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TechCrunch is hearing some interesting talk about a true Google Phone. By true Google Phone I don’t just mean another Android device, but a phone designed end-to-end by Google to fulfill their dream of exactly what Android can be.

Of course there have been rumors like this before, but this time there are a few distinct elements that seem credible. This all comes from Michael Arrington’s sources—his article is a bit vague, but points to an outsider-made but Google-dictated device, sort of like how Microsoft’s first Zune was actually made by Toshiba. In the case of the Google Phone there are a couple options for the possible manufacturer. The obvious choice is HTC (PLEASE let it be HTC and PLEASE let it be a slider!) who’s been the major hardware manufacturer of Android devices. However, TechCrunch hears that the source of the hardware will be Korean, not Taiwanese. So we’re probably looking at either Samsung or LG.

Samsung has a long-standing relationship with Apple, supplying tons of parts for the iPhone. Apple may not smile on Samsung for helping create the “iPhone Killer” and may in fact be ramping up to make the next iteration of the iPhone so it’s more likely that LG would step up to the plate and develop this device. LG’s no stranger to Android but has been a minor player up to this point—maybe they’ve been working on this mysterious Google Phone in the meantime, which is supposedly aiming for an early 2010 release.

Via TechCrunch

Ok so Google services rawk, the problem is their are so many of them and it’s a bit…. spread all over. Google Dashboard is a new service that shows a summary of the data stored with a Google account. You’ll soon find a link to Google Dashboard in the “personal settings” of the “my account” page. This is handy if you use a bunch of Google services like GMail, maps, docs, etc.

The dashboard lists some of the information associated with the Google services you use: your name, your email address, the number of contacts, the number of conversations in your Gmail inbox, your Google profile, the most recent entries from the web history etc. It’s a long answer to the question: “What does Google know about me?”.

Gmail Notifier Plus rests in the new Windows 7 taskbar and allows you to easily access several components of Gmail quickly. The app uses Gmail’s secured RSS feed to retrieve mail. The notifier has two major features that make it a good implementation into the new taskbar.

Login screen lets you set how often to check for new messages

Jumplist Access:

Right clicking on the Gmail Notifier Plus icon will bring up a jumplist that lists your most recent unread messages. A counter is shown at the top but the jumplist only allows for 10 maximum titles to be displayed. Below are some common tasks that increase productivity.

Message Preview:

Probably the coolest feature of the notifier is that if you hover your cursor over the icon, it will activate thumbnail previews that show an excerpt of your unread mail. The app makes great use of the thumbnail feature to display other alerts as well.

Note that the application is only at version 1.0, and may contain some bugs. Providing feedback will probably help the programmer to improve on the app.

The Gmail Notifier plus was created by daty2k1. You can download it from the Neowin forums here. (Requires registration)

Here’s an alternate mirror link you can use to download as well:
Gmail Notifier Plus Alternate Mirror Download

Yes, I’ll admit it… I *heart* GMail and FireFox; I use them everyday. I wish that GMail didn’t take up a full blown tab in FireFox tho (especially when on the netbook where screen real estate is precious!) You can permanently affix the Gmail (and Reader) tab in your tab bar, reduce it to show the tab favicon only, and display the number of unread items in each using a collection of Firefox add-ons (of course you can… that’s why we LOVE FireFox). See what it looks like in the image above: the Gmail and Reader tabs are on the far left, icon-only, with unread item counts–19 unread messages and 1k+ unread items (yikes!)–on the icons themselves.

To reproduce this setup in your own copy of Firefox, you’ll need four Firefox add-ons which Gina Trapani has put all together in a single collection. Install all the add-ons in the Icon-Only Perma-Tabs for Gmail and Google Reader collection. Restart Firefox.

Then, in Better Gmail 2, make sure “Unread Message Count in Favicon” is checked. In Better GReader, make sure “Show Unread Count in Favicon” is checked. Open Gmail and Google Reader in new tabs. Right-click on those tabs, and choose “Faviconize tab.” Then, to make them permanent (i.e., open automatically every time you launch Firefox), right-click again and choose “Permatabs->Permanent Tab.” Once you’re done, whenever you launch Firefox or even hit “Close All Tabs,” your icon-only perma-tabs containing Gmail and GReader will persist.

THANX GINA!