Stick it in your Pocket!

I’ve found a really useful app that lets you save websites and view them later. Now I know what you’re thinking; “But Paul, that’s just a bookmark, have you gone mad?” Well, no, not a bookmark per-say, and I don’t think I’ve gone completely mad just yet. This app actually captures the main body of text from a webpage you’re viewing whilst on your mobile device, it then allows you to view it later on your home computer. But wait, there’s more! While still on your mobile device, you can click a button and have the app read you the aforementioned web page back to you, Now that is neat!

This is very useful for me because I can save technology related news articles while I’m waiting in line for something, save up a few, and then get the app to read them to me while I’m doing something else. There are other useful applications that I can think of like; saving different recipes I find, or products I want to buy.

Some people might not see a need for this app, you might have Firefox or another browser synchronize your bookmarks across devices, but me being the paranoid tech user that I am, like to keep things separate. In fact, if you have a Mozilla Firefox account, you can use that to sign into this app and have it sync that way. For me, I created a new account, with a new unique email address and a unique password. That’s just how I roll, you don’t have to have the same sized tinfoil hat as I do. 😛

The app I’ve been talking about is called ‘Pocket’ and the privacy-loving Mozilla Firefox team was so impressed with the amount of built-in privacy that they added into their Firefox browser. Just look for the Pocket icon a the end of your address bar, give it a click, and sign up or sign in with one of the options. At the moment though, for me, my Firefox Brower is set to maximum security and this seems to be causing a problem for Pocket. It keeps on asking me to log into my Pocket account even though I am already logged into it. I’ll have to investigate this issue more and report back.

Currently, I’m still using Brave browser for most of my daily Internet use, and you can add an extension via the Google Chrome store (because Brave is built on Chrome) which adds a button to add to your pocket. I’ve tested this and all seems to be working well. I can add an article from my computer and it appears instantly on my phone and vice-versa.

When you open a saved item on your phone, you can click on the headphones at the top to have the app ‘read’ the saved item. The voice is computer generated, meaning it sounds robotic, but I find it has good voice modulation so it’s not too monotone. Additionally, you can adjust the playback speed, an important feature for me because I’ve gotten used to listening to my podcasts and audiobooks at an accelerated speed. Options can be set to have articles play in a list, one after the other.

That’s about it for today, only a short one I’m afraid. I’ve been swamped with extra work lately, which is a good problem to have if honest. If you give Pocket a try, please do let me know in the comment section down below.

Thanks again for stopping by, and remember; never stop learning

Warm Regards,

Paul