 |
|
|
|||||
It’s official: Mozilla has announced that its extremely handy read-it-later app Pocket will be shutting down on July 8, 2025, with user data exports available until October 8, 2025. If this leaves you looking for a new home for your saved articles, videos, and web pages, the good news is youve still got plenty of excellent options. Here are five solid alternatives to Pocket that offer a variety of features and pricing structures to suit your needs. Matter Matter is a premium read-it-later solution that goes beyond simply saving articles. For one thing, it also lets you read email newsletters in an environment thats superior to dealing with them in your inbox. Available in iOS and web versions, it also offers powerful highlighting and annotation tools that allow you to capture your thoughts directly on the text. The anpp integrates with popular third-party services and curates a daily digest of interesting articles from your saved sources, adding a discovery element. Theres a free version available with an uncapped read-later library, mobile and web extensions, and sharing features. Matter Premium starts at $8 a month and includes text-to-speech, newsletter sync, unlimited highlighting and note-taking, Kindle export, and other goodies. Readwise Reader If you’re already familiar with Readwise for its highlight export features, then Readwise Reader is a natural extension. It boasts a clean interface, strong highlighting and note-taking capabilities, text-to-speech, AI features, and the ability to import various content types (web articles, PDFs, newsletters, YouTube transcripts, and more). Readwise Reader is included with a Readwise subscription, which offers a free 30-day trial and then runs $10 per month. Raindrop If you’re a highly visual person or deal with a wide variety of content formats, this ones for you. While many read-it-later apps focus primarily on text, Raindrop shines as a universal bookmark manager that’s both visually appealing and versatile. You can save articles, images, videos, PDFs, and even entire collections of links while leveraging organization features like tags, nested collections, and a powerful search engine. Raindrop offers a pretty generous free plan with unlimited bookmarks, collections, and devices. The Pro plan runs $28 per year and adds AI suggestions for organization, full-text search, a permanent library (copies of saved pages), more upload space, cloud backup, and other enhancements. Recall Recall allows you to save and process various types of content, including articles, PDFs, YouTube videos, podcasts, and even meeting recordings. It then uses AI to summarize the interesting bits from your saved content. You can ask it questions about the content, create notes, and organize it all in one central place. Recall offers a free plan which includes 10 free content summaries, unlimited read-it-later storage, and unlimited personal notes. The “Plus” plan starts at $10 per month and offers unlimited content summaries, automatic categorization, unlimited AI questions, and more. Instapaper For those of us of a certain well, vintage, Instapaper is something of a household name. A pioneer in the read-it-later space thats now almost old enough to vote, it saves and presents articles in a clean, minimalist format that’s ideal for focused reading. Its straightforward to use as well, offering offline reading capabilities, adjustable fonts, and simple highlighting. If your primary goal is distraction-free reading of saved articles,Instapaper is worth a look. Instapaper offers a free version with unlimited article saving, syncing, folders, and integration with third-party apps. Instapaper Premium starts at $6 per month and includes full-text search, a permanent archive of articles, unlimited notes, text-to-speech, speed reading, and an ad-free website.
Category:
E-Commerce
Last year, Donald Trump took the stage of the Las Vegas Bitcoin Conference to worship at the altar of cryptocurrency. He said he would fire Gary Gensler, the former chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission who led a yearslong crackdown on crypto fraud. The audience roared. He ended on a rousing note: We will make America and Bitcoin bigger, better, stronger, richer, freer, and greater than ever before. Some crypto activists were perturbed. Sure, Trump rallied behind Bitcoin as a source of industrial growth, but why wouldnt he commit to outright replacing banking with digital currencies? Trump failed to comment on the traditional banks, which crypto advocates thought were discriminating against them by shutting down their accounts, or fiat currency, which some crypto boosters hope to replace entirely. One year later, President Trump skipped out on the Bitcoin Conference, but he sent his envoys. The administrations crypto message has become even more muddled. While Vice President JD Vance emphasized that stablecoins regulated by the administration’s new crypto proposal (the GENIUS Act) dont threaten the integrity of the U.S. dollar, Eric Trump said that hed like to see some major banks go extinct. It seems no one will decide whether crypto is a strength toor a replacement forthe U.S. financial system. Mixed signals at the 2025 Bitcoin Conference Vice President Vance headlined the conference, where he struck a similar tone to Trumps 2024 speech. He emphasized that Bitcoin is part of the mainstream economy, calling it a digital assetbut not a currency. Vance also promoted the GENIUS Act, which would set regulations for currency or commodity-backed stablecoins (crypto currencies pegged to fiat currency or other reference asset) so they could flow more freely. The bill has already passed through the Senate, and is waiting for a House vote. Vance promised that these coins wouldn’t threaten the dollar. Dollar-pegged stablecoins, particularly once GENIUS is enacted, are only going to help the American economy and [are] only going to help the American dollar, he claimed. Central to Trumps crypto strategy was the establishment of a Bitcoin reserve, allowing the government to collect and hold cryptocurrency from criminal or civil asset seizures. But whether this stockpile operates alongside, or in competition with dollar spending remains blurry. Bo Hines, the executive director of Trumps digital assets advisory, spoke of Bitcoin as something the government could grow endlessly. We want as much of it as we can possibly get, he said at the conference. Were not going to sell any Bitcoin that we have in the U.S. government, period. On the other hand, Trumps crypto czar David Sacks was more measured in his words. He said that he cant promise anything, but that he hoped the government would be able to buy more Bitcoin. If either the Commerce Department or the Treasury Department can figure out how to fund it without adding to the debt, then they are allowed to create those programs, he claimed. Maybe find the money from some other program thats not using it. While they struck different tones, Vance, Hines, and Sacks all spoke of Bitcoin as an asset class. Whether it could constitute a new financial systemthe currencys original missionwas outside the question. But Eric Trumpwhile not an administration official, is certainly influential on Trump policyclaimed that crypto could replace banking entirely: It makes everything cheaper, it makes it faster, it makes it safer, it makes it more transparent. He said that hed love to see some of the big banks go extinct. What does the Trump administration really think about Bitcoin? Trump has backed crypto expansion forcefully, but his rationale remains slippery. At the recent Blockworks Digital Asset Summit, Trump told the audience that they will unleash an explosion of international growth, but didnt explain how, other than a brief reference to stablecoins supporting the dollar. It is exciting to watch as you invent the future of finance, Trump said, while not venturing to explain whether that future included traditional banks. Why is Trump so into crypto? Much of it is likely for personal gain. Trump has raked in millions on his memecoins and NFTs, sending cash directly to his wallet. Crypto advocates also helped Trump reach the White House in the first place. Their lobby has political heft: According to a New Yorker report, they tanked Katie Porter’s California Senate bid after she expressed mere glimmers of anti-crypto rhetoric. But theres a political tension underlying Trumps crypto push. If he says that crypto will replace bankingor even fiat currencytraditional financiers could riot. But, if he claims that Bitcoin is merely an asset class and not the future of finance, he could anger the crypto community. For now, Trump and his administration will try to sit on both sides of the fence.
Category:
E-Commerce
We have officially arrived in the era where e-commerce brands that prioritize smart, value-aligned engagement over mass media spend are owning the here and nowas well as the future. With traditional advertising under pressure to deliver a more definitive ROI, looming tariffs driving up the cost of everything, and consumer confidence lower than its been since peak pandemic, we all need to make every dollar count. In addition, the CFO is more interested in marketing ROI than ever, and wants to see measurable results. The old playbook of more ads, more impressions, and more clicks has never really worked. In our exciting new reality, smart marketers do (a lot!) more with less and will more easily navigate the bumpy road ahead. Customer data is your gold mine Do you remember the years we were all obsessed with big data (perhaps I’m showing my age). Now we have so much more data, but still, so many are unsure of how to unlock it in ways that delight customers and bring in meaningful new revenue. In comes AI, hurray! Knowing that its easierand less expensiveto keep existing consumers than to acquire new ones, leveraging that powerful first-party data is one strategy that will drive better results. Understanding which offers, products, and content your existing customers respond to, and how to present them in the most compelling and enticing way, lays a data-rich foundation for deeper engagement and sustainable growth. There is so much value hidden in e-commerce-owned channels. Checkout is unique because attention is highest and intent is clearest. Checkout is a perfect opportunity for brands to present relevant upsells and offers powered by first-party data. Its also a great time to drive incremental revenue by presenting strategic partner messages/products and loyalty nudges. Checkout interactions are the perfect environment for bringing in new revenue, increasing customer lifetime value, and capturing real attention and engagement. The next growth wave wont come from bigger budgets Too many ads create a noisy and less enjoyable checkout experience. Millennial and Gen Z consumers are more likely to reward brands that respect their time, attention, and preferences. Key digital moments like checkout, order tracking, and order thank yous are perfect opportunities for e-commerce merchants to present value-aligned, relevant offers that reinforce trust and drive repeat engagement. The next wave of growth wont be driven by spending more. The smartest marketers will extract more value from what already exists. Focusing on intelligent monetization and intentional engagement will allow e-commerce retailers to emerge from this challenge stronger and closer to their customers. Treating data as more than a record and checkout as more than a singular transaction will allow e-commerce retailers to unlock new revenue streams at zero additional cost. Elizabeth Buchanan is chief commercial officer of Rokt.
Category:
E-Commerce
All news |
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||