Sep 17
A few months back, Instapaper was acquired by Betaworks
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Aug 29
When Instapaper got acquired, its new owners swore they wouldn’t let it go stale. Now, we’re seeing the first wave of changes roll out since the save-and-read-later tool changed hands, starting with a complete overhaul of its web interface. Instapaper’s new website still remains simple — good thing, because that’s part of its charm — but borrows design elements from its iOS and Android apps. In the next few weeks, Betaworks (the company that now owns Instapaper as well as Digg), will also unleash revamped mobile apps, improved browser extensions and a handful of new features. Whether these Instapaper updates can insta-entice people to switch from Pocket and other competitors remains to be seen, but hit the source links if you’d like to give the tool a shot.
Filed under: Cellphones
Via: The Verge
Source: Betaworks, Instapaper
Aug 28
Betaworks, the company that resurrected Digg and bought Instapaper
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Jun 26
The weather. It’s all anyone talks about these days. But there’s never been one single service that gets it right, or even bothers to tell you what you actually need to know. Well, Betaworks’ Poncho, a new weather service, might have just figured it all out—with a simple text message in the morning.
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Apr 25
Betaworks, the parent company of the all-new (and pretty amazing) Digg.com, just bought a majority stake in Instapaper, the popular read-it-later service from Marco Arment. It’s yet another puzzle piece in what is rapidly becoming one of the more interesting …
Apr 25
Betaworks, the company that rescued Digg from the toilet, has just bought a majority stake in Instapaper from its founder Marco Arment. More »
Apr 25
Betaworks, the company that rescued Digg from the toilet, has just bought a majority stake in Instapaper from its founder Marco Arment. More »
Apr 25
If you’re the sort who likes to catch up on web articles through a dedicated reader app, you’re likely familiar with Instapaper and its lone creator, Marco Arment. His solo work makes for a cohesive experience and a great story, but it also involves a lot of strain — enough so that Arment is selling majority control of the app to Betaworks, the owner of Bitly and Digg. Thankfully, this shouldn’t represent a classic acquire-and-absorb deal that ultimately kills the original brand. Arment says he’ll remain involved as an advisor, and the takeover is arranged with promises that Betaworks will add staff and continue building the read-it-later tool. While neither side has said just where they’ll take Instapaper with more resources, there’s a real chance that competitors like Pocket will feel some added pressure.
Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets
Source: Marco.org
Jul 20
Well, that was fast. Not two weeks after Digg was bought out by Betaworks (parent company to Bit.ly, among other startups), we’re learning the crowd-sourced news aggregator is poised to relaunch as soon as August 1. In a blog post, the 10-person engineering team promises an overhaul of the site, once a litmus test for what was popular on the internet. Most interesting, perhaps, is the revelation that while Digg will not be a rebadged version of News.me, the aggregation app already owned by Betaworks, the two services will eventually be folded into one product. And while the team isn’t revealing how, exactly, the new Digg will differ from the old, they did promise it would eventually receive personalization features similar to what News.me already offers. Other than that, Betaworks didn’t share any specifics, but luckily, you’ll only have to wait two weeks to find out what’s in store.
Filed under: Internet
Digg to get a complete redesign, relaunch in August originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 20 Jul 2012 16:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Jul 12
Digg, once one of the shining stars of the social media world, is now a sad shell of of its former self. The once mighty news-sharing service founded by Kevin Rose, has just been snatched up by a small New York City firm called Betaworks for a paltry $500,000, according to the Wall Street Journal. The site still draws roughly seven million visitors a month, but that’s a far cry from the more than 30 million is was pulling in during its 2008 heyday. And the pocket change paid for the property pales in comparison to the over $45 million it raised from investors over its lifetime. The sale follows the departure of its most high profile exec, the aforementioned Rose, who is now in charge of Google Ventures. Betaworks plans to revitalize the brand involve folding it into News.me, another social news service, which launched in April of last year. The deal only includes the property itself and the brand — none of Digg’s remaining employees will be making the move to Betaworks. Of course, there were very few left once the Washington Post subsidiary Social Code hired 15 engineers from the floundering service, which accounted for more than half of its workforce.
Update: As it turns out, that “$500,000” figure may not tell the whole story. TechCrunch and AllThingsD are both reporting that there’s a lot more to consider besides the cash outlay.
Filed under: Internet
WSJ: Sinking social news site Digg bought by NYC firm Betaworks (updated) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 12 Jul 2012 16:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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