New Priority Inbox : Less time, more features!

Pal Takacsi-Nagy, Engineering Manager (from gmail blog)

It's been a couple of months since we first launched Priority Inbox. Since then, we've heard from a number of you who've found it helpful in combating information overload, and we've seen evidence of this in aggregate too. Looking at median time in conversation view, we noticed that typical Priority Inbox users spend 43% more time reading important mail compared to unimportant, and 15% less time reading email overall as compared to Gmail users who don't use Priority Inbox. We're excited about the impact Priority Inbox can have, and we're listening to your feedback in order to make it even better.

For example, one thing we heard is that you wanted to know why Gmail classifies certain messages as important. So starting today, when you hover over an importance marker () you'll see a short explanation (e.g. "Important because you marked it as important" or "Important mainly because of the people in the conversation.").


You also told us that you thought Priority Inbox didn't learn fast enough, so we've made it much more responsive to your manual corrections.

If you have more ideas for improvements, please share them with us on our new product ideas page — or just vote on ideas that others suggest. Your feedback will help us make Priority Inbox work for even more Gmail users.

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Google TV Rocking Out for the Holidays

It's the first week of December -- time to get ready for the holidays! What better way to get into the spirit than to listen to holiday music? And why listen to it on your computer or your iPod when you can listen to it from your TV, which is likely connected to the best speakers in your house? Here are the Google TV team's top music recommendations for Google TV:

1. Pandora* - pick a song or artist you like, and Pandora will magically create an endless playlist of similar music for you.
2. VEVO** - a TV-optimized set of back-to-back HD music videos featuring your favorite artists.
3. Napster* - grab a subscription and get unlimited music.
4. Grooveshark - millions of streaming songs online.
5. Last.fm - stream music and keep a record of what you listen to from any player.

In the Spotlight
Want even more? Here are some new websites that have been optimized for Google TV. If you have a device, you can try them out in the Spotlight folder linked from your home screen.

1. Crackle.com - free uncut movies & TV shows.
2. Fraboom.com - online children's museum - it's like a live classroom in your living room.
3. KQED.com - Public Media serving Northern California featuring news, food, arts, and science.
4. mSpot.com video - mSpot Movies brings the newest on-demand movies to your TV.
5. PartyCentral - a fun game where you can socialize with guests, earn popularity, and customize your house to host the hottest party.

Check them out and let us know what you think! And if you're a Google TV owner, please add a comment below, Facebook us, or tweet at us with your own favorite things to do. Who knows - we just might feature it in an upcoming post!

* Available in the Applications folder linked from your Google TV home screen.
** Available in the Spotlight folder linked from your Google TV home screen.

see also
Rocking out for holidays I Call credits for military families this holiday season

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$10 Call credits for military families this holiday season

Michael Bolognino, Product Marketing Manager (from gmail blog) says

Keeping in touch with family during the holiday season can be challenging for anyone, but it's especially difficult for military families with loved ones serving around the country or overseas.

Gmail's built in video chat and free calls to the U.S. and Canada can help keep friends and family in contact regardless of how far apart they may be. To make staying in touch this holiday season even easier for military families, we're offering a $10 calling credit to help them reach their loved ones serving abroad.

These international call credits can be used to make calls with Google Voice or from right insideGmail, and will provide families with roughly 30 minutes of call time to Afghanistan, 60 minutes to Iraq, or hundreds of minutes to many countries in Europe and around the world.

To make this possible, we've partnered with Blue Star Families and Sesame Street, two organizations dedicated to supporting service members and their families.

Photo by Sesame Workshop, 2010

To be eligible for $10 calling credits, military family members must:

1. Be a member of either Blue Star Families or Sesame Street Family Connections — registration is free for all military families
2. Provide their Gmail address
3. Enable calling in Gmail and accept the terms of service OR have an existing Google Voice account
4. Complete this registration form by December 22, 2010

We recognize the sacrifices military family members make when loved ones serve abroad, and we're proud to help make it a little bit easier for families to stay connected over the holidays.

At this time, Google Voice and calling in Gmail are available in the U.S. only.

original post http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2010/12/call-credits-for-military-families-this.html

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Make Money using Google Affiliate Network

original post from Google Affiliate Network (GAN)

There are lots of great ways to make money from your blog. One of those ways is to use an affiliate network. Put simply, an affiliate network is a way to promote products from some of your favorite retailers; you get paid when any of those retailers makes a sale based on a promotion you ran on your blog. Our friends at the Google Affiliate Network have a great program and have agreed to make a special offer to our users—so if you haven't heard of GAN already, have a read, and be sure to sign up!

With Google Affiliate Network, you can access affiliate ads for top retailers. If the ad or text link you post on your blog results in a sale, you earn a commission. This means that you can start working with advertisers who will pay you a performance fee for driving a sale or other conversion.

Google Affiliate Network gives you access to a diverse range of affiliate programs for advertisers including Barnes & Noble.com, Red Envelope, Sears, ProFlowers, Abe Books and Puma. Once you have access, you can apply to create advertiser programs, promote ads, search for links to specific products, sign up to access product feeds, and utilize Link Subscriptions that deliver the latest links and promotions directly to you each day.

Google Affiliate Network is featured in the Monetize tab in your Blogger account or you can apply using the link below (please note that you'll need an AdSense ID to join).

Here's how to get started:

1. Sign up for a Google Affiliate Network account with your valid AdSense Publisher ID.
2. As soon as you're approved for Google Affiliate Network, sign in and apply for advertiser programs.
3. Follow the instructions to start displaying cost-per-action ads.

Check out our Beginner's Guide to help you through the process of becoming a successful publisher and continue reading for the answers to our frequently asked questions.

Apply before December 13th and take advantage of affiliate exclusive holiday offers from select Google Affiliate Network advertisers. The special offers will be available for Monday, December 13th, from over 20 advertisers including Barnes & Noble.com, Sears, Red Envelope, Arden B and 6ave. For more information, please visit this blog post or apply now with your valid AdSense Publisher ID.

see also:
http://buzz.blogger.com/2010/12/monetize-your-site-with-google.html
http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2010/12/new-in-labs-smart-mute-and-easier-ways.html

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