Help me find more ways to be unproductive

June 12, 2010 12:18 AM

Is there an easy way to easily start browsing a web site on my laptop, then pick up my phone and continue surfing the same site (and vica versa)?

I have a windows laptop and an Android phone. I'm often surfing metafilter and see a link that just doesn't display well on my phone, or is a flash/heavy download site. it'd be nice to be able to flag this to read on the laptop later.

Likewise I'm often on my laptop and see something interesting, but don't have time to see it then and there. On the bus home on my android would be the perfect place to read it.

Can I flag a site somehow on one platform and easily get to it on the other?

posted by Admira to Technology (8 answers total)

Read It Later. Supports most browsers and smart phones. Lets you mark pages to be read later, and syncs your reading list on all of your devices.
posted by Amaterasu at 12:42 AM on June 12, 2010

Xmarks has tab sync, and I'm not sure if Firefox Sync (formerly Mozilla Weave) is in a final release yet, but it will too.
posted by IndigoRain at 12:42 AM on June 12, 2010

Or there's del.icio.us.
posted by flabdablet at 2:00 AM on June 12, 2010

I use Instapaper for this. It doesn't appear that the developer is planning an Android version, but you might keep an eye out, in case someone else gives it a go.
posted by mumkin at 2:32 AM on June 12, 2010

For when you're on your phone and want to read on the computer - Instapaper (linked above) should do the trick. There's also the Instapaper Text Bookmarklet, which will make the current site you're viewing easier to read - if you don't want to have to get away from your phone.

This forum post has some Instapaper-esque apps for Android, that might be useful.
posted by backwards guitar at 3:48 AM on June 12, 2010

Most of my Internet browsing these days is done via RSS feeds. I use Google Reader and star items that I want to read on my phone/PC later. I like this because a lot of sites (like AskMeFi) are much easier to browse on my phone in the RSS feed first.
posted by Tu13es at 5:55 AM on June 12, 2010

Nthing Instapaper. I use it on my iPad when I want to mark something that I want to look at immediately or later on the laptop. It is fast and free, and unlike del.icio.us, not necessarily a public stream.
posted by jimfl at 8:04 AM on June 12, 2010

If you want something you set up yourself, I've designed a system that uses JavaScript Bookmarklets, Python, and Blogger to allow me to moves link from my iPod <> Mac <> Phone. If you're not afraid of getting your geek on, send me a MeMail and I can give you the details.
posted by 47triple2 at 5:26 PM on June 12, 2010