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Dan Frommer has a nice breakdown of Tim Cook’s statement: >And it’s pretty clear to me that if you forecast out in time that the tablet market — I still believe it will be larger than the PC market. I don’t think it is hard to see this happening. The proliferation of iPad’s that I…
Dan Frommer has a nice breakdown of Tim Cook’s statement:
>And it’s pretty clear to me that if you forecast out in time that the tablet market — I still believe it will be larger than the PC market.
I don’t think it is hard to see this happening. The proliferation of iPad’s that I am seeing is staggering — people that I consider “non-tech” are buying them. Should be fun to watch.
I can say that this is the first “new” type of camera I have seen in quite a while. Focus after the fact, no auto-focus — small. Very interesting, I think I will order one.
I can say that this is the first “new” type of camera I have seen in quite a while. Focus after the fact, no auto-focus — small. Very interesting, I think I will order one.
There are flashlights and then there *are* flashlights. This is the latter. A dual LED output with the low beam clocking in at 15-lumens and the high beam hitting a blinding 200-lumens. If you have never seen a Surefire flashlight before, then you are really missing out. This thing is rock solid and sturdy —…
There are flashlights and then there *are* flashlights. This is the latter. A dual LED output with the low beam clocking in at 15-lumens and the high beam hitting a blinding 200-lumens. If you have never seen a Surefire flashlight before, then you are really missing out.
This thing is rock solid and sturdy — I just bought mine a month ago to replace another incandescent Surefire I had purchased over 5 years ago. This flashlight is really, really amazing. If you are a camper, photo light painter, gadget hound, or other — this is the flashlight you want. ((I was not paid to say any of this.))
Seriously, I love this thing.
“The roads became much safer when BlackBerry stopped working.” — Brig Gen Al Harethi
Lee Youkyung: >The Galaxy Nexus smartphone, the first handset built using a new version of the Android system called “ice cream sandwich,” is designed to bypass potential legal attacks from Apple Inc., the mobile chief of Samsung Electronics Co. said. Interesting choice of words here: “bypass”. Whereby “not infringe” would be the correct thing to…
Lee Youkyung:
>The Galaxy Nexus smartphone, the first handset built using a new version of the Android system called “ice cream sandwich,” is designed to bypass potential legal attacks from Apple Inc., the mobile chief of Samsung Electronics Co. said.
Interesting choice of words here: “bypass”. Whereby “not infringe” would be the correct thing to do, bypassing patents is more like: “sneaking around patents”. *Sketchy*.
It’s amazing how good the 4S camera is, especially when you see the progress it has made since the original iPhone. Like I said: no need to carry that point and shoot any more. Go Micro 4/3 or dSLR full frame. ((You could get a crop frame dSLR, but if you are going to do…
It’s amazing how good the 4S camera is, especially when you see the progress it has made since the original iPhone. Like I said: no need to carry that point and shoot any more. Go Micro 4/3 or dSLR full frame. ((You could get a crop frame dSLR, but if you are going to do that I personally think you are better off with micro 4/3.))
It has that sense, that feeling, you could tuck it away just anywhere and it would stay — yet it is none-to-hard to get to, always holding more than you thought, and yet, so gracefully disappearing into your pocket. It’s a near perfect wallet — the quest of any man. Conquered. If you have been…
It has that sense, that feeling, you could tuck it away just anywhere and it would stay — yet it is none-to-hard to get to, always holding more than you thought, and yet, so gracefully disappearing into your pocket. It’s a near perfect wallet — the quest of any man. Conquered.
If you have been following along at home, then you know that I have been looking for a new wallet for a few months now. A few weeks back, I sucked it up and sprung for a Dosh wallet — [it sucked](https://brooksreview.net/2011/09/dosh/).
I went back to a trusty older wallet, but there was a reason I had left that wallet behind, and thus I still needed a wallet. Every search ended the same, nothing to show for it, save a few promising looking, overly photoshopped, pictures.
Then, while buying my normal allotment of paranoid end-of-the-world supplies, I came across [this gem](http://www.countycomm.com/nyla.html). It’s cheap, it feels cheap, but oh is it glorious.
I went with the nylon model to reduce weight and the texture has just the right amount of friction to keep it in a shallow pocket without hanging up when you need to take it out. It is very slim, it holds a surprising amount and offers two quick access panels so that I can pull out just a card and pay.
This is, quite honestly, the best and cheapest wallet I have ever had. [The wallet is $6.50](http://www.countycomm.com/nyla.html).
### What I Like
The wallet is near weightless when it is empty and close to flat. I have found through much trial and error and this is the ideal starting point for any good wallet. The wallet itself should not take up any space when it is empty, any space that it does take up is wasted — and thus should be as minimal as possible.
[
](https://f3a98a5aca88d28ed629-2f664c0697d743fb9a738111ab4002bd.ssl.cf1.rackcdn.com/wallet_002.jpg)
The outside of the wallet has two “quick access” slots that can hold at most two cards. I like to keep my normal use credit card on one side alone and on the other, my next two most used cards. This allows me to quickly distinguish between the two sides while the wallet is in my pocket, allowing me to remove the card that I need — it’s a great “feature” of the wallet.
[
](https://f3a98a5aca88d28ed629-2f664c0697d743fb9a738111ab4002bd.ssl.cf1.rackcdn.com/wallet_003.jpg)
Inside there are just two pockets that are covered with a clear plastic. I’m not a fan of showing my ID or other cards through clear plastic, but that doesn’t hinder the operational assets of the wallet. I am carrying seven credit cards and two thick business cards in the wallet — with room to spare.
The full coverage of the two clear compartments means that you can store business cards in them without the corners getting mangled — a nice touch.
### What I Don’t Like
There is no way to carry cash in this wallet, outside one single bill that has been neatly folded. I rarely carry cash, so this isn’t a big deal, but it would be nice to be able to carry 5-8 bills if I wanted too.
[
](https://f3a98a5aca88d28ed629-2f664c0697d743fb9a738111ab4002bd.ssl.cf1.rackcdn.com/wallet_001.jpg)
The nylon feels fine, but as you can see it is fraying along the quick access pockets. How much can you complain about that on a replaceable $6.50 wallet? Not much.
### Conclusion
For now, this is the best wallet I have found — the cheapest too. Pretty surprising given that it wasn’t really designed to be a normal wallet and more of just an ID wallet for cops.
Ryan Lawler reporting on a statement by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer about how they are beating Google in productivity applications living in the cloud: >“Everything is a little earlier days than all the rhetoric,” Ballmer said. “But we’re winning, winning, winning, winning.” What a winner.
Ryan Lawler reporting on a statement by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer about how they are beating Google in productivity applications living in the cloud:
>“Everything is a little earlier days than all the rhetoric,” Ballmer said. “But we’re winning, winning, winning, winning.”
What a winner.
Good to know, the iPhone 4S now has [GLONASS](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GLONASS) in addition to ‘assisted GPS’. **UPDATED** (on Oct 19, 2011): [The Next Web](http://thenextweb.com/apple/2011/10/19/apple-sneaks-in-glonass-location-support-on-iphone-4s) talks a bit more about why this matters. (Hint: accuracy.)
Good to know, the iPhone 4S now has [GLONASS](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GLONASS) in addition to ‘assisted GPS’.
**UPDATED** (on Oct 19, 2011): [The Next Web](http://thenextweb.com/apple/2011/10/19/apple-sneaks-in-glonass-location-support-on-iphone-4s) talks a bit more about why this matters. (Hint: accuracy.)
Horace Dediu on Siri: >It’s not trying to be a typist. It’s not trying to be a companion. It’s not trying to be smarter than you and make you redundant. It’s only trying to help lubricate your life. This is what makes it so exciting. He’s right too, with the data that Apple is collecting…
Horace Dediu on Siri:
>It’s not trying to be a typist. It’s not trying to be a companion. It’s not trying to be smarter than you and make you redundant. It’s only trying to help lubricate your life. This is what makes it so exciting.
He’s right too, with the data that Apple is collecting from all the users of Siri, the technology will only get better and do more. I for one am very excited about Siri’s future.
*(For the record I purchased a White 64GB AT&T-locked iPhone 4S.)* ### Speed For starters the phone is much faster than the iPhone 4. We knew this though, so that’s not saying much. Practically speaking though the 4S renders most app splash screens to only showing for a brief moment. Apps just open considerably faster…
*(For the record I purchased a White 64GB AT&T-locked iPhone 4S.)*
### Speed
For starters the phone is much faster than the iPhone 4. We knew this though, so that’s not saying much. Practically speaking though the 4S renders most app splash screens to only showing for a brief moment. Apps just open considerably faster and while you may think that is “nice, but not worth the price of admission” well you are wrong — it’s actually *really* nice.
The entire interface feels more fluid and that’s saying a lot given how nicely the iPhone 4 performed. I notice the speed difference the most in two areas: loading complex websites and while multi-tasking between apps. The latter of which (if you do it often) makes this a smart upgrade.
### I Can Hear You Now
At my office, with my iPhone 4 sitting flat on the desk 12 inches from my keyboard, it used to get me 0-2 bars on AT&T’s network. ((A combination of the building materials, and where I am in the building makes for a crap signal.)) The 4S, though, gets much better reception to the order of 3 solid bars in the same location.
More importantly than the static signal, is the signal that I get when I hold my phone. It wasn’t uncommon with all versions of the iPhone prior to the 4S that I would drop a call while talking because I covered the antenna a bit too much (the 3G was the worst). I haven’t dropped a single call with the 4S since I got it, and that’s down from about 1 a day.
There’s another huge difference though: the speaker for the ringer and speaker phone is much louder. I never had an issue with the ringer volume, but the speaker phone always sounded too quiet for me. While the speaker phone is still not as loud as I would like ((Admittedly I don’t have the best hearing.)) it is a vast improvement over where it was on the iPhone 4. It actually feels like a speaker phone now — maybe that’s not a good thing.
### Good Vibrations
I can’t quite explain how the vibrating alerts are different on the iPhone 4S — but they are. Here’s what I have noticed:
– The vibration seems smoother and not as violent. Thus my phone doesn’t seem to rattle much and wiggle around when it vibrates while sitting flat on my desk.
– The quality seems better. Meaning I can feel the vibrating alert much better when the phone is in my pocket. Again, no clue why that is, as it doesn’t feel like a stronger, more forceful, vibration.
My best guess is that Apple spent sometime engineering the vibration in the iPhone, the same way they engineered the “breathing” of the LED sleep indicators. We already know that the motor is different for the iPhone 4S and I would guess that Apple had a hand in designing how that motor works.
### Tactile Response
I can’t tell if this is because the phone is brand new or not, but the metal band feels gripper and the glass feels smoother to me. Perhaps the olephobic coating on the glass is just fresh and thus feels smoother and the metal hasn’t had a chance to wear down yet, but I really don’t think that is the case. It feels different.
The feeling isn’t worse or better, it’s just different.
### White
I went with the white model, even though I think the white iPads are the lesser of the two colors. I always wanted the white iPhone 4, but since they weren’t out on day one I couldn’t get one.
I have many reasons why I went with the white model:
– Easier differentiation from my wife’s phone.
– To make the phone look “new” and “different”.
– To be different.
– The iPod was white.
At the end of the day though, I just wanted white.
I am glad I went with the white model because I actually like it quite a bit more than I do the black. Here’s a few reasons why:
– Easy to find in the dark.
– Doesn’t show finger smudges as much.
– Looks more iPod-like.
The white model is quality looking and well made — even the dock connector port has white innards as opposed to black and impressive bit of “attention to detail” from Apple. There are only two things I don’t like about the white model:
1. Visibility of the forward facing camera.
2. Visibility of the light sensor.
Seeing those two black blotches on the front of the phone ruins the lines of the device a bit. Overall though I really like the white model.
### Camera
I was pumped to try out the camera in the 4S and am happy to report that it is just as good as I hoped. It’s fast, sharp, and has low noise — what more can you ask for from a phone?
If the iPhone 4 camera was good enough that you *could* leave your point and shoot at home. Then the iPhone 4S camera is good enough that you *should* leave your point and shoot at home.
One thing that I always preferred a dedicated camera for was for fast snap shots. Most cameras you can turn on and snap a photo without looking, if you need to, and that was never the case with the iPhone 4. Now, with the speed of the 4S, and the volume-shutter-button on iOS 5 the speed difference between a dedicated camera and the 4S is very close. Close enough that it doesn’t matter any more.
The iPhone 4S is truly a great point and shoot camera that does full 1080p video. Win.
Future UK CEO Mark Wood as reported by The AOP: >Future had sold more digital editions in the past four days through Apple’s Newsstand than in a normal month. For power users the Newsstand seems stupid and annoying, I suspect though that for many non-power users it is more of a “finally” type system. It…
Future UK CEO Mark Wood as reported by The AOP:
>Future had sold more digital editions in the past four days through Apple’s Newsstand than in a normal month.
For power users the Newsstand seems stupid and annoying, I suspect though that for many non-power users it is more of a “finally” type system. It makes searching for, downloading, paying for periodicals very easy — makes sense that it is a hit for publishers.
“When you “open” your device and/or software, shit always finds a way in.” — MG Siegler
Merlin Mann on Instapaper: >Twenty-some years after a college career sucking down over 1,000 pages a week, I am finally returning to reading a lot more. Because, I am deciding to read a lot more. Instapaper means there’s no excuse for not reading a lot more. Period. I have, throughout my life, been a terrible…
Merlin Mann on Instapaper:
>Twenty-some years after a college career sucking down over 1,000 pages a week, I am finally returning to reading a lot more. Because, I am deciding to read a lot more. Instapaper means there’s no excuse for not reading a lot more. Period.
I have, throughout my life, been a terrible reader. I am slow and not motivated. Up an until I found Instapaper I didn’t read much — now I have trouble keeping Instapaper full. Without Instapaper, there’s a pretty good chance I would not have started this site because I likely wouldn’t follow technology the same way that I currently do.
So, as Merlin says, thank you Marco.
Shadoe Huard responding to [this post](https://brooksreview.net/2011/10/drang-imessage/) by me: >If you think iMessage is only a handy bonus, you’re missing the larger picture. He says that iMessage will be a “game changer” — it could be, but not in it’s current form. Currently it is just going to be a nice bonus for being an iOS…
Shadoe Huard responding to [this post](https://brooksreview.net/2011/10/drang-imessage/) by me:
>If you think iMessage is only a handy bonus, you’re missing the larger picture.
He says that iMessage will be a “game changer” — it could be, but not in it’s current form. Currently it is just going to be a nice bonus for being an iOS users. What *would* make it a “game changer” is if one of the following happens:
1. It is integrated into Mac OS X.
2. It is opened up so that other platforms can use it (Android mainly).
No matter how popular iOS is, it won’t every be on 100% of devices, thus it becomes hard for iMessage to be a wild success in the same way that Text messaging is. If, and only if, iMessage becomes universal, that’s when it will really matter.
David Streitfeld reporting on comments from Russell Grandinetti (an Amazon exec): >He pointed out, though, that the landscape was in some ways changing for the first time since Gutenberg invented the modern book nearly 600 years ago. “The only really necessary people in the publishing process now are the writer and reader,” he said. “Everyone…
David Streitfeld reporting on comments from Russell Grandinetti (an Amazon exec):
>He pointed out, though, that the landscape was in some ways changing for the first time since Gutenberg invented the modern book nearly 600 years ago. “The only really necessary people in the publishing process now are the writer and reader,” he said. “Everyone who stands between those two has both risk and opportunity.”
That includes Amazon. This entire move by Amazon not only makes sense, but sounds like a win-win for both writers and readers.
Craig Grannell talking about the conundrums that face ‘magazine’ type apps in the App Store: >But that’s the problem with ‘free’: anyone can review, because anyone can download an app, without making any investment whatsoever. Typically, when people have paid money for something, they are more considered. And in making an app something other than…
Craig Grannell talking about the conundrums that face ‘magazine’ type apps in the App Store:
>But that’s the problem with ‘free’: anyone can review, because anyone can download an app, without making any investment whatsoever. Typically, when people have paid money for something, they are more considered. And in making an app something other than free, you filter out the idiots.
For what it’s worth the Tap! magazine app is actually quite good and has great content, but he brings up a great point: so long as reviewers can review something just by installing it, we will have these problems. So should reviewers be required to have first used the app for X period of time? Or wait until X days after they purchased it? What then of new apps that are yearning for reviews to spur downloads?
If I was a magazine publisher, I’d charge for the app itself.
Steven Sande on somethings he really wants Siri to do for him: >Finally, what about being able to do something like ask Siri to get a bunch of articles about a particular subject and put them into your Instapaper account? You say “Get me ten articles about terraforming Mars” and Siri grabs ten of the…
Steven Sande on somethings he really wants Siri to do for him:
>Finally, what about being able to do something like ask Siri to get a bunch of articles about a particular subject and put them into your Instapaper account? You say “Get me ten articles about terraforming Mars” and Siri grabs ten of the most popular web pages about the subject for you.
That’d be really neat actually. I think these types of articles really show just how fast people are taking to Siri — notice that he never said he wanted Siri to “actually work” because it already does.
This morning was the first time Siri was consistently running at full speed for me. On my drive in, using my Bluetooth headset cruising at fast speeds and listening to the radio it did the following:
– Texted my brother-in-law “happy birthday”.
– Set a reminder to go off when I got to my office.
– Checked the weather where my office is.
– Checked Apple’s stock price.
It was all trivial stuff, but I was grinning from ear to ear. Siri just worked perfectly and completed all these tasks with my eyes staying glued to the road — amazing.
We all know the best upgrade for any computer is a shiny new SSD — the speed boost is beyond amazing. Now, imagine that performance advantage in the cloud. [CleverKite](http://www.cleverkite.com/) is the first mainstream cloud hosting platform to be powered exclusively by blazing fast SSD technology. And that’s why CleverKite Cloud outperforms competitors like Amazon…
We all know the best upgrade for any computer is a shiny new SSD — the speed boost is beyond amazing. Now, imagine that performance advantage in the cloud.
[CleverKite](http://www.cleverkite.com/) is the first mainstream cloud hosting platform to be powered exclusively by blazing fast SSD technology. And that’s why CleverKite Cloud outperforms competitors like Amazon EC2 by a magnitude of 40-50x in disk performance.
The Brooks Review readers get 10% off their first invoice with the promotion code `TBR`.
Instapaper has now gone [version 4](http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/instapaper/id288545208?mt=8) and Marco Arment has been kind enough to let me test out this new version. I can say that this new version is, without a doubt, fantastic. Arment is fond of saying that Instapaper has the most generous update policy (every update has been free) and I would argue…
Instapaper has now gone [version 4](http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/instapaper/id288545208?mt=8) and Marco Arment has been kind enough to let me test out this new version. I can say that this new version is, without a doubt, fantastic.
Arment is fond of saying that Instapaper has the most generous update policy (every update has been free) and I would argue that the only software company more generous is Apple with iOS. But, why — why wouldn’t Arment charge for these fantastic updates? Let’s let him explain:
>There’s no good way to charge for updates in the App Store. Maybe Apple will add this functionality in the future, but they don’t seem to care so far. Maybe they’ll add it when they want upgrade pricing for the next version of Aperture or Final Cut Studio.
>But I’m not sure I’d charge regardless. I get a lot of goodwill from my customers by continually improving the product that they bought months or years ago, and that goodwill helps spread the word and drive new sales. I know I charge a “premium” compared to many other apps, but I want people to feel like Instapaper is a ridiculously good deal.
In my book Instapaper is certainly a “ridiculously good deal” and that may sum up Instapaper 4 perfectly.
### New Icon
Marco changed his now iconic icon for Instapaper and I risk being a hypocrite in saying this, but I *love* the new Instapaper icon.
I say I risk being a hypocrite because I have previously criticized apps that use page curls in their bottom corners, but with the overall design of Instapaper’s new icon — I think it works very well and truly doesn’t feel like a gimmick. What’s important about this new icon is that it represents what’s new about Instapaper.
The icon looks like a newspaper in the background, thanks to the large headlines and grid layout, but surprise… that’s actually how the new Instapaper looks — at least on the iPad.
### The iPad Grid
Instapaper for the iPad has gone all grid on the home screen. Gone is the big list that looks like a blown up iPhone interface. It’s grid time, and then some.
[
](https://f3a98a5aca88d28ed629-2f664c0697d743fb9a738111ab4002bd.ssl.cf1.rackcdn.com/ip-grid.jpg)
The grid not only looks beautiful, but is a more functional layout on the iPad. There is also a clever bit that tries to figure out who the author of the article is and print that below the headline, something which I find helpful when I see that a *certain* tech blog made it in my queue.
Among those nice touches is the still frame previews that the app will now grab for supported video sites — something infinitely helpful when you are trying to remember what the video is about.
I don’t save a ton of videos to Instapaper, but when I do, I need help in remembering what the video is about (beyond the headline) and these little still frames are perfect for this.
I also love the expanded text view that you get with the grid — something I find invaluable when you save links from Twitter (because the headlines get messed up).
Overall the Grid makes the statement that Instapaper on the iPad is more than just a larger version of Instapaper for the iPhone.
### Social
A while back Instapaper added a social element to the app that allowed you to ‘follow’ users to see their liked items. It was a very neat feature, but the implementation on iOS was never done in a way that I found useful.
In version 4, this changes.
There is now a friends tab along the left edge that when selected will pull up a ‘shared links’ view. This view shows all the links that are being shared on a social network of your choice (Twitter, Facebook).
[
](https://f3a98a5aca88d28ed629-2f664c0697d743fb9a738111ab4002bd.ssl.cf1.rackcdn.com/ip-friends.jpg)
You get the same grid view of the main screen, but this time you get to see all the links that are currently being shared. There is an option to switch to the ‘Liked by Friends’ view which gives you a portal into what the people you follow on Instapaper are ‘liking’. This is by far one of the best ways to discover new, great, reads.
I save this section of Instapaper for my dessert course, I love diving into it after I go through all the posts I added — just to peep on what other people I respect are reading. This is the digital equivalent of peeking into someone’s personal library. ((Even more so than seeing their Kindle library, because I am guessing this will give you a better insight into their interests.))
These features alone would be killer and really ups the sometimes challenging aspect on your iPad/iPhone of getting good content into Instapaper.
You almost don’t need to leave Instapaper anymore with these nice little additions.
[
](https://f3a98a5aca88d28ed629-2f664c0697d743fb9a738111ab4002bd.ssl.cf1.rackcdn.com/ip-editor.jpg)
Additionally the revamped ‘Editors’ tab pulls in the current articles on the Instapaper “Give me Something To Read” curation of articles. A very nice touch for loading up on long-form reads before you hit the plane — also getting a better variety of articles that you may not otherwise discover.
Instapaper is the best cross-country-flight entertainment I have.
### Smaller Changes
There are a few smaller changes that, when added up, make the app massively better.
#### Footnotes Baby
Instapaper 4 adds support for copious Footnoters ((Like me.)) where the app will show a glyph with an `…` in it anytime a footnote appears. Tapping the icon results in a nice pop-up that shows the footnote.
[
](https://f3a98a5aca88d28ed629-2f664c0697d743fb9a738111ab4002bd.ssl.cf1.rackcdn.com/ip-footnote.jpg)
This is perhaps the biggest change to the overall reading experience that version 4 introduces. Inline footnotes help keep you moving in the app instead of scrolling around to find the referenced footnote. It’s a great addition that was done seamlessly to the reading experience.
#### Wikipedia Support
It’s not often that I come across words that I need a definition of, but it is often that I come across things that I want to know more about — as in more reference information. For people like me, Instapaper has added a Wikipedia option to its dictionary.
[
](https://f3a98a5aca88d28ed629-2f664c0697d743fb9a738111ab4002bd.ssl.cf1.rackcdn.com/ip-wiki.jpg)
Now if you highlight some words and ask the app to define them you will get a popup that has an option to view the Wikipedia information on the selected text.
This is a very cool option.
I find in-app Wikipedia information especially useful for finding out more information about companies while I am reading the article, or information on particular people that I don’t know much about.
Come to think of it, this should actually be listed as a major feature.
### Search
You might notice that the search bar at the top of your queue has disappeared ((On the iPhone.)) , replaced now by a dedicated search section of the app. The reason being: this new search function doesn’t just search the articles on your device — it searches the full text of every article you have saved to Instapaper, including those in your archive.
It’s incredibly helpful, if like me, you often start telling someone about an article you read — only for them to ask that you send them the link. Instapaper saves me from having to spend hours on Google looking for the article because now I can just search the things that I have read all inside the place I read all my articles: Instapaper.
The search is very fast (given the thousands of articles that it has to search for me) even over 3G.
Most importantly search adds another revenue stream for Instapaper as it is only available via in-app purchase for the bargain price of $2.99 every three months. If you are already an Instapaper subscriber on the site then you will be granted access to this feature without needing to do the in-app-purchase.
Either way, it’s the same deal and it really is a deal.
### Raising the Bar
I am a huge Instapaper fanboy, and I don’t think I am incorrect in saying that with version 4.0 Marco Arment has significantly raised the bar in the ‘read later’ marketplace.
The app is faster, better looking, more comprehensive, and helps you get more content to read. This is a free upgrade, but I would have gladly paid for it.
### Miscellany
I had a chance to ask Arment about a few other Instapaper items, here’s that very short Q&A:
TBR: You didn’t add feature X to Instapaper 4, why not? When’s it coming?
MA: *There’s still lots of features I want to add, but I need to ship sometime.*
TBR: It seems like the iPad version received more attention this time around than the iPhone version, is the eye deceiving?
MA: *That’s correct. The iPad version had more room for improvement. Before 4.0, Instapaper on iPad felt like a scaled-up iPhone app. With 4.0, I’ve made the iPad app the premier way to use Instapaper, giving it an all-new navigation interface. Even in development, my priorities shifted: I’m now optimizing all new features for the iPad first and then figuring out how to port them to the iPhone.*
TBR: What new feature are you most proud of?
MA: *The iPad grid screen, by far. It was a lot of work, but completely worth every minute. I absolutely love using it.*
Same here, the grid is killer.
[Go get Instapaper 4](http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/instapaper/id288545208?mt=8) right now — you won’t regret it.