Ask HN: What's the most creative use of IFTTT you've seen?

Re:Ask HN: What's the most creative use of IFTTT you've seen? by bx_ on Thursday May 23, 2013 @06:25AM (#5756081)

Not bragging here, but a while ago I used IFTTT to create a system where I created a quasi-alert system for a local legend/mentally ill guy who wanders the subway in my city. Everyone knows him, but sometimes he disappears for a month or two and people online start to talk about where he went.

I began wheatpasting a photo of him with a QR over his mouth (he often says the government/big corporations are trying to kill him) and the phrase "have you seen me?" around the subway stations he's usually on. The QR code went to an SMS #, which caught an IFTTT trigger to turn that SMS into an email (to an anonymous Gmail account) which, upon receipt, caught another IFTTT trigger and posted the text of their message to a Tumblr account -- one seamless workflow. This way, people could in more-or-less real time keep tabs on him and how he's doing.

It went well until the police took down the posters, of course. Haven't thought of a way around that, yet.

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Re:Ask HN: What's the most creative use of IFTTT you've seen? by jkldotio on Thursday May 23, 2013 @08:33AM (#5756448)

You put up posters encouraging random people to track a paranoid mentally ill person? Did you not think that might have harmed his mental health to see those posters of himself and have people pointing him out to their friends without understanding it? It'd be creepy enough for a normal person to see such posters about themselves.

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Re:Ask HN: What's the most creative use of IFTTT you've seen? by bx_ on Thursday May 23, 2013 @09:44PM (#5760771)

Nah, most people are just genuinely concerned about him, especially when he disappears. I'm in China -- if I did this in NYC, I wouldn't have done it. But that type of malicious intent is far, far less here. When he's gone, there's lots of talk online about where he went and people start looking out for him. I just made a way to scale and centralize it.

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Re:Ask HN: What's the most creative use of IFTTT you've seen? by Sealy on Friday May 24, 2013 @12:05AM (#5761228)

You should set up some kind of tipjar so you can use donated funds to help buy him some food.

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Re:Ask HN: What's the most creative use of IFTTT you've seen? by bx_ on Friday May 24, 2013 @12:35AM (#5761295)

Collecting funds is quite prohibited (or heavily regulated, I should say) in China, otherwise I absolutely would.

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Re:Ask HN: What's the most creative use of IFTTT you've seen? by Plutor on Thursday May 23, 2013 @11:16AM (#5757265)

Note to self: Do this to my brother for April Fool's Day next year

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Re:Ask HN: What's the most creative use of IFTTT you've seen? by kaybe on Thursday May 23, 2013 @06:44AM (#5756130)

While that sounds cool it's also scary. I mean, everyone is stalking him.. it's not 'trying to kill him', but it's a reason to become paranoid. Without his agreement, I don't believe this is ok. (For non-humans however.. )

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Re:Ask HN: What's the most creative use of IFTTT you've seen? by donohoe on Thursday May 23, 2013 @07:28AM (#5756225)

What!?

People used QR codes?

I'm very surprised (seriously)

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Re:Ask HN: What's the most creative use of IFTTT you've seen? by bx_ on Thursday May 23, 2013 @09:44PM (#5760773)

Extremely frequently in China (where I am), yes.

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