I know for a fact that there are lots of people out there who still use Yahoo mail or Hotmail as their primary emails. To say that these email providers are obsolete is an understatement. Gmail has revolutionized email and continues to do so everyday. The stand alone Gmail without any lab experiments activated still beats Yahoo mail and Hotmail by miles. If you add selected lab experiments to your Gmail, you get to use email in its futuristic form. I never thought that email could have inline video embedding, ever! Gmail however, has made this possible in one of their lab features. I have summarized the most useful lab features available below.
1. Youtube previews: This is the video embedding feature I was talking about. Right now, it only supports youtube videos; but I'm sure this will expand to other video formats very soon.
2. Tasks: This creates a small notpad thingy where you can make notes or just jot down your daily tasks. A very quick and efficient way to write down and check your daily tasks.
3. Superstars: I recommend using either superstars or Gmail's inbuilt labels feature. Use one; not both. The function is to organize mail and keep your mail in easy to find categories. Personally, I use labels and don't see a real need to add superstars.
4. Old snakey: It's a game...and it gets pretty tough as you get to the higher levels. I like games like this that are simple yet challenging. It's also the only game on the list. You can add it...or not. It doesn't have anything to do with email; but whenever you need some fun, "old snakey" is always there.
5. Canned responses: This is perfect for those emails that require the exact same reply over and over again. Just store your template and use it whenever you need to.
6. Navbar drag and drop: This is required to rearrange your layout in your main Gmail page. The ability to customize your layout by moving your chat box, calendar box or labels box to optimum positions can have a significant affect on the way you work.
7. Forgotten Attachment Detector: This feature is genius. The amount of embarrassment this has saved me is too much to measure. It is a must have for all email users.
8. Multiple Inboxes: This is perfect for people having multiple email accounts. You can have up to 9 inboxes in your main page. It can also filter messages within your inbox, or sent items or even drafts and display them in your main page as a seperate inbox.
10. Undo send: This too is a must have embarrassment saver. It gives you a 5 second window to undo the message you just sent.
11. Search Autocomplete: This is a very useful feature for suggesting contacts, labels and attachments in the Gmail search button in the Gmail main page.
12. Inserting Images: I wrote a post not long ago where I described how you could add images to your email inline with the text using the "Send to" button on the Google toolbar. This lab feature now enables you to do exactly that. It looks like the Gmail team really do listen to their customers which is more than what can be said for the Hotmail team.
13. Google Calendar gadget: I use google calendar for my work. This gadget is perfect for reminding me of my appointments without having to go to the calendar homepage.
14. Add any gadget by URL: This is a good feature to activate; but since most of the google gadgets are not designed for Gmail, it might be not work as it should. Still, no harm in having a look through the gadget library and trying out some of your favourite gadgets in Gmail.
There are other gadgets which I'm sure are useful to lots of users; but lab features in the list I have compiled are perhaps the most important and most useful of them all. If you are still using Yahoo mail or Hotmail, I have only one piece of advice....ditch those pieces of s*** and switch to Gmail which just works!
Also, do check out the Gmail blog which is updated whenever there are new features added to Gmail or Gmail labs.
http://gmailblog.blogspot.com
