It solves that problem where someone sends you a link or you stumble across an article online that interests you, but you either don’t have the time or don’t feel like reading it right now.

It’s simple to use. All you do is this:

1. One-time setup:
   • Drag the Instapaper bookmarklet to your browser’s toolbar.
   • Install either the free or pro version of Instapaper on your iPhone or iTouch.
2. When you find something that interests you:
• Click the “Read Later” bookmark on your toolbar.
• Let Instapaper save the content to your account.
• Read it later.

Why not just use bookmarks?

Sure, you could use bookmarks, but at least for me, bookmarks are more about sites that I visit regularly, and I don’t want to bother with managing a temporary “to read” folder of bookmarks. Not only that, but if you’re reading articles on your iPhone later (you can also read at your comptuer via the Instapaper site), Instapaper gives you a great interface that’s optimized for the iPhone and is easier on the eyes (no zooming in or worry about horizontal scrolling if the website isn’t optimized for your iPhone).

What else does Instapaper do for me?

Along with optimizing text for reading on your iPhone, Instapaper gives you cool stuff like the following (from the Instapaper site):

• Saves web pages
• Offline reading
• Saves paper
• Makes you read more (I like that this is listed as a feature!)
• Remembers your position (very cool)
• Tilt scrolling
• Adjustable fonts and text size
• Lots more

Instapaper is one of those apps (like Evernote) that always makes me say to myself, “Why don’t I use this more?”

Here’s a demo video:

Happy reading!

The key ingredient? An Xbox 360.

It’s a gaming powerhouse, but, ironically, we own just a single game for it: The 360 incarnation of the Katamari series, which we also own on our iPhones. So it’s clearly not about the gaming, though it’s good to know the option is there. (I haven’t really been much of a video gamer since the Super Nintendo days of Zelda, Street Fighter II, and other now-classics.)

So here’s how to get plenty of entertainment in your living room for about $13/month and about $230 in up-front investment:

Buy an Xbox 360. The $199 arcade version is all you need.

Get a long Ethernet cable to run from your router to your Xbox 360 ($10-20). Don’t want to string a cable through your house? Other options include the $99 Xbox 360 wireless adapter or the DIY bridging of your laptop’s wifi connection (I’ve done this; it works but isn’t too reliable).

Subscribe to the 1-DVD-at-a-time with unlimited streaming $8.99/month or higher Netflix account (I have the 2-DVDs-at-a-time with unlimited streaming $13.99/month account).

Hook yourself up with an Xbox Live Gold membership (it’s $49.99/year with options to pay monthly or quarterly, so roughly $4-5/month). That will allow you to use the Xbox 360 to stream Netflix with the high-quality player.

If you want to stream Hulu, Amazon Video on Demand, and more, pay the one-time $29.99  fee for PlayOn Media Server, which allows your Xbox to stream content from the Internet via your computer (there’s also a Netflix module included with PlayOn, but the quality is not as good as the version built-in to the Xbox 360, which even streams some content in high-definition).

That’s it! With this setup, you can enjoy streaming movies like Step Brothers, premium channel shows like Dexter (I recently watched Season 1 and am in the middle of Season 2 via Netflix), and even watch new episodes of current shows like Heroes via Hulu — all from the comfort of your living room.

Sure, you could opt for the $99 Roku Netflix player, but then you’d miss out on streaming Hulu to your TV, along with the ability to playback any video, picture, or music you’ve downloaded to your computer… not only that, but your Xbox Live account gives you access to new movie rentals and a whole universe of gaming, if that’s your thing.

(Thanks, Justin, for introducing me to the beauty of the Xbox 360.)

Since the release on Tuesday, the Twittersphere has been blowing up with mentions of Screenr, either people reviewing the app or posting links to their screencasts.

When we launched, ReadWriteWeb posted a review that was syndicated in The New York Times Online the next day. CNET contacted us to review the new app, and wrote a review called Easiest screencasts ever: Screenr, declaring that Screenr is “the best option for creating screencasts fast and getting them posted immediately. All you do is let the Java-powered recording app load from the Screenr Web page and hit a button to record a screencast of up to five minutes.”

And yup, it really is that easy. Here’s all you do to create a screencast:

1. Go to Screenr.com.
2. Click one of the Record buttons.
3. Size the recording frame to meet your needs:

   

4. Click the red record button to record and narrate.
5. Click Done to finish and preview your screencast.
6. Type an interesting description and click the Tweet It! button to publish & tweet your screencast:

   

7. Optionally, check the box to Don’t tweet this screencast, and click the Post It! button to publish.

After that, sharing your screencast is just as easy. Here’s a quick screencast I created that shows you how to share it:

The review on Mashable says this: “If you want to create a simple and straightforward video tutorial that’s less than 5 minutes, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a better tool.”

Comments from Twitter users echo that sentiment, and you can browse some of @Screenr’s favorites here.

So whether it’s a software tutorial, a website overview, or even a hurricane update, you can use Screenr to record anything on your screen.

Enjoy!

And Windows Vista is the worst. Since getting my new Vista machine about a year ago, it’s given me nothing but headaches — even after regularly fine-tuning it and scanning for registry and other issues with great apps like System Mechanic. My 5-year-old XP machine typically runs faster, so I often switch to it while Vista is experiencing some performance problem.

That all changed almost instantly today when I happened to discover the profound impact that Windows Visual Effects can have on the degradation of system performance.

Although they’re nice to have, I really don’t care about all the silly Visual Effects like the following:

• Animate controls and elements inside windows
• Fade or slide menus into view
• Show shadows under mouse pointer
• Show translucent selection triangle
• Use drop shadows for icon labels on the desktop

All these Visual Effects just add up to slowing the performance of your system.

If you really want Windows Vista to fly and get incredibly fast performance — to have your computer really live up to the potential of its processor speed — then disable the Windows Visual Effects.

Here’s how to disable the Windows Visual Effects in Vista:

1. Click the Start menu.
2. Type (or copy & paste) systempropertiesadvanced.
3. Hit Enter.
4. The Advanced tab of System Properties displays.
5. Under the Performance section, click Settings:
   
6. On the first tab, Visual Effects, select the radio button to Adjust for best performance:
   
7. Click Apply and wait a few minutes while your system adjusts the settings.

It may look shocking at first — just like Windows 98, in fact — but you’ll notice an immediate boost in speed that, to me, is well worth the sacrifice in aesthetics.

And, of course, you can play with re-enabling the various Visual Effects settings, if there are some settings you can’t live without. For example, if you like seeing photo thumbnails in Windows Explorer, make sure you re-enable the option to Show thumbnails instead of icons.

You do lose out on some cool Vista features I’ve gotten used to, like being able to Alt-Tab and click your desired application, but I’m willing to live without that.

And you can still set your display to ClearType after you make this change, too:

1. Click Show desktop.
2. Right-click on your desktop and select Personalize.
3. Click Window Color and Appearance.
4. Click Effects and select the checkbox to Use the following method to smooth edges of screen fonts (notice my sweet new Windows 98-style window in below screenshot):
   
5. Select ClearType from the drop-down menu and click OK.

Enjoy having an insanely fast Windows Vista experience!

Note: One issue I noticed after disabling all Visual Effects is that Chrome kept crashing. But installing the Chrome Beta fixed that problem (thanks, @articulatebrian, for that Chrome Beta tip).

I already had a Garmin Connect account and had even used it to successfully upload some old data off my FR 305 way back when, so I almost immediately jumped on the news and started uploading all of my more recent runs to the site. I was immediately hooked.

Along with basic run data like your total distance, pace per mile, and more, you get to visualize data like the following:

• Elevation
• Heart rate (I just re-ordered the heart rate monitor I lost last year in Puerto Rico)
• Speed

You can review all the cool Garmin Connect features here.

One of the coolest features is the ability to Replay Activities, which allows you to play back your run while you watch your route on an integrated Google Map, and your changing pace, elevation, and distance traveled.

You can track goals, see split data, and run reports. You can customize the name, description, and type of each activitiy, and choose whether each one should be public or private, so that you can share links to your runs with your friends, or keep them private.

As a technology guy who’s also hooked on running (training for my third marathon this summer), I love this stuff. I just finished off a record month today (215.8 miles) with a 15-mile run. And now, with Garmin Connect, I can analyze my run data like never before.

Google acquired the company for more than $50 million in 2007 and just recently relaunched the service as Google Voice, adding some cool new features. Currently, only those of us with GrandCentral accounts who activate Google Voice can use it, but you can request an invite here (or try to buy an account on eBay).

In the meantime, here are some of the highlights of Google Voice:

• All incoming calls to one number: Though I haven’t jumped on board yet, I could give out my single number to everyone I know, and control when and where those calls ring.
• Custom ring schedules: One of the really cool things about Google Voice is that you can set up custom ring schedules for each of your phones. For example, if I’m using Google Voice to direct work-related calls to my home number, I probably only want that to happen during weekday business hours and not on weekends. Done. Likewise, if I’m traveling and don’t want to miss a call from my customers, I probably want to have my Google Voice number go directly to my iPhone and not even bother ringing my home number. Done.

  

• Free outgoing calls: Call anywhere in the U.S. free of charge. Other people will even see your Google Voice number as the caller ID number. And like Skype, there are nominal charges for international calls.
• SMS Messages: You can send and receive text messages right through your Google Voice account. I tested this using my account on my iPhone with a friend and his iPhone, and it worked great. It was smart enough to use the iPhone text messaging app and to display the text as coming from my Google Voice number.
• Call groups: Using your Google contacts and groups, you can control whose calls ring which of your phones. So if I always want calls from friends and family to ring through only to my iPhone and even play a particular voicemail greeting, I can do so.

  

• Voicemail transcription: If you miss a call or have it sent directly to voicemail, get an email with the transcribed voicemail and a link to the message. You can even opt to receive notification of new voicemails via text message.

Gmail-style user interface: The entire Google Voice experience is managed through a slick, Gmail-like interface that will be familiar to anyone who already uses Gmail:

Lots more features are outlined here.

Google loves to be the inbox for the world’s information, and the company is giving us a lot of incentive to make the switch and manage all of our incoming calls through Google Voice. I’m likely going to make the jump.

Read TechCrunch’s recent review of Google Voice here.

Unlike many of those emails people forward to you, this virus is real and if you’re using a Windows PC, it doesn’t hurt to take some quick preventive measure. You can Google it to learn more, or check out this CNET FAQ.

The two best things you can do are the following:

1. Make sure you run Windows Auto Update.
2. Run the BitDefender Removal Tool (either the Web-based version on the left of that page or the downloadable EXE version) to scan your system and, if necessary, remove the virus.

After you run the scan, if you see something like this, you’re good to go:

So spread the word and make this virus a non-issue.

(Thanks, Adam, for the heads-up.)

I launched the app, typed in my user credentials, clicked the “Activate” button, and thought I was on my way to a quick and easy way of using salesforce.com wherever I was. But lo and behold, I was presented with an error screen.

I replied to the email from salesforce.com that had promoted the new “Lite” version of the app — a smart move on the company’s part since previously salesforce.com was charging for mobile use and it just didn’t seem worth it for my company to pay them even more than we already are just to access our data from an iPhone app — and my first instinct was to type the details of the error message from my iPhone into the email.

“Wait,” I thought, “that’s silly.”

The iPhone is a Web device with a very simple and handy feature: Screen capture. Just as you can do at your computer (using built-in OS features on your Mac or PC, or using an even more powerful tool like SnagIt), the iPhone allows you to take screenshots of whatever you see on screen (haven’t you always wondered how they get those screenshots into all those reviews?).

Here’s how to take iPhone screenshots:

1. Hold down the home button.
2. Press and release the sleep button (top right of device).
3. You’ll hear a camera click and the screen will flash white.
4. Go to your Camera Roll and voila! There’s your new screenshot (saved as a .JPG photo).
5. Tap the photo and email it away.

So that’s exactly what I did when I got that Salesforce Mobile error. Rather than describing the problem to salesforce.com support, I showed them this screenshot:

Enjoy!

On my Windows computers, I’ve started using a “Junk” folder at the root level of my hard drive (C:\Junk) with a corresponding alias / shortcut on my desktop to stash all the temporary files with which I work during the day and don’t want cluttering up my desktop. It also allows me to save disk space by regularly purging the folder’s contents, and not including unnecessary files in my automated backups (via Mozy).

I do, however, keep a handful of program and folder shortcuts on my desktop. Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to keep those organized — and even hidden or displayed with just a double-click on the desktop?

With a really cool little utility called Fences, now you can.

After installation, Fences offers to organize your current desktop items for you: It groups them into logical categories and creates virtual “fences” around each group, giving you the ability to move each group of icons where you want it on your desktop.

Then you can double-click to make all fences invisible, giving you that clean desktop. You can even specify which fences or individual icons you don’t want to hide.

It’s a simple concept, but really goes a long way in helping you feel more organized when working on your computer.

(Thanks, Adam, for the tip.)

I’d heard of Microsoft OneNote and had even tried it out way back when, but didn’t like that all the notes and information I created were “stuck” on my local computer and not accessible via any Web browser.

Enter  Evernote — it was like a Web-based version of OneNote, Tim said, where your data gets indexed, tagged, and even OCR’d (Optical Character Recognition), such that any text in documents you scan gets automatically converted to digital text and searchable in your account. I was intrigued.

I soon signed up for a free account and have found Evernote to be even better than I expected. The idea is simple and the tagline is really true: Remember everything. The application creates a timeline of documents for you, so that you can get a virtual history book of your digital life for everything you input to it — be it simple notes, task lists, PDF docs, photos you take (e.g., wine labels, birthday cards, business cards etc.).

Say you have a stack of business cards you don’t want laying around. Just scan them all (or take photos of them), upload them to your Evernote account, add some tags (or let the OCR do its thing), and you can always search for these business cards alongside every other piece of information in your life.

You can input via a number of methods:

• Web app
• Desktop app (Windows or Mac)
• Mobile device (iPhone or Windows Mobile)

I did, of course, immediately install the Evernote iPhone app and it’s quickly become one of my favorites.

As outlined on the company’s site, I can capture a number of different input types via my iPhone from anywhere, enabling me to do all of the following:

• Create and edit new notes on the fly
• Snap a photo right into your account
• Record a quick voice memo
• Easily access all of your notes
• Select notes for offline viewing

The sync between the iPhone app and my Web-based account happens almost immediately. I can then jump into my Web account and email myself (or anyone else) any of my notes, reminders, or documents.

The basic account is free and allows 40 MB of uploads per month. The premium account is $5/month or $45/year and gives you 500 MB of uploads per month, additional file type support, stronger security, and more. I haven’t upgraded to premium yet, but the more I start using and depending on Evernote, the more likely it is that I’ll upgrade.

Start organizing and remembering all those little inputs in your life today.

Happy New Year!