Plaxo has released a free beta of its latest online contacts program, adding an address book that can suck from, and send data to, a host of sources.
The Plaxo 3.0 address book can synchronise between numerous stores including Microsoft Outlook, Hotmail, Google Calendar, Yahoo Mail and Calendar, AOL AIM, Mac OSX Sync Services, Mozilla Thunderbird, mobile phones and LinkedIn. Synchronisation tools are based on the SyncML open standard.
Plaxo can be accessed over the web, via mobile phone or client software for Windows and Mac. Other features include a Sync Dashboard and revised address book with mashups that allow mapping and voice calling, and a new calendar that includes weather alerts and photo storage, again via mashups. A Pulse tab adds RSS-style syndication features so users can view content from peers.
In practice, it is easy to get started with Plaxo, requiring less than 10 minutes for us to sign up for the trial, enter personal details, synchronise with a Yahoo Mail and Calendar account, select access levels for contacts and create a location for weather updates.
A free 30-day trial allows users to try the program and this includes the paid-for option that includes backup and recovery and technical support, although this requires users to enter card details.
In a blog posting, Plaxo acknowledged that it still needs to add synchronisation with GMail contacts and tweak performance.
