So I'm lazy,
reading is hard work,
I love youtube because other people have done the hard work,
I can just sit back and absorb the material.
I downloaded hundreds of clips, converted them to MP3s then created a playlist
so I could listen to educational material whenever I wanted.
But it meant, reaching for my phone to press play (told you I was lazy)
I decided to program this so I could lay in bed and be educated automatically :)
First I downloaded Macrodroid from the Android appstore.
Macrodroid is pretty easy to program, I set it so that, at certain times of the day and week,
it would play my music player, for a half hour, then switch it off.
Eg
ON at 8am and 1AM
OFF at 8:30AM and 1:30AM
Fridays and Saturdays a bit later, as I'm not at work.
Now every morning and at 1AM and 8AM in the morning, I get educational material
from my spare mobile every day for half an hour, and I don't need to lift a finger.
Macrodroid works on Triggers, I can get it to Trigger, everyday at 8AM
then set another trigger for 1AM.
The action I set to Play Media (simulate media button = play)
At 8:30AM and 1:30 AM I set the trigger to stop media playing.
All in all I just need two Macros, 1 to determine when to play
and another to determine when to stop playing.
You can have up to 5 Free Macros on the free version, or unlimited on the paid version,
which only costs about £2 so well worth the purchase.
I also programmed my spare phone to beep, every hour on the hour.
I also set a macro to play any received SMS messages IF the headphones are plugged in.
So if I get an SMS whilst listening to music, on my headphones, it will read out the SMS
(but not if the headphones are not inserted)
I can then use voice control to speak a reply, then get it to sent the reply, all hands feee.
Isn't technology amazing when it works,
All in all, Macrodroid is a very useful App, an a Great tool to make sure you get your educational, or
self improvement input several times a day, with no effort required.
Search the Android Appstore for Macrodroid, try out the free version, then consider upgrading to pro
to get the ability to create unlimited macros to automate your life.
Currently, I'm learning, Spanish, French, Italian, Greek, some motivational stuff on there, music,
passive income suggestions, self improvement stuff on there too.
I set my playlist to randomize, so I never know what I'm going to get, and I can add more MP3s
to my playlist as and when I come accross them.
Could be useful for students too, I made a version with my son, studying History, so his is crammed
full of History material.
Hope you guys find the idea useful.
PS there may be iPhone alternatives to Macrodroid, maybe someone could suggest.
Other alternative Android apps might be ITTT or Tasker but I've not used them.
Mayve someone can give them a try and comment.
Hope this gives you self improvement or students out there some ideas on how to automate
your education and self improvement.