Inbox by Gmail adds ‘Smart Reply’ suggestions for web users
Google announced today that it’s bringing the “Smart Reply” feature previously only available to mobile users to Inbox by Gmail on the web.
Google Calendar on the desktop gets autocomplete for addresses, relevant event suggestions & more
Google announced a couple of welcomed improvements to Google Calendar on the desktop today. Perhaps the most notable new feature is autocomplete for addresses powered by Google Maps:
Calendar will autocomplete addresses as you type so you can quickly and accurately add locations to your events. Your friends can then simply click on the “map” link to make sure you all end up at the right place.
The update also brings suggestions for instant relevant events as you type. Now, when searching Calendar you’ll see instant suggestions pop up for events and contacts relevant to your search query. Like the autocomplete feature, instant suggestions for events and contacts aim to make it easier to quickly input entries into your calendar.
Lastly, Google Calendar will now automatically update event guest lists for Google Groups as members leave or join the group:
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Chrome adds smarter omnibox suggestions, WebRTC support on Android
Google announced today on its Chrome Blog that it is beginning to roll out smarter omnibox suggestions for Chrome users that it says will provide “more timely and contextually relevant suggestions.” The feature has been available for a while in beta and Google noted the improved suggestions are based on websites users recently visited. The new features come alongside the release of the Chrome 29 stable release for Windows, Mac, and Linux, which also brings support for new apps and extensions APIs.
Another new feature coming in Chrome 29 is the ability to reset Chrome back to its original state, disabling all added extensions, through an easy to access option located in Settings:
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Google Drive docs now provide automatic suggestions for hyperlinks
Google announced today that it will start offering suggestions for hyperlinks directly in Docs and Slides. When highlighting text and clicking “Insert Link” Google will automatically start generating URL suggestions based on the text:
You can hyperlink text in Docs and Slides when you want to attach related information to a word or sentence — for example, when writing a paper on Athens, you can highlight “Acropolis” and link it to a Google search result, a specific website, a heading or bookmark in your document, or even another file in Drive.
Starting today, the link tool now offers you suggestions based on the text you are hyperlinking just in case you don’t have the URL you need offhand. To try it out, select the text you want and click the “Insert link” icon from the menu bar (or use Ctrl K).
Pinterest for Android updated with push notifications, @mentions, search suggestions, more
Pinterest is rolling out a big update to its mobile apps today that brings a number of highly requested features to Android devices. Some of the more notable updates include notifications and push notifications for comments and mentions, the ability to @mention friends from within the app, and improved search that provides suggestions as you type.
A full list of what’s new in Pinterest 1.5 for Android is below:
What’s in this version:
-Send a pin to someone
-Get push notifications to know when someone comments, likes or repins your stuff
-Search…and you shall receive suggestions
-Mention your friends in comments
Google News introduces new “Editors’ Picks” feature with human recommendations
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Google News just launched a new Editors’ Picks feature that provides a personal, human touch, straying from the “generated entirely by computer algorithms without human editors” approach of the past.
The new feature won’t exactly have Google employees suggesting their favorite articles, but rather aggregate content that publications have highlighted as being their “most engaging content”. Editors’ Picks will be available initially in the right column of the U.S. Google News page and display content from nearly two dozen publications Google has selected to participate. The feeds you will see in the new feature will depend on your news preferences.
Publications and news organizations can head over to the News Help Center to learn more.
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