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You are here: Home / Archives for techie tips

Use Instagram and Twitter? Then you need IFTTT! #NoMoreLinks

January 12, 2015 by Wendy S

If you’re active on social media like I am, then you’re well aware that sharing between platforms can be difficult.

Twitter would prefer you share images directly through them. Instagram is a great place for sharing photos!  

Dilemma: Sharing Instagram to Twitter only creates a link

If you click the Twitter share button when using Instagram, all Twitter shares a link back to Instagram. That’s not fun and makes for a boring Twitter feed.

The #FordNAIAS press conference was exciting! Raptor! Shelby GT350R Mustang! All-new Ford… http://t.co/OQGEZeyoiN— Wendy [mapsgirl] (@mapsgirl) January 12, 2015

 

IFTTT to the rescue!Make your twitter feed pop! Use IFTTT to share Instagram images not links! @ mapsgirl.ca

IFTTT is short for “If This, Then That”

It’s that simple.   If This happens on one social media account, then make that happen on that social media account.   It’s brilliant!

      1. Set up your account.
      2. Link your social media accounts.
      3. Make your recipes.
      4. Sit back and watch it work.

So my recipe is:

If This = new photo on Instagram

Then that = share as native image on Twitter and include a link back to Instagram

Isn’t this better:

The #FordNAIAS press conference was exciting! Raptor! Shelby GT350R Mustang! All-new Ford GT! http://t.co/Gv8RVGBe3k pic.twitter.com/2d4MIDaW3r — Wendy [mapsgirl] (@mapsgirl) January 12, 2015

Since IFTTT lets you share your recipes, please feel free to use the one that I already created!

IFTTT Recipe: Share Instagram photos as native Twitter image connects instagram to twitter

Just try it! 

There are so many amazing combinations of things that be automated!   

You can use it from their website https://ifttt.com or you can download the app for iOS or Android

Filed Under: Products & Reviews, techie tips Tagged With: automation, ifttt, instagram, share, social media, twitter

My 5 Favourite Health and Fitness Apps #NewMapsGirl

February 11, 2014 by Wendy S

Fitness Apps

Over the last 5 months, I’ve been gathering an arsenal of heath and fitness apps to help keep me motivated on track to reach my goal.

Here are my top 5 favourites! I hope they help you like they help me!


myfitnesspal #1

myfitnesspal

Cost: Free

 This app allows me to track:myfitnesspal_logo-300x64

  • my food intake
  • water intake
  • exercise
  • progress

What I like about it:

  • lots of foods are in the database
  • can set up reminders to enter your food
  • easy to add food, exercise and water
  • lots of reports for nutrition, progress
  • can connect with friends and support each other
  • can track using the app and it syncs with myfitnesspal.com

appstore


Nike+ FuelBand#2

Nike+ FuelBand

Cost: Free

nike fuel band** Please note: This requires you to own a Nike+ FuelBand.  Other fitness trackers (ie. FitBit) may have their own apps **

Craig and I each have a Nike+ FuelBand which tracks the amount of movement we do throughout the day.  It assigns “Fuel points” and you can set daily goals for the number of Fuel points you want to achieve.

Based on your height and weight, the FuelBand tells you the number of steps you have taken and  the calories burned.

It also makes for a cool watch!

What I like about it:

  • easy to set up and use
  • easy to sync the band to the app
  • can connect with friends and support each other
  • works with Nike+ Running (see below)

appstore


nike-plus-gps-icon#3

Nike+ Running

Cost: Free

 The Nike+ Running app is a great running app!  It uses the GPS feature in your phone to track your route.

What I like about it:

  • easy to use
  • connects with Nike+ account and syncs with Nike+ FuelBand data
  • can sync into mapmyfitness.com (see below)

appstore


MapMyFitness#4

mapmyfitness

Cost: Free

 Another running app?  Sort of.  I’m hoping that this becomes a “bridging” app.  Nike+ data doesn’t sync directly into myfitnesspal.

Here’s how I hope I can get it to work:

  • Nike+ FuelBand data is synced into mapmyfitness
  • mapmyfitness data syncs into myfitnesspal

Currently only data entered directly into mapmyfitness gets pushed across to myfitnesspal.  Since the Nike+ data is synced, it doesn’t seem to get pushed across.  I’m hoping there will be more integration between the two.  This is very new and you can read more about the MapMyFitness / myfitnesspal integrations: MapMyFitness, MyFitnessPal announce API integration

What I like about it:

  • it will track my walks (running is tracked in the Nike+ Running)
  • you can connect with friends and support each other

appstore


WaterMinders#5

WaterMinder

Cost: $0.99

I just recently found this app while browsing the iPhone AppStore.  And what a find it is!

You enter your height and weight and it calculates how much water you need to consume!

What I like about it:

  • reminders throughout the day to tell you that you need to drink water and/or enter how much water you’ve consumed
  • it figures out how much water you need

appstore


Just so you know: I wasn’t paid a dime for this post. I truly like these apps and want to help others who are working towards a healthier lifestyle.

Filed Under: body mind spirit, Life, techie tips Tagged With: fitness, health, iPhone apps, motivation

staying on the same page: using Google Calendar for a family

January 24, 2013 by Wendy S

staying on the same page: Using Google Calendar for a Family @ mapsgirl.caCraig and I love that we’re always on the same page.  Communication is so important to us.  We talk about everything, make decisions together and schedule our plans as a team.

Without Google Calendar, scheduling would be so difficult.  Since we started using it, I could never go back to a paper, hand-written one.

So how did we set it all up?  


Get a Google Account
Go to Google Calendar to get your account.  Each person who will be sharing calendars needs one.

Create the calendars that you need.

On the left-hand you’ll see a list of all of your calendars.  Click on the arrow beside the “My calendars” heading and select “Create new Calendar”

A new page will open for you to enter the detail about your calendar.

Name your calendar.

There are some optional details, but we don’t use them (Description, Locaton, Time Zone)

“Share with specific people” —This setting is most important.

This works best if they have a Google Account.

Enter the email of the people who you want to share it with and then select the permission settings for them.

 
 

We have calendars for:  each of us • each of the girls • family events • Craig’s work • Youth Group • Birthdays

Yes, that’s a lot.  But separating things out allows everything to be colour-coded and easy to recognize.

And  they are all set as “Make changes AND manage sharing” so we both can make changes to all calendars.

Changing the settings

You can always go back and changes the setting if required.

On the left-hand you’ll see a list of all of your calendars.  Click on the arrow beside the “My calendars” heading and select “Settings”


Taking it all with you

 The key to staying on the same page is taking the calendar with you.  Craig and I both have iPhones and iCal on our Mac computers. Sycning will work on Android devices as well but I think there are some syncing issuses with Blackberry though.

I will show you how to sync on the iPhone and iCal but you can go to the Google Calendar Help page for other devices and apps.


Syncing on iPhone

There are 2 steps to get all of your calendars synced.

1. Your default calendar

Open the Settings application

Open Mail, Contacts, Calendars
Select Add Account…

Select Gmail

 

Enter your account information:  Name, Email

      (your full Google Account email address), your Google Account

Password

      , and a

Description

Select Next at the top of your screen.

Make sure the Calendars option is turned ON.

If you only have one calendar to share, then you’re done.  If not, keep going.

2. Sync Multiple Calendars 

Open the Safari or Chrome app on your iPhone and go to https://www.google.com/calendar/syncselect

Select the calendars you’d like to sync, then click Save.

The selected calendars will be displayed at the time of the next sync.


Seeing all the Calendars in iCal 

If you’re using Apple iCal 5.x and up then this will work.  If not, read here.

This is very similar to syncing on your iPhone.  Gotta love Apple for keeping things easy!

1. Your default calendar

Open iCal
In the toolbar, click Calendar, then Preferences
Click the Accounts tab
In the accounts pane on the left, click the + button to add an account

Enter the following information:

Account Type

      : Google

Email Address

      : Enter the full email address that you use to log in to Calendar.

Password

    : Enter the password for the email address you listed above.

2. Sync Multiple Calendars 

Open the Safari and go to https://www.google.com/calendar/syncselect

Select the calendars you’d like to sync, then click Save.

The selected calendars will be displayed at the time of the next sync.


There you go! I hope this helps you and your loved ones stay on top of everything.  
 
If you have any questions, please comment below as others may have the same question. 
 

Filed Under: family, techie tips

techie tips: kwout – quote and embed images from any web page

October 6, 2011 by Wendy S

kwout | A brilliant way to quote
The image above is a perfect example of why kwout is so amazing.

Posting a screen shot with a link can take way too many steps

Usually I’m trying to take a screen shot, editing it in a photo editor, uploading it to an online photo storage place, and then adding the html to show that image in my posts and then edit the URL to link it somewhere.

Not any more!

kwout has cut out all the middle steps.

kwout | A brilliant way to quote

I inserted both images above with the links using kwout So easy!!


techie tips will run on Tuesdays (ususally) and will be a chance for me let some of my inner geek show. Watch for more fun episodes. Same Bat-time, same Bat-blog!


Filed Under: techie tips

techie tips: blogger users — this tip’s for you!

May 3, 2011 by Wendy S

techie tips: blogger users — this tip’s for you!

Just recently I found the most amazing little snippet of code that makes my life so much easier.

Opening links in a new window

I like my links to open in a new window, especially if I’ve included a link in the middle of a sentence. This will allow my readers to come back to my post.

Before I found this code, I was editing the HTML and adding the target=”_blank” code to each link. This was very tedious.

A quick google search helped me immensely! By adding that one line of code in the < head > section of the template html code, all links automatically open in a new window.


techie tips will run on Tuesdays and will be a chance for me let some of my inner geek show. Watch for more fun episodes. Same Bat-time, same Bat-blog!


Filed Under: techie tips

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mapsgirl@gmail.com

Why “mapsgirl” ?

Wendy is a cartographer! She draws maps!

When not mapping, Wendy is also a mom to two daughters. They are the inspiration of this blog. Passionate about child passenger safety, Wendy was a certified Car Seat Technician in Ontario, Canada from 2008 to 2020. [Read More …]

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