Personal bookmarking service Read It Later has some nice new features this week for both users and developers.
On the user side, there's now an updated version of its reading application for the iPhone, which lets users access their saved reading list even when they're not near a data connection. The new version supports both password-protected sites and articles that are spread out over multiple pages. Once you've plugged in your password to a site that needs it, the app stores the password so you don't have to enter it each time the app needs to fetch a full article. And for stories that span multiple pages, the application will automatically detect this and download the content from the remaining pages.
Other small tweaks include an easier way to turn the auto-ration lock on and off, a currently-reading and recently-read list, as well as a scroll bar that lets you quickly jump to a later part of an article without having to do the Running Man with your fingers. It even shows you how far you've scrolled down in any given article, so you can hop back to where you were. These are small touches, but they can speed up how you navigate to and from each piece of content.
For developers, the service has updated its API to allow third parties to pull user data. Previously they could only write to it. This could make for some exciting apps in the future; one being a version of the software that can download article data in the background, even when you're not running it. As it stands with Read It Later for the iPhone, it can't download new article data for offline reading until the next time you launch it and have a data connection. Other platforms that allow background processes may see richer, fuller apps because of this.
Some of Read It Later's new iPhone features in screenshot form. Click to see in full-size.
(Credit: CNET)
Read It Later (download), the bookmarking meets productivity tool has a new iPhone app out (review it). It lets you sync up with your desktop reading list and pick up stories while away from your computer. But the real reason to get it, is that like the desktop version it lets you save stories for offline reading, giving you a way to catch up on content even when you're away from a sturdy data connection.
There's both a free and pro version. The pro version, which costs $2.99, adds in things like a bookmarklet for saving links from Safari, a sharing tool to post articles to external bookmarking sites, as well as a full screen browsing mode that gives you more screen real estate than you get in Safari. You can also set it to ignore the iPhone's accelerometer, which lets you read certain content sideways or upside down which can be useful for things like photos.
Here's a demo:
The company also recently released an API for developers to build Read It Later integration into their own apps. This means developers of RSS readers, or even news publishers could give readers who are also Read It Later users a way to save their content for later viewing.
Firefox Extension Read It Later pushed out a big update on Thursday which adds deep integration with Google's Reader product. With the new version installed, a little check box shows up on the left of every single feed item, which you can simply click on to mark for later reading. Previously the only way to do this would be to open up the actual site from Google Reader, then click the Read It Later button.
The new Read it Later extension adds little check marks next to blog posts. Clicking one lets you mark it to read later on.
(Credit: CNET Networks)To make going through that list of saved stories more manageable, you can now sort it by PostRank--a service we checked out back in July. Using this, Read It Later will tell you which of your stories are most worthy of your time based on things like traffic, user comments, and sharing on social news sites.
(Credit:
CNET Networks)
PostRank may not dictate which stories are really the best, but if you're an RSS newbie with a lot of feeds this is a nice editorial add-on. If you really like its recommendations, you can also install a separate extension which shows each item's PostRank right in Reader.
One of my favorite parts of Read It Later is that your saved list of stories can be accessed from multiple devices using a centralized RSS feed. You can access this feed from any browser (including Safari on the iPhone), and save items for later on using nothing more than a bookmarklet.
The quiet killer feature of this extension is still its offline viewing functionality. There's a new option to automatically have things saved to your browser cache, instead of having to select them one at a time. Under the old system, items you had not selected for download would appear dimmed out when attempting to view them without a connection. Combine that with offline Reader access using Gears and you can fill up a flight or long train ride with plenty of feed reading.
(via ReadWriteWeb)
Read It Later offers a simple interface with several useful options
(Credit: CNET Networks, Inc.)Read It Later is a Firefox extension that should appeal to anybody trying to minimize bookmark and open tab clutter. As you peruse links sent from friends and RSS feeds that deposit little nuggets of truth that you just don't have time for right now, Read It Later gives you a one-click option for saving the links and keeping track of which ones have been read.
When you restart Firefox after loading the extension, it will automatically prompt you to install the two Toolbar buttons that are used to control the extension and manage your reading list. Users can also control adding bookmarks to their reading list via the context menu, the Bookmarks menu itself, or with hotkeys, making access to your daily detritus fast and painless.
... Read more
- prev
- 1
- next
