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Firefox Android beta puts Instagram feeds straight into your browser
Firefox has already shown off an Android launcher and is now trying some spiffy personalization features for its Android browser. The latest beta flaunts a new class of "panel" add-ons with home page feeds like Pocket, Wikipedia, Instagram and more. Firefox has also released a new set of APIs for those plug-ins, letting any app developer create a home screen page. I tried it out with Instagram and Pocket and found it gave me a quick way to view photo streams and articles without touching the apps. But I've got similar features with my launcher (Terrain), which seems a more logical place to put third party feeds. If you'd like to try it, it seemed stable enough during limited usage, but like any beta, the risk is all yours.
Facebook's new Save feature lets you read top ten lists later
Dying to know what the top ten best shows from the 1990s are, but just don't have time to click through that Facebook link? That's okay -- the social network's app is about to get a new feature: Save. Think of it like Pocket, but just for Facebook. Links, movies, places, music and more can now be added to a "saved" list by tapping on the item's options drop-down, enabling them to be viewed later through the app's "more" tab. Saved items (like an interesting restaurant) can be re-shared to your friends, and if you forget to check your saved items for too long, Facebook will remind you. The update is rolling out to iOS, Android and web users over the next few days. A simple, but welcome change. Skip on past the break to see the new feature in action.
Pocket's new paid service gives you a permanent reading collection
Read-it-later apps like Instapaper and Pocket are handy for digesting large articles, but they're really just pulling up optimizing internet links. What if your favorite story disappears a few years from now? Pocket now has a solution to that long-term problem. Its new Pocket Premium service saves a permanent copy of any article you flag, giving you access even if the host site goes down or changes the content.
Daily Roundup: Turkey bans Twitter, Peter Molyneux talks VR and more!
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
Pocket previews article-saving on Android Wear smartwatches
Earlier this week, Google pulled back the curtain on its Android Wear platform, signaling its intentions to conquer wearables beyond Google Glass. Motorola and LG even announced their own smartwatches based on Google's software, indicating that the ball is already rolling. What's next, beside us getting these devices on our wrists? Seeing what cool features third-party developers will cook up, naturally. Pocket, the read-it-later service that works across devices, is showing off an early software development kit that lets you save links directly from your watch. Pocket's one of the first big companies to jump on board the Android Wear bandwagon, and its prototype takes smartwatch notifications one step beyond "glance and dismiss." Pocket's SDK essentially lets you save notifications -- so if you get an ABC news alert, you can swipe and stash it for reading later. You won't be able to view saved links directly on your watch, though; the prototype is strictly for bookmarking articles and videos. Developers have the option to integrate Pocket's SDK into their own apps, and we imagine plenty of breaking-news apps, not to mention Twitter, will do so. Pocket for Android Wear is still in the early stages, but you'll have to wait until summer to get your hands on an Android Wear watch, anyway.
Pocket's read-it-later service adds international flavor with six new languages
Despite how far the internet has come, it hasn't quite conquered the language barrier. The devs behind Pocket know this and have added new languages to hopefully make the delayed-reading app a bit easier to use if English isn't your native tongue. To wit, the application is now available in French, German, Italian, Japanese, Russian and Spanish. Those languages account for some 22 percent of what its users speak and, according to the company, this is just the beginning of its expansion to a broader audience. Only time will tell if that'll include Klingons, though.
Daily Roundup: Blackberry's identity crisis, Oculus Rift meets Game of Thrones and more!
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
Save to Pocket and Evernote from your inbox with CloudMagic's Cards
Try as we might, we just can't escape email. Apple, Google, Microsoft and others have tried to do more with our messages, but only recently have we seen apps and services try to provide better context on their contents. With its latest update, CloudMagic, a free iOS and Android email app we've recommended in the past, has included new feature that ignores your need to reach Inbox Zero and focuses on extracting all of the important data in your email so that you can actually do something with it. To do this, it uses "Cards", workflows that connect to popular online services like Pocket, Evernote and Trello and allow you to save to-do lists, notes and web links without leaving the comfort of your inbox.
Facebook tests 'save-for-later' feature for the second time, makes it better than the first
Beware, Pocket and Instapaper: the folks at Facebook HQ are testing a feature that encroaches upon your "save-for-later" territory. This new function currently appears for some mobile users as an iBook bookmark-esque button next to status updates with links, although it actually saves the content of the link itself. You can access every saved link via a new menu (with a telltale name) under the Apps section. Before you get too excited for the feature, know that this is the second time Facebook's given it a spin -- the first iteration tested last year, however, archived status updates instead. If the save-for-later function does mak e it to everyone's accounts, though, we wouldn't be surprised if Facebook addicts remain even more glued to their screens.
Pocket 5.0 adds "Highlights," new navigation
Pocket 5.0, the reborn/renamed version of the Read It Later app, has been released. Version 5.0 for iOS has been redesigned to provide a more streamlined approach to search and navigation. The update introduces a new feature called Highlights that uses your reading habits to make a reading list of the most relevant articles. Navigation has been improved to make switching between your reading list, highlights, favorites and archive faster. Filtering has also been tweaked. Finally, the search function has been unified between lists, meaning you won't have to re-enter your search query when you go from your list to your archive. You can find Pocket 5.0 in the iTunes Store.
Pocket 5.0 wants to make reading what you love even easier
Pocket founder Nate Weiner introduced the next phase of the app formerly known as Read It Later at the company's first-ever press event this afternoon. Pocket 5.0 puts the focus squarely on the user experience with intuitive features that know what you save most and how you're consuming it. Among the new additions is Highlights, an automated service that collects and surfaces your saved content based on your interests, sites you visit most, authors you follow and tags you've created within the app. According to Weiner, Pocket created Highlights to address the fact that while most users have saved more than 100 items to the app, many of those items after the 30th entry tend to go unopened. Pocket now marks items in your list with color-coded badges based on impact (Best Of), popularity (Trending) and length (Long Reads and Short Reads). In addition to knowing what you're reading, Pocket 5.0 also knows what you're reading it on and adapts appropriately. On mobile, the new app automatically pulls up five "Mobile Highlights" to make content discovery quicker. To that same end, the company's streamlined the app's navigation with a swipe menu that allows users to search multiple categories, including Highlights, My List, Videos, Favorites, Archive, and items Shared to Me, for those articles suggested by your friends. The update is available today on iOS and Android on November 20th with the web refresh scheduled for sometime in December. Weiner also announced a new dev tool called Pocket Preferences. Preferences allows third-party apps to easily recommend content to users based on the items that they save to Pocket. That service is now available on Zite, but will roll out to other apps "soon."
Pocket redesigned on the web: overhauled article viewer, enhanced navigation and more
Hot on the heels of releasing a freshly designed application for iOS 7, Pocket is now switching its focus to the experience it offers on the web. The save-for-later reading service says the revamped site takes a lot of cues from its mobile apps, presenting a much more polished UI with major performance improvements throughout. Browsing Pocket has been made easier thanks to added support for keyboard shortcuts, allowing you to easily archive, favorite and jump across stories you've queued up. The Article View, which is perhaps the most important section, now features an all-new layout that can automatically adjust depending on the content being read, as well as being able to display Retina-class images within articles. Pocket's makeover can be enjoyed on most major web browsers starting today, including Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Opera and and Internet Explorer 9 or higher.
iOS 7 app update roundup: it's a flat, flat, flat world
Even if you don't feel like coughing up the cash for either the iPhone 5c or iPhone 5s, those eligible for an update (that's if you own an iPhone 4 or up, or an iPad 2 onward) can at least console themselves with iOS 7, which debuts today. Gone is the skeuomorphic design of the Forstall era, and in its place is a flatter interface that promises an entirely new experience for iOS devotees. As such, developers everywhere have been scrambling to get their apps redesigned to match the new mobile OS out of Cupertino. While we can't possibly cover every update, we've compiled a quick list after the break of the more substantial app revamps that have come our way.
Pocket for iOS 7 offers automatic syncing, hyphens
That's right, the iOS 7 refresh of the save-for-later app formerly known as Read It Later is now available with hyphens. The seemingly miniscule dash addition (which automatically adds hyphens for a more refined justified layout) is part of a redesigned reading experience that also includes automatic syncing. With "Instant Sync," the company promises that content saved on any device will automatically be pushed to the iOS app, meaning you won't have to waste precious minutes of your life waiting for that study on the rejuvenating effects of video games to appear. The update also includes full-bleed images, a fullscreen article view and an increased focus on typography and font adjustments. For more, check out the source link below.
Samsung Galaxy Gear apps include Path, Pocket, RunKeeper and more
Samsung's Galaxy Gear smartwatch will launch with 70 native apps, and it turns out that there's quite a few heavy-hitters in that bunch. Path is available to share photos taken from the Gear's wriststrap; Pocket users, meanwhile, can have Gear read saved articles out loud. And fitness apps will definitely be in vogue -- RunKeeper, MyFitnessPal, Phigolf and others have embraced Samsung's vision. There are too many other apps to list them all, although we've noticed big-name titles like Snapchat in the mix. If you're planning to pick up Samsung's wristwear in the next few weeks, there won't be any shortage of things to do with it. Follow all of our IFA 2013 coverage by heading to our event hub!
Kobo integrates Pocket into Reading Life, brings the app to its e-readers and tablets
We had some initial misgivings about the usefulness of Kobo's Reading Life ecosystem, but the company has certainly been working to expand the scope of its social / competitive reading offering. Now Kobo's partnering with Pocket (the app formerly known as Read it Later), a deal that integrates the app directly into Reading Life, letting you send articles to the company's new line of e-readers and tablets for offline reading. The app is accessible via Reading Life's new Articles from Pocket feature. You can read more in the press release below right now.
Pulse for iOS adds LinkedIn sharing
LinkedIn is quickly settling into its ownership of Pulse: fresh from integrating itself into the news app's Android edition, it's doing the same for iOS. Version 3.1 of the news aggregator largely mirrors the Android refresh and lets users flick a switch to share stories through the extra channel. The update also simplifies saving articles to Evernote, Instapaper and Pocket for those that aren't quite so public with their reading habits. Whichever camp you're in, the Pulse upgrade awaits at the source link.
Pocket updates its iOS and Mac app with new 'Send to Friend' sharing feature
Pocket changed its name from Read it Later one year ago today, and the company is celebrating its first anniversary with an update that brings a new sharing feature to the app. Pocket's latest version has a completely redesigned Share menu that includes a "Send to Friend" feature. This option lets you share content directly within the app using just a few taps. You can add a comment or include a highlighted quote from the article in a message that will be sent out to your friends or family. The recipient(s) will receive an email with a link to your content and a notification within Pocket if they have the app installed on their device. Also part of this new feature is an inbox that stores content that is shared with you. Pocket also announced today that its users save more than 35 million items per month, and its network of developers and publishers has grown to almost 12,000. Pocket is available for free from the iOS App Store and the Mac App Store.
Pocket apps updated with Send to Friend sharing and push notifications
In celebration of its one-year anniversary, Pocket has updated its Android, iOS, Mac and web apps with a new Send to Friend option. This feature allows you to pass content directly to friends along with a comment and highlighted quote from the article being shared. The app kicks out an email to anyone receiving your reading recommendations, and sends an optional push notification to folks already on the Pocket bandwagon. In addition, the updated share menu creates shortcuts for recently used social networks and contacts, which makes it easier to keep your cohorts up to date with your daily web habits. If you're ready to overrun your friends' inboxes with clips of Engadget editors forgetting to chew their food, head on over to your app store of choice to grab the update.
Pocket for Safari and Chrome updated with tag autocomplete and more
Pocket, the handy app that lets you "pocket" articles from the web to read later on Mac or iOS, saw a noteworthy update to its companion plugins for Safari and Chrome today. Among the notable new features is the auto-completion of tags, along with the ability to save articles from Reddit, Twitter and other sites to Pocket with one click on inline badges added by the plugin. In terms of fixes, the update addresses the following: Improvements to the display of the Pocket save link on Twitter.com. In Google Reader, clicking the Pocket button now saves the selected article. Better experience when saving pages while not logged in. Scroll position no longer jumps to the top while typing tags in Safari. You can get the Pocket app for iOS and Mac for free from the App Store and Mac App Store, respectively.
