bookmarks posts

Google Chrome 4 hits beta, includes bookmark sync

by Jay Hathaway Nov 3rd 2009

The latest Windows version of Google Chrome, version 4.0, is now in beta. It's reportedly a scorching 30% faster than the current release, and it includes a bookmark syncing feature that's been floating around in the developer preview version of the browser for some time.

Activate bookmark syncing on each of your computers, and Chrome will automatically synchronize any changes to your bookmarks across all your machines. It's made possible by the magic of XMPP, which also powers Google Talk. Sound good? Go ahead and download Chrome 4.0 Beta.

This beta version of Chrome is also notable for what it leaves out: extensions support. According to Stephen Shankland at CNET, Google is reworking the extensions interface for Chrome, so that feature is disabled for now. Shankland also tracked down some news on the upcoming Chrome Mac Beta. The team working on it has been instructed to fix all their high-priority bugs by the end of the week, and it looks like getting the Mac version out is near the top of Google's to-do list.

[via CNET]

Tags: beta, bookmarks, chrome, chrome 4.0, Chrome4.0, google chrome, GoogleChrome

Filed under: Productivity, Search

SearchTabs uses Xmarks bookmark data for better Google results

by Jay Hathaway Oct 14th 2009

SearchTabs is a Firefox add-on from the makers of cross-browser bookmarking syncing utility Xmarks. Xmarks has a database of over a billion bookmarks, and SearchTabs puts that to work to get you better search results. When you Google something with SearchTabs installed, you'll see tabs with related terms. Clicking on one gives you a list of the most-bookmarked sites for that term, which usually looks quite a bit different from the Google results.

SearchTabs also adds additional info to the Google results themselves, displaying badges next to various results to indicate how they rank on Xmarks for a given search term. For example, if you Google "Download Squad," you'll see a badge indicating that we're #3 on Foxmarks for "tech software internet blogs." Some suggested terms are more helpful than others, though: Google "software blogs" and you'll see tabs for blogging software and CMS. Close, but not quite.

Tags: bookmarks, search, searchtabs, xmarks

Filed under: Google, How-Tos, Browsers

How to add a bookmarks button to your Google Chrome toolbar

by Lee Mathews Sep 1st 2009

Most users of Google Chrome enjoy its minimal interface. So why use a clunky toolbar to display your bookmarks full-time if you don't have to? Like many other excellent Chrome features, adding a miniscule bookmarks menu button is only a command line switch away!

Just right click your Chrome shortcut and choose properties. In the target box, add a space and --bookmark-menu after chrome.exe. the result should something look like this:

C:\Users\LeeM\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe --bookmark-menu

This works on versions 2, 3, and 4 of Google Chrome, so it's a tweak anyone can use. That is, as long as you're running Windows - my Linux and Mac versions don't seem to be able to add the button yet.

Netbook users, enjoy your extra 28 vertical pixels!

Note: as mentioned in the comments, yes, you CAN add multiple switches - just put a space in between each one like so:

chrome.exe --enable-user-scripts --enable-sync --bookmark-menu

Tags: bookmarks, google chrome, GoogleChrome, hacks, how to, HowTo, netbook, toolbar

Filed under: Mozilla, Beta, Browsers

Mozilla Weave version .6 boosts performance, adds new features

by Lee Mathews Aug 27th 2009

Today, Mozilla Weave took another step forward. The browser synchronization add-on is now at version 0.6 and better than ever.

Apart from the old Weave sync kung fu - bookmarks, history, and passwords - the newest version can now keep your Personas up to date across multiple machines. Performance has gotten another boost, and there's a new about:weave page that allows for easier management of your preferences and Weave account.

[update] The first-time sync also now includes the option to specify which direction you want to sync. That's a welcome change, since it means no more deafult Firefox bookmarks sneaking into my Weave profile in the cloud.

Tags: bookmarks, browser-sync, cloud, firefox-add-ons, mozilla-weave

Filed under: Browsers, Humor

One big reason people didn't upgrade from Firefox 2 to 3? Hiding porn bookmarks.

by Lee Mathews Aug 26th 2009

Generally, improvements in software are a good thing. Improving something means making it better, right? In the case of Firefox 3's enhanced Awesome Bar, maybe not so much.

The Firefox security team has been analyzing data collected from users who declined to upgrade from version 2 to 3 back in May when Mozilla issued a friendly nudge. Those users were given the chance to fill out a questionnaire to explain their decision. One big sticking point: the suped-up address bar's ability to match text you enter with your bookmarks.

Here's how the Firefox crew describes a common scenario:

"In some cases users had intentionally hidden these bookmarks in deep hierarchies of folders, somewhat similar to how one might hide a physical object. Having something from your previous browsing displayed to someone else who is using your computer (or even worse) to a large audience of people as you are giving a presentation, is really one of the most embarrassing things that Firefox can do to you."

Translation: I hid all my bookmarks to NSFW cosplay sites in My Bookmarks\Harmless\Totally Harmless\No Really\Why are you still drilling down\Nothing to see here\Get out of my chair already\Sandwiches and I don't want them popping up accidentally when I start typing.

Having hot-girls-in-panda-costumes.org pop up when you start typing a URL during a demonstration could definitely make things slightly uncomfortable.

You could, of course, just upgrade and follow Digital Inspiration's tips for disabling this behavior. You'll also be able to use ~~dirty old man~~ private browsing mode in your new Firefox 3.5 install.

[via PC Pro]

Tags: awesome-bar, bookmarks, firefox, porn, survey, upgrade, upgrading

Filed under: Utilities, Macintosh, Palm, Productivity, Browsers

Fliq Bookmarks is a sort-of sync between Safari and the Palm Pre

by Jay Hathaway Aug 9th 2009

One of the first things you'll want to do with any smartphone is get your bookmarks set up in the phone's browser. It can be a real pain to add them one-by-one, though, so it's a lot easier if you can just import them from the browser on your computer. Fliq Bookmarks lets you do just that, assuming the following: 1) Your browser is Safari, 2) Your phone is a Palm Pre and 3) You have the Missing Sync, a Pre-specific media-syncing app for your Mac.

Fliq seems of limited use, although it does sync your toolbar bookmarks from Safari. Really, bookmark syncing should be a feature of the $30 Missing Sync app, not a standalone app. Also, how many Safari users have a Pre instead of an iPhone? Feel free to flame me in the comments if I'm wrong, but it seems like if you're one of those folks, you're probably in the minority.

[via Appscout]

Tags: bookmarks, fliqbookmarks, markspace, missing-sync, palm-pre, safari, smartphone

Filed under: Yahoo!, Social Software, web 2.0

Delicious gets a new "Fresh" tab and easier sharing

by Jay Hathaway Aug 4th 2009

The popular social bookmarking service Delicious has been stagnating a bit since Yahoo purchased it, inspiring competition from the likes of Pinboard. Yahoo hasn't complete abandoned Delicious, though. An update today adds new search and sharing features and a "Fresh" tab that uses Twitter trends to find the most relevant links on Delicious.

Now, when you search on Delicious, you can specify a time frame to search, as well as sorting by tags. Previews from sites like YouTube, Flickr and Yelp should be showing up next to relevant bookmarks soon. On the sharing front, quick email and Twitter buttons have been added, so you can share in a couple of clicks, right from the link.

Tags: bookmarking, bookmarks, delicious, sharing, yahoo

Filed under: Utilities, Social Software, web 2.0

Pinboard brings back the glory days of bookmarking, for a fee

by Jay Hathaway Jul 15th 2009

Pinboard is a simple, functional bookmarking site, reminiscent of Delicious in its pre-Yahoo! prime, but it comes with a small catch. To join Pinboard, there's a one-time fee based on the number of users who have signed up so far. The fee is $0.001 times the number of users already signed up. As of a moment ago, it's a little over $4.50 to get an account. Instead of "social bookmarking," pinboard is "antisocial bookmarking," designed not too get too big and too diluted with spam as quickly as Delicious did.

You get some pretty good features in exchange for your fee. Pinboard includes a separate, lightweight "to read" option, for stuff you want to come back to, but don't want to share or put in your main list. You can import or export Delicious bookmarks, and, as Pinboard's developer notes in a little dig at Ma.gnolia, there are nightly backups, so the risk of data loss is minimal. If a better, more streamlined Delicious is your cup of tea, you should join Pinboard now, before it gets too expensive.

Any thoughts on the price at which new memberships start to level off?

Tags: bookmarks, delicious, magnolia, pinboard, social-bookmarking

Filed under: Google, Open Source, Browsers

New extension finally brings Google Bookmarks support to Chrome

by Lee Mathews Jul 14th 2009

When we first got a sniff of Chrome from the infamous comic book pages, most of us figured that a Google browser would feature tight integration with Google's web-based services. Though I guess if you count the metrics Google gathers via Chrome, that counts as a kind of integration. It's just not what we were looking for.

What about things like Web History (which I still find just a tad creepy) and Bookmarks?

Thanks to a new extension, you can now easily add Google Bookmarks support to Chrome. Grab GBX from Uninformed Opinion and you'll be enjoying bookmark portability bliss in no time. After compiling my list of 15+ bookmarklets, I was glad to get my hands on GBX to keep my home and work systems running in step (and finally get my pitifully outdated Google Bookmarks current).

After installing GBX, you have the option of replacing your bookmarks bar, adding a Google Bookmarks folder to it, or loading your items into the 'other bookmarks' folder. You can also customize the folder hierarchy and sort order and choose how often you want to refresh the folder.

At last, a simple way to keep at least your bookmarks in sync across multiple machines running Chrome!

Tags: bookmarks, google-chrome, synchronization

Filed under: Mozilla, Browsers

Xmarks releases cloud-free version for Firefox profile syncing

by Lee Mathews Jun 8th 2009

Just because you don't trust your data to the cloud doesn't mean you want to miss out on handy services like bookmark synchronization.

XMarks has just released a beta version of its Firefox addon that allows users to sync their data to a private WebDAV or FTP server. The BYOS version never communicates with XMarks' servers - except when opening the "what's new" splash screen in a new tab following an update.

Since it's not talking to the XMarks servers, that also means you won't be able to use the discovery features of the regular version.

This certainly isn't the first addon to provide this functionality - Bookmark Sync and Sort started doing it in 2006 (though it's no longer developed), and SyncPlaces does it as well.

If you're already using XMarks, however, and just want to move your bookmarks to your own servers, their new addon is probably the way to go.

Tags: bookmarks, firefox-addon, xmarks

Filed under: Productivity, Web services

Search for useful bookmarklets with Bookmarklet Directory

by Jay Hathaway May 30th 2009

There are lots of great things about bookmarklets. They're lightweight, compatible with any browser, don't require installing or restarting any apps, and they're just a click away in your bookmarks toolbar. If you're looking for some good bookmarklets, you might want to check out Bookmarklet Directory. It's a large (and growing) collection in the same vein as the Firefox add-ons directory or userscripts.org.

You can browse the Bookmarklet Directory according to the newest, most popular, or highest rated entries. You can also search for bookmarklets, or add one that they don't have yet. If you're making a move to uninstall a few plugins and get bookmarklets instead, don't miss this site.

[via ReadWriteWeb]

Tags: bmlet, bookmarklet-directory, bookmarklets, bookmarks, toolbar

Filed under: Web services, web 2.0, Mobile, Web

Smub.it: easy mobile sharing for Facebook, Delicious, Digg and more

by Jay Hathaway Apr 27th 2009

There are plenty of web services out there that let you share across multiple networks, but Smub.it is taking a different, more mobile approach. By using a bookmarklet, or typing http://smub.it in front of any URL, you can share on Facebook, Digg, Delicious, Reddit, Twitter and more, from both desktop and mobile browsers.

Smub.it practically begs be used on the iPhone, but other phones shouldn't have trouble accessing it, either. It doesn't depend entirely on other services, either: you can bookmark something on Smub itself. Although there are other services with more features and similar functionality, none of them have the same streamlined, easy-to-use mobile version that Smub does. It's worth a look.

[via Mashable]

Tags: bookmarks, delicious, digg, facebook, reddit, share, smub, smub.it, twitter

Filed under: Utilities, Productivity, iPhone, Web

Read it Later introduces iPhone app

by Jay Hathaway Apr 13th 2009

Read It Later is a service that lets you bookmark webpages to, as the name would suggest, read later. We first covered it when it was just a Firefox extension, but it's evolved quite a bit since then. The new iPhone app is particularly nice, offering offline reading of your saved pages, and a text-only reading mode that brings to mind the similar Instapaper app.

Read it Later's iPhone app brings all of the web features of Read It Later elegantly to the iPhone. Even without an Internet connection, you can view saved pages in their original form or as plain text. Quite importantly, the iPhone app also syncs article with the web version. If you buy the pro edition of the app, you can also save things from Safari in your iPhone via a bookmarklet.

Tags: articles, bookmarks, iphone, read-it-later, reading

Filed under: Internet, Mozilla, Freeware, Browsers

Easier backtracking in Firefox 3 with History Submenus

by Lee Mathews Apr 7th 2009

I don't refer to my browsing history all that often, but there are times when I need to go back and find a particular something that I just can't remember by name. Firefox's default Today/Yesterday/every day this week setup isn't really the tidiest way to go back three or four days, and it's hard to search when you can't recall what to search for.

History Submenus makes the task a bit easier by providing today and the last seven days (by default) as separate menu choices. Its options allow you to specify the number of items to display, including individual entries at the top of the history menu, days to include as submenus, and recently closed tabs.

The add-on also provides quick access restoring tabs and windows from your previous browsing session. Though it's listed as working with Firefox 3-3.1b3, it works fine in more recent (less stable) builds as well.

[via Elite Freeware]

Tags: add-on, bookmarks, browser, firefox, history, submenus

Filed under: Video, Features, sxsw

SXSW 2009: Nova Spivack talks Twine and the semantic web

by Jay Hathaway Mar 17th 2009

Twine is a service that lets you track your interests and discover new content that you care about, based on the bookmarks of the other 100,000 users who use it. On top of that, there are a million people who just read Twine every month, which means it's on track to be bigger than Delicious soon. Learn more about the human-curated web straight from Twine's Nova Spivack at SXSW.

Tags: bookmarks, interview, semantic-web, sxsw, twine

Graveyard Shift - zombie-busting Time Waster

With Halloween fast approaching, it's a great time to get in some practice defending your territory against zombies. In Graveyard Shift, you take aim at zombies and other creepy-crawlies, blasting them into splatters of cartoony green guts. It's a casual first-person shooter, and it's very easy to get the hang of - use the mouse to aim, click to fire. Graveyard Shift has at least 15 levels, and it might even have some secret stages I haven't unlocked yet. They key to getting good at Graveyard Shift is learning to use ...

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