Well, it makes sense: no one has come up with the magic formula to deal with the over abundance of information available today. (Disclaimer: see my submissions for my own ongoing attempt).
Meh - bookmarks and the browser are, IMHO, a terrible platform for clipping information, knowledge, and data.
I used to maintain an enormous bookmarks list with Delicious but ever since I matured my use of Emacs with org-mode that
habit has changed.
I now maintain a number of well-organized files with org-mode and remember-mode. It's not just the "files" though, it's
also the process, org-mode, org-agenda, and remember-mode (now org-capture) is fluid and stays out of my way while being
highly expressive. Because Emacs is always open and I'm practically always using it moving all of it into Emacs with
org-mode has made my life much more streamlined when clipping/capturing the information I encounter throughout daily
life.
(I've got more files than that, but they are less relevant to this discussion than those listed)
I keep ALL of my org-mode files in my ownCloud directory (like DropBox but I own it) - which syncs with my ownCloud
server on Rackspace which backs up all the data daily.
Prospectus is an org file that contains all of my project ideas. I use a remember-mode template for this so all I do
is hit M-F1 select [p] and it pops up a template for the project idea prompting me for the name, keywords, and
description - it also auto-fills the date and time I created it. I then type C-c C-c and it's automatically saved into
prospectus.org. Any project idea is captured here, electronics, carpentry, startups, opensource, whatever.
Spark is an org file for capturing pithy sayings, great comments on Reddit/Hacker News that I like, blocks of text
that are important or memorable from anywhere (books, email, web, etc...). I capture conversations, inspirational stuff,
anything that I've discovered from other people. I have a remember-mode template for this one too.
Grimoire is like my personal recipe/potion book - I use it to capture a unique and interesting process I've figured out;
novel solutions to anything from cutting an X leg for my desk to software. Meditation and life-process; my own personal
anecdotes; relationships; psychology; pretty much anything that I've discovered, experienced, or figured out on my
own. This is NOT a journal though, it's restricted to process, knowledge, and observations. I have a remember-mode
template for this one too.
Dreams when I remember my dreams I capture them in there with remember-mode.
Fashion any interesting styles I find on the internet, clothing/apparel makers I find, shoe makers, tips, etc... This
has its own remember-mode template.
Food recipes (my own and others) and restaurants. Remember-mode template.
Music any artists/tracks I find that I like.
Bookmarks any websites that are interesting to me with description as to WHY it is interesting to me and a set of
keywords. Remember-mode template.
Software any interesting software that I discover and that I'm using - I often times find neat little scripts or
utilities that I install in the moment and use, but tend to forget about what it is named and where I found it.
Recreation I capture all of my own ideas and other people's ideas/activities for fun things TO DO. Specific locations
for hiking/camping; science museums; etc... Remember-mode template.
calendars/parnell is my personal calendar synced with ownCloud, org-agenda, and my Android phone - pretty obvious why
and what, but the system is remarkably smooth and really stays out of my way while still being highly
accessible. Calendar TODO and EVENTs have their own remember-mode templates too; because it syncs with my Android phone
through ownCloud from org-agenda; it means I can quickly insert new TODOs or EVENTs and still get the helpful calendar
reminders on my phone.
Seems like it might be up your alley if you don't have a system already. You should ping @ginatrapani with a link to your comment - I imagine she'd be interested...
Well, what's great about WebDav and org-mode is that there's http://mobileorg.ncogni.to/ which is open-source and works with my org files.
The problem with Gina's solution and any other solution is that the code is proprietary. I don't know what the data-format is used (sounds like it's just text, which is good) but I like that org is all text based.
Gina's solution also doesn't include highly customizable remember-mode templates (I have quite a few of my own elisp extensions to remember-mode).
Another thing that I can do right in emacs with org-mode: Spaced Repetition. Every day I run a spaced repetition routine using org-drill that runs through thousands of vocabulary words I've collected over time that I didn't know at that time (a remember-mode template, of course); I have org-drill cards for math, logic, science, &c... Anything factual that I want to remember I keep in org-drill and run through it every morning.
One of the core features I've wanted from a bookmarking service was the capability to store the actual /content/ of the bookmark indefinitely. I want to recall having read an article or paper years later in conversation, say "Let me find the citation for you", and then actually follow up! And still have the original content even if the URL was taken offline, which happens an unfortunate amount.
Luckily, Pinboard (pinboard.in) has this capability, including full text search, with an archival account ($25/yr). As does Evernote, but I find Evernote a bit heavy weight for solely bookmarks. (Note: Pinboard is not Pinterest.)
I save hundreds of bookmarks per month - basically everything interesting that I read and might want to reference later. I reference my bookmarks less than I had expected, but I'm still happy and getting definite value from it.
To be honest, my ideal bookmarking system would record and index literally /every/ website I ever visit. Then I don't need to take any action and can't accidentally fail to find something I viewed before. I've considered implementing this scheme for myself but have not yet followed through, since Pinboard works pretty well, and is easy to activate using a bookmark.
My one complaint about Pinboard is that I found it difficult to obtain support. I contacted them through their advertised support channel about a problem I initially encountered during the signup process, and never heard back.
I used to use Furl for the content-saving feature. Its eventual shutdown has made me wary of any bookmarking or other archival service that I can't host myself.
No one's come up with the magic formula yet but I do believe there's one out there. It's a matter of who finds the magic formula. I've created a website with a friend that saves the text that people want to keep. You can check it out at http://www.quotered.com
One question: do you intend to make browser extensions? I understand that bookmarklets are simple and fairly universal, however the bookmarks bar is inconvenient for me, as opposed to a button to the right of the address bar.
Hey Zikes - I've fooled around with extensions a bit, but I didn't want to get deep into the "supported browsers" game at this point. There's enough under the hood work left to be done in the core application to keep me busy for a bit.
Extensions are definitely in scope for the future though - not just to bookmark things, but sync your browser bookmarks/folders with your LinkThing content etc. Any thoughts or suggestions you have would be appreciated!
Do you have any thoughts about open sourcing it at some point, or charging money? Either way, I'd feel more confident putting my data in there. Otherwise, it looks awesome.
I haven't thought of charging for it, because honestly if you want to spend money on it, I think there's better solutions out there (at this point!) - like Pinboard. The other side of the coin is that it costs me very little to run, so there isn't really a fire lit under monetization.
My roadmap, if you will, is to keep building out core functionality, particularly around unique ways to create value in the bookmarking space - like the embryonic "Subscriptions" feature you'll notice in the black menu bar. I'd also like to build out "table-stake" options like full-content archiving. Once I've got some unique value to market, and a baseline level of functionality to match the competition, I would consider charging for it.
Open sourcing it: honestly, I don't think I know enough about the process to do so successfully - i.e.: I don't want to just create another dead github project, but I don't know enough about the community side of it to create something "living," so to speak. Would welcome your thoughts on it though.
In regards to getting your data out- you can dump it at any time to a CSV file under your username menu in the upper right-hand corner. Its not a rich export, but its simple and parseable, so your data is never trapped, per se.