Slashdot Mirror
Gmail Gets RSS
Everyone with a UID and Paul Stamatiou writes "Google's Gmail email service now sports a new feature for displaying RSS feeds, dubbed Web Clips. You might remember this name, as it is the same name Google Desktop refers to RSS feeds. Web Clips for Gmail were announced a long time ago sometime during the summer but they were finally stable enough to release to the general public. You can check out the what's new page for Gmail here. Essentially, you subscribe to a bunch of feeds and everytime you log into Gmail it loads the lastest title from each feed which you can scroll through with left/right arrows. Don't forget to check the actual post about Web Clips for Gmail on the Google Blog."
My various daily updated websites that use metafile data to pass a hyperlink (blog with RSS feed for you non-jerk-new-wordphobes) has been getting referrers from gmail since yesterday. I've been getting AOL webmail referrers for a week or so, now it makes sense why this is.
RSS connectivity in the e-mail client is very powerful, maybe the most powerful feature I've seen. I've had trouble getting my audience to download a good RSS reader, but I've seen traffic pick up. Is there a reasonable javascript for "Add this blog to your RSS feeds" that will work with the webmail feed readers?
I'm hiring a 74 year old expert to cowrite 2 blogs and his readers are generally older. Most have e-mail, and as more people flock to webmail for security and efficiency, adding these features is key to helping the new "media" grow. Even for the not retired, easy access to what you want is making generic news outdated.
This news probably pisses off the old media who continue to lose control. If the politicians see their monkeys are powerless, be sure to see regulations on blogs next, via the illegal and unconstitutional FEC and SEC.
I saw it when I opened GMail to do my daily clean up of my GMail archive account. I disabled 99% of it and added Slashdot as the only "Webclip" available. The first (and only) story it showed was from 18 hours ago. Not exactly useful for me I guess.
YMMV.
If Slashdot's RSS feed is a default, could Web Clips Slashdot Slashdot?
I have had it for about 6 months. No one else I knew that had Gmail had the webclips...
"I cannot think of any need in childhood as strong as the need for a father's protection." -- Sigmund Freud
Another way to shove AdSense down our throats. So far, it seems like roughly 1 of every 3 clips is an advertisement.
Does anyone else find this totally unexciting? Thank god you can turn this feature off.
I check all my feeds on My Yahoo once a day, and then once I've read what interests me, I feel done with them. I can't imagine being happy with just randomly presented feeds. Especially one at a time.
Definitely going to stick with My Yahoo for now.
Um... no?
Seriously, I've used it from behind a whole whack of different firewall/proxy configurations, and I've never had a single problem. And what could you possibly need to screw with in your browser? Turn on JavaScript?
If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.
really they need to add a calender. i think this would be the icing on the cake and would be essential imo for people to use gmail as they're primary interface.
Did anyone else notice that if you click on your Spam folder it displays recipes for SPAM, and if you click on the Trash it shows you recycling tips. :-)
They also added the ability to view Office, OpenOffice, and PDF documents as HTML like their search results. Very useful if you receive documents but don't have the necessary viewers.
Then they also added something on the sidebar to automatically link to maps and shipping trackers if addresses or shipping numbers are mentioned in the email. So if I say: "Yeah man. Party's at 123 Fake Street," presumably it links to it if the recipient has Gmail. Or if FedEx sends me an email with my shipping number, I can just click the link on the side to view it. I think that's pretty slick, and a good use of their text scanning abilities they already use for AdWords.
I didn't even notice the RSS stuff this morning when I logged in so I checked again and it was there. Pretty cool and unintrusive. the first feed I saw on there was from Dictionary.com "voluptuary: a person devoted to luxury and the gratification of sensual appetites." Learn something new everyday I guess.
Everyone loves Google, until of course they become evil and we all hate them.
gasmonso http://religiousfreaks.com/You're most likely having ID-10-T problems. Unfortunately, there's nothing you can do about it as google won't issue a fix.
i feel so left out now!!!
Unfortunately, there's no integration with the google homepage where you also setup your news/RSS feeds. The data has to be setup twice, when it should really be from the same place.
Google has a lot of nice stuff, but they've got a lot of work to do to integrate it and bring it to the most useful.
- AMW
What I can't understand is why they haven't yet implemented contact groups. The single major stumbling block that most people I try to convert to Gmail has is that is is missing the (I would think relatively simple) ability to define a group of two or more contacts to which you can easily send a message. Heck, they could even make this Google-y and allow you to define terms with which to build a list, or label contacts as "Personal" and "Business" and then make a group from that. But the base functionality is so stinkin' simple, I just don't know why they haven't done it yet, and it's getting annoying to hear people I've referred to Gmail come up and say "I really like that new Gmail thing, but how do I send a message to a list of people?"
Well, I love it. And I don't see any ads. But, if you really don't like it, you can: 1) Customize what feeds you get 2) Disable it (go to settings)
... are great, but why the HELL am I STILL unable to search for un-labeled messages? Argh!
"Wow, you're like some kind of superhero able to ward off happiness and success at every turn."
-- Ryan Stiles
I saw this today and got rid of it as fast as I fucking could. I use Gmail specifically becuase it _DOESN'T_ bother me with annoying fucking doodads like this. So thanks, but no thanks.