Everybody does guac. That's what you do on Super Bowl Sunday: you make a bowl of guacamole, heat up some beer-battered wings that you poured straight out of a plastic bag onto a griddle pan, chill the drinks, throw on an ill-fitting jersey, and turn on the TV. And that's cool. I guess. I mean, I won't say guac is uncool.
But you know what's really great? Lightbulb recipes.
For the past few years software service IFTTT has tracked all of the crazy tech integrations that sports fans have come up with on Super Bowl Sunday. IFTTT, for the uninitiated, stands for "If this, then that." The IFTTT app connects to a bunch of other apps and creates a conditional software layer between them all, letting you establish commands like, "If I hit 10,000 Fitbit steps, then save it in a Google spreadsheet," or, "If @reckless tweets in the middle of the night, send a signal to my alarm app so I can wake up and 'like' it." Or something like that.
Turn your living room into a disco every time Cam Newton does his dance thing
This year, out of the 60,000 NFL-related IFTTT recipes that users have come up with, IFTTT says that one of the most popular triggers is "Change lights to the team logo when the Broncos score," along with "Flash lights with every in-game update for your favorite team." In fact, IFTT's data science team says it's expecting around 11,000 "ambient light changes" in connected lightbulbs during this year's game, up from 5,956 lightbulb changes during the 2015 Super Bowl and 4,421 lightbulb changes the year before.
All you need to turn your lame slice of a Super Bowl party into a living room disco every time Cam Newton does his dance thing or every time a yellow flag is thrown, is the ESPN mobile app and a $199 Phillips Hue lightbulb kit, or $65 Lifx lightbulbs.
Okay, that's a little more expensive than guac. In the event that Wi-Fi-connected lightbulbs don't fit into your Super Bowl budget, we've dug up some other game-related recipes for you to try in IFTTT:
- Save every Instagram posted at the Super Bowl to my Google Drive. Caveat: There is no IFTTT prescription for the acute envy you will experience.
- Call me with breaking NFL news. Caveat: Won't work with a landline.
- Use Alexa + Harmony Remote to turn off Coldplay during halftime. On second thought, this recipe looks way too complicated. Use your old-fashioned phalanges to change the channel if you'd like.
- Email some "srsly rad goods" after searching for retro NFL gear on Etsy. Caveat: Your friends may judge you if you're searching for "srsly rad goods" on Etsy during the Super Bowl.
- Get notified with your favorite team's final score. Caveat: But really, what kind of a fan are you if you miss the final score?
- Add next sports game to calendar when you ask Amazon Alexa for next game. Caveat: Next NFL game is in approximately seven months.