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GmailUI Extension for Thunderbird
If Gmail's UI floats your boat but you prefer using a desktop email client for 'no waiting for a refresh' feel, Ken Mixter has developed a Thunderbird extension just for you. The GmailUI extension brings many of the shortcuts and search expressions of Gmail to Mozilla's Thunderbird client. Keyboard shortcuts like J and K for moving up and down through messages, as well as search expressions such as 'subject:' and 'from:' can now be a part of your Thunderbird experience. Ken even went so far as to include Gmail's 'archive' functionality and (oddly) a quick calculation function, right from within Thunderbird's search box.The extension appears to be completely free, and Ken is accepting feedback and suggestions at his site. Head over to Mozilla's addons site to grab the extension, or check out Ken's site for a lot more details of everything GmailUI is capable of.[via Gmail.pro]
A browser just for Gmail
In a dual gesture of both kicking Mail.app to the curb and flexing the power of Xcode, Michael McCracken has built his own streamlined browser just for using Gmail. Quirky browser behaviors and avoiding the distractions that come from multiple browser windows and bookmark bars prompted this 10-line coding experiment.The resulting WebMail.app is exactly what Michael set out to create: a very slim Gmail viewer (you don't even get an address bar) based on WebKit. It works well, though there are quirks when having to do anything browser-related with it. Clicking a link in a message, for example, creates a new window in WebMail.app, not your default browser. Minor quirks aside, if you're in the same boat as Michael and you want a browser window just for using Gmail so you can retain things like your labels and alternate-email address abilities, this might be right up your alley.Personally, I'm very tempted to use this since I too have joined the ranks of kicking Mail.app to the curb (running it only on occasion to download and archive my email). However, some of the Greasemonkey scripts for Gmail that I've been using in Firefox have become indispensable to how I work with Gmail; being able to move between labels, trash messages and even label messages all with a couple strokes of the keyboard rivals even desktop email app functionality. It would be great to see someone run with WebMail.app (Michael bundles the source in his download) and add some javascript ninja coding to combine the beauty of WebKit with the functionality of those Gmail script abilities to create one rockin' Gmail app.*sigh* A Gmail-using blogger can dream, can't he?[via Hawk Wings]
Quicksilver plug-ins for Google Calendar and Gmail
While tinkering in Quicksilver's plug-ins panel this morning I came across two new plug-ins that should fit right in with my new Borg Google-infused daily activities: a Gmail Module and a Google Calendar Module. Both are actions that allow you to type in a string of text, then select either of these modules as an action, and off you go.The Google Calendar module seems to use their Quick Add syntax for adding events. For a quick tutorial on this: invoke Quicksilver and then hit period so you can begin entering plain text. Enter something like "Apple Store Opening Saturday 10 am," then hit tab to move to Quicksilver's second pane to chose an action. If you have the Google Calendar module installed, the action is titled "Google Calendar Event" (using 'gcal' works just fine for me). Hitting enter will send the event, and for bonus points, if you have Growl installed and Quicksilver using it to give notifications, you'll receive a Growl alert upon successful completion.The Gmail module (pictured) allows you to compose a message (or at least part of one) using the same method as both the Google Calendar and Mail.app compose actions. Once you type some text, tab over to chose the Gmail action, you'll receive a 3rd pane that allows you to specify an Address Book contact to send to. Hitting enter will create a Gmail compose window with all the information you chose from Quicksilver already inserted. Awesome.
Gmail-Growl Utility 1.7
The Gmail-Growl Utility that adds some seriously handy features to Google's official Gmail Notifier has been updated with a functionality face-lift and some fixes. It now has an option to toggle on/off Growl notifications for those times when you just need silence, and in Mac OS X Tiger you can now drag and drop notification field elements such as sender, subject and date, to build the actual notification you want to see (Panther users can still copy/paste text blocks to customize this notification).Gmail-Growl Utility has also gone fully universal as long as you're using Google's latest Notifier version (1.8.2). It is also donationware (bonus points: the dev donates 10% to charity) and available from Waffle Software.
Gmail Notifier does message tooltips
This is certainly a minor tip at best, but I thought it was handy enough for a mention: the official Gmail Notifier does message tooltips, as you can see in my screencap. Hold your mouse over a new message in the list and you'll receive a little tooltip containing the first line or two of the message. Nice.
Google updates Gmail Notifier
Gmail Notifier, the little app from Google that... well, notifies you when you have new mail in your Gmail account, has been updated. It sports a new icon, auto updating, and it is now Universal.What more could you ask for?Well, the ability to have it check more than one Gmail account to start with.
Search Gmail from LaunchBar, Butler, others
A MacOSXHints reader submitted a simple trick to allow app launcher utilities like LaunchBar, Butler and others to search Gmail. All you have to do is add a new search template to your launcher of choice with a specific URL and you're off to submitting Gmail search queries from [insert launcher name here]. The query URL to use is: http://mail.google.com/mail/?search=query&view=tl&start=0&init=1&fs=1&q=* But check the MacOSXHints post for instructions on how to tweak that line depending on which launcher you're using. For Quicksilver users, a comment on their post revealed the line you have to use (I think you have to have the Web Search Module plugin in order to be able to add this search to your catalog): http://mail.google.com/mail/?search=query&view=tl&start=0&init=1&fs=1&q=*** Enjoy.
Move your contacts to Gmail with A to G
A to G, which was once known as AddressBooktoCSV, is a simple application that I am sure many of you will find useful.It simply exports your contacts in Address Book to a CSV file (that's comma separated values, the lingua franca of data porting) that is custom tailored for importing into your Gmail account.That's it, but it is a Universal Binary and it is free.[via LifeHacker]
Google serves up Dashboard widgets
Marshall Kirkpatrick over at The Social Software Weblog (a sister Weblogs, Inc. blog) noticed that Google has produced some Dashboard widgets just for us Mac folks. The first is a Blogger widget, allowing (you guessed it) quick and easy posting to Blogger. It even accepts standard shortcuts for bolding and italicizing text - awesome. Next up is a Gmail widget, offering "your Gmail inbox at a glance." A neat trick up this widget's sleeve (once you enable the widget's advanced options) is that you can filter messages by a specific label. Last but not least is a Search History widget, which seems to be a small step up from the Google search widget already included with Tiger in that it actually saves the terms you use to search. "Remember the page from last week? Now you will," is the tag line.Check out Google's new widgets and head over to the post over at The Social Software Weblog for a different perspective on these widgets and how useful they might (or might not) be.
Gmail integrated Google Talk support for Safari
You may have heard that Google Talk has been integrated into Gmail, making it a web application. This is very cool in my opinion, however, Safari (surprise, surprise) isn't supported at the moment. It is true that I can just use this nifty new feature in Firefox (or any of the other Mozilla derived browsers) but luckily Safari support is being worked on, so one day I will be GTalkin' and Safari-in' at the same time.
Engadget Podcast 064 - 01.20.06
We promised an all listener-voicemail Engadget Podcast, and that's exactly what you're gonna get this Friday, January 20th. Today's listener questions run the gamut of topics from BitTorrent and movie piracy to CableCard and (HD)TV on your computer, and we do our best to answer 'em with our usual brand of gadgety back-n-forth. If you haven't already blown us up at 1-888-ENGADGET to leave a voicemail, why not start now? Who knows, you may make it on next week's regular Podcast, or if we have enough callers we can always work another voicemail episode of the show. What's that number again? 1-888-ENGADGET. Get the podcast [iTunes] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes (MP3). [RSS] Add the Engadget Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator and have the show delivered automatically (MP3). [MP3] Download the show (MP3). [AAC] Download the show (enhanced AAC). [OGG] Download the show (OGG). [Vote] Vote for us on Podcast Alley! Hosts Peter Rojas and Ryan Block Producer Randall Bennett Music J J J - 'Suits' in Japan Format 46:48, 21.4 MB, MP3 Program 01:23 What's the best way to use GMail Mobile? 05:20 Internet Downloads and sweet home theaters ruining theaters? 17:25 Do computer monitors support HD input? 20:56 Will Apple release another PDA? 27:10 Will they ever announce the Motorola Q? 31:58 Does the Nokia 770 support stereo Bluetooth profiles? 33:00 What's up with CableCard? 40:15 Why do cellphones interfere with so many electronic devices? LISTEN (MP3) LISTEN (AAC) LISTEN (OGG) Call up the Podcast at: 1-888-ENGADGET
Gmail quote of the day features Steve Jobs
I logged into my Gmail account this morning to be greeted by the quote above from Steve Jobs. How appropriate given this week's events.
Gmail Notifier updated, offers opening of Gmail messages
Growl is a utility that, like the drunkenbatman, has become a necessity in my daily work. As far as email is concerned, even though I can't bring myself to ditch Mail.app and Address Book completely due to device synchronization issues, Gmail has certainly found its place in my daily tool-belt as well. To my delight, the email notification utility by the name of Gmail Growl (which we've covered before) has been updated with a slick feature: the ability to click on a Growl message notification to be taken to that specific Gmail message in your favorite browser. The nice part about this is that you can specify which browser to use; you aren't simply limited to the system's default browser - handy, when you consider the fact that Firefox supports all the rich text editing options Gmail has to offer, while Safari is still lagging behind (disclaimer: I don't know if that's a WebKit or a Gmail issue, so don't flame me). Gmail Growl can be had, for free, at the author's site. As usual with great freeware like this, I encourage you to make a donation to help keep great utilities like this alive.[via Hawk Wings]
Finally - a tool for exporting Address Book to Thunderbird (and Gmail)
Answering the prayers of potential Thunderbird switchers everywhere, a wonderful and as-yet unnamed individual has put together a web-based vCard-to-CSV Converter for easily moving your contacts from Address Book into either Thunderbird or Gmail. The interface and process are both conveniently simple: export your desired group in Address Book (File > Export vCard) and feed it into this tool. You have three conversion options: LDIF (which is Thunderbird-friendly), CSV and Gmail CSV.After discovering the joys of Gmail (but not removing Mail.app from my Dock just yet) I'm not that interested in Thunderbird, but I fired it up just to verify that this conversion and import process is the first I've seen to truly work without a single hangup. The new LDIF file imports just fine into Thunderbird, and you won't even have to remap any fields.[via Hawk Wings]
Ask TUAW: how to sync between Address Book and Gmail
Hawk Wings has an interesting roundup post covering a number of individuals who are dumping Apple's Mail in the name of Gmail for various reasons. While I've been experimenting with the same thing over the last couple of weeks, I've run into a hangup that I felt worthy of an Ask TUAW post. Since more and more of us are adopting web services for daily operations, I thought y'all might have some thoughts on my situation: I love web services, especially ones like Gmail, but now that I own a Motorola RAZR that can sync contacts and events with OS X, I'm on the hunt for an easy way to keep my contacts synchronized between Address Book and Gmail. I know there are basic export apps that are handy for that initial dump from Address Book to Gmail, but I don't know if using that same method a second time will simply double-up all my Gmail contacts. A two-way solution would be ideal, allowing Address Book, Gmail and my RAZR to dance in perfect geeky harmony.So what say you, TUAW readers? Have any of you found a way to keep all this software in sync?
Gmail Notifier for OS X
It looks like Google is showing us Mac users some love after the whole GTalk client thing. Gmail Notifier, which was Windows only, is now available for Mac OS 10.3.8 and later (including Tiger).What is Gmail Notifier? Much like Gcount, GmailStatus, and Gpeek, it is a simple program that lets you know when you have email in your Gmail account by displaying the icon on the left in your menu bar.Thanks for the tip, Ferjan.More exciting pictures from the install after the jump.
