Hey sailor, welcome to Toolbox. This is the place where Motherboard'll be telling you every week about this or that bit of software that you really need to have on your computer or phone-computer now. Requirements for something to be in our toolbox: 1) It is actually useful, like in the sense that you might turn to it on a regular basis and for hopefully more than one task, 2) It is free, or really, really exceptionally cheap (or cheap relative to function, like a smuggled tethering app), and 3) it is useful to most people, relatively speaking. Please send you suggestions to michaelb@motherboard.tv.
Internet bookmarking has always seemed to me to be a sorta crappy system that doesn’t really mean “bookmark” in the usual sense, but a repository of pages you go to again and again. Dunno, maybe that’s what it supposed to be. It’s a little tedious and too local for just bookmarking in the sense of wanting to save something to read later. In any case, I obviously don’t use browser bookmarks.But, here’s this thing Instapaper , a website/app combo that gives you a little button in your bookmarks bar to click when you want to save something, then sticks it in an online bin, and digests it into a mobile-friendly words-only, no crap format. iPhonewise, right now, this is like the most useful thing that I’ve put on there in the day-to-day sense since I grabbed a mobile RSS reader. It’s actually about the opposite of a mobile RSS reader while having a weirdly similar aggregation goal.The tone of the site/app makes it sound like it’s still in a “beta” mode, but so far it’s been functional enough for me. I click the “read later” on my big computer at work, and open up the app on the bus or wherever and there the piece is in tidy mobile form (so, great for non-mobile sites). Neat. Sounds really simple, but it’s the only thing I’ve seen that’s intended to support long-form stuff. There’s a particular mindset that browser reading involves—having a lot to do with how web writing is packaged—and Instapaper gets that and delivers a pretty slick alternative.I’ll let Instapaper’s FAQ do a little talking because I totally fucking agree:From a personal perspective, I appreciate great writing, but I've become frustrated with the quick-consumption nature of many devoted blog readers. Authors are encouraged to cater to drive-by visitors hurrying through their feed readers by producing lightweight content for quick skimming.There's no time to sit and read anything when you're going through 500 feed items while responding to email, chatting, and watching bad YouTube videos.As a result, popular blogs are now full of useless "list posts" with no substance or value.Well-written content is out there, and we do have opportunities every day to read it — just not when we're in information-skimming, speed-overload mode. But we can all read while waiting in long lines, commuting (although please not while driving), or sitting on the goofy chairs in the shoe area and being supportive while our wives are shopping.The times we find information aren't always ideal for consuming it. Instapaper helps you bridge that gap.Hey! I read a thing on this while waiting in line at Rite Aid just now.There’s also an editorial feature that consists of stuff someone at Instamatic likes and suggests, along with a few partners doing apparently the same role (Longreads, of course). And there’s a social function that lets you make contacts and share recommendations and such. Also also, there’s a real paper option that formats web pages for a real-life printer. (I don’t like reading off computers in bars, so I’ve been known to dead-tree a web story from time to time.)If getting info owl pellets from Gawker’s your thing, I bet none of anything in this post makes sense. But if you get cised thinking about that 10K word New Yorker feature or Science journal article, you need this. $4.99 is “steep” but figure it doesn’t have bunches of ads or massive angel funding and is just one dude with a good idea. Fork it over. It’s just iTunes play money anyhow.Reach this writer at michaelb@motherboard.tv.
