GMail’s Priority Inbox
So … did Google just buy GTriage or what?
Because it’s too much of a coincidence to just be a “coincidence.” Y’know?
Archive for the ‘Google’Category
Gtriage – Your Inbox Can be Tamed
The Problem: E-mail Overload
The Solution: That depends …
Finding too many new messages in our in-boxes is a stubborn, universal problem for lawyers: an occupational hazard if you will. I’ve examined various solutions to this problem, including as Outlook plug-ins ClearContext and Xobni, but was never satisfied with their performance.
Take ClearContext for example. It produces excellent coordination between contacts, attachments, tasks, and appointments, but requires way too much work. Basically for CC to work well, the user must do all the classification and draw the connections. By the time I’m done advising the program of what’s important, I’m already exhausted.
Xobni on the other hand, magically organizes e-mail and attachments by contact without the need for any input at all. It really is impressive at showing you who is who, and the history of your communication with them; but it cannot help me make sense of the 100+ new messages I get every day. And without visual clues as to what is worth reading I can’t even find the important messages, much less put them in context.
Finally, these applications and others like them are designed exclusively for use with Outlook; a notorious memory hog that can single-handedly slow down and crash my system. No thank you.
Then I read about Gtriage in a FriendFeed post a few months ago. Gtriage works with Gmail or Google Apps to identify important messages and give you visual cues with which to find them. Just sign up and within minutes Gtriage learns your e-mail habits, applies its machine-learning algorithms, then identifies and labels messages so you know which ones to attack first. Amount of work required on the user’s end: none. That’s more like it.
Gtriage takes less than 3 minutes to set up. Since it learns automatically there is nothing to do or worry about once you have signed up; but if you are the creative type you might want to see how it can be combined with Gmail plug-ins like Multiple Inboxes for spectacular results (see this example).
Special Offer for Practicehackers: At the moment Gtriage remains in invitation-only beta, but Unblab was good enough to provide the invite code for 10 new accounts. Simply go to http://gtriage.com and be one fo the first 10 readers to sign up using practicehacker as your invite code.
Let me know what you think of Gtriage by posting your feedback, compliments, or hacks right here on Practicehacker.com, send your thoughts by e-mail to mhedayat@mha-law.com, join our Friendfeed Group, or sound off on Twitter.
Posted via email from practice (redux)
21
07 2010
Google AppEngine for Business
This weekend I revisited the Google AppEngine – a project that has kicked around Google for some time but was heretofore confined to the company’s developer sandbox. But now Google has brought the AppEngine front and center, aiming it squarely at small businesses and setting off the latest salvo in the saga of Google v. Everyone (in this case, Google v. Microsoft and its entourage of high-priced application builders). I think it’s particularly cool that the Guardian, a British newspaper, has written about its own use of the AppEngine and development of its suit of company-specific, task-oriented apps or “Micro Apps” as they call it. Take a look and let me know what you think.
- M. Hedayat, Hacker in Chief
Today we’re launching a brand new product and framework called MicroApps which the diagram above describes. However, just as Google dogfoods its new products before launch, so do we, and we wanted to share some of the things we’ve been building as MicroApps using Google AppEngine for the storage and application development part. With 36 million unique and very engaged readers, everything we make has to scale, which is why AppEngine is ideal. With it’s highly scalable architecture and features such as task queues, built for creating loosely coupled apps, and memcache, AppEngine makes an excellent companion platform for MicroApps in which the apps can run anywhere in the cloud. The examples presented here range from new ways to find content which others are finding exciting or interesting, to live responses to the TV debates to ways to bring together all of the tweets of our journalists on specific subjects. <<Read the Full Article>>
23
05 2010
Google Apps + Sex Appeal = Gpanion
From this piece in lifehacker.com comes some practical advice for those of us who use Google Apps in the office:
If your first stop after opening up your web browser is to load up various Google Apps, Gpanion is a sleek dashboard interface for all your favorites. Gpanion is a simple icon-based interface for easily loading your favorite Google Apps. The dashboard displays 14 applications out of 44 at a time. You can customize the layout so your most frequently used applications are shown prominently on the first page with less frequently used items tucked away down on the bottom row or second page. To save your configuration just sign in with Google.
If you’d prefer not to share any information with Gpanion, you can still use the site minus the customization. The links just pass you through to the actual Google services. The default setting puts Gmail, Gcal, Greader, Picasa Web, YouTube, and other Google-powered destinations at the forefront.
Have a favorite tool for getting more out of your browsing experience? Let’s hear about it in the comments.
Gpanion [via Download Squad] via
21
05 2010
Socialwok (allegedly) adds collaboration to Outlook
- Image via CrunchBase
Socialwok is a free add-on for Google Apps that you can pick up at the Google Apps Marketplace.
I installed it a month ago but have never really been able to connect people in my office using this app. I know it’s working, but it still does not really seem to be adding much interaction. I’ll keep trying and let you know if it truly does the job. In the meantime, here’s a video about using Socialwok with Outlook. Enjoy.
Posted via web from practice (redux)
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21
05 2010
Pwned! Google just bought your future!
"We Didn't See This One Coming"
While the Precogs could not be reached for comment, according to this story on TheNextWeb Google has acquired Recorded Future – a company that, yes, predicts the future. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
04
05 2010
Google TV to be Unveiled Next Month
According to The Wall Street Journal, Google will unveil the Android-based television platform at its annual developer event in San Francisco on May 19 and 20. Hardware partners, including Sony, Intel and Logitech, have already announced plans to release products on the Google TV platform. Consumer electronics giant Samsung also recently confirmed that it’s considering the platform as well — an interesting move considering Samsung already has its own app store for Internet-connected TVs. Google has extended significant tendrils into the television space lately, both with the Google TV project and with a television search initiative with Dish Network. In some ways it’s a logical “third screen” move now that the internet company has established itself as a significant player in the mobile space.
30
04 2010
Google Street View Now Highlights Local Businesses
Google Street View currently only highlights top listings for the immediate area; but the company plans to extend this coverage. Google also plans to incorporate transit locations into this feature.
Bonus Tip: Street View in 3D
Earlier this month, we noticed that Google still offered the 3D version of Street View it announced on April Fool’s day. To see this, just right-click on any Street View image and select “3D mode on.” Google is clearly working hard on highlighting local businesses across its properties. Google Maps already shows the names of local businesses once you zoom in close enough and last week, Google announced Google Places, a new version of its Local Business Center, which allows local retailers and restaurants to claim and update their own listings. In addition, Google is also taking pictures of the in and outside of local businesses around the U.S.
