I’ve been using Xmarks (formerly Foxmarks) to sync bookmarks and passwords across the various browsers and computers I use for about a year. During that year the product only got better, and I really had no complaints.

I could have just said it ain’t broke, so don’t fix it. But two things happened - I got a Nexus One, and I saw people raving about LastPass. LastPass doesn’t do the bookmark syncing, but it does offer an Android app with the paid version. And bookmarks are so 90s. They’re rarely useful. And besides, Chrome, my current browser of choice, automatically syncs my bookmarks to my Google Docs account. I was really using Xmarks for the password syncing.

Now I’m not going to do the feature vs feature breakdown with charts and graphs that the title may have implied. I’m just going to describe the two experiences:

Xmarks - Create your account, install the software, surf the web. It imports the saved passwords in your browser and remembers new ones you use. It syncs automatically with their server. Browsers on other computers you use (or other browsers on the same machine) automatically stay in sync. After a couple of weeks of using Xmarks you forget about it, and it just becomes part of how surfing the web works. You can view your bookmarks by signing in to their website from any browser.

LastPass - Create your account, install the software, try to surf the web. It imports (and wipes out) the passwords in your browser. When you go to a site that requires a log in you get two weird options – AutoFill and AutoLogin. Try all the options listed under each and eventually sometimes one of them turns out the be your credentials for that site. You’re in! Unless of course none of those worked. In that case you get temporarily redirected to a form on a separate page that asks about dozen questions about that particular site / login. Most are optional. Instead of staying out of your way and working behind the scenes, LastPass is constantly in your face. About 25% of the time I end up having to log in without it. And lastly, if you lose your LastPass password you are SCREWED. There’s no recovery.

End result – LastPass uninstalled. I’m back to Xmarks. All is good with the world again.

When I ordered our Nexus Ones I commented out loud (in a coffee shop) about how much tax there was on it. $26.45! I was glad shipping was free, but man that’s a lot of tax!

Yesterday Google notified me that I was overcharged, and would be receiving a partial refund:

We’re writing in regards to your recent Nexus One purchase. There was an issue with the way the sales tax was applied to your order. When your order was placed, you paid taxes on the full retail price of the phone. However, you should have only been charged taxes on the sales price of the phone. We apologize for this issue and wanted to let you know that Google will issue a partial refund for the difference in the amount of taxes you were charged.

Today they made good on it with a $17.50 refund.

More Android Awesome.

The Science is in!  The debate over global warming is over. The hockey stick chart proves it.

I realize most of you believe that, and probably aren’t even picking up on my sarcasm. That’s fine. If you believe that  it’s settled –  global warming is real and man made, and we must do something to stop it – I can’t do anything to change your mind. You can’t reason someone out of a position that reason didn’t get them in to. Global Warming is your religion, Al Gore is your Savior.

All I ask is that you take 15 minute to read a speech Michael Crichton gave to the National Press Club on January 25, 2005.

Michael’s detailed explanation of why he criticizes global warming scenarios. Using published UN data, he reviews why claims for catastrophic warming arouse doubt; why reducing CO2 is vastly more difficult than we are being told; and why we are morally unjustified to spend vast sums on this speculative issue when around the world people are dying of starvation and disease.

There are scientists who believe in Global Warming – even ones who were alive during the 1970′s Global Cooling crisis-that-never-was. They are the ones the media gives the mic to. And despite what we are told every day, there are also scientists who do not. 31,486 American scientists, including 9,029 with PhDs signed a petition stating that there is no convincing scientific evidence of man-made global climate change. BUT NONE OF THAT MATTERS!

Let’s be clear: the work of science has nothing whatever to do with consensus. Consensus is the business of politics.  Science, on the contrary, requires only one investigator who happens to be right, which means that he or she has results that are verifiable by reference to the real world.  In science, consensus is irrelevant. What is relevant is reproducible results. The greatest scientists in history are great precisely because they broke with the consensus. -Michael Crichton

Now go read the whole speech, and let us never speak of this again.

Games
Abduction! World Attack (Jumping cows. Try it)
Air Control
Chess (Includes Chess960, which is pretty cool)
LineUp
Replica Island
ThrottleCopter (Classic)
TiltMazes
Mojo NES Lite (NES Emulator)

Tools
Skyfire (Web browser with Flash video. For reals.)
Bump (Trade contacts. Kinda Dumb. Works with iPhones)
Compass
ConnectBot (Secure Shell client)
Google Earth
Gesture Search
T-Mobile My Account
Photoshop Mobile
Tricorder (Show off /test your hardware)
ASTRO (File Manager)
WiFinder (Wi-fi Scanner)
Google Sky Maps
Google Translate
Google Maps
Voice Recorder

Entertainment
Aldiko (Book Shelf)
Shazam (Music ID)
Pandora
Qik
Ustream Broadcaster

Shopping
Barcode Scanner
Shopper

Other
Urbanspoon
Thomson Reuters News Pro
Stopwatch
TweetCaster (Twitter client of choice)
WordPress (Blogging tool)

Originally I was going to do this with the AppBrain app, but I was really disappointed with it. It still shows apps I removed a week ago, and doesn’t show any of my newer apps. I ended up removing the app.

I’m not including links because if you want something here you’re going to type the name into the Market search anyway. All of these apps are available through the Market. You can also search or browse the Market from your computer using the DoubleTwist website, and use the QR codes on the screen to get there in your phone.

I upgraded Abduction and I’m using the free version of TweetCaster, which has banner ads. Everything else listed here is free.

There’s no task manager, like the popular Advanced Task Manager on this list because I don’t find active task management to necessary in Android.

I did use Handcent SMS for a while, but ultimately ended up removing it because even on my Nexus One it ran slow.