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Software
December 9, 2010
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Google updates Gmail Android app; priority inbox, improved compose, in-line replies

By on December 9, 2010 at 7:42 PM.

Google updates Gmail Android app; priority inbox, improved compose, in-line replies

Today, Google released an update to its Gmail Android application that offers several bug fixes, improvements, and feature additions. Most notably, the new bits add enhanced priority inbox support, an improved compose workflow, and in-line rely responses. With priority inbox support, users can now see importance markers in the main message list and rank messages right from their device. The new compose feature will allow users to switch between reply, reply all, and forward while in the composition screen, as well as set the outgoing account (should users have more than one Gmail account setup on their device). In-line message replies are fairly self explanatory. The new Gmail application – version 2.3.2 — is available in the Market as we type. Enjoy.

12 Comments
Software
November 22, 2010
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Google begins to roll out Gmail call recording to some users

By on November 22, 2010 at 9:00 PM.

Google begins to roll out Gmail call recording to some users

It looks like search giant Google has started to roll out a new feature to its Gmail users that also utilize Google Voice. The new functionality allows Google Voice users, receiving a call from within Gmail, to record the voice conversation. Blog TechCrunch is reporting that some users have begun to see a new “record” button show up in Gmail’s call window. The feature has been available to Google Voice users for quite some time by hitting the number “4″ on your phone’s dial-pad after receiving an inbound call. After activating call recording, both parties are notified that the conversation is being recorded with a verbal queue. Google has yet to publish a press release announcing the feature or detailing when it will be rolled out to all users. Anyone have the new feature in Gmail yet? More →

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General
October 28, 2010
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Google tweaks Gmail for mobile Safari

By on October 28, 2010 at 9:50 PM.

Google tweaks Gmail for mobile Safari

Today, Google announced two, small improvements to their Gmail web interface for mobile Safari: scrolling speed and the toolbar availability. First, scrolling: Google explains that the new scrolling on gmail.com is now “snappier” and better reflects the speed of an inputted swipe gesture. The second feature improvement has the navigation toolbar staying onscreen when scrolling through mail — rather than appearing, via a short sliding animation, after a delay. “Being able to access your toolbars from any point on the page should make it easier to triage your email and move around the app,” writes Google. The new features are available in mobile Safari for iOS versions 4.0 or higher (English only, for the moment). More →

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General
September 29, 2010
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Gmail allows you to disable threaded conversations

By on September 29, 2010 at 12:09 PM.

Gmail allows you to disable threaded conversations

To us, one of the differentiating features of Gmail is the service’s ability to automatically and accurately organize email conversations into threads. Now, Google has announced that they are *gasp* affording you the ability to turn this feature off. As Google explains:

The way Gmail organizes mail into conversations is like cilantro. You either love it — and, like me, enjoy the nice citrusy, herbal finish it gives to everything from salsa to curry — or you hate it. And those of you who hate it hate it enough to launch sites like nocilantro.com and ihatecilantro.com (“an anti cilantro community”), where you can hate it together.

But my fondness for cilantro pales in comparison to my love for Gmail’s conversation view, or message threading. I haven’t had to wade through multiple messages to follow a conversation in years. A centithread hasn’t filled up the entire first page of my inbox in almost as long as I can remember. Having all the replies to an email (and replies to those replies) grouped with the original message simply makes communicating so much easier.

It turns out not everyone feels the same way. And just as an outspoken minority has banded together in unison to declare their distaste of one of nature’s most delicious herbs, some of you have been very vocal about your dislike of conversation threading. So just like you can order your baja fish tacos without cilantro, you can now get Gmail served up sans conversation view. Go to the main Settings page, look for the “Conversation View” section, select the option to turn it off, and save changes. If you change your mind, you can always go back.

This feature will be rolling out over the next few days so if you don’t see it immediately, check back in a bit. And once you try it out, let us know what you think.

We’re curious, any Gmail users out there dislike threaded conversations? More →

108 Comments
General
September 22, 2010
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HTC EVO 4G getting update to address Gmail and calendar issues

By on September 22, 2010 at 2:02 PM.

HTC EVO 4G getting update to address Gmail and calendar issues

A quick note on Sprint’s support site indicates that the HTC EVO 4G will be getting a small software update sometime in the near future. The update lists “calendar event edit issues” and “multiple Gmail account sync” as the two problems it is designed to address. The version number is also listed at 3.29.651.5. You can check for the update by navigating to Settings > System Updates > HTC software update on your EVO 4G. More →

23 Comments
General
September 21, 2010
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Google updates Gmail Android app

By on September 21, 2010 at 2:57 PM.

Google updates Gmail Android app

Google has just released an update to its Gmail application to the Android Market. The new app brings several new conveniences, including: message actions stick to the top of the screen while scrolling, view previous messages more easily (like in the desktop client), and limited support for Priority Inbox. The new bits are in the Android Market and available for all those running Android 2.2. Go get em’!

More →

36 Comments
General
September 20, 2010
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Google celebrates 3 million business on Apps, adds features

By on September 20, 2010 at 5:56 PM.

Google celebrates 3 million business on Apps, adds features

Today, Google announced that over 3 million businesses have met their messaging and collaboration needs by switching to Google Apps. To celebrate the occasion, Google announced two new features it is adding to its cloud-powered services: two-step verification and mobile editing for Google Docs. First, two-step authentication. As Google explains:

Google Apps Premier, Education and Government Edition administrators can now have users sign in with the combination of their password (something they know) and a one-time verification code provided by a mobile phone (something they have). Users can continue to access Google Apps from Internet-connected devices, but with stronger protections to help fend off risks like phishing scams and password reuse. For the first time, we’re making this technology accessible to organizations large and small without the costs and complexities that have historically limited two-step verification to large enterprises with deep pockets. Furthermore, in the coming months, Standard Edition and hundreds of millions of individual Google users will be able to enjoy this feature as well.

The second feature, mobile editing of Google Docs, is exactly what it sounds like. Google has demonstrated the ability to edit documents on the Android OS as well as the iPad. “In the next few weeks, co-workers around the world will soon be able to co-edit files simultaneously from an even wider array of devices,” writes Google.

There you have it. Two-step authentication for extra security and the ability to collaborate and edit Google Docs on select mobile devices. We’re curious, any individual users going to take advantage of the two-step authentication process when it is rolled out to all Gmail/Google users? More →

5 Comments
General
September 17, 2010
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Google launches video chat enhancements labs feature for Gmail

By on September 17, 2010 at 8:30 PM.

Google launches video chat enhancements labs feature for Gmail

Search giant Google has announced a new labs feature for their Gmail web-based email client called “video chat enhancements.” As Google explains:

Visit the Gmail Labs tab under Settings, turn on “Video chat enhancements,” and right away, you’ll see higher resolution video and a bigger video chat window.The higher resolution video uses a new playback mechanism which enables widescreen VGA and frees up valuable resources on your computer. For it to work, both you and the person you’re chatting with will need to have the lab turned on.

If you find yourself frequently using the video chat feature of Gmail, take the new feature for a spin and let us know what you think. More →

28 Comments
General
August 31, 2010
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Gmail adds Priority Inbox to repertoire

By on August 31, 2010 at 9:40 AM.

Gmail adds Priority Inbox to repertoire

Last night, Google announced the addition of a Priority Inbox to its Gmail email service. As Google explains:

Priority Inbox splits your inbox into three sections: “Important and unread,” “Starred” and “Everything else.” As messages come in, Gmail automatically flags some of them as important. Gmail uses a variety of signals to predict which messages are important, including the people you email most (if you email Bob a lot, a message from Bob is probably important) and which messages you open and reply to (these are likely more important than the ones you skip over). And as you use Gmail, it will get better at categorizing messages for you.

The new feature has been rolling out to Gmail users since late last night. If you see “New! Priority Inbox” in the top right-hand corner of your Gmail window, you’ve got the new feature. Hit the jump to see a video explanation of just how the new inbox will improve your digital life (complete with Ragtime music). More →

13 Comments
General
August 26, 2010
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Google: 1,000,000 Gmail calls in 24-hours

By on August 26, 2010 at 8:01 PM.

Google: 1,000,000 Gmail calls in 24-hours

Google hath tweeted that their new integrated Gmail calling feature announced yesterday has already seen 1,000,000 phone calls placed in just under 24-hours. The new service allows users to place VoIP calls — right from within the browser — to the U.S. and Canada free of charge and for very affordable rates to other countries around the world. We’ve been playing with the new feature and we have to say, it’s pretty impressive. Have you tried it? Thoughts? More →

46 Comments
Breaking
August 25, 2010
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Google makes Gmail calling official

By on August 25, 2010 at 1:05 PM.

Google makes Gmail calling official

Well that didn’t take long. This morning we told you about a rumor that Google was working on a feature that would allow Gmail users to call residential and mobile phones right from within the web-based email client. Now, five hours later, that feature has become official. As Google explains:

Starting today, you can call any phone right from Gmail.

Calls to the U.S. and Canada will be free for at least the rest of the year and calls to other countries will be billed at our very low rates. We worked hard to make these rates really cheap (see comparison table) with calls to the U.K., France, Germany, China, Japan—and many more countries—for as little as $0.02 per minute.

Dialing a phone number works just like a normal phone. Just click “Call phone” at the top of your chat list and dial a number or enter a contact’s name.

We’ve been testing this feature internally and have found it to be useful in a lot of situations, ranging from making a quick call to a restaurant, to placing a call when you’re in an area with bad reception.

If you have a Google Voice phone number, calls made from Gmail will display this number as the outbound caller ID. And if you decide to, you can receive calls made to this number right inside Gmail (see instructions).

We’re rolling out this feature to U.S. based Gmail users over the next few days, so you’ll be ready to get started once “Call Phones” shows up in your chat list (you will need to install the voice and video plug-in if you haven’t already). If you’re not a U.S. based user—or if you’re using Google Apps for your school or business—then you won’t see it quite yet. We’re working on making this available more broadly—so stay tuned!

Hit the jump for a funky, promotional video explaining just how far phone technology has come. More →

62 Comments
Rumor
August 25, 2010
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Google testing Gmail VoIP feature?

By on August 25, 2010 at 7:55 AM.

Google testing Gmail VoIP feature?

CNET is reporting that “Google is testing a Web-based service within Gmail that will allow users to place phone calls from their in-boxes.” The new reported service will allow users to make VoIP calls to landline and cellular phones, not just other Gmail or Google Talk users. CNET explains, “This is the likely culmination of Google’s work to integrate Gizmo5′s similar product, which it acquired late last year, into its arsenal.” Details on exactly how the service will work were not revealed to the site, and it is not clear if a Google Voice account will be required. When asked to comment on the report, the search giant would only say: “Google is always testing new features and products, but we have nothing specific to announce right now.” What do you think? Would you find functionality like this useful? More →

19 Comments
General
August 21, 2010
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Google adds Linux support to browser voice and video chat in Gmail

By on August 21, 2010 at 8:54 AM.

Google adds Linux support to browser voice and video chat in Gmail

Thursday, Google announced that it added support for browser-based voice and video chat in Debian-based Linux distributions. If you rock Ubuntu, or any Debian-flavored OS, you can head over to gmail.com/videochat to download the plugin. The full text of the post is below:

If you’ve been wanting to use voice and video chat on Linux (our top video chat request), then we have good news for you: it’s now available! Visit gmail.com/videochat to download the plugin and get started. Voice and video chat for Linux supports Ubuntu and other Debian-based Linux distributions, and RPM support will be coming soon. More →

14 Comments