Foxmarks has been offering their synchronization solution quite some time, but until now their service has been limited to bookmarks. They gained a good reputation and a decent user base even with the more limited set of features as their service was proven to be quick and more reliable than the competition (Google Browser Sync, and especially Weave). Now with password synchronization included their service is top notch in every way.

Like in all browser synchronization services, the idea of Foxmarks is simple. It takes your Firefox personal data, encrypts it with 256bit encryption algorithm using a PIN-code that only you will know, and uploads the content to a Foxmark’s server. In case you do not want to use Fomark’s server to store your private data you can also setup your own.  When you setup Foxmarks to another Firefox client, you will be asked whether to merge the bookmarks and passwords, use the server data, or use the client data. Afterwards it keeps track of changes in the clients and synchronized them with the server periodically. The server will also act as a complete backup of your browser data in case you happen to lose a Firefox browser setup for one reason or another (hardware failure, reinstalling the system…). Foxmarks also offers the bookmarks available online via their web based service.

Check them out at: Foxmarks.com

Modern Nokia smartphones have an excellent web browser, which is based on the Linux Konqueror (KHTML) browser and the Apple WebKit – therefore the Nokia’s built in browser is a close cousin of the Apple Safari and can handle a majority of current websites – even some very complex websites are usable with this great browser. The problem is however that many websites are extremely large in terms of download size. This is not an issue if you are within a high-speed network coverage (EDGE, 3G, 3.5G), but in the rural areas where you have only 2G and potentially a weak network signal, the loading of content intensive websites can become very slow and difficult. Another issue is the cost of data transfer (depending on your operator plan), which can be huge for example when roaming in foreign country networks.

The Opera Mini browser by the Norvegian Opera Software ASA introduces a neat method to overcome this problem. The Opera Mini utilizes a content reduction proxy which fetches the data, compresses resulting in a much smaller amount of data needed to be transfered to the mobile phone. Opera Mini manages to achieve excellent browsing speed even in 2G and poor network conditions. It supports a majority of websites, and I have succesfully used the Mini for administering this site, handling Internet auctions and other complex tasks. Excellent piece of work and highly recommended.

The most recent and advanced Nokia phones have a built-in GPS positioning and navigation software Nokia Maps. While the Google Maps and Nokia Maps serve mostly for the same purpose the Google’s application has an extremely powerful search features that can really help you on the road. No matter what you are looking for, the Google Maps for mobile will find it! You can search just about anything: “boat rental Miami“, “restaurant Frankfurt” or “hotel Helsinki“, and you will always get plenty of results. The Google Maps can also discover some lesser known and smaller sights or interesting places you can find in the countryside. It can also find liqueur stores, farmacies, hospitals…you name it! When you are on the road, the Google Maps is a great application to have in your pocket, even if you have a car navigator installed.

And to continue with Google’s neat services, let’s talk about Gmail for mobile. GMail of course is the largest and most versatile free email service on the market. It supports POP/IMAP protocols and therefore can be easily configured to any email client, including the native email client of Nokia S60 phones, but the GMail for mobile application is a real powerhouse to manage your email. GMail for mobile provides a user interface very similar to GMail’s web version and shows email discussions as threads. But the real power comes in the search functions, as GMail for mobile can search the whole archives of your GMail account, which is something that no other email client can efficiently do. It also conveniently searches for matches in your contacts when you are typing a new email. GMail for mobile is a great piece of work and it will greatly improve your user experience of GMail when going mobile, no matter if you are using the web version or the phone’s email client.

So there you go – three applications that make your smartphone even smarter and your digital life easier. The majority of advanced users most likely knew these already, but there are a lot of consumers buying fancy phones without utilizing or even understading the power and features they have.

The fact that Google seems to have abandoned Google Browser Sync has caused a lot of angry comments and blog posts, and I can fully understand why. Once you have used to the comfort of synchronizing your web browsers, it is very hard to live without it. There are some alternatives to Browser Sync, such as Foxmarks or Opera, but the common problem is that they do not synchronize passwords. And when one is sharing his passwords online, security and reputability issues of the service come into consideration.

Therefore I was delighted to first learn about Mozilla Weave, even though the earlier alpha versions did not work very well. But today my Firefox 3 let me know that Weave has been updated to version 0.2 and now it seems like something I dare to share it with you guys.

Weave does exactly what Browser Sync has been doing for couple of years – it synchronizes your browser’s personal data. Your private information is secured by a login name, password, and encryption passphrase, so the securiy aspects seem pretty solid. Mozilla as an entity also seems like a trustworthy service provider, not likely to grab your

personal information for their own benefit. What makes Weave different from Google Browser Sync is that Mozilla is working on some web based service models on top of it, possibly with some trendy social elements on the side. We have already seen similar services made for mobile phones, such as the Zyb.com (well worth a look too), which was apparently so good that Vodafone bought it.

So in other words, while there may not be Google Browser Sync for Firefox 3 ever availble, the Weave may turn out to be a sufficient replacement. After playing around with the recent v0.2 it seems to work pretty well, at least in my setup, and synchronizes my browsers as expected. The performance however seems to have some room for improvement, but I trust that it will get better in future versions. Certainly a project worth watching closely.

Get Weave: https://services.mozilla.com/

Opera Mini enables you to take your full Web experience to your phone. Stay in touch with your friends on Facebook, Twitter, get your e-mail on the go, do your online banking. There are no limits — Opera Mini is the quick, easy and secure way to get any Web page you want.

Opera Mini utilizes a content reduction proxy that fetches the request webpage, compresses the data and then forwards the compressed content to the mobile phone. This makes Opera Mini much faster especially in low-speed GPRS/GSM connections. It can also provide cost savings as the amount of data transfered is significantly smaller.

After you download Opera Mini, get Opera 9.5 for your computer to synch your bookmarks.

Author: Opera Software ASA
License: Freeware
Download URL for mobile phones: http://www.operamini.com

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