Adios XMarks…Not
We say goodbye to XMarks with a heavy heart. XMarks; one of the premier bookmark syncing applications is closing its doors, Jan 2011. XMarks has been one of my favorite cloud based services and I for one will be sorry to see it go. XMarks is:
“Foxmarks
, one of the most popular Firefox add-ons for social bookmarks, is re-branding itself as Xmarks
So, if its so great, why is it closing its doors? According to the CEO, Mitch Kapor now that most browsers are including a sync function they feel that any kind of monetization will be un-fruitful. For me the big plus in this service was the ability to sync my bookmarks and passwords across multiple computers as well as multiple browsers.
Why multiple browsers? Granted, most computer users only use one browser, as a web developer I run between three (3) and four (4) browsers so I can test my sites. XMarks answered a need and there are very few if any alternatives.
After much searching I have decided to use Delicious for my bookmarks and LastPass for my passwords. If you would like to check out my shared bookmarks on delicious you can see them at: http://www.delicious.com/robtruman
UPDATE:
It looks like Xmarks will get a new lease on life due to the out pouring of its user base. Here is the latest from its Blog:
The past ten days have been an amazing lesson in the power of community. Not in the “web 2.0 social graph” sense – I’m talking about old school community with users speaking up, speaking out and banding together. Thank you Xmarks users. You told the world it was simply unacceptable for our service to shut down and it worked. Thanks to your passion, Xmarks now has multiple offers from companies ready and willing to take over the service and keep making browser sync better and better!
Categories: All, WWW Tags: ceo, Firefox, firefox add ons, foxmarks, Internet Explorer, Mitch Kapor, new lease on life, sync function
Google Chrome Profiles
Google Profiles can be a real plus when using chrome. One of the things I missed most when I gave up Firefox for Chrome was some of the plug-ins that Firefox had. One of these provided the ability to have multiple Gmail credentials that I could hot swap back and forth from. Well no longer since I found: ChromeDeck.
To be fair, I found LifeHacker.com and they found ChromeDeck (Article). So why do I need this and what does it do? Having browser profiles is best described as a multi-user browser. I have more than one Gmail account primarily because I want more than one Google Voice Number. Switching back and forth always entailed logging out and logging back in which is a real pain when you want to check voicemail. Enter ChromeDeck:
ChromeDeck is a freeware and Windows-only tool, which simplifies the task of creating and managing separate user profiles for Google Chrome. You need Microsoft .NET Framework 4 to use it. After downloading and installing ChromeDeck, launch it to create and manage user profiles.
Chrome Deck will allow you to create and run multiple instances of Chrome with its own set of cookies, thereby allowing you to have more than one set of Google credentials. I not going to justify my need for more than one Google Voice number, but for those of you who have the same issue, this is a really nice solution. You can download ChromeDeck at:
Link: Download ChromeDeck
Happy Geeking
Categories: All, Google, Tips & Tricks Tags: browser profiles, Chrome Deck, Firefox, google, Google Chrome, Google Voice, Google Voice Number, plug ins, user profiles, voice number
Handling Multiple Google Accounts
Anyone who has more than one G-Mail or Google Voice accounts has most likely discovered what a hassle it can be with logging out and logging back in to get to your information. It got to the point for me that I would run different browsers and have one account set up on Chrome and the other set up on Firefox. Of course now you need to remember which one is where.
Solution:
I was told about this add-on for FireFox that totally makes this a non-problem; CookieSwap! This extension allows you to create profiles and keep track of your various site cookies based on the selected profile. Its that simple. MozDev.org distributes this extension and describe it as:
CookieSwap is a Firefox/Mozilla extension that enables you to maintain numerous sets or “profiles” of cookies that you can quickly swap between while browsing.
I am very particular about what extensions get installed, but this is one that I am finding hard to live without.
Notice: This extension is in Beta and we make no warranty of any kind. It just works for us.
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Categories: All, Google, Tips & Tricks Tags: Firefox, Firefox Mozilla, G-Mail, google, Google Voice, mail accounts, mozdev
Stop Forgetting Passwords
Let me ask a question; Do you ever forget a password to a site, or use a password that is so easy it’s hardly worth the effort? If you are like most of us then the answer is YES to both.
Let me introduce you to LastPass. LastPass is the answer to your problem, even if you didn’t know you had one. With the growing popularity of social sites and putting up tons of personal information on the Internet, Security is no joke. Not to mention that just about any site you go to these days wants you to register for whatever reason. So what is LastPass? In short LastPass is one of the most well regarded services when it comes to protecting your usernames and passwords and giving you access to them anytime you are connected to the Net.
Categories: All, Security, Tips & Tricks, Windows Tags: Explorer, Firefox, firefox extension, Freeware, Internet Explorer, login credentials, mobile platforms, Security, usernames and passwords, web passwords, YES
