Taglocity, the company behind the Outlook organizational add-in of the same name (which we’ve covered before) just debuted a new beta of Taglocity for Outlook.  This time, they’ve drawn a little bit of inspiration from Xobni.

Taglocity, for those of you that don’t know, is a simple add-in designed to allow for “tagging” of emails, tasks, appointments, etc. in an effort to make organization of those items in Microsoft’s infamous email client a little easier. 

I’m personally a big fan so I was a bit troubled when I received a message this morning stating that my beta software had expired.  After downloading the most up-to-date version from taglocity.com, I was presented with a few big changes.  The two biggest changes in the new release are the “Taglocity Task Pane” and “Conversation View.” 

The first big change, the task pane, is where the Xobni reference comes into play.  The task pane, much like in Xobni, is displayed to the right of the message you’re reading and is an area where you can view snapshot information in regards to the individual who sent you the message.  (e.g., recently exchanged messages, files exchanged with the sender, number of emails to/from, etc.)  Those of you who currently use Xobni know exactly what I’m talking about.  In fact, here’s a visual comparison of the two:

(Click on the image for a larger view.)

To clarify,  I’m not saying that Taglocity has blatantly ripped Xobni off or anything because I think the new task pane fits perfectly into the features that they’ve been building up over the last few versions: groups/networking.

The other new feature, conversation view, is exactly what you might expect.  Clicking the conversation view button on the Taglocity toolbar brings up a quick window that neatly displays all of the messages related to the same subject.  It seems to work perfectly and is a great replacement to Outlook’s “Find Related Messages” which inevitably takes a while to pull up.  (Xobni also has this feature but it’s a little too slow for me.)

If you’ve yet to give Taglocity a try, you can sign up for the beta at Taglocity.com but I’d personally recommend reading about what all the software has to offer prior to doing so.  It’s designed to do more than just “tag” messages – although, admittedly, that’s primarily what I use it for – so far.  Also, a recent post on Taglocity’s blog also gives some great insight on what the company desires to achieve with its flagship product: “Saving Email – A Brief History.”

Mike Swanson, the PDC2008 Content Owner, over at Microsoft’s Channel 9 site described the upcoming Professional Developer’s Conference to be primarily aimed at presenting Microsoft’s goals for Software+Services.

“I’ve read alot of speculation on the blogs, I’ve read what some of the reporters are writing up and, while it’s awesome stuff and I love to read it, I can tell you that when those folks show up – I think even they’re going to be surprised.  We have alot of big announcements related to services at PDC.  We’ll be announcing a comprehensive services platform.  That’s gonna be some big, paradigm-shifting news – not only for Microsoft, but I think also for the industry.”

ObjectStack.com has released a desktop app designed specifically to browse the Amazon.com online store in a very iTunes-esque interface. It’s name? The Mac Amazon Browser, of course.

Here are the features they’ve highlighted for this app:

• Browse and search all 6 international Amazon online stores
• Browse by categories
• Search by tiltles, keywords, etc
• Refine search
• Bookmark items and lists
• Add and configure categories

I’d be tempted to call this a pretty pointless piece of software if I didn’t find myself wanting it so badly. C’mon, surely somebody out there could whip this up for us spoiled Windows users. Anybody? No? Fine then.

Sometimes, the individuals and/or companies that make software also happen to make stupid decisions. Those stupid decisions can result in your favorite piece of freeware/shareware/whateverware becoming bloated, buggy or both. That’s why it’s always been great to have a site like OldVersion.com around so you can download and install the version of your favorite piece of software when it was at its peak.

Well, cnet at some point seems to have caught onto the fact that users find this particular option to be, more often than you’d think, absolutely invaluable. That’s why they decided to implement this particular type of functionality into their own downloads site: Download.com. For instance, Apple just released iTunes 8 today but, if you think it’s still too disgustingly bloated not as great as you might have hoped, you can go all the way back to iTunes v4.2 (for Windows, v1.1 for Mac OS) and install it, instead.

Now, I’m not entirely sure when download.com began offering this (I honestly can’t tell you the last time I visited their over-crowded, ad-ridden site) but, if you’re a frequent cnet user, you might rather enjoy this feature. If you’re like me, however, and tend to stay away from cnet-related sites at all costs, then just bookmark oldversion.com and be done with it.

If you’re a frequent user of Microsoft Outlook 2002 or 2003, you may have already stumbled upon and gotten used to having the Personal Folders Backup utility.  The 2mb download installs as an add-in to Outlook and allows you to backup your Personal Folders File (.PST) with just a click or two.  It’s quite convenient and the team behind it has finally updated it to be compatible with Outlook 2007.

Download the Personal Folders Backup Add-In here or read more about it on the Microsoft Office Outlook help site.

As an alternative, you can also use the (much more powerful) Amic Email Backup from Amic Tools. This freeware application not only allows you to backup the E-mail & calendar(s) stored in your PST but also backs up your mail and newsgroup account settings in addition to message rules, blocked senders and signatures. (Basically, everything in Outlook that you’d want to back up.)  In addition, you can schedule automated backups because, let’s face it, manual just doesn’t cut it.

Source: — Rob Sealock via MSDN Blogs

Just over two months ago, we were among the first to bring attention to a preview version of the del.icio.us extension designed to be compatible with the latest release (3.0) of the Firefox web browser.

Five days ago, the Del.icio.us team announced and subsequently delivered the final version of that extension to the official Mozilla Firefox add-ons repository.  Be sure to check out the official blog post from the del.icio.us team detailing all the new features in the release: "Firefox 3, Delicious and You."

Overall, the extension provides a great way to keep your bookmarks (with tags and notes, too) synchronized on each of your computers and, of course, on your http://del.icio.us account.

(FoT Tip: If you’re a nut for synchronization, you should also check out the Mozilla Weave extension for Firefox.  In addition to bookmark synchronization, Weave also allows you to sync stored passwords, cookies, browser history and saved form data.  Check out what we had to say about that a couple of weeks ago.)

Microsoft devotees shouldn’t feel left out as the team has also announced and released a beta version of an add-on for Internet Explorer.

Passpack, the online username and password manager, just announced the 6th version of their initial beta release.

Passpack stands above its competition by offering *multiple* levels of security including a master password and packing key (which can both be multiple words or entire sentences for additional security) in addition to a verification phrase and automatic session time-outs.

For each entry you create (see figure 1 below), you have multiple options for details including: username, password, URL, notes, tags and associated email address.

Figure 1: New account entry

When you’ve added your existing accounts via the online application’s import feature or via manual creation, finding the entry from the main entries listing (see figure 2 below) couldn’t be easier.  The "find-as-you-type" search box offers extremely fast discovery of your account information.

Once you’ve found the account you’re looking for, click on it and then click on the "scrambled" password field.  Voila!  Your password is automatically copied to the clipboard.

Figure 2: PassPack master entries listing

You also have the option of creating an auto-login bookmarklet.  Clicking on said bookmarklet while at a site for which you have credentials stored in PassPack will automatically log you in to that site.

At the moment, I’m currently unable to save any modifications in the Beta 6 release so you may want to stick with the Beta 5 release for now.  (The 6th release was just presented to users today, May 31,  so it’s most likely just a temporary problem.)  That said, I’ve been using Passpack for about a half-year now and I honestly would be lost without it.  I’m comforted by the application’s multiple levels of security…and the level of convenience of having all of my account information in one place is priceless.  Previously, I used the portable version of the KeePass password manager stored on a flash drive.  (I’m loving the fact that I no longer have to constantly keep track of that tiny drive anymore.)

Once the beta period is complete, free accounts will be limited to 400 (this could change) account entries.  From what I can tell, the company plans to monetize the service by offering advanced accounts capable of handling MORE than 400 accounts.  (Hey, apparently I’ll need one.)

If you’re interested in learning more about the service (and the company behind it), I strongly encourage you to check out their official blog: http://passpack.wordpress.com.  There are numerous articles on the blog providing details on features offered by the service and there’s also some great discussions on security.

One last thing, Passpack offers you an option to carry your data elsewhere by providing an export option alongside the import option you’ll most likely be using when creating your initial account at Passpack.com.

Early this morning, the Adobe Labs team released preview versions of three Creative Suite 4 applications: Dreamweaver, Fireworks and Soundbooth.

(Personally, I thought that Adobe might actually phase Fireworks out now that the program is being produced by the same company that releases that other graphics program, Photoshop.  Guess I was wrong.)

The official announcement on the Adobe Labs site provides plenty of information on what the new versions bring, including a brand new interface, but does not, however, provide decent screenshots.  So, here are some captures from Adobe Dreamweaver CS4: (click on the image for the larger version)

(Dreamweaver CS4 main window)
(CSS options dialog after selecting font…should make for quick and easy CSS maintenance.)

(Adobe Extension Manager CS4)

  (Validation Checker)

Some of the notable new features for Dreamweaver include:

Live View - View your web pages under real-world browser conditions with the new Live View in Dreamweaver — while still retaining direct access to the code. The new rendering mode, which uses the open source rendering engine WebKit, displays your designs like a standards-based browser.

Photoshop Smart Objects - Photoshop and Dreamweaver integration has evolved to the next level of compatibility and functionality. Drag and drop an Adobe Photoshop® PSD file into a Dreamweaver page to create an image Smart Object.

Adobe® AIR™ authoring support - Create multiplatform desktop applications from your Dreamweaver HTML and JavaScript sites with new Adobe AIR™ authoring support.

Read more about the new releases over at Adobe Labs.  Or, download the betas and give them a spin yourself.  (Note: the trial period for beta testers is two measly days.  However, if you already own a copy of the respective program [or the CS3 suite], you can test it for a tad longer.)

Taglocity, currently in beta, just launched v2.0 of its Outlook 2003/2007 E-mail tagging software.  With this new version, Canada-based Terazen Technology, Inc., added plenty of enhanced features in addition to some social networking features.  (Hey,  why not?  Everybody else is doing it.)

If you’re unfamiliar with Taglocity, the software essentially allows you to add "tags" to your E-mails, tasks and calendar items from within Microsoft’s antiquated Outlook product.  To do this, the software takes advantage of Outlook’s "categories" feature and, for each new "tag" you create with Taglocity, a "category" of the same name will be created behind-the-scenes and added to your Outlook personal files folder (.PST) 

I’m guessing the object of enhancing already existing Outlook functionality is to provide you with the option of retaining the methods of organization you’ve established with Taglocity if you no longer wish to use the product anymore.  It makes sense to me…data portability always makes sense to me.

(What never did make sense to me was why Microsoft never made "categories" a more prevalent feature in Outlook to begin with.  It really is a great way to add organization to Outlook.  Regardless, Taglocity helps to enhance and bring focus to this semi-powerful existing feature.)

Whether you’re browsing your inbox or composing a new E-mail/task/appointment, you’re presented with intuitive options via the Taglocity toolbar for adding tags to help you easily find E-mails at a later date:

The average Fans of Tech reader already realizes the benefit of tags over folders but there might be a few of you out there still asking  yourself: "why tags?"  Here’s the answer: after you’re finished reading an E-mail, one would normally file that message in a single folder in a vein attempt to keep your inbox "organized."  The problem is that, after a while, you’ll most likely have multiple folders that pretty much serve a similar purpose.  That leaves you with multiple places to search in order to find the item for which you’re looking.  With tags (or "labels" if you’re a Gmail user), you can assign multiple keywords to the item in question thus improving the likelihood that you’ll find this item whenever you go looking for it.  And, since Taglocity is essentially a plug-in for Outlook, you can do BOTH!  File and tag!

The free product even takes tagging a step further by incorporating two very useful features: Bundles and AutoSuggest.  The latter, as you might guess, makes the tagging process even faster by "suggesting" similar tag matches as you type…start typing a few characters and if the tag suggestion is the tag you want to apply, just hit "enter."  The other feature, Bundles, allows you to assign many tags at once by assigning a bundle tag name.  You might equate this feature to "Distribution Groups" in Outlook where you can send an E-mail to ONE distribution group in Outlook and that message is automatically sent to the many different members you’ve assigned to that DG. 

Taglocity & the Entperise

From what I can tell, Terazen will monetize Taglocity by selling enterprise versions of the product which makes perfect sense to me as it would fit very well into the enterprise atmosphere.  One reason I say that has to do with yet another brilliant feature of the product: "groups."  Here’s what the site has to say about groups:

"Groups are a way of sharing tags and email messages. You can publish common information to our Taglocity groups (with Tags on the message, of course!) which then means other people in the group will be able to search and see. Think of how many CC: email chains you can get rid of!"

I have first-hand experience with the aforementioned E-mail chain problem and I can genuinely see a need for this product in an enterprise setting…especially for non-profits. (*Shudder* So much E-mail.  *Shudder*)

Searching

Now, let’s say you’ve had Taglocity installed for a few months and you want to go find one of the E-mails you’ve tagged.  Use the toolbar (see above) and enter your search query on the far-right.  You’ll be taken to the Taglocity search window (and quickly, I might add.)

You’re presented with your results and a quick way to modify those results using the tag cloud at the bottom and side of the window. I don’t necessarily anticipate using this feature more than the built-in search of Outlook 2007 (as I can typically remember the exact contents of the item I’m looking for) but, for generic searches, this could still prove to be pretty handy.

Of course, all these settings (tags, searching, etc.) can be tweaked using the utility’s configuration window:

Overall, I think the product fills a void (and then some) that Microsoft should have filled a long time ago.  A long time ago.  Install this (in addition to that other useful Outlook tool, xobni) and you’ll actually find yourself becoming…gasp…productive.

Despite my rambling, there are a few areas of Taglocity I didn’t even cover so head on over to their site and check out the product…and then sign up for an account.  This new release is a dramatic improvement over v1.1 and should actually have enough weight behind it to take it into the mainstream.