We’ve all had it happen: while browsing the web, we come across something really interesting. Or someone in our Twitter stream posts a link to an intriguing article. The problem is, we don’t have time to read it just then. But we don’t want to forget about it, and we’d like to have a nicely-formatted version to come back to.
Fortunately, there are services like Instapaper and Pocket (formerly called Read it Later, which Brian first wrote about a few years ago) to help us keep track of those links.
Lincoln updated us on Read it Later in April, when it rebranded itself as Pocket. It’s been available for mobile devices and as a web app for some time; toward the end of October, a native Mac app was released.
I’ve been using the iOS client for a while and liked it, so I thought I’d give the new Mac app a try. (I’d previously been using the now discontinued Read Later, whose developer worked with Pocket to develop the new app.)
Thus far, I like the Mac app—a lot. It has the same clean, attractive interface iOS users will be familiar with, but takes advantage of the Mac’s screen size to allow you to view an article and the article list simultaneously:
(I think it would be a nice touch if Pocket would add this feature for the iPad in landscape mode.)
As you’d expect, it’s easy to switch between your current articles, favorites, and archive. As with the iOS app, it’s easy to share articles via Twitter, Facebook, Buffer, or email. It’s also possible to send articles to your Evernote account. That last feature is really handy for me, since one of the (many) things I use Evernote for is to save articles that I want to keep, but that I don’t think belong in my Zotero library.
Thus far, I’m impressed.
What about you? If you’ve tried Pocket’s Mac client, what do you think of it? If you use a different client that you like—whether for Pocket or a similar service—let us know about it in the comments!
