←back to thread

Mozilla to shut down Pocket and Fakespot

(support.mozilla.org)
1222 points phantomathkg | 3 comments | 22 May 25 16:30 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
Show context
randomor ◴[22 May 25 19:10 UTC] No.44065611[source]▶
Wow, after Instapaper went back to indie from Pinterest[1] and Omnivore closing last year this is no longer surprising. This is also proof that read-it-later app as a category is not sustainable as a venture / company backed service.

This is also a category of app that I believe could be better served by local-first native apps. As there is no reason why a server has to be requirement to enjoy the full service. Your computer is fully capable of interacting with these webpages directly....

On Apple ecosystem, there are few alternatives one can migrate to. I also created an app that target this category (and more) called DoubleMemory: https://doublememory.com that has a few different takes as well:

- no registration needed (icloud sync)

- no extension required (just double command + c)

- launches from menu bar as a launcher, in a stunning Pinterest-style waterfall grid

It's all free to use with no limits, as i'm still working on paid features. I'll work on a pocket importer for these who are interested in migrating.

^[1]: https://blog.instapaper.com/post/175953870856

replies(6): >>44065715 #>>44066095 #>>44067151 #>>44067888 #>>44068649 #>>44069945 #
al_borland ◴[22 May 25 19:52 UTC] No.44066095[source]▶
Apple also has a read later service built into Safari. It’s not the most feature rich, but it has existed for several years now.

I’d be curious on the stats of these services. Myself, I save a lot of things with good intentions and then never go back to actually read anything later. For a stand alone service, this is the worst. I send them data to store, then never do anything with it. I have to imagine this is quite common, considering the amount of information coming at people every day. It’s always more than I can handle, so it’s not like I ever run out and need to head to the saved articles.

I’m looking at using ChatGPT to help me process through all of it, just to make sure there wasn’t something I actually wanted.

A few weeks ago in the HN comments someone mentioned their philosophy on it was YAGRI… You Ain’t Gonna Read It. I may have made up that phrasing, playing of YAGNI, but that’s how I remember it. Basically, if you aren’t going to read it right now, you probably never will, so let it go.

replies(3): >>44066500 #>>44067325 #>>44067632 #
1. randomor ◴[22 May 25 22:03 UTC] No.44067632[source]▶
That's indeed the bane of this category of apps. You save it but don't ever go back. Yet we all intuitively want to use it as we can never allocate the right mental space at the right time. Our brain usually are in the browsing mode when we are on social, and needs a slightly different mindset when we are ready to dive into a long read.

I believe there are path forward with this category of apps though. Capturing is just step 0. Self-organizing so retrieval is super easy is step 1. Condensing and summarizing information are also possible with local models or MCP.

replies(1): >>44070405 #
2. zimpenfish ◴[23 May 25 06:23 UTC] No.44070405[source]▶
> You save it but don't ever go back.

I have a thing which picks 10 random unread "old-ish" links from Pocket (via my local DB) and emails them to me. (Used to be an iOS Shortcut but Pocket's API got in the way and I turned it into Go on my server instead.) Quite handy for surfacing things you've forgotten about but the linkrot in older saves means it's sadly often useless.

replies(1): >>44073626 #
3. randomor ◴[23 May 25 15:15 UTC] No.44073626[source]▶
Cool. I'm actually planning to add shortcuts to DM as well. I'm not a heavy user but am becoming a fan...