Chris Shipley (link via theofficeweblog) on Pluck (and Onfolio):
... today, the spotlight is on Dave Panos (of DataBeam fame) and Andrew Busey (founder of iChat) and their new company, Pluck. In a story that sounds familiar, Dave and Andrew were “looking for an interesting project” last year and began to focus on the problem of managing all the information people gather from the Web. There innovation came as they began to look at the processes they used to find and share information and determined that those processes – searching multiple sites, scanning RSS feeds, emailing links -- needed to be deeply integrated into the browser tools and Web sites they already used. The result of this insight is Pluck, a plug-in application for Internet Explorer.
Pluck is a simple tool that delivers a great deal of value. It installs a navigation panel on the left of the browser window, and splits the right side horizontally to display links on the top and Web pages on the bottom. In design, Pluck effectively gives IE a make over so that it resembles (and actually works a bit like) Outlook 2003. For many, the most immediately useful tool is Pluck’s “Power Search” which simultaneously searches Google, eBay, and Amazon.com and delivers results into the link window. You can riffle through large result sets quickly by applying, changing, and removing local filters. There are also mechanisms to mark links as “read” and to delete read items, helping you plow through the deluge of data that so often comes pouring in through search engines. The RSS Reader puts blog feeds where they are best read and managed, in a browser window. While the approach may not support the offline model of news readers such as News Gator that dump RSS feeds into your email inbox, it does make it very easy to navigate blog links online. Like everything in Pluck, the RSS Reader is straight forward, simple, and just enough tool to get the job done well.
While Busey and Panos tout the product’s collaboration features, the early release copy I downloaded would not allow me to register for the backend service which is the secret sauce of Pluck’s bookmarking and link sharing capabilities. According to the two, Pluck Sharing allows users to share Web pages with others with one just one mouse click. Those pages are then available in “active” shared folders that can be viewed by authorized persons. It’s a simple collaboration system that eliminates the need for users to e-mail links you want to share.
Pluck My Web is a bookmark manager that lets users organize, add comments to and access their Web link. The My Web app provide the feature I most want: the ability to easily synchronizes bookmarks among multiple computers. ...
It is true that the Web is creating an information glut that is just plain difficult for the average person to manage. Pluck has taken a pragmatic approach to the problem and given us an elegant tool. Where Onfolio provides capabilities that are better suited to researching, Pluck is an every-day companion to your Web browser.
Marc Orchant (theofficeweblog) comments: 'The big difference for me is how “light” Pluck feels compared to Onfolio which slowed IE down to a crawl in my extended testing. The Onfolio team promises better performance in future releases and I’m sure there are optimizations that can be performed but Pluck doesn’t seem to have a noticeable effect on IE performance at all.'
And from Pluck's website:
Share any web page with anyone Pluck Sharing offers a new, free way to share information and collaborate with individuals or private groups. Keep track of information about a certain topic, or collect related links that are of interest to you or to a group. You can even share with people who don't use Pluck yet.
Communicate through WebLink notes
Add a note to a WebLink as a message to the person with whom you're sharing the WebLink, or as a comment or reminder about the page.Drag-and-drop to Share
Pluck Sharing is amazingly easy to use. Share with one click using the "Pluck-this-page" button in your toolbar. Or, drag-and-drop a WebLink into a shared folder and it will automatically appears in the same folder on your co-worker's computer.Collaborate and organize the web
Use Pluck Sharing for fun and work:competitive/company tracking (news); school research (class project/report); all kinds of lists (wish list, music); large purchases (buying a car, house); event planning (vacations, weddings); news tracking (breaking news on Iraq); fantasy sports (player and team sites); celebrities (Britney Spears, Brad Pitt); other ways we haven't even thought of yet.
Create Group Folders
Organize your research and WebLinks in folders and invite others to participate. Anyone who subscribes can add content, but participation is by invitation only. You are just one click away from sharing any page and your comments with the group.Three ways to share
When you use the "Pluck-this-page" button, you can simultaneously add a WebLink to MyWeb, a Shared folder, or send it via email to anyone. A dialog box will ask if you want to add a comment, where you want to store the WebLink, and who you want to send the link to. Choose to share one, two or all three ways.Automatic synchronization
Pluck's centralized sharing service keeps everyone in synch. Every few minutes, the application automatically retrieves new sharing content in a firewall-friendly way.Share a WebLink or an entire folder
You can also easily share individual WebLinks with people. If the person has Pluck, the item automatically shows up in their Pluck Sharing in-box. If the person hasn't downloaded Pluck yet, it's delivered to their email inbox.Safe, secure data
Your data is secure, and is backed up and stored offsite. Your data will always be available unless you delete it.
