I used to prefer reading Macdrifter in Instapaper or in my RSS app of choice. Now I prefer reading the site in my web browser.

Beautiful, responsive, fast. An amazing responsive navigation menu which is great on iPhone and a desktop computer. Thumbs up all around: great work, Gabe! Love the typography, too.

Gabe wrote a sweet review of Groove for iOS, a music player designed to be a different way to experience your library of tracks on iPhone or iPad. If music is something you enjoy, you might want to check the review out.

Groove is certainly miles away from iOS’s default music app, and as I’m a bit of a music nut, I bought it and am enjoying it.

It hasn’t replaced the Music app in iOS for me (I still use it for pre-made playlists), but it’s a nice addition when I want to be surprised. I consider Groove the iOS equivalent of a “Genius” style feature, wrapped up as an app. And, as that, it rocks.

John Roderick is quickly becoming one of my favourite people.

Thanks to Gabe for the link. Looks like I’m going to have to start listening to this now.

Gabe argues The Magazine is the future of publishing:

The Internet is a time capsule. It captures and preserves our hopes and fears, creating a record of our culture. Newspapers and magazines have served that purpose for generations. If we are truly moving to a digital publishing model, it would be a shame to lose that record through in app purchases.

I couldn’t agree more. Writing being both paid-for and exclusive for a limited time, then free for all is a sound model in the digital age.

Is there a place for paid-only, exclusive content? Certainly. But how far into the future will the words be preserved?

Gabe, proprietor of the always-wonderful Macdrifter, has a neat description of the ways he puts RSS to work. I suggest reading the entire article for some sensible tips which might just help you out.

Like all technology, it’s important to ensure it’s working for you, not the other way around. It’s easy to become a slave to RSS, reading everything presented to you like some sort of zombie. Stop it—that’s unhealthy. My favourite part of the article was this optimistic sentence:

The best amateur writing is happening right now on the web.

I think Gabe is correct in this assessment; I certainly feel the websites I read regularly are of a very high standard. Because I know so much great writing is “out there”, I sometimes give myself unrealistically large amounts of reading to wade through. The tricks in this article will help if I ever become overly saturated with words.