Each week in UnWired, columnist Sophia Barnes will bridge the gap between Silicon Valley and AU, exploring issues of technology as they intersect with the AU community.
Do This, Not That: App Edition
DON’T DO THIS:
My name is Sophia and I’m a tabaholic.
On a good day, I might have 15 tabs open. On a bad day, I open so many tabs that Google Chrome crashes. Then I have to breathe slowly in through my nose and out through my mouth, hoping and praying, that I can rediscover those three articles about what ‘basic’ actually means (what does basic even mean?) and the 97 other tabs that crashed.
Don’t open up 22 tabs.
DO THIS:
POCKET LOGO
WHO? Pocket.
WHAT? A free app saves articles, videos and even Tweeted links in one place with one click.
WHERE? getpocket.com
WHEN? Download the browser app today (available for Chrome, Safari and Firefox), and tomorrow you’ll be frantically hitting up the app store for mobile versions – tablet or phone, Android or Apple, Pocket’s got you.
WHY?
1. No one has time for 20 tabs. Everyone has time to click the button that is cozied up to your browser’s search bar.
2. You can tag everything always. Perfect if you’re doing a research paper. Or if you save every article you read about Midwestern greatness (cheese curds, anyone?).
3. Pocket handles pictures from Buzzfeed posts or other image-heavy articles like a champ.
4. Forget “Game of Thrones”? You don’t have to cry, lonely and bored, on the Metro. Pocket saves articles offline.
5. Pocket connects and shares with Facebook, Twitter, email and even Evernote. If you have the browser app, it will let you save links right from Twitter, without opening a new page.
The one problem I’ve encountered is the Netflix Parable: sometimes I Pocket so many articles, I forget to read all of them. Still worth it.
