If I have never mentioned it before, my husband Derek is a Google fanatic. For example, when deciding where we wanted to go on our honeymoon the Googleplex in Mountain View, California held the number one slot for more than a week.  So that he doesn’t get too angry with me about calling him out, we actually were thinking about honeymooning in Napa Valley and San Francisco.  We figured since we would be in the neighborhood (and by neighborhood, I mean west of the Mississippi) we would pay homage to one of the few companies NOT suffering from these hard economic times…GOOGLE.  Because of our over usage of just about every Google product available I thought I might give everyone that doesn’t live and breath Google a heads up about a few new features added to Gmail Labs.

If you use Gmail, you may have noticed a pop-up on your screen, giving a brief overview of the new features, if you logged in since July 1, 2009.  If not then you will have a pleasant surprise on your next login.  These changes also bring along the end of a Gmail Labs feature Right-side Labels.  Google says this is the first Labs feature they are retiring.  I never got accustomed to this feature, so for me…not a big loss.  Google has added features like…

new labels location :: They are now to the left of your inbox, above your chat list (unless you use right-side chat), grouped together with Inbox, Drafts, Chats and other system labels

label(s) hide/show :: You now have control over which of your labels show.  Google does their best to get you going by automatically showing your most used labels and hiding the rest.  This is a blessing from the heavens for people like me who can’t stand a cluttered screen/desktop.  Minimalism is key!

drag & drop :: now you can drag messages to your sidebar labels, like you would in outlook with folders.  This is same thing as “Move to” — it labels and archives in one step.  You can also drag labels onto a message and PRESTO CHANGE-O labeling done!  This is all the same as the original task of using the “Label” button.

To label or move multiple messages in one fell swoop, select the message by using the checkbox, then drag and drop the label.  You can also drag labels into the “more” menu to hide them and add hidden labels.

Did anyone else loose their g-talk “send message by sms” option yesterday?  Google Talk, in addition to messaging by IM, voice, and video allowed you to send one of your contacts a message by sms if they were not online (of course they had to activate this feature on their account).  Mine just up and disappeared.

Now it is a Labs feature and they do state that Labs features may change, break, or disappear at any time.  Derek and I use this feature often; I mean why couldn’t they take away something like the stupid Yelp previews?  Bring back my SMS Google, please!  I don’t have much money, but I am willing to negotiate.

(more…)