San Francisco

Xoopit

Gmail's unlimited storage buoyed the souls of those afraid to delete even their Feb 2006 American Airlines E-Reward statements -- but gigs-and-gigs of backlogs make it impossible to retrieve stuff that's not completely useless. To cull out the gold, get Xoopit.

Outta SF, Xoo's a free plug-in that unobtrusively integrates into Gmail's interface to create a fully searchable Flickr/Picasa-style gallery from any media you've sent or received -- an enhancement on Gmail's mastery reminiscent of Taye Diggs joining Ally McBeal, which had already won four Golden Globes. Click "photos"/"videos"/"files" at the top of your message list for a thumbnailed photostream of your most recent nuggets, regardless of file type ("files" spits back Office docs); links to pics or vids hosted elsewhere (Photobucket/Youtube/etc), are automatically pulled through, because being only good for 30 seconds of pleasure is embarrassing, but not as shameful as having "Imaprematureejaculator.com" in your History folder. To find something specific, keyword search and Xoo returns results in a browsable display box that houses thumbnails of all applicable media, which you can download or watch instantly -- because you don't have the Quicktime to wait another second before watching a kid get crippled by an exercise ball.

Xoo also simplifies media sharing: type a friend's name into its "to" field (comments optional), hit send, and off goes the naked media chunk to your recipient -- which he'll certainly enjoy, right after he determines how many frequent flyer miles he had two-and-a-half years ago.

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