Xmarks - Formerly known as Foxmarks, it is primarily a bookmark syncing tool, but its much more than that. It adds in a del.ic.ious sort of bookmark discovery, enhanced Google searching and site suggestions. Soon (in Safari) it'll be able to sync your passwords, currently it is only available in the Firefox version. I'll admit I haven't tried that feature out yet, but they claim it is secure using encryption and a required PIN to sync them.

It's a rather straight forward process, all your bookmarks are saved on their servers, all you have to do is install a plugin for any browsers you use (it currently supports Safari, Firefox and IE) and sync. From there on you don't need to do anything else, it will automatically sync on its own at a regular interval, keeping you up to date no matter where you're at.


Another feature, enhanced Google searching and site suggestions, is where the del.ic.ious element comes into play. Xmarks will highlight (via an icon next to the result) the top 3 bookmarked sites. Mousing over these icons will present more info about the site, including a preview thumbnail, reviews, popularity and topics (tags.) You can also click the "Get Site Info" button to learn more about that site and even see similar sites. I guess you could say this part brings in a bit of Stumble Upon too.


The only issue I have with it is it's Growl settings, which can become rather annoying. As it syncs so often, you'll see that Growl an awful lot. It can be disabled, but I wish there was a setting to only sync when bookmarks are updated, as it does in the Firefox version. Aside from that, this is one app that has saved me countless amounts of time in the past year. Transferring bookmarks used to be a bit of a chore, but is made completely painless with Xmarks.

An example of Xmarks site info for Apple, Inc.

Tags: Beta, Safari, Plug-in, Freeware, Chad