A quietly performed update now has a new information bar appearing at the top of the inbox view in Gmail.
Google Talk launches, but it requires a Gmail account. Google provides a handy mechanism to get a Gmail invitation code via cellphone in the US. Lots of people driven by curiosity sign in to Gmail to try out Google Talk, and some more create accounts for the first time.
While it’s no surprise that Google would try to derive a return on its Google Talk investment, most people expected to see text ads plugged in to the new messaging client interface. Instead, Google has placed a blue field containing sponsored links and web clips into Gmail. That field has been seen in some places since April, but now appears to be rolling out to more users.
The blue field will display ads, but there are also left and right navigation arrows at the right side of the field. Clicking them will let the user scroll through web clips, Gmail tips, and yes, relevant sponsored links. In Gmail, a new Mail Settings tab called Web Clips lists the RSS or Atom feeds provided by default.
Users can add more clips to the default list or remove ones already in place. An “Add Clips” link at the bottom of the page launches a new window, where feeds in categories of News, Business, Lifestyle, Fun, Tech, and Sports appear, along with a Custom Clips category. That last category lets users add RSS or Atom feed URLs to their Gmail web clips.
David Utter is a staff writer for murdok covering technology and business. Email him here.
