Pocket: How to read it later among computer, Android and iOS

When we come across something funny or useful online, we may not have enough time to enjoy at that moment. Thereby a "read it later" function will be very useful. Although current browsers, such as Google Chrome and Firefox, support bookmark well, the built-in bookmark feature is just less convenient when it comes to another computer or platform. Here I will show you how to use "read it later" feature and share webpages among PC, Mac, Android, Kindle Fire, iPad and iPhone with free Pocket.

As I have mentioned, there are five versions of Pocket app, which supports both Google Chrome browser and Firefox browser. In this guide, I will show you how to use Pocket to read it later between Google Chrome and Android Google Nexus 7.

1. Launch Google Play on the Nexus 7. Search for "Pocket" and tap to install. If you are using Kindle Fire or any other mobile device, search and install Pocket from the corresponding app store.

2. Launch Pocket app on the device. Register. Create a pocket account with your email address if you don't have an account.

3. As per the tips, tap one app to add to Pocket. Here I tapped Chrome.

According to the demo below, go to a webpage, select "Options" icon in the top right corner, then select "Share..." and "Add to Pocket". Go back to Pocket app on the device, you will find the webpage added. You can also read videos, images or any other webpages later in this way.

4. Now it's time to check the "read it later" function on the computer browser (Google Chrome). Before switching to computer, go to Pocket (on the mobile device) and tap "Email Me Instructions".

5. Check your email (on computer). You will find an activation email and an instruction email.
Activate your account first and click "Pocket for your computer" link from the instruction email.

6. I recommend you to click "Or install the bookmarklet" button instead of "INSTALL". The "INSTALL" button creates a desktop version for pocket, but the bookmarklet feature will add an "Pocket" button to the browser tool bar, which is what most readers indeed want.

7. Click "Log In" to log in with your Pocket account. The Pocket button will be installed in seconds and display next to the browser address bar (or tool bar).

8. Go to a webpage on the computer and click the Pocket bookmark button to add to Pocket. You can also add tags for different kinds of webpages.

9. Check Pocket on your mobile device. The webpage added from computer browser now display on my Nexus 7.

Root Kindle Fire with one click

Rooting a Kindle Fire is not a difficult job. But many people still think rooting is very dangerous. They think the tutorials are too long and hard to understand. Actually any hacking do has risk, so does rooting. If you don’t follow as the tutorial says, the Kindle Fire may brick. But things will get easy if you use a one click rooting tool – Kindle Fire Utility. With it you can just root your Kindle Fire I one click. No need to read any tutorials any more.
The latest KFU (Kindle Fire Utility) is version 0.9.9. It works only for the original Kindle Fire. Click here to download KFU.

 Main features:
1. Suitable for the latest version 6.3.x
2. Full one click root
3. Auto Detect ADB/Fastboot Online/Offline.
4. Auto download update.zip from Amazon.
5. Auto download and install TWRP Recovery.
6. Auto download and install FirFireFire Bootloader.
Before running the KFU, I suggest you install some USB drivers. Extract the zip file and click “install drivers” in the folder. Install drivers as the prompt says.

It must point out that this KFU doesn'work 100% perfectly (of course it's safe). At least my Kindle Fire fails to root with KFU. If you don't succeed, please refer to this post: How to root Kindle Fire. It's a bit complicated but really works.

How to make Android phone as WIFI hotspot

WIFI give us an easy access to Internet. You can find WIFI hotspots in most places like Mcdonald’s, Starbucks and mall. But the WIFI doesn’t spread everywhere. You have to face the problem that you need to surf the Internet buy your laptop can’t search any WIFI hotspot nearby. In this condition, an Android phone with 3G or 4G SIM card will help you. We can set the Android phone as a portable hotspot. The following is the tutorial.

Get into the “Settings” menu on your Android phone. Choose “More” option at the first “WIRELESS & NETWORKS” sub menu.

Choose “Tethering & portable” hotspot to enter the hotspot. Tap “Portable WLAN hotspot” to activate it.

At this time a window will pop up. Choose “OK” to confirm.

Now you’ve activate the hotspot mode. Choose “Portable WLAN hotspot settings” to set some configuration.

All the settings are done. Now just take out your device and search the nearby hot spot and you will find your Android phone hotspot.

You can see the connected devices on your phone.

There are two things you need to concern when you set your phone as hotspot:
1. The SIM card traffic may not be enough. Try not to do things which consume much traffic like watching video online. Remember, the traffic of a SIM card is paid, not unlimited!
2. The phone battery will consume faster. You’d better carry one more battery or a mobile power.

How to make your Kindle Fire HD faster

When we first got the Kindle Fire HD in hand, it ran fast and swiftly. But with more apps installed, it becomes laggy and laggy. Even when there is only the built-in reading app running, it may not respond in time at times. In this case, you can follow steps below to force stop the useless apps running in the background insidiously.

1. Slide down from the top of Kindle Fire HD and select "More...". For Kindle Fire users, tap the top right-hand corner of the display and select "More...".

2. Select "Applications", then "Installed Applications".

3. Go to "Filter by" and set it as "Running Applications". All running apps will display.

Select and tap an app that you don't want to run, tap "Force stop", then tap "OK" to stop running the app in the background. Likewise, manually stop all the apps that you don't want to run. Note that apps with "Kindle" icon are not allowed to be stopped manually.

Once the apps running in the background get cleared, you will find the device running much faster.

However, these apps will keep running in the background again the next time you start them. A recommended solution is that remove all the unpractical apps from the device and only leave the ones that you mostly use. Make sure to fully quit an app every time you finish the use (Go to "Options" or "Settings" to select "Quit" when you want to end an app).

Nevertheless, if your Kindle Fire HD device gets crashed on a frequent base, you may have to do the factory reset. You will lose everything sideloaded after a hard reset, but all stuff purchased from Amazon store will stay under your account. What's more, your device will really get faster.

Dim Kindle Fire Screen Beyond System Setting

Last night my Kindle Paperwhite was charging, so I use my old Kindle Fire to past the bed time.

After 15 minutes reading, my eyes felt tired by the bright Kindle Fire screen, then I drop down the menu bar and change the brightness. Then comes the annoying part, even if I turn down the brightness to the minimum level, the screen is still too bright in a total dark night.

Kept reading another 10 minutes, I gave up and went to sleep. My eyes were just feeling pretty uncomfortable.

So finding a solution for the screen brightness problem became my first job this morning, until I get an app called "ScreenDim" in Amazon App Store.

This app has got 3 main features:

• Dim your screen beyond device's normal settings;
• Create 5 presets (Night 1-3, Day 1-2);
• Adjust both backlight brightness and contrast.

Paying $0.99 you can get the full version. Then run the app to make some simple settings.

In this page you can set 5 presets to handle different situation to make the app pretty easy to use. And after my tests, 32% of the brightness in ScreenDim equals the minimum system brightness volume.

Which means, with this app you can get the brightness range at least 30% wider than system defaults. By wake up the notification list you can enter the app's setting screen.

ScreenDim is the first dimmer that can both adjust backlight brightness below what the system normally permits and dim the contrast. Some dimmers only lower the contrast, which keeps the black areas unchanged and glowing gray on LCD devices when in the dark, or only change the backlight within the range normally allowed by the OS.

In the image below you can see how the customer are saying about this app:

This is the full, paid version ($0.99) of this app. A trial version is also available for testing on your device. 

5 must-have apps for Kindle Fire

Kindle Fire is not only an e-book reader but also an Android tablet. We can install many apps on it to have more fun. For some newbies who haven’t used Android before, it’s confused about choosing suitable apps as there are so many useless and boring ones, some are even malware. So here comes this article – it introduces 5 must-have apps for Kindle Fire. They are very useful and highly praised. These 5 apps can all be purchased at Amazon store.

1. ES File Explorer

We all know that Android is an open system. It’s easy to custom our own system on an Android device. You may always need to modify some system files or crack apps so a file manager is necessary. ES File Explorer is just an excellent file manager. It gives you total control of your phone’s file management. This handy utility lets you cut and copy, rename, search, delete, and explore the properties of your phone’s files and folders.

2. Winamp

The original Kindle Fire’s music player has very limited features. So you need a professional music player. Winamp is a good choice. This famous music player have launched Android version. With it you can really whip the llama, and your music collection, into shape with this full-featured app. Winamp let you control your music library, listen to your favorite tunes, and even stream live radio programs. In addition, you can experience variable equalizer options which make the sound effect better.

3. Maxthon Mobile

Amazon claims that Kindle Fire use a “silk browser”, which means it runs very smoothly. But in fact the original browser is not as good as it advertised. It respond slowly and often stucks. You need to change a browser. I recommend the Maxthon Mobile. This fast, secure, smart and fun web browser app is packed with features, including Download Manager, Speed Dial, Super Gesture. It also performances good in HTML5 so you can experience some fantastic web page effect on your tablet.

4. USA TODAY

We live in an information age. It’s necessary for us to know the latest news and events quickly. USA Today is the very app for doing this job. The nation’s news from USA TODAY is accessible 24/7 on your tablet. Staying informed has never been this quick, easy or enjoyable. It has seven columns: Headlines, Scores, Weather, Photos, Snapshots, Offline Reading and Breaking news. Now you can know what are happening in the outside world just when lying in sofa comfortably with a Kindle Fire at hand!

5. Netflix

Netflix is the world’s leading subscription service for watching TV episodes and movies on your phone. This Netflix mobile application delivers the best experience anywhere, anytime. Get the free app as a part of your Netflix membership and you can instantly watch thousands of TV episodes & movies on your phone. If you are not a Netflix member sign up for Netflix and start enjoying immediately on your phone with our one-month free trial.

Convert e-book online

People who love reading e-book may always meet the problem of converting e-book files. This is due to the fact that different e-book readers support different e-book formats. Generally we can use the professional e-book converter like Epubor eBook Converter or Calibre. This is a good method indeed. But someone just think it’s not easy enough. So today I’ll introduce you a simple way of converting e-books – converting online.

There are some website provide the converting features. They allow you to upload your file to convert and the converted files will be sent to your email or you can download directly. Here we take two websites for example. Just see the steps below. It’s very easy.

1. ZAMZAR

Step1 Add e-books and set output format

Click “Choose Files” to add e-books from your PC. You can select multiple files a time (Press “Ctrl” and “A” together). Make sure the e-books are non-DRM. The added e-books will display in the list.
ZAMZAR support some mainstream document formats. Here I choose epub. You don’t need to set any options.

Step2 Fill in email address and convert

ZAMZAR will send the converted files to email. So you need to fill the blank with your email address. Click “Convert” and your e-book will upload to the server. This will take some time. It depends on your file size and network. ZAMZAR will email you after uploading finished.

Step3 Download converted files

Check the email from ZAMZAR and click the download link. A new window will pop up in your browser. Click “Download Now” button and your download will start several seconds later.

2. Online ebook converter

Step1 Set output format and upload file

 Click the left tab to set an output format then add e-books from your PC.

Step2 Set options and convert e-books

You can set some options for you e-books. If you don’t want to set anything, just click “Convert file” to start converting. Your e-books will be uploaded.

Step3 Get converted e-books

Once uploading finishes, the converting begin. This won’t take so long. When conversion complete, a download window will pop up. If you close the window carelessly, don't worry, just click “direct download link” to download file again. Remember you can just click the download link ten times a day at most.

How to transfer Google Chrome bookmarks to another computer

When we use Google Chrome browser in more than one case, say at the office and at office, or when we upgrade our computer, we normally hope to transfer the browser data from one computer to another. Since Google bounds user data with an email (Gmail) account, we can easily transfer them among different devices. Here I will tell you how to transfer Chrome bookmarks to another computer (Chrome) in two ways.

Method 1: Sign in to Google Chrome
Step1: Sign in on the first browser. Click the options button in the top right corner, then select "Sign in to Chrome...".

Step2: Input your Gmail account and passport. You can stay on the first computer for some time if this is the first time for you to sign in, so that the browser bookmarks and browsing history will be totally uploaded to the cloud.

Step3: Sign in (Repeat Step1 & 2) on the second computer. You will find all bookmarks displayed under the address bar.

Chrome on the first computer (Win7):

Chrome on the second computer (Mac):

If you don't want to keep signing to Chrome, click options button and select "Signed in as your email address", then "Disconnect your Google Account...".

You can also sign in to Chrome browser on your Android phone, iPhone, Nexus 7, iPad or other mobile devices to sync the browsing bookmark and the like.

Method 2: Export and import Chrome bookmarks
Step1: On the first computer, click options button in the top right corner of Chrome. Select "Bookmarks" -> "Bookmark manager".

Step2: Click "Organize" and select "Export bookmarks from HTML file...". Then your Chrome bookmark data will be stored in an HTML file.

Step3: Copy the HTML file to a removable drive (your smartphone or flash drive). Connect the removable drive to the second computer.

Step4: On the second computer, go to bookmark manager and select "Import bookmarks from HTML file...". Locate the HTML file from the removable drive and import.