Perhaps the most significant loss is Knol, which was Google’s attempt to create a viable Wikipedia alternative. Although it managed to acquire over 100,000 articles, it never managed to compete, and will now be seeing itself out. Users can salvage information, however, by moving it to a new WordPress-based platform called Annotum. The Knol site will go inactive on May 1st 2012, and information on Knol will still be available for download or export to Annotum until October 1st, 2012.

Google Wave, which saw a halt to development in April of 2010, is finally going the way of the dinosaurs. As of January 2012 the site will become read-only, and everything will be deleted as of April 2012.

Also on the chopping block are Google Bookmarks Lists, Google Friend Connect, Google Gears, and Google Search Timeline, all of which will be discontinued within the next few months. For details on the end dates, check out the full blog announcement. The Renewable Energy Cleaner than Coal project is to be given the halt, as well, but it likely won’t be missed since there was never a user-facing component to it.

Coincidentally, Google Health – a service whose demise was announced earlier this year – recently  sent an email reminder notifying users that it will be discontinued as of January 1st 2012, with data stored there remaining available for download until January 1st, 2013.

Source: CNET

First, Google launched their offline Gmail app, which allows users to archive, read and compose emails while offline. It stores your changes locally, and the next time you connect to the Internet, all of your changes will be uploaded and available online. Simply head over to the Chrome App Store and install the app.

For Google Docs you need to click the “settings” gear on the top right of the screen in the Docs app and click “Set Up Docs Offline“. The offline feature for Docs is still in beta and not available for everyone yet, but it will be over the next few days.

Calendar works similar to Docs. Click the gear and enable offline viewing.

The only problem is that you cannot edit Docs or Calendar offline, but it is still a step forward for Google apps, and Google is promising new features are being constantly added to their offline apps, so expect these features to be available soon.

Source: The Next Web

Too Dramatic, was it ?

Well, the reason that I’m being so dramatic is that the feature that Google has released this time is one that I’ve been personally waiting for ages and definitely deserves this attention.

The big deal is that you can now access and use Gmail offline, that is without Internet connection. Obviously, you will not be able to send any emails while you’re offline, but atleast you can read them, and any emails that you send during this time will be queued up and delivered the moment you get back online. Anyway you look at it, this is an incredible feature to have.

To be able to access Gmail account offline, you’ll need to first download and install Google Gears. If you’re using Google’s Chrome browser, though, you can relax since Chrome comes with Gears installed by default.

After you have Gears installed, just go to Settings->Labs and enable the Offline feature.

Gmail should now reload and you will see a new link titled “Offline“ right next to the “Settings“ link in the top right corner of the Gmail window.

Click on Offline and Google Gears will throw a warning at you that some website named http://mail.google.com is trying to access Gears. Since I was quite sure that it’d harmless, I let the website access Gears and you should probably do the same.

At this point, Gmail will begin downloading what it thinks are the most important emails to you. I’m saying “what it thinks” because the Gmail team has a pretty nifty algorithm to determine the emails that it downloads. For me that figure came to “about 3 years” worth of my emails and you might get a different figure, depending on the amount of email that you get.

At any rate, Gears will download about 10000 of your latest emails, not counting the Trash and Spam folder so this should be enough for most of us.

Depending on the speed of your link, this actual process of downloading and syncing emails might take a while and this is probably a good time to have a cup of coffee (or a mug of beer, if that’s what you prefer).

Gears will also offer to create a shortcut for Gmail on the desktop. With this shortcut, you can login Gmail in offline mode right from your desktop.

The Offline Gmail feature also includes a very cool Flaky Connection Mode. In this mode, you can continue using Gmail as you normally would and Gmail will automatically determine if you are online or offline, without the user ever knowing about it.

If you send any emails in this mode and you’re offline, Gmail will keep them in the outbox and send them as soon as you come back online, and you’ll never even come to know about your connection status. In my opinion, you should always keep this option checked. To enable the flaky connection mode, click on the Offline Gmail icon next to the Settings link.

This is without any doubt, one of the best things to happen to webmail. With our ever increasing dependence on services based “in the cloud”, the Gmail team has taken the lead in letting the users have access to their data, whether they’re connected to the cloud or not. This, in my opinion, can only be a good thing.

Do you think you ever going to use Gmail in offline mode? Let us know what you guys think of this new feature in the comments.

Gmail Labs is full of experimental new features that you can choose to use or not use. There are ways to do small organizational things like move your chat box to the right side, and ways to do bigger and more obvious things (like use Gmail offline!)

Here are five Gmail Labs apps (or you can call them features) that, once enabled, make Gmail an even better application for all your emailing needs.

Access Gmail Offline

I’ll give you three guesses what this one does, but you won’t need two of them. Gmail finally, FINALLY, has released support for Google Gears, the application that lets you take web apps offline. What this means is that you can be using Gmail, lose your Internet connection, and never notice the difference. Your messages, attachments, etc. are constantly synced with your desktop, and can be used while offline.

All emails you write or changes you make are synced back to the server when you go online again. There’s also a “Flaky Connection Mode” that only tries to connect to the server when you make a change – that way, you can keep reading emails without the long load times, etc.

Gmail’s now a step closer to Outlook, and Microsoft had better be (even more) worried.

Tasks

One of the things I never liked about Gmail was that there was no easy way to manage my tasks: I was constantly switching tabs or windows, and it wasn’t as fluid as Outlook’s task-email integration. Well, no longer. Gmail has released their own, admittedly still basic, task list than can be accessed right from the Gmail window. You can create due dates, sub-tasks, and a number of other things using the incredibly simple interface in your Gmail window.

If you’ve already got a task manager, like I do, there are other options. Remember the Milk, in particular, has a great Gmail gadget that can be added right to your sidebar, letting you manage all your tasks quickly and easily in the Gmail window. Adding the gadget is easy – check out these instructions.

Calendar

This is a small issue, but makes a big difference: a lot of the email I get is time sensitive, and asking me when I can do or am doing a particular thing. Before, checking my calendar against my email was difficult, involving resizing two windows next to each other and a lot of annoyance.

Now, with the Google Calendar Gadget for Gmail, my calendar lives in the sidebar of my Gmail window, and is available to me at all times. I can see my schedule at a glance, add to it right from Gmail, and keep a firm grasp on what I’m supposed to be doing, and when. Simple calendar integration is another chink in Outlook’s armor, and another huge step in the right productivity direction for Gmail.

Multiple Inboxes

Want to see your inbox and the emails you need to respond to, all at the same time? How about your inbox, your reminders, and your emails on a given topic? Done. With the new Multiple Inboxes Labs feature, you can see up to five extra panels that you can fill with any label or search term, right next to your inbox.

It’s a great way to keep tabs on filters, or anything else you need to check regularly, all at once.

Time-Saving Buttons

Google has recently seemed to be noticing the little things in Gmail, and is taking steps to make your experience as simple, and involving as few mouse clicks, as possible. Two such features are the “Mark as Read” button and the “Send and Archive” button.

They do just what they sound like. You can mark a message as read without going into it, or into a complicated menu. Or, you can send a message and get it out of your inbox, all in one click. Both of these mean you’re not devoting more time or brainpower to emails you’ve already dealt with and can move on to the next thing.

OK I lied. That was six features. There’s just too many great things about Gmail! Google is making a concerted effort to pay attention to their flagship products, like Gmail, and it’s becoming obvious ““ Gmail is becoming more productive, easier to use, and a truly viable alternative to Outlook (or any desktop email client).

All these features are available to Gmail users, and most or all are available to those on Google Apps. To add them, go to “Settings,” and click the “Labs” tab. In Labs, go through and click the “Enable” radio button next to the ones you want. Refresh Gmail, and you’ll see all your new features!

Which Gmail Labs apps do you prefer? One of the above or another? Tell us why you like them!

Here is how to get it working:

If you are not using Adobe AIR already

Go to Get Adobe Air, download it and install it.

If you are already using Adobe AIR

Download GMDesk and run the installer. (Also check out other useful and popular Adobe AIR apps handpicked by MakeUseOf authors here, here and here.)

Now, about GMdesk

GMDesk offers you access to GMail, Google Calendar, Google Documents, Google Maps, Google Reader and Picasa . It also offers the ability to switch between the Google Services via keyboard shortcuts.

You can choose the default Google service that starts up when GMDesk is started. You can set it up for Google Apps access as well.

Other ways to run webapps as desktop apps

Mozilla Prism

Prism is Mozilla’s effort to bring a more desktop-like feel to web applications. (MakeUseOf Article)

Bubbles Site Specific Browser

Bubbles allow you to run web apps as stand alone desktop apps. The solution was my favorite before GMDesk because it offered a more desktop-like feel, with notifications and other similar bells and whistles. However you have to download an extension for the app or service you want to run and not many are available. (MakeUseOf Article)

Google Gears

Gears is intended to help improve the webapps by allowing local searchable databases and javascript running in background. However it can be used to create simple desktop apps without these functionalities as well. (MakeUseOf Article)

Google Chrome

You might have noticed the option to “Create Application Shortcuts…” in Google Chrome. Alright, its there in case you didn’t notice. It also allows you to achieve similar results, that is create a desktop-like feel for your web apps. Chrome achieves this via Google Gears.

Anyways, what’s with running webapps from the desktop?

Apart from the fact that you save some time and typing by just double-clicking the shortcut, or all together using a shortcut key to launch the app there are some other advantages:

• No unnecessary browser toolbars to take up precious space.
• Less distraction and urge to check out the latest xkcd strip or hop over to Facebook (unless you run them from the desktop as well) because there is no awesome bar or omni bar or whatever fancy name they give to the address bar.
• Some applications integrate nicely with the desktop, offering native operating systems like notifications on events, drag and drop etc.
• Improved performance and offline access. (generally with Google Gears )

As you can see there are a number of ways to run Google services (and others) from your desktop. However I really like GMDesk and the idea of grouping Google Reader, Gmail, Calendar, Docs, Maps and Picasa into one window. I use Google services a lot like many people do. Having them all tucked up neatly in a separate window with lesser distractions definitely helps your productivity. Now you don’t have to switch to Firefox only to find out you had Gmail open in Chrome and then switch to Chrome and then look for the tab that houses Gmail.

What particular solution do you use for desktop-like behavior? Or do you prefer leaving it to the browser?

Like most Google products, Google Gears is still in beta, but it definitely gets the job done!

Why would I want Google Gears? I have a hour commute every morning and afternoon. I want to make the best use of my commute time, so I sync my Google Reader and Zoho Writer to Google Gears, so I can read and write offline and when I get back to an internet connection, I can sync again and my read items will be read and my new articles will be updated and uploaded.

I also like to go out and enjoy a little sunshine, since it is finally Spring here in Jersey. Unfortunately, my favorite park does not have Wi-Fi. So, if I sync up my browser before leaving home, I can mosy on over to the park, enjoy some sun and sandwiches, and get to catch up on reading my feeds or updating my to-do list!

Basically, Google Gears is a great tool for those who do not always have access to the internet but would like to be able to use websites while offline.

Sounds interesting, so how do I get it? Visit the Google Gears website with your favorite browser – it currently only works with Internet Explorer or Firefox – and run the installation program. If you already have Google Gears installed, the website will let you know! Once the program is installed, you can now begin using it.

Screenshot of Google Gears Installed Page

Where and how do you use Google Gears? Two of my favorite online applications – Google Reader and Zoho Writer, work with Google Gears. Additional sites that work with Google Gears are Remember the Milk and Google Docs. There is a Greasemonkey Script available if you’d like to make other sites work with Google Gears. This script works for many sites, but be warned – the directions can be a bit overwhelming for less advanced computer users.

When you visit a Google Gears-enabled site after installation, you will first see a popup that asks you if you would like to allow this site to access Google Gears. If you want your computer to ALWAYS access Google Gears on a certain site and you don’t want to see this popup again, be sure to click the “I trust this site. Allow it to use Google Gears” and press “Allow”.

On your first visit to Google Reader after installing and allowing Google Gears to access the page, you will see a green button to the left of “Settings” in the upper right-hand corner of the screen. Click this button to begin synching the current content to your computer.

Google Gears downloads 2000 Google Reader items, but only when you manually ask the program to do so. When you are offline, you will be able to view items, star them, and share them. When you get back online, just sync Google Gears and Google Reader again to update your account.

Note: you cannot access your “Trends” or “Friends’ shared items” or “Share with note” while in offline mode.

Google Docs also works well with Google Gears. Once you set up Google Docs with Google Gears, it will automatically check to see if your browser is offline or not, and start syncing your documents if you are online. Unfortunately, you cannot manually switch to offline mode.

With Google Docs, you have the additional option to add a desktop shortcut that lets you launch Google Docs website and edit Google Docs documents in offline mode.

Excellent online to-do list service Remember the Milk (RTM) also works well with Google Gears. RTM does check to see if you are online or offline, but you can also manually switch to offline mode. It also adds a desktop shortcut, so you can quickly access RTM when you are offline.

Some settings, such as changing your settings or contacts, can’t be done offline. But, for basic list making and updating, RTM with Google Gears works great.

Finally, there is a Zoho Writer – online alternative to Microsoft Word. With Google Gears you can use Zoho Writer to work with your documents offline in a Word-like interface. Just like Google Docs, Zoho Writer only lets you edit Word documents, not spreadsheets or other file formats.

Google Gears could be a lot more useful if it were intergrated into more web applications, but currently, it has 4 strong useful web services for its backbone: Google Reader, Zoho Writer, Remember the Milk and Google Docs.

What sites or services would you like to see integrated into Google Gears?

How does Google Gears work for you?

(By) Ellie, a graduate student and “Jill of all Trades”, who blogs at Ultimate Geek Girl.