Instapaper
Sometimes there is just so much to consume on the internet at any one time. So what do you do when you want to come back and read something later? There is a service just for this purpose, it's called Instapaper, and is by far the best solution i've found for keeping track of links. Instapaper describes itself as so:
A simple tool to save web pages for reading later.
At it's most basic level, it saves any web link you send it into your own personal list to look at later.
Instapaper is the perfect companion to using RSS, which I went into last week. It provides the other half of the equation for an awesome reading workflow. Below I go into how Instapaper works and how I personally use it.
Bookmark
The most basic way to use Instapaper is by adding a bookmark to your favourite browsers bookmarks toolbar (shown above). Clicking the button named Read Later sends a link to the Instapaper service and it remembers the URL and title for you.
You then visit the Instapaper site, and it's at the top of your Read Later list (shown right), clicking any link will open the original site in a new window. You can archive or delete it if you are finished or file it away if you want to keep it for reference.
That's all well and good if you are browsing the web on your computer. The killer feature that makes Instapaper so handy is it's integration into apps for mobiles.
Applications
On the iPhone there are tons of applications that support Instapaper, such as:
If I see something interesting in my RSS feed, but I don't have time to read it, I send it to Instapaper.
If someone links a site in their Twitter post you can send it to Instapaper in just a few taps.
There is some great content on Reddit, both discussions and links to interesting sites. Alien Blue is an application that provides a front-end for Reddit.
If I want to come back and read the comments or there is an interesting site, I can press the send to button and select Instapaper.
If you don't have direct access to your browser with the 'Read Later' bookmark or you are in an application that doesn't support Instapaper directly, you can send any link to your own personalised one-way email address provided by Instapaper.
Add your Instapaper email address to your address book or store it somewhere you'll remember and any time you hear about a new site, pull up your email client, put the URL in the subject line, send it off and a few seconds later it will appear in your Instapaper account.
Application
Apart from visiting the Instapaper site itself, there is an official application available for Apple devices, it provides all the links you've saved, sorted by the most recent entries at the top with a heap of other features.
Selecting an entry displays the content in a stripped down view without all the extra ads and other content that can clutter the reading experience. Of course you can open it up in the main browser as well if you don't prefer this view.
Desktop
Like I used to do with Grooveshark, I created my own custom Instapaper application with its own window and icon created with Fluid, it sits on my dock next to Reeder (RSS). Clicking this application opens the Instapaper site directly in a streamlined view with all my latest links, ready to sort through.
Collection
When I send things to Instapaper, view them, and decide they are too good to lose, I store the links safely away into folders.
Instapaper allows you to create as many folders as you want, allowing you to categorise your links any way you prefer. I've created folders like Photography, Gaming, Paleo, Web Design, Video and so forth. In my account there are hundreds of links waiting for me should I want to come back to them.
The time I most often use Instapaper is at work, if I see something interesting on Twitter or something pops up in my RSS feed I send it to Instapaper to review when I get home.
So that's Instapaper, it's free to signup and super simple to use, I recommend you give it a try.