9 replies to this topic

[netcarver]

Who, I wonder, among the PW forum dwellers, is using Readability? If you are, did you read the terms and conditions before you signed up?

As I've seen readability mentioned somewhere on the forum I thought I'd download it and try it out. I don't always take time to read scroll to the bottom of some new package's terms and conditions, but I thought I would for this one as it isn't on Mozilla's add-on site and my spider senses were tingling.

I am so glad that I took the time to do so. For lurking there, in the not-so-small print^*1, was the following phrase...

We reserve the right at all times (but will not have an obligation) to terminate users or reclaim usernames.

Let's just look at that again, with a little more focus...

We reserve the right ... to terminate users ...

As my real name is John Connor^*2, I didn't agree and promptly deleted the add-on.

For those of you who are using readability, or thinking of doing so; don't say I didn't warn you.


*1Really.
*2 Not really.

[ryan]

Uh oh, I'm using readability and was really enjoying it up until I read this.

Okay I'm still enjoying it. But maybe I'll click 'read later' on readability's homepage or something, just in case.

[alanfluff]

I <3 http://www.instapaper.com/

[netcarver]

Great link Alan, and the terms and conditions seem a lot more Connor friendly too.

[alanfluff]

Yes John, you'll be AOK with instapaper.com — a great place to keep articles about Skynet achieving sentience.

[netcarver]

Yes, just signed up for this one

Joking aside, there's an interesting post on Marco's site. Follows up this one from Coding Horror quite nicely.

[alanfluff]

Oo—gonna read both those. Instapaper'd.

[ryan]

What's the advantage of Instapaper over Readability? I'd heard good things about both, but one was free in the app store (Readability) and the other cost $5 (Instapaper) so I went with the free one. Still, I don't mind paying the $5 if there's a nice advantage to Instapaper.

[alanfluff]

I don't know Readability at all well, so I may be way off, but I get the impression Instapaper could be likened to pinboard.in where Readability would be likened to deliciou.us; that is, Instapaper is a tiny but uber-efficient one-man operation, no frills, expertly spec'd and created rather than a more commercial, 'fatter', product from a larger provider.

That view may be totally wrong though! In which case apologies to whichever party I wrongly summed up

[ryan]

Readability also seems very lightweight, but I don't know anything about the company behind it. I usually have a preference for one-man operation software and bet I would like Instapaper. For now Readability is doing everything I need, and quite well, but I will definitely be keeping an eye on Instapaper.