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Filed under: Productivity, Search

SearchTabs uses Xmarks bookmark data for better Google results

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.

Filed under: Google, Browsers

Xmarks testing bookmark, password sync for Google Chrome browser

Xmarks for Firefox
Sure, Google began rolling out the ability to synchronize your bookmarks across various instances of the Google Chrome browser yesterday. And that means you can make sure that your bookmarks are up to date on your home and work computers, as well as your netbook, home theater PC, and any other machines you happen to have that are running Google Chrome. But what if you want to keep your Chrome bookmarks synchronized with your Firefox, Internet Explorer, or Safari bookmarks?

Xmarks makes a popular plugin for those browsers that lets you not only backup and synchronize your bookmarks, but also your saved passwords. That means you can create a bookmark or save your login and password information for a site in Firefox on one computer, load Internet Explorer on the same PC or another, and have the same passwords and bookmarks.

And now Xmarks is working on a Google Chrome plugin. Of course, the stable version of Chrome doesn't support plugins yet, so you'll need to use the developer channel version of Chrome. If you're already using Chrome, one of the easiest ways to switch channels is to use the Google Channel Changer and then when Chrome checks for updates it will install the latest developer build.

Xmarks for Chrome is still in the early alpha stages. You can sign up to request an invitation. But you should keep in mind that we're talking about using a pre-release plugin on a pre-release browser, so don't expect a flawless user experience at this point.

Filed under: Mozilla, Browsers

Xmarks releases cloud-free version for Firefox profile syncing

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.

Filed under: Search, Browsers

Foxmarks bookmark sync service becomes Xmarks

Xmarks
Foxmarks was a service that let you sync your Firefox bookmarks across multiple computers. But then last month Foxmarks did something silly: The company added support for Internet Explorer and Safari bookmark synchronization, which made the Foxmarks brand obsolete.

Today, the team has remedied the situation by rebranding itself as Xmarks.

Xmarks is also launching a new web portal which makes use of some of the data the company has been collecting over the last few years. For example, you can type any URL into a search bar at Xmarks.com to find information about a web site as well as similar web sites.

There's also a new "smarter search" feature" that adds information to Google search results. An icon pops up next to results that are heavily bookmarked by other users. And if you scroll your mouse over that icon you can find more information about the site. Or if you'd prefer to just use Xmarks to synchronize your bookmarks, you can turn off the smarter search feature.

[via Firefox Facts]

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