I’ve been raving about my favorite web service, If This Then That (ifttt), for awhile now. The possibilities for this platform (and that’s exact what it is) are literally endless.

However, until today, I’ve never tested my hand at creating recipes. I searched for what I was looking for to no avail, so today I tried to create my own.

ifttt is based on the simple premise using the following framework:

If [this] happens, then do [that].

I wanted to create the following:

If gas prices fall below $X/gal (or $1.20/L in my case), then send me a SMS.

I wanted to use the Gas Buddy RSS feed for my city to pull user-reported data, but Gas Buddy seems to use the ASP framework to create RSS for Yahoo accounts only.

This is what’s holding me up, as ifttt’s RSS channel supports the standard XML-based RSS only (and so it should– who uses Yahoo anymore?!).

If I can find a regular RSS feed for Gas Buddy, an alternative site for Gas Buddy, or a way to convert (Yahoo Pipes, anyone?) the ASP-RSS to a regular RSS feed that ifttt can read, I’ll be set!

Until then, I’ll be relying on the Gas Buddy iOS app for now.

As I move out from home and make the transition into the working world, I’ve been finding myself increasingly looking at some awesome “home stuff” that I would normally never even notice. 

I’ve put together a list of some awesome ways to “geek up” a condo, while keeping your own style.

Without further adu:

iOS app coasters

I’ve been looking for these coasters for a couple years now. They are the real deal. Another company offers a smaller, lower quality offering, but they don’t measure up the ones pictured below.

Where to buy: I have no idea! If you do, please email me at hiconnor [at] me [dot] com.

Slide to Unlock doormat

It’s cool, it looks good, and it’s functional. Awesome.

You should probably keep this inside the door, because I know I would steal it if my neighbor has this.

Where to buy: $49 available at Meninos.

Ctrl + Alt + Delete pillows

These were featured on Two and a Half Men apparently. I really like them.

Personally, however, I’d get these ones instead.

Where to buy: $55 set of 3, both Mac and PC, available at Etsy.

Magnet Key Holder

Magnetic key holders are nothing new, but this magnet key holder is definitely an eye-catcher. Install it near the door on a dark accent wall and you’re set.

Where to buy: $49 available at Meninos.

Ctrl + Alt + Delete cups

Out of the five items I’ve featured here, this would be my least favorite, but nevertheless, they’re still pretty good. Looking like keys from a keyboard when upside down, these cups are perfect for a morning pot of coffee.

Where to buy: $19 set of 3 available at Brando.

In case you’ve missed it, I redesigned my blog in January to – what I think – is a much better layout. A lot of people have been asking me lately what theme I’ve been using. It’s a modified version of @stylehatch’s Swell theme.

They are awesome. Check out all of their Tumblr themes at www.stylehatch.co.

When I purchased the new Apple TV 3, I never imagined it to become the backbone of my home digital ecosystem. In fact, I never set out to purchase one altogether.

When I bought my iPad, originally I had planned on buying the 64GB LTE version. With documents and other files increasingly being stored in the cloud, however, I instead opted for the 32GB LTE version and used the remaining $99 to buy my first Apple TV.

And, boy, I’m glad I did.

I was visiting Felix in San Diego at the time. Despite him telling me I made a big mistake (a valid point – I never considered the larger files sizes for apps, possibly up to five times larger, to accommodate hi-res images for the retina display), I went ahead with it anyways.

First off, I want to acknowledge that the Apple TV is severely under-marketed. This could possibly be due to the fact some other TV-related product is in the pipeline. I have no news here, and TIm Cook has always maintained that the Apple TV is a side project, but it’s no secret that Steve Jobs wanted to enter the television space as documented by Walter Isaacson before Jobs died.

The real key to the Apple TV, and what makes it so valuable, is AirPlay. Specifically it’s mirroring feature which works well with iOS devices, and soon, with Macs on OS X Mountain Lion.

AirPlay is truly revolutionary. So much so, that I would consider ditching cable completely, like many Americans, in favor of Netflix and other on-demand content. Even my local news posts YouTube clips to their Facebook page immediately after airing the newscast. I’m not the only one to think this. Dan Frommer also thinks that “we’ve barely cracked the potential for AirPlay.”

It’s an exciting time for new Apple products, all of which will be grounded in iCloud and the Apple TV.

Better hurry to buy some $AAPL if you believe the $1000 target. With their crazy-disciplined product focus, however, it might not be out of the question.

I mentioned the ordeal I had the other day about rescuing an SD card from the SuperDrive on my mother’s iMac.

After receiving a phone call from my mom in near-tears about what she did, I went over to see what the problem was.

Having no clue how to fix this, I googled “Idiot puts SD card in iMac SuperDrive” and, sure enough, was greeted with a few other frantic forum posts. Luckily other people have been stupid enough (mostly drunk) to do the same thing. 

But then I started thinking. Perhaps this is one of Jony Ive’s design flaws. The holes are awfully close (insert [ha] dirty jokes here), and most people aren’t looking at them when they stick it in.

It’ll be interesting to see what happens to the upcoming Ivy Bridge iMacs.

Anyways, I digress. Apparently the tried-and-true method is to…

1. Unplug the iMac
2. Bear hug it (27 inchers would be harder. Luckily I was dealing with a 24 inch model), carefully not to slam it to the floor.
3. Jump up and down until you hear the SD drop into the foam entrance of the SuperDrive.
4. Take a paper clip, make it into an “L” shape, and reach into the SuperDrive and hook out the SD from behind, carefully not to scratch the optical eye.

Try this at your own risk, but it seemed to work for the first guy, and it worked fine for me.

So now you know…

*The Facebook version. I have no problem with their iOS app. It’s great.

I’d rather not spam my Facebook friends with every god damn action from Word with Friends. So I turned off the application’s ability to post to my Facebook Timeline. All good, right? Wrong.

When I go to play a game, however, it gives me this message. Zynga is using a ‘best game experience’ to mask this blatant disregard of privacy rights.

And that’s not right.