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Feed me
View your favorite RSS feeds right in Gmail as “Clips” along the top of your Gmail screen. Display clips from blogs, news sites and other online sources. Pick from the latest headlines, random popular feeds, or add any RSS/Atom feed you want. Learn more

See it now
Don’t want to wait for an attachment to download? Now when you get Microsoft Office, OpenOffice or .pdf attachments, you can view them as a web page in HTML by clicking the “View as HTML” link right next to it. For when you’re on a mobile device or you don’t want to install some new software just to view a document. Or if you just want to see it faster. Learn more

Shortcuts on the right
Now Gmail automatically detects addresses and tracking numbers, and displays useful information for them alongside your messages. With a single click, you can get directions to that address your friend sent you, or find out when the new book you ordered will arrive. Pretty handy! Learn more

When I first saw the RSS thing I thought they added ads… But I guess it’s a pretty neat feature, once you get all the unnecessary feeds out (don’t forget to add usayd.com).
Again all cool features that make me love my GMail even more

Virus scanning is here!
Get an automatic check-up every time you open or send a message with an attachment. We even try our best to remove viruses so we can protect you against all the ones we find. You’re on your own with the common cold (try chicken soup). Learn more

Update:
Usayd

Ideas on the new developments; PC Advisor suggest that maybe Gmail is finally exiting the beta stage.

I personally think that as long as Google continually update GMail then, like their other services, it will continue to become a greater and greater success. One thing I noticed that stood out from the rest was the originality used to make Gmail a number 1. At the time when GMail was released it was competing with very few 1GB email providers. Whilst these are fell behind, Google continually developed GMail until it became one of the best email services in my opinion at least. Now they are offering over 2.5GB of space which is continuously being added to and now anti-virus protection – surely GMail’s future is bright?

And yep; even seems to apply to already registered users:

“What if I’m a UK user who already has a Gmail address? Will that address ever change?”
Unfortunately, we don’t know. We would love to say that your address will always remain the same. But the trademark issue is still unsettled, and unfortunately, we cannot predict what the other party or the courts might do here. You can always use your same username with an @googlemail.com address to avoid this issue later on. But trust that we will do the best we can to make sure your email address won’t ever have to change.

Maybe theres a way of fooling gmail to think i’m not in the UK? I don’t know but i’m going to investigate…

Another slashdot article states the following:

“Yahoo reports that Google has updated their privacy policy on user data collection. The new policy now explicitly states that ‘Google may use personal information to display customized content and advertising, develop new services and ensure that its network continues to function.’ It also adds that employees who violate the policy will be fired and prosecuted. They have also added a Cliffs Notes version of their privacy policy for those who don’t want to RTFPP.” /.

I wonder what is going on exactly.

Definitely to be continued…

links:
Dirson’s blog (rumour source)
PC World article

PS: GMail was again updated with a few new features:

Auto-save
We spent 20 minutes writing this entry, and then the browser crashed. Good thing there’s auto-save. It saves. Automatically.

Export contacts
Export your Gmail Contacts and save them in a file for back-up or to use in another account or service–great if you’re using Gmail’s free POP access. Learn more

and in case you hadn’t noticed, you now have 100 invites, instead of 50.

 Microsoft is preparing to enable computer users to make a normal phone call from their PC.

The computer giant has increased its presence in the fast-growing internet phone sector by purchasing leading player Teleo for an undisclosed sum. Microsoft and rivals AOL, Google and Yahoo all currently allow phone calls between computers, but not yet to a domestic or mobile handset. Yahoo! is also in the process of making such a system.

 :arrow: BBC News

 So it appears that no one wants to miss out on this opportunity. Personally I loved Skype the minute I got my hands on it (quite a while back now!). It was just such a flexible program running on every system I have (Mac, PC and Pocket PC!). I use it quite often and the prices are good. Best of all the application is updated regularly with new features and there are amazing 3rd Party addons too!

Good luck to MS and whoever else, but Skype is gonna be 1 step ahead of you! 

Okay this whole thing about Google and Skype has been clarified interestingly on Vibe of the Tribe, a report I was reading this morning;

We recently have heard through the grapevine that the 3 billion dollar (US) offer from News Corp. was not enough money to convince the wonder twins over at Skype, Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis, to sell. This is not just about money for Niklas and Janus. There must be a passion for technology. Look at Kazaa. Illegal file sharing is a hard business to make money at. At this point it seems that any way they go, Niklas and Janus stand to make a boat load of money when Skype hits the market, but they will do it the way they want.

Now step in the super boys, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, of Google. Google does not have a great VoIP and Instant Message option. Jabber is fine, but it is no Skype. Technology-wise Skype fits into Google’s plans very well. A closed sourced open API environment that really just works. Look at Google maps. Look at AdSense and AdWords. They just work and on any platform, much like Skype.

Read on

Basically this is saying that, from my point of view at least, Google is trying to buy everyone out to have the super-software out there. Skype, however, is owned by people who miraculously aren’t conviced by Google’s offers of money because they are truely dedicated to the cause of their own made software. I think there is something to be respected about that because its not often we get people being so dedicated to developing a software which isn’t based on making masses of money. Either way, the article concludes, Skype is going to make money weather they sell to Google or not – therefore they are doing it the way they want to.

I don’t want Skype to sell out, I prefer it over any other VOIP software other then the fact that you have to pay relatively decent amounts for calling and other additions such as having a personal number and voicemail, it is by far the most advanced and attractive of the softwares – and the only one that works on my PDA, Mac and PC!!

//Edit

I just read this on Macworld;

Skype opens IM service to third parties

Skype Technologies is making its presence and instant messaging (IM) technologies available to all developers wanting to integrate them into their websites or applications.

The announcement comes as Google also announced plans to offer an IM service with voice communications, muscling in on Skype’s territory.

As part of its program to help build new types of Web-based communication services, Skype is opening up its SkypeNet and SkypeWeb APIs (application programming interfaces) to developers worldwide, the company said.

Read on

As you can see the situation between Google and Skype is definately related, and there is something coming that may be quite surprising!

The biggest difference in Desktop Search 2 is that it now has a Side Bar. If you’ve read about the earlier Longhorn builds you’ll know what it is. If you don’t, here is a screenshot of mine. You can add lots and lots of panels like a clock, RSS feeds (web clips), a scratch pad, a todo list, a slide show of your photos, stock info, weather (US only), etc…
But the main improvement IMO is the search itself: it is now more ‘dynamic’ and searches while you type. Another cool extra is that you’ll never have to click start->all programs again: just type the name of the app you’re looking for in the search box.
All those make this app a definite keeper for me (and yes, it can auto-hide)

As for Google Talk, it’s a free, simple, non bloated IM app, based on the Jabber protocol. If your contacts are online you can send them an instant message or just give them a call. If they are offline you can easily send them an email because of the integration with GMail. Much like MSN and hotmail you get notified if you have new emails and can add contacts directly from your GMail contact list. Other neat features are that it integrates seamlessly with the sidebar and that it doesn’t contain any adds or bundled software! That’s right, no scanning of what you type to give personalized ad content!
As you might have guessed you need a GMail account to be able to log into GTalk. If you haven’t got an account yet, feel free to contact me, or any other reporter here as I’m sure we all have GMail and all have invites to share (50 per day to be precise).
A feature I’d like to see being added are emoticons, I’ve gotten used to using them now, and would like to see them in GTalk too. But I’m sure it’s just a matter of time before more features arrive. Skype started without emoticons too. And GMail used to get new features every 2 weeks…

Another interesting note I found was in a recent GoogleBlog entry by Justin Voskuhl, in which he thanks the Mozilla foundation for their easy XUL language and “for making it so easy for [them] to look good”

Not that long ago, the Google Firefox Toolbar team met for the first time – and now we’ve built the Google Toolbar for Firefox in 10 languages for three operating systems (Windows, Mac and Linux). Self-congratulatory urges aside, we marvel at how well-suited this platypus was to our task. For a small team that had never worked together, or used XUL, to create a product quickly that works across languages and platforms from a single ~250K download – that’s good stuff, if you ask me.

I think it’s great to see Google working close with firefox, and that not just being delivering a startpage, but also neat extensions that give you new features like Google Suggest. The fact that they’ve finaly started to develop the Googlebar for another browser than IE and hearing that they actually prefer this new open source way just makes my day

When you go to Google.com today, you will find this logo:
It announces a new service of google called Google Moon, you can compare it to Google Maps, with the only difference that this is with imagery of the moon.

The Google staff hasn’t lost it’s sence of humor: try zooming in to the maximum….

See what the astronauts saw on July 20, 1969. Try Google Moon