it may be old, but today was the first day ive noticed it.

on my network at work i drop the gchat connection constantly.

getting emailed the ims sent to me i missed when i didn tknow i was dc'd is a nice feature.

11/10/2006 11:25:15 AM

that gmail update was just made today

http://mail.google.com/mail/help/about_whatsnew.html

11/10/2006 12:29:46 PM

you know, i was actually checking my email and i swear the change happened between reading messages. when i went to hit reply, it wasn't in the usual spot, really threw me off for a second!

it's a really nice change, simple and clean.

11/10/2006 5:24:57 PM

some nice updates to Google Docs/Spreadsheets. well, mostly just to Spreadsheets.
http://www.google.com/google-d-s/whatsnew.html

you can now publish spreadsheets to be publicly available as a normal webpage.
e.g. here is one of my published spreadsheets in:
HTML - http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pAs44XRA8cD52kfo3Mj_qeQ&gid=0
PDF - http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pAs44XRA8cD52kfo3Mj_qeQ&output=pdf&gid=0
CVS - http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pAs44XRA8cD52kfo3Mj_qeQ&output=csv&gid=0
you can make RSS and ATOM feeds to it.

and it will generate HTML to embed via an iframe into another page
(no HTML permissions here, but this would embed if I did)
<iframe width='500' height='' frameborder='0'src='http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pAs44XRA8cD52kfo3Mj_qeQ&output=html&gid=0&single=true&widget=true'></iframe>


you can have the published spreadsheets linked back to the source, or publish a static version. This could be a whole new way to generate dynamic data for websites, albiet primitive compared to PHP/mySQL, etc. of course. But for people who want simple tables on their websites, they can just keep them updated in Google SSs and their websites will be updated.



also introduced some new functions that tie into Google directly, kind of like a poor-man's API. Use =GoogleFinance("symbol", "attribute") and =GoogleLookup("entity", "attribute") as formulas in the spreadsheets to generate dymanically pulled data from Google Finance or basic lookups.
http://docs.google.com/support/spreadsheets/bin/answer.py?answer=54198
http://docs.google.com/support/spreadsheets/bin/answer.py?answer=54199

[Edited on November 30, 2006 at 1:47 PM. Reason : .]

11/30/2006 1:44:22 PM

in addition to ^, an entire Google Spreadsheets API was released today -
http://code.google.com/apis/gdata/spreadsheets.html

i can forsee entire CMS systems built on something like this. Think about it - you have a client who wants to keep data on a website up to date, data that's probably already in a spreadsheet. You don't want to install a CMS, they don't want to "learn a CMS". You create some specialized Google SS calls, put all their data on a Google SS, they update the spreadsheet, and their page is automagically updated!

11/30/2006 8:18:59 PM

Google Patent Search. looks nice, with full patent text and drawings being parsed into the browser, as well as Google Book-like viewing of the patent itself
http://www.google.com/patents

12/14/2006 1:47:16 PM

Google Maps adds multiple destinations
http://tinyurl.com/y6czyu

New app to sync Google Calendar to Windows Mobile 5
http://tinyurl.com/vw5vy

12/16/2006 1:58:39 PM

i haven't had time to keep up with my feeds lately so this might be old news, but there's a trends page for your google reader now

[Edited on January 7, 2007 at 2:39 PM. Reason : http://www.google.com/reader/view/?page=trends]

[Edited on January 7, 2007 at 2:49 PM. Reason : 3 days ago, apparently]

1/7/2007 2:39:08 PM

yeah, it's new. It was announced last week by Mihai Parparita on the Google Reader blog
http://googlereader.blogspot.com/2007/01/i-like-big-charts-and-i-cannot-lie.html

Parparitia is on the Reader team, and also has developed lots of really nice Reader and Gmail greasemonkey scripts on his own on his site - http://persistent.info/

1/7/2007 3:28:01 PM

lol i don't even bother catching up once i get to like 300 unread items. just mark all as read and start fresh. anything worth knowing is usually posted on digg 3-4 times, or on different sites multiple times as well.

anyways,

Quote :

"Google Sketchup 6 released today http://tinyurl.com/yes9p7 The coolest new feature has got to be its ability to create a 3D model from a photograph. While I won’t be able to test this out (the Vista thing, again), it is obvious how much easier and convenient the program can be if you can take a picture of your house and start with that, saving a lot of time in the beginning of your project. Other new features include themed styles, watermarks (for branding or logos), atmospheric haze (for realism), 3D text, and more natural native support for Google Earth and the 3D Warehouse."

1/9/2007 1:29:00 PM

Google Earth 4 Officially Released
http://tinyurl.com/ylavab

Quote :

"New Google Earth 4 features: * 3D Models - GE 4 supports a new format which allows for models which have textures. It also supports the new 3D buildings layer. The official release of GE includes lots of optimizations to improve 3D viewing. * Time Animation - the new time slider appears when KML content has been stamped with time. Read about the new time feature. And, here is a list of the top ten time animations done in 2006 for GE 4. * New Look - GE 4 has a much cleaner look than GE 3. It devotes more attention to the main 3D view, and has a new navigation gadget which appears in the upper right corner. There are too many enhancements to list them all. Some notable ones are: Support for radio buttons in KML, network link icons animate when loading, new organized menus, and more GE Options. * Controllers - Support for joystick controllers and flight simulator yokes. And, best of all, the new SpaceNavigator (Windows only at the moment, but a Mac driver soon). * Regions - GE 4 supports very large image overlays which can be "tiled" or "regionated" so you can view the full detail as you zoom in. See the "Rumsey Historical Map"

http://earth.google.com/download-earth.html

1/10/2007 10:35:34 AM

damn this vid made me want to work at google

http://tinyurl.com/ydnmaf

1/11/2007 2:10:41 AM

i don't know much about file systems and how they work, but this is apparently a big deal.
Google has created an open-sourced MacFUSE, "A FUSE-Compliant File System Implementation Mechanism for Mac OS X"

http://code.google.com/p/macfuse/
http://google-code-updates.blogspot.com/2007/01/macfuse-fuse-for-mac-os-x.html
http://googlemac.blogspot.com/2007/01/taming-mac-os-x-file-systems.html
http://arstechnica.com/journals/apple.ars/2007/1/11/6591

1/12/2007 12:43:46 AM

look at these fast-speed demos of PhotoMatch in the new sketchup
http://sketchup.google.com/gsu6vtviewer.html#id=3

that's crazy - it gives me the urge to start taking pictures of my house!

1/13/2007 12:00:18 PM

damn, sweet

1/13/2007 4:32:39 PM

youtube + google video are becoming more integrated. If you do a Google Video search, it will return vids from youtube and GVideo.
makes it easier to search for videos from the normal google page instead of going to youtube first
http://www.google.com/intl/en/press/annc/video_youtube.html

1/25/2007 10:31:34 AM

standby to pay for Google Apps for Your Domain

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070206-8783.html

guess we all knew it was coming sooner or later.

2/7/2007 12:37:51 AM

^ only for the Premier Edition, which includes 10GB/user, and API, and real tech support. Standard edition is still free
https://www.google.com/a/help/intl/en/admins/editions.html

2/22/2007 9:47:58 AM

^we didn't know that until Google told us about it today, and I have to say it's not bad, $50 per user/year

most importantly no ads, email migration tools, email whitelist, email gateway, single sign-on, and 99.9% email uptime ...

also docs & spreadsheets is available for everyone, including free standard version. (already shows up in domain control panel)

[Edited on February 22, 2007 at 10:11 AM. Reason : ,]

2/22/2007 10:09:47 AM

i <3 google apps

didn't know docs was out too now, thanks.

2/22/2007 12:37:41 PM

Google Apps Takes on Microsoft Office Live. How Does it Compare?
http://tinyurl.com/27osya

Quote :

"Microsoft’s offering may be for you if: * You don’t already have a website for your business and want to get something for the world to see that’s quick and easy. * You and your co-workers are all using computers running some version of Windows. * You and your co-workers already own some version of Microsoft Office and are prepared to continue using Outlook, Word and Excel as the hub of your business communications and processes. * Your business is based on customers…attracting them, interacting with them, and keeping them. * You won’t always have access to the internet. Google’s offering may be for you if: * You are more interested in having reliable tools for email and collaboration, than you are in having a new point-and-click website. * You and your co-workers are using a mix of different platforms, including Mac OS X. * You and your co-workers are comfortable using web-based tools for email, word processing or spreadsheets. * Your business is not entirely based on attracting and cultivating customers. Maybe you have a handful of accounts, but don’t need to track a lot of customer interactions. Maybe you’re a nonprofit organization, school or faith-based organization. Maybe you own a blog network. The possibilities are endless, and you don’t want to be confined to a standard business model. * You are always online. "

2/22/2007 1:23:33 PM

another google desktop hole found
http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/02/23/HNsecondgoogledesktopattack_1.html

2/25/2007 5:21:32 AM

i don't know if this if old but it is new to me:

Quote :

"Get mail from other accounts Now Gmail can check for the mail you receive at your other email accounts. You can retrieve your mail (new and old) from up to five other email accounts and have them all in Gmail. Then you can even create a customized 'From:' address, which lets you send messages from Gmail, but have them look like they were sent from another one of your email accounts. Please note that you can only retrieve mail from accounts that have POP3 access enabled. Learn more This feature is currently only enabled for a limited number of users. We're working on making it more available soon. Look for it in the 'Accounts' tab in Settings."

http://mail.google.com/mail/help/whatsnew_getmail.html

2/28/2007 8:34:57 AM

if there are any ncsu it people here, will there be a way in the future to use this feature for webmail? i know that we can have our mail forwarded, but i like this way better since the mail is labeled, and i can customized my label for webmail - can you currently do this for the email forwarding that you all offer?

2/28/2007 9:07:39 AM

^ i don't see any reason why you can't do it now. It can pull from any POP mailbox, which NCSU already is, i believe.

2/28/2007 9:26:21 AM

i keep trying and it keeps timing out, so i gave up. what should i do? it is on port 110, do i need to change this? and i am using username.mail.ncsu.edu - it this correct?

[Edited on February 28, 2007 at 9:29 AM. Reason : as]

2/28/2007 9:27:01 AM

I thought all NCSU accounts are IMAP (since like 2001 or something)

2/28/2007 9:31:32 AM

yeah they are, but i was just trying it anyway!

2/28/2007 9:32:34 AM

i have to give it to google, most of the products were did right right from the beginning and its like BOOM HEAD SHOT!

2/28/2007 6:54:20 PM

OMG THEY HACK!!1

2/28/2007 7:16:32 PM

google maps has live traffic feature now (in select areas)

2/28/2007 7:30:48 PM

Speaking of Google maps and traffic, have you guys seen the NC DOT traffic sensors site? Pretty helpful for keeping tabs on traffic between here and Durham.

(click on the Show Traffic Sensors option in the bottom-middle)
http://apps.dot.state.nc.us/tims/RegionSummary.aspx?re=1

2/28/2007 9:17:19 PM

that's cool they're using Google maps for that.
The NC DOT smartlink site has good traffic cameras, but the map itself could use some work - http://www.ncdot.org/traffictravel/cameras/triangle.html

2/28/2007 9:23:58 PM

Quote :

"What's new with Google Calendar Search and Add Events from the Web Now you can search the web for events and add them directly to your Google Calendar. Within Google Calendar, type an event search into the search box like "Symphony in San Francisco" and click "Search Public Events". You'll see a list of events that you can easily add to your Google Calendar. Simply click on an event listing and you'll be able to see a map of where the venue is located and the corresponding times at which the event occurs. To add to your calendar, click on the time of the event and select "copy to my calendar". Calendars with web content events and special icons We've added a new calendar format with a little extra eye candy. These calendars have small icons at the top of the day when there's new information. Using these calendars, you can now get some extra information directly in your calendar view — like the upcoming weather, the phases of the moon, and even a heads up when a new Google Doodle appears on Google.com. To get the weather forecast calendar for cities in the U.S., sign in to Google Calendar and click Settings to update your weather preferences. To add the Google doodles calendar or the moon phases calendar, click the plus symbol (+) next to "Other Calendars" on the left side of your screen. Select the "Browse Calendars" tab and then look in the "Fun Calendars" area. When you find the calendar you want, just click the "Add Calendar" button. If you're interested (and technically inclined) you can publish a calendar in the iCal format that takes advantage of this new format, or use the updated Google Calendar Data API to make calendars like this of your own. Learn more Google Calendar in 17 new languages We've heard from Google users all over the world who wanted Google Calendar in their own languages, so we've been working hard to make this happen. If one of these is your preferred language of choice, give the new interface a try: French, Italian, German, Spanish, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Japanese, Korean, Dutch, Portuguese (Brazilian), Russian, Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish, Danish, Polish, and English (UK). And much more... Ever since we launched Google Calendar, we've been listening to our users and working hard to make Google Calendar even better. Here are a few of the features we've added: * Have your own domain? Now it's even easier to share calendars within your school, business or organization. Google Apps brings powerful tools — like Google Calendar, Gmail and Google Talk — to all of the user accounts at your own custom domain. Useful features like simpler calendar sharing between users at your domain enhance communication and collaboration. And you can personalize the interface with a customized icon so it feels like your own. It's free, and there's no hardware or software required. * Add your calendar to your Google Personalized Homepage Now you can add the Google Calendar Gadget to your Google Personalized Homepage so your calendar is always at your fingertips. This module lets you browse through your schedule and add new events, right from your Homepage. Learn more * Publish your calendar and share it with the world Have a website or a blog where you'd like to show other people what's going on? Now you can place an interactive, graphical version of your calendar into any page that you manage. The Event Publisher Guide shows you how, plus other ways to add Google Calendar information to your sites. * Access your calendar from your phone Now when you're on the go, you can access the events on your calendar (or even add new events) with your mobile phone. Learn more * View your calendar with Google Desktop The handy mini-calendar gadget for Google Desktop lets you view your agenda without even opening your browser. You can place the Google Calendar gadget right on your desktop or leave it docked in the Desktop Sidebar. Learn more * Support for Verizon Now you can get SMS notifications and send SMS calendar commands with your Verizon phone. Just go to the Notifications Settings page to select the kind of alerts you want and to verify your cell phone number. Learn more * Simple event and calendar publishing We've made it easier for you to add Google Calendar event reminder buttons to your web pages, so you can help visitors to your site quickly add individual events or a whole series of events to their calendars. Learn more. * Google Calendar data API We launched the Google Calendar data API, which lets developers create services and applications that build on Google Calendar. This API lets your applications display and modify Google Calendar data. Learn more "

gmail has now whipped any email client/email service that is out there

3/2/2007 1:06:18 PM

i'm, ummmm, pretty sure that entire article was concerned 95% with Google Calendar, not Gmail....

3/2/2007 2:04:21 PM

is any of that even new? i've seen no improvements

3/2/2007 2:08:14 PM

^^ drrr mr. google-know-it-all ...

the point is that your calendar is easily accessible through gmail ... only needed to think 3 more seconds to think about that

3/2/2007 2:23:08 PM

^ he runs this thread man. you can't just roll up in here and post something you just saw on digg or heard from your buddy

3/2/2007 2:52:08 PM

Quote :

"^^ drrr mr. google-know-it-all ... the point is that your calendar is easily accessible through gmail ... only needed to think 3 more seconds to think about that"

Umm, that doesn't look like your point at all.

3/2/2007 3:05:51 PM

i can only take anyone who is in defense of some guy who 'runs' a thread as a joke lol

3/2/2007 3:08:53 PM

Quote :

"the point is that your calendar is easily accessible through gmail ... "

I strongly disagree. actually, i've very disappointed with the lack of integration between Gmail and Calendar. Here's the integration that I can think of off the top of my head
1) In the upper left, you have a link between the two. big deal.
2) You get a note on the right side of a conversation it gmail detects a date/event, that you can add automatically to your calendar. nice
3) you can accept/reject/reply to calendar notices in a special gmail conversation view. very nice
4) in Calendar, you have access to your gmail address book to add guests. nice

given all that, i still feel like I'm using two distinct and separated applications when I go between Gmail and Calendar. I want to see tight integration between the two, where you can quickly and easily swtich between mail and calendar views in the same window, while not leaving the current "context". That is, when I go into Calendar from Gmail, I still want quick access to my inbox. When I'm in Gmail, I want a "quick add" to calendar feature, instead of going over to calendar to do that, etc. I want a way to easily attach/associate emails with calendar events. I want an "upcoming events" and "to do" box available in my gmail sidebar that pulls from Calendar. I want "mini-calendar" popups available from gmail, and embedded calendars in conversation view (I also want this for Docs & Spreadsheets).
you get my drift?
Yes, Gmail and Calendar are already at the top of their classes, but there is so much more they could do, especially when viewed as a unit instead of two fully separate products.

3/2/2007 3:15:05 PM

i heard that and there is nothing wrong with all of that. also, there is nothing disagreeing with me either, but no email client/service can touch gmail in my opinion, and this addition of automated things to your calendar is genius. i am satisfied with it like it is, and i absolutely love it. sure maybe it can be integrated more, but lest not forget that gmail, calendar, etc ... are in beta

[Edited on March 2, 2007 at 3:41 PM. Reason : sdf]

3/2/2007 3:37:34 PM

yeah, beta.... what a f'ing cop-out. Google should be embarrassed that Gmail will be 3 years old in exactly one month and it's still in beta.

As should be apparent, i also love Gmail, Calendar, G Maps, etc. But that doesn't mean that Google should rest on their laurels and stop innovating. I see a disturbing trend starting to emerge over the past couple years:

1) Google introduces a beta or 1st version in a new webapp arena, completely blowing the existing competition out of the water (Gmail was the 1st absoultely killer app. Maps was the 2nd. Calendar, Docs & SS, Earth (even though many of these were bought from other companies) are in the same boat, but not as revolutionary as Gmail and Maps)

2) Google sits on their beta for 6-9 months, hardly making any (visible) changes

3) Yahoo and/or Microsoft (and sometimes Amazon or others) introduce competing products that are, in many ways, better than Google's first offering. e.g. Yahoo Maps - even though it's a bit "heavy" and sluggish (because of the use of Flash), it, from the beginning, offered more and better functionality than Google Maps. MS Live Maps also came out with several innovative features on their first try. also, e.g. Yahoo & Live mail. I still like Gmail better than either of them, but the new Yahoo Mail has some great features, like in-window tabbed mail browsing.

4) Google sits around and watches Yahoo/MS add features, while still barely touching their own
products. After 1 year, Google Maps looked downright old-fashioned next to Yahoo Maps. Same with Gmail. Once again, i still like it the best, but the interface could definitely use some "refreshing".

I kind of get the feeling that Google doesn't want to add features for fear of being called-out for copying. It's like "we got it right the first time, we're not going to change or add anything else just because Yahoo did it". That's not a good attitude to take.

3/2/2007 3:55:47 PM

well maybe to the consumer that may not be a good route to take, but from a business standpoint they may just be doing what is in their best interest.

3/2/2007 4:01:12 PM

google knows better than most companies that their own best interest IS what is in the consumer's best interest

3/2/2007 7:04:54 PM

Quote :

"Google exec confirms phone in the labs http://www.engadget.com/2007/03/15/google-exec-confirms-phone-in-the-labs/ The chief of a main directorate of Google Spain confirms that the company is working in the development of a movable telephone 14/03/07 - Estefanía Perez Isabel Aguilera, Chief of a main directorate of Google in Spain and Portugal, have confirmed to Noticias.com that the company is working, “among others”, in the development of a movable telephone. “A part of the time of our engineers we have dedicated it to the investigation of a movable telephone to accede to information”, has made specific Eyrie to this vestibule. The speculations on the possible entrance of Google in the area of the design and the sale of movable telephones arose after the company recently published a use announcement in which it looked for engineers and analysts specialized in the sector of the telecommunications. In that same reclamation, Google specified that it is in phase of experimentation with diverse systems of wireless communications. In a day on the integration of Internet in the strategy of business, organized by the Association for the Progress of the Direction of the Mediterranean Zone, Isabel Aguilera has explained to Noticias.com that although 70% of the time of the engineers are dedicated “to develop our nucleus of business, that is to say, the search and the publicity”, and a 20% to develop “products that they have enough that to see with this nucleus”, is certain that a 10% of that time are centered in the product development “that at some time could have to do with our business”. Within this last scope, Eyrie has indicated that “it has been investigated” on a movable telephone through as can “be acceded to the information”, in addition to in “the way to less extend the society of the information in the developed economies”. In this sense, the Chief of a main directorate of Google in Spain and Portugal have aimed that although “can have products that can seem strange, all comprise of our process of innovation”. At the moment, the motor search account with 36 products and “other 18 that are in laboratory” and, therefore, in phase of experimentation, between which would be the mentioned movable telephone. "

translated from spanish

3/15/2007 3:12:31 PM

http://forevergeek.com/apple/mailplane_gmail_desktop_client_-_first_impressions.php
http://www.tuaw.com/2007/03/15/first-impressions-mailplane-the-desktop-gmail-client/

Mailplane: Gmail desktop client - first impressions

3/15/2007 10:57:14 PM

^ for Macs only

3/16/2007 1:51:41 PM

not an innovation and very [old] but interesting, nonetheless

Quote :

"An evening with Googles Marissa Mayer http://alan.blog-city.com/an_evening_with_googles_marissa_mayer.htm posted Wednesday, 12 January 2005 Last night I went to the BayCHI lecture at PARC given by Marissa Mayer (Product Manager for Google). A very well attended (standing room only session), Marissa took us through a presentation geared around the user experience at Google and the efforts/lengths they go to. Some interesting facts came out: 1. The prime reason the Google home page is so bare is due to the fact that the founders didn't know HTML and just wanted a quick interface. Infact it was noted that the submit button was a long time coming and hitting the RETURN key was the only way to burst Google into life. 2. Due to the sparseness of the homepage, in early user tests they noted people just sitting looking at the screen. After a minute of nothingness, the tester intervened and asked 'Whats up?' to which they replied "We are waiting for the rest of it". To solve that particular problem the Google Copyright message was inserted to act as a crude end of page marker. 3. One of the biggest leap in search usage came about when they introduced their much improved spell checker giving birth to the "Did you mean..." feature. This instantly doubled their traffic, but they had some interesting discussions on how best to place that information, as most people simply tuned that out. But they discovered the placement at the bottom of the results was the most effective area. 4. The infamous "I feel lucky" is nearly never used. However, in trials it was found that removing it would somehow reduce the Google experience. Users wanted it kept. It was a comfort button. 5. Orkut is very popular in Brazil. Orkut was the brainchild of a very intelligent Google engineer who was pretty much given free reign to run with it, without having to go through the normal Google UI procedures, hence the reason it doesn't look or feel like a Google application. They are looking at improving Orkut to cope with the loads it places on the system. 6. Google makes changes small-and-often. They will sometimes trial a particular feature with a set of users from a given network subnet; for example Excite@Home users often get to see new features. They aren't told of this, just presented with the new UI and observed how they use it. 7. Google has the largest network of translators in the world 8. They use the 20% / 5% rules. If at least 20% of people use a feature, then it will be included. At least 5% of people need to use a particular search preference before it will make it into the 'Advanced Preferences'. 9. They have found in user testing, that a small number of people are very typical of the larger user base. They run labs continually and always monitoring how people use a page of results. 10. The name 'Google' was an accident. A spelling mistake made by the original founders who thought they were going for 'Googol' 11. Gmail was used internally for nearly 2years prior to launch to the public. They discovered there was approximately 6 types of email users, and Gmail has been designed to accommodate these 6. 12. They listen to feedback actively. Emailing Google isn't emailing a blackhole. 13. Employees are encouraged to use 20% of their time working on their own projects. Google News, Orkut are both examples of projects that grew from this working model. 14. This wasn't a technical talk so no information regarding any infrastructure was presented however they did note that they have a mantra of aiming to give back each page with in 500ms, rendered. 15. Quote: Give Users What They Want When They Want It 16. Quote: Integrate Sensibly All in all, a very interesting evening and I thank my colleague Mary Weeks for inviting me to come along and attend. Much appreciated."

3/18/2007 11:20:12 PM

Anyone use the custom hompage? I just noticed that now you can use themes.
Here is what mine looks like:

3/20/2007 9:12:29 AM