The gang at Google just continues to impress. As if GMail didn’t rock you like a hurricane already it now supports viewing PDF’s in your Web browser. Anybody who knows me knows that I HATE HATE HATE PDF’s. The documents are rediculously heavy and require an application to load. GMail’s “in-browser” PDF viewer is uber fast, includes a search feature, lets you download or print the PDF, zoom in and out, as well as quick paging via next/previous arrows.
Google Friend Connect – adding social features to your site
Google Friend Connect means more people engaging more deeply with your website — and with each other. It’s features:
- Enrich your site: Choose engaging social features from a catalog of gadgets by Google and the OpenSocial developer community.
- Attract more visitors: Your users can easily invite friends from social networks and contact lists to visit and join your site.
- No programming whatsoever: Just copy and paste a few snippets of code into your site, and Friend Connect does the rest.
With Google Friend Connect, visitors to your site or blog can:
- Sign in with their Google, Yahoo, AIM or OpenID account.
- Interact with other visitors by making friends, sharing media, posting comments, playing games, and more.
- Invite friends from other social networks and contact lists to join your site or blog.
Watch a video introduction:
GMail officially gets themes
Gmail fans have been building unofficial extensions to spice up their inboxes for a while, but up til now themes haven’t been an integral part of Gmail. We wanted to go beyond simple color customization, so out of the 30 odd themes we’re launching today, there’s a shiny theme with chrome styling, another one that turns your inbox into a retro notepad, nature themes that change scenery over time, weather driven themes that can rain on your mailbox, and fun characters to keep you in good company. There’s even an old school ascii theme (Terminal) which was the result of a bet between two engineers — it’s not exactly practical, but it’s great for testing out your geek cred. We’ve also done a minor facelift to Gmail’s default look to make it crisper and cleaner — you might notice a few colors and pixels shifted around here and there.
Note that so far this has not shown up on the Google Apps version GMail. Bummer…
Original GMail blog post here.
Gmail SMS pulled and delayed
Bummer. If you were raring to play around with the new send-to-SMS chat feature in Gmail Labs, you’ll have to wait a little longer.
On Friday, one of Gmail’s product managers, Leo Dirac, posted on the official Gmail blog that a last-minute glitch has resulted in the feature being pulled back for further testing. The glitch, which Dirac says should take about two weeks to fix, would keep the two-way communication feature from turning on all the way, keeping replies from making it back to you.
When the process is working properly you’re able to send SMS contacts a message just like you would if they were online. The system would also keep their responses in the same chat window, making it a simple resource for staying in touch even when you or your contacts are not online at the same time.
GMail’s Pile of Shit
Ok so don’t read to much into that title. I’m in love with GMail. No really, I LOVES IT. They seem to be cranking out new features regularly (comeon guys fix up the contacts section tho!) like Mail Goggles and Canned Response. Recently released is emoticons for your email (ya… I could have done without that but what the heck people love that stuff). I dunno if anybody noticed, but one of the emoticons is a pile of shit circled by flies!
Pretty funny.