So its easy to voice /videos / group chat in Gmail

Josh Teague, (User Experience Designer) Say's

Video chat, voice chat, and group chat have all been available for some time within Gmail, but they've been curiously tucked away. Getting them up and running required fidgeting with a little menu at the bottom of each chat window. Starting today, all of these features will be just a single click away.


One of the more subtle benefits to surfacing these chat options is that it's easier for people to get started who don't yet have the voice and video chat plugin.
If your chat buddy doesn't have the plugin, clicking on this icon in the chat window will invite them to install it. As soon as they're done, you can carry on with a face-to-face video chat. Since we launched a similar feature on iGoogle and orkut a little while ago, we've seen a dramatic uptick in people using video chat.


Finally, you'll find oldie but goodie features such as "Go off the record," "Block", and "Send SMS" in a more aptly named "Actions" menu of each chat window.

Source: http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/making-it-easier-to-video-chat-voice.html

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Maps on GMail / Buzz

Mark Knichel, (Software Engineer) Say's

I often receive emails containing addresses in them &mdash where to meet for dinner, the location of my friend's new apartment, etc. To find out where these places actually are, I have to copy the address, open up Google Maps, and paste it in. Today, we're making it easier to see maps of all the addresses you receive in Gmail and Google Buzz.

Enable "Google Maps previews in mail" from the Gmail Labs tab under Settings, and any time you receive an address or a Google Maps link in an email, a preview will appear containing an interactive Google Map of that location. Any Google Maps URL will work, but we currently only extract US addresses (we're working on making addresses around the world work).


Additionally, when you paste a Google Maps link into the post box in Google Buzz, it'll automatically fetch an image preview of that location that you can associate with your post.

Source : http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/google-maps-previews-in-gmail-and.html

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Blogger needs help. can you?

Chang Kim Say's

We're working hard to make Blogger better and need your help. Sign up for a usability study and give us feedback on some exciting new ideas currently in development. These study results will help us better understand your needs and refine our features before they launch.

Interested? Sign up here. 

Source: http://buzz.blogger.com/2010/06/help-us-improve-blogger.html

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Sweetshirts from Gmail...

Arielle Reinstein, (Product Marketing Manager) Say's

When Gmail came out of beta, we embroidered the Gmail logo onto sweatshirts for the team. Any given day in the office, a couple of people are wearing them. When other people asked us where they too could get their very own Gmail sweatshirt, we didn't like replying with "Oh...they're not really available, it was just something we did for the team," so we made them available in the Google Store.


Source: http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/gmail-sweatshirts.html

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