One almost surefire way to find if a new feature is on the verge of launching is to dig through code. That’s exactly what led to finding a reference to something called “Magic Inbox,” in Gmail. But what is it? Well, it could just be another one of those nifty, but small new features that Google loves to roll out in Gmail Labs at breakneck speed. But there’s a chance it’s something much, much bigger.
Specifically, Google Operating System, which did the digging, believes that the feature likely is a way to sort your Gmail inbox by your social graph. The two references to “friends” in the code, seems to lend some credence to this. Presumably, this would allow you to better filter your inbox based on if you have specified the emailer as a contact. As someone who gets bombarded by email everyday, most of which is not from people I actually know, I would weep with joy if such a feature were implemented. And so would my mom, as she may actually get emails back from me were that the case.
Of course, others have been working on this same idea as well. Yahoo has been saying for a while that it wants to use your inbox as a part of your social graph. Microsoft’s Hotmail has been working on things in the area as well, as has Xobni. But given all the work Google has been doing recently to tighten up its social graph across its huge network of services, a social filter in Gmail could be very, very useful.
Users are likely to have security concerns about this as well. Some people want their email client to be completely private and not a part of the social graph. Of course, Google has already been using Gmail as a key starting point for your social graph for a while now, even if you didn’t realize it. Well over a year ago, Google it rolled out its social features to Google Reader, pulling in who it thought your friends were based on who you emailed in Gmail.
This proved to be an awful idea as people you email aren’t necessarily your friends. Google eventually rolled out several updates to this feature to allow users to better tailor their relationships. And that would obviously be a key part of a Gmail social filter as well. You need to be able to separate out your actual friends from those who you simply have contacted in the past, or maybe even correspond with a lot.
While Google hasn’t exactly nailed the social features, it’s pretty clear that the company is thinking about them — a lot. And that your Google Contacts, which started as a part of Gmail, but have since been spun out, are a key part of it.
Google I/O, its large developer conference is taking place next week. Google is likely to use the event to unveil some key new things it has been working on. Could that be a “magic inbox,” which is also called “icebox inbox” in the code? We’ll be there to find out. Maybe Gmail will even leave beta — but probably not.
Would be a nice extension to the system already available. Time will tell, im sure they have something exciting up their sleeve.
hrmmm… I’m curious like a cat.
Stupid like a fox!
“Magic inbox”?
Coded by a “Fake-Worker”
MicroStool says goggl is a one trick pony.
MagicLocator.com – abracadabra
as usual, your less than witty nicknames for companies only continue to demonstrate to us all how much of a douche nozzle you are.
asshatlocator.com — how long before you just go away
Name-calling* is useless. Believe me, I’ve tried.
*getalifelocator.com- ’bout time you tried – or at least work on your goddamned sites more and visit TC less – what do your sites *do*, anyway? They look like doorway pages, spam, bad neighborhoods – every possible insult I could throw at them applies here.
Beta for 2 years or more – place your bets here
Boxbe has already implemented a system like this on top of Gmail (as well as Yahoo! Mail and AOL Mail). Our product prioritizes email from contacts and people you send email to. All the rest gets moved from your Inbox to a folder (tag) for you to peruse whenever you like.
You can find us at http://www.boxbe.com
Cheers,
Randy Stewart
Boxbe VP of Product
boxbe rules.
Hey, MG, if you’re gonna make your title a play off the “What’s In The Box?” ARG, at least mention it in your post so everyone gets the joke, please.
Especially if you’re gonna have a picture that’s obviously supposed to be like the scene from the ending of the video on YouTube.
http://www.yout...h?v=IU_reTt7Hj4
Well you know, I like to be subtle. Seems like enough of you got it
Here’s an embed for those that didn’t
Is that image from the end of “Se7en”? Does that mean we’ll find a friend’s head in the Magic Inbox? (Spoiler alert!)
I’m guessing it’s supposed to be like the ending scene of this:
http://www.yout...h?v=IU_reTt7Hj4
Yes, that would be an amazing new Gmail feature. And would cut down on my email overload.
As kind of mentioned in the article and one of the comments, Yahoo! Mail does this RIGHT NOW. Not in beta, and not only with an add-on like Boxbe. Right now. On its own. It puts messages from anyone you’ve deemed a connection upfront on the welcome screen of Mail.
It may seem like I’m beating a dead horse, but I just feel this is another example of where something Google is deemed blog-gold for a post and an already-existing feature from a lesser-known (that tiny company Yahoo!…) is relegated to only a passing mention.
Okay but we covered it when Yahoo talked about it, so why not when Google does?
http://www.tech...-open-strategy/
Disclosure: I work for Yahoo!.
I think the main issue that Paul O is raising (and that I also noticed) is regarding the type of coverage that the equivalent features received. The only mention in the post that you linked concerning Yahoo!’s social inbox:
“When you view your inbox, you can choose to view messages from just your “connections”, letting you filter out all of the email that ostensibly means less to you.”
In the above post devoted to Google’s potential, theorized social inbox:
“As someone who gets bombarded by email everyday, most of which is not from people I actually know, I would weep with joy if such a feature were implemented.”
Plus the fact that in this post, you mention that Yahoo! has been “saying” for a while that it wants to integrate your social graph into mail. That seems slanted — Yahoo! *has* integrated your social graph into their mail product, and that feature has been available in the wild for several months. Google’s offering in the arena so far is a cryptic label in their code that doesn’t have a public implementation yet, and it’s being covered in breathless anticipation, versus the same situation with the exact same feature that Yahoo! announced half a year ago (and has actually launched since), which received…a sentence. And a half-hearted, incomplete mention in this post.
I’m sure a lot of it comes down to who writes the articles, what services you personally use, and which topics evince more interest from readers that dictates the tone of your coverage. It’s just worth noting that it does seem uneven in this circumstance.
What is it with you Yahoo people? If you spent your time improving your product instead of writing blog comments, it would be feasible to occasionally praise a cool Yahoo feature.
But I know: Coding is hard! Much easier to whine.
How did you miss this one?
Sza=”Dick InBox”
Is Google pro-Cheney?
Why can’t I have an e-mail that is… just an e-mail.
I don’t want to be marketed, socially linked, or tracked for “my benefit”.
There are startups that are going to do this much better- integrating third party feeds- and do this much better than Gmail which is vastly overrated in the first place.
So what’s your alternative to Gmail?
I hope they don’t have Gwyneth Paltrow’s head in the box. I’ll never see Kevin Spacey as a good guy after that.
It continues to amaze me how features that have existed for some time suddenly get “discovered” when a sexy new name or web service provides them.
MG, ensure your mothers email gets read by setting up a “filter” (not sure if Gmail has such a feature, but outlook sure does) that places email from your mom (and other desirables) in a separate folder.
While setting up the filter does take a few clicks and typing of some text, as opposed to simply selecting the sendee and clicking “save as friend”, it achieve the same effect you are looking for.
I have always wanted to be in the magic circle..
Gmail is not secure. We pull no punches on this. That is why we are offering $10,000 to the first person to hack into this email:
Username: CEO@StrongWebmail.com
Password: Mustang85
Http://www.strongwebmail.com
Now that is the majic gmail is missing!
Does your security derive from your lack of knowledge that domains are lowercase?
Perhaps the word “Friend” is code for Key Logging?
Dear MG,
I’ve been following your posts since long here. Well, it seems like you are an active twitter, gmail, google reader user yourself. And you WANT these services to implement better features for your own comfort. Hence, you get super excited if you see even a teeny-weeny ray of hope anywhere in them.
That is perfectly fine if you’re writing to represent yourself and users like you. But, at least in E-MAIL services, it would have been worth noting that the largest email provider (Yahoo!) already provides a lot of social features, with a greater emphasis than just a one liner.
In general, your post have a pro-Google anti-Yahoo! bias. I know you quote posts where you mentioned google reader still sucking, or twitter crashing, but just count the percentages.
Yeah, Yahoo! is also made by human beings, and it screws up sometimes, unlike Google, which NEVER screws up (like marking all content as unsafe, sending all traffic to Asia, Gmail service downtime or .. ). Still, it would be good to analyze the scenarios in a broader perspective, rather than bashing Yahoo! for every small goof up.
It would be pleasant (and unexpected too) to read a post covering what new social features Yahoo! mail is releasing (as that will affect thrice as many people as Gmail would), or whats happening with Yahoo! profiles, rather than just getting to read, Yahoo! search sucks and it has nothing innovative.
Regards,
Anurag.
SenderOK works in GMail and uses a smart algorithm to determine how your (and others’) past behavior toward a sender should prioritize a particular email. SenderOK even saves good email from the spam box.
Let’s pay a special attention to this: “magic inbox” … is likely to prioritize the messages sent by your friends and other contacts you email frequently.”
That means, messages from the senders you haven’t corresponded with/ haven’t socialized with WON’T BE prioritized. So, potentially important messages from “UNKNOWN” senders will be ignored.
There should be a more refined mechanism for detecting potentially important messages and labeling them ‘not important at all’, ’somewhat important’, ‘important’, ‘really important!!!’. That’s what SenderOK plugin for Outlook and Webmail already does.
This is a one more voice for Webmail/Outlook extension that can be enabled/disabled at any time you want.
google is safe and free from social graph.
Gmail Magic Inbox is Pandora’s box for projects like SenderOK – who knows what Google actually has in the sleeve.
On the other hand, this SenderOK could be smart enough to reside on each of the big players’ playgrounds, whereas Google is limited by Gmail, Yahoo can’t invade HotMail etc. This can be quite a handsome advantage.
I’m curious, we will see