Posted 11/11/08 at 04:11:12 PM by Alex Castle

Google’s been on a real spree lately, rolling out one improvement after another for their Gmail service. Looks like that’s not about to stop, as they’ve just announced that the service's built-in messenger will be getting noticeably beefier with the addition of voice and video chat.

The feature will be built right into the Gmail page (no client download required) and will allow anyone to chat in real time with other Gmail users. Google has posted a video showing off how the feature functions, and frankly it looks pretty damn cool.

The service certainly isn’t as full featured as voice-chat top-dog Skype (it cannot, for instance, connect to a regular phone), but it looks like it might be just the thing for a quick chat with someone you’ve been talking to with email or Gmail’s chat. And, knowing Google, it’s probably just a matter of time until the service’s features are fully fleshed out.

The service is available now, and requires a plugin download.

Do you use video or voice chat on your computer? Will you give Gmail’s new service a try? Let us know after the jump.

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Software, Gmail, Google, video chat, voice chat

Posted 10/31/08 at 03:53:34 PM by Alex Castle

Google’s adding yet another feature to Gmail’s formidable (and sometimes frivolous) arsenal. Starting soon, you’ll be able to send SMS messages to your friends’ phones from Gmail’s built-in Chat feature.

When it’s made available, you’ll need to enable the feature in the “Labs” tab of the Gmail settings page. Once that’s done, you’ll be able to send messages to people’s phones by simply entering a phone number into the Chat search box and selecting the SMS option.

When a person receives a text from a Gmail user, it’ll show up as coming from a phone number with a 406 area code. The first time you send a Gmail SMS, you’ll be assigned one of the thousands of numbers Google has reserved, and all messages you send in the future will come from the same number. The receiver can reply to the text and it’ll show up in Gmail chat.

The feature should become available today or in the next few days. When it does, will you use it? Let us know after the jump.

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Software, mobile, Gmail, Google, sms

Posted 10/24/08 at 11:52:40 AM by Paul Lilly

Earlier this month, Google announced its "Mail Goggles" feature for Gmail users who have a habit of sending out emotionally charged emails without first considering the consequences. That was followed up by this week by giving Gmail users the ability to send canned responses based on a set of custom-created filters. So what will Gmail engineers conjure up next?

If you answered 'emoticons,' go ahead and give yourself a happy face. Users can now select from nearly 160 animated and static emoticons, ranging from two block-headed faces giving each other a smooch (aww) to a stinking pile of crap with flies swirling around (aww schnap!).

"The black-and-white days of text-based emails have had their day," Darren Lewis, Gmail engineer, said in a blog post. "Following the evolutionary path blazed by colored labels, we present, in all their technicolor glory, emoticons in your mail."

Oh joy? ;-)

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Gmail, Google, email, emoticons

Posted 10/22/08 at 04:10:53 PM by Paul Lilly

We feel your pain. A stud like yourself should never be single, but for whatever reason, your overclocking mojo and wicked high framerates have failed to score that lucky lifelong mate you know is out there. No problem, that's what dating sites are for. But how do you manage the inevitable flurry of responses you're sure to receive? After all, you did include a photo of your custom build and a CPU-Z screenshot, right?

Of course you did, and this is just one of the many scenarios where a canned response would come in handy. Think of the time you could save by not having to reply to each solicitation individually.

"Hi. Thanks for your interest in my personal ad (who can blame you?). As you might have surmised, I do get an inordinate amount of responses. In order to save us both some time, please reply back with a few specific details, including your hair color, cup size, favorite food, and any special talents you may have. Please don't forget to attach a recent photo. Good luck!"

Because not everyone should receive the same message, and some none at all, Gmail's new 'Canned Responses' feature lets you create automated messages using filters based on keywords, sender, recipients, and more. How groovy!

Plan to use this feature? Hit the jump and let us know how.

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Software, Gmail, Google, email

Posted 10/21/08 at 03:08:05 PM by Pulkit Chandna

Last week’s Gmail outage, which lasted for about 28 hours, has once again highlighted a major shortcoming of cloud computing and web-based services. The incidence exemplifies cloud computing skeptics’ greatest concern that unheralded disruptions in cloud computing services might cost businesses’ and individuals dearly.

Some Gmail users – including paying Google Apps subscribers - couldn’t access their accounts between 16 and 17 October. Incensed users expressed their indignation across the internet, while Mark, a Google Apps adviser, provided regular updates on the status of the issue, as long as it lasted.

“We know how important Gmail is to our users, so we take issues like this very seriously, and we apologize for the inconvenience,” Mark wrote in a Google Groups post.

Earlier this year, Amazon’s Simple Storage Service remained unavailable for 8 hours. That particular episode had also spawned similar questions regarding cloud computing. Companies will have to come out with ways to keep outages to a negligible count.

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Software, Internet, Gmail, Google, cloud computing, web, google apps, web-based, docs, outage

Posted 10/07/08 at 01:30:55 PM by Paul Lilly

Google wants to make sure you never again send an email that you later wish you could take back. Problem is, once that angry letter or drunken confession flies out of your outbox, the damage has been done and it's only a matter of time before the recipient reads it. If only there could have been someone by your side to force you to solve math problems before allowing you to send that email! Wait, what?

Now there will be, and it's called Mail Googles. Once enabled, Mail Goggles will subject you to a handful of math equations that must be answered before that email can be whisked away for good.

"When you enable Mail Goggles, it will check that you're really sure you want to send that late night Friday email," writes Jon Perlow, a Gmail engineer. "And what better way to check than by making you solve a few simple math problems after you click send to verify you're in the right state of mind?"

Hit the jump to post your thoughts on this one, but first, what's 86-32?

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Software, Gmail, Google, email, mail goggles, wtf

Posted 09/09/08 at 05:15:45 PM by Paul Lilly

For those who either (A) believe Microsoft's Internet Explorer 6 represents the pinnacle of browser design, heralded as being not only the greatest browser of its time, but of all time, leading to a general malaise towards Firefox 3 and 3.1 Alpha, IE7 and IE8 Beta, and Chrome Beta, or (B) are forced to stick with IE6 because of compatiblity issues, work policy, or any other of a handful of reasons preventing you from upgrading, then Google has good news for you.

Recognizing there are still users who surf like it's 1999 (yes, IE6 was released in 2001 but that wouldn't have set up a song reference, now would it?), the gargantuan search company has been hard at work rewriting Gmail's code base to make it more friendly for IE6 users. This means that if you have the latest IE6 updates from Microsoft installed, you should now be able to enjoy previously unavailable features like colored labels, group chat and rich emoticons, invisible mode, AIM integration, Gmail Labs, an updated contact manager, and remote sign out.

Now if only Crytek would upgrade Crysis' code base so the game would run smoothly on our GeForce 3 TI500 videocard, we'd all be happy campers.

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Software, Gmail, Google, email, Internet Explorer, IE6

Posted 07/17/08 at 02:24:51 PM by Paul Lilly

Yikes! Google, the online monolith of all things, well, online, has made it incredibly easy for spammers to find out your real name. That means instead of seeing "Dear Sir" at the beginning of male organ enlargement solicitations, pill peddlers and every other unsavory seller can more easiy address you by name. Of course, if you're in the market for male miracle growth, then perhaps that's not such a bad thing.

In any event, a SecuriTeam blog outlines all the gritty details on how the exploit works, and to rub even more egg on Google's face, the blog chose to uncover the identity of admin at gmail dot com for its short tutorial. The bug works by entering a gmail address under the 'share this calendar' tab, adding them, and then saving. While the true identity isn't revealed at first, navigating back to the page is all it takes to see the person's real name. We haven't seen an exploit this stupidly simple since John Halderman discovered how to circumvent music CD copy protection just by holding down the shift key.

Oh, and feel to drop Drew a line. Not only did he give permission to post his Gmail info, but he did it with the full expectation that he'll find true love from a reader of these news posts.

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windows, Software, Gmail, Google, calendar, flaw, expose