Betaworks acquires Instapaper, promises continued development

Posted on 25/04/2013 by Jon Fingas

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.

Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets

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Via: Marco Arment (Twiter)

Source: Marco.org

iPad mini evidence unveiled in app logs

Posted on 03/09/2012 by shane

Some new evidence has surfaced that hints that the new smaller iPad mini may be in the wild already. The developer of an app called Instapaper has unveiled that there are two new iPad version showing...

Apple aware of corrupt apps issue, working on a fix (Update: Fixed!)

Posted on 05/07/2012 by Terrence O'Brien

Apple aware of corrupt apps issue, working on a fix

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.

Apple aware of corrupt apps issue, working on a fix (Update: Fixed!) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 05 Jul 2012 16:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Instapaper launches on Android devices

Posted on 04/06/2012 by Mat Smith

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.

Instapaper launches on Android devices originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 04 Jun 2012 06:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Yahoo Axis on desktop, iOS unifies your bookmarks, makes the web visual (hands-on)

Posted on 24/05/2012 by Jon Fingas

We're all familiar with syncing bookmarks and save-for-later web services like Instapaper, but it's not often that they come with a full web component. Yahoo's hoping to hit the proverbial two birds tonight with Axis, which combines a desktop web browser extension (your choice of Chrome, Firefox or Safari) with a mobile app on the iPad and iPhone. You can bookmark any page and get at it later through a common portal -- hence the Axis name. That unity idea also extends to the idea of browser searching, where you'll see both trending topics as well as immediate answers and visual thumbnails of the top search results. Mobile users can share content through email, Pinterest or Twitter, if that's their inclination. Axis is ready and free to use as of today, although Android users won't get their turn until closer to the end of the year.

Engadget had a chance to give Axis a quick spin, and we largely like what we see, even if we'd say it's not for everyone. The desktop browser extension largely stays out of your way until you need it, although we're surprised the social sharing elements are left out. On the mobile side, it's effectively a full, tabbed web browser, and a fairly solid (if simple) one at that. Most of the advantage comes through having the deeper search options just a pull away. Our issues mostly stem from the need for the app and the ecosystem it's leaping into. If you already thrive on (or want to try) services like Instapaper or Pocket, you're not going to get significantly more here, especially since you can't save content offline. Choosing iOS also means you can't make Axis your default browser, so any links you get from other apps can't be directly shared with Yahoo's mobile app.

Gallery: Yahoo Axis