Mozilla has released a new client/server application for Firefox called Weave that will enable users to synchronize web browser metadata such as bookmarks, passwords, history, extensions, themes, preferences and other customizations with an online Mozilla services account. You can then download this information to any other computer or even Firefox Mobile (when it is released in the future), similiar to Opera Link that is the only service today that integrates the web with mobile. Furthermore, you will be able to share selected data with familiy, friends or third parties.

Currently, Google offers a basic tool to sync Firefox settings including bookmarks, history, persistent cookies, and saved passwords across computers. Weave will be a step further by allowing people to set up their own services with freely available open standards-based tools through a set of extensible framework APIs for Mozilla services integration.

Here are some highlights of the upcoming Mozilla Weave Service/API:

+ provide a basic set of optional Mozilla-hosted online services
+ ensure that it is easy for people to set up their own services with freely available open standards-based tools
+ provide users with the ability to fully control and customize their online experience, including whether and how their data should be shared with their family, their friends, and third-parties
+ respect individual privacy (e.g. client-side encryption by default with the ability to delegate access rights)
+ build an extensible architecture like Firefox
+ integration with Firefox Mobile

An early version of Weave for Firefox 3 users is available at services.mozilla.com and offers basic functionality.