Find it as you left it

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Quite often I find myself with a lot of browser 'tabs' open of stuff I want to read but can't at the moment. It piles up and I never find the time to go through it all. This might be one of those pages for you. But wait, keep reading...

Bookmarking doesn't suffice because in reality I will never open up that bookmarks folder. Ever. Out of sight, out of mind. Either now or never, really. There is always some other thing better up ahead.

[ The next war is for our attention. ]

A couple of months ago I thought about a neat app idea (that could actually make this a bigger problem for me). Throughout my work day I often leave my desk and laptop at work to fetch coffee or lunch. While walking or waiting in line I pull out my phone like a typical infomaniac and looked for something to occupy my attention for just a moment. Something small, like Twitter. Twitter is the new TV, there's always something on, something new.

[ Pedestrian profundity printer ink black bold all-caps on plain letter-size paper taped on a street post: YOU HAVE 1 NEW MESSAGE ]

Perusing Twitter on my phone often leads me to following a link that someone shared. This opens up my phone browser. I snack on it for a bit but often there isn't enough time to consume it all. Besides, the tiny screen isn't ideal for full web pages or anything with lots of text.

So I thought, what if when I returned to my laptop at my desk the same web page I had snacked on would already be open? My desktop browser could constantly just 'mirror' my phone browser - both in URL and scroll position. This way I can pick up and go, leave my desk, come back, and my experience is contiguous.

This morning I looked around to see if this is already done. There is a Google Chrome to Phone extension that lets you send a web page from your desktop to your phone instantly with just a click. But what I'm looking to have is bi-directional and automatic. That's where the magic is.

[ Someone should go build this. ]

And here's another bit. Automatically send all pages that I keep open for x amount of time into my bookmarks - be it of my browser or delicious. This encourages me to at least scan the page, decide if it is worth further attention, and close it if it doesn't meet the mark. A much better practice, wow.

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