TechMiso

The best web-based email client just got even better, thanks to the wonders of the various innovative features available in Gmail Labs, Google’s testing ground for experimental Gmail features. Once configured, Gmail will display previews of YouTube videos, Picasa and Flickr photographs and Yelp listings directly in an email when using the web-based Gmail interface.

If you are a Google addict who uses other Google properties like YouTube and Picasa then this is a dream come true. Similarly, if you use Flickr for your photographs or want to easily share listings from Yelp, then these new Gmail Labs features ought to be right up your alley.

Google describes the new Gmail Labs features as follows:

• YouTube previews in mail. Shows a video preview whenever you receive a YouTube link in an email. You can watch the video right inline!
• Picasa previews in mail. Shows photos previews whenever you receive a Picasa link in an email.
• Flickr previews in mail. Shows photos previews whenever you receive a Flickr link in an email.
• Yelp previews in mail. Shows previews of Yelp listings (rating, location, phone number, etc.) whenever you receive a Yelp link in an email.

After playing around with them for a few minutes the new experimental features almost seemed obvious. I considered smacking myself on my forehead and shouting out loud out of sheer stupidity for never having thought about this idea.

One does have to wonder how come no other web-based email providers ever considered such features – they feel so natural. It is almost as if these features should have been in Gmail from the very beginning.

Logically, deep inspection of the body of an email may be considered taboo for other web-based email providers. Ever since Google launched Gmail, the company has been inspecting email bodies and displaying AdSense ads which match certain keywords and/or phrases. And ever since their launch, Google has been catching flak for doing so, although the pressure has died down recently

It only makes sense to use that same technology to provide a benefit to the user – in this case, displaying content from a select few properties directly in the email without requiring the user to leave Gmail to view the content. It is a genius move by Google!

While I am certain there will be a small contingent of privacy advocates and Google Haters who will complain about these new Gmail Labs features, there is still no way to discount the productivity benefit they provide. Additionally, and probably more important, is that these features will keep people in Gmail rather than farming them out to the other sites. While sending users to YouTube and Picasa is probably not too big of an issue since they are both Google properties, I imagine a large number of people share Flickr photos through Gmail. Keeping those people’s attention within Gmail is beneficial for Google even though these new features are equally valuable to the end-user.

I hope to see Google expand the use of these types of Gmail Labs features to include other sites as well. Why stop with YouTube when Vimeo and other similar sites are available? Similarly, I would love to see eBay and Craigslist listings added, among a host of other possibilities.

What new Gmail Labs features would you like to see Google add to the existing set?