Do procrastinate, do it later!

We live contradictory times. On the one hand we are in what has been called the era of the immediacy, the “here and now”, the so-called “there’s no future”. On the other hand, we’re living the belle époque of the information and the social media. Hundreds of inputs reach us throughout the day and we expect to grab them all. There’s a need, a desire, of keeping ourselves constantly up-to-date

However, we cannot process all that inputs (videos, articles, news, comments, e-mails…) as they come, here and now. It’s true that mobile devices have made that way more possible. Yet, these inputs cannot distract us every second from our daily tasks. As a result of this contradiction, a new need arises: the need of keeping those inputs in a box for a later checking. In other words, the need to organize our time and info inputs not to miss a thing, at least not a single thing we are interested in.

In this post I want to introduce some of that “Read Later apps”. Read carefully specially if you aren’t already using a similar service: this is going to change the way you use the Internet… for ever.

Pocket (Formerly Read It Later)

 

This is probably the most used “Read Later” service on Android. It’s true that it was one of the first on releasing an Android app  and, as usual in the app world, the first-past-the-post. However, the success of Pocket lies on their tireless effort to enhance the app, adding new features, embellishing design and making things easier to their users. I have to confess that this is my favorite, the one that I use. Incomers will have to work pretty hard if they want to change that.

Actually, this isn’t just a read-it-later app anymore: in addition, it allows you to save wepages, tweets, videos, links, articles, clips and almost everything, for a later checking. Thanks to Pocket, you can add items to your pending list from a computer, tablet or smartphone and read/watch them later from that devices too. You can even add items and read them offline (sync interval is configurable). Thus, the strongest points of Pocket are: wide range of formats supported, cross-platform, plugins and addons and, finally, its clear, cute and user-friendly layout. Oh, I almost forget it… and it’s FREE.

Instapaper

After becoming the most-known bookmarklet for iOS, Instapaper, powered by Tumblr developers, hits Android OS. It allows you to save webpages, articles and any other resource for a later reading, even offline. What’s more, it provides a good-looking and friendly layout for making easier reading all that resources. A layout which is highly configurable. Although (from my point of view) Pocket leaves Instapaper far behind regarding layout and usability, it comes with some plus points: basically simplicity and high integration with third parties. Since Instapaper reached great success on iOS, there are already lots of browsers plugins and alternative apps that makes things easier with it. What’s more, it’s backed by a professional team of developers which focused on makes things simple and understandable.

 

 

Jolicloud

I wanted to finish this post with a new and original service that, although cannot be considered as a pure bookmarklet, it works like the “Archive” folder of most of the read-later apps. Simply put: Jolicloud automatically sotres media files you share through your social media. Jolicloud claims to be your personal cloud-based library for all the content you share on your social media. Its strongest point is that you don’t need to add it manually: you just need to allow it access to your social media and it will take and save the media files that you share automatically. Access your library from your Android device or your computer (browser). Besides saving it allows you to manage all your content, create new folders and organize it at your whim. Access to your shared content, wherever and whenever you want. Great idea, isn’t it?

 

 

Emmanuel Lund did this post overnight, wasn’t it worth?