
Pocket Released (Formerly Read It Later) - simplon
http://getpocket.com/
======
flyosity
I think the name Pocket is absolutely perfect. It lends itself to a really
clear and understandable marketing slogan ("Don't have time to read it now?
Just put it in your Pocket!") but also leaves room for how the company might
grow and expand in the coming years. "What else can you put in your Pocket?"
I'm sure they have that written on a whiteboard in their office with 30
bulleted items below it detailing what they can build next.

~~~
Splines
It's not a great name for search though. I couldn't find it on Google, and
it's nowhere near the top in App Store search.

It's possible it'll get better as the name gains popularity, but telling
someone "Search for 'Pocket'" isn't going to work right now.

~~~
there
It doesn't seem to take long for products-named-after-common-words to rank
high on Google (though search in the Play store has always been horrible).
Case in point: my Pushover app/service was released about a month ago and is
on the first page of Google results for "pushover", despite there being a game
and movie of the same name.

~~~
SupermanScott
I pretty sure that is Search Plus Your World customizing the results for you.

pushover.net is number 10 when I search in an incognito window.

~~~
there
I didn't say it was number 1, I said it was on the first page.

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camiller
OK, I think the bookmarklet/text scraper needs a little tweeking. I just tried
Pocket's bookmarklet vs. Instapapers's on the "How Microsoft Fought True Open
Standards" article that is also on the Hacker News front page. Pocket mis-
identified the headline, instead getting the name of the blog. In fact the
title of the article/blog post is not anywhere in Pocket's scrape.

Link to the article: [http://blogs.computerworlduk.com/open-
enterprise/2012/04/how...](http://blogs.computerworlduk.com/open-
enterprise/2012/04/how-microsoft-lobbied-against-true-open-
standards-i/index.htm?cmpid=sbycombinatoranguyen)

Edit: It also didn't do well with Bruce Schneier's Crypto-Gram Newsletter at
<http://www.schneier.com/crypto-gram-1204.html>

In both of these instances the simply needed to get the content of the <title>
tag in the HTML. I would think (careful, here be dragons!) more often than not
that the <title> tag should be a reliable way of getting the title of the
story.

~~~
LinaLauneBaer
The good thing is that Instapaper's extraction process can be modified by
anyone who has an account:

<http://www.instapaper.com/bodytext> (Login required)

So if something is not working properly you can improve Instapaper on a site
by site basis.

~~~
camiller
I had no idea you could do that! That's cooler than the other side of the
pillow!

------
hopeless
As a long-time ReadItLater user, I'm not too impressed with the "Pocket"
rebranding ("Read It Later" made it obvious what it did) but the new iOS app
solves most of the issues I had with it (it auto-resolve bit.ly links, pulls
in titles even if the client app didn't add them, etc). And it looks much
better.

Readability still has a more readable text-only view but I assume Pocket could
just tweak the CSS (slightly larger font, larger line height).

I am worried that everything is free now. I preferred to live under the
impression/illusion that my money had gone to fund the infinite existence of
the service. Now it's totally at the mercy of investors / potential buyers.

~~~
timkeller
Which is exactly why I use Instapaper.

If you're not the one spending the money, you're the one being sold.

~~~
msh
But unfortunatly there are no good Instapaper client for android.

~~~
kyleslattery
Papermill? [http://www.theverge.com/2012/3/23/2897938/papermill-is-
the-f...](http://www.theverge.com/2012/3/23/2897938/papermill-is-the-first-
beautiful-simple-instapaper-client-for-android)

~~~
msh
I have tried papermill. Its the most unstable app I have ever downloaded for
my android phone.

It crashes randomly but most often when syncing or reading a article. I have
send bug reports and contacted the author but that hasn't really helped.

------
costacoast
I am an avid RIL user and have the apps on all of my various mobile devices.
With the launch/rebranding of pocket though I am most surprised by the layout
of the site when logged in. It looks visually like a tablet app, but I
couldn't see myself ever using this on a mobile device because the apps are so
good and actually save all your articles for offline reading. Designing a site
to look this much like a mobile app on a desktop takes a lot of effort, and
IMHO feels a bit clunky when using a full mouse & keyboard.

From a usability standpoint I would have expected the redesigned logged-in
site to be primarily designed for desktop reading (e.g. smaller buttons, less
chrome), and perhaps use responsive design to accomodate more mobile-friendly
layouts when using other devices.

Overall I like the rebranding, new aesthetic and am excited to explore the new
android app.

Most importantly though I'm SO happy my credentials/history just _worked_ on
the new site.

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thoradam
The key part here is that it is tailored for any kind of content as opposed to
just text, everything you'd like to "view later".

Spool (<http://getspool.com/>) did this as well, with the twist that they
actually scrape content (videos and all) to save to your devices to view
offline. For some reason it doesn't seem like Spool ever took off.

~~~
subpixel
The Pocket homepage suggests the same functionality:

"If it's in Pocket, it's on your phone, tablet or computer. You don't even
need an Internet connection."

~~~
stuartmemo
Saving videos only saves the url

[http://thenextweb.com/apps/2012/04/17/read-it-later-
rebrands...](http://thenextweb.com/apps/2012/04/17/read-it-later-rebrands-as-
pocket-goes-free-lets-its-4-5m-users-save-articles-videos-images-more/)

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cormullion
I can't remember now why I chose ReadItLaterPro over Instapaper - it was a few
years ago, and I think I just preferred the look of RIL, but the name was
always less than brilliant, since it was quite generic. Both are supported
well by the iPad and iPhone apps I use, although the newcomer that's been
getting all the press recently is Readability.

The ReadItLater app has just magically renamed itself and re-iconed itself on
my iPad, so well done developers - so far - for making the transfer smooth.

~~~
xuki
What do you mean by magically? Did you not update the app and the icon
changed?

~~~
jaredsohn
Likely the user updated all apps as people routinely do and the icon changed.
The purpose of saying "magically" is that it isn't something the user spent
any mental effort on but it just happened.

~~~
xuki
That sure must happened before to cormullion, many apps tweak their icons
during update. Since he said _magically_ I would like to clarify what does it
mean (and we may learn something new :) ).

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ge0rg
Seems to be an intersting idea. I wish there was a way to achieve the same
effect with your own "personal cloud" server, instead of relying on a
startup's infrastructure.

~~~
Udo
It's essentially a bookmark service, right? This concept is extremely well
suited for running on a personal server. I'm not sure there'd be widespread
interest in such a thing, however.

~~~
ge0rg
I am sure there is no widespread _commercial_ interest. The privacy
implications of such a service are comparable to these of GReader, and you
know what they tell about you not being the customer if you are not the one
paying.

~~~
Udo
Oh I agree absolutely. I just wish more people would see the need for a
personal repository.

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ashishgandhi
I always wonder, if Facebook says (as per their SEC filings) mobile is a
threat because they haven't figured out how to monetize that platform without
destroying the user experience. How will Pocket be able to sustain itself in
the future?

Especially when one of the implied objectives of the service is to get rid of
ads in the first place. Place a limit on space? Bandwidth? Then Instapaper's
one time fee seems cheaper than a recurring cost. Even if it's a pay-only-once
for X more articles per time you'll have to buy more when that limit is hit.

------
alanh
This looks great. I just signed up.

However, I immediately noticed it seems anyone can add any content to anyone’s
queue if they know or guess their username — since everyone sends mail to the
same address (add@getpocket.com), you only have to forge the From: email
header (which is, of course, trivially easy).

------
ajross
Just tried it. Criticism #1: authentication management borderline sucks:

I have to create an account name, not just use an email adderess. Why? Does
this get displayed to other people? Not that I can see.

Similarly, why no distributed authentication options? I'd have been happy to
log in via Facebook or Google for this app. There's no reason they'd be told
what I was looking at, just that I was reading stuff on pocket. That's hardly
a privacy issue at all.

So I pick my password on the web site (random, of course) and type it in. And
then download the app on my phone, and authenticate again. And then install
the chrome extension, _and authenticate again_. This isn't necessarily easy,
but you guys have to streamline this, it's a huge barrier to getting started.
Email/SMS a "click on this to get started" link to the phone. Have the chrome
extension pick up the existing cookie without asking for a password.

But now I'm saving stuff, and it seems pretty clean. Once annoyance is the
lack of pinch zoom on the Android app. I have to click on a text settings
button and then hit up/down to play with the text size.

~~~
rubergly
Do any reading apps have pinch zooming? I don't see how pinch zooming would
work with reflowing text well.

~~~
qeorge
FWIW, Android's browser has pinch-to-zoom & reflows the text when you stop
zooming. Works fine.

~~~
ajross
Exactly, that's my reference. If a reader app doesn't work as well as reading
the page in Chrome for Android, I'm not really going to want to use it. This
is close, and definitely doesn't suck. But it's not really as clean as I
wanted it to be. I honestly think I'd be happier if it just synced the web
content and let me read it using the browser.

------
tmcw
Hmm, seems like Read It Later is becoming a Flipboard competitor rather than
an Instapaper competitor. I'd assume that there's more business sense behind
the Flipboard use case (Kindles are terrible ad-serving devices).

------
dabeeeenster
Android app design is first rate. Taking advantage of the new ICS
widgets/design language. Very good.

------
alanh
FYI: Using your RSS feeds from Readability and/or Instapaper, you can use
IFTTT.com to copy these over to your Pocket account. (Note this won’t copy
your current queues, just those added in the future. To migrate the current
items from Instapaper, see <http://getpocket.com/import/instapaper/> — however
it does not seem Readability provides an export function, which is pretty weak
IMO!)

------
camiller
For textual stuff I use instapaper and let calibre fetch an epub and drop it
on my eReader. I may have to sign up for pocket for the non text stuff,
especially once I upgrade phones in August.

Edit: Actually I just noticed I can "Pocket" something from feedreader on my
current (but aging) WebOS phone.

Edit2: OK so I also see that Calibre can create an ePub from Pocket as well.

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chrsstrm
I have thousands of RIL bookmarks in my account, but the one thing that kills
me is that I can't see when I saved the bookmark. When I go in to look for
something and I'm not sure exactly what I'm looking for, I really wish I could
see when I saved it. My time association is much better than recalling an
exact headline or site name.

~~~
simplon
Yes, that's a feature I am wishing for too. I just hit 12k links. =) Coming in
faster than I can clear.

------
dhawalhs
I had bought Read It Later on Android as part of 10cent deals. Might be a good
time to try it.

On a completely unrelated note, Nate Weiner forked my code
[https://github.com/ideashower/Export-Wordpress-posts-to-
Tumb...](https://github.com/ideashower/Export-Wordpress-posts-to-Tumblr)

------
aw3c2
I use Opera Mobile's site saving a lot. Not sure if it is too similar, but
it's all I need.

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iuguy
This is less descriptive to me than read it later, but then again in some
respects read it later may be the wrong call to action.

I hope these guys get a better uptake, but I've been with Instapaper Pro for
so long I'm entrenched.

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jamesgeck0
Bookmarklets are great and all, but I hope they make a Chrome extension. It
took me a moment to remember how to turn the bookmark bar on.

Edit: Especially since the bookmarklet doesn't appear to work in Chrome.

~~~
stuartmemo
Bookmarklet works fine for me in Chrome.

~~~
jamesgeck0
The bookmarklet works in Chromium on my Ubuntu box, but not on this machine
(18.0.1025.162 m, Windows Vista).

The Pocket extension in the Chrome web store works perfectly and looks
prettier. I don't know why they didn't just link to it in the first place.

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sjs382
Very cool that you can save videos, and the Android app looks great, too.

If the bookmarklet works as well as the Instapaper one in Google Reader, and
if it works well on WebOS, consider myself a convert.

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itsnotvalid
What really made me sick is that the apps were charging (and silly me I paid
for it) and now it turns into a completely free product. So, I am no longer a
customer.

~~~
fpgeek
To me, that is an odd reaction. Were you similarly sick when it was part of
the 10 cent apps promotion?

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blackrobot
Being Pedantic: Who built this site??? All of overuse of the "<section/>"
tags, and the XHTML Transitional doctype. Yeesh!

~~~
Jose_GD
Nate Weiner? Or his team... Pocket/RIL is not longer a one-man company for
some time

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by_Seeing
Who did they get to do their re-brand? The strategy is sick, video is slick
and design language is killin it.

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eof
I use instapaper for this; it emails to my kindle and I am extremely
satisified.

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simplon
Wonder if there will be any changes made to the Firefox extension?

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apricot13
thought I had an account, turns out I dont. too many connections when I
register. woe :(

~~~
Ecio78
same for me when i try to login with my RIL account, then after reloading the
url it loads. I tried removing one of my saved pages, after confirmation, the
page gave a (trapped) error via javascript alert. It looks like it's a bit
overloaded..

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tndata
It sucks, the old version was much better.

~~~
sdoering
I can only agree. It was one of my most used apps. I added a load of postings,
just to quickly filter through them.

now: everytime, i try to save a thing to pocket, using their new bookmarklet
(or using the old read it later one), I get a promt, to login. and I am
already logged in.

Thanks a lot for breaking one of the things that really added value to my
phone.

So I`m on my way, have to go. Have to delete an account and an app.

Goodbye, you won't come to my "pocket"

