Showing posts with label Saves. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Saves. Show all posts

Saturday, March 24, 2012

Callnote Records Skype Calls and Saves the Audio to Evernote Automatically [Downloads]

 Win/Mac: We've discussed a few ways to record Skype calls in the past, but they tend to be pretty hit-or-miss. As long as the audio is the only part you're worried about, CallNote can record your calls and then save the audio file to your Evernote account immediately as soon as it's finished recording.


Callnote is pretty simple to use. Fire up the app, head over to the Evernote tab to log in to Evernote, and while Skype is open and running click to record, stop recording, or play back what's been recorded, so you can test before your call or podcast begins. The app allows you to record up to eight participants, and includes a note when the audio is uploaded to Evernote with the attendees names and the call time and duration included. You can set the process to take place automatically—as in the app starts recording as soon as the call begins, stops when it ends, and uploads immediately after it stops, or you can toggle triggers in between so you can manually select the destination notebook.


The app is free, and can be downloaded directly from the developer or directly from the Skype App Store. Do you record Skype calls, or use a different method? Share your alternatives and suggestions in the comments below.

Monday, March 19, 2012

Guestmob Saves You Money on Hotels, but Plays a Little Russian Roulette to Get the Best Deal [Travel]

 New webapp Guestmob promises that their algorithms and carefully curated relationships with hotels in its markets will save you a good deal of money when you book your next vacation. Looking at the prices the service offers, they can definitely deliver on their promised discounts—the catch is you have to be willing to give up a little control about where you stay to get the best price.


Guestmob is available in about 20 major US markets, including cities like New York City, Washington DC, Dallas, Los Angeles, Seattle, and more. Each city is broken up into regions, and once you're registered and logged in (you can sign up with Facebook or create an account via email) you can select your destination and the dates of your visit. You'll see the regions of the city, the hotels in that area, and the average room prices for each location. Select the region you'd like to stay in, and you'll get more information about the specific hotels in each area, and you'll be able to see how much Guestmob can save you over already-published booking prices at other travel sites.


 When I tested it, Guestmob was able to save me about 15% off over the lowest available rates for all four hotels in the New York area I searched for the same dates. Here's the catch: when you book, you book a region, and you don't know which hotel you're staying in until Guestmob finishes the negotiations for you. This only matters if you're worried about one of the hotels in a region, and from what I could see, all of the hotels in every region I browsed were all well rated. Even so, you have to be willing to give up that control to get the additional bargain. If you land a hotel you hate, your booking is fully refundable, and you can try again.


Hotel prices being what they are, there's definitely room for a service like Guestmob, but the lack of precise control might turn some people off. What do you think? Would you be willing to give it a shot if it saved you money, or are you uncomfortable letting go of the reins? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Readability Now Available on Android; Saves Articles for Later Sans Formatting [Readability]

Android: Readability has always been a great way to strip articles of their web formatting for easy reading, and now you can extend that convenience to Android. You can save your articles from anywhere, and read them offline on any Android device—no ugly ads or web formatting in the way.


Following its recent iOS apps, Readability brings its offline, text-only reading to Android. Like other read-later apps, you can save articles to Readability right from your browser, strip it of its formatting, then read it offline on your mobile device.


Readability's a little late to the game, with apps like Instapaper and Read It Later already well established in this sphere. Readability's main advantages are that its completely free and available on a different set of devices, including the Kindle—two features that Read It Later can't claim. It also looks gorgeous, and in our opinion, is much prettier than Read It Later. That said, Read It Later has interoperability with more apps, and can share articles directly from your Android browser—which Readability, for some reason, can't do. Still, it's a worthy alternative to the other apps, and with a price tag of $0, you don't have much to lose by trying it out.


Readability is a free download for Android devices. US users will have to get it from the Amazon App Store, but International users can grab it from the Google Play store as usual.

Readability | Amazon App Store via Readability Blog