Marcus Hamaker is The Sleepy Geek

Normally during an XMarks installation when I get the website info tab in Firefox I just close it without a look. One of the reasons I use it is because I re-install my OS so often that having a cloud bookmark repository just makes sense.

The last install I did I saw a glimpse of this cool new feature: Open Tabs Sync.

What a great idea! Sync a list of all the tabs I have open to their servers and if I want to grab ‘em from another computer I can. This doesn’t force the change to all computers I use however. What’s nice is when I was looking at something work and I forget to note it I can simply go grab the tab or the group from xmarks.

These guys really have it together. I suppose the only critism I can find is that they haven’t mastered all their features accross all the browsers. You can get a Safari version or an IE version of Xmarks but the only things that will sync are the bookmarks, not the passwords or the tabs. This says more about the API’s I think than XMarks so even though the feature is missing I bet you we can blame Apple and Microsoft!

This is an invaluble tool – I have said it before and I will say it again, this is the reason that I still use Firefox today and not Chrome or Safari. Take this tool away and the other browsers are much better in my books. It feels like I need to tell people everytime they ask me what browser I use – “I use Xmarks on Firefox”!

Geek on!

I have written about Foxmarks in the past because it’s a great tool for auto-syncing your bookmarks across multiple computers. It is really one of the only reasons that I still use Firefox and not Safari or Google Chrome.

To the credit of the team at Foxmarks, they have been working on support for IE and Safari lately and have released versions of Foxmarks for Safari on OSX and Foxmarks for IE on Windows. Now comes a release of their new product called Xmarks. This is obviously designed as a move away from a Firefox only addin and allows them to market their product for other platforms. I am excited about this move because it allows them to move towards support for even more browsers. I think I might use Chrome if they would support it, and I already use Safari sometimes when on OSX. The best thing they can do is support more browsers because most people use a specific browser for a reason. Many of us our stuck with IE at work and to have that support is already a huge leap.

But let’s get it straight, they didn’t only change the name :) This is a complete rebranding with a completely new site. I suggest you take a look as you will notice a totally refreshed look. In an email they sent to me as I was already using Foxmarks, they listed these as their primary updates:

1. Smarter Search
Xmarks will highlight the three sites in your Google results that have been bookmarked by the most people; this is a quick and easy way to tell which sites are most valued by real people like you.

2. Site Info
Xmarks adds a small blue information icon in your browser location bar. Click it to learn more about the site you are on and see recommendations for the top five similar sites. This is a great way to uncover the best of the web.

3. Xmarks.com
Visit Xmarks.com from any browser to write your own site reviews and to see even more similar site recommendations.

They were smart to have included us in an early step of their rebranding and it is great for their planning. They have taken the time to create a simple survey for existing users to guide them to prioritzing their updates. If you are a user you will receive an email with your link to the survey, if not I would head over to their forums to voice your opinion!