Google Weather Service And GMail Improvements 346
Philipp Lenssen writes "Google has added US-only weather forecasts to their web search. Type e.g. "weather palo alto, ca" (zip codes work too) and you get a small illustrated weather forecast on top of the search result. (Yahoo has been providing a similar service for quite a while.) You can also send your query as SMS to 46645 (GOOGL), as the official Google blog reports." Relatedly, Shachaf writes "Looking at my GMail account, I see that Google has added two new features: integration with Picasa and plain HTML support. Now you can 'Log in to Gmail directly from Picasa and send the photos from your Gmail account', and view your email from any web-browser."
You misunderstand Google Weather (Score:5, Funny)
Re:You misunderstand Google Weather (Score:5, Funny)
Re:You misunderstand Google Weather (Score:2)
We're not driving anymore...WE'RE RIDING.
Coverage of New Gmail Feature (Score:5, Informative)
http://www.theplaceforitall.com/2005/03/report-on- gmails-basic-html-view.html [theplaceforitall.com]
Re:Coverage of New Gmail Feature (Score:2)
Is this a special service outside the normal SMS that providers have to opt into, or what?
-Z
Re:Coverage of New Gmail Feature (Score:2)
Poor HTML coding (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Poor HTML coding (Score:5, Insightful)
Even the Firefox Start page they host doesn't validate [w3.org].
They probably save untold gigabytes just by not putting a doctype, type attributes, alt tags, etc.
Re:Poor HTML coding (Score:3, Interesting)
Doubtful; last time I looked, there were plenty of other places they could save on bandwidth easily and they don't bother. Mistakes in HTML are usually due to ignorance or apathy, not bandwidth reduction. You don't have to look very far to find a prime example :).
Re:Poor HTML coding (Score:3, Insightful)
Look at a results page, for example. They could eliminate over 1K per page load simply by moving the CSS and Javascript into external resources.
I'm sure you're thinking "but the client has to download them anyway". Not from Google. Google is that popular, and the resources change that infrequently, that virtually every shared cache in existence would keep a copy of the resource, meaning Google would effectively cease serving it
Re:Poor HTML coding (Score:3, Insightful)
I just checked GMail with my *preferred* Netscape 3.04 (js and images off) and it worked great, plus was much faster -- and considerably more *readable* (the JS version has some annoying width errors that force sidescrolling in Mozilla).
I can now recommend GMail to my visually-impaired and hardware-challenged users, with every expectation that it will work fine for them.
Re:Poor HTML coding (Score:3, Funny)
Tip:
when you are critisizing some sites lack of HTML validator compliance first ensure your own piss poor (validation wise i mean) site [w3.org] is actually correct!
Re:Coverage of New Gmail Feature (Score:2, Informative)
1. click the link at the top with the notice: "You are currently viewing Gmail in basic HTML. Switch to standard view"
2. click the standard link in the text at the bottom: "Gmail view: standard | basic HTML"
Re:Coverage of New Gmail Feature (Score:3, Informative)
Looks nice (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Looks nice (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Looks nice (Score:3, Interesting)
Or to do it on your head - subract the accerleration of gravity and take 1/2 of the result - a good quick and dirty.
Re:Looks nice (Score:2)
(100 - 9.8) / 2 = 45, which is nowhere near my blood temperature...
Re:Looks nice (Score:2, Interesting)
So I had to google it and concluded you were using feet/second...
On the other hand, a bonus to you americans for having a power of 2 as g's value
In-line signalling can be bad (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:In-line signalling can be bad (Score:4, Insightful)
Google, if anyone, is in a position to say "hey when people search for 'weather' and a city they often want weather reports"
Re:Looks nice (Score:3)
Why is it such an abomination? Because you're not used to it? I use metric all the time (scientist) and live in the US. The Fahrenheit scale is the only imperial scale that doesn't annoy me. The only difference between it and centigrade is 1) the zero point, and 2) the increment density. Centigrade is based on water, whic
Re:Looks nice (Score:3, Funny)
=)
Re:Looks nice (Score:5, Funny)
What, did you skip that day in the third grade?
Re:Looks nice (Score:3, Funny)
50F = It's quite nice outside (though you may want to wear a light jacket), but you don't know such since you're sitting on the computer reading
100F = You could fry an egg on the sidewalk. Thankfully, you're inside on the computer with the A/C cranked up.
There, we now have a foolproof conversion chart.
Re:Looks nice (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Looks nice (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Looks nice (Score:2)
Well, and I thought measuring temperatures has to do with science, not culture. Whatever.
Re:Looks nice (Score:3, Informative)
Ooo I'll bite the troll for this one.
Celsius is in fact, NOT arbitrary. Celsius is a scale where the phase change of water sets the zero (freeing) and 100 (boiling) marks.
Kelvin and Celsius are the same scale, but Kelvin has the zero set at the absolute point (-273 deg C).
Re:Looks nice (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Looks nice (Score:2, Flamebait)
Re:Looks nice (Score:3)
Those of us who made it far enough in school to use decimal notation are quite pleased with the sensibility and utility of Celsius, thank you.
Re:Looks nice (Score:2, Troll)
I fail to see how the phase changes of water being calibrated to (32,212) degrees is any better or worse than having them at (0,100). They're just arbitrary values in either case (unless you're trying to ascribe some numerological significance to them...).
Now, if there was a ubiquitous formula that was made simpler by the fact that water freezes at 0 instead of 32 (
Re:Looks nice (Score:4, Interesting)
As I understand it (and there are numerous ides on how it was done), 0 was chosen as the freezing point of salt water (as in what you find in the local ocea). That's fine and all.
The oddity comes from where he set 100 to be. The natural temperature of a healthy horses blood.
Now, that's as natural a set of points as night and grass.
If he had chosen two points on the same items temperature scale, then it'd be a lot simpler. He didn't, so it's not.
Re:trolls suck my dick (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:trolls suck my dick (Score:3, Informative)
Re:trolls suck my dick (Score:2)
Actually, a scientist who prefered to use Fahrenheit measurements would probably use the Rankine scale. Zero Rankine is, like 0 Kelvin, absolute zero. However, the size of a degree is the same as the Fahrenhiet scale. The freezing point of water (32F) and the boiling point of w
Re:trolls suck my dick (Score:2)
While Fahrenheit can be used for scientific work, metric is
.
Sadly, we were started down the path of switching to metric and reagan stopped it. Big mistake, now that much of manufactuering has moved overseas. The time is coming when we will be the most expensive country to dea
Re:what? (Score:3, Interesting)
Actually, we're already a metric country in any way that matters. Does miles per hour on a highway sign or measuring a recipe in cups and tablespoons really matter all that much. HELL NO!. What matters is machine tools, and they've been converting over for quite a whil
Microsoft also have one in beta test... (Score:5, Funny)
yes but it pales in comparision to NOAA (Score:5, Informative)
heh Gmail... (Score:2)
Re:heh Gmail... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:heh Gmail... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:heh Gmail... (Score:2)
Re:heh Gmail... (Score:2)
Wider feature coverage would be nice... (Score:2, Informative)
Meanwhile MSN are putting on TV adverts here for there new search engine.
Re:Wider feature coverage would be nice... (Score:2)
so what? (Score:2)
Re:so what? (Score:5, Insightful)
Ah Gmail, now if only... (Score:2)
Re:Ah Gmail, now if only... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Ah Gmail, now if only... (Score:2)
Re:Ah Gmail, now if only... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Ah Gmail, now if only... (Score:2)
Dork. You should go use Hotmail. The notion of labels is why most people LIKE Gmail!
Re:Ah Gmail, now if only... (Score:2)
Well, I surely hope they don't, it's one of their best. Even my little sister got used to it in a few days and loves it.
Here's a cache (Score:5, Funny)
Clickie! [64.233.167.104]
Google maps (Score:4, Insightful)
Am I the only one who dislikes having to do a search to get some information? Of course it can be bookmarked but it just feels a little weird. Maybe it's just a matter of habit...
Re:Google maps (Score:2)
????
Yahoo copying Google again! (Score:3, Funny)
Here we go again, Google innovating and everybody else copying them and claiming to be innovative. As usual.
Gmail POP3 suggestion (Score:2)
That said,I can see why their present system is advantageous in terms of security. If they did it it would have to be an option "allow insecure POP3 on this account" rather than default behaviour.
Thank God they don't (Score:2)
Google weather: zip codes work (Score:4, Informative)
Here's mine, 64119 [google.com].
Konqueror (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Konqueror (Score:2)
Re:Konqueror (Score:2)
lazy cuss that I am... (Score:3, Funny)
Is it just me... (Score:3, Funny)
blah blah. (Score:2)
Google maps, Google suggest, Google local, Google movies, Gmail, Google weather - all of that is just searching their indexes and getting results in a more customized template.
Google hasn't strayed so far from their original aim. Remember they said they wanted to index the entire internet? Well, they are.
Re:blah blah. (Score:2)
really? you'd think they need a bit more than that for gmail(and groups too.. and picasa.. and....).
Re:blah blah. (Score:2)
And Picasa indexes your photos.
All Google projects tend to make it more practical to search than to organize.
Re:Is it just me... (Score:2)
Yup, ignorance is a bliss, unless it is blushingly embarassing.
What I would like to see from Google is maybe a dictionary or an encyclopedia or something like that. They can search, they do, so let them rule everything that is search-related. Good ideas, good service and speed. Yup, we need that.
Re:Is it just me... (Score:2)
May I ask which search engine you use? I'd like to try it out.
Google doesn't focus on their search engine? (Score:3, Informative)
So yeah, I remember when Google focused on their search engine. My short term memory isn't that bad.
I guess your short term memory is terrible, then?
syntax (Score:2)
New features and the final frontier (Score:4, Interesting)
It seems that nobody really has solved the email transferal problem have they? (please correct me if I'm wrong) And while I'm biased, it would be an interesting marketing ploy for those who wanted to switch, one that Apple has used with Apple Mail.
Why can't they add it to my home Google? (Score:5, Interesting)
Then again, i don't consider google a "portal". Wired just had an article about google vs. Yahoo!. It's quite an interesting read.
Re:Why can't they add it to my home Google? (Score:3, Insightful)
One of the reason google has stomped all over the competition is they keep their interfaces simple. Adding that stuff would multiply the size of the front page. Furthermore if you really wanted that feature, it would be pretty simple to hack up some php that use the google apis or just scrape the relevant pages for the data and format it however you want.
For Firefox users... (Score:4, Informative)
Not only SMS (Score:5, Interesting)
(GOOGLE on the telephone)
Re:Not only SMS (Score:2)
p
Is it just me... (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Is it just me... (Score:2)
You understand correctly. The GMail (and Blogger, and Hello) integration was introduced w/ Picasa 2, and that's been out for months.
GMail Accounts (Score:2)
google omniscience (Score:2, Funny)
Is God working for google now?
Gmail beta forever (Score:4, Interesting)
On an aside, I have a feeling that they will have to redesign their homepage soon as it's starting to get crowded.
Re:Gmail beta forever (Score:2)
Re:Gmail beta forever (Score:2, Funny)
I hear they're trying a new home page design. It's in beta now. You can find it here [yahoo.com].
* By "provides" I mean "links to others' content about."
Google: GUI vs CLI (Score:5, Insightful)
Slashdot users, as a whole, might be more comfortable with that approach than the GUI approach, like Yahoo.
At what point does Google make a Yahoo-style frontend for the "newbie" users, just as an option, of course.
Who cares? (Score:2, Insightful)
While we're talking about google... (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:While we're talking about google... (Score:3, Interesting)
Gmail's forced "basic HTML view" - and a solution (Score:5, Informative)
Unfortunately, the new browser detection code they are now using seems to have been put together in a rather sloppy manner, which means (amongst others) Opera 8.0 users are forced to this "basic HTML view" when the fully-featured default view works perfectly well with that version of Opera. (Indeed, one of the many new features of Opera 8.0 is XMLHttpRequest support, which allows Gmail to work in full.)
Any Opera 8.0 user who logs into Gmail as usual will no longer be able to do some basic things, including create filters, amend their settings, check spelling, access keyboard shortcuts and autocomplete addresses. Fortunately, there is a workaround, which is to use the URL http://gmail.google.com/gmail?nocheckbrowser [google.com], which solves the issue.
This issue doesn't only affect Opera 8.0 users: users of MSIE 6.x, Camino and other browsers have reported the same problem on the relevant Google group [google.com]. I don't use any of those browsers but I'm fairly sure that the same workaround will work for them too.
Re:Gmail's forced "basic HTML view" - and a soluti (Score:3, Informative)
They shouldn't be detecting the browser at all. It's fragile, it breaks with unusual browsers, and you have to keep updating the detection routines whenever a new browser comes out. It's Javascript straight out of the 1990s.
The proper way of doing it is to detect objects not browsers. If you need XMLHttpRequest, first check to see if XMLHttpRequest is defined. If so, use it.
Google playing catch-up? (Score:2, Interesting)
What's interesting is the discrepancies (Score:2)
I wonder where they pull their data from...
How revolutionary! (Score:3, Funny)
Next Google will rollout the next revolution: "keywords"
Gmail lost all of my January email (Score:3, Interesting)
I exchanged emails at a Very slow rate with gmail staff. Mostly just responding to their form letters and taking whatever action they requested.
Not until nearly a month later, on Feb 24, did I receive the following pathetic response:
Hello,
Thank you for your reply.
We have completed a thorough investigation of your Gmail account, and can
confirm that a technical problem did not cause the behavior you reported.
We apologize for any inconvenience you might have experienced.
Sincerely,
The Gmail Team
I have never lost email on Yahoo or Hotmail.
The good news? I have 100 gmail invites.
Works with Lynx!! (Score:3, Interesting)
Now, that is COOL!
Neither Yahoo nor Hotmail have this feature!
Beating spam the Gmail way (Score:4, Interesting)
Gmail now offers every member 50 invites. Millions of users and the power of a single spam database have made Gmail's spam filter one of the best. Gmail also offers POP3/SMTP access to the service. Combined, these provide a perfect method to utilize Gmail's powerful spam filtering on my primary email address--without the trouble and fuss of actually changing addresses. Here's how I did it.
I set this up a couple of weeks ago and so far Gmail has filtered almost every spam message I would have received. That's spam I didn't download!
You'll want to log in to the new Gmail account once a week or once a month to check the spam folder. This is just to check for false positives--"good" messages which may have been filtered as spam. It won't happen often but it's worth checking once in a while to make sure.