Email Productivity: Using Google's New Priority Inbox for Gmail

Today, Google announced the new Priority Inbox to Gmail. (Can you hear a thousand sighs of relief?)

Aimed at being a "personal assistant helping you focus on the messages that matter", the newest addition to the multifunctional free webmail service promises automatic sorting of email, keeping sections organized and an artificially-intelligent technology that learns what is considered important email to you - and what isn't.

How Gmail's Priority Inbox Works

The new Priority Inbox shows you two arrows which are importance markers: one yellow, one gray. According to Google, a yellow arrow means that a message is important and unread. A gray marker means that the message is important and read or archived. A message Gmail has classified as unimportant has no marker. 

I love the simplicity already.

When I logged into my Gmail account this morning, I was greeted by an invitation to try the new Priority Box. I readily agreed and before you knew it, I had a Priority Box which further grouped my emails under Starred and Everything Else. I noticed that some of my emails under Everything Else were indeed emails I would consider important - but I easily 're-categorized' them as important by simply selecting them, clicking the yellow importance marker .. and they were transformed to emails worthy of my attention, and not my trash bin.

I anticipate good things as the Priority Box technology 'learns' what I deem important or not. I'm sure it needs some 'training' (as most email filtering technology does), but I am confident that this new and automatic way of sorting my email is going to add to my daily productivity. Automation is key here - and Google assures us that "this is all done automatically, and no humans ever read your mail."

In a day where emails are definite contributors to information overload, Gmail's Priority Box just might be the break we need.

Gadgets Run My Life: Of Productivity and Hi-Tech Pals

I admit it. I'm a gadget junkie.

Everyone who knows me knows that gadgets run my life. In a good way, that is.

In the never-ending quest to make life easier (and happier), I've resorted to technology and the myriad of gadgets available to me. It seems that at every corner, there is something - some gadget, app or software - that holds the potential of easing the routines of life, however challenging. 

My hi-tech Pals

Let me introduce to you two of my favorite hi-tech pals: my iPod Touch and my Android phone, the HTC Hero. 

All In One
Three years ago, I invested in my first (and only) iPod Touch. I resolved before the 'big purchase' that it was not going to be merely a gadget, but one that would see me increasing in my productivity. (I had previously owned two Palm PDAs. They gave me ulcers.) You'll be happy to know that I can't go a day without my iPod Touch. It's my personal secretary, web portal, organizer, contact database, time-killer (c'mon, you HAVE played Angry Birds, haven't you?) and makeshift phone. YES - thanks to Skype, my iPod Touch has transformed itself to a very reliable phone.

Post-Grocery Shopping Amnesia

My idea of a vacation

Now, to my other pal: the HTC Hero. I just acquired the Hero two months ago. (My first Android phone purchase was a T-Mobile G1 Google phone - which I regretfully 'bricked' after a sorry attempt to root it.) Since adopting the Hero, I've been inducted into the wide, wide world of Android - where useful apps abound, and visiting the Android Market is my idea of a vacation. My HTC Hero is a true hero: with in-built GPS and along with Google Maps, I've been able to navigate safely to destinations; and with Speech to Text technology, sending an SMS message has become a pure joy. It has even helped me locate my parked car - because you and I know how amnesia sets in after an hour of grocery shopping.

A Journey
Those are just two of the many other gadgets I have acquired and that have slowly but surely become productivity pals. 

But I don't stop at gadgets, no Sir. I'm still on this exhilarating journey of discovering apps, software and services online that promise to enhance my life's happiness and efficiency. 

Enter Life's Shortcuts. In this weblog, I hope to share with you current technology that might take a little off that load you're bearing day to day - and perhaps, give you an extra moment to enjoy this funny thing called Life.