Zinc

Zinc is a terrific “watch later” video bookmarking service from Stunt Software. I’ve been using it for months and love it. It’s become part of my daily life.

You install a Safari extension (or a bookmarklet if you use Chrome or Firefox) on your Mac, and buy the app for your iPhone and Apple TV. It’s just $3 — cheap! Then whenever you encounter a web page with a video you want to watch later, you just click the button or bookmarklet, or, on your iPhone, tap the Zinc action in the sharing sheet. Boom: whatever videos are on the current web page are added to your queue. It always works with embedded video from YouTube and Vimeo, and works with many other embedded players as well.

Then, when you’re in the mood to watch videos, fire up the app on your iOS device or Apple TV, and there they are. I do most of my Zinc watching from the couch on Apple TV. Zinc’s a great example of a video-based indie app that’s perfect for Apple TV. In fact, if it wasn’t for the Apple TV app, I don’t think I’d use Zinc — it’s the lynchpin of its appeal for me.

★ Thursday, 15 December 2016