Dumb Little Man | Tips for Life

If you have worked at all with Gmail, you have probably noticed that the code crunchers in Mountain View (Google HQ) have been busy adding doo-dads, and tons of bells and whistles through their Google Labs.


Some of their experiments are four-star functions which make Gmail that much more of an indispensable tool to have at your cloud-computing fingertips. But, before you click on that little green beaker icon, here's a look at some of the best and worst of what you will get.

The Best

• Tasks: At the top of the Google Labs list is one of the best recent additions to the Gmail mix. By adding the tasks option, you get a simple to-do list with a task and check-off capability. But the best feature of Gmail's tasks is the ability to shift an e-mail onto the list with just a click on the "Add to Tasks" under the "More Options" menu of an open e-mail. This moves Gmail a step closer to Outlook, which can be nothing but a good thing. The tasks list itself can be added to outside of your e-mail reading and can popout for use when you aren't in Gmail.


• Superstars: Gmail started with a simple starring capability, which enabled you to separate your important messages from others. This addition in the labs is the star-system on steroids, with 12 different stars you can tag your messages with. With these tools, you can come up with your own levels of urgency (yellow star, red star, red exclamation mark). Of course, this being Google, you can also search and filter by your star setting. Use the search operator "has:" to find all the messages with a specific superstar (e.g. "has:red-bang", "has:blue-star").
  


• Canned responses: The Labs calls this "email for the truly lazy", in fact this is email for the truly effective. If you use your Gmail for regular communication with clients or with job applications, you can use these responses with your rate list, your upcoming schedule or your boilerplate response to a job ad. Smart templating of messages cuts down on your time in your inbox.
  


• Create a document: Further integration of the entire Google system, this allows you to transform a Gmail message into a Google document with one-click. This Lab creation can be used in conjunction with another (which puts a list of your Google documents in your navbar) to track pieces of projects.
  


• Text messages in chat: Google's addition of video to its chat was probably one of the best moves of the year, the addition of SMS Text chatting capability in Gmail is a good move. When you are at your desk and wanting to talk to someone you know is our with their phone, this is a very effective tool and if they respond when you are out of Gmail, their text shows up as a new mail message.

The Worst

• Pictures in chat: If you want to see the pal you are talking to, go ahead and do video chatting, but these photos are usually goofy and add nothing to the effectiveness of Gmail.


• Random signature: You just finished off an important e-mail on a great business opportunity. What would you like to cap it off with? A nonsensical quote from Yogi Berra, of course!
  


• Old Snakey: While everyone appreciates Google's attitude of fun and play in their apps, this one just seems lame. A snake game? Maybe Tetris or Breakout, but not Snake.
  


• Email Addict: This Lab experiment "lets you take a break from email and chat by blocking the screen for fifteen minutes and making you invisible in chat." Maybe the first step is admitting you have a problem, but this would just get in the way.


• Mail Goggles: These three simple math problems are supposed to keep you from sending an e-mail you would regret after a night out. But they may be a little too easy. Ask some questions that will test the other side of the brain and this may prevent more disasters.

If you are more than a novice Gmail user, which of the Google Labs add-ons have you enabled and more importantly, which do you now depend on?