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Colored Labels in Gmail Changed My Inbox
My volume of email has drastically increased in the past several months, and Gmail’s been by my side throughout. The most useful feature I love is colored labels.
I’m on several high-traffic email lists, and so I have more than 100 new conversations in my inbox every day. I automatically archive the vast majority using filters, and then have Gmail apply labels to almost every message – newsletters, discussion groups, bills, job search, etc. That’s always been a useful feature, but colored labels take that functionality to a new level.
Color labels allow me to keep important messages in my inbox, making it easy to scan my messages and find what I’m looking for. I don’t have to read each line of text; I just find the color I know I applied. The image above is a snippet of my inbox to give you an idea of how I use it.
Intrigued? Thought so. I’ll let the Gmail blog teach you how to do this for yourself:
To set up a filter with a colored label, simply click the “Create a filter” link next to the search box. Add senders or certain words you want to keep a better eye on, click next, and assign a label by checking “apply the label” and choosing an appropriate one. Then just pick a label color by clicking the color swatch next to the label title in the left-hand navigation menu. Give colored labels with filters a try and see if it changes the way you read your inbox too.
Jul 7, 10:07 PM / Comment [48]
"Trollop" will be in Google's Top 10 Hot Trends Tomorrow
I twittered this but I feel pretty confident about this prediction, so I’ll elaborate.
Today the first snippets of the illustrious Cliff Schecter’s new book, The Real McCain, came out on the web. Boy is it a doozy.
At one point, Cindy playfully twirled McCain’s hair and said, “You’re getting a little thin up there.” McCain’s face reddened, and he responded, “At least I don’t plaster on the makeup like a trollop, you c—t.”
The latter accusation is easily understood, but the former is a word that was probably last used in a speakeasy.
In case you were wondering what a trollop is:
a vulgar or disreputable woman; especially one who engages in sex promiscuously or for money (Date: 1621)
I had to Google it to find the definition. I’m betting we’ll see it somewhere in the Hot Trends on Google tomorrow, if not in the top 10. The book is already #238 on Amazon, and it started at #150,000 this morning.
Now, to figure out how to work in “trollop” to a conversation tomorrow…
Apr 7, 10:17 PM / Comment [1]
Google Docs took Valentine's Day way too far
Google Docs adapted their web layout to be all pink and heart-y and cute for Valentine’s Day. It makes me want to vomit. Next time, just do a cute logo and call it a day. Srsly.
I Called It! Google Docs Sidebar
In September 07 – about four months ago – I wrote a post lamenting the lack of a good way to access Google documents from my desktop environment. I use Google Docs daily, and want to access the files as easily as I can browse my harddrive.
I proposed the Google Docs Sidebar – a Firefox Extension that uses the native browser sidebar to load in a user’s Google documents.
Well, ask and you shall receive. Introducing gDocsBar, a firefox extension that loads your Google documents into your sidebar.
It’s pretty much all I need, but it is a tad bloated and buggy. I notice a slight slowdown in my already out-of-control Firefox activity and memory. There’s also a weird bug for me that when you log in, you have to collapse and then re-expand the sidebar in order to see all the documents, otherwise it just keeps loading nothing.
For me, I can put up with those annoyances for the way-easy access to my Google Docs. I give this extension a 7/10.
I was trying to find Rudy Giuliani’s website, so I googled “rudy”. Giuliani’s website is the #2 result, behind the IMDB article for the 1993 movie about the Notre Dame benchsitter. But the AdWords results were interesting.
John McCain is the #1 bidder for “rudy,” directing people to an email sign-up page that unfortunately doesn’t capitalize on the specific keyword. A side-by-side comparison of the candidates would be much more effective, and would bring in more people than a single email field and a donate button.
Rudy Giuliani has a lot of ground to gain in the search engine game.
Fantasy Firefox: Google Docs Sidebar
I’m continuing to adopt Google Docs as my default word processing application, and consequently, I more frequently need access to my documents. Right now, I have to click on the dox icon in my Firefox toolbar to access a list of my documents.
What I propose is a Firefox extension that takes advantage of the browser’s native sidebar, which del.icio.us appropriated for its extension to make a user’s bookmarks readily available with a keystroke or button click. The image to the left is my quick-and-dirty Photoshop vision of the proposed extension.
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Google Launches ‘The Google’ For Older Adults
Someone at Microsoft got a little testy today, issuing a 10-point criticism of Google’s online application suite. The unnamed Microsoft spokesperson who first sent the list makes some valid points about the capabilities of Google’s documents and spreadsheets applications—it’s a good read.
Tomorrow morning I fly to Boston to move my brother out of his fifth-floor walk-up apartment. I don’t expect to post here until after Labor Day. I can’t remember the last time I traveled this much in a month. Chicago, New York City, and now Boston—I just want to sleep!
For travelers out there: I recommend trying out Google Mobile’s flight status checker. Just text the airline and the flight number (e.g., ua 14). and you get back the flight’s time, status, and even gate number.
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