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Google Businesses The Internet

GMail Getting RSS Aggregation Feature? 184

pramodbiligiri writes "Some blogs are saying that a few GMail users can see a "Web Clips" part at the top of their inbox, where you can subscribe to RSS feeds and view them. Evan Williams, formerly of Blogger.com has a screenshot More on this at Gmail Adding Feed Reading and Google inches closer to RSS"
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GMail Getting RSS Aggregation Feature?

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  • Next Week (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 20, 2005 @09:51AM (#12292384)
    Slashdot integrates gmail into the main page!
  • by Flywheels of Fire ( 836557 ) on Wednesday April 20, 2005 @09:53AM (#12292400) Homepage
    Why do you need gmail when the following simple piece code can do it?
    $rss_feed = file_get_contents('http://example1.com/feed.rss');
    mail('...@example2.com', 'RSS Feed from Example1.com', $rss_feed,
    'Content-Type: application/rss+xml');

    RSS On Slashdot: Iran captures three CIA agents [mithuro.com]

  • Yup (Score:5, Informative)

    by mfh ( 56 ) on Wednesday April 20, 2005 @09:54AM (#12292405) Homepage Journal
    I saw an RSS feed autodiscovered on my Gmail acct a while ago... maybe even as much as a couple months ago. Tried to subscribe but it wouldn't parse. Maybe that was a sign of the things to come.
  • so google news then? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by learn fast ( 824724 ) on Wednesday April 20, 2005 @09:54AM (#12292413)
    So, can they put up RSS feeds for Google News now?
    • dont get your hopes up - i asked for this two years ago. and again a year ago. they actually "remembered" that i had requested it a year previous.

      oh well. maybe some day.

      • by bigpat ( 158134 ) on Wednesday April 20, 2005 @10:05AM (#12292498)
        Wouldn't this be counterproductive for google news? I mean presumably the RSS feeds go directly to the articles not to the google news page itself. So, whatever indirect benefit from aggregating news they are currently deriving from news.google.com would be even more indirect.
        • It might be counterproductive, but it would let them catch up with MSN who let you have news search results in RSS format - eg:

          http://search.msn.co.uk/news/results.aspx?q=uk+vet erinary&format=rss&form=zznr [msn.co.uk]
          • Thanks for that link. I like that it seems to be a customizable RSS feed for any search result you want.

            RSS seems like the right thing to do, like google providing free pop access for gmail, but it circumvents their advertising revenue model. If it doesn't become too successful, then it wouldn't threaten their advertising, though if it starting cutting into the bottom line they could throw ads into their RSS feeds I suppose.

        • They don't show ads on new, so they're not getting any of that now.

          Now, if they could feed 'feeds' to gmail, they could show ads there. A first report of rss-feeds in gmail said that they sometimes show ads (annotated) amids feeds.

        • What's Yahoo's incentive to give everyone free arbitrary financial data in csv format?

          Or, for that matter, what's the benefit of Google running the entirety of Google News? It doesn't have any advertising.
  • And I ask... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by wlan0 ( 871397 ) on Wednesday April 20, 2005 @09:54AM (#12292415)
    Who spends this much time on the webmail? If you're in your email long enough to read that, you probably are using an E-mail client and downloading using POP3.
    • Re:And I ask... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Quai ( 188898 ) * on Wednesday April 20, 2005 @09:58AM (#12292445)
      Well, try gmails ui and you will discover a web-ui that is better than most email-clients out there.
      • actually, I'd rather use thunderbird for both easier usability and the ability to have multiple mailboxes accessible at the same time. (including my gmail account via POP)
        • Comment removed based on user account deletion
        • You see, that's the beauty of the choices we have. For you, a standalone email client is best. For me, a Web-based client that is always accessible wherever I have Web access is more desirable.

          I would ccertainly love to always have access to a full-featured, all-in-one email client, but with Gmail, I can manage my email at home, work, in a training class, at my friend's house, etc. I'm not tied down to a single installation. Yes, I could put definitely Portable Thunderbird on a USB Memory thingy (in fact,
    • Re:And I ask... (Score:5, Interesting)

      by TrippTDF ( 513419 ) <hiland@g m a i l.com> on Wednesday April 20, 2005 @09:59AM (#12292459)
      Not since I got gmail.

      I was paying $20 a year for Yahoo! Plus, and using POP3 at work and at home, but then I got gmail, and I liked the interface so much, I let my Y!+ expire.

      I'm on my gmail account all day long, checking in with other friends at work (ok, SLACKING OFF), and having an RSS feed at the top would be kind of cool.

      This is more proof that Google has a lot more in store for gmail, as well as other services.
      • I agree. I live in gmail. It goes where I go. Soon, it will handle spreadsheets and presentations and then someone will make a distro that has mysql/apache/php and boots to firefox and microsoft will shrink down to Borland size and sell only development tools no one sane will use.
      • I love the Google Mail interface for reading mail, but as a feed reader it just won't cut it. I would rather use something like FeedOnFeeds [minutillo.com] in frame mode for best text density. I even use a republish patch [shokk.com] to reuse the feed reader to publish select links. Since everyone from CNN to Sourceforge uses RSS feeds to distribute articles, I never ever have to go randomly browsing for content. Either it's in the reader or it isn't published yet.
    • I too liked Google's interface enough to keep it open. I constantly have a tab open in Firefox for it. Plus I have Sage running on the side, which is kind of pointless for the Gmail feed, but it would be kind of nice to have the RSS at the top. Still a good point about the POP3. I just hope those of us who would be interested don't find that we get overwhelmed by useless tiny bits that become way too much.
    • Re:And I ask... (Score:3, Insightful)

      by jbarr ( 2233 )
      No, no, no. This comes up all the time. For me, a Web-based email account is essential because I can access it from anywhere I have Web access. And Gmail's UI is more like a "real client" than most, so the need for a dedicated client is really eliminated.

      Gmail is an excellent example of a Web-enabled app that really make the Web experience pleasant and productive.

      -Jim
      GmailTips.com [gmailtips.com]
      • Well said. I was a dedicated Outlook user until I got a Gmail account. I've been using tons of email clients over the years (Eudora, The Bat, Outlook Express, Outlook, Agent, Thunderbird etc. etc. You name it, I've tried it, but I eventually settled with Outlook), but Gmail is the tops. Its UI is great and searching for old mails is a snap. The crowning feature is its storage capacity and its transportability. Wherever I am, I can always access my email, and not just the last ten days worth of email, but ev
    • Re:And I ask... (Score:5, Interesting)

      by LiENUS ( 207736 ) <slashdot AT vetmanage DOT com> on Wednesday April 20, 2005 @10:19AM (#12292608) Homepage
      Gmail is turning in to a lot more than email. Using the labels and filters I have my logs emailed to my Gmail account nightly and automatically sort them according to where they came from. Since I archive and keep all emails if I need logs from a certain day I just search and find it. Since I'm checking Gmail several times a day if I could have rss aggregated in as well I could put something like slashdot in and be able to check slashdot while I'm reading through the daily logs. In addition to checking logs I also submit class assignments through Gmail. All of the stuff I do in Gmail means I spend a lot of time in it.
      • Here here! I can't believe how google managed to take a good system like email and enhance it in sooooooo many ways. I still use POP3 for backup putposes, and becasue I have to have a client open for work e-mail, but for the most part, it's the g-mail interface for me!
    • Webmail provides a single, central location for all your email. It looks the same if you connect from home, it looks the same if you connect from work, it looks the same if you connect from your friends house.

      With pop3, I have one pile of of messages at home, a second pile at work. The messages are out of sync. You can leave the downloaded messages on the server, but there is no way to keep your Sent messages in sync. If I organize my mail folders at home, I need to duplicate this effort at work.

      This situ
    • "Who spends this much time on the webmail?"

      When I was out of town and at an internet cafe....
    • What clients were people using before they switched to Gmail? Don't get me wrong - I think it's pretty slick for a web application - but it feels pretty "underpowered" to me.

      I use Kmail (via Kontact) to access my company's IMAP server and my home IMAP server. It autocompletes addresses from my company's LDAP server. It tells me when the person I just got an email from is online with Jabber or AIM. It supports GPG. When I'm on the road, I can use Squirrelmail to access the same accounts and the same a

    • Welcome to the world of DSL!

      Those of us that don't use dialups actually don't care that we are spending that much time in our webmail.

      In fact I uninstalled evolution on my machine, and removed thunderbird from my wifes and now we only use the gmail web interface.

      Who cares about pop3 when they have a webmail GUI that's better than any client I've ever used.


      And you know what else? POP3 was perfect for downloading texts that took seconds to download and minutes to read. With all the powerpoint-joke-E.
  • by 0x461FAB0BD7D2 ( 812236 ) on Wednesday April 20, 2005 @09:56AM (#12292425) Journal
    There is nothing more powerful than offering exclusive services to those at the top of the blogosphere and watching the news, and the hype, trickle down to other sites. This builds up anticipation for the service, and when they deliver it is an epiphany.

    It's not only that Gmail's services are better. It knows how to market them online.
  • Google stories everyday on slashdot, gmail RSS'ing those stories onto google...I bet google news has them too!

    It's the end of independant technology news as we know it.
  • by aftk2 ( 556992 ) on Wednesday April 20, 2005 @09:56AM (#12292433) Homepage Journal
    I mean, think about it - with Google already supporting RSS feeds for mail messages [blupp.net], now we'll actually be able to get our GMail mail through web clips. Imagine - being able to get Google Mail through Google Mail - Revolutionary!

    Er, wait a minute...
    • Actually, I wonder if they do any checking for that, or else: *inbox retrieves feeds of inbox *gmail sends update that you recieved an update *inbox retrieves this update *the update of the update is sent to the update *Google's servers melt down due to Slashdot users intentionally making Googles' code do an infinite loop.
    • Indeed, I did not get the web clip link but firefox came up with live bookmark auto detect when I was on my gmail page, although live bookmark add failed: So I parsed the page to find the link, copied it and pasted it into an atom reader (firefox sage plugin) and all was fine - though its a bit limited in the info and to do anything useful with long / threaded mails you need to go to gmail web page anyway. Still its a nice way to check mail status without bothering with a gmail notifying app, and hopefully
  • Cleaner Interface (Score:5, Interesting)

    by IAmTheDave ( 746256 ) <basenamedave-sd@ ... m minus math_god> on Wednesday April 20, 2005 @09:57AM (#12292442) Homepage Journal
    While I love GMail's functionality, I think it could probably use a UI overhaul if they are going to start adding content blocks or make GMail a portal of any sort.

    That said, how cool would it be to have a full AJAX [adaptivepath.com] client in Gmail that returned search results from the web/images/video, maintained my open inbox, let me read RSS, watch video clips, IM or IRC... a man can dream...
  • It's coming... (Score:3, Informative)

    by jbarr ( 2233 ) on Wednesday April 20, 2005 @10:00AM (#12292467) Homepage
    ...I don't have it on my account yet, but when I do, I'll post all the details on my GmailTips.com [gmailtips.com] site.

    This will be very nice addition. I just hope that Gmail doesn't become bogged down with extras. My wish is that all of these kinds of extras be togglable through Settings...
  • Ooohh... Google (Score:2, Interesting)

    by nyri ( 132206 )
    This is 21st Google article in this month and third today. What is it with Google that every sigle thing they do has to be reported on slashdot?

    I'm not the only one with complains about what is put on the front page. How about moderation system to the articles on fron page/in sections. If a article is moderated enough down it will drop from the front page to the section and if it is still moderated it might drop out of the system all together. Articles could also rise from the section to the front page.

    Th
    • Your idea is a sound one, and one that would work quite well. The reason it won't be enacted is because:

      A)It's TOO smart to do.

      B)You would be giving too much power to us peons.

      C)Then Timothy, Roland and the rest of the ensemble couldn't pay/get paid to put up articles which are basically plugs and advertisements. After all...there's money to be made!

    • GoogleDot (Score:1, Flamebait)

      by wiredog ( 43288 )
      Taco's going to cash in. Again.
    • Do you have a 2 button mouse or one with a scroll or maybe you got a crazy one button mouse?Instead of complaining like a nancy, I usally just scroll paste the articles....It is crazy....but it is just me. Almost forgot...the up and down errors work as well...give it a try.
    • How about they just add a Google section and post all this stuff under it and people can filter it out if they see fit?
  • Why the hate? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by varun ( 174357 ) on Wednesday April 20, 2005 @10:09AM (#12292533) Homepage
    I really don't understand why people are cribbing about /.'s coverage of Google. Google *is* one of the fastest innovating companies out there, coupled with being one whose products are widely used. They are a revolutionary company in many respects.

    I *do* want to hear about the first email service to give me "unlimited" storage. I *do* want to hear about satellite images on maps (I need the landmarks. I'm horrible with directions :-P ). I *do* want to hear about uber-cool features such as Suggest (albeit not really useful, it's still fascinating for any web hacker).

    Google, to me, is a company that is a break from the norm - both technologically and business-wise. It's refreshing and intruiging. And I'd like hear from someone who can argue (rationally) against the fact that they have had a huge impact on the WWW.
    • Re:Why the hate? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by astrashe ( 7452 ) on Wednesday April 20, 2005 @10:38AM (#12292810) Journal
      I don't hate google -- I use their various services a couple of hundred times a day. They're a great company.

      I'm a little worried about the hype surrounding them, though. I'm not so much worried about anything google has done, or said they plan to do, as about the hype. People keep speculating about how google will be a platform, and how great it will be when they keep all of your data on their servers, and anyone with a web browser can get at it.

      The problem with that is that it's a big step backwards from microsoft, freedom wise. The google guys seem like nice guys, and they have their famous "don't be evil" motto and all of that. But the point of all of the whole open source thing is freedom -- it's having control over your own computer and your own data.

      There are two problems with Microsoft. The first, and most obvious one, is that they're jerks. They spread fud, they've tried to kill off startups by announcing vaporware in the past, they twist hardware manufacturer's arms, threaten, and bully people.

      But there's another problem -- the structure of the commercial software system isn't good. Microsoft abuses it's power -- but would it be ok if another corporate culture were administering that power in a less abusive way? Isn't an open source world still preferable?

      Google is a like a good and just king. They don't bully people, they don't make threats, they don't throw their weight around. But they are slowly and surely consolidating a lot of control over the flow of information, generally speaking, in the world. That's scary as hell. They've never done anything that makes me think that they have evil designs. But it's still scary.

      What's going to happen when the current management dies or retires? What if they get kicked out? Jobs got kicked out of Apple?

      I don't mean to suggest that we should be terrified of google, or that we should think of them as a negative force in the world. But a more sophisticated inquiry into what's happening and what the long term consequences of it might be is certainly appropriate.

      In particular, whiz-bang "gee, google came out with a new free-beer gadget that I love!" articles don't help much. I don't know that they hurt that much, but they don't help.

      • I'm a little worried about the hype surrounding them, though. I'm not so much worried about anything google has done, or said they plan to do, as about the hype. People keep speculating about how google will be a platform, and how great it will be when they keep all of your data on their servers, and anyone with a web browser can get at it.

        The problem with that is that it's a big step backwards from microsoft, freedom wise. The google guys seem like nice guys, and they have their famous "don't be evil" mo

      • You seem to be saying we should be wary of Google purely because of what they might become. Isn't that a rather paranoid view?
    • I really don't understand why people are cribbing about /.'s coverage of Google. Google *is* one of the fastest innovating companies out there, coupled with being one whose products are widely used. They are a revolutionary company in many respects.

      It has nothing to do with Google but more to do with the fact that there have been 21 articles in 3 days. If you had the same volume about Linus and Bitkeeper, the RIAA, Sony's PSP, Microsoft and anything else you would still get the same complaints.

      If the S

    • It's Slashdot man. Something HAS to be bitched about.

  • by pseudolus ( 790109 ) on Wednesday April 20, 2005 @10:10AM (#12292544)
    I can't help but feel sorry for the 3 people in this country who still don't have a Gmail account. If only there were some other way for them to get news on the web...
  • What?! (Score:5, Funny)

    by KipCas ( 872321 ) <y2kip@yah o o .com> on Wednesday April 20, 2005 @10:13AM (#12292575) Homepage
    There are 3 people left on earth who don't have a Gmail account?! Time to put those invites back on ebay.
  • Someday... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Eskimore_ ( 842733 ) on Wednesday April 20, 2005 @10:15AM (#12292588)
    Someday the term 'Internet access' will be replaced with 'Google access'.

    Google is the idea Pinky and The Brain should have had.
  • http://www.mozdex.com/opensearch :)
  • by LordJezo ( 596587 ) on Wednesday April 20, 2005 @10:24AM (#12292657)
    Sure, RSS is nice, but how about adding in something basic like distribution lists so I don't have put all the contacts in for each email list I send out?
  • by alexo ( 9335 ) on Wednesday April 20, 2005 @10:27AM (#12292672) Journal

    Bells and whistles are nice but how about adding IMAP compatibility and more configurable filtering (Sieve scripts perhaps?).
  • I can aggregate everyone's email now and read it as news? Sure is more interesting than just mine.
  • I often wonder to myself if I were to figure out a way to make love to google, would Slashdot cover it..
  • by Xarius ( 691264 )
    Everyone no doubt has set up an elaborate shell script to automatically comment on google stories, bemoaning the amount of news about google on slashdot.

    Don't see any else whinging about the amount of Linux coverage, or OSS coverage.

    Everyone's looking for the new "big company" to make snarky comments about.
  • Let me know when they provide RSS feeds for tracking shipments. The thing they just added for searching for tracking numbers is a step in the right direction, though.
  • I use Google every day, but I haven't seen any sign up link yet. Right now, it's still in evaluation/limited release, and they haven't issued a firm, full release date yet.

    (And IMHO, it's dancing periously close to being vaporware!)

    • I use Google every day, but I haven't seen any sign up link yet. Right now, it's still in evaluation/limited release, and they haven't issued a firm, full release date yet.

      But anybody who wants one can get one - thats not exactly Vaporware.
    • From Wikipediia [wikipedia.org] :

      Vaporware (or vapourware) is software or hardware which is announced by a developer well in advance of release, but which then fails to emerge, either with or without a protracted development cycle. The term implies deception, or at least a negligent degree of optimism; that is, it implies that the announcer knows that product development is in too early a stage to support responsible statements about its completion date, feature set, or even feasibility.

      Now, as far as I know, GMail is

    • If you want a gmail account but don't have one, reply to this message and I will give you one of my invitations. D
  • Google web search, desktop search, maps, images, videos, usenet, shopping, mail, RSS, whatever etc etc...

    Maybe we should all save ourselves some time and only take note of what Google ISN'T doing.
  • by Anonymous Coward
    Yahoo has been doing amazing stuff with a lot of their sites. My Yahoo Search, Groups, Yahoo 360, Yahoo news just got a makeover. They've had RSS on My Yahoo for a long time now.

    Seriously, why is Slashdot focused only on Google when Yahoo is also doing all of these great things to their site? Is it just Google stardom that's gotten to you guys?

  • did anyone look at the screenshot? this has nothing to do with RSS....it has to do with google's new video distribution service.
  • I'd like to use Gmail as my mail client, but I don't want to use my @gmail.com email address.

    I have my own domains, with my own email addresses. I can bring them with me if I chose a different email provider.

    I forward the mail from the email address to my Yahoo account. Yahoo allows me to set the "From:" line to any email address that I control.

    Gmail does not offer me the option of sending email any of my other email domains.

    With Gmail, I can put my address in the 'Reply-To:' line, but many people &
    • I'd like to use Gmail as my mail client, but I don't want to use my @gmail.com email address.

      I have my own domains, with my own email addresses. I can bring them with me if I chose a different email provider.

      Here you go [slashdot.org]. The only problem I've seen is slightly increased amounts of spam making it through Gmail's filter. I have to wonder if spammers have opened Gmail accounts and are poisoning the filters by marking their spam as good. It's still a whole lot less than I was getting without Gmail filter

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