On-lyneTech

Very often, we come across websites which we would love to read later. But, if you keep on bookmarking such sites, it could become quite a handful. So, what we need to do is to Pocket such sites – put them in your pocket to read them later, on any other device – your home computer, your laptop, your smartphone, just anywhere. Go to http://www.getpocket.com and download a small extension for your Chrome or Firefox browser. It sits on the right side of your browser bar quietly waiting. Now onwards, whenever you visit a site and want to read it later, you just click on the Pocket icon and it is automatically saved in your Pocket. You can download the app onto your smartphone or tablet and when you access it, you can see all your saved sites online and access them easily.
Pretty well executed and useful – I use it most of the time, so will you.

This nifty app, helps you read major Indian newspapers, magazines, news sites online. You can find news from The Times of India, Dainik Bhaskar, Dainik Jagran, Malayala Manorama, The Hindu, Hindustan Times, Mathrubhumi, The Telegraph, Samachar, Sakal, Mid Day, etc. etc….
You can define your favourites, so that the list does not bother you with unwanted Newspapers. You can sort the list by name or by Frequently Read Newspapers. It also allows you to adjust the font size and share the news with others.
Editor – please note – Parsi Times not yet on India Newspapers list !
All in all, a very useful app to get the news on the go !

The Facebook Messenger is a very sleek app that is a free service on your existing data plan. All you need is a smartphone and the Messenger App loaded. Once it is installed, you may login with your Facebook  userid and password. You can message all your friends either on Facebook or on SMS through one single interface. You may send voice messages, photos, smileys and other emoji and also get push notifications if any of your contacts message you. You can start a group conversation and let your friends know where you are, just in case you need to meet up. If you swipe left on the messenger screen, you can see a list of your friends who are available to chat online on Facebook.
A great app when you are on the move, or even at work or at home, which integrates all your messages in one place.

We need to be secure when we are online, and the best security is your password. The password needs to be strong, not a dictionary word, difficult to guess and having Upper / Lower case characters with numbers and special characters. Most of all, we need to have different passwords for different sites that we access! A tall order ?
Not really with LastPass. LastPass is a password manager that makes web browsing easier and more secure. Head to http://www.LastPass.com, and install the same on your computer and Firefox and Chrome Browsers. You enter LastPass by creating a master password for yourself, and that is the last password that you will have to ever remember !  The system then generates and remembers all passwords on any site that you visit, including mails, banking sites, shopping sites etc. etc. The auto-generated passwords are very strong and almost impossible to crack – so much so, that you yourself will never be able to remember them. In case you are travelling, you can go online and pick up your passwords.
Remember though, that if you forget your master password, nobody can help you, and you will just have to delete your account and start afresh.
Enjoy safe browsing now onwards, with LastPass at your command !

Clearly makes blog posts, articles and webpages clean and easy to read. Go to http://evernote.com/clearly/ and download the very light extension on your Chrome Browser. Once it is installed, you will see a small table lamp icon on your browser bar on the right. When you are  on a webpage or blog which is cluttered with flashing ads and diversionary matter alongside, just click on the Clearly icon. And Voila ! The entire webpage is clean and you can read it Clearly ! You can highlight stuff on the webpage with a highlighter which is built in and also increase / decrease the font size. And of course, if you are using Evernote, you can directly clip the article right into your Evernote Notebook !
Truly, some material is quite hazy to read through, until you read it Clearly !

This is one of my latest and cutest additions. When you want to share photos, videos and files from one phone to the other, you either need cables or have to configure Bluetooth on each of the phones, which is not so easy. Why not just Bump it ?
Use Bump to share contact information, photos, videos, and files by simply bumping two phones together. Just open Bump, hold your phones, and gently bump your hands together — Bump will magically do all the rest.
Now you can sync with your computer too !  Visit http://bu.mp on your computer and bump your space bar to transfer photos, videos, and files. You can share your contact info; connect on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. You can even share app recommendations
With more than 100 million downloads all over the world, you can use Bump with all of your friends!
Bump works cross-platform on iPhone, iPod, iPad, and most other modern mobile phones. So remember, when you want to transfer your photos – just Bump them !

I often get disturbed late night by unwanted, unimportant calls. Also, many a times, I get a wrong number at 2.30 am ! Sounds familiar ?

Well, this app helps you avoid such situations. Aptly called “I’m Sleeping”, once you activate it, and set your sleeping time (going to bed and waking up), it will put your phone automatically into silent mode during those times. So no more annoying late night calls !

But, what if there is an emergency ? Well, you have an option for setting a whitelist of  numbers which can call you any time of the day or night. So you need not worry about missing a single call from your old mother or your loving son from anywhere in the world. There is also another setting which allows calls to get through, if the caller is repeatedly dialling your number.

A great app for sleeping soundly !

This one is for those who breathe, eat, drink cricket !
A swash-buckling century from Sachin Tendulkar, or a game changing hat-trick from Lasith Malinga; Chasing down a total of 434 or bowling a team out for less than 50 – never miss out on anything spectacular that happens on the cricket field. The guys at Cricbuzz present to you, the best cricket and the most reliable cricket app for your android – Cricbuzz for  Cricket Scores and News.

It has quick score updates and ball by ball text commentary that helps you visualize the action as and when it unfolds. There is an Audio commentary in English and other regional languages – if listening is your thing. Gives an updated list of schedules and results of recent matches.

You also have photos, player profiles, player and team rankings and much more. You can even share the score on Facebook / Twitter with your friends.

A must for all cricket lovers – Enjoy your cricket on the move !

This is one of my favorite task managers. You can enter the tasks by date and time, give priority to each task by assigning colors and best of all, you can manage your tasks from anywhere – your phone (there is a version each for android, ipad & blackberry phones) or your computer.
You can manage your tasks offline, integrate them with Google Calendar. Sharing of tasks is easy and so is getting reminders – by Email, by Instant Messenger or by SMS
In short, it is the best way to manage tasks – Never Forget the Milk or anything else again !

This nifty app, helps you learn more than 100 management, business and personal productivity skills from the MindTools.com toolkit. Build useful skills whenever you have a spare moment.
Skill types include leadership, team management, strategy, problem solving, decision-making, project management, time management and personal productivity, stress management, communication, creativity and career development.
With more than 100,000 downloads, this is a useful resource for all those who want to move up the management ladder – on the move !