I Need To Read This

Ineedtoreadthis.com is a site that provides users with a browser bookmarklet for easily saving articles that they would like to read at a later time. Once the user has installed the “I need to read this” browser bookmarklet (works with Internet Explorer and Firefox), they simply click on it while viewing an article and it will be saved to their “I need to read this” list. There’s also a bookmarklet called “Read an article” which returns the oldest unread article in the user’s list. Users can view their “I need to read this” list by visiting their homepage on the site. Articles can be removed from the list by marking them as read. Users also have the option of turning their “I need to read this” list into an RSS feed which is publicly available. The resulting RSS feed is then available at ineedtoreadthis.com/u/username/feed. Clicking on an item in the RSS feed will take the user directly to the corresponding article. Installing the bookmarklet at the ineedtoreadthis site is easy – for Internet Explorer the user right-clicks on the bookmarklet and chooses “Add to favorites”. For Firefox, the user can simply drag the bookmarklet to their bookmarks toolbar and drop it there. Tulsa, OK based ineedtoreadthis.com was launched in January 2009 by Jason Grlicky and Benjamin Stover. Competition to ineedtoreadthis comes from sites such as Readbag and Laterloop. Both of these sites offer a service that is very similar in functionality. In addition, both sites offer integration with mobile web browsers, which is not available from ineedtoreadthis. All three site function in the same manner, with a bookmarklet and a single click being all that is necessary to save a link to your list of articles to read. The ineedtoreadthis site has a very clean and uncluttered look. Pages loads are almost instantaneous and the site is very responsive. The bookmarklets performed without problems in both Internet Explorer and Firefox, and the RSS feed feature performed without problems as well. Navigation is obvious and intuitive, with a convenient top menu bar shown on all pages. The entries in the menu bar include Home (this takes the user to their “I need to read this” list), Bookmarklets (this is where the user obtains the bookmarklet), Settings (user settings), and Sign Out. There is no advertising displayed on the site. The registration process asks for username, email address and password. The email address does not have to be validated. Once registered, users have access to all features of the site. Registration at ineedtoreadthis is required and is free. There is no premium membership to ineedtoreadthis offered. Ineedtoreadthis is recommended to any user who reads a large number of articles, blog posts, etc. throughout the day. The service provides a convenient way of saving something the user would like to read, but does not have time to read at present. The service is very easy to use, and users can share their reading lists via the RSS feed feature. Simplicity is the strong point of this site – it makes the task of saving and maintaining a reading list an almost completely painless process.