Sync-ing stuff: Foxmarks

As I continue the crusade for the best Cloud (or online) computing solutions, I keep finding holes in my Cloud lifestyle.  By lifestyle, I mean that I have 4 computers and a smart phone, which are of different flavours and I need to work with all of them over the course of a week.  So by working with as many Cloud solutions as I can, I'm hoping to be able to move from one machine to the other and do everything I need.

At this point I am, like the rest of the world, using Firefox as my main browser.  And one of the best parts of Firefox is the Extensions.  If you use Firefox you should have already had a play with the odd extension, but if not and you use multiple computers, then this may be the tool for you.

Foxmarks allows you to sync bookmarks and passwords across a number of computers, and an online source for those times when you're not at your machine and you need that link for the funny photo, or article on TBL.  Once you have installed the extension in your browser and set up an account (free), the Extension just sits there and keeps track of your bookmarks.  Then it fires them up on the server and when you open another browser with Foxmarks installed and setup, it will download all your bookmarks.  Foxmarks will now also work with IE and Safari, so you could sync your info between the other browsers on your machine, if you have that need.

There is also the option to have different profiles for your bookmarks, giving you the option to split your important personal bookmarks from the one you might need for work.  There is also heaps of security options if you like to play around those sorts of things.

Foxmarks is a handy little tool and a must for your Cloud lifestyle.  (Can you tell I used to sell vacuum cleaners?)  It is nice, though, to be able to bookmark a site on my desktop, then walk over and grab the laptop to take the bedroom for some quiet writing time, and know that I'm not going to have to spend time searching Google for the link.  I had moved away from using bookmarks, prefering to use Digg or Stumbleupon to highlight links, but as time when on, it wasn't a good way to organise.  Foxmarks has simplified the organisational part and makes organising your bookmarks worth doing, as it flows onto all the computers you use.

Jason Remnant

If is it Broken, sync it...