I recently read a post by fellow blogger, Jeff Stephens http://www.crazydadlife.com/, regarding the storage of web-based content. He titled the post “Bookmarks are so 1997 – Discover how to Save Content More Effectively”. Two things drew me in: “bookmarks” and “1997”. Don’t badmouth my bookmarks! And 1997 happened to be a good year for me. I let him know of my discontent with this title; but I enjoyed the read.
I love my bookmarks for content storage and use them quite often. Yes, they are messy – somehow, I set up three different places to save stuff – but the ease of access from my PC is awesome. I never tried to access from my mobile because, well, I never thought about it.
Jeff suggests upgrading from bookmarks to using an app like Pocket (http://getpocket.com/) for content storage. “Have you tried Pocket?” he asked. No, I hadn’t; and all I heard in my head was “ARGH! TECHNOLOGY! GET IT OFF ME!”. I’m not one to seek out the new and different – especially in the web world. It took me forever to join Face Book, and setting up a Twitter account for 2.4 Hours took nearly 24 hours; so I’m not inclined to explore the tech world for the latest and greatest of anything. But I told him I would venture into the unknown and try the app.
Feeling daring this morning, I did indeed upgrade to a Pocket account. Signing up and installing on my PC was easy. I now have a nifty new addition on my PC toolbar allowing quick save of a particular article or interest. I now use 1 click as opposed to 3. Accessing the content from my PC is a challenge. I haven’t found a quick way to get to the content without first logging into the program. Much easier on the mobile side; open the app and my content list immediately appears. A bit more intricate on saving mobile content. I used my Face Book newsfeed as my primary source for articles; and although I opened the content with Face Book, I found I also had to open it in my mobile browser. At that point, I could choose the “share” option with the destination of Pocket. It took me about 30 minutes to figure this out; the opening once then opening again was irritating but remember I’m from the age of actual reference books and Pong.
I definitely recommend trying Pocket for ease of content storage across PC and mobile; access stored content from phone rather than PC. I’ll save the content on my PC, then read on my phone. My beloved bookmarks are now relegated to sign-in sites only. Thanks, Jeff, for the pushing my big toe into the digital pond.
AS for 1997….VH1 introduced “Pop-Up Videos” and “Behind the Music”; dial-up internet was zinging phone lines; and my life was relatively drama free. 1998, however, is a whole other story…..
KSOENTPS.ROCKS 