Gmail Themes http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2008/11/spice-up-your-inbox-with-colors-and.html
I don't see them yet in my account

11/19/2008 4:55:56 PM

^^The internet is now one step closer to being complete, hurray!

11/19/2008 5:16:58 PM

I <3 the new Terminal theme for Gmail.

11/20/2008 7:25:07 PM

i like terminal but it's too big of a contrast from my other typically visited pages so i doubt i'll use it

11/20/2008 7:40:10 PM

Yeah, I used it for about 5 minutes before I decided my eyes couldn't take it.

11/20/2008 7:44:04 PM

shiny theme ftw

11/22/2008 9:59:33 PM

Now the street view in google maps is much more user friendly. Love me some google.

11/29/2008 11:08:54 PM

more user friendly? bull-fucking-shit. the new version is awful.

i want to be able to click something and see what streets have street view, not some little half ass map down in the bottom right show the blue trails sometimes. a mix of the new and old version would be best--it's really fucking annoying when i hit the street view button and i'm on an address that isn't on street view and it just arbitrarily takes me to a nearby place and then i have to navigate on the bottom right to see where I'm at vs. where I should/can be in streetview. it just doesn't make sense

11/29/2008 11:11:45 PM

Yeah, I gotta say user friendly isn't the first thing I'd use to describe this new interface. It's pretty bad.

11/30/2008 11:15:18 AM

google health automatically sets up my prescription refills and makes my doctor appointments. i was really nervous about giving them that release, though.

11/30/2008 9:07:31 PM

style updates to google reader
http://googlereader.blogspot.com/2008/12/square-is-new-round.html

i was messing around with some greasemonkeys for google reader and i installed one and greader looked different and i was all like "wtf it didn't say anything about changing style" so i uninstalled it and greader still looked the same and my brain broke. then i reloaded and the "New! Things look pretty different around here. Learn more about Reader's fresh new look" message showed up so i was like ok

12/4/2008 4:28:23 PM

GEarth plugin released for Firefox and Safari on Mac
http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2008/12/google-earth-in-your-browser-on-your.html

12/4/2008 9:49:37 PM

I'm really disliking the new look of google reader. The color/style change I can get used to, but I hate that they added a button to the right of where the refresh button was. It used to be the rightmost button and it was really easy to hit. I've accidentally hit the new view settings button at least half a dozen times today because it's now the rightmost button.

Not a huge deal, but I'd like the option to go back to the way things were like they did when they revamped gmail.

12/5/2008 4:48:10 PM

they've integrated a Task List into the Gmail Labs section
http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2008/12/new-in-labs-tasks.html
http://blogoscoped.com/archive/2008-12-09-n38.html

12/8/2008 8:04:14 PM

^That is perfect!

Previously I've been tagging all my todo emails with "TODO", but that method left me with maintaining another list of things that didn't happen to come through email ... now I can combine them all into one. Thanks Google, you're the best!

12/8/2008 9:21:04 PM

"Native Client" is Google's answer to ActiveX
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081209-safer-than-activex-a-look-at-googles-native-client-plugin.html
http://code.google.com/p/nativeclient/
http://google-code-updates.blogspot.com/2008/12/native-client-technology-for-running.html

12/10/2008 10:35:42 AM

wow, SMS from GMail Chat..... this could really run up some phone bills
http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2008/12/really-new-in-labs-this-time-sms-text.html

12/10/2008 10:32:22 PM

holy shit

street view now covers a good percentage of America's roads.

12/10/2008 10:35:43 PM

^ I don't see how you'd ever know that now that they've changed to this completely shitty UI for Street view.

Used to be, you could click on a button and all the streets that were available lit up in blue. Now you have to drag that gayass little man to the street and cross your fingers. And if Street View isn't available, you don't get anything. No error message, no "Sorry Street View is not available for this area", Nothing.

It really sucks.

12/11/2008 12:12:01 AM

^If you expand the thumbnail map in the corner, you'll get a half page of map, half page of streetview. Click the little man to drag him, and the blue streets light up. I thought it was gone too, til I just went back and played with it again.

12/11/2008 12:21:08 AM

Yeah, I just noticed that. It's still really difficult to drag him on this little half screen though. I keep dragging him off the screen and then it "drops" him.

I still don't see how they thought this was better in any way.

They also added like half of my little hometown, but not the half that I would have liked. But now I'm just nitpicking.

12/11/2008 12:23:19 AM

Eh you get blue streets when you click and drag the little man on full screen too. But still? Why with the little man? Ugh.

12/11/2008 12:26:45 AM

^I agree... I WANT IT ALL!

[Edited on December 11, 2008 at 12:30 AM. Reason : Surprised to see so many random roads back home on here. Even dead end ones.]

12/11/2008 12:29:49 AM

here's the new New York City in google earth

12/18/2008 10:06:19 AM

^Next stop, The Matrix.

12/18/2008 1:54:46 PM

^ I think there still might be a few more steps before we get there.

12/18/2008 2:05:09 PM

True. But imagine seeing something like this 20 years ago. Your mind would be blown.

12/18/2008 2:20:30 PM

guys, this ain't jack squat when put up against what Autodesk is doing (different purpose i understand, but still)

Autodesk Digital Cities
http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/index?siteID=123112&id=11053875

Think realtime cities with intelligent models using cloud computing to generate simulations, analysis, historical data, proposed infrastructure, planning, etc. They aren't too far away from it, in fact they've shown a preview at AU the last two years where you can do flythroughs of a city, all generated on the fly. We aren't talking crappy images applied to a simple 3d solid.

[Edited on December 18, 2008 at 3:00 PM. Reason : .]

12/18/2008 2:58:32 PM

well in that case, let's start the countdown until Google acquires AutoDesk!


.... or is it?

[Edited on December 18, 2008 at 3:02 PM. Reason : .]

12/18/2008 3:01:50 PM

Google acquired SketchUp to provide a modeling program that's a) easy to use, b) would model with the intent of implementing it with Google Earth, they had no intention on further development of the application for the building industry, nor get into BIM. So no, they will not acquire Autodesk, it doesn't make much sense for them to.

12/18/2008 3:37:30 PM

Picasa now for Mac, to give iPhoto a bit of competition.

http://googlemac.blogspot.com/2009/01/picasas-macworld-debut.html
http://arstechnica.com/journals/apple.ars/2009/01/05/macworld-ars-google-officially-releases-picasa-for-mac

from this screenshot, it almost looks like a direct port of the Windows interface.
Would have been nice if they tried to "Mac-ify" it a bit....

Quote :

"An appreciated coat of polish for Mac users is that Picasa 3 displays a separate "iPhoto Library" section in its sidebar, and the default iPhoto Library file (in your user's Home/pictures/folder) is already added to Picasa's watch list. Any changes made in iPhoto will be quickly picked up by Picasa, but iPhoto switchers beware: it doesn't work the other way around. If you aren't sure about making the leap, be sure not to make any changes in Picasa, because iPhoto won't pick them up. "

1/6/2009 12:17:03 AM

tabbed gtalk finally - this was released a few days ago

http://www.google.com/talk/labsedition/

1/6/2009 8:08:17 AM

1/9/2009 2:28:30 PM

^ just noticed that...WTF? it's more ghey than the last one

1/9/2009 10:28:25 PM

^ stfu, i like it.

1/10/2009 5:10:11 PM

you would, ~

1/10/2009 10:48:13 PM

Quote :

"Google has harnessed some wonderful technology to present some of Europe's greatest artworks in 14 thousand-megapixel resolution. Using Google Earth, you can now browse through some of the finest works in Madrid's Prado museum in detail so fine that you can see every crack in the paint and almost smell the canvas. "

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1EOJr11bvo

1/18/2009 11:33:09 AM

http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/01/22/new-in-google-talk-embedded-youtube-videos/

Quote :

"Turns out Google is testing a feature that automatically turns direct links to YouTube videos copied into the instant messaging application (seems to work only from within Gmail, not the desktop client) into embedded clips."

Sweet!

1/22/2009 12:43:47 PM

in 2 years of gmail chat, i've had youtube links sent to me 11 times. not the most compelling feature -shrug-

1/22/2009 12:55:04 PM

finally, Gmail is becoming Google Gears enabled
http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/new-in-labs-offline-gmail.html
i wonder how many messages will actually be cached on the machine

1/28/2009 12:13:15 AM

Quote :

"in 2 years of gmail chat, i've had youtube links sent to me 11 times. not the most compelling feature -shrug-"

apparently you don't have marko in your gmail chat list

i get at least 11 youtube links from him a day

1/28/2009 8:35:05 AM

Google Earth 5.0 Beta
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSuJq4UzkIA

- Explore the ocean floor
- View historical satellite imagery
- Record what you see to a video

2/2/2009 3:28:30 PM

this history funciton looks awesome - i wonder how many places are covered.
here is an exploration of some of the features
http://www.gearthblog.com/blog/archives/2009/02/google_earth_50_now_released_watch.html
http://www.gearthblog.com/blog/archives/2009/02/google_earth_5_the_new_google_mars.html
http://www.gearthblog.com/blog/archives/2009/02/post_3.html

2/2/2009 3:31:59 PM

cooooolllll - i just used the History tool to look at Centennial Campus from 1993-2009, and recorded it as a tour and included the voice recording. Just open this file up in G-Earth
http://joelion.com/googleearth/CentenialCampus_1994-2009.kmz

here's the World Trade Center, 1997-2006......
http://joelion.com/googleearth/WTC_1997-2006.kmz

[Edited on February 2, 2009 at 3:54 PM. Reason : wtc]

Here's Carter-Finley and the RBC center 1993-2009
http://joelion.com/googleearth/CarterFinley_1993-2009.kmz

[Edited on February 2, 2009 at 4:06 PM. Reason : .]

2/2/2009 3:46:47 PM

They just updated the drop-down menus in Gmail.

2/3/2009 4:31:58 PM

still wondering why video chat is only enabled in web-based chat and not google talk

2/3/2009 4:46:33 PM

Labeling works much slicker now ... the buttons/dropdowns are very nice.

^oh, and that.

[Edited on February 3, 2009 at 6:23 PM. Reason : .]

2/3/2009 6:22:57 PM

applying labels is much better now, but they are completely breaking the paradigm by adding a "move to" and a "labels" dropdown. The Move To dropdown actually removes a message and puts it in the label, as if the labels were a folder. But the "labels" dropdown just labels the message, like always.

they either need to use labels, or they need to use folders. They can even include nested labels, to make them more folder-like. But they cannot try to mix labels and folders. this will just confuse users and lead to unpredictable behavior. For example, i checked a message in my Inbox, and used "Move To" to move it to my "Family" label. It disappeared from my Inbox. Then I went to the Family label, and there it was (as expected). However, then I checked the message again, and clicked "Remove label 'Family'". Now it's removed from Family, gone from my Inbox, and only accessible through the All Mail option. Now, I "get" what is happening, but this kind of behavior and mixed metaphors (labels vs. folders) is breaking all sorts of usability rules.


--

well, they've confirmed that this is their intention.....
http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/new-ways-to-label-with-move-to-and-auto.html

Quote :

"One of the features that makes Gmail different is its use of labels instead of folders. Sure, labels can serve pretty much the same purpose -- they can help organize mail or flag messages for follow up. And unlike with folders, messages can have several labels, so if I get an email from a friend about a trip we're taking together, I can add both a "Friends" and a "Travel" label to it. But it's not always obvious how to use labels, especially for people who are new to Gmail and used to using folders, and it hasn't helped that some common tasks have been more complicated than they should be. For instance, to move an email out of your inbox and into a label you first had to apply the label using the "More actions" menu and then click "Archive." ..... Instead of having to first apply the label and then archive, you can just use the "Move to" button to label and archive in a single step -- just like you would with a folder. If you just want to add or remove a label, use the new "Labels" button. Auto-complete works, so for those of you with a lot of labels, you can select the one you want just by typing the first couple characters."

still seams like a bad idea

[Edited on February 3, 2009 at 9:21 PM. Reason : .]

2/3/2009 9:10:57 PM

haha...some idiot posted something about google "lattitude" spell check not working?

[Edited on February 4, 2009 at 9:30 PM. Reason : it was me ]

2/4/2009 9:30:04 PM

I don't see what the problem is with labeling

Quote :

"Instead of having to first apply the label and then archive, you can just use the "Move to" button to label and archive in a single step -- just like you would with a folder. If you just want to add or remove a label, use the new "Labels" button. Auto-complete works, so for those of you with a lot of labels, you can select the one you want just by typing the first couple characters.""

Makes perfect sense to me

Maybe the "Move to" name is a bit clunky, but nothing's really changed

2/4/2009 10:26:19 PM