14 DAY TRIAL // Google has released a new Gmail API that enables developers to create what it calls "contextual gadgets" for the email service. This will enable users to enhance their email experience by integrating additional data and tools with the emails themselves. Google has been using the same API to make YouTube videos and Picasa photos viewable from the Gmail interface. Apps built with the Gmail API will only be available to Google Apps users.
"Contextual gadgets in Gmail – like YouTube, Google Docs and Picasa previews – intelligently display relevant information from other systems as you read your email, so you can be more efficient without leaving your inbox," Chandrashekar Raghavan, product manager, Google Apps extensions, wrote.
"Starting today, third party developers can build Gmail contextual gadgets and distribute them in the Google Apps Marketplace. These gadgets can display information from social networks, business services, web applications and other systems, and users can interact with that data right within Gmail. Contextual gadgets are yet another example [of] how the power of the web can outpace traditional business technology."
The idea is to enable users to get as much done in the Gmail inbox as possible, removing the need for them to visit outside sites. Especially for heavy email users, of whom there should be more in the business environment, this approach can save up a lot of time.
Google is introducing the new feature along with a set of gadgets built by launch partners. One of the new tools, AwayFind, enables users to mark several contacts as important and have the gadget alert them via SMS or IM when they receive an email from those contacts.
Another one, Gist, adds contextual information to your contacts by creating profiles for people and companies using data from their Facebook or Twitter profiles and from other sources. With the announcement, one of the launch partners, Xobni, revealed another interesting move. The company has launched a new version of its popular Microsoft Outlook plugin, which supports Gmail gadgets. It’s a developer preview for now, but it enables developers to easily port their gadgets to Microsoft’s email client.