Google should provide an interface for browsing your Gmail attachments, where you can find files and email them. That interface could be Google Docs, assuming that the plan to extend the filetypes is still on track.
Related:
Gmail attachments
Gmail Integrates Google's PDF Viewer
If you receive a message that includes a PDF attachment, Gmail has a new option that lets you view the file without installing a PDF viewer like Adobe Reader. Until now, Gmail converted PDF files to HTML and removed images, so they didn't look very well. The new option uses the PDF viewer from Google Docs, which lets you zoom and search inside the (first 100 pages of the) file.
Google should provide an interface for browsing your Gmail attachments, where you can find files and email them. That interface could be Google Docs, assuming that the plan to extend the filetypes is still on track.
Related:
Gmail attachments
Google should provide an interface for browsing your Gmail attachments, where you can find files and email them. That interface could be Google Docs, assuming that the plan to extend the filetypes is still on track.
Related:
Gmail attachments
Google Chrome, the Default Browser in Google Pack
Now that it's no longer in beta, Google Chrome has been added to Google Pack. Firefox bundled with Google Toolbar is still available, but you need to explicitly select it. Adding Chrome to Google Pack means that existing users will be informed about the new software and the new users will install Chrome instead of Firefox.
Google contributed significantly to Firefox's popularity by promoting it on the homepage, including the browser in a software bundle and encouraging publishers to promote Firefox. Google's official alternative to Internet Explorer is now Chrome.
Google contributed significantly to Firefox's popularity by promoting it on the homepage, including the browser in a software bundle and encouraging publishers to promote Firefox. Google's official alternative to Internet Explorer is now Chrome.
Google Chrome 1.0 Released
"We've heard a lot of feedback about product bugs and feature requests and have worked hard to prioritize work on them. We're excited to announce that with today's fifteenth release we are taking off the "beta" label," explains a post from Google Chrome Help Announcement blog. Ironically, the post doesn't look very well in Chrome.
There aren't many differences between the first release of Google Chrome and the version released today: besides fixing bugs and improving the support for plug-ins, Chrome added a bookmarks manager. The browser still lacks many basic features and customization options: previewing feeds, print preview, customizable "new tab" page, form autocomplete (this feature will be added soon) and there are many issues that should have been fixed before even considering to remove the "beta" label.
Google Chrome is not out of beta because it's ready, but because Google wants to sign some deals with computer manufacturers like Dell that will preinstall the browser. " The Google's open source browser has a number of eager customers, including OEMs who can't offer the browser until it is in full release," mentions TechCrunch. Even German's Federal Office for Information Security said that Google's browser is not for general use because it's still in beta. If that's price to increase the adoption, then Google didn't have to do much: just pretend that Chrome is ready for prime-time.
"We have removed the beta label as our goals for stability and performance have been met but our work is far from done. We are working to add some common browser features such as form autofill and RSS support in the near future. We are also developing an extensions platform along with support for Mac and Linux," reminds us Google's blog.
It's clear that Google targets Internet Explorer's users and it will need to use an aggressive campaign to promote the browser and to succeed where Mozilla couldn't. But even if IE is slower and less secure than Chrome, it certainly has less glaring bugs than Chrome (open Google Book Search, click on a book, read 5-6 pages and then try to use the back button).
There aren't many differences between the first release of Google Chrome and the version released today: besides fixing bugs and improving the support for plug-ins, Chrome added a bookmarks manager. The browser still lacks many basic features and customization options: previewing feeds, print preview, customizable "new tab" page, form autocomplete (this feature will be added soon) and there are many issues that should have been fixed before even considering to remove the "beta" label.
Google Chrome is not out of beta because it's ready, but because Google wants to sign some deals with computer manufacturers like Dell that will preinstall the browser. " The Google's open source browser has a number of eager customers, including OEMs who can't offer the browser until it is in full release," mentions TechCrunch. Even German's Federal Office for Information Security said that Google's browser is not for general use because it's still in beta. If that's price to increase the adoption, then Google didn't have to do much: just pretend that Chrome is ready for prime-time.
"We have removed the beta label as our goals for stability and performance have been met but our work is far from done. We are working to add some common browser features such as form autofill and RSS support in the near future. We are also developing an extensions platform along with support for Mac and Linux," reminds us Google's blog.
It's clear that Google targets Internet Explorer's users and it will need to use an aggressive campaign to promote the browser and to succeed where Mozilla couldn't. But even if IE is slower and less secure than Chrome, it certainly has less glaring bugs than Chrome (open Google Book Search, click on a book, read 5-6 pages and then try to use the back button).
Gmail SMS
After more than a month since Gmail first added an option to send SMS from Gmail Chat and quickly removed it to fix some bugs, it's now available again. You'll find it in the crowded Gmail Labs, where it's called "Text Messaging (SMS) in Chat".
After enabling the feature, mouse over a contact from Gmail chat box, click on "Video & more" and select "Send SMS". For now, this feature only works for US phone numbers. "If your contact replies, the text message response will appear as a reply in Chat. These conversations are stored in your Chat history just like regular chats." The explanation is that Google assigns each Gmail user a virtual phone number so that your contacts can send replies.
"On the receiving end, when you get a text message from Gmail on your phone, it will come from a number in the 406 area code. (The l33t folks in the crowd will note that this spells G0O.) You can reply to this text on your phone just like you'd reply to any other text. The reply gets routed back to our Gmail servers and shows up in your friend's Gmail chat window. Each of your friends' messages will come from a different 406 number so you can reply to any message and it will get back to the right person. Messages from the same person will always come from the same number, so you can even bookmark it in your phone. If you get a message from somebody you don't want to chat with from your phone, just reply with the word BLOCK. If you don't want to get texts from anybody using Gmail, reply with the word STOP and we'll leave you alone," informs Gmail's blog.
At some point, the virtual phone number could be the same as the GrandCentral number and Gmail could become a centralized communication system, where you can send email messages, SMS, make phone calls, use video chat, share files and archive your entire communication flow.
{ Thanks, Niranjan. }
After enabling the feature, mouse over a contact from Gmail chat box, click on "Video & more" and select "Send SMS". For now, this feature only works for US phone numbers. "If your contact replies, the text message response will appear as a reply in Chat. These conversations are stored in your Chat history just like regular chats." The explanation is that Google assigns each Gmail user a virtual phone number so that your contacts can send replies.
"On the receiving end, when you get a text message from Gmail on your phone, it will come from a number in the 406 area code. (The l33t folks in the crowd will note that this spells G0O.) You can reply to this text on your phone just like you'd reply to any other text. The reply gets routed back to our Gmail servers and shows up in your friend's Gmail chat window. Each of your friends' messages will come from a different 406 number so you can reply to any message and it will get back to the right person. Messages from the same person will always come from the same number, so you can even bookmark it in your phone. If you get a message from somebody you don't want to chat with from your phone, just reply with the word BLOCK. If you don't want to get texts from anybody using Gmail, reply with the word STOP and we'll leave you alone," informs Gmail's blog.
At some point, the virtual phone number could be the same as the GrandCentral number and Gmail could become a centralized communication system, where you can send email messages, SMS, make phone calls, use video chat, share files and archive your entire communication flow.
{ Thanks, Niranjan. }
Google Street View Covers Almost the Entire US
After adding street-level imagery for Australia, Japan, Spain, France, Italy, and New Zealand, Google's mission for the US is almost completed. "Today marks our biggest launch of Street View imagery to date: we're doubling our coverage in the United States. Several states — Maine, West Virginia, North Dakota, and South Dakota — will be getting the Street View treatment for the first time. We've also added imagery for Memphis, Charleston (SC), and Birmingham, and we've filled in lots of gaps across the country," explains Google's blog.
Many people complained that the recent Google Maps redesign made it more difficult to find places that have street-level imagery, but this should no longer be necessary, at least for the US.
Street View turned out to be fun, useful, expensive, yet profitable and a test bed for new technologies.
Many people complained that the recent Google Maps redesign made it more difficult to find places that have street-level imagery, but this should no longer be necessary, at least for the US.
Street View turned out to be fun, useful, expensive, yet profitable and a test bed for new technologies.
Gmail Tasks
One of the most requested Google features is adding task management to Gmail or Google Calendar. This feature is now available as part of Gmail Labs and I predict that this will be the most popular experimental feature.
After enabling tasks, you can access this feature in two ways: either click on the "Tasks" link below "Contacts" to open a Gmail Chat-like dialog or create a task from an email by opening "More Actions" drop-down and selecting "Add to Tasks". When you convert an email to a task, Gmail keeps the message's subject and places a link to the mail.
Tasks can be reordered using drag&drop, you can add due dates and notes, but you can't assign priorities, share your tasks or get reminders.
Here are some useful shortcuts in Gmail Tasks:
* Open the tasks box by typing g then k if you have keyboard shortcuts enabled.
* Create a task from an email by pressing Shift+T if you have keyboard shortcuts enabled.
* Navigate between tasks using the arrows.
* Delete a task by deleting the text and hitting backspace.
* Organize your tasks by indenting them — just hit Tab to indent and Shift+Tab to un-indent.
* Ctrl+Up moves a task up the list and Ctrl+Down move it down.
* Hit Shift+Enter when in a task to show its details
Remember the Milk is still a much better service and its clean interface and the integration with Google's services (Gmail, Google Calendar, iGoogle, Gears) make you think it was created by Google. Gmail Tasks is a feature of Gmail Labs, the place where Gmail engineers try new ideas to get early feedback. "None of these features are really ready for prime time yet, so they may change, break or disappear at any time."
When this features comes out of Labs we should expect some integration with Calendar, notifications, sharing and sync options. I think that Google's task management belongs to Google Calendar, where most of these features are already available.
{ Thanks, Jeng. }
After enabling tasks, you can access this feature in two ways: either click on the "Tasks" link below "Contacts" to open a Gmail Chat-like dialog or create a task from an email by opening "More Actions" drop-down and selecting "Add to Tasks". When you convert an email to a task, Gmail keeps the message's subject and places a link to the mail.
Tasks can be reordered using drag&drop, you can add due dates and notes, but you can't assign priorities, share your tasks or get reminders.
Here are some useful shortcuts in Gmail Tasks:
* Open the tasks box by typing g then k if you have keyboard shortcuts enabled.
* Create a task from an email by pressing Shift+T if you have keyboard shortcuts enabled.
* Navigate between tasks using the arrows.
* Delete a task by deleting the text and hitting backspace.
* Organize your tasks by indenting them — just hit Tab to indent and Shift+Tab to un-indent.
* Ctrl+Up moves a task up the list and Ctrl+Down move it down.
* Hit Shift+Enter when in a task to show its details
Remember the Milk is still a much better service and its clean interface and the integration with Google's services (Gmail, Google Calendar, iGoogle, Gears) make you think it was created by Google. Gmail Tasks is a feature of Gmail Labs, the place where Gmail engineers try new ideas to get early feedback. "None of these features are really ready for prime time yet, so they may change, break or disappear at any time."
When this features comes out of Labs we should expect some integration with Calendar, notifications, sharing and sync options. I think that Google's task management belongs to Google Calendar, where most of these features are already available.
{ Thanks, Jeng. }
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