Daily Bits

Priority Inbox Tips Straight from Google

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Have you used your Priority Inbox yet?  I shall write this post under the assumption that you activated the new Gmail feature the moment you saw that red notification in the upper right corner of your browser.  (I know I did!)

A little over a week since the Priority Inbox was launched, it seems to me that it is not generating a lot of excitement.  I jumped right into the water by activating the feature, and I am still using it.  Yeah, I guess my Inbox does look more manageable now, but somehow, I feel as if I were missing something.  Maybe I am. Maybe you are, too.

Well, the Google team shared five tips to make the most of the Priority Inbox in the Gmail Blog yesterday.  Let’s take a quick look – maybe these tips will fan the flames of enthusiasm again.

  1. Customize your sections. Did you know that you can further tweak the sections so that you will see exactly what you want to see in your Inbox?  You can add sections, indicate labels that you want to be shown, and even control the number of messages to be shown for each section.
  2. Train the system. Truth be told, I have been spending too much time on doing this.  I know I can train the system as I go along, but it’s just a lot of fun going through months’ worth of e-mails and labeling each as important or not.
  3. See the best of your filtered messages.  Okay, this one totally escaped me the first time.  Anyhow, you can override filters so that messages deemed important (but with filters) will still be shown in your Priority Inbox.
  4. Use filters to guarantee certain messages get marked important (or not). More on filters? If ALL the e-mails your boss sends you are important, then simply create a filter that will cause all e-mails from your boss’s address to be marked as important.
  5. Archive unimportant messages quickly.  Too many e-mails in the “Everything Else” section? Just click on the drop down menu and archive shown messages in one fell swoop.

So tell me, do you find any of these tips helpful?

Google Instant for Lazy Information Seekers

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If you’re anything like me, you use Google to search for practically everything.  More so, you probably conduct searches hundreds of times within the day (and that may not be an exaggeration either).  How often have you hit enter/return before you’ve actually completed your search query?  Embarrassingly, that happens quite a lot to me. The good news is that it seems I am not alone in this.

It seems that quite a lot of people encounter the same issue – otherwise, the guys at Google wouldn’t have bothered to come up with Google Instant.  No, it is not coffee.  It’s not even noodles that come in cups.  What Google Instant is: search on the fly.

Imagine typing out your search query, and as you type, Google predicts what you are looking for. The search results will actually come out as you key in your search terms. It’s pretty much like the predictive text input on mobile phones, but I suppose much better. Here’s visual sampling of what Google Instant can do for you.

Pretty neat, huh? Based on the post in the Official Google Blog, the guys had to make use of new technologies in order to make Google Instant work. Some of the highlights:

  1. new caching systems
  2. ability to adaptively control the rate at which results are displayed
  3. optimization of page-rendering JavaScript (this is so that various web browsers can deal with the system)

As with many other new features/products of Google, not everyone has access to Google Instant yet. The same blog post says that it will be available on Chrome, Firefox, Safari and IE 8. Also, users in countries such as France, Germany, Italy, Russia, Spain and the U.K. will get to experience Instant first. Other countries will have access in the following months.

PlayStation Move: Will It Replace the Wii?

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No one can deny just how much Nintendo has changed the face of the gaming landscape, thanks to the Wii. It was only a matter of time before other manufacturers developed something similar, and lo and behold, we are about to see Sony’s answer: the PlayStation Move. News about this game controller platform started circulating mid last year, but now, we have something more concrete.

This time next week, PlayStation Move will be released. Testers have already tried out the platform, and it seems that Sony just might beat Nintendo in terms of hardware. This is hardly surprising, as hardcore gamers have always looked down on the capabilities of the Nintendo Wii. The big drawback to PlayStation Move, however, is the lack of games that will entice people to line up for it on the first day of its arrival.

Hardware-wise, PlayStation Move is very responsive and easy to use. It makes use of the PlayStation Eye, which will serve as the sensor to detect your motions when you use the controller, which is eerily similar to the Wii-mote. For gamers who complain that you can excel in Wii Sports without much difficulty, you might enjoy the need for accuracy when playing Sports Champions on PlayStation Move. Based on reports, even a slight flick of your wrist will make a difference in the outcome of the game! (Needless to say, Sports Champions is much like Wii Sports – no surprise there.)

There isn’t much by way of other game titles as of now, but if anything, we know that Sony’s game consoles tend to start out as slow as a turtle. My bet is that Move will soon catch up. Who knows? It might even replace the Wii!

Photo credit: Product Reviews

New Google UK Doodle – What’s Up?

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Have you paid Google UK a visit today?  I suppose that if you’re not from that part of the world, there is no real reason for you to visit Google UK.  Indeed, if it weren’t for a “tip” from a friend, I wouldn’t have given Google UK a look today.

Anyhow, the Google Doodle, as you can see, is made of lots of little balls, which scatter all over the place when you hover your mouse over it.

That’s me trying to capture the dispersed balls before they go back to forming the word “Google” again.  Unfortunately, the balls keep beating me over and over again. So what is the reason behind this Doodle?

We know how Google periodically applies changes to the homepage logo to celebrate special events.  During the Olympics, the logo changed to reflect the various sports.  Occasionally, the Doodle is interactive – just like the Pac-Man Doodle released in May, which I think was the first interactive Google Doodle.  The rationale behind that Doodle was easily understood – Pac-Man’s 30th birthday.  The balls on Google UK today, though, no one seems to know what inspired them.

I am sure that we will hear something from Google pretty soon.  For now, we have to settle for conjectures and guesses that are floating around online.  If you’re interested, you can also watch the video below for more of the “balls show.”  I suggest just go to the Google UK web site and play with the balls yourself.  It gets old after a while. :-s

Happy 2nd Birthday, Google Chrome!

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Time does fly, doesn’t it?  Not that we spend our days counting just how “old” web browsers are, but one cannot help but notice the hoopla surrounding Google’s celebration of the second anniversary of Google Chrome.  I cannot remember the exact date that I heard about Chrome, but I clearly remember my excitement.  Two years later, I have to say that Chrome has lived up to my expectations. (Although I have to admit that I still use Firefox more.  Chrome is always ready, though, in case Firefox crashes.)

So anyway, if you happened to check the Google Chrome Blog yesterday, you’d know all about the new stuff they’ve done to Google Chrome – manifested in the latest version.  The new version is much faster and even more streamlined.  You thought that Chrome was the simplest of all browsers out there?  Think again!  The guys at Google worked extra hard to make this new Chrome simpler than ever!

Some of the changes are:

  • Two menus have been combined into one.
  • Buttons have been moved.
  • The URL box and Omnibox have been cleaned up.
  • JavaScript performance is three times faster than it was two years ago.

Well, I’ll stop rattling on about it – why don’t you download the newest Google Chrome (2nd birthday edition, if you will) yourself?

By the way, that image up there is by Mike Lemanski and was used in the official announcement in the Google Chrome Blog.  Isn’t it awesome?

Playboy Apple iPad App Doesn’t Cut It

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The Apple iPad is perhaps the coolest e-book reader-other-gadgets combined you can ever have. It is not a surprise that many vendors and publishers are jumping into the iPad app bandwagon – they can reach so many more people by doing so. And, even the most conservative sectors cannot deny or stop the fact that providers of adult content are going to be part of this boom.

When it comes to adult content, perhaps there is no other better known brand than Playboy. If you didn’t know already, though, the brand has been encountering problems due to its being outmaneuvered by competitors. Struggling it may be, it is not giving up.

It recently launched an app for the iPad, but to the disappointment of users, it didn’t deliver. It may not be all Playboy’s fault – Apple has a strict policy when it comes to content for its apps. Indeed, content which Apple considers “obscene, pornographic, offensive or defamatory” is banned from the App Store. By definition, Playboy already gets x marks.

The result is predictable: users are frustrated about the whole set up. They have to pay $4.99 for the iPad app, and they want more than “articles.” (Yeah, for those countless individuals who have repeatedly said that they buy Playboy for the articles, where are you now?) I suppose that if the app were free, or at least priced more reasonably, the complaints would not be as bad.

Bottom line: it does not look like Apple will change its policy anytime soon. Maybe Playboy ought to take a look at its strategy – that is, if it wants to stay afloat.

Guys: would you pay $5 for this app?