Xobni Meets Facebook, Right Inside Outlook

— -- Xobni, the company that's making it easier for users to integrate their lives with Microsoft Outlook, has just broadened its Facebook add-on to include live streaming buddy updates. Xobni users will be able to see their contacts' recent Facebook activity directly from their Outlook e-mail client.The add-on, which will automatically be integrated into the Xobni program without additional downloads, will go live at 6 PM PDT tonight.

Facebook opened its API yesterday to allow external developers to open the activity stream for third-party applications. Naturally, privacy concerns arose. Dave Morin, Facebook's senior platform manager, assured users that they will maintain "full control" over whether or how third-party applications use activity stream data. Access preferences set in user accounts will manifest themselves in all external apps.

Besides granting users the ability to scope out Facebook profile photos, status updates and posted pictures, among other things, Xobni makes searching your Outlook inbox easier. The Xobni bar is a colorful and well-organized add-on that appears on the right-hand side of a user's Outlook inbox. It compliments the blandness of Outlook perfectly, offering a harmless distraction from your cluttered inbox. It was deemed one of PC World's 15 great Microsoft Office optimization tools.