Productive Organizer

I have subscribe to the Google network a fair bit. This means that I use

1. Gmail as my main email client
2. Google Reader as my main RSS feeds reader
3. Google Calendar as my consolidated calendar
4. Google Contacts as my main contact manager

The advantage of subscribing to Google’s cloud services or network, or whatever you want to call it is that

1. It is extensible. You can link data to your data easier than other platform. You can export data away from Google should you feel dis-satisfied with it
2. Because it is extensible and API is open to developers, many desktop,smartphone and other native device developers can build applications to increase productivity and performance
3. Google continues to innovate in their products to accommodate to a large number of users with different ways of calendaring, contacts management, reading and managing email

But the downside for using Google’s product

1. The look is always very ugly compare to Microsoft and Yahoo’s offering
2. Because applications are always in Beta, some people will feel turn off about experimental things and why it doesn’t have certain features

Google have taken a lot of efforts to address the UGLY portion. In the last year, their web applications and Android and iPhone applications have undergone a drastic beautifying.

Now there is a consistent minimalist white theme for almost all their applications. They have cut out a lot of the clutter and have given enough whitespace to enable the user to focus on the right subject.

Good user interface attracts users to come back and want to use it, and the more a person use it, it enhances them better.

The new Gmail resizes better when you change it to a smaller window. The email conversations look better with the picture of the person you are talking to next to it and overall feels more like a chat conversation.

The problem with Google Reader had been that it always look strange and its really not great at focusing on what matters – the content! This redesign removes a lot of the boundaries and ensures the user sees clearly between controls and content.

There is also a tighter integration with Google Plus which is good to grow the Google Plus social network. The more ways you make it easier for info sharing the more it becomes important.

What do you guys think? Do you like the new changes?

Now this is a great effort on Microsoft’s end to reduce the switching cost between Yahoo Mail, Google’s Gmail to Hotmail.

One thing that I really enjoy is using # on my Gmail to delete mail. So if I switch over to another mail client I am unable to do that anymore.

Now in Hotmail, they will allow you to use other mail client’s keyboard shortcuts

Outlook

• Delete a message – Delete
• Create a new message – Ctrl+N
• Send a message – Ctrl+Enter
• Open a message – Ctrl+Shift+O
• Print a message – Ctrl+Shift+P
• Reply to a message – Ctrl+R
• Reply all to a message – Ctrl+Shift+R
• Forward a message – Ctrl+Shift+F
• Save a draft message – Ctrl+S
• Flag a message for follow up – L
• Mark a message as junk – Ctrl+Shift+J
• Mark a message as read – Ctrl+Q
• Mark a message as unread – Ctrl+U
• Move to a folder – Ctrl+Shift+V
• Open the next message – Ctrl+.
• Open the previous message – Ctrl+,
• Close a message – Esc
• Search your email messages – /
• Check spelling – F7
• Select all – S then A
• Deselect all – S then N
• Go to the inbox – F then I
• Go to your Drafts folder – F then D
• Go to your Sent folder – F then S

Gmail, Yahoo Mail

• Delete a message – # – Delete
• Create a new message – C – N
• Send a message – None – Alt+S
• Open a message – O – None
• Print a message – None – P
• Reply to a message – R – R
• Reply all to a message – A – A
• Forward a message – F – F
• Save a draft message – Ctrl+S – Ctrl+S
• Mark a message as junk – ! – None
• Mark a message as read – Shift+I – K
• Mark a message as unread – Shift+U – Shift+K
• Move to a folder – None – D
• Open the next message – J – Ctrl+.
• Open the previous message – K – Ctrl+,
• Close a message – U – Esc
• Search your email messages – / – S
• Select all – * then A
• Deselect all – * then N
• Go to the inbox – G then I – M
• Go to your Drafts folder – G then D
• Go to your Sent folder – G then T

To set this open the options page in Hotmail:

Under options, select keyboard shortcuts listed under customize Hotmail. Here you can turn off shortcuts and select the short cut set you want.

One of the most annoying thing about Gmail compared to Yahoo mail and Hotmail is that after you finish reading a mail, it brings you straight to inbox.

To me it seems to indicate that through its myraid of features it still lags behind Yahoo mail and Hotmail in this aspect.

Well, not anymore, this new labs feature is really not bad:

Today, whenever you open an email in your Gmail inbox and then archive or delete it, you’re taken back to your inbox. Many of you have asked for the ability to instead go to the next conversation. Keyboard ninjas will already be familiar with the “]” and “[“ keyboard shortcuts for archiving and going to the next/previous conversation. For everyone else (and for people who frequently mute or delete conversations rather than archive them) we’re offering a new feature in Gmail Labs called “Auto-advance,” which automatically opens the next conversation after you archive/delete/mute the one you’re on.

To get started with “Auto-advance” go to the Labs tab in Settings, enable it, and click the “Save changes” button. By default, “Auto-advance” will advance to the previous (older) conversation in your inbox — perfect for people who read their newest mail first. If you usually read your oldest email first and would rather advance to the next (newer) conversation, you can change the direction from the General Settings tab.

I will be activating this with no doubt that this will make life much easier.

In my neck of the woods there are still a lot of Yahoo supporters. Much larger than gmail supporters.

I often find the old Yahoo Beta Mail interface to be heavy and slow so it is reassuring to know that Yahoo’s new mail interface is much more speedy.

I tested it myself and have to say it is more responsive. That is watch we want in a mail client.

[Yahoo! Mail Beta>> ]

Kyith:

We used to only be able to sync our Gmail, Contacts and Calendars via Google Sync on our iPhone and iPod Touch. Now it seems with iOS4 we can do Notes as well:

If you use IMAP on your iPhone then you just need to turn on Notes. Go to Settings, “Mail, Contacts, Calendars,” select your account, and flip the switch on Notes (see the screenshot above).

Unfortunately, Google Sync users have a couple of extra (counter-intuitive) steps. You already have an Exchange account on your iPhone where you can switch on and off Mail, Contacts, and Calendars. Notes is not an option. You must set up a new IMAP account with your Google Sync credentials and GMail’s IMAP settings:

Incoming Mail Server: imap.gmail.com

Outgoing Mail Server: smtp.gmail.com

Turn off Mail since you already have email set up with Exchange. Turn on Notes (see the screenshot below).

Now, when you use the Notes app to create a note on your iPhone it will appear in your GMail account with the label “Notes.” To access it you must search for “label:notes” or click on your Notes label in the sidebar. Unfortunately, you cannot create notes from your computer by sending yourself an email and then labeling it with “Notes” which makes this a one-way solution. I recommend using Google Tasks or Simplenote if you want the ability to create and edit notes from multiple devices.

[Hattip Apple Blog >>]

I really don’t use Hotmail. I guess my only hotmail account is used for my MSN. But alot of my friends do and they will be happy they won’t need to be envious of their gmail counterpart who can set up Push Email (with their smartphone data plan) on their iPhone, iPod touch or Android, windows mobile phone.

Here are certain settings that you can try to set up yours

• email: myemail@live.it
• server address: m.hotmail.com
• SSL enabled
• username: {email address}@live.it
• password: {your password}
• Domain: <blank>

Let me know if it works

MakeUseOf have a list of good productivity techniques for Windows Outlook 2007. Makes good use of the ribbon interface. What you will learn here are:

• Using QuickParts
• Using Ribbon Shortcuts
• Attach and Send in One Smooth Flow
• Preview your attachment before you open or save
• Assigning Special Emails with Color
• Find Tweeter a place in Outlook

If you want to know more about them do follow the link to MakeUSeOf

[Go to MakeUseOf Article >>]