Shape UP Life http://shapeuplife.com Tips to make your life easy, efficient, cool and smart... Sat, 01 Dec 2012 04:19:18 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.2 ShapeUpLifehttp://feedburner.google.com Instapaper – Great tool to save webpages to read later http://shapeuplife.com/2012/11/instapaper-best-tool-to-save-webpages-and-read-later.html http://shapeuplife.com/2012/11/instapaper-best-tool-to-save-webpages-and-read-later.html#comments Sun, 18 Nov 2012 18:08:32 +0000 Sameer Khan http://shapeuplife.com/?p=470 Instagram save for laterYou are in your office, checking mail or just surfing the web, you found a great article but don’t have enough time to read it now. Now what you generally do is bookmark it and it keeps sitting there for months and years, and you actually never get any time to visit it again. Well [...]]]> Instagram save for laterYou are in your office, checking mail or just surfing the web, you found a great article but don’t have enough time to read it now. Now what you generally do is bookmark it and it keeps sitting there for months and years, and you actually never get any time to visit it again. Well that’s very disorganized and not a proper way to keep your to-reads.

 

Instapaper is a great way to overcome this problem and to make your weblife more organised. You can save an article on Instapaper almost from anywhere, your computer, your mobile, your iphone or ipad and from your Android, Kindle Fire, and Nook with just one click. Accessing your saved webpages is easy, just go to Instapaper.com and you will find all your saved pages. You can categorize them, favorite them and archive them as per your needs.

shapeuplife - Instapaper - saved pages list

Access Instapaper from a Web Browser:

You can save your webpage for reading later by just clicking the Instapaper bookmark.

Drag this bookmark to your Bookmarks Bar. Then simply click it when you’re on a page that you want to read later.

Read Later ← Drag this to your Bookmarks Bar.

A “Saved!” message will briefly appear in the corner of the page.

Instapaper - Great tool to save webpages and read later

If you use folders in Instapaper, each folder has a bookmarklet to save pages directly into it under the Folder Tools section in the sidebar.

Instapaper - Great tool to save webpages and read later

 

Access Instapaper from Iphone:

Instapaper’s critically acclaimed, award-winning iPhone and iPad app is the most popular way to read Instapaper content. View your saved pages in the mobile-optimized Text view. Instapaper is popular among subway commuters and iPod Touch owners because it stores your articles for reading even if you’re offline.

Access Instapaper from your email:

You can email links or forward long email messages, such as newsletters, directly to your Instapaper account. Each account has its own secret, random email address. Anything sent to that address gets added to Instapaper.

Access Instapaper from Google Reader:

You can send items directly from Google Reader simply by clicking the Instapaper Read Later bookmarklet with an item selected. This even works on the mobile, iPhone-friendly Google Reader site.

Instapaper for google reader

Access Instapaper from Android, Kindle Fire, and Nook:

Instapaper is now available for Android as well. Like the iPhone and iPad app, the Android app stores your articles for reading even if you’re offline, and presents them in a clean, distraction-free layout with customizable text size and many more features.

Get it now for Android, Kindle Fire, Nook Color, and Nook Tablet.

Instapaper for Android Kindlefire

 

Access Instapaper from NetNewsWire:

Brent Simmons’ popular Mac OS X feed reader,NetNewsWire, can send articles directly to Instapaper.

Simply select “Send to Instapaper” from the News menu, and the currently selected feed item will be added to your Instapaper account. NetNewsWire for iPhone also supports Instapaper.

Access Instapaper from NetNewsWire

Access Instapaper from Google Chrome:

Instapaper is also available for Chrome users. You can access and install it from here.  I still prefer the Instapaper bookmarklet as it doesnot take any extra memory and works almost as fine as the chrome extension.

So enjoy the Instapaper and keep your web life organised. For more such articles don’t forget to subscribe to our feed.

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]]> http://shapeuplife.com/2012/11/instapaper-best-tool-to-save-webpages-and-read-later.html/feed 0 Staying safe on social networking sites http://shapeuplife.com/2012/06/staying-safe-on-social-networking-sites.html http://shapeuplife.com/2012/06/staying-safe-on-social-networking-sites.html#comments Mon, 25 Jun 2012 04:34:41 +0000 Sameer Khan http://shapeuplife.com/?p=462 Facebook and Twitter are two of the world’s most popular social networking sites. Not only can you sit at home and socialize, but thanks to handy applications you can update your status when you are out and about too. When you’re on the go and you want to check your Facebook account, you probably know [...]]]> Facebook and Twitter are two of the world’s most popular social networking sites. Not only can you sit at home and socialize, but thanks to handy applications you can update your status when you are out and about too.

When you’re on the go and you want to check your Facebook account, you probably know some useful tricks to getting online for free. Why use up some of your 3G allowance for the month or pay to connect to the internet when you can visit a cafe, order a drink and connect to their free WIFI? Plus, it doesn’t matter what phone you have or what network you’re on, whether you have an O2, iPhone or an Android Samsung, you’ll still be able to connect to the WIFI. If you use these social networking sites a lot then you might be keen to learn how you can improve your online security.

Tip 1 – Make your login password long and complicated. The more letters and numbers there are, the less likely it is to be hacked into. Try changing your password every few months to increase your security. In addition, never make your password something obvious like your middle name, your pet’s name or your favorite band. These are far too obvious. Plus, try having a different password for all your other logins – if someone got hold of one password, all your other accounts are left open for hacking into.

Tip 2 – Change your profile security settings so that your content is only visible to friends rather than the public. In addition, try and avoid posting statuses which tell everyone that you’re out. This could attract unwanted visitors to your home. Also, avoid putting too much detail on your profile, such as where you work and where you live.

Tip 3 – Some of your Facebook friends could have their accounts hacked into and they might send you spam emails unwillingly. Remember never to click on any suspicious looking emails or links.

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]]> http://shapeuplife.com/2012/06/staying-safe-on-social-networking-sites.html/feed 0 Readfa.st – Great tool to improve your reading speed http://shapeuplife.com/2011/10/great-tool-to-improve-your-reading-speed.html http://shapeuplife.com/2011/10/great-tool-to-improve-your-reading-speed.html#comments Sun, 30 Oct 2011 05:38:12 +0000 Sameer Khan http://shapeuplife.com/?p=444 Best way to improve reading speed in a scientific mannerAs research suggests the more you push yourself towards the limit, the more you tend to adapt yourself towards the same. Same goes with the reading process, as we try to push ourself towards our reading limits and try to go faster and faster, our reading speeds start showing improvements. I have personally tried this [...]]]> Best way to improve reading speed in a scientific mannerAs research suggests the more you push yourself towards the limit, the more you tend to adapt yourself towards the same. Same goes with the reading process, as we try to push ourself towards our reading limits and try to go faster and faster, our reading speeds start showing improvements. I have personally tried this technique and what I have realized is that it really works.

But mostly when we try to do it i.e. to go faster in reading, there is chance that we will be biased with ourself. So it may not be a more efficient method. So I came to know about another tool that may help to deal with this problem. The website is called Readfa.st and it will be really helpful for those who read articles online and its free.

 

It provides some text for practice but I have a better option for you, which will do two works at the same time. How about if you are reading an article online, fetch it in readfa.st and read it there itself by setting at your actual reading speed. Fetch any article in Readfa.st  is real easy, just get its bookmarklet and now whenever you are reading any article, just click the bookmarklet and the article will be fetched inside readfa.st where you can read it at any speed you want.

If you want you can increase or decrease your reading speed or just pause it. Give Readfa.st a chance, it really works.

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]]> http://shapeuplife.com/2011/10/great-tool-to-improve-your-reading-speed.html/feed 0 Car Sharing: A new way to contribute to the environment http://shapeuplife.com/2011/10/car-sharing-a-new-way-to-contribute-to-the-environment.html http://shapeuplife.com/2011/10/car-sharing-a-new-way-to-contribute-to-the-environment.html#comments Mon, 24 Oct 2011 10:39:07 +0000 Sameer Khan http://shapeuplife.com/?p=437 Car Sharing: A new way to contribute to the environmentOwning a car has always been a passion for men since Karl Benz invented the modern automobile in 1885. Now at present times when the credit is so cheap and easily available, the number of cars on streets are increasing like anything. Which inturn puts more stress over the present infrastructure which many a time [...]]]> Car Sharing: A new way to contribute to the environmentOwning a car has always been a passion for men since Karl Benz invented the modern automobile in 1885. Now at present times when the credit is so cheap and easily available, the number of cars on streets are increasing like anything. Which inturn puts more stress over the present infrastructure which many a time is found to be insufficient to handle the traffic produced by these cars on streets. And above all the stress it puts on environment.

Though many solutions for public transport are available for the masses today, but how would it be if public transport could be more private. Check out the car sharing concept which is already getting popular in Germany.

This car sharing concept can reduce 4-8 cars for one shared car. That would definitely would be a benefit for the environment, but might hurt some car manufacture’s revenue. Share your views what you think of it.

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]]> http://shapeuplife.com/2011/10/car-sharing-a-new-way-to-contribute-to-the-environment.html/feed 0 Create charts in microsoft excel in 2 easy steps http://shapeuplife.com/2011/10/create-charts-graphs-microsoft-excel-in-2-steps.html http://shapeuplife.com/2011/10/create-charts-graphs-microsoft-excel-in-2-steps.html#comments Tue, 18 Oct 2011 16:57:16 +0000 Sameer Khan http://shapeuplife.com/?p=423 how to create graphs and charts in microsoft excell Today’s tip is really very useful for everyone from students to professionals like engineers, accountants, speakers and managers. Microsoft might not have good image like Apple but its office software package is surely one good product. Microsoft excel is definitely one of the most used among the Microsoft Office package and one of the most [...]]]> how to create graphs and charts in microsoft excell Today’s tip is really very useful for everyone from students to professionals like engineers, accountants, speakers and managers. Microsoft might not have good image like Apple but its office software package is surely one good product. Microsoft excel is definitely one of the most used among the Microsoft Office package and one of the most essential too. I will show you to create charts and graphs for a given set of data in 2D  i.e. the 2 axis. Here is how to do it just two steps.

Step 1. Enter the set of data: in the first column enter the data you want on the x-axis or horizontal axis, in the second column enter the data you want on the y-axis or vertical axis, so the graph would be y vs x. I am putting some dates on the first(A) column i.e. x-axis and some my internet bill in the second(B) column, as shown in the screenshot below.

After entering the data select the data in the two columns you want the chart to be drawn for, as shown in the screenshot below. You can select the data by clicking the left click of the mouse and dragging it.

 

how to create graphs and charts in microsoft excell

Step 2. Once you have selected the data, go to the upper menu ribbon from where you can select the format you want your chart to be drawn. It could be any of the following type: column, line, pie, bar, scatter or area. I like column charts, so I will go ahead with that, as shown in the screenshot below.

how to create graphs and charts in microsoft excell The final chart for the above data would look like this:

how to create graphs and charts in microsoft excell

Among the customizations, you can change colour and type of the chart. So thats it, now you can see whatever data you want to see graphically. If you want to know further customizations just drop down your query in the comment form below. If you are not using microsoft office, I highly recommend you to get one.

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]]> http://shapeuplife.com/2011/10/create-charts-graphs-microsoft-excel-in-2-steps.html/feed 0 Get facebook friends birthdays in microsoft outlook calender http://shapeuplife.com/2011/10/facebook-friends-birthdays-microsoft-outlook-calender.html http://shapeuplife.com/2011/10/facebook-friends-birthdays-microsoft-outlook-calender.html#comments Fri, 14 Oct 2011 17:49:31 +0000 Sameer Khan http://shapeuplife.com/?p=401 facebook-birthday-statusesToday’s tip is for two kind of people: those who are on facebook most of the time and those who think that Facebook is really a waste of their time but don’t wanna miss a birthday of someone important   Actually I wanted to write this one from sometime. So here is how to never [...]]]> facebook-birthday-statusesToday’s tip is for two kind of people: those who are on facebook most of the time and those who think that Facebook is really a waste of their time but don’t wanna miss a birthday of someone important :)   Actually I wanted to write this one from sometime. So here is how to never miss anyone’s birthday again. Just follow the easy steps:

Step 1.  Login to Facebook and go to facebook’s birthday page.

Step 2. Go to end of the birthday page, and click the “Export Birthday’s” link as shown in the screenshot below.

 

Get facebook friends birthday in your microsoft outlook calender

 

Step 3. After clicking the “Export Birthday’s” link, a popup will appear containing a link. Click the link as shown in the screenshot below.

 

Get facebook friends birthday in your microsoft outlook calender

Step 4. After clicking the link a popup will come up asking for launching microsoft outlook, just hit the “Yes” button as shown in the screenshot below.

Get facebook friends birthday in your microsoft outlook calender

Step 5. It will launch the microsoft outlook with a popup window,  just click the ‘Yes’ button as shown in the screenshot below.

Get facebook friends birthdays in microsoft outlook calender

This will start fetching birthdays from your facebook profile, it will take a moment depending on your number of friends. Once the fetching will be done, you will see a new calendar by the name ‘Friend’s Birthdays’.

Get facebook friends birthdays in microsoft outlook calender

The good thing is as you can see from the screenshot above, you will get reminded of these birthdays year after year, never to worry if you are forgetting somebody’s birthday. So thats it!!  Soon I will be writing how to get the birthday reminders from facebook right on your mobile phone. So be in touch for more wonderful stuff about facebook. Get the next article by email.

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]]> http://shapeuplife.com/2011/10/facebook-friends-birthdays-microsoft-outlook-calender.html/feed 0 25 Most Influential Business Management Books http://shapeuplife.com/2011/10/25-most-influential-business-management-books-read-tips-list-library-course.html http://shapeuplife.com/2011/10/25-most-influential-business-management-books-read-tips-list-library-course.html#comments Wed, 05 Oct 2011 18:27:24 +0000 Sameer Khan http://shapeuplife.com/?p=352 25 Most Influential Business Management Books that changed the worldFew weeks back TIME magazine shared a list of 25 Most Influential Business Management Books. Their list is so awesome, that I decided to share it on my blog. I have already started following the list. My first one is How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie, which I have already ordered. [...]]]> 25 Most Influential Business Management Books that changed the worldFew weeks back TIME magazine shared a list of 25 Most Influential Business Management Books. Their list is so awesome, that I decided to share it on my blog. I have already started following the list. My first one is How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie, which I have already ordered. Here is what TIME magazine says about their list.

There’s never a shortage of new books about how to be more effective in business. Most of them are forgettable, but here are 25 that changed the way we think about management — from the iconic “How to Win Friends and Influence People” to groundbreaking tomes like “Guerilla Marketing” and quick reads like the “The One Minute Manager”.

So here are 25 Most Influential Business Management Books:

These books might not make you Warren Buffet, Bill Gates or Laxmi Mittal, but they definitely can make your life and business more effective and more productive.

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]]> http://shapeuplife.com/2011/10/25-most-influential-business-management-books-read-tips-list-library-course.html/feed 1 Dominos Pizza coupon codes discount for October http://shapeuplife.com/2011/10/dominos-pizza-coupon-codes-discount-for-october.html http://shapeuplife.com/2011/10/dominos-pizza-coupon-codes-discount-for-october.html#comments Mon, 03 Oct 2011 10:19:26 +0000 Sameer Khan http://shapeuplife.com/?p=343 dominos pizza coupon codesWho likes pizza?? Well I know you do. But what about a pizza with some economic benefits along side your regular pizza order. Well Dominos offers a lot of discount offers coupons for all Dominos pizza lovers. These coupons provide a variety of benefits ranging from a free coke, free choco lava cake, free ginger [...]]]> dominos pizza coupon codesWho likes pizza?? Well I know you do. But what about a pizza with some economic benefits along side your regular pizza order. Well Dominos offers a lot of discount offers coupons for all Dominos pizza lovers.

These coupons provide a variety of benefits ranging from a free coke, free choco lava cake, free ginger bread along side cheezy dip. Or may be discounts ranging from 10% – 35% on an order of medium or large dominos pizza. And sometimes as good as buy one pizza and get another one free of same or lesser value.

How to use the coupons ?

You can redeem your coupon online @ Dominos OR by calling your nearest Dominos outlet for home delivery.

Note: Sometimes while making an order on phone, they will ask for a printed coupon. I am posting some codes in the comment section of this post. Please feel free to share if you also have some other coupon codes.

For getting coupons directly to your inbox, please subscribe here.

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]]> http://shapeuplife.com/2011/10/dominos-pizza-coupon-codes-discount-for-october.html/feed 5 Get google plus notifications right on your desktop http://shapeuplife.com/2011/09/get-google-plus-notifications-right-on-your-desktop.html http://shapeuplife.com/2011/09/get-google-plus-notifications-right-on-your-desktop.html#comments Thu, 29 Sep 2011 08:06:13 +0000 Sameer Khan http://shapeuplife.com/?p=332 Get google plus notifications right on your desktopThis is an interesting tip, for those who share a lot on Google plus and love to be in touch with friends through it. But always keeping a tab open for Google plus is not the way to go. Its boring and tedious. How about you get all your friends update right on your desktop [...]]]> Get google plus notifications right on your desktopThis is an interesting tip, for those who share a lot on Google plus and love to be in touch with friends through it. But always keeping a tab open for Google plus is not the way to go. Its boring and tedious. How about you get all your friends update right on your desktop without even opening the browser window. Well now you can do just that by using G+ Notifier. Its a great app to interact with your Google plus friend circles and its absolutely free. I will show you what more it can do.

G+ Notifier periodically checks for new notifications in Google+, whenever a new notification comes:

It shows number of unread messages in the notification icon

Google plus notifications taskbar popup balloon

Shows Windows balloon notifications or Snarl popups when new notifications are detected

Google plus Shows Windows balloon notifications or Snarl popups

Popup notifications window for quick access to notifications without launching browser

Popup notifications access notifications without launching browser
Easy (or automatic, if enabled) installation of updates. It requires .NET 4.0 version.

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]]> http://shapeuplife.com/2011/09/get-google-plus-notifications-right-on-your-desktop.html/feed 0 Make your browsing experience superfast and super awesome http://shapeuplife.com/2011/09/fastest-fox-makes-your-browsing-fast-addon-firefox-browse-google.html http://shapeuplife.com/2011/09/fastest-fox-makes-your-browsing-fast-addon-firefox-browse-google.html#comments Wed, 28 Sep 2011 19:11:02 +0000 Sameer Khan http://shapeuplife.com/?p=322 fastest fox fastest mozilla firefox web experience addonGuys today what I am sharing with you is really supercool and super awesome. This is a firefox addon called FastestFox. It is the first addon I install after installing mozilla firefox. FastestFox fulfills almost all your extra browsing needs you might have ever dream of. Here is a list of things you can do [...]]]> fastest fox fastest mozilla firefox web experience addonGuys today what I am sharing with you is really supercool and super awesome. This is a firefox addon called FastestFox. It is the first addon I install after installing mozilla firefox. FastestFox fulfills almost all your extra browsing needs you might have ever dream of. Here is a list of things you can do with Fastest Fox.

Get Related articles on wikipedia:

FatestFox adds a “related articles” sidebar to the left side of Wikipedia.

SmarterFox adds a "related articles" sidebar to the left side of Wikipedia

Search Google, Wikipedia in single click:

This is one of the most lovable feature of fastest fox. Whenever you select-highlight a word after installing fastest fox, a popup bubble comes up showing the google, wikipedia or many other services which you can select from options. Also it will show the definition and meaning summary if u don’t click the popup on the same page itself. Isn’t it cool?

Also it adds a link for searching wikipedia in the context menu, if you want to go that way. Here is a screenshot:

fastestfox-firefox-addon-Search Google, Wikipedia in single click

Get Google search results directly in your address bar making it the awesomebar:

One of the most useful features. SmarterFox extends the Awesomebar (also called the URL bar) so that Google search results automatically appear as you type. This way you do not have to click though to Google in order to search. Saves time and effort.

Get Google search results directly in your address bar

The qLauncher:

The qLauncher allows you quickly visit your favorite webpages. To invoke the qLauncher press Ctrl-Space. If you are using a Mac or Ubiquity, you might need to change the shortcut since Ctrl-Space might already be in use. (Do so by going to Tools -> SmarterFox). After the qLauncher panel is open simply press another key to open the corresponding site. qLauncher’s settings integrate right into Firefox’s bookmark system so it will be backed up alongside your other bookmarks if you use something like Xmarks. The bookmarks for qLauncher are included in the folder named “qLauncher” on your bookmarks menu. To add a bookmark to qLauncher simply click on the + button on the qLauncher itself or copy it into the folder. To assign a shortcut key, tag the bookmark with “qlauncher:k” where k is the key you want to use. You do not have to do this however: qLauncher can pick one for you automatically. If you find the bookmark folder obtrusive you can disable the qLauncher and delete it.

Convert all emails and URL texts into links:

This feature converts all the texts like http://shapeuplife.com into clickable links. SmarterFox can also convert text urls into clickable links and automatically copy on select or paste on right click (NOT enabled by default).

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