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Twitter's new DM feature puts a chat box in the browser
Twitter may look different the next time you visit its website on a PC. The social network has started rolling out a docked Direct Messaging box that sits right on top of your timeline, similar to Facebook’s or LinkedIn’s. It makes communicating via Twitter’s DMs feel more like typing into an instant messaging chatbox and eliminates the need to jump back and forth between your timeline and your private conversations. Based on a previous report by Jane Manchun Wong, who’s known for excavating apps to look for hidden features, Twitter has been testing the feature since April at the very least.
Former Gmail designer builds Chrome extension to declutter your inbox
Despite Google's attempts to improve Gmail, the web version remains hectic and cluttered. While that might be frustrating to users, it's especially irritating for Michael Leggett, one of Gmail's former lead designers. Finally fed up, Leggett launched Simplify, a free Chrome extension meant to streamline your inbox.
Gmail continues to define email 15 years on
Today is April 1st, a day for pranks and corny jokes. One of the biggest culprits is Google, which comes up with a hoax every year (remember YouTube SnoopaVision or Google Play for Pets?). But on April 1st, 2004, Google debuted a product that was decidedly not a joke: Gmail. It was a service that revolutionized web mail, so much so that it has become an integral part of our daily lives.
Google will shut down its Inbox app on April 2nd
Google+ isn't the only Mountain View property that's getting the axe on April 2nd. Apparently, the Inbox app is also bidding its users farewell on the same day. The tech giant first revealed that it's going to discontinue its smarter take on email late last year, but it didn't say when specifically. Now, Google has started notifying users that Inbox will be going away in 15 days (from March 18th) through a screen that pops up when they fire up the app.
Gmail may add Inbox-style reminders and pins
Google has assuaged Inbox fans by incorporating some of the defunct app's features into Gmail, but some of the best additions might still be on the horizon. Reddit user moodio shared an apparent leak showing a test version of Gmail for Android with reminders, pinned messages and category bundles (which help you deal with multiple messages at once). You might even see a quick "mark all as read" button so that you don't have to methodically select every message.
Google’s success story has a few forgettable chapters
In its 20-year history, Google has given, and Google has taken away. Companies of its size often dabble with new projects to see if the public will take them to their hearts. Sadly, for every Gmail and Maps, there are ten projects that felt the swing of the Mountain View ax. Sometimes these doomed projects have outlived their usefulness, didn't catch on with the public, or just didn't work as they should have. But while everyone celebrates Google's long life, let's spare a moment to remember the ones that didn't make it this far, and what happened next.
Google is discontinuing Inbox
Google launched Inbox in 2014 as a sort of incubator for new approaches to email, but it hasn't been quite so novel in the wake of steady Gmail upgrades, including April's big redesign. Appropriately, the company is sunsetting Inbox at the end of March 2019. The company wants a "more focused approach" to email, according to product manager Matthew Izatt, and that clearly leaves Gmail as the lone survivor.
Google Inbox will remind you to unsubscribe from unread promo emails
Google has made email a much less tedious, junky affair for a lot of us, and it's about to take another step to helping us clean out our inboxes. According to a report over at Android Police, users of Google's Inbox app will start seeing new tips that will prompt them to unsubscribe from any promotional emails that haven't been opened in a month.
Google is reportedly testing a long overdue UI update for Calendar
Google Calendar might finally be getting a much needed update. The Next Web is reporting that some users' Calendars have a whole new user interface that's seemingly based on Google's Material Design language. Some of those with access to the redesigned desktop version have been posting to Reddit, providing screenshots of the UI and information about its functionality.
Google’s impersonal-but-handy Smart Replies come to the Gmail app
Google's "instant reply" technology, that can already be found in Inbox and Allo, is coming to the Gmail app for iOS and Android. If you've never used instant reply before, Google uses its machine learning smarts to analyze the contents of your messages to suggest quick replies. You then just tap and insert your chosen reply into a new email, hit send and call it a day.
AOL's Alto email Dashboard adds Alexa and Slack integrations
Email, it's the granddaddy of messaging apps. That doesn't mean it doesn't need a little nudge into the teens... the tens... whatever we're calling this decade. AOL's Alto is exactly that, a modern email client that extracts all the useful info tucked away within it, putting it front and center in a Google Now-like "Dashboard." Today, it's getting a little more up to date, with hooks into Amazon's ubiquitous Alexa, and the work-chat du jour, Slack.
Google for Work will supposedly be renamed to Google Cloud
If you're used to seeing Google for Work branding on your employer's web apps like Docs and Inbox, changes are coming. For now, it sounds superficial, according to a report from The Information. The publication's sources say that the search juggernaut is changing the name to Google Cloud, and that the change will also cover Chromebooks and Android devices in addition to web services. "The name change is Google's way of saying, 'We have the best cloud platform, period,'" according to an anonymous source. The publication goes on to say that this should all be made official at a Google Cloud event later this month on the 29th.
Google Inbox finally lets you attach files from Drive
It's been almost two years since Google launched Inbox, its vision for a smarter way to keep your email under control. The company has added plenty of features since launch, but there are still a few things left that you can only do in traditional Gmail. Today, Google's cutting down that list a bit by adding the ability to directly attach any files stored in your Google Drive to new emails in Inbox. It's been years since that feature was added to Gmail, and it's pretty handy if you're deep in Google's ecosystem, so we're glad to finally see it show up in Inbox.
Google Inbox can keep up with your changing calendar
Ever struggled to keep up with a calendar event as people email changes in their plans? You won't have to panic after today. Google is updating Inbox with a smarter approach to Google Calendar events that pools together all the emails from an event and shows changes in one place. If someone can't make it or the time changes, you shouldn't be caught off-guard.
Google's Inbox gets 'smart replies' on the web
With "smart replies," Google's Inbox app gave us an easy way to respond to emails on our phones without typing. Now, that feature is headed to Inbox on the web. For the most part, it works the same way: When viewing an email, you can choose from three common responses at the bottom of your window. Tapping one instantly fills out a reply message, which you can edit if need be. Google says 10 percent of Inbox mobile users are already using smart replies, but it'll be interesting to see if desktop users latch onto it more.
Google Inbox adds two time-saving snooze options
One of the great things about Google Inbox's snooze function is being able to set the exact date and time to resurface emails you intend to read and reply to later. Sometimes, though, you just want to get non-urgent emails out of the way without thinking too hard. This latest Inbox by Gmail update allows you to do just that. Now, when you choose to toss a digital missive into your read-it-much-much-later pile, you can choose from two new snooze times: Later this week and This weekend. And since different people have different weekends, you can choose a particular day when you think you'll be ready to face what you've put off.
Gmail has over 1 billion active users
Does it feel like virtually everyone you know has a Gmail address? You're not alone. While discussing its latest fiscal results, Alphabet has confirmed that there are now over 1 billion active Gmail users per month, or 100 million more than there were last May. That's a big milestone, but it's almost surprising that Google's email service didn't hit the magic figure earlier. After all, Facebook reached the 1 billion mark last summer, and it's a non-essential social network -- you'd think a vital tool like email would get there first. Clearly, Facebook is a more common bond that transcends your choice of email providers.
Google's Inbox app now has smarter search results
Google's Inbox may take a bit of getting used to, especially if you've been using the plain vanilla Gmail interface for years, but once you dig in there's a lot of powerful and useful features to find. (Some of them can get a little weird, though.) Today, Google is releasing some tweaks to make Inbox's search feature more useful. For starters, when you look for something like a shipping tracking number, frequent flyer number, hotel reservation, bill or a number of other pieces of info that are buried somewhere in your email account, Inbox will surface it at the top of your search results.
Gmail's Inbox app makes it easier to share travel info
If you fancy Google's Inbox app to wrangle your Gmail, sharing travel details is about to get even easier. Mountain View is rolling out an update to the service that lets you attach those handy card-like Trip Bundles to emails with a tap. This should make giving colleagues, friends and family all of your travel info even quicker.
I let Google's Autoreply feature answer my emails for a week
Google's Inbox is like an experimental Gmail, offering a more active (or laborious) way of tackling your inbox bloat, delaying and reminding you to respond at a later time. Its latest trick involves harnessing deep neural networks to offer a trio of (short!) auto-responses to your emails -- no typing necessary. Does it do the trick? Can a robot truly express what I need it to, or at least a close enough approximation that I'm satisfied with? I tried it this week to find out.
