Marco Arment
marco.org · Personal blog · on HN since 2009
Marco Arment, creator of Instapaper and Overcast, writes about Apple, app stores, laptops, and software development.
What HN saysCommenters credit him with good UI sense and cite his App Store views as changing their minds. His best-laptop post is used as a search benchmark.
644HN people shared it
318linked it in comments
799stories submitted
37Kstory points
3 months agolast shared
2009people per year2026
Most-shared posts
- 1Overcast’s 2014 sales numbers16 people · 4 points · first shared 2009 · discussion on HN
- 2The best laptop ever made15 people · 394 points · first shared 2017 · 233 comments on HN
- 3Apple has lost the functional high ground13 people · 458 points · first shared 2015 · 325 comments on HN
- 4The impossible dream of USB-C11 people · 637 points · first shared 2017 · 306 comments on HN
- 5Right versus pragmatic11 people · 572 points · first shared 2012 · 162 comments on HN
- 6Low Power Mode for Mac laptops: making the case again10 people · 23 points · first shared 2020 · 1 comments on HN
- 7Just doesn’t feel good9 people · 449 points · first shared 2015 · 297 comments on HN
- 8Standing Up For Android9 people · 122 points · first shared 2011 · 77 comments on HN
- 9Clip sharing with Overcast8 people · 6 points · first shared 2019 · discussion on HN
- 10Overcast 4.2: The privacy update7 people · 19 points · first shared 2018 · discussion on HN
- 11More iOS device and OS version stats from Instapaper7 people · 1 points · first shared 2011 · discussion on HN
- 12The One-Person Product6 people · 669 points · first shared 2013 · 103 comments on HN
- 13Why the 2012 non-Retina MacBook Pro still sells6 people · 102 points · first shared 2016 · 76 comments on HN
- 14Mistake One6 people · 34 points · first shared 2015 · 1 comments on HN
- 15Feature checklist dysfunction6 people · 20 points · first shared 2010 · 8 comments on HN
What HN people wrote when they linked it
nathanlrivera · 2011-03-11
Marco Arment, the founder of Instapaper, was also the former lead developer of Tumblr. It's clear that he has great a sense for UI design.
http://www.marco.org/
bomewish · 2023-12-19
Marco Arment has the most interesting take on this, and it's made me change my mind on the topic. The whole post is short and worth reading -- https://marco.org/2021/09/13/future-of-the-app-store -- but the tl;dr is: lots of app stores run by different companies would be worse both for users and developers; Apple is not nearly as bad as Facebook in terms of surveillance, invasions of privacy, dark patterns; and basically 'better the devil you know.' I'm convinced -- surprisingly. Essentially a free-for-all might lead to anarchic piracy rather than an extractive one-party state. Marco prefers the latter and his argument seems kinda compelling.
freediver · 2022-06-12
There are two schools of thought on how to answer this query:
Here is #1 result on Google:
https://www.techradar.com/news/mobile-computing/laptops/best-laptops-1…
Here is #1 result on Kagi:
https://marco.org/2017/11/14/best-laptop-ever
Kagi's result showcases our philosophy of preferring non-commercial content to commercial/SEO/affiliate content. It may not be for everyone. If the users want that they can find the same link as Google's #1 in a section called listicles.
We show this example on purpose so that we manage expectations on what you will get Kagi from the very first interaction.
darklion · 2021-10-18
> So basically apple just went back to the things they tried to fix that weren't broken and then messed up the aesthetics by making it a design from 2010 and added a notch.
"Apple corrected nearly everything about their laptop design that people complain about, used a design this is considered by some to be the best MBP design ever [1], and put a small intrusion on the screen in the least-used-possible spot in order to provide more overall screen real estate. Why does Apple hate us?"
[1] https://marco.org/2017/11/14/best-laptop-ever
smnrchrds · 2021-06-09
They did not just draw a line; they gerrymandered a line so Netflix would not leave App Store and Apple would not lose its income from smaller players while pretending it is a fair line in the sand. Even Marco Arment has commented on the ridiculousness of the complexity of the line. I highly recommend reading the link below.
https://marco.org/2020/09/11/app-review-changes
abrowne · 2020-05-07
I agree there's nothing original about the basic design, but that's true of a lot of mature products. With USB ports on both sides (in additional to Thunderbolt 3) and an HDMI port, it's a lot like the 2015 MacBook Pro aka the "best laptop ever made"¹. But mine has a great matte touchscreen, so there are some new ideas.
1: https://marco.org/2017/11/14/best-laptop-ever
odysseus · 2020-04-23
I'd love to see Apple build-in a Low Power Mode that does basically the same thing Turbo Boost Switcher does:
Ref : https://marco.org/2020/01/13/macos-low-power-mode-redux
Until Apple does this, I'm happy with my Turbo Boost Switcher Pro purchase.
teejmya · 2020-03-26
My favorite podcast app (https://overcast.fm) does this, here's the creator's post about it: https://marco.org/2019/04/27/overcast-clip-sharing
nailer · 2019-11-13
My 2015 era MBA was great. They just screwed up, and told us they fixed it so many times it doesn't matter if they've actually fixed it this time (which they may have - https://marco.org/media/2019/11/mbp16-graph.png - we'll see in a few months) because we don't believe them. Typing this on a Surface with WSL2.
markandrewj · 2019-08-14
I think you are talking about current developments, but it is worth mentioning that when Twitter launched it was just as flip phones started to be replaced by smartphones. Most people were interacting with the service through SMS.
To me, it felt like the progress with further developing tumblr slowed after Marco Arment moved onto other projects.
From a historic perspective, this may an interesting article to some people.
https://marco.org/2013/05/20/one-person-product?utm_source=feedly
stuartd · 2019-04-19
I did the same, for the same reason. It’s a joy to use and every time I read one of the (so many) articles on the MB butterfly keyboard, I am reminded that I made the right choice. The 2015 MBP really is the best Mac laptop - which if you want a Mac rather than a Linux box, the best laptop ever - https://marco.org/2017/11/14/best-laptop-ever
m_mueller · 2018-11-06
I don't think it's fair to suspect Marco being paid by Apple, he's far from a shill. See for example [1][2].
[1] https://marco.org/2017/11/14/best-laptop-ever
[2] https://marco.org/2017/11/24/fixing-the-macbook-pro
scarface74 · 2018-05-31
I can honestly say that I have no apps with embedded ads. If it's an app I'm going to use, I pay for the no-ads in app purchase. If it's an app that doesn't allow me to pay for a no ads version or that's not worth paying for, I uninstall it.
There is one exception. Overcast, my podcast player. There is a no ads in app purchase, but the ads are usually for other podcasts in the same category that I'm listening to. The ads are actually useful.
https://marco.org/2016/09/09/overcast-ads
ghshephard · 2018-05-04
The question with Overcast, is whether it will be able to compete in the open market with Marco's almost quixotic desire to avoid any form of tracking whatsoever. He won't even track stop/start/listen actions, and now he's eliminating tracking pixels (https://marco.org/2018/04/27/overcast42) - all very admirable, but by foregoing all the obvious revenue opportunities, will he be able to make it up by attracting a large enough audience who will purchase/subscribe to his app so that he can continue to develop it? Is privacy an important enough attribute for the podcast listening audience?
eevilspock · 2018-04-27
Fixed link: https://marco.org/2017/11/14/best-laptop-ever
thanks.
smallduck · 2018-04-26
The 2015 MacBook Pro sucks least <https://marco.org/2017/11/14/best-laptop-ever>
eneveu · 2018-04-05
I would also be in the market for a new Macbook Pro, but their touch bar is dissuading me... The other thing I'm waiting for is 32 GB of RAM.
I guess I'll keep using my 15" MBP (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2014) for now... If it breaks before they fix their MBP lineup, I'll see if I can buy a 2015 version ( https://marco.org/2017/11/14/best-laptop-ever ). Or I'll look at Thinkpads.
dmitriid · 2018-01-12
“Pro”. People should really start using quotes when saying “Macbook ‘Pro’” or omit “Pro” entirely.
A good article about the Macbooks is “The Best Laptop Ever Made” https://marco.org/2017/11/14/best-laptop-ever
krallja · 2017-11-28
marco already wrote an article like that https://marco.org/2017/11/14/best-laptop-ever
schappim · 2017-11-25
Marco has an opinion on this: http://marco.org/2017/11/14/best-laptop-ever
djrogers · 2017-09-25
> even in its crappy implementation I used the hell out of it.
Then based on Marco's own stats, you were one of about 0.1% of users...
That said, now that the watch is free* from the tether of my iPhone, I'd love to listen to podcasts on it on a run while leaving my phone behind.
[1] https://marco.org/2017/08/10/removed-send-to-watch
[2] relatively
Amorymeltzer · 2017-01-30
Marco Arment, of tumblr, instapaper, Overcast, and ATP: https://marco.org/, https://twitter.com/marcoarment
Gary Bernhardt, of wat: https://github.com/garybernhardt, https://twitter.com/garybernhardt
slantyyz · 2017-01-11
Put yourself in CR's shoes.
You can't do every test of every laptop using the popular sites, because content payloads on various sites change over time. You won't get apples to apples comparison tests.
The easiest way to do a repeatable browser test is to turn caching off on the browsers and hit a few web pages that never change and that you control on your own server. By repeating that test over and over again, it simulates hitting new sites even though you're hitting the same pages.
If I was in the business of doing laptop reviews, that's how I'd do it.
-- edit: This blog entry by Marco Arment on the topic is worth reading: https://marco.org/2017/01/10/cr-mbp-battery-update
bishnu · 2016-08-23
Worth re-reading Marco Arment's blog post about selling Instapaper 3 years ago:
https://marco.org/2013/04/25/instapaper-next-generation
"Instapaper needs a new home where it can be staffed and grown, but I didn’t want to give it to a big company that would probably just shut it down in six months."
Oof.
kmfrk · 2016-07-24
While Flickr has decent export tools (you just get your photos without tags, descriptions - literally anything else), Tumblr's have always been non-existent aside from an unofficial, macOS-only tool by Marco whose download link (https://marco.org/2009/12/10/the-tumblr-backup-app-is-ready-for-its-fi… no longer works.
Anyone recommend a Tumblr export tool? The best, as far as I can tell, is jekyll-import (http://import.jekyllrb.com/docs/tumblr/), but I'm running into errors and getting weird results.
nimeshneema · 2016-04-05
On a slightly related note, my list of favourite non-development blogs which I follow as an iOS developer:
- Daring Fireball (http://daringfireball.net/)
- The Loop (http://www.loopinsight.com/)
- Six Colors (https://sixcolors.com/)
- Marco Arment (https://marco.org/)
- Mac Rumors (http://www.macrumors.com/)
wluu · 2015-02-27
That's the Microsoft Ergonomic Sculpt keyboard.
I've got one, and while it's not a mechanic keyboard. It is quite comfortable, and if you want an ergo keyboard I'd highly recommend it.
Here's a review by Marco Arment: http://www.marco.org/2013/08/30/sculpt-ergonomic-keyboard-review
olefoo · 2015-01-08
Well, there seems to be some dissent in the choir [1]. And a growing sense among many Apple customers that it's all been downhill since Snow Leopard.
For myself, I can say that the benefits of Apple hardware are starting to be outweighed by the downsides of their software. And that while I love the hardware, the OS that is supposed to drive it no longer interests me; and the rapacious attitude that seems to imply that both devs and customers are sheep to be sheared grates on me.
I've been an Apple user from the days when I wanted an Apple ][ soooo badly. But these days, I'm not so sure.
1. http://www.marco.org/2015/01/04/apple-lost-functional-high-ground
username223 · 2014-11-24
This seems to be one of a spate of recent articles, e.g. [1]. For a skeptical take, see Marco Arment [2]. Then again, he could just be expressing sour grapes because people with actual skill, money, and time are invading his turf.
FWIW, I have listened to a lot of NPR via podcast for many years, and see a podcast-only version of it as a natural step. At this point, the amateur "three nerds and a microphone" stuff is background noise for when I can't sleep.
[1] http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2014/10/whats-behind-the-great-po…
[2] http://www.marco.org/2014/11/16/why-podcasts-are-suddenly-back
lostlogin · 2013-11-27
Marco has some thoughts on this posting. http://www.marco.org