There are a number of read-it-later apps out there such as Instapaper and Readability. I started using Read It Later (It’s now called Pocket, I guess, because it’s like you’re  putting these interesting articles and such “in your pocket” for later. Get it? Eh, eh?) because it was on both Android and iOS and recently this app has changed its name and added spiffy new features. Basically, the idea is that if you’re on Pulse, Flipboard, or browsing around and you see an article that looks interesting but don’t have time to read or you just liked it and would like to reference it later, you can save it to one of these services/apps to read it later. The nice thing about this particular app’s update is that it does more than articles now. The perfect summation of its usefulness is in its description in the App Store, “Use Pocket when you discover an interesting article, video, or web page, but don’t have time to go through it. Once it’s in Pocket, its on your phone, tablet, or computer.”

I use Flipboard for news and checking Facebook and I have a straight-up addiction to Twitter, which I check via Tweetbot. Checking both of those apps frequently brings my eyes to many an article and I don’t always have time to read them all, or just don’t feel like it at the time, so the service of getting to save the article is very handy. For those unfamiliar with the style, these apps and services make the article easier to read when you get to it, in the form of taking away the ads and giving you text and viewing options like changing text size or using a sepia book-like effect. If you’re used to Safari’s new Reader/Reading List feature, it’s the same idea. 

If you have already paid for Instapaper, then there’s probably no need to switch unless you want to save more than just articles. If you haven’t tried any of them, I would recommend Readability or Pocket. I think I’m sticking with Pocket out of sheer familiarity and, really, the new UI looks great and clean. Readability is also free, works cross-platform (iOS, Android), and works with many apps (Flipboard isn’t listed but Pulse is). Instapaper is for iOS devices only and is five flippin’ dollars in the App Store. Both it and Readability have the added feature of sending articles to Kindle to read later, which isn’t a reason for me to switch because I have a Nook Simple Touch rather than a Kindle. 

At the end of the day, I prefer Pocket but you could try it and Readability out to see which works best for you but I think all of these apps/services are very useful in this speedy, barely-have-time-to-think world. 

I read tons of blogs and watch a handful of fantastic podcasts all related to tech. Thanks to these sources, I learn about more apps than I just see whilst strolling through the app store. The only problem I have with my app excitement is that my friends may not share in the joy. In an effort to clue others in, I want to highlight some of my favorite apps of the week or day or moment. If I can’t get people on board with an app, at least they can know more about it.

Path has been in the news recently with the whole storing-of-address-book-info fiasco, which many other companies also admitted to doing and now the problem isn’t so much of a problem anymore. With privacy issues being more or less out of the way, let’s get to the guts. After reading up on it and watching a SXSW interview with the creator, I learned that Path is meant to be for close friends and family to share moments with each other. For those complaining about how stalker-ish it seems, it seems less so to me since it’s meant to be somewhat private. There is an option to share “thoughts” with Twitter, Facebook, tumblr, or Foursquare but it’s just that - an option. Having that as a feature does make it a nice multi-share service at times though. The app is also really nice when you want to check-in somewhere on Foursquare and would like to tag the friends you are with in the post.

Path is setup to be able to share thoughts, the music you’re listening to, the place you’re at, when you go to sleep and awaken (which can be used in the future for health reasons maybe?), and photos. The user interface is much like if Facebook’s timeline layout were actually nice to look at and more simple. You have a cover photo, a profile photo, and everything posted is by time/day.

Highlights include

• When you capture a photo you can apply a handful of nice filters before you share it, with some other filters offered as in-app purchases. 
• You can share very specific moments without being so concerned about who sees it.
• You can add “emotions” to posts akin to “liking” something on Facebook (e.g., a sad face on a post, a heart, a winking face, a surprised face, a smiley face).
• You can add friends from Facebook, your address book, or invite them via e-mail.
• It’s available on iOS and Android.

I keep seeing mixed comments regarding the app with people going back and forth on its usefulness or uniqueness. Recently Path added Nike+ integration, which is covered in the aforementioned Cnet interview. I want to use it more because I love the design and features but my issue is the amount of friends who use it. I think the fact that it’s at least on both Android and iOS makes it easier to get friends on the service but at the end of the day, it’s about what you find useful or handy.

I saw this new post on Instagram about signing up to receive news when the new Instagram for Android can be downloaded. I thought, “Wow, they’re finally doing it then. I guess that’s cool.” I took a gander at some of the comments on the post and was flabbergasted by the amount of negative ones. Some points of view I can understand and, sadly, share. Others are just really sad to see actually written anywhere.

For those who (somehow) don’t know, Instagram is an iOS app for photo sharing. This is one of the original photo filter apps but it’s also so much more. Admittedly, I’ve become a bit of an addict. You can capture, add filters and tilt-shift effects (or not if you want), and share photos on the Instagram network, which is quite large. Not only that, you can share the photos to tumblr, Flickr, Twitter, Facebook, etc. at the same time as sharing to Instagram itself. Many celebrities use the app in addition to actual photographers who use professional DSLR cameras and then put their photos onto the app from whatever iOS device they own. 

For quite some time, the company has talked of developing an Android app because it would only help them gain more users and recognition. For them, once the app is made, it’s a win-win. Apparently, for many of its current users on the iOS app, this is not the case. I saw an array of comments from ambivalence to joy to sheer hate concerning not only the opening to Android users but toward Android users themselves. I was actually in shock when reading some of these. There are probably tons more comments at this point but of the 60 that I read, 62% are either against or vehemently against Android users having access to Instagram while only 23% think it’s great. The rest either had irrelevant comments or remarked about Blackberry. 

Once I thought about it, I understand one of the points made: Android has some platform-only apps so iOS should keep some of its own too. Since Instagram started on iOS, why not just keep it there so it can be a special experience for those who choose that platform? The ones that didn’t make sense to me talked about the awful cameras on Android devices and that allowing photos from those kind of phones would lessen the quality of the photos on the app and the experience as a whole. This seems a little absurd to me since there is a good and surprising number of Instagram users who don’t use iPhones to take their photos. I, myself, am an example of this as I use my Samsung Galaxy S Captivate to capture my photos and then get those photos from Dropbox in order to post them on Instagram from my iPod Touch and many have said they do this same thing either with an iPod Touch or iPad. I do have to admit that one of the smaller reasons I plan to upgrade to an iPhone next is Instagram.

Some of the other comments were just horrible. The essence of the comments that leaned toward the elitist side of things was that by making this business move, Instagram is letting in the riff-raff (sp?). There were actually a couple of comments on the post that said, “There goes the neighborhood”. I am not even kidding. Many also said that they will just delete their accounts because more people would be in “the club”.

As much as I want some of my Android friends to use Instagram because I love it so much, I don’t know if I want to agree with the app expanding to Android. To me, snobbery aside, the personality types of iPhone owners and Android phone owners are just different. Some do want to truly use the app to take great photos or just follow those who do. Some may abuse the app or misuse it and it could turn into Facebook to the point that it’s just visual noise. However, I do question how/why some of the photos on the Popular page in the app got there when it’s sometimes just overly-made-up girls, self-portrait-via-bathroom-mirror shots, guys flexing their abs or arm muscles, or “duck face” photos. That being said, I guess I’m still on the fence with this one. I definitely see both of the valid sides of the “issue” and, even though I am a fan of Apple’s software and hardware and greatly appreciate their ecosystem being fully-formed, I think the people who act like the iPhone is a gift from the divine and dismiss the people who have other devices as peasants should get that large partially-eaten apple out of their asses.

The world shut down today (well, the tech world) as Apple announced the new iPad, the new Apple TV set-top box, and iPhoto for iOS.

At this point, sadly, most of the predictions that were made about what the new iPad would bring came true except a few: there is still a physical home button, its name is just “the new iPad” for some reason instead of “iPad 3” or “iPad HD”, and there’s no design change aside from the fact that it’s a smidge thicker than the iPad 2. The general consensus in the tech community seems to be the same as it was with the iPhone 4S in 2011: If you have the previous model then you don’t need to upgrade but if you have the original model or none at all, then go for the new one if you want. The new iPad has a ridiculously amazing display (2048 x 1536 resolution and 3.1 Million Pixels), a rear-facing camera that compares to the iPhone 4, 4G LTE compatibility with AT&T and Verizon in the U.S., faster processor, and a powerful battery (the same 10 hours but handling more computing power).

Everything else in the device is pretty much comparable to the iPad 2. Speaking of which, the 16GB (wifi-only) iPad 2 is $100 less than the new iPad of the same type that comes in at $499. I still want an iPad and would be tempted, when I can afford such a device at all, to get the new one but I feel like I would rather go for a deal than the new features because they aren’t features that matter as much to me. I’m sure the screen’s gorgeous but it’s not a highlight for me. The back camera will probably rarely, if ever, be used by me and I’m really just disappointed that the front-facing camera (Face Time and Skype, anyone?) didn’t get updated. I don’t play intensive games on my devices so the processing power doesn’t seem like a major feature to me either. All in all, I may just end up getting a refurbished iPad 2.

The Apple TV update was the news I was waiting for after hearing the rumors days earlier. I’ve had this $99 device on my wishlist for months and it keeps getting more and more functional with iOS updates and now the update to the device itself. The user interface on the device has changed to a more intuitive layout but doesn’t still resemble iOS. Hook this incredibly small box into your HDTV with an HDMI cable and then plug it into a power source. Once you do this you can access your purchased TV shows, music, and movies on the TV; wireless stream your iOS (iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch) device to the TV; browse your Photo Stream; use apps like Netflix, You Tube, Vimeo, Wall Street Journal, and sports apps on the TV; and rent movies and TV shows in addition to watching upcoming movie trailers through the new Apple Movie Trailers. I’ve even heard of some people taking their Apple TV box with them for presentations and using the wireless mirroring feature on their iPad to give presentations to a TV. I think anyone who has an Apple device needs to get this thing, especially if you don’t have cable or are just trying to cut the cord. The biggest feature of the new Apple TV update? You can now stream video and photos with 1080p HD.

Finally, today marked the launch of the third iLife app to iOS devices: iPhoto. The video looks spectacular and it makes organizing your photos super easy. One thing to note here is, this app will only work on iPad or iPhone. I purchased the app ($4.99) only to find out that your iOS device has to have a digital compass, which my 4th generation iPod Touch does not. So there’s that.

Hopefully the iPhone 5 and iOS 6 will blow our minds later this year and the rumors won’t destroy the surprises that Apple tries to deliver. The next big Apple event is their World Wide Developers Conference in June and then their event in September/October, at which the next iPhone is expected to be announced. To find out all there is to know or see these devices in action just go to Apple’s website or check out Cnet for reviews and hands-on videos.