Thursday, June 30, 2011

10 Gmail Gadgets you Might Want to try it

There is a powerful but little known Gmail feature that lives in Labs called “Add any gadget by URL.” Once you turn it on, you can add iGoogle gadgets (or any gadget specified by an .xml file) to the side of your Gmail account. While most of these gadgets are built by third-parties and not owned or maintained by Google, they can be super handy.


To install any of these gadgets, follow those steps:
1) From your Gmail account, go to the Labs tab of Gmail Settings.
2) Look for the Lab “Add any gadget by URL.” Enable it, then click “Save changes.”
3) Go to the new “Gadgets” tab under “Settings” and add the relevant .xml address.



Here’s a list of a ten I’ve found worth trying out:


Wikipedia
Look for a specific query right from Gmail.
http://www.google.com/ig/modules/wikipedia.xml


Google Calculator
Make some quick calculations while typing an email.
http://calebegg.com/calc.xml


Note
Add a sticky note to the corner of your Gmail account.
http://www.google.com/ig/modules/sticky.xml


Remember the Milk
If you’re a fan of this task management system, accessing all your “Remember the milk” notes from right within Gmail can be super handy.
http://www.rememberthemilk.com/services/modules/gmail/rtm.xml


PolyClock
Gives you the time of day for any place in the world.
http://gad.getpla.net/poly/clock.xml


Currency Converter
A real time currency converter.
http://helloworld123---.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/currency-converter.xml


bit.ly URL shortener
Lets you shorten URLs in a single click.
http://hosting.gmodules.com/ig/gadgets/file/107368512201818821991/bitly-shortener.xml


Chuck Norris fact generator 
Displays a different “Chuck Norris fact” every day of the year.http://marsupialmusic.net/stu/scripts/chucknorris.xml


Finally, you might be familiar with the last two gadgets, since they are also available as individual Gmail Labs:

Google Calendar
Displays your Google Calendar agenda right from Gmail.
http://www.google.com/ig/modules/calendar.xml


Google Docs
Gives you quick access to your most recent documents.
www.google.com/ig/modules/docs.xml


You can find lots of other gadgets optimized for iGoogle on this page, and many of them work well in Gmail, too.

Google Calendar's Design Refresh

After Google Search and Google Maps, it's time for Google Calendar to switch to a Google+ interface. The new design is a lot cleaner, even if no important feature was removed. "Quick add" is now available if you click the arrow next to the "Create button" (not very intuitive), "Print" and "Refresh" are now buttons instead of links, the month view below the "Create" button can be collapsed, "Save" and "Discard" buttons are only displayed at the top of the page.



"Right now, the changes are just cosmetic and have not affected the way Calendar works. You can choose to turn off the new look by clicking the gear icon and choosingUse the classic look (you can turn it back on by going to the gear icon and choosing Try the new look)," explains Google. Obviously, at some point, Google Calendar will integrate with Google+ and we'll see even more changes.

The New "What do you love?" From Google

What do you love?, is a new service from Google to search the things you love, and google would show you results from many different Google services like YouTube, Google News and Blogger, All in one page.  Like if you searched for the word Khogali you'll find many results from many services like Picasa and Blogger.
Here's some screen shots :

Home Page

Some Search Results

Automatic mobile rendering for Google Sites

As the dramatic growth of the mobile web changes the way people consume content, it’s becoming increasingly important for publishers to provide a good mobile experience. With this in mind, Google just added automatic mobile rendering in Google Sites for iOS 3.0+ and Android 2.2+ devices, and a mobile version of the Google 
Sites lists.
By going to General settings under More actions > Manage site and clicking on Automatically adjust site for mobile phones, your Google site will be automatically adjusted whenever it’s viewed from an iOS or Android 2.2+ device:


BeforeAfter


After you’ve enabled this feature, you can preview the page from your computer as a mobile viewer using More actions > Preview as viewer then select Mobile from the yellow Preview page as viewer (Mobile | Desktop) box at the top of the page.
You can also choose to hide some of the links in your site’s footer to save vertical space.


It’s also important for you to be able to access and search your own sites on the go, which is why we’ve also added mobile versions of the site list, sites search, and browse sites categories.


Just navigate to http://sites.google.com from any iOS 3.0+ or Android 2.2+ device for quick access to your sites.

As more people unplug from their desks and interact with content on the go, new doors are opening for everyone.


A New Interface for Google Search Results Pages

The latest design updated not just in the home page, but also in search results. Google uses a new color scheme for the sidebar, adds grayscale icons next to the specialized search engines, replaces the standard search button with a label-less blue button, uses a smaller Google logo and adds a gray background color to the header.


Google says it has "muted the color of the tools and reserved the use of bolder colors to highlight key action buttons, tools and filters". Unfortunately, the change made the sidebar icons less useful and the search box too prominent. The new header could pave the way to a search results page that uses "infinite scrolling" instead of pagination.

Here's the old interface:


Can you find other changes?


Monday, June 20, 2011

Google's Gay Rainbow

It's not the first June when Google changes the search results interface when you search for [gay] and other related terms. While in 2009 and 2010 Google added a colorful bar below the search box, this year there's a rainbow next to the search box.

June is the "Gay and Lesbian Pride Month" and there are many pride parades all over the world. Last year, Google's blog included an article about gay parades and the Google employees who participated.

"Google supports its LGBT employees in many ways: raising its voice in matters of policy, taking a moment to remember the plight of transgender people around the world and going the extra mile to ensure that its employees are treated fairly."

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Know when your bus is late with live transit updates in Google Maps

Often when I’m taking public transit, I arrive at my stop on time only to anxiously check my watch and look down the street for my bus, which is running late once again. Those extra minutes I’m forced to wait seem like an eternity, and the only information I can access on my phone is when the bus was supposed to arrive.
Starting now, Google Maps for mobile and desktop can tell you when your ride is actuallygoing to arrive with new live transit updates. Google partnered with transit agencies to integrate live transit data in four U.S. cities and two European cities: Boston, Portland, Ore., San Diego, San Francisco, Madrid and Turin.




When you click on a transit station or plan a transit route with Google Maps and there are delays or alerts related to your trip, you’ll now see “live departure times” (indicated with a special icon) and service alerts.

Live service alerts when receiving transit directions
Live departures and alerts on desktop