Mozilla pulls the plug on Pocket, Fakespot to focus on 'better browsing'

Image: Mozilla

Mozilla is discontinuing its popular bookmarking tool, Pocket, and its fake review detector, Fakespot, in a move signalling a strategic shift. The company said this decision allows them to concentrate resources on developing features that align with evolving user browsing habits and online needs.

Pocket, initially launched as "Read It Later" in 2007 and acquired by Mozilla in 2017, will cease operations on July 8. Users will have until October 8, to export their saved content, after which all user data will be permanently deleted. Mozilla will automatically cancel subscriptions and issue prorated refunds for annual plan subscribers starting on the shutdown date.

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Mozilla buys ‘read-it-later’ service Pocket

Mozilla, the team behind the Firefox web browser, has made its first acquisition. The company has bought Pocket, a read-it-later service, for an undisclosed amount. Pocket will operate as an independent subsidiary of Mozilla and is said to help bring the company to more mobile devices. It’s not exactly clear how that will help but Pocket does bring with it 10 million monthly active users and new potential businesses for Mozilla, such as advertising, analytics for publishers, and premium subscription service. The acquisition is like a homecoming for Pocket as it started out as a Firefox add-on.

Pocket previously rejected an offer from Evernote after it became apparent to them that their service would just be a feature inside the bigger company’s app. But it seems with Mozilla, they can remain a standalone service. According to Mozilla, over time Pocket can help them with its “content graph” initiative, which is the company’s effort to create a recommendation engine for the web and baked into the browser.

Source: Pocket + The Verge

Pocket helps dyslexics read easier

It hasn’t been proven that fonts will help people with reading disorders read better and easier but it’s a good place to start. Read-it-later app Pocket is hoping to get more people to read by introducing the Dyslexie font support for its iOS app. Dyslexia, the reading disorder, usually stems from the reader’s inability to differentiate certain letters from each other, which means it’s difficult to make out words on a page. Dyslexie letters are longer, thicker, more slanted, and differently spaced than other fonts, which supposedly makes it easier to discern letters on a page.

“The best way to describe dyslexia is everything is just moving around the page,” Amber Roberts, a Pocket user with dyslexia, told BuzzFeed News. “With Dyslexie, I can actually read at a quicker speed now because I’m not decoding what each letter is as I’m going. I feel like a normal person.”

Source: Dyslexie | Via: BuzzFeed News | Download: Apple App Store (Free)

Pocket personalizes your recommendations further, lets you follow story creators

Pocket wants to stop the guessing game and have you get recommendations that matter to you. With version 6.1 of the app, you will get recommendations from Pocket as well as stories from curators and friends you want to follow. The stories that appear in the recommendation tab won’t be chronological though, instead they’ll be ordered according to relevance or what stories are most interesting or what you’re most likely to read. In turn, you can also recommend stories and highlight specific sections you think are interesting. These will show up in your new public profile page. It’s important to note that the stories you save will remain private. Only those you explicitly recommend will appear publicly.

Source: Android Police | Download: Google Play Store (Free) + Apple App Store (Free)