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The next generation of Instapaper

marco.org

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Re: The next generation of Instapaper

#41

Post by Kylekramer »

uxp wrote: post #37
Kylekramer wrote: post #7

Arment two days ago: https://twitter.com/marcoarment/status/326757551947530240 He may be just refuting the "peak downloads/full time on Magazine" claim, but kind of an odd response given this.

Actually, it doesn't sound odd in the slightest if you read the whole thread, including the two people at the end complaining about the lack of support. Reading the article, it sounds like Instapaper was just too big for Marco to support on his own, and has partnered with BetaWorks to help him make the product better, probably by giving it support. It seems incredibly cut and dry from that perspective.

Well, one of bottom guys is the editor of Arment's magazine, so only one of them is asking for support. I just find it odd that people saying things mostly proven by this sale (Instapaper isn't Arment's top priority, it is hard to run Instapaper alone) gets a somewhat chastising response saying "it isn't true at all".

Re: The next generation of Instapaper

#42

Post by dangrossman »

wklauss wrote: post #33
blairbeckwith wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is classic Marco, nothing to see here. He's just a child who starts this stuff over nothing, from what I've seen.

I would have done the same as Marco. It was unasked for and unnecessary. Pocket is a great app but so its Instapaper and Marco has done a tremendous job over the years by keeping it in shape by himself (with exception of the Android app). This is a way on pissing all over the the efforts of a independent developer. Just because.

It wasn't directed at Marco. There actually were [1] tweets prior to this one where Instapaper users talked about switching to Pocket because of the news. Marketing to people using competing products is everyday business.

Ex 1: https://twitter.com/SocialJerm/status/327547885308739584

Re: The next generation of Instapaper

#43

Post by incision »

enra wrote: post #36
incision wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Speaking of Pocket, I'm baffled by their lack of (recently upgraded to simply lacking) sharing functionality and full-text search. Passing a Pocket link to someone without a Pocket account leads to a sign-up page. If the recipient already has an account or goes to the trouble to sign up, they're redirected to their own queue, not the linked article. If the recipient goes to the trouble to sign up and pocket the same…

We also do full-text search for Pro users, and you can sync with Pocket. http://kippt.com

I actually signed up for Kippt when initially searching for a Pocket alternative and there's a lot to like about it.

I didn't stick with it or sign up for pro for a couple of reasons.

Namely, lack of an app and what I find to be a "cluttered" experience.

Perhaps I'm missing something, but if I want to save the page I'm on (I know I can save a link directly with a right-click) to Kippt I hit the extension icon which prompts me for tags, a destination and requires an extra click to actually save. Contrast that with Pocket and historious where it's one click, done. Pocket actually does it best by temporarily presenting me with the option to add tags or go the list without insisting.

Now, if I want to search what I've saved on Kippt I head on over to kippt.com and I'm presented with something that (to me) resembles Outlook. I click into a little search field, type my search and hit enter. I wait, get results then click a link.

If the link came from Pocket, I get a largely empty page with yet another link to click to reach the actual content. (Links added directly to Kippt for later reading have a summary here, that's fine.)

Contrast that with historious. When I want to search what I've saved or imported from Pocket I head to historio.us and instantly it's Google for my stuff. I start typing and hit enter. My results appear immediately, if I want to go straight to source I hit the main link, if I want a reader view I hit mobilize below it, if I want to publish it on the public Google for my stuff at user.historio.us I hit publish.

As you can see, relative to that experience, Kippt requires "extra" steps for every common action I use.

Re: The next generation of Instapaper

#45

Post by micampe »

rkudeshi wrote: post #3

I wonder how much this has to do with the rise of Pocket over the last year. It's no secret that Pocket has improved dramatically since rebranding a year ago. And I'm sure most people who are looking for their first "read-later" app are trying Pocket (free) before buying Instapaper ($5). Personally speaking, I bought Instapaper for myself and gifted it to a few other people over the years, but I switched to Pocket a…

There is one simple thing that prevents me from using Pocket: pagination. It does’t work, it’s fiddly, it’s unclear how to turn it on, when you manage to activate it it switches off with the tiniest gesture. Pagination is the big Instapaper feature for me.

Re: The next generation of Instapaper

#46

Post by robryan »

wklauss wrote: post #33
blairbeckwith wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is classic Marco, nothing to see here. He's just a child who starts this stuff over nothing, from what I've seen.

I would have done the same as Marco. It was unasked for and unnecessary. Pocket is a great app but so its Instapaper and Marco has done a tremendous job over the years by keeping it in shape by himself (with exception of the Android app). This is a way on pissing all over the the efforts of a independent developer. Just because.

Why? Seems like the perfect time to promote an alternative.

Re: The next generation of Instapaper

#49

Post by incision »

tomkarlo wrote: post #39
incision wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I'm not sure what you're talking about. That probably has something to do with failing to read what I wrote. I'm talking about a link to the "read later" view. I even described the original URL functionality you're confusing it with. "Within the last month, they finally added some sharing functionality, but it sends links to the original not the pocket version."

Seems like it makes a lot of sense to do this. They don't want to become a de-facto mirror for the content, they want to provide it only to people who are actually their users. I'd rather have that, along with a bias towards sharing the original link, than a lot of sharing of the reflowed content.

>They don't want to become a de-facto mirror for the content, they want to provide it only to people who are actually their users.

Surely there's a way that could be prevented while retaining the benefit of exposing potential new users to the service?

The current sharing feature sends 800 character URLs pointing to email.getpocket.com. I'd think something could be put into and parsed out of that monster string to prevent the mirror scenario.

Send the first X clicks to a reflowed version with with a non-invasive sign-up option, send the rest to a sign-up page sans reflow.

Re: The next generation of Instapaper

#50

Post by Samuel_Michon »

I’m saddened by this announcement. I’m an early Instapaper paying subscriber, a The Magazine paying subscriber of the first hour, I’ve read every article on his blog, I’ve listened to all the episodes of Build & Analyze, Accidental Tech and the Neutral podcasts — I’ve spread the word every way I could and engaged with the sponsors of the shows. I became a Tumblr member because of him.

Marco has always talked about how important he felt it was to be independent and to offer a paid service in order not to be acquired. Given how he handled the Android release, I believed he would never sell Instapaper.

Last week, Loren Brichter announced he would be moving to Facebook. I’m still shell-shocked about that announcement as a very active Letterpress player, now this. I’m worried.

I will continue to pay for Marco’s products and services, but I am worried what will happen to Instapaper, which is an important tool for how I acquire information and do business.

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