Admit it: you probably have accumulated an impressive collection of websites and pages that you have collected in your browser—yet have no idea when you added them or possibly even why. You would like to eventually share them with others, but they are not organized in a manner that makes their distribution easy. Blink, the first service of its kind, is a free service that lets users collect and share web links of interest with others via either desktop or wireless computing device. After registering for the service, users add a button to their browser's navigation bar. When a subscriber finds a link of interest, they simply click the "Blink It" button, and the link is automatically added to pre-defined or user-selected categories of interest. Upon registering for the service, there is an option to upload all of the links from your browser's Favorties or Bookmarks folder. You can then access the links in a floating "Surfboard" window which can be shared with others. Blink also has a special BlinkBar (only available in Internet Explorer browsers) that can literally extract the links from a web page, allowing the user to filter out unwanted ones. There is also a publicly searchable directory of links suggested by Blink subscribers available on the web. Blkit can also accessed by both traditional computers and wireless devices. It offers an affiliate network for referrals to the service from registered site, and rewards program for interested parties, and for-fee services that include integration with wireless applications and devices. Backflip is a competing service that has a lot of simlarities to Blink. Links are stored in a personal directory, accessed through a unique URL assigned by Backflip that can then be accessed on the Web. That same directory can be shared with others by adding their e-mail addresses to the account. This allows the subscriber to be notified when selected individuals (even if they are not Backflip subscribers) have viewed particular pages in the account. Those individuals can also add or view comments, and even add their own interesting links. There is also an option to share suggested links with the broader Web audience via a public web page directory, which allows particular links to the Backflip search engine. Clickmarks, like Blink, emphasizes the ability to share bookmarks through the Web across personal computers and wireless devices by organizing them into folders. Clickmarks, however, uses a drag-and-drop approach to bookmark content, which allows subscribers to select links and images from Web pages and move them into customized view windows within their browser, which can be reconfigured to meet particular preferences. There is also a directory of suggested links, as well as higher end for-fee services for those interested in higher-level content sharing. HotLinks is distinctive for its link validation feature that automatically checks whether web links are active on a regular basis. It also lets users define different security levels for specific categories and links, whether they are publicly available to everyone, shared by those via a specific password, or private to a particular account. Subscribers can also add comments to specific links and e-mail them to others. Resources Cited Blink Backflip Clickmarks Hotlinks