Send To Kindle By Klip.me: Take All Your “To Read” Articles On The Go Without An Internet Connection [Chrome]

Before the time of Kindles, we usually read everything solely on our computers. And perhaps you still do this. However, if you own a Kindle, such as the Kindle Touch which doesn’t have the best web interface (and that’s only when you’re around a Wi-Fi connection) you might still be disappointed in it’s reading capabilities.

If so, you should consider Send To Kindle by Klip.me, which was briefly mentioned before in How To Save Web Articles To Read Later On Your Non-Tablet Kindle. Send To Kindle is also a member of our Best Chrome Extensions page.

About Send To Kindle

Send To Kindle is a simple browser extension that allows you to easily send articles from your browser to your Kindle. Whenever your Kindle is connected to a wireless network, it will download the latest articles sent to it, allowing you to read web articles on the go in an easy-to-read format.

In addition to it working for Chrome (here’s the Web Store link), it is currently available as an extension for Safari as well. There is also a bookmarklet, which is compatible with IE, Firefox, Opera, as well as Chrome and Safari.

How To Use Send To Kindle

Send To Kindle works by “connecting” your Amazon account to Klip.me. This is done by adding the appropriate email addresses in the services, allowing them to “talk” to each other.

The instructions are pretty straight forward, but it is important that you follow them exactly. If you had trouble finding where to add the “kindle@klip.me” email address to Amazon, the image below should help.

Once you set up emailing on both sides, take a look at some of the other options below.

The options include keyboard shortcuts, 1-Click Send, including images with the articles and increasing paragraph spacing.

I highly recommend signing in and creating an account so that you can save the settings with your account and also view your “klips.”

You can also push web articles to your email address.

Before the article is sent, you’re able to preview it. The interface is pretty nice and although it’s not highly customizable, you can alter the background color by scrolling to the bottom of the page.

Also, you’re able to actually edit the title and text bodies before sending them. So you can remove an image or text that you don’t want, or if you want to add a note to the article, you can do that as well. This is a feature that isn’t very common in other tools to use when sending web articles from your browser to your Kindle.

Once you click “send” the article should arrive almost instantly to your Kindle, as the service is made to do so.

Conclusion

Of course, there are others that do this as well and we’ve explored a few similar options as well on MakeUseOf, but it’s no doubt that Send To Kindle by Klip.me is one of the best. Have you used Send To Kindle? If so, how has it helped you? Do you prefer a different service instead? Share your thoughts with us – we’d love to hear them.

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PeerPressure For Goals Helps You Get Things Done With A Little Help From Your Friends [iOS]

Setting goals is great, but accomplishing them is the real test we all face. This time of year, everyone is setting New Year’s resolutions, but let’s be realistic, many people will never actually pull off their resolutions. They seem to be one of those things we tell ourselves we will do, but in reality, we never really intend to complete them. Why not make this year the one you actually go hard for that resolution? Whether you are looking to quit smoking, lose weight, or write that book you’ve been dreaming of, make this the year you achieve your goal. Why not get a little help from your friends to really push you in the right direction?

With the app PeerPressure For Goals, you create and monitor your progress in all kinds of tasks. Where this app differs from so many similar apps is that is offers you the ability to share your goals with friends, which will help you actually stay motivated to succeed. After all, accountability and pressure from others can be a huge motivator, and this app is built with that in mind.

PeerPressure For Goals is free from the App Store, so there is no reason not to give it a try to see if it can help you make that New Year’s resolution a reality.

Features

When you first boot up the app, it will take you through the process of creating a new goal. It’s a simple process, which means anyone can launch the app and get to monitoring their goals, and hopefully, succeeding.

The first step is to choose the exact nature of the goal. The app has a giant list, so whatever it is you want to do will hopefully be there. This is nice because it gets the core options for the goal entered for you, which makes the process a little quicker. You can choose from the most popular goals via the first option, and if what you want is not there, you can scroll through the massive list of the categories and choose the goal that you want to make a reality.

The goals are divided into two types within PeerPressure For Goals. The first uses graphs and has you chart your progress towards reaching a total number of some kind. The second type involves milestones that require you to hit certain marks after a certain amount of time. The app will automatically choose the kind that works best for the particular goal.

Once you choose the goal, the app will have you enter specific parameters for it. For example, if you choose to do more of a hobby, it would ask you how many hours of the hobby you would like to do before a date of your choosing. This gives the option to make goals that are actually realistic for you.

You will also select a peer group during the goal creation process. You can share your goals and progress with Twitter and Facebook. If you prefer to keep it a little more quiet, you can share the goals with only certain email addresses. This step is not optional, as the whole point of the app is to use motivation from your friends to complete a goal.

Once you are finished, the goal will be saved, and you will have to come back and update your progress as you complete parts of the goal. To do this, click the update button and enter in how much of your goal you completed. You can type in a message, and when you are done, click “Submit” and it will be logged in the app and sent to people you selected during the goal creation process.

Conclusion

If you want this to be the year that you actually accomplish your New Year’s resolution, PeerPressure For Goals is the app for you. It will allow you to use motivation from the people who matter most to you to accomplish whatever you want. The app is easy to use, and it does one thing, and it does it well. Give it a try, and you might just find that the extra level accountability helps you achieve goals you never could before.

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Watch 19 Gunslingin’ John Wayne Westerns For Free [Stuff to Watch]

Marion Mitchell Morrison, or John Wayne as he is more famously known, acted, directed and produced some of the most iconic western films of all time. His name is synonymous with gunfights, horses and the trademark bow-legged cowboy walk.

Wayne died in 1979 but his legacy lives on, himself having starred in more than 170 movies. 21 of these movies have been lovingly hosted on the Internet Archive and YouTube, where they can be downloaded, streamed and enjoyed by a new generation of wannabe cowboys.

Whether you’re a fan of The Duke, old motion pictures or entirely new to the Western genre, these films might just be worth a look – and they’re free.

Blue Steel (1934)

Considered by some to be the best of John Wayne’s Lone Star Productions films, Blue Steel sees Wayne in the role of a US Marshall pursuing the Polka Dot Bandit. For a film shot in 1934, the locations chosen for the shoots are considered outstanding. The opening scene is also of note, with many reviewers commenting that it’s really not clear what exactly is going on.

McLintock (1963)

For a slightly lighter twist on the cowboy theme try McLintock, a 1963 comedy western about a rich cattle baron and the women in his life. Wayne takes on the film’s namesake, one George Washington McLintock who is tasked with keeping the peace between crooked characters and his family. The film is an interesting mix of comedy and politics, with a stellar cast.

Rainbow Valley (1935)

Another early Wayne film for Lone Star Productions, Rainbow Valley is a 1935 black and white tale about an undercover government agent. The story is centred around Rainbow Valley’s new road, and newcomer John Martin (that’s Wayne’s character) who agrees to build it. When Martin’s former cellmate manages to free the leader of a gang, he trusts that Martin will help. Martin has other ideas, however.

Angel & The Badman (1947)

Taking the Western genre in yet another direction, Angel and the Badman is a romantic tale of outlaws and sweethearts. Wayne takes on the role of Quirt Evens, described as an “all round bad guy” by IMDb who is nursed back to health by a quaker girl. Eventually the girl falls for him and as the film’s tagline reminds us “he has to choose between love and the gun”.

Randy Rides Alone (1934)

More early Wayne, Randy Rides Alone is a typical western story about a man who has been wrongly imprisoned. Wayne is Randy Bowers, a man locked up for murders he did not commit. Bowers manages to escape prison against the odds and ends up stumbling across the den being used by the real murderers.

Sagebrush Trail (1933)

Noted for its epic stagecoach chase scene, Sagebrush Trail is shares many nuances with the aforementioned Randy Rides Alone. Jailed for a murder he did not commit John Brant (Wayne) escapes and joins a gang of outlaws. When Brant meets the man responsible for the crime he was falsely imprisoned for, he decides to forgive and forget but the bandits soon become suspicious of him and his so-called life of crime.

The Rest

In addition to these six there are a further 15 John Wayne pictures out there for the taking. In alphabetical order, they are:

• Frontier Horizon (1939)


• Helltown (1937)


• ‘Neath the Arizona Skies (1934)


• Paradise Canyon (1935)


• Riders of Destiny (1933)


• Texas Terror (1935)


• The Dawn Rider (1935)


• The Desert Trail (1935)


• The Lawless Frontier (1934)


• The Lucky Texan (1934)


• The Man From Utah (1934)


• The Star Packer (1934)


• The Trail Beyond (1934)


• War of the Wildcats (1943)


• West of the Divide (1934)

Are you a fan of John Wayne and western films? Don’t forget to list your favourites and any other comments you might have below this post.

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Cobian Backup – The Best Backup a Windows Computer Can Get For Free [Windows]

Cobian Backup is a free backup software for Windows. It is crammed with featured, yet seems minimalistic at first glance. Users can create multiple backup tasks for different purposes, backups can be scheduled individually, back files up to multiple different locations, compress or encrypt backups, and more. If you are looking for a truly versatile and easy to use backup tool, look no further.

Cobian Backup has been developed by Luis Cobian. It is written in Delphi and used to be open source under the Mozilla Public License. Never versions have been closed source. The software itself is supported by an extensive Help file and a Tutorial available in its Program Files folder.

Installing Cobian Backup

The installation takes you through a basic setup routine, such as TOS agreement and shortcuts creation, but it also includes more advanced steps. Some of the options beg for explanations, which are offered both in a mouse-over tool tip and in the Help file. The location of the Help file on your computer may differ, depending on your operating system. During the setup, you can switch to one of over a dozen languages via a menu on the left-hand side at any time.

Once the program is installed, it will reside in your Windows system tray. Open it to continue the setup.

Setting up a Cobian Backup

Cobian Backup offers a lot of advanced features, but the developer managed to pack them into a simple and fairly intuitive interface. To create a new backup task, click the + icon.

Backup tasks are organized like software preferences. There are eight different categories on the left-hand menu bar and options can be selected in the main window on the right. Under General you set a task name and choose the backup type. Explanations for each option are given in the mouse-over tool tip.

The backup source and destination are selected under Files. You can add files, directories, FTP, or add a source manually. The latter is useful, for example when an external device is not currently connected to your computer. If you add multiple destinations, all will be used in case all are available, however the backup won’t be abrogated in case one isn’t connected. You can drag and drop files and folders from Windows Explorer. This is the final mandatory step.

To use the Schedule is optional, but obviously key to a good backup. You can choose from a range of options. My personal favorite is the on startup one, although it’s not always practical.

All following settings are advanced and optional. Under Dynamics you can set a priority, how many full copies to keep of the backup, and when to take full copies in case you selected incremental or differential backups. To save space and increase security, you can make compressed and encrypted backups via Archive. The Filter allows you to include or exclude specific files. Under Events you can open or close programs before or after the backup. Finally, there are Advanced settings, such as using absolute paths, or running the task as another user.

Running Backups

You should always set a schedule for your backups, so they run automatically. However, you can also run all tasks manually at any time. Click the play button to run selected tasks, either a single one or multiple ones. Click the double play button on the far left to run all tasks. When you confirm you can set to shut down the computer when all tasks are done.

Backups can be paused or abrogated using the respective buttons, which become available when a task is running.

As a side note I should mention that Cobian Backup has crashed on me in the past. However, this never happened when a backup was running and the current version appears to be stable. Just be sure the program is actually running in ‘stand-by’ when you are expecting it to automatically launch a backup task.

Additional Functions

Browsing the menu bar will reveal many more functions, for example cloning a task and several tools. Further advanced options are available via the Settings button. Here you can change the language, set a Hotkey, customize logs, set up the mail log function, set an FTP speed limit, customize the visual appearance of Cobian Backup and its functionality, and much more.

Moreover, Cobian Backup offers a Tutorial (file location on your computer may be different) that takes you through the entire installation and setup process. While the screenshots reveal that it is based on version 9, it doesn’t differ much from the current version. Finally, a lot of additional information, for example backup theory, is available in the Help file.

Conclusion

Cobian Backup’s clear interface allows quick access to key features, so that even inexperienced users can navigate it without being overwhelmed by a flood of options. Experienced users on the other hand will be impressed by advanced features that not even many paid tools are offering. Taken together, Cobian Backup is a reliable, comprehensive, and intuitive to use backup tool.

More details about backups in general and Cobian Backup in particular can be found in our Backup & Restore Guide. Cobian Backup is one of the best software programs listed on our The Best Windows Software page. If you prefer to use default Windows features, read How To Set Up & Use Windows 7 Backup & Restore Feature.

How do you manage your backups?

Image credits: File and Document Backup via Shutterstock

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