from Hacker News

Ask HN: how do you keep track of interesting stuff online?

by mpcadosch on 4/21/14, 1:09 AM with 15 comments

• by cshimmin on 4/21/14, 2:32 AM

  For stuff I need all the time (wiki's, forms for work, code repositories), I simply use bookmarks. For ideas / notes, I email myself with "idea: <...>" or "note: <...>" in the subject and have gmail stash them under labels for this purpose. So for example, if I came across an interesting article that raised some questions or that I might want to discuss with someone later, I'll put the link in a note to myself.

  I admit it sounds a bit crude but gmail search is really powerful; I can usually find things from years ago with only a vague query. I can come back to the note later and amend it by just replying in the thread. Moreover, "collaboration" is already built-in: just cc a friend. Finally, the medium is not limited to stuff I found online; I can snap a picture w/ my cameraphone/screenshot, or write up some LaTeX equations to scratch down a back-of-the-envelope calculation.

  I've tried Evernote, but I just couldn't get into it. It's a whole additional app/browser extension that I have to worry about, and requires a context switch. I'm already in my inbox all the time throughout the day, so it's a no-brainer to use it.

• by bhansen on 5/1/14, 12:57 AM

  After using evernote for a while, I recently decided to switch to Zimilate (www.zimilate.com). Evernote was frustrating because I read a lot on my phone and iPad, and evernote only saved the link. That means there’s no full text search, and if the page disappears or changes you’re out of luck. When you email a link to Zimilate from your browser or an app, it actually saves the entire webpage, including all the assets. You can save web pages, images, files, and create notes, which is pretty standard, and their desktop web clipper is great. I’ve found the interface to be cleaner and easier to use across all my devices, especially since Zimilate creates thumbnails of everything you save - really nice for web pages. You can also organize collections hierarchically and with tags, which is a big plus for me.

• by creature on 4/21/14, 10:54 AM

  It depends.

  If I want to read/watch something later, then it gets sent to Instapaper. If it's an article/site that I think I might want later, then it gets sent to Pinboard. If I want to quote something, then I post it to Tumblr. I've also got some IFTTT rules set up to save links to pinboard if I favourite on Twitter, post to Tumblr, like on Instapaper, etc. The goal for me is to make Pinboard the central repository of everything I want to remember; other services end up there if it's worth remembering.

• by ZenPro on 4/21/14, 10:58 AM

  I use Evernote Web Clipper which strips out clutter and just posts the simplified article to my Evernote.

  For e-books I tend to use the highlight service on the Kindle/Kindle App (Just recently seen you can follow other peoples highlights which is interesting).

• by ihatehandles on 4/24/14, 3:59 PM

  Kippt. I really recommend Kippt. You can also create public collections and have other people contribute to them.

  I also apply some FollowUpThen if I need to come back to it soon

• by jmerton on 4/21/14, 4:10 AM

  I commit spreadsheet abuse,

  I have excel files with tons of links

• by sarthakk on 4/21/14, 11:11 AM

  I use toread.cc. It's basically a js script that mails you the contents of the page you are currently at. Quite nifty.

• by lettergram on 4/21/14, 1:29 AM

  Feedly, I can then save/bookmark it to view through feedly and/or Evernote it

• by stadeschuldt on 4/24/14, 10:12 PM

  Interesting links -> Pinboard

  Interesting articles, blog posts -> Pocket

• by mpcadosch on 4/21/14, 4:24 PM

  Thanks guys! This is incredibly helpful!

• by JetFire on 4/21/14, 1:22 AM

  Bookmark, USB Flash drive, save interesting sections to a text document with notation to the related source.