Xmarks Browser Sync Services To Continue

Synchronized bookmarking is a very important facet of being a mobile resident of the World Wide Web. Having access to your home computer's browser bookmarks from another location -- say for example at the office or at a business conference in Dubai or Tokyo -- it is simply convenient. With the trillions of websites out there, it helps to have your own familiar personal corner of the Web.

Benefits of Synchronized Bookmarks

The ability to have your own set of synchronized bookmarks on hand anywhere you are in the world helps in keeping your Internet activities organized. It saves you time and effort when using a second and third PC. In most cases, conventional bookmark sync apps also securely saves your website usernames and passwords.

Over the years, I've come to depend on Xmarks to do the job of synchronizing my Internet life across my computers and mobile devices. The service used to be called Foxmarks since it was first designed to be a Firefox browser plugin. It has since grown to be a cross-browser compatible add-on for Safari, Internet Explorer and Google Chrome.

Revival for Xmarks

A few weeks ago, Xmarks announced that it will discontinue its services by the end of 2010 with old investors pulling out of the project. Because the Xmarks services are still being offered free of charge, it had no way of sustaining its operations.

However, support from loyal Xmarks users poured in and the makings of a subscription based service is now underway. Personally, I think a $10-$20 annual subscription to Xmarks is well worth the convenience and security it provides.

Apart from the convenience of cross-browser compatibility (each browser have their own sync plug-ins but none are cross-compatible to other browsers), Xmarks also offers online access to your bookmarks (again, something the in-browser sync apps do not provide). So, even if you're in an Internet cafe, you won't need to install the plug-in. Instead, just login to the Xmarks website and browse, add or edit your favorite bookmarks straight away.

So, here's hoping that the Xmarks bookmark sync service will continue on for many more years to come.

Top Things I Like About The New Twitter

If you've been on Twitter the past few months, you should be smiling about the latest developments in the Twitter front. If you're still not on Twitter, well... you're still living in the Web's dark ages.

The "#NewTwitter" as it is being referred to recently showcases a number of overhauls that make the Twitter experience faster, more informative and overall more appealing. Here are the top things I like about the new features on Twitter.

Tweet Faster on the New Twitter

The new Twitter website now features a noticeably faster input interface. Personally, I feel the character counter is still slowing down tweeters from typing in their tweets. Nevertheless, the new tweet box on your "Home" page performs much better compared to the old days (and by old I mean a few weeks ago). To have even a faster tweeting experience, click on the edit box button beside your username located on the upper right hand corner of the website to bring out a pop-up input box that let's you type in your Tweets with the least amount of lag.

Additional Tweeter Info on the Details Pane

The right sidebar of the site has been expanded to accommodate additional info and related content. If you click on any tweet, user information including other recent tweets, mentions and retweets get displayed on the details pane.

One Click Media Previews

You can now preview photos, videos and other supported content from authorized domains (i.e. Flickr, YouTube, TwitPic and UStream among others). If a user posts a link to a media content (without using a URL shortening service like bit.ly) a preview of the content will be accessible on the right side details pane. This means, people don't have to open a new browser tab or window to see the posted material or, for that matter, whether it is worth taking a better look.

Better for Sending Messages

Probably an unheralded feature of Twitter is private messaging. The interface for messages to your followers now makes it more intuitive and lets you easily track conversations with people you message a lot. Between messaging in Twitter and that in Facebook, Twitter private messaging is a lot better by far. If only Twitter would integrate previews of messages on the homepage then that would be bliss.


Below is the promotional video for the New Twitter. Enjoy. How about you - what do you like about the New Twitter?