MarcoArment
Latest
Instapaper buys itself back from Pinterest
Back in 2013, developer Marco Arment sold his popular read-it-later app Instapaper to Betaworks, the company that had previously acquired Digg. Two years ago, Pinterest bought the little company to "accelerate discovering and saving articles on Pinterest." Now, the very same team that's been working on it for the past five years is taking Instapaper back.
Overcast adds a smarter way to dive back into a podcast
Marco Arment's Overcast has a reputation as the podcast connoisseur's iOS app of choice thanks to its inclusion of features you don't even find in Apple's official client, such as the automatic removal of dead air. That trend is continuing with the newly released Overcast 4.1, whose improvements might be extra-helpful if you find yourself lost whenever you return to a podcast. The new version adds a Smart Resume feature that not only skips back a few seconds when you hit play, but tweaks resumes and seeks so that they land on silences. You'll ideally remember the context of what was being said before you paused, and won't be as likely to resume playback in mid-sentence.
The best podcast app for iOS is now completely free
Overcast is widely considered to be the best podcast app on iOS, if not all mobile platforms. For many, its no-nonsense interface and slick features (such as cutting dead air and boosting voices) make Apple's official app seem crude. You've had to pay $5 to see everything it has to offer, though... until now. App creator Marco Arment (he of Instapaper fame) has released Overcast 2, which switches to a completely free business model. As he puts it, he didn't like seeing the majority of users (80 percent) miss out on the features he wrote -- he'd rather make sure you see everything. You can still donate $1 per month if you want to help, but that contribution is strictly optional.
Instapaper creator sets out to build Overcast, a better iOS podcast app
If you're wondering what Marco Arment, creator of Instapaper, has been up to since he sold the read-it-later service to Betaworks, wonder no more. At the XOXO festival in Portland, OR, Arment announced that he's been working on a new podcasting app for iOS called Overcast. Why? The tl;dr reason is because "podcasts are awesome" (We can't say we disagree). The long of it, however, is because as a lover of podcasts, Arment was frustrated at the quality of the podcast apps that are out there, stating that Apple has been asleep at the podcast wheel for years and third-party solutions aren't that much better. So he's taken matters into his own hands with Overcast. He's currently about half-way done with the app and hopes to release it later this year. We don't really know that much more about it, but if Arment's previous work is any indication, we have high hopes for this one. In the meantime, you can head on over to Overcast.fm to sign up for updates. [Image credit: John Biehler, Flickr]
Marco Arment ships Bugshot app for markup of UI gaffes
Developer extraordinaire Marco Arment (Instapaper, Marco.org) has delivered a nice little tool for the development community or for anyone else who needs the ability to mark up screenshots to point out errors. Bugshot (US$0.99) is perfect for grabbing screenshots of those pesky UI errors and then placing bright international orange arrows and boxes on them highlighting the gaffes. Arment notes on his website that "In some ways, it's reminiscent of what Skitch for Mac used to be good at. I always loved the old Skitch, but never found something that was as fast to get in and out of on iOS." And why did he choose to develop and ship Bugshot now? "Simple: I'm finding tons of rendering bugs in iOS 7. I've already used Bugshot many times to report bugs to app developers and Apple. It was also a great practice-project for me to get back into app development after about six months away." For those of you who are also working on iOS 7 bug-smashing, Bugshot is a fast and simple way to make your annotations on a screenshot and then send the mashup to others via email, Messages, Twitter or Facebook. Arment has semi-ironically pointed out a few bugs in the app and expects them to be fixed shortly.
Digg owner Betaworks acquires Instapaper
Betaworks, the company that rescued the faltering Digg, has now acquired Instapaper, says a report in TechCrunch. The news originated from an email sent by Betaworks founder and CEO John Borthwick and was confirmed by Instapaper founder Marco Arment. Arment writes on his blog, I'm happy to announce that I've sold a majority stake in Instapaper to Betaworks. We've structured the deal with Instapaper's health and longevity as the top priority, with incentives to keep it going well into the future. I will continue advising the project indefinitely, while Betaworks will take over its operations, expand its staff and develop it further. Borthwick says that Instapaper is a "perfect fit" with Digg and the company's upcoming Digg Reader. He also confirms that Betaworks plans to expand the staff working on Instapaper and develop it further. [Via TechCrunch]
Betaworks acquires Instapaper, promises continued development
If you're the sort who likes to catch up on web articles through a dedicated reader app, you're likely familiar with Instapaper and its lone creator, Marco Arment. His solo work makes for a cohesive experience and a great story, but it also involves a lot of strain -- enough so that Arment is selling majority control of the app to Betaworks, the owner of Bitly and Digg. Thankfully, this shouldn't represent a classic acquire-and-absorb deal that ultimately kills the original brand. Arment says he'll remain involved as an advisor, and the takeover is arranged with promises that Betaworks will add staff and continue building the read-it-later tool. While neither side has said just where they'll take Instapaper with more resources, there's a real chance that competitors like Pocket will feel some added pressure.
Daily Update for February 22, 2013
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen. Subscribe via RSS
NPR's Planet Money goes behind the scenes with The Magazine
Jacob Goldstein of NPR's Planet Money took a look at the economics behind The Magazine, the iPad-only publication created by Marco Arment of Instapaper and edited by Jeopardy champion and Macworld/TidBITS contributor Glenn Fleishman. The Magazine launched late last year with essays from well-known, technology-focused writers such as Jason Snell, Lex Friedman and Harry Marks. The Magazine is published every two weeks and costs US$1.99 for a monthly subscription. Unlike most online ventures that struggle to get off the ground, The Magazine already has 25,000 subscribers and is pulling in a healthy profit. You can read more about the financials of The Magazine and the reasons why Arment started the venture on Planet Money's website.
Why no Retina on the iPad mini? Money and power
Marco Arment, Instapaper creator and publisher of The Magazine, has enough time in his busy schedule to write on his personal blog Marco.org. Yesterday he took the time to put some thought into why the iPad mini doesn't have a Retina display, and notes that it comes down to two things: money and power. It's not that he dislikes the iPad mini. He loves the small form factor and external design, how cool it runs, the fast charging of the device and how the "Smart Cover even sticks to the back better when it's flipped around." But the lack of a sharp Retina display is apparent to him when he turns on the device. That's why he refers to it as a "conflicted product." He notes, however, that the "Retina iPad screen is a much bigger power hog than a non-Retina screen of the same size," and the practical result of what a Retina screen would do to an iPad mini is: "Its battery life, portability, or performance would suffer significantly. (Probably all three.)" Add to that the higher component prices required for a more powerful battery, the Retina display itself and the heftier GPU required to drive the display, and the price would possibly start at $399 instead of $329. So, as Arment concludes, "That's why we don't have a Retina iPad Mini yet. It's not only about price: it's because the resulting product would suck in at least two other important ways."
Daily Update for July 27, 2012
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen. Subscribe via RSS
Apple aware of corrupt apps issue, working on a fix (Update: Fixed!)
Earlier this morning, reports started circulating that the App Store was pushing corrupt binaries to iOS and Mac users, resulting in constant crashes of the affected apps. Marco Arment, of Instapaper fame, was one of the first to notice and very vocal -- bringing the issue to the attention of many in the media and at Apple. The list of affected apps is pretty staggering, including such high profile titles as Angry Birds Space, Yahoo! Search, Google Reader and, of course, Instapaper. The number of developers affected now tops 115, so we'd hold off on those updates. For the first several hours Apple was mum on the issue, but it has finally acknowledged the problem in the support forums and even reached out to developers via email. Suspicions seem to be that the FairPlay DRM is at the root, but until we have official word from Apple we'll refrain from laying the blame at its feet. Cupertino is working (we assume tirelessly) on a fix, which will hopefully be delivered sooner, rather than later. Update: Apple has confirmed to AllThingsD that the problem was due to a "server that generated DRM code" and has been fixed. Affected end users are advised to delete the corrupted apps and redownload them.
Instapaper launches on Android devices
Instapaper creator Marco Arment has been kept so busy with the iOS version that he decided to contract out the Android iteration to Mobelux. Fortunately, this is the same developer that crafted Tumblr apps for both the iPhone and Android, so we can breathe a collective sigh of relief. Available today, priced just shy of $3, Instapaper ties together one of iOS' favorites with Android's capacity for sharing across multiple apps. It arrives cocooned in a decidedly classy UI, even on our Gingerbread devices -- although it does get a little squashed in some sub-menus. As long as you're running an Android version higher than 2.2, hit up the source below to give it a try.
Daily iPad App: Instapaper 4
Like to read? Got an iPhone or iPad? You really ought to have Marco Arment's US$4.99 Instapaper, which just got an upgrade to version 4.0. Instapaper's free web service allows you to flag stories to 'Read Later' with a single click, and you can always get your complete reading list via the site. For reading on the go, however, the cached stories in the app are ideal. The Instapaper app now features an iPad-specific article list interface; it swaps out the simple headline-by-headline scroll for a more spacious grid arrangement, complete with the first few lines of the story. The iPhone version has been streamlined too, with story excerpts, bylines and site information clearly visible. iOS 5 users get true hardware brightness control, making it easier to read under varying lighting conditions. Instapaper wants to let you know what your friends are reading, so now in addition to the stories flagged by your Instapaper-specific social connections, you can also browse all the linked stories posted by your Twitter and Facebook friends or by the Tumblr microblogs you follow (Arment is a founder and former CTO of Tumblr). For Instapaper subscribers who choose to fork over $1 a month to support the service, the app now includes full-text search of all the articles you've ever saved to Instapaper -- downright handy. You can see the full list of new features at Arment's blog. If you're only using Instapaper via the website, you're not getting the full-on experience. There are very few apps that have made themselves a home on the front screens of both my iPhone and iPad, and even fewer that rate a spot in the app Dock for both devices. Instapaper has been firmly lodged there since version 1, and I don't anticipate pulling it out anytime soon.
Instapaper usage stats show high iOS 4, iPad adoption
Marco Arment, developer of Instapaper, has provided some intriguing usage stats for his bestselling app. While the numbers aren't representative of the entire iOS ecosystem, the fact that Instapaper is a popular paid app (almost always in the top 5 paid apps in the News category on the App Store) makes these stats worth looking at for developers looking to efficiently design and market their apps. The majority of Instapaper users (56 percent) are using the app on an iPad, versus 39 percent on iPhone and a tiny six percent on the iPod touch. In only four months of availability the iPad 2 accounts for over 27 percent of devices using Instapaper, with usage numbers already nearly identical to those seen from the original iPad. As a universal app and a news reader, it's not particularly surprising that iPad adoption is so high among Instapaper users, but the huge jump in iPad 2 numbers in such a short time is rather startling. Based on the numbers he's seeing, Arment estimates that approximately 40 million iPads have been sold since its introduction. As for OS compatibility, 99 percent of Instapaper users are using iPhone OS 3.2 or above, and 98.4 percent are on iOS 4 or later. After taking into account the high adoption of iOS 4.2 and above (96 percent of users) and the tiny number of users running Instapaper on devices that can't be upgraded to iOS 4 (0.4 percent of users still running an original iPhone or iPod touch), Arment has decided to make iOS 4.2 the minimum supported OS for the next release of Instapaper. According to Arment, dropping support for versions of iOS earlier than 4.2 has allowed him to streamline Instapaper's code in several ways. 5.4 percent of his users are running Instapaper on devices that are capable of running iOS 4.2, but for whatever reason those users have yet to update. If you're one of those users, now's the time to update your OS... and if you're still running a first-gen iPhone or iPod touch and want to keep Instapaper current, it's time to upgrade your hardware. Other iOS developers can learn a lot from Instapaper's usage stats. While the stats for your app are probably going to be a bit different, it seems that as time goes by the number of users actively using older iPhones and older versions of iOS steadily declines to the point that it's no longer efficient to support them. Arment estimates that the number of Instapaper users still using an iPhone 3G will diminish significantly after the iPhone 5 hits the market, which means many types of apps (games in particular) may benefit from dropping support for that model iPhone sometime in the next few months. If you're in the same position as Arment -- looking for ways to improve your app's codebase and considering dropping support for earlier hardware and iOS versions -- it's worth comparing your usage stats to his and seeing if, like him, you'll be better off in the long run by bumping up your app's base requirements.
Instapaper's free version goes on extended hiatus, dev explains why
Marco Arment has an interesting writeup on his blog about his iOS app Instapaper (and, of course, the web service that runs behind it). Arment says on his blog that he's quietly been removing the free version of the app from the App Store, and that's resulted in a surprising effect: sales of the full app have actually increased. Because of this, Arment says he's rethinking a free version completely, and may not bother ever bringing it back to the App Store. Traditionally, free or "lite" app versions are very helpful -- they give users a taste of what the app does without any overhead costs to them but the time to download, and they can raise awareness of an app in certain situations. Of course, the drawbacks are that a free app doesn't make any money, and it can often be a drain on resources, requiring extra development time or support. That's where Arment says his problem comes in -- the free app isn't really worth it, doesn't convert to paid as he'd like it to, and perhaps most interesting, actually causes some "image problems." A lot of free users don't realize that the free version has a limited featureset, so they aren't even seeing what the full Instapaper app can do. Moreover, the reviews for the free app (drawing from a pool of users who haven't invested anything in the app, and can "download and dump" but still review it) are noticeably worse than those for the paid version. The whole post is intriguing, and it really goes against some of the conventional wisdom on free versions of apps. Of course, I think games are different than Arment's service, but it's true -- while a free app will likely grab you a larger audience than just putting out a paid version, it still may not be the best thing for a specific app to do. Instapaper Free is gone for now, says Arment, and it may not be back at all.
Instapaper updated to 3.0, now includes social features
Instapaper, the iOS app that lets you save online articles for later offline reading, has just hit version 3.0. Already an app featured on many "must have" lists for both the iPhone and iPad, Instapaper has gained a mountain of new features in its latest update. The app and Instapaper website now have native sharing with Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Pinboard and Evernote; according to developer Marco Arment, "You can post to any of these services from the app offline, and the app will queue up the post to be submitted next time it's online." That feature alone might make Instapaper worth its US$4.99 asking price, but new (completely optional) social features make it even more powerful. Via links to your Facebook/Twitter accounts or email addresses in your device's Contacts app, you can locate friends who use Instapaper and browse articles that they've "liked" via Instapaper's interface. Similarly, there's now an Editors browser that lets you find recommended articles. Instapaper's built-in browser also now allows you to navigate to any website and save articles from within the app itself. The full 3.0 feature list is on Instapaper's blog. Bear in mind that if you're upgrading Instapaper from an earlier version, all of your articles will re-download after the update -- so if you have hundreds of articles on your account, you might want to wait until you get home and use Wi-Fi instead of 3G. Instapaper is a universal app, available from the App Store for $4.99. If you're not already using it, I highly recommend you start.
Instapaper launches API with innovative business model
Popular iOS app and webservice Instapaper by formerly-of-tumblr Marco Arment today announced a new API offering access to content users have added to their Instapaper account. Instapaper (previous TUAW coverage) is a read-it-later type service born, as so many great apps are, of personal need. Arment would often come across long web posts he wanted to read at work, but at the same time was bored on a long train commute armed only with an iPhone and sketchy cell coverage. He wrote a quick service that would accept web pages from his browser and build a queue of them that he could download to the iPhone -- and he integrated a markup remover into the software that stripped away almost everything from the page except the content, for quicker syncing on 2G networks and easier reading on the iPhone's small screen. Instapaper was released shortly after the App Store itself and has grown solidly in features and reliability since then. The service has long offered a simple API to allow third-party apps to add content to a user's queue. This is what the "Instapaper" buttons in the various Twitter clients and suchlike use. However, up until now, there has been no supported way to allow apps other than Arment's own to pull data back out of the queue -- no alternative Instapaper readers. There are some like InstaFetch for Android that rely on hacks like scraping the Instapaper web page, but these are brittle and create support headaches for Arment. However, in offering a full API for third-party reader apps, he acknowledges he is placing his own revenue stream at risk. Presently, he pays for his hosting costs and supports future development through website ads, in-app ads in the free iOS client and a $3.99 premium client. An API undercuts his own business model. He's solved this problem with an unusual approach: the full API will only work for users paying $1/month for a subscription account. In this way, he hopes to create an ecosystem of third-party apps (presumably on platforms he doesn't have the ability to support himself) that use Instapaper without cutting his own business model off at the knees. Arment has also announced Stacks for Instapaper, the first third-party app to use this new API -- a full Instapaper client for Windows Phone 7. It remains to be seen how successful will be. It's quite possible that existing apps that use web scraping will continue to do so, rather than require their users to pay $1/month. Personally, I think it's a small price to pay for a compelling piece of software, so I hope there isn't an entitlement backlash.
App Store filling up with spammers and clones of popular apps
Marco Arment has noticed a growing problem on the App Store; as hits emerge from among the free and paid apps, some companies are doing a little search scamming. They're ripping off the names, styles, and sometimes even the art of popular iPhone apps. He went to get the popular Angry Birds game and found that there are companies actually selling apps with "Cheats" and "Trivia" added on to the titles, often reusing the artwork from the original game. Certainly, some of these fall into a legal gray area (Angry Bird is technically another game, even though it's obviously hopping on the back of the more popular title), but some of them are straight up scams, and the angry reviews and terrible ratings prove that's the case. Arment calls out a few companies (whose titles are still on the App Store, as of this writing). He says that developers who feel an app is infringing on their trademarks can send a message to appstorenotices@apple.com to let Apple know about the problem. We'd love to see Apple clean house on these, but of course, we're not yet sure of their position. They may have some guidelines that define how close an app can get before it's actually infringing, but some of these are clearly over the line. We'll have to wait and see what actions Apple decides to take.
