Flocked This One.

This post bought to you directly by an open source browser called Flock. The 'directly' is important there.

Flock includes integrated web services, such as being able post a blog entry directly from the browser. This saves you the tedius work flow of going to that site, logging in, clicking to create etc. Great blog feature is being able to highlight text on a page you are viewing, and literally right click to start a blog post with that quote! Flickr photo library is directly integrated also, such that you can see your photos in a top-pane and just drag them into your post. Snazzy!

It is a browser still months away from a stable release, so not for all your surfing needs, but carries a great glimpse of the tighter integration of web-services into the browser level of the user's net experience, part of what is termed "Web 2.0". i.e. Smart people want to tell us that this is the way our internet experience is headed.

Some other great features include integration with community (or remotely stored) bookmark services (so your favourites aren't tied to your machine!), and the awesome "Shelf". Simply a rich-media multi-item clipboard for storing web page snippets, and even adds a reference to it's source. Perfect for reviewing or blogging later.

One more browser ain't a big leap for me, as I couldn't blog with Camino, my usual browser of choice, anyhow. I flip-flop between Camino (for login sites due to it's tight integration with Macs Keychain (meaning that I don't have all my passwords buried within the browsers security system) and Deer Park (a G5 optimized version of Firefox 1.5, just a mighty quick renderer). So something new shouldn't be a hassle.

Now the only question is are the efficiency gains nullified by my constant browser switching? :) Can't kill me, right?