Anyone who's tried out the new Hangouts feature in Gmail in place of the traditional Google Talk option got a bit of surprise when they went to make an outbound call from their computer. That feature gets disabled when the new Hangouts replacement is switched on, leaving folks looking to make calls with no other option than to revert to the old Google Talk in Gmail or seek out another alternative. That's apparently just a temporary change, though, as Google's Nikhyl Singhal has now confirmed that both outbound and inbound calls will "soon be available." Unfortunately, he's not getting any more specific than that for the time being. He did, however, reiterate that "Hangouts is designed to be the future of Google Voice," and that "making/receiving phone calls is just the beginning," further adding that "future versions of Hangouts will integrate Google Voice more seamlessly."

Filed under: Internet, Google

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Source: Nikhyl Singhai (Google+)

Responding to an invitation or checking in for a flight soon won't require any typing at all, assuming you're using Gmail to manage your inbox. When the situation calls for it, new quick action buttons will pop up in an email, letting you accomplish simple tasks without reaching for the keyboard. For event RSVPs, you can even mark your attendance from the main inbox view -- a preview with all the key details will pop up, letting you respond with a simple Yes, Maybe or No. On the air travel front, flight confirmation emails will now display your flight status in real time, along with a check-in box, which will boot you directly over to the carrier's site. As you've probably guessed, Google will be rolling out these new features gradually, so if they haven't already appeared in your browser, you're certainly not alone.

Filed under: Google

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Source: Gmail Blog

Sending money with Google Wallet wasn't a tremendously difficult affair before today, but Mountain View's now discovered a clever new way to part you from your cash. "Over the coming months," the company will roll out a new payments feature within Gmail, letting you attach money just as you would an image or document. After clicking the new "$" symbol within the composer, you'll type in an amount and select the source of your funds. Then hit Attach, click send, and say goodbye to your Greenbacks. It's that simple. You can probably get a solid feel for how this works just from looking at the image above, but given the onslaught of announcements today, we'll forgive you for needing a more comprehensive explanation. Goog's got your back, too -- there's a demo video waiting just past the break.

Filed under: Internet, Software, Google

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Source: Gmail Blog

The rumors were apparently true: Google's unified chat platform (widely nicknamed Babel) is launching as the new Hangouts, with new mobile apps to match. The messaging service puts Android, Chrome, Gmail and iOS all on the same page for the first time, focusing the interface on conversations that carry over from device to device. Across the board, you'll find consistent notifications, as well as emoji and shared photo pools that weren't in Google Talk. Contacts are still there, but they're pushed to the side in the mobile view. Live group video is new, too, while text chats have watermarks to clarify who's reading and typing. Everyone gets access to the updated Hangouts today. The Android and iOS apps are available as we write this; Gmail users can hit a "try it now" button, while Chrome users can install an extension. One word of warning: the Android app currently won't run on some tablets, including the Nexus 7.

Gallery: Google I/O 2013: Hangouts

Filed under: Cellphones, Internet, Mobile, Google

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Via: Official Gmail Blog, Google+ Project

Source: Chrome Web Store, App Store, Google Play

You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.

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Google's efforts to streamline aren't limited to some spring cleaning and more spartan interfaces. Today the company is breaking down the artificial walls between the pools of online storage provided for Gmail, Drive and Google+ Photos. Instead of 10GB for all your messages and attachments, alongside a separate 5GB repository for your photos and documents, now all three sites share a common 15GB slice on Google's servers. So, if you happen to be a little photo crazy, but are nowhere near the limit on your Gmail account, you no longer need to rely on workarounds like archiving images as attachments. This also means that storage upgrades for Gmail no longer top out at 25GB. There's also a handy new visualization that shows how much of your available storage you're using and breaks it down by service for finer-grained tracking.

Update: If you're a Google Apps customer your available cloud storage will also be unified, leaving you with 30GB shared between all three services.

Filed under: Internet, Google

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Source: Google Drive Blog, Google Enerprise

The official Gmail app for iOS has been available since 2011, but up until now, links to Maps and other Google utilities have directed users to the browser rather than to the respective programs. A just-released update to Gmail for iOS lets you jump into Chrome, Google Maps, YouTube and other native programs directly from links in your inbox. Those who prefer to keep things browser-based, however, can turn off this new functionality via the app's setting menu. Version 2.2.7182 (granular, much?) also lets you sign out of a single Gmail account rather than having to sign out of them all -- a boon to those of us juggling work and personal identities. Hit up the source link to download the update.

Filed under: Software, Apple, Google

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Via: The Next Web

Source: Gmail for iOS

As tightly integrated as Google's many services can be, the company has been dancing around a glaring omission: why couldn't we add times mentioned in Gmail messages as Google Calendar events? Logic is at last taking hold in Mountain View, however. Starting this week for those using US English, Google is rolling out a Gmail web update that automatically underlines dates and times; click on one and it will pop up a box to quickly add a calendar event scheduled for that time, with an option to edit basic details first. It's such a simple addition, but it could mean the world for those of us waiting for Gmail to catch up with our native email apps.

Filed under: Internet, Google

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Source: Official Gmail Blog

Finally got off the reservation list for Mailbox? Now there's another app trying to sway your Gmail loyalty that's just arrived for iPad: Evomail. It brings "frictionless" support for Google's mail client, including quick access to labels, trash and archives, full Gmail search, push notifications and social network sharing for Twitter or Facebook. While launching strictly on the iPad, the developers told us that versions for iPhone, then Android would follow, but that it'd only support Google's mail service "at the moment." If you think it might serve your Gmail needs better than, er, the free-of-charge Gmail app, it's $2.99 at the source.

Filed under: Tablets, Software

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Source: Evomail (iTunes)