FTI: Gmail As Task Management
Adding a task management list is definitely one of the most requested feature of Google Mail.
Up till now, users have had to resort to workarounds like emailing themselves with “+notes” attached to the end of their user name, setting filters and labels, or using third party applications like Remember the Milk for task management integration. Thus, the introduction of a “Tasks” in Gmail Labs is a much awaited news for many.
However, its worth a note that the new lab feature is far from a full featured task management service, YET. As quoted from the Official Gmail Blog its a
“lightweight way to keep track of what you need to do, right from within Gmail.”
Therefore, it would probably be more suitable for people with simpler task management needs. I am sure that, by the time its fully released from labs, it would be featuring more functions like sync options or integration with Google Calendar. With that said, I must add that Tasks in Gmail is still in development and has no guaranteed release. However, I am quite sure that this feature has a high chance of reaching release status due to its popularity. For now, if there is any feature you think may improve the service, users can suggest it at Gmail’s Task listing in Google Groups.
One of the features of this new lab feature is the conversion of email to tasks: select one or more messages and go to “More Actions” and then “Add to Tasks” (Or turn on keyboard shortcuts and use + t). The interface feels a lot like Gmail’s Chat feature, allowing you to “pop-in” or “pop-out” when needed.
Check out the Official Gmail Blog for screen-shots, or try it out by enabling “Tasks” in the “Labs” tab of the “Settings” page in Gmail.
[via Official Gmail Blog]
FTI: Google Reader interface update
Google Reader Minimalist Interface
The change in interface at Google Reader came as a shock unlike the WordPress upgrade. Unlike the hype that has been built around the new wordpress interface among developers, the Google Reader interface change was somewhat a quite affair.
The new look, like WordPress 2.7, focuses on a much more cleaner and minimalistic look, and in doing so, ” make Reader act and feel more speedy and responsive”. The navigation is now customizable, taking on igoogle’s widget like behavior, allowing the user to minimize it to take up less space. Moreover, navigation is also now separated into three “widget like sections: “All items”, Friends’ shared items” and “Subscriptions”.
For those of us who subscribe to news feeds and thus have unread counts which can rocket to 1000+ just after a day, it is now possible to turn off the unread count. This is really great as I am sure it would cause less stress not to know the number of unread entries… As for me, I think that disabling unread count would prevent me from going into a fit every time I come back to my computer and Google Reader after a few days’ (and sometimes up to 10 days) hiatus from civilization and internet..
Another change which is none-interface related is the creation of RSS “bundles” which users can subscribe to. According to the Google Reader blog:
“…. Feed bundles are small sets of feeds related to a topic that you can subscribe to all at once. Historically, these were done “by hand” by the Reader team, but this just wasn’t working out. So we’ve written a program to make “bundles” for us – no more manual editing of bundles, and a much richer and interesting set of subscriptions for you to choose from….”
However, I really wonder how the program does the selection. Maybe it selects based on the number of subscriptions are maybe the PR of the feed? It’s really hard to guess.
Anyway, though the interface change definitely made the Reader easier to read, one point I felt that they should have done is to put the “Refresh” button from the subscription list back to its original prominent place rather than the current location which is in the Subscriptions options menu.
However, as with the WordPress upgrade,I am sure this layout may not go down to well with some people. I wonder if Google Reader will suffer a backlash similar to what iGoogle experience when Google implemented the canvas interface for iGoogle…
Overall, in my personl view, I think that both Google Reader and WordPress Teams have taken a step in the right direction in this update.
FTI: WordPress.com interface update
Screenshot of different WordPress Versions
Since there was an announcement 2 days ago regarding upgrade of WordPress.com blogs, there was a feeling of anticipation when I logged in to try a live roll-out of the new interface.
As with the previous major 2.5 release of WordPress, WordPress.com has rolled out the new interface before the WordPress.org release after the software. Prior to this, developers were able to run the beta release from WordPress.org.
The new layout is definitely cleaner and more pleasing to the eye. Color contrast between the background and the navigation text, something which I didn’t like in the previous layout, has thankfully been improved.
The dashboard is now customizable, with the ability to re-arrange the dashboard modules as well as hide them. The navigation is also collapsible, allowing the blogger to increase screen space when blogging.
What struck me at the dashboard was the QuickPress feature and the Recent Drafts module. Probably due to the manner which I blog, just this 2 features have already saved me quite a few clicks. That’s a god-send especially when I on most days, I am in a location (I can’t say where!) which has mutiple proxies and slower internet connections.
Another long-awaited addition worth mentioning is a file-uploader which can now be found under the “media” section. Previously, I had to go to “create a new post” in order to upload files to places like the sidebar. Having the uploader in the “media” section would save the hassle.
Its also worth mentioning that in this current iteration of wordpress, the development team has added quite a few “quick editing” features. Besides the aforementioned QuickPress feature on the dashboard, the post pages also inherited the ability to quickly edit post tags, time-stamp etc. Quite a nifty feature especially if you want to add a new tag and don’t want to load the full editor just to do it…
Other than the interface, the speed at which the admin interface loads caught my attention. The time taken for the dashboard to load definitely feels alot faster. Although I can’t back it up with real statistics here, I am quite certain on that.
Anyway, I am sure there are still many under-the-hood improvements which I haven’t seen, but I can safely say that the day-to-day blogging experience has been improved in my personal opinion. However, the changes may not have gone down well with everyone. Looking through the announcement thread, you can see a couple of people voicing their displeasure. I can only echo Matt in saying that we should give the new interface a few days and see how it goes.
As for me, I am satisfied with the improvements with the current WordPress. Thanks to the WordPress Team and Matt!
Now its just a wait for the WordPress.org version to be released so that I can continue with my web developments.
FTI: WordPress and Google Reader updates their interface
In a blink of an eye on Thursday Night, two major services which I used, underwent interface changes. The two services are: WordPress.com and Google Reader.
I took about a day (Friday) to re-orientate (for wordpress) and try out the newly designed services.
In the following 2 posts on this blog, I will be giving my personal opinion on the two updates.
FTI: Tame your email
Everyone who has been surfing the web for a while would most definitely have amassed a sizable amount of accounts across many websites. Many websites nowadays require you to “sign up to enjoy the full benefits” of the website.
After a while, it may actually be difficult to sort through all those newsletters that this sites tend to send. However, a relatively new service called OtherInbox may be able to solve this problem.
From their website:
“OtherInbox is the cure for email overload – it provides consumers with a free email account that automatically organizes newsletters, social networking updates, coupons and receipts from online purchases so that its easy to find the most interesting things and ignore the rest.”
It is quite an interesting concept as signing up for an account seems like creating your own sub-domain which you can have virtually unlimited email addresses. For example, if your user name is user, then you can have:
- facebook@user.otherinbox.com for your facebook account,
- youtube@user.otherinbox.com for your youtube account
- etc.
It can be argued that current email services like Google Mail have filters which can used to the same effect, it will be interesting to see how a service dedicated to such sorting would go down in the long run.
In my personal opinion, after creating my account there and using it for a while, I feel that this service really has lots of potential, especially as a first line of defense against rogue websites. One benefit of giving out different addresses to different websites that I can think of is: If you start receiving spam at a particular addresses, you can now narrow it down to which website may have leaked your information.
It has definitely earned a place in my personal list of online services to look forward to…
I.N: Microsoft and Google.. updates on services.
Google and Microsoft has been pushing constantly into the domains of one another. Microsoft has been playing the catch up game with Google’s online services while Google is trying to use its online services to encroach into Microsoft’s desktop territory. It is an unspoken competition for users.
I.N. this week
FTI: PDF Newsletters of your feeds
There is a interesting service from Hewlett-Packard which emails you printable PDF Newsletter of the feeds you select. Aptly named Tabbloid, it turns your favorite feeds into a personal magazine.
The service, lets you add the feeds you want and specify the delivery frequency. Your feeds will be sent to your inbox formatted like a magazine.
The service is really useful if there are some subscriptions which you would prefer to read in hard-copy rather than on screen, or just feels more comfortable reading articles in a newspaper layout.
On a side note, it is a good way to receive feed updates in a familiar avenue if you have limited subscriptions which doesn’t justify the use of a full fledged feed reader.
I am sure pictures are worth a thousand words, so here’s a screenshot of a PDF containing the more popular tabbloid subscriptions:
Screenshot of a PDF containing the more popular subscriptions
Link:
