![]() ![]() I mention all this because of a phrase I find myself saying more and more often these days – a phrase that, to my chagrin, seems to baffle or annoy most of the people who, in my estimation, desperately need to hear it more than pretty much anything: No, Marco already knows all too well how I feel about his work and why I think it’s important I want you guys to know. I’ve already kissed Marco’s talented aft quarters innumerable times offline, in emails, and in the delightfully warm Mutual Admiration Society meetings which, I’m proud to say, convene whenever we happen to be in the same room. So, am I here to kiss Marco’s ass? I am not. He’s got a big voice and a lot of clear thinking to back it up. And, like a lot of developers I’ve known, Marco feels things strongly, says things strongly, and he strikes me as a guy who really believes that some things are right and other things empirically are not. The minute I met Marco, I could see the crazy fire in his eyes. If that’s not blowing your mind right now, go read all that again. Wherever.Īnd, that all happened because I clicked one button. Which means substantial, challenging prose that used to get skipped in the rush of the day now becomes available anyplace it suits me. And – this one’s the killer – because I’m one of those nerds who bought (and adores) the Kindle, once a week, Instapaper dutifully, magically, shuttles a single file with all of the week’s bookmarked stories directly to my reader.Īll of this happens with zero intervention from me.Which now also magically syncs with NetNewsWire on my desktop and….And, because my bookmarked Instapaper items are also available as an RSS feed, they magically appear in Google Reader….They also magically appear on my Instapaper iPhone app.Things I want to read magically appear on the Instapaper web site.Now – especially combined with Marco and Nostrich’s not-missable Give Me Something to Read – I have no excuse not to lose myself in longer pieces of non-fiction whenever the opportunity presents itself.Īre you getting this? I hit one button, and magical and interesting things just… happen. So, I hit a button, and I forget about it. I no longer cringe with guilt when I come across a 1000+ word anything that I know I want to read - but which I also know I have no time to read right now. It’s partly why I now recommend Tumblr to anyone who doesn’t want the burden of a “real blog,” but who’s also interested in giving the internet something more substantial than a one-hundred-character complaint about their meal and the person who served it – people who have that itch to share lovely bits of the world that come over their transom throughout the day without stopping the other things they’re working on.Īnd, do you care to hazard a guess at the other bookmarklet that’s changed the game for me? Surprise, surprise. Now widely aped to varying success, Tumblr’s contextual bookmarklet has changed the way I use the web. It’s one of the smartest and most friction-free bits of computer functionality it’s ever been my pleasure to use. And that choice became, as they say, a non-brainer once I saw the Tumblr bookmarklet. I came to Tumblr because I wanted to revive a beloved and long- mothballed blog. Listen: I’ve come to love all you goofy bastards like I actually know you (which I mostly do not), but, to be dead honest, I didn’t start using Tumblr for “the community.” Not by a long shot. 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. 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.Īs a result, popular blogs are now full of useless “list posts” with no substance or value. Authors are encouraged to cater to drive-by visitors hurrying through their feed readers by producing lightweight content for quick skimming. ![]() Web Bullshit.”įrom a personal perspective, I appreciate great writing, but I’ve become frustrated with the quick-consumption nature of many devoted blog readers. Given that I’m pals with Marco and follow what he has to say in a few different places, I’m not at all surprised to learn his official reasoning for building Instapaper.īut, I do want to share it with you here, because it’s a pitch-perfect summary of a frustration I share – as well as a polemical, long-overdue shot over the bow of the “S.S. I’ve got to be one of the most voracious users of Marco Arment’s Instapaper site/bookmarklet/ iPhone app/world-changer. (and a couple things about you, me, and a metaphorical horse) ![]()
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