How I Work – 152 – News 360

News 360 is a personalized news service. It gives you tailormade news stories, just for you. And, the more you use it, the better it gets in understanding what you like and serving news stories which are related.

You can also choose the topics, sources, companies and people you want to follow and News360 will pick up on the nuances of your interests as you read. And then onwards, you will never miss a feed, even if you have not subscribed to it. News360 will show you all the stories you need to read, without the noise ! It picks up stories from more than 100,000 sources, including national and international news providers to the most focused local blogs and websites.

And if you connect your Social Media accounts to News360, it will automatically learn your likes and improve the relevance of your content. Great!

How I Work – 153 – Clipper

Clipper is a powerful clipboard manager that automatically clips and saves everything you copy. You can

access your clipboard history later and also organize your clippings.

Once your clippings are available, you can pick and choose to paste any of your earlier clips. You can also clip snippets and hold them for future use e.g. if you wish to store and hold any of your most frequent text messages, you can do so and use them whenever you need to. You can also share the contents of your clipped snippets with others.

While Clipper gives you most of the functionality, power users may like to Upgrade to Clipper Plus to get online clipping sync, unlimited clippings, search, dynamic values and new options.
Now Copy and Paste merrily, without any risk of overwriting your Clipboard !

How I Work – 151 – Khan Academy

Whatever our age, our learning never stops. New thoughts, ideas and aspirations keep us on our toes and on the threshold of new vistas. In fact, our learning is limited only by our imagination! This is where KhanAcademy.org steps in.

KhanAcademy believes that You Can Learn Anything. Our brain is like a muscle, the more you use it and struggle, the more it grows. Starting from basic learning skills as a 3-year-old, to the most complex of learnings, KhanAcademy guides you all the way. Maths, Science, Economics, Arts, Humanities, Computing – you choose and KhanAcademy will help you learn. The learning is audio-visual in many cases which helps absorption and retention over a period of time. Test Preparations for competitive exams like IIT-JEE and learnings from the world of music and art are also available. There is an ocean of learning out there and you will need lots of time and patience to explore.

Recently they have come up with an Android App which replicates much of the original website which is used by over 30 million students – young and old – worldwide. Remember, as long as you are alive, you are always learning!

How I Work – 150 – Speedtest.net

Speedtest.net (by Ookla) is one of the best, free, speed testing solutions for your computer and mobile phone. Very often, we are promised very high speeds by our service provider, when in actual fact, the speeds are not so great. A lay person, therefore, finds it very difficult to justify his claims of low speed.
Speedtest.net is a website which you can visit and test your Internet speed, for free. Just proceed to the website, and click on Begin Test. The site will quickly test your Internet Connection speed and give you the results online. It will identify the nearest server and then check all the parameters which need to be checked. You can share the results with your Internet Service Provider to update them on the actual speed you are getting. Please run the test multiple times, at different times of the day, to come to a reasonably accurate conclusion.
Speedtest.net also has an app which you can download on your Android Mobile phone to check the speed of the Mobile Data or your Wi-Fi, depending on how you are connected.
Now you know how to check your speed, without depending on any techie !

How I Work – 149 – Beep’nGo

Beep’nGo is an interesting app, which captures all your loyalty, membership and gift cards into your phone. You do not need to carry all your cards with you, whenever you go and shop. You can also store and carry digital versions of all your coupons, boarding passes, movie tickets, event passes and more in one convenient and secure location. No more carrying of plastic cards or paper !

What you need to do is just scan / photograph your card with the Bar-Code or 3D code on it. With select Samsung Galaxy range of phones, you can then beam the bar-code for scanning at any of the stores. Simply show the bar-code or the QR Code on your device screen to the red-laser scanner.

Besides, you can get latest offers / coupons when you visit an affiliated store of your choice and the app remembers which card to flash when you are actually in the store !

A very good tool to reduce the weight in your pocket ! Just Beep n Go !!

How I Work – 148 – HealthVault.com

HealthVault.com from Microsoft helps one to gather, store, use and share health information for you and your family. The idea is to store all health records in one place, securely. You can retrieve the records on demand from your computer, laptop, tablet or phone, instantly. No searching and looking for data all over, especially the reports and details of past illnesses.
HealthVault also helps one to be better prepared for Doctor visits and emergencies. All your important data is at the tip of your fingertips and can be accessed during emergencies with just a tap on your phone.
Besides, HealthVault also helps you achieve your fitness goals with a weight management dashboard that tracks your weight, activity, diet and fitness parameters.
So, wherever you are in the world, HealthVault allows you to keep track of your Health Data instantaneously.

How I Work – 147 – XE Currency

XE Currency is one of the most popular Currency conversion tools available online. With over 5 million downloads, and access to more than 30,000 Currency Charts, it is probably most used.

It converts every world currency with rates and charts. Most of the conversions can also be stored offline, so that the conversions work even without an Internet Connection. Live rates of precious metals are also thrown in for added utility.

You can customize your experience by storing your favorites on top and also get a widget for your most often used currency on your Home Screen. A cool feature is that if you want to reset the most recent conversions, you just shake your phone and presto ! There you are !!

If you are in the Travel Industry or even if you are a casual or heavy traveler, this is a must have tool to carry. Don’t leave home without it !

How I Work – 146 – Call Writer

Call writer is a simple but elegant app which helps you take notes during an incoming or outgoing call.

Simply download the app and install it. Once installed, whenever you receive a call, a floating icon will come up on your screen. Just put your phone on Speaker mode, tap the icon and you can start taking notes, right on your phone ! The notes can be taken in your Notepad or Paint or both.

What’s more, the note will be automatically be saved when the call ends. Once the note is saved, you can edit the note and then, you can even share it with your family / friends using Whatsapp, Gmail, Hangouts, etc.

A very cool app, immensely useful when you are on the go !

How I Work – 145 – Medindia.net

Medindia.net is one of the most comprehensive health websites, not only for Indians, but for health information seekers from over 230 countries. Medindia’s content covers a broad spectrum of health topics  – health articles, news, in-depth special reports, interactive health calculators, polls, quizzes, animations, slides and videos. Other topics cover areas such as lifestyle and wellness, diet and nutrition, as well as Yoga and Alternative Medicine. In addition, they have a plethora of home remedies for every conceivable ailment.Medindia also has one of the most comprehensive databases of information on Indian drugs and pricing including data on both brand names and generic equivalents. It also has one of the largest collections of healthcare directories containing names, addresses and other details of doctors, hospitals, chemists, medical colleges, pharmaceutical companies, ambulance services, blood banks, eye banks and NGOs. All information is presented in a user friendly and easily searchable format. Interesting information, presented in a lucid style on multiple platforms. A great resource for quick reference.

How I Work – 144 – Google Keep

Google Keep is one of the best tools to keep yourself uptodate. Take notes of whatever you need, wherever you need and recall any time, any where !

Notes could be text, pictures or lists with check boxes. They may be for personal or official use. You could type them from your phone, or computer. You can also take pics or take voice memos from your phone and store them as notes. The notes can be color coded in eight different colors for easy visual access. You can also share your notes with whomsoever you desire.

And, of course, you can set reminders. The reminders could be based on date and time and also on where you are !! Imagine going to the market and up pops a reminder about the numerous things you need to buy. Or visiting a particular client and you have a list of pending issues coming up on your phone !

Keep is a wonderful tool which you can use from your phone, computer, laptop or tablet. Available on Android, iPhone and Computers. Start using Keep and you will Keep using it forever !