I was pleasantly surprised yesterday when I noticed a subtle update to Google Chrome. The New Tab page got a makeover, adding dynamic customization capability. Other updates include faster javascript, a more informative Omnibox (i.e. the search/URL bar), and support for themes. From what I’ve noticed so far Chrome is noticeably snappier. While I like the original Chrome theme I also think Glossy Blue is quite attractive.

Google has more details about the update on the Chrome Blog

Being a big college football fan I was excited to see Google Calendars add Sports Calendars.  You will probably see the standard Google new feature red text in the upper right-hand corner that looks like this:

If you click on the link you will see an Interesting Calendars.  From here you will see a Sports tab which gives you a choice of half a dozen sports.  I chose to add the NCAA Football calendar.

Lately I’ve been ramping my Web design skills back up in order to get a couple of websites up and running for my wife’s businesses. Color schemes are one thing that are not one of my stronger suites.  I always find it difficult to put together a group of colors that I’m happy with. There are plenty of free color pickers and even some color scheme tools.  However, none of them seem to be an all-encompassing tool that does it all.

That is, until I read a recent post over at devloung.net that mentions a tool called Color Scheme Designer.  This tool has it all from the rich, user-friendly interface (including super-helpful tooltips) to the example web pages that let you see your color scheme in action. Add to that the ability to enable different color models (e.g. mono, compliment, triad, and others) as well as “undo/redo” multiple times.  It even has “vision simulations” that let you test your scheme for different levels of color blindness.  I could waste hours playing with Color Scheme Designer!

Do you use any color tools that you can’t live without?

Gmail drag-and-drop labels

Today the Gmail team quietly made a minor change in its interface with respect to labels.  The label panel moved to a more permanent position below the Inbox and Sent Mail “folders” and above Contacts and Tasks.  The list of labels has also been shortened, allowing a user to drag and drop more frequently used labels in and out of the list.  Emails can now be dragged and dropped on top of labels like a more traditional thick client email system such as Outlook or Thunderbird.

I first noticed something suspicious today when my label list, normally on the right side of the interface thanks to a Gmail Labs tweak, moved to the left side.  After trying several times to move it back to the right side I gave up.  I figured there was a glitch or a bug or they simply disabled the tweak.  When I checked my mail tonight I got a very helpful bubble that explained the changes.  This may give some insight into how the team phased the change in to the interface, disabling the tweak first, then rolling out the update.  I’m intrigued by their update model.

Yesterday was an exciting day for Google. They have generated gigawatts of buzz surrounding the announcement of an unreleased Google App called Wave. So what is Google Wave?  Is it a gnarly, surfable wall of coolness or just a realtime mashed-up rehash of distracting technologies?  Wave, according to the Official Google Blog, Wave will combine all of the currently popular methods of communication (email, IM, Facebook, Twitter, and others) into one monolithic system into what Google thinks the world really needs. Talking about the inspiration behind Wave, Lars Rasmussen, co-creator of Google Maps with his brother Jens, said:

“email and instant messaging, were originally designed in the ’60s to imitate analog formats - email mimicked snail mail, and IM mimicked phone calls. Since then, so many different forms of communication had been invented - blogs, wikis, collaborative documents, etc. - and computers and networks had dramatically improved. So Jens proposed a new communications model that presumed all these advances as a starting point; I was immediately sold”

If you read over the feature list for Wave, you’ll notice a glaring undertone. That is, Wave will form a massive, gelatinous goo of communication between every popular web technology. Think this stinks of Microsoft? Mary-Jo Foley (ZDNet) and others sure think so. But before you file your Google Wave anti-trust lawsuit, let’s consider whether or not that’s actually a bad thing.

The general sentiment among software users that I know who’ve been forced to use Windows and its associated brands is that, “Microsoft sucks but it’s got market share so I guess I’ll just deal with it”. Add to that the tarnishing aftertaste everyone seems to remember when the United States took Microsoft to court because they were suspicious the company was trying to create a “monopoly on the PC operating system market”. But, if Google tried to create a monopoly I don’t think it would have the same effect as it did in Microsoft’s case. Google tends to be a friendlier company, touting Green programs, and offering tons of free software. Google is still not an Operating System company, at least not yet and not in the traditional sense. Google owns all the hardware and users simply connect with a browser. Google also tends to have a better user experience record than Microsoft. So would it be such a bad thing if all your work were done using Google Apps?

Not everything from Google necessarily turns to gold but most of it is a hell of a lot better than what Microsoft tends to kludge together. At this point I think it’s premature to say whether Wave will be a hit or not but it’s clear that the positive hype certainly has more momentum. In all honesty, the thought of combining Facebook, Twitter, Gmail, Google Docs, etc. into a single application sounds like both a software utopia and a distraction nightmare. Google Wave certainly has potential for both…