Furl

Browser Window pixWhat do you do when you find a website you like? Why, bookmark it, of course! But wait, what if you’re in a lab and there’s no guarantee you’ll be on the same computer again? Or perhaps your a teacher using a shared computer in the teacher’s lounge? Or what if you want to visit the same site from home and from school?

Well, you could always copy the sites’ addresses down by hand on a scrap of paper, but if your handwriting’s anything like mine you might not remember if you used an “a” or a “u” in some cases. Better yet, you can use a website like Furl that saves bookmarks online.

Online bookmarks are really nothing new (there were a few dotcoms back in the day that thought they could make a ton of money off of the concept … they couldn’t), but Furl added a few other pictures to sweeten the deal. Bookmarking sites is quite simple, once you copy a Furl link into your browser’s bookmark bar. When bookmarking, you have the option of filing the bookmark in any number of categories, as well as adding keywords and a short description for reference later (so you don’t have to ask why you bookmarked the site two months from now).

One of the nicest features included is the ability to export your bookmarks on a variety of formats – RSS feeds, web site additions, ZIP archives, Mozilla bookmarks and – best of all if you’re a teacher or student – MLA or APA citation format. That’s right, never have to write out your works cited list again.

I’m still playing around with it, but if I may very well add Furl to this site in the future. We’ll see.

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