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There’s nothing more enjoyable about technology than when something happens automatically. For instance, I use Gmail’s “Priority Inbox” which sorts my mail into sections based on which senders are more important to me, based on my past actions.

This kind of thing is called automation, and today I’m writing about a website called ifttt.com.  First, the name stands for “if this, then that.”  The description on the site says ” Think of all the things you could do if you were able to define any task as: when something happens (this) then do something else (that).

It’s incredibly easy to set up, and what’s there is a group of the web’s most popular sites, with the ability to automate actions. Here are a few examples:

• If someone tags you in a photo on Facebook, copy that image to Dropbox
• If the forecast tomorrow calls for rain, send you an e-mail
• If you are following a particular blogger in your RSS reader, send an e-mail when it’s updated
• If a stock you are following goes above a certain price, send you and e-mail

Creating these triggers is simple, and the site’s users have uploaded hundreds of what they call “recipes” that you can use yourself.

Try it for yourself. It’s free, it’s useful, and it’s fun.