Tuesday 2 March 2010

Fast new windows

Posted by Michael Davidson, Software Engineer

One of the lesser-known features of Gmail is its ability to help with multitasking. Frequently, I find that I need to find an old message while I'm composing an email. When this happens, I click on the "new window" icon to pop my compose area into its own window:


There's only one problem — it's been slow! Today, we're rolling out a change that will fix this (reload your account to make sure you get this change). Now, popping out a window is much, much faster. No more "Loading..." progress bar.

There are a number of places you can pop up new windows in Gmail.
  • In chat, there's the little upward arrow in the title bar:


  • When writing a message, hold the "Shift" key while you click on the Compose Mail, Reply, Reply All or Forward links and you'll get a new window for your new message. (Holding the "Shift" key while typing the keyboard shortcut — in other words typing "C" "R" or "F" — has the same effect.)

  • When you're reading your mail, hold the "Shift" key while you click on a message to open the conversation in a new window. (Same holds true for the "Shift" key and the "o" or "Enter" shortcuts.)

  • If you're reading an email and want to save it for later, you can click the "New window" link in the upper-right hand corner of the conversation view:


Keep in mind that the popped out window does not outlive the closing of the original Gmail window, although we're working on a way to make that better. Unfortunately, we weren't able to make this work in Internet Explorer, so to see the speed-up, you'll need to be using Mozilla Firefox, Apple's Safari, or Google Chrome.

Announcing the winners of the Street View trike contest

[Cross-posted from the Official Google Blog]

​The polls have closed, the votes have been tallied and the people have spoken: it’s time to announce the winners of our Street View trike suggestions contest. Last October, we gave Street View fans the opportunity to vote for the special attractions around the United States that they most want to see featured on Google Maps. In the first round, we received more than 25,000 suggestions, which we narrowed down to the 24 finalists that were put up to a public vote. All in all, nearly a quarter million votes were cast.

The most popular category among all voters was University Campuses, racking up nearly 70,000 votes. Topping the list was Rochester Institute of Technology (Rochester, New York). Reminiscing alumni, prospective students or empty-nest parents will be able to tour the university through Street View for a unique look at campus life.

Cyclists also came out in droves to cast their ballots for their favorite riding spots, and the Boulder Creek Path (Boulder, Colorado) rode away with victory in the Parks & Trails category. Our trike riders — and the avid bike riders in Google’s Boulder office — are looking forward to the chance to take a ride along this scenic 5½-mile greenway.

History buffs, potential tourists, and online window-shoppers will soon be able to take a virtual stroll through the grounds of Faneuil Hall Marketplace (Boston, Massachusetts), the most popular submission in the Pedestrian Malls category.

In the National Landmarks category, voters elected a location that actually encompasses many of the United States’ most famous landmarks, including the Smithsonian Insitution museums, the Washington Monument and the Capitol Building. That’s right: the National Mall in Washington, D.C. emerged victorious.

The manually-pedaled trike will soon be making its way to the Motor City to ride through the Detroit Zoo, the top vote-getter in the Theme Parks & Zoos category. With this imagery, families and animal lovers will be able visit the kangaroos and wallabies from the Australian Outback Adventure and the polar bears in the Arctic Ring of Life.


We’re now working directly with each of the winning organizations to arrange a visit from our trike in the coming months, so don’t be surprised if you see this quirky contraption at your favorite destination sometime soon:



​Because so many of you – 238,000, to be exact – expressed a desire to have the trike visit your favorite place, we'll also be working with many of the other finalists, so stay tuned for more exciting special collections from our trike. And if you happen to manage or work at another attraction that you think absolutely needs to be featured in Street View, please let us know!



Announcing the winners of the Street View trike contest

The votes have been tallied and the winners are in! Last October the Street View trike suggestions contest provided an opportunity for you to vote for your university campus, among a few other categories, to be featured on Google Maps. More than 25,000 suggestions were narrowed down to 24 finalists and more than a quarter million votes were cast.

Download The Crazies torrent

Download The Crazies torrent ( Coming soon)