Sharing websites is the staple of online communication, but we haven’t really figured out how to appropriately share links in person. Somebody overseas can be bothered with a Twitter link or quick email, but if you’re trying to share a video with a group of people (say at work), you ultimately end up with three terribly smelly people crowding around your computer, complaining about the monitor viewing angle and whatnot. So it’s time to further solve our ability to spread the latest offices memes with the SendTab extension for Safari.
SendTab still feels like it’s in its infancy. There is a Safari extension available that can send and receive tabs, but only a bookmark is available for Chrome and Firefox that’s for outgoing webpages only. Though any solution is a godsend to avoid the influx of passerby who feel they need to watch your nineteenth viewing of Paparazzi.
To kick things off, you’ll want to create your network. The MacStories Tab is only the hippest of SendTab networks around, and with our hub created, we were instructed to either install the Safari extension or drag the bookmarklet into our browser’s toolbar. In Safari, you’ll have a SendTab button that allows you to send outgoing links. As you surf, clicking the button or the bookmarklet will open that website in a new tab on other browsers set to receive shared materials on the network. I wish this was completely automatic instead of having to decide who can send and receive what; the only option available should be to disable the ability to receive incoming websites. Otherwise, browsers should have the ability to both send and receive at the same time.
For example, I say SendTab’s infancy continues to show in Safari when you’ve set your extension to only receive incoming material. Since I can’t send websites to other browsers, I’m stuck with a useless grayed out button in Safari’s toolbar. That’s fantastic - a disabled button doesn’t really do anything.
SendTab is fast - at first I was under the assumption this would only work over your local network, but anyone who’s connected to your SendTab network. A new tab (or depending on your configuration, a Window) will open up within a second or two of being sent. The utility is cool, but again, sharing is amiss since you can only be a send or a receiver, not both at the same time.
*MacStories Tip: SendTab is great for inadvertently playing pranks. Set it up on a friend’s computer, then start clicking away. Random computer pop-ups anyone?
This little extension has potential to be really useful for teams, college students, and coworkers tackling projects, but as it is, there needs to be a better way to consistently share data across a network with easier access to settings. What would be cool too is if SendTab could essential “spool” websites until you’re ready to view them, being notified by a badge in the meantime. SendTab is completely free, worth a try, and was initially developed to share discovered videos on a big screen TV connected to a Mac Mini. I see it becoming an essential collaboration tool despite my nit picks, and I think in time SendTab will be an essential tool for anyone wanting to share private content quickly and easily.
