Marco Arment Quotations

People love information. Right now in our society, we have an obesity epidemic. Because for the first time in history, we have access to food whenever we want, we don't know how to control ourselves. I think we have the exact same problem with information.

I've done everything from stocking shelves at a natural food co-op, to baking bagels at Brueggers and bussing tables. Then I realized that jobs suck, but if you could get up at 6 A.M. and bake your own breakfast, that is very satisfying.

Instapaper needs a new home where it can be staffed and grown.

In the modern desktop environment, with multitasking and alerts and constant activity, there are always more distractions. When you're at a computer, your hands are always on the controls.

People have different interpretations of "urgent".

Apple already had everyone's billing information from iTunes... you could buy things just by typing in your password... That, for the first time, brought very, very easy payment to the modern software world. That, more than anything, is why there is a business for paid apps.

With Instapaper, I can take a few months off. I can't stop publishing 'The Magazine' for two months and work on something else.

I've worked with many large and small publishers, and nearly all of them love the value that Instapaper provides to their readers.

I don't even like being quoted in a press release.

Making a product better often requires removing features.

People will pay for something they like because they want to ensure its future.

Charge for something and make more than you spend.

Attention to detail can't be (and never is) added later. It's an entire development philosophy, methodology, and culture.

Emphasizing and rewarding length over quality results in worse writing and more reader abandonment.

Instapaper is much bigger today than I could have predicted in 2008, and it has simply grown far beyond what one person can do. To really shine, it needs a full-time staff of at least a few people.

One reason I love the Kindle, more so than the iPad, is that on the Kindle you can't do anything else but read. It's the best, because it does the least. It doesn't even show a clock.

People want to download publications quickly and read them without cruft. Publications that started in print carry too much baggage and usually have awful apps. 'The Magazine' was designed from the start to be streamlined, natively digital, and respectful of readers' time and attention.

Instapaper does support paywall sites. I have a list of them, that when someone saves something it sends a copy of the page as they are viewing it only to them. If you subscribe to a paid site, you can save the content. I'm not really touching the money.

I started out from a pretty modest background, so I always had a pretty good sense of money. I always had to work for my money, save my own money, I always bought my own stuff with my money... trying not to waste money unnecessarily.

As long as I manage investments properly and don't spend recklessly, Tumblr has given my family a strong safety net and given me the freedom to work on whatever I want. And that's exactly what I plan to do.

Instapaper wouldn't be of as much value if it weren't for these mobile and e-reader devices. They give you a separate physical context for reading.

With Betaworks' drive and resources now behind it, I'm confident that Instapaper has a very bright future. I'm looking forward to seeing what they can do.

With a Web and iPhone app, I try to find new and tiny ways to delight my customers. They may not notice, but it helps drive goodwill and makes your product remarkable.

Programmers work in bursts of productivity. Then, they let the brain rest and get back into it. A lot about the office world is not a great fit for me.

Microsoft loves losing money with online services, so this should stay free forever... unless they get a new CEO who isn't crazy about pouring billions into a hole.

Google won't break into your home. You'll invite them in.

Keep building and supporting new tools, technologies, and platforms to empower independence, interoperability, and web property ownership.

Writing your own blog platform is like roasting your own coffee: it's impractical and you probably shouldn't do it, but for people who really, truly care about it, it's worthwhile to them for their own personal priorities that sound crazy to everyone else. Well, I write my own blog platform and I roast my own coffee.

If you sit on, sleep on, stare at, or touch something for more than an hour a day, spend whatever it takes to get the best.