The following hint assumes you already know what del.icio.us is. If you're not using it already, get out from under that rock and check it out.
For the past three months, I've been collecting and organizing my bookmarks by posting them to my del.icio.us account. I've got nearly 300 bookmarks stored this way. From recipes to useful tools I've found to interesting articles I want to flag for rainy day reading, it has become a powerful browsing tool for myself and countless other users. Firefox has a new feature that lets you add RSS feeds as 'Live Bookmarks,' and that works great with del.icio.us. For users of Safari, we get a different kind of functionality from the GPL app delicious2safari. This works great in that it synchronizes all of your del.icio.us bookmarks into Safari, using an organized hierarchy of folders.
That is only half of this tip. The second half is where the real good stuff comes in. I've been a supporter of Butler ever since I found it when looking for a free replacement for the great QuickSilver. Butler is an essential tool for me these days -- it lets me launch apps, shoot off emails, launch websites at speeds mere mortals were previously incapable of, and more.
Now, thanks to Butler and delicious2safari, I have instant access to all 287 bookmarks that I've posted to my del.icio.us account -- here's how. Just open the Customize window for Butler, and go to your Configuration settings. Click the Add button, and add a Smart Item for Browser Bookmarks and pick Safari (also supports all other major browsers), and close the window. That's it! The next time Butler updates its application list (you can manually initiate this), all of your del.icio.us bookmarks will be available as instantly searchable items in Butler.
[robg adds: One minor clarification on Butler -- it's technically donationware, not freeware. Peter requests a US $18 donation if you find the program useful. In my case, I find it essential, so it was an easy decision to donate.]
Mac OS X Hints
http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20050315151841904