Nov
10
Written by:
host
11/10/2009 7:00 AM
Every day, dozens or even hundreds of Twitter feeds, email newsletters, Facebook updates, and blog posts find their way into my computer. Many of these contain links to "must read" articles about denominational news, technology tips, resources that are coming out, and so on. I scan them quickly, looking for the gems I think are most likely to be useful to me (and to you!), and then I click on the links. But unless I'm going to take the time to read the articles right away, I have a problem: WAY too many tabs and windows get opened in my browser.
On the day when I hit 14 windows and 52 tabs open, I realized I needed to find a simple, elegant solution to my problem, then dedicate myself to using it regularly. Immediately my thoughts went to Evernote, a program I truly love and think everyone should install. Evernote has the ability to capture screenshots and other details through a simple button on my screen. Yet since I keep so many different types of information in Evernote (lists, To-Dos, voice recordings, photos, and more), storing links to articles I'd like to read just didn't seem like the elegant solution. I could just bookmark the pages in my browser, of course, but I prefer to keep my bookmarks focused on tools, not articles.
In short, I wanted something for those websites I plan to read later in the day or week, plus I wanted those links to just disappear once I'd read them unless I specifically took action to archive them.
Fortunately, one of those open tabs described a free web tool that turned out to be just what I needed: Instapaper.com. Instapaper's utterly simple: create an account using just your email address, then drag a link to your browser's menu bar (Firefoxand Safari are recommended, but many others should work OK.) From then on, all you need to do is click on that link and the website's URL and page title is saved in your account! It couldn't be simpler to store the links to articles you wish to read later.
Once you've done that basic setup, it's worth your time to spend a few minutes doing a bit of additional customization of your Instapaper account. You can create topical folders for storing your links, add a password to your account (highly recommended!), and set a few default preferences.
The Instapaper screen is super simple, too, offering the ability to open the link, read a text-only version of the page (great for printing), or archive the link. There are small, unobstrusive ads on the right side, which is how Instapaper can be offered as a free service. Instapaper works the Kindle, and there's also an iPhone app available as well (plus, it will likely work on most other smart phones.) Give it a try! I suspect you'll instantly see how useful this tool can be for keeping up on your online reading.
~ by Tim Gossett