes no difference if you use an Android or an iPhone, there are Apps available for either. Here is an Apple option. Here is an Android option.

Slowly but surely, Apps are taking our excuses away from forgetting anything!

If This Then That

In researching GeoReminder, I also stumbled upon a very clever web application based on the common exercise if-then or. If this then that is really quite clever. A trigger results in an action. IFTTT calls this a recipe.

For example, what if you wanted to automatically save every gmail attachments to your Dropbox folder. First you need to link IFTTT with your gmail account and also your Dropbox account. Then you can set up an IFTTT RECIPE that will look at your gmail as it arrives and if there is an attachment, the attachment will be extracted from the email and copied to a folder in your Dropbox account called IFTTT\GMAIL. You can set up recipe's using web applications, but also text messaging, time clock or Microsoft OneNote.

The recipe will look like this:

You can use IFTTT for a huge number of automated events. Here is a short list:

    • Tweet new blog posts (if WordPress then Twitter)
    • Tweet new Instagram photo's (if Instagram then Twitter)
    • Copy photo from Instagram to Flickr (If Instagram then Flickr)
    • Save a record of a closing stock price in a text file (If Stock Price at Close then Dropbox)
    • Save a posted picture on Facebook to your Dropbox folder (if Facebook Pic then Dropbox)

IFTTT.COM is set up to interact with partnered applications or channels. Here is a complete list. Put your imagination to work on this one. It is really very cool indeed.



Social

WordPress Plug-ins

I have written about WordPress before, but today I wanted to write about Plug-ins. Plug-ins are applications that you can download and implement on your WordPress site. There are more than 33,000 of these plug-ins and most of them are nominally priced. If you have your own WordPress site or are looking to create one, check out these sites for plug-in recommendations. These sites will also help you with Themes and other things you might want to learn, like PHP:

My favorites and what I would consider must-haves depending on your circumstances are:

    • Akismet. This is one of the best ways to protect your site or blog from spam and trackback spam. Because of the ease of entry and popularity in WordPress sites, spammers, hackers, and other seedy individuals are always looking to spread their word using your site. Akismet does a great job at reducing their impact.
    • WordPress backup to Dropbox. As I have written in the past, Dropbox is far-and-away the best cloud file system available. This plug-in automatically performs backups from your WordPress site to your Dropbox folder. If disaster strikes, you are covered.
    • My Calendar. If you are interested in maintaining a calendar to display upcoming events, My Calendar is an easy way to accomplish this. It is very powerful, yet simple to use.

If you would like to create your own WordPress web site or are looking for some assistance, please let us know.

TRI is a

Specializing in deploying

Robert McKay Jones
TRI
9 Waushacum Avenue
Sterling, Massachusetts 01564

978-422-7770
rmj@trif.com


Copyright ©2014 TRI
All Rights Reserved
All Photographs Copyright ©2014 by Robert McKay Jones unless otherwise credited
Artists Sketch by Bruce Davidson
This document is provided for informational purposes only.
The information contained in this document represents the views of Robert McKay Jones and Transportation Resources, Inc.
All information provided in this document is provided "as is" without warranty of any kind, either express or implied.
The reader assumes the entire risk as to the accuracy and the use of this document.
Permission to use the words in this document for commercial purposes usually is granted. However, commercial use requires advance authorization.

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Transportation Resources, Inc. | 9 Waushacum Avenue | Post Office Box 452 | Sterling | MA | 01564

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