beta @ amanzi

Google have just released a Firefox only extension that automatically synchronises your bookmarks, cookies and passwords between browsers on different machines. Sorry for the continued Google love, but this is awesome! I just recently rebuilt a couple of computers I work on and I had to go through the process of setting up Firefox on each one. This tool would have made that task a lot easier.

Unfortunately, it can’t yet synchronise Firefox settings such as home pages, tabs, privacy, or other settings, but it looks like they are working on these for a future release. So for now you can synchronise bookmarks, history, passwords, cookies, and tabs and windows. Cookies and passwords are encrypted on the server and you are forced to set a PIN number (shouldn’t this be a password?) You can also encrypt your bookmarks and history too using the same PIN. The PIN seems to only be required when first installing the extension, once it’s installed it will keep everything synchronised automatically. So there may be some security problems if you’re using a shared computer, but I’m not sure how serious these are yet.

One of the best features is the ability to save your open tabs as a session. A typical usage for this is browsing the web on my work computer and then going home for the day – I’ll be able to just pick up where I left off at work, all my open tabs will be there.

For all the Google-love haters out there – here’s another Google product that has nothing to do with search but has everything to do with being a cool product that makes everyone’s life just a little bit easier. And that for me is what Google is all about – making my life easier with simple, easy-to-use products.

Links:

• Google Browser Sync
• Google Browser Sync FAQ’s

Socialize: