I've never been a fan of Apple but I can see why many people are, and I can

I've never been a fan of Apple but I can see why many people are, and I can appreciate the impact Steve Jobs has had on the computer and broader consumer electronics industries. He was undeniably a huge figure and will be missed by many.

A couple of things strike me about the announcement of his death;

1. The emotional outpouring from people who never knew him, but felt like they did, is reminiscent of the impact Princess Diana's death had on many people. I didn't really understand it then and I still don't.

2. Ever the showman and with impeccable timing Steve Jobs has instantly silenced all the criticism over the iPhone 4S announcement. Nicely done.

Putting my, probably irrational, Apple prejudice to one-side I want to add my voice to the thousands of others to mark the passing of a truly inspirational figure-head.

Reboot.

Experience the new look of Docs and Sites

Starting today, we’re rolling out the new design for Google Docs and Sites to everyone.

We began rolling out these improvements in early August with the documents list and have since upgraded our entire collaboration suite. You may have noticed that our new look matches other recent Google visual updates, which aim to bring a consistent, improved experience across our products.

Your content is what’s important, and we aim to highlight it with this new design. You’ll see clean menus and toolbars, prominent action buttons, and colorful presence that pops when you’re editing with others.


To people who opted-in to try the new look â€" thank you. Based on your feedback, here are some of the improvements we made:

• We made it clearer that your document is always saved, by showing “Saving...” right after you make a change and then “All changes saved” once it’s fully saved.


• We added an icon to the Share button so you can tell if your document is shared at a glance.


• If you’re looking for options that were previously under the Share button (e.g. “Email as attachment...”), you can now find these in the File menu.


• By default, the documents list automatically fits a comfortable number of documents on your screen (large desktop monitors show more, smaller laptop screens show fewer). We also added density options to give you more control:

If you’re not quite ready for the new look, choose Help > Use the classic look (or in the gear menu, for some products). We’ll support the classic look for at least a few more weeks, but encourage you to use the new look, get settled in, and send us any feedback you have.

We hope you enjoy this refreshed experience.

Posted by: Vance Vagell, User Interface Software Engineer

Some fantastic stuff announced by Amazon at their New York event.

Some fantastic stuff announced by Amazon at their New York event. But the prime service that gives you all that movie streaming goodness still isn't available in the UK. It diminishes the appeal of the Kindle Fire somewhat doesn't it?

Still an Android tablet for under $200 can't be bad. It won't be long before the hacking crews have it rooted!

I think the new Kindle Touch will be the big seller. It's so much neater and makes even the most recent Kindle incarnation look dated.

http://www.engadget.com/2011/09/28/live-from-amazons-tablet-event-in-nyc

Live from Amazon's tablet event in NYC!

Gmail and Gmail for mobile go global again, available in Persian

Posted by Ian Hill, Localization Project Manager

At Google, we want to make our products universally accessible and useful, and that means providing them for as many people as possible in the language they speak. The Gmail and Google Localization teams have worked together to bring Gmail to people around the world in 53 languages. Today that number grows to 54, because we’re proud to announce that through working with the Persian Initiative Team, we are able to release Persian (Farsi - فارسی), as the newest language available in Gmail. If you or someone you know speaks Persian, they can change the language in Gmail by selecting it on the Gmail settings page, under the language dropdown.


Gmail for mobile is also now available in Persian through your mobile browser.


To read this announcement in Persian, visit the Google Persian blog.

Introducing multiple sign-in and preferences on Gmail for mobile

Posted by Posted by Dominic Leung, Mobile Software Engineer

The Gmail for mobile team works hard to bring you features that make you more productive on the go. Today, we will highlight some new features for Gmail in your mobile browser.

Multiple sign-in support

Just like on your desktop, you can now to sign into multiple accounts simultaneously. To sign into an additional account, click on the account switcher at the bottom of the threadlist, then click ”Sign into an another account.” You can quickly switch between accounts by selecting the desired account from the Accounts menu.


Mobile-specific signature

We know that autocorrect and other mobile spell-checks can be frustrating as you are typing on the go. Let your friends know that you are responding via your mobile phone so that they understand why you might have sent a message that you are meeting for "monitors" and not "mojitos". It's an easy way to make them understand why your message might be short or have a few typos. To create a mobile signature, from the menu view, press the new settings icon, choose your signature, and then check the box that tells us you want to activate it. If you ever want to disable the mobile signature, you can uncheck the box and we will use your desktop signature instead.


Vacation Auto-Responder

Ever forgotten to set your out-of-office auto-reply in Gmail before going on a trip? You don’t have to worry about that anymore, since you can now set your auto-reply using the mobile interface. Simply choose a start and end date and specify your message, just like on the desktop interface.


As part of added multiple sign-in support, we’ve updated URLs so that each account can have a separate bookmark. For those who have previously bookmarked Gmail for Mobile, please update your bookmark. If you haven’t, now is a great time to head to mail.google.com on your smartphone or tablet browser and add a bookmark to your home screen.

Never run out of calling credit with auto-recharge

Posted by Posted by Ilya Frank, Senior Software Engineer
Cross-posted from the Google Voice Blog

 If you're calling internationally from Gmail a lot, you may have noticed that your calling credit goes a very long way... which makes it easy to get caught off guard when it runs out.

So based on your feedback, we implemented the ability to auto-recharge your account: just go to your billing page (click on the add credit link next to your balance) and select the recharge amount. When your calling credit dips under $2 or 2€ we will automatically charge your credit card on file for the selected amount.

This feature becomes available after your first purchase and can be changed or disabled at any time.

I had my first go on a segway today.

I had my first go on a segway today. Brilliant fun and so easy to use. I really can't see why these useful and environmentally friendly devices are banned in the UK. Isn't it about time the government let people make risk decisions for themselves and stopped treating the population like children?