If you're anything like me, you probably come across lots of web pages that you want to save for later. There are plenty of ways to deal with this, from using your web browser's built-in bookmarks tool to copying and pasting links into a note-taking app like Google Keep.

Lately, though, I've become enamored with bookmarking in Trello, a task management app that's free for personal use. Beyond just saving and syncing your bookmarks across every screen, Trello also helps you organize all those links. I now use Trello to save every potential story worth covering in Cord Cutter Weekly and Advisorator, and it's hard to imagine going back to anything else.

When you save a web page to Trello--more on how to do that shortly--the app creates a "card" that can contain all kinds of information, including the link, the headline, an image, and even a brief description. In many cases, Trello will fill out these details automatically, though you can also go into a card and add supplemental information yourself.

You can then arrange these cards into lists, and have multiple lists as part of a broader "board." For example, my Advisorator and Cord Cutter Weekly boards each have one list for interesting links, and another for deeper story ideas. I'm also setting up a personal board for saving recipes, travel ideas, music stuff, and so on.

How you actually save links to Trello depends on which device you're using. While browsing the web on a computer, the best way to save links is to set up a Trello bookmarklet, which creates a "Send to Trello" button inside your web browser's bookmarks list. (Yes, it's a bookmark for saving bookmarks.) Just head to this page, then drag the "Send to Trello" link into your browser's bookmarks bar. You can then click that "Send to Trello" bookmark to save whatever page you're currently on to any of your Trello lists. If you have multiple lists, you can choose which one will receive the link you're saving.
 

On a phone or tablet, the best way to save links is with the "Share" button that's built into all web browsers and many apps. Once you've installed the Trello app (for iOS or Android), saving to Trello will appear as an option in the share list. (Depending on which device or app you're using, the share button may look like a box with an arrow pointing out of it, or it might just say "Share" in text.) As with Trello's bookmarklet, you'll be able to choose which board and list you want to save into.

When you're ready to look at all the links you've been saving, you can either visit Trello.com or use the Trello app on iOS, Android, Windows, and Mac. From here, you can rearrange or remove cards, add supplemental info, or even add collaborators to your boards. Any changes you make will be automatically saved across all your devices.

Trello isn't the only app that can organize bookmarks this way--you could conceivably set up a similar system in other task management apps like Todoist, Google Keep, or Any.do--but what I really like about Trello is the way it visualizes information. Unlike a typical to-do list app, Trello doesn't put undue emphasis on deadlines or timeframes, the card format does a great job displaying info from web pages. And while clearing stuff out doesn't feel like the primary goal, there's an element of task management in that you can archive bookmarks you no longer need. The whole setup just seems more conducive to saving and referencing information from the web, even if that isn't Trello's main purpose.

I'm happy to answer your questions if you decide to give bookmarking in Trello a try. Just reach out by replying to this email.
 

One of the main reasons I use the email app Newton to manage my Gmail inbox is that I can't stand the web version of Gmail. It's too cluttered with buttons I seldom use, the colorful Social and Promotions tabs are too distracting, and the way each email spans almost the entire screen feels overwhelming.

Still, Newton's minimalist alternative is pricey at $50 per year, and its privacy policy recently became a lot creepier, so I was eager to try out a new Chrome extension called Simplify Gmail. The passion project of a former Gmail lead designer, Simplify hides Gmail's extraneous buttons, adds more whitespace around the inbox, and removes the color from Social and Promotions tabs. You can also hide your browser's address bar and buttons by creating an app shortcut for Gmail, as described in Issue #24.

While Simplify keeps the clutter out of sight, it's still the same Gmail under the hood, so installing the extension doesn't give you a faster experience. For that reason, I'm still on the fence about permanently dropping Newton, which remains more responsive. But if you're not keen on spending $50 per year for an email app, Simplify goes a long way toward providing the same email minimalism.
 

Dark mode for Chrome: Speaking of Google's web browser, you can now turn on a "dark mode" in Chrome that switches menus to a dark gray and gives the new tab page a black background. The idea is to match the system-level dark themes that are now available on Windows and Mac. While this won't affect the actual web pages you visit, it does add some thematic consistency and is a little easier on the eyes.

To enable Chrome's dark mode in Windows 10, open the Windows Settings menu, then click Personalization, then Colors, and select "Dark" under "Choose your default app mode." In MacOS Mojave or later, click the Apple menu, select System Preferences, then General, then select "Dark" under the "Appearance" section.

Chrome for Android now offers a dark mode as well, though it's trickier to access. See this Lifehacker article for instructions, then check out CNet's list of other apps that offer their own dark settings.

Free music for smart speakers: Amazon has launched a new music service for Echo speaker users who don't have Amazon Prime. The free service offers internet radio stations and top playlists--you can't play individual songs or albums, unfortunately--and is supported by ads. To get started, you can just ask Alexa to play some music.

The free offering sounds similar to Pandora, which has supported Echo speakers since 2015, though Amazon's service will spare you the hassle of creating and linking a Pandora account if you haven't already done so. Amazon still offers millions of songs without ads for Prime subscribers, and a larger selection of tracks through its Amazon Music Unlimited service. The latter costs $8 per month for Prime members, $10 per month for non-members, and $4 per month on just a single Echo speaker.

Meanwhile, Google has added an ad-supported free tier to YouTube Music on its own Google Home speakers, though this is effectively just a rebranding of the Google Play Music radio stations and playlists that were already available. Google plans to eventually phase out Play Music altogether in favor of YouTube Music, so this is one small step towards that goal.

Alexa, location, and you: In case you needed more motivation to opt out of letting Amazon's Alexa team review your voice recordings (see: Issue #25), Bloomberg reports that in some cases those workers can review not just your audio, but your location. Ostensibly, the point is to improve the accuracy of location-based requests, so when you ask for pizza places in Springfield, Amazon can make sure its algorithms Alexa is looking up the Springfield that's closest to you.

It's still a creepy way to go about improving Alexa, though, and you shouldn't feel guilty about opting out. Head to Alexa's privacy page while signed into your Amazon account, select "Manage How Your Data Improves Alexa," then disable "Help Develop New Features."

Another Facebook privacy scandal: We're well past the point of being surprised by this sort of thing, but Business Insider reports that that Facebook "unintentionally" gathered the email contacts of 1.5 million users. The contact collection stems from an earlier scandal in which asked for passwords to users' email accounts after those users signed up with just an email address, the idea being that Facebook would verify users' email addresses on their behalf. During this verification process, Facebook also asked for access to users' email contacts, which it then uploaded into its systems for ad targeting purposes.

Facebook has since abandoned this sign-up system, which itself was risky from a security standpoint--you should never provide account passwords outside of the service you're actually signing into--and has deleted the contacts it uploaded. Still, this is hardly the only way that Facebook tries to get its hands on users' personal contact lists. Lifehacker has a great guide to wiping these contacts from Facebook and preventing Facebook apps from uploading new contacts in the future.
 

Chamberlain is currently selling its MyQ smart garage control system for $50, which is $30 off the regular price. This kit lets you monitor and control your garage door from a smartphone, which is handy for letting guests into the house when you're not home. As of last week, the system also works with Amazon's Key service, which allows couriers in certain cities to leave packages inside the garage. (If you're curious how the installation works, here's the tutorial video.)

A couple other noteworthy deals this morning:

Samsung's Galaxy Watch Active is down from $200 to $180 at Best Buy. It's the first deal I've seen on this well-received Apple Watch alternative.

Amazon is offering the Fire TV Stick 4K for $30 (a $20 discount) to select customers who've previously bought an older Stick. Head to the product page, then look for an "Exclusive offer" banner to see if you're eligible. You'll have to enter the code POWERFUL4K at checkout to get the discount.