September 7, 2019

Pocket In My Pocket


We’ve got a lot of cool little technology solutions these days. There’s an app or website for everything, right? Well I’m back to using one that I’ve always liked –
Pocket.

There’s A Plug-In For That


What is Pocket? It’s a read-it-later type of service. Anywhere you find something to read online, you can share it to Pocket and read it at a later time, even offline. It’s super-handy!

Despite that, I was reluctant to once again rely on Pocket because I prefer having a reading list built into my web browser. Safari on iOS spoiled me on that.

So for the longest time, it really bugged me that Google Chrome did not have such a basic feature. (Caveat: a point of disparity, Chrome on iOS does have a reading list feature built-in, but not the “full” browser on my Chromebook!) But then again, it kind of does.

If Chrome does not have a function built-in, then there’s a good chance there’s a plug-in for that! Sure enough, Pocket has an excellent one for Google’s excellent web browser.

Once the Pocket plug-in is plugged-in installed, a small button is added to Chrome; it’s a cinch to use. Just click it.

To read whatever you saved, you can either go to the Pocket website and login, or you can use the Pocket app on your phone. Both options are nice and offer plenty of useful features.

It’s In My Pocket


Although I lean towards using only first-party software (i.e. going all-in with Google only apps and services), using third-party tech solutions is often a great experience; Pocket is no exception.

It always works. So you can rely on it. It’s great having a dedicated app for saving articles to read later. I was using Google Keep at first, along with the Chrome extension, and tagging stuff “Read Later.” It works, but Pocket works nicer.

If you think of something useful that you would like your computer or browser to do, just realize there’s either an app or a plug-in or a similar solution that will meet your needs quite well.