A few months ago I noticed a new icon in my Gmail account .  Upon clicking on it, I was brought to Gmail Labs, where new Gmail features are being tested.

I played around with some of the features for a while but never really looked into them to see how they could really make my Gmail experience better.  Today, after I installed Firefox Extension, Better Gmail 2 (highly recommended!), I decided it would also be a good time to see what, if anything, these features could do for me.  To see what I found, watch the screencast below:

Click Here To Watch The Screencast 3m46s

Want this screencast on your site?  Click here to get the embed code for this and other DemoGirl screencasts!

With the way most of us communicate with people from all over the world these days, wouldn’t it be nice if you could buy your Internet friend a drink - even if you can’t be there to toast with them?  Well, BuyYourFriendADrink is one solution, albeit limited in its locations.

BuyYourfriendADrink allows you to purchase a drink for someone online which they can then redeem at participating bars.  This may seem silly because usually you buy someone a drink when you’re sitting right next to them at the bar.  However, I don’t even live in the same state as some of my co-workers let alone all the great people I’ve connected with through my blog and Twitter.  This would allow me to show my gratitude to someone who gave me help on a project or just give me a way to say, “hi!” to someone I never get to spend time with.  Any way you want to look at it, people like getting things.  Especially free things.

The way it works is pretty simple.  If you want to buy someone a drink, you just need to sign up for an account and go to the “buy a drink” page.  From there, enter in your name and email address along with the name and email of the friend you’d like to purchase a drink for.  You can also choose to enter in their cell number if you’d like them to be notified of their drink via text message.  Then enter in the amount of your gift (a $0.99 transaction fee will be added to your order).  Write your friend a little note telling them why you’re sending them a drink, or five, and then choose to pay via PayPal or credit card.  That’s it.  Your friend will receive an email or a text message with a gift code that they can use to purchase a drink at a participating bar.  It is recommended that the recipient prints out the email with the gift code to hand to the bartender, but not required. 

When you browse through the list of participating bars you’ll see that it’s not extremely long.  But not to worry!  If you send someone a drink and there isn’t a bar in their area to redeem it at, they can choose to transfer the money to their PayPal account.  That way, they can just go to their favorite watering hole and buy their own drink.  This option is also useful for people who don’t drink alcohol.

Any way you look at it, BuyYourFriendADrink is a fun way to show someone you don’t get to see all that much, that you’re thinking of them.  It’s also a great way, as a boss, to buy employees a drink if you don’t feel like going out drinking with them after work.  Just in case my boss is reading this, San Francisco is a supported city .

If you live in a big city and drive a car then you probably understand what a nightmare trying to find a place to park can be.  Finding a spot is the first task, then you have to fork over change for a meter or pay steep prices at a private lot.  If you live in the San Francisco area, then GottaPark may be just what you’re looking for.

Now first of all, I say San Francisco because that’s the area they are focusing on at the moment.  GottaPark is almost like a classifieds for parking spots, and anyone in any city can post and find spots.  As of today, I could only locate parking spots in San Francisco, but all this service needs to get going in other cities is for people to find it and start using it.

The way GottaPark works is simple - if you’re looking for a place to park then just enter in a location and the dates and times you need to leave your car.   You’ll be presented with a list of residential and commercial areas that are renting out their spots for various prices.  There’s a brief description of the property and a price you’ll need to pay in order to park your car for the dates you chose.  One thing that I noticed is a huge difference in pricing.  For an 11 hour period, prices ranged from $8.00 to $525.00.  Obviously there’s either a problem with how the hourly rates are configured on GottaPark or some people are just overcharging.  For my screencast, I booked a private driveway for one night and the total cost was $9.20.  The renter was charging $8.00 and the $1.20 was the GottaPark reservation fee.  GottaPark charges a fee of $.60 for spaces under $5.00 and 15% for every price above that.

The final step in reserving your spot is to enter in your credit card information and print out your receipt.  The person renting the spot will receive a notice that their spot has been rented along with your vehicle information.

On the other side of things, if you have a parking spot that you don’t use all that often, you can easily post your spot for rent.  It’s a painless task, only involving your address, a description of the spot, and how much you charge per hour.  You can also create multiple schedules of when your spot is available.  If someone rents out your spot then you’ll be notified and receive your payment via PayPal a week later.

Aside from the huge discrepancies in parking prices, I think GottaPark has a lot of potential.  The only problem will be to get people to start using it instead of just posting available spots on free services like craigslist.  Here’s my screencast tour of GottaPark:

Click Here To Watch The Screencast 3m19s

Want this screencast on your site?  Click here to get the embed code for this and other DemoGirl screencasts!

According to Wikipedia, when referring to electronics, a “brick” describes a device that cannot function in any capacity.

The term “bricking” has been used feverishly this past weekend,  mostly due to the recent iPhone bricking catastrophe. The thing is, bricking is not just about your iPhone, and the good people over at Revision3 saw this sudden verbal obsession as an opportunity to make a really great parody video.  I was lucky enough to be around when they made it.  I just wanted to say thank you to the people at Revision3 for including me in the video and for always being such an amazing group of people to be around.

Below is the YouTube version of the video, but I recommend going here for better quality.

The new Facebook profiles are now ready for you to customize, tweak, and bitch about.  There’s just one thing you should know first - it’s just a test page, a lot of it doesn’t work, and nothing you do there will actually affect your live Facebook profile.  It should, hopefully, prepare you for an unavoidable change to something you look at every day.  As for my opinion?  I like it.

What you’ll probably notice first is that your profile photo is now on the right and your mini feed and wall posts are on the left.  There are also tabs that allow you to navigate to different areas of content within your profile which provides a much cleaner look.  Adding photos and video is also easier because you can do it right from your profile page.  You can rearrange the tabs into any order that you like and add new tabs for your favorite applications.  I think my favorite change is the fact that you can edit almost all of your profile sections right from your profile page.  Every section has an edit button and the changes are made in real time, so you’ll see the updates right away.

Now like I said, none of this affects your live Facebook profile just yet, and some of the features I mention here may not even make it past the testing phase.  If you want to check out your “new” profile, just log into Facebook and then go to www.new.facebook.com.  If you just want to watch, then the screencast below will give you a sneak peak:  Update:  As of now, I can’t seem to access my new profile anymore.  I’ll let you know if this changes.  You can still watch the screencast to see what your Facebook profile may look like.

Click Here To Watch The Screencast 2m50s

Want this screencast on your site?  Click here to get the embed code for this and other DemoGirl screencasts!

[via Mashable]

With the newest version of Firefox up and running, and only crashing about 4 times a week, I thought I would show you some Add-ons that are compatible with my record breaking browser of choice.

WikiLook is an Add-on that allows you to look up the definition of any word on a web page, without needing to open up new tabs or windows.  You don’t even need to click a button on your mouse because WikiLook knows what you want by the way you hover your cursor over words.

All you need to do is press the shift key and point your cursor over the word you want to look up.  WikiLook will wait a couple of seconds and then a window will pop open with a list of definitions from Wiktionary.  If at any time WikiLook gets in your way, you can easily toggle it off or on by pressing the “A” button in the lower right corner of your browser window.

ReminderFox is a really handy Add-on for anyone who is a fan of to-do lists and for those people who like to set reminders for everyday tasks.  It’s always there, in your browser, so if you spend a lot of time in front of your computer, ReminderFox isn’t going to let you forget about important tasks or appointments.

Once installed, you’ll see a little pink ribbon in the lower right corner of your browser window.  You can hover over that to see your most upcoming reminders and to-dos.  Double click on it to open up ReminderFox and set your reminders.  You can also add alarms to your reminders and to-dos which will pop open a window at the time you selected.  Your most important tasks will be kept visible in the lower right corner of your browser, so you’ll always see what needs immediate attention.

Panic is a Firefox Add-on that will help you get away with looking at naughty web pages while at work.  Naughty can be anything - YouTube videos, Craigslist, LOL cats, Twitter, or the more obvious, porn.

The way it works is simple - After you install Panic, you’ll want to go to the settings which is under “Tools” and “Add-ons”.  By default, when you enable Panic, it will close all of your naughty tabs and open up to a Google search about “increasing workplace productivity”.  You can change that to whatever you want though.  Then choose the key and modifier you want to use to enable Panic.  That’s pretty much it.  Whenever big bad boss-man sneaks up behind you, just hit the keys you chose and, almost instantly, all that will be on your screen is the website you chose in your Panic settings.  The only feature I’d like to see is a way to reopen your tabs that you closed.

If you’d like to see all of these Firefox Add-ons in action, check out the screencast below!

Click Here To Watch The Screencast 4m41s

Want this screencast on your site?  Click here to get the code for this and other DemoGirl screencasts!

TweetDeck is a Twitter application built on Adobe Air that allows you to manage how you see your tweets, replies, and direct messages on Twitter.

After you install TweetDeck you need to log in with your Twitter credentials.  The first time you log in you’ll see 3 rows of Twitter action - your friends timeline of tweets, your replies, and your direct messages.  TweetDeck is fully customizable, so you can choose exactly what information is shown.  You can send out tweets, replies, direct messages, and retweets right from TweetDeck.  There’s also a search function, so if you’ve been using Summize to search for replies and such, you can do that right from TweetDeck as well.  One thing that I love about TweetDeck is that you have the ability to create groups out of your Twitter friends, so you can track what certain people are up to at any time.  This is especially useful if you’re following a lot of people and want to filter out your “real” friends tweets from everyone else.

TweetDeck also allows you to change the timeframe of activity.  You can view tweets from the last 48 hours all the way down to the last hour.  It also keeps you updated on Twitters current status, which has been “pretty much ok” for the past two days.  If you’re not connected to the Internet or if Twitter happens to be down (NO WAY!) then you can log into TweetDeck as “offline” and your tweets will go out as soon as you connect or whenever Twitter comes back up.  Note:  As of the date of this post, the “offline” feature is disabled because it was sending out double tweets.  The TweetDeck homepage says it will be fixed shortly so I still wanted to point it out. Here’s my screencast tour of TweetDeck:

Click Here To Watch The Screencast 3m25s

Want this screencast on your site?  Click here to get the code for this and other DemoGirl screencasts!

[via Download Squad]

Lifehaps allows you to create a timeline filled with all of your life events - Starting with your birth and ending with, well, you know.

It’s actually a lot more fun to use than I originally thought and really easy to get started.  To sign up for your account, you just need to select your favorite color from the ones provided.  This brings you to the next page where you need to drag a little “stork carrying a baby” icon up to your timeline onto the day you were born.  From there you’ll be asked to fill out a typical registration form.  What comes next is entirely up to you.  You can start adding schools you attended, first jobs, injuries you sustained as a teenager, and even add the day you bought your first beater car.

Each event you add can be customized, and you can add relevant links and a photo.  You can also add friends and share your events.  There are categories all set up for you, so if you’re having trouble deciding what events to add, it’s pretty much already done.  There are 11 events to choose from and each have categories within them.  For example, if you chose to add “romance” to your timeline, you would then be given the option to choose first date, first kiss, engagement, wedding, etc.

I’m not exactly sure who is going to find Lifehaps most useful.  My initial thought was people who are starting a family and want a way to keep track of every “first” moment in their life - first home, first baby, first family vacation, whatever.  But after thinking about it for a while I decided that this could be used by just about anyone who wants to be able to look back and see what they’ve done over the years.  If you’re an actor you can keep track of all of the crazy jobs you’ve done, if you’re a vagabond you can record all of the strange places you’ve stayed, and if you’re a serial dater you can keep a record of all the fabulous restaurants you’ve been taken to over the years.  Here’s my screencast tour of Lifehaps:

Click Here To Watch The Screencast 4m5s

Want this screencast on your site?  Click here to get the embed code for this and other DemoGirl screencasts!

[via Go2Web2.0 Blog]

Anyvite is a simple event invitation service that allows you to plan an event, invite your friends, and share photos and video, all without anyone but you needing to create an account.  The idea of your friends not needing to sign up for a service just to reply to an event that you’ve created, is something that services like Presdo (reviewed here) and Pingg (reviewed here) have implemented as well.

To create an event, just enter in the name and description, add the date and time, and then enter in the location.  If you’re unsure of an address you can do a search from the event page and add it that way.  Next you just need to enter in the email addresses of your friends or import addresses from an address book.  If you’ve previously added friends, Anyvite will remember them so you just need to check a box next to their name.  That’s basically it - but you can add more flare to your invite, like a custom photo or wallpaper from the Anyvite gallery.

You can also add photos and videos to your event invite and allow your guests to do the same.  Once you’ve jazzed up your invite, just send it.  You friends will receive the invite right in their inbox, and they can reply right away, without having to sign up for anything.  What’s even better, is that your guests can also add comments, watch videos, and add the event to their calendar, all without creating an account.  There’s also a “ShareSpace” where you and your guests can add photos and videos after the event.  Each ShareSpace has its own code that you need to tag your Flickr photos and YouTube videos with, and then they’ll be automatically added to your events ShareSpace for everyone to enjoy.  Here’s my screencast tour of Anyvite:

Click Here To Watch The Screencast 3m43s

Want this screencast on your site?  Click here to get the code for this and other DemoGirl screencasts!

[via TechCrunch]

Sendible allows you to set scheduled emails, reminders, and even Twitter and Facebook updates.  It’s all done from one place, and you can keep track of all of your activity on your Sendible calendar.  You can also schedule SMS messages to be sent at any time from your Sendible account.  If you use Facebook, Sendible can even grab your friends birthdays and add them to your calendar.

Getting started seemed a bit messy, as I couldn’t find any way to add email contacts into my Sendible account without manually typing them in.  I did find that when I first signed into Sendible, it gave me the option of importing my hotmail contacts, but that option soon vanished and I was left to enter in my friends, one by one.  Once that was done though, Sendible sent out the scheduled emails right on time and even allows you to quickly group your contacts, which is great for sending out group emails or SMS messages.  There is a reminder feature which, obviously, will send you reminders via email or SMS, and you can schedule your Twitter and Facebook updates.  Unfortunately, every time I wanted to update to either service, I had to log back into the appropriate account, even if I didn’t log out of Sendible.  I think Sendible is really off to a great start but needs to clean up navigation around the site.  It took me a while to figure out exactly where to start and left me a bit frustrated when all I found in the help section was a welcome message. Here’s my screencast tour of Sendible:

Click Here To Watch The Screencast 4m26s

Want this screencast on your site?  Click here to get the code for this and other DemoGirl screencasts!

[via ReadWriteWeb]