If you haven't yet used Xmarks, you're missing out on one of the better bookmarking services available on the net today. Instead of having you bookmark and share your favorite sites with a network of friends like social bookmarking services Delicious and Diigo do, Xmarks lets you make use of the bookmarks you have saved right in your web browser itself. Once installed on your computer, the Xmarks add-on will keep that bookmark list in sync with any other computers you use, assuming they too have Xmarks installed.

That alone would make Xmarks a useful service, but it doesn't stop there. The company uses the data collected (anonymized of course) to recommend sites to you through integration with Google search. In your search results, Xmarks icons highlight top sites based on how many people have bookmarked them. Hover your mouse over those icons to see quick site info like popularity, rating, and related topics or click though for more details.

Xmarks for Chrome

Unfortunately, early adopters who made the leap to the newest web browser on the block, Google Chrome, have had to go without Xmarks for some time. And it's definitely one of the add-ons which make you question whether going Chrome-only is even really possible. Luckily for this group, the wait may be up: Xmarks has built a version of their extension for Chrome users.

The Chrome extension program is still very much under development - in fact, unless you're running the dev release of Chrome, this feature is out of reach. (See our tutorial on installing Chrome and Chromium side-by-side for another way to play with the latest Chrome features.) But you brave early adopters are now invited to test out the Chrome bookmark sync feature by signing up for the closed alpha program here. As you test the new extension, you can check the Xmarks for Chrome news page for updates on known issues and recent changes. The alpha release doesn't yet support advanced Xmarks features like the discovery features mentioned above, nor does it support sync profiles or running Xmarks on your own server. However, those features will be added in time.

Update! Invites Available!

We spoke with Xmarks and they're willing to give 10 ReadWriteWeb users exclusive access to try the alpha service without having to sign up and wait for approval. To get your invite, be one of the first 10 people to leave a comment on this post. Remember you have to provide your email address (it will not be published).

]]> tag:www.readwriteweb.com,2009://1.16089-comment:189029 Louise My husband and I were friends of David X Marks and were present with him on several of his special occasions. I especially remember the beautiful party given just after his presentation of the tennis court to U.S.C, also the Marks Tower, and the personal tour he gave my husband and our two young daughters of the Dorothy Chandler Pavillion. He always seen that we had the best seats available to any plays we wished to see. He had a sense of humor which he kept hidden most of the time. Both my husband and Mr. Marks have passed away many years ago (I am 78 yrs. old now), but still keep a copy of the scroll he gave me containing a list of all the collage endowments he had presented at the time. A good and generous man, I often heard of his humble beginnings as an insurance salesman riding the street cars to sell insurance policies. He continued to collect ours personally ,even through the early 1970s. Thanks for the memories, Louise Cerniglia-Cindrich (formally of Los Angeles, California).