Gmail gets nested labels and sneak peeks

While Gmail features don’t exactly roll out in the most traditional way, they do tend to add pretty useful functionality to Google’s ever-so-popular webmail service. Now, as showcased on The Official Gmail Blog, available in Gmail Labs are two new features for your testing pleasure: Nested Labels, and Message Sneak Peek.

Nested Labels is exactly what it sounds like. Just like you can do in Outlook, Gmail now allows you to put sub-labels within parent labels. However, the UI for doing so is still non-existent (hopefully this will change in the future). To create a nested label, you have to use a specific naming convention when you create a label. For example, if you wanted a parent label called “Favorite People” with sub-labels called “Emonxs” and “Androids,” you’d have to name them as follows:

• Favorite People
• Favorite People/Emonxs
• Favorite People/Androids

The above will result in a folder structure similar to the one in the picture above. If a label has nested labels within it, there will be a “+” sign to expand the label tree, and a “-” to close it.

Message Sneak Peek is Gmail’s way of giving a preview of your emails without actually having to go into them. Taking a peek does not mark an email as read. When you right click on an email that’s in your inbox, a nice sized box pops up showing you the email’s contents. Within the preview, you have the ability to archive, delete, or mark the email as read. You also have the option to view the email in its entirety.

New Windows Live Hotmail logo surfaces

In a video posted yesterday on The Window Blog, an unexpected refresh of the Microsoft’s Hotmail logo has been outed. The new logo will sport a very Outlook-esque golden envelope and a full “Windows Live Hotmail” title.

The logo change will likely come as part of the Windows Live “Wave 4″ refresh. As of now, Hotmail relies on the Windows Live logo with the word “Hotmail” hanging around in plain text. The change, as Long Zheng points out, “puts more emphasis on Hotmail (and less on Windows Live).” It seems as though Microsoft wants to, somewhat, separate Hotmail from the shackles of Windows Live and, once again, brand it as its own, pure, entity.

So why the re-branding? With Google’s Gmail service growing bigger by the day, and Yahoo mail standing strong, Microsoft may feel the need to keep their webmail titan in top shape. A logo refresh is always a good start, as it gives the public a new perspective of the service. The logo definitely fits well with the golden theme used by Office 2010. Perhaps Microsoft has some Hotmail/Office integrations planned. Anything’s possible.

YouTube to get 1080p support next week

YouTube is the most popular source for video on the Internet; it has dedicated apps on a few smart-phones, millions of hours of video and it keeps getting increasingly popular. It can also display HD video, but next week, that will get even better with full 1080p support coming.

The announcement, made on this blog, stated, "As resolution of consumer cameras increases, we want to make sure YouTube is the best home on the web to showcase your content," then recommended that, "viewers with big monitors and a fast computer, try switching to 1080p to get the most out of the fullscreen experience." It's a nice step for the website, and fret not those of you who have already uploaded 1080p video that was downscaled: YouTube is in the process of getting it ready for the activation of the feature next week.

YouTube's got a video already displaying 1080p, found here, which we'll save embedding due to the large size. Be sure to check out some new HD videos next week when 1080p will be fully available.

Mozilla Firefox 3.6.3 Released

Mozilla Firefox is a free and open source web browser descended from the Mozilla Application Suite and managed by Mozilla Corporation.

What’s new in 3.6.3?

Firefox 3.6.3 fixes a critical security issue that could potentially allow remote code execution (see bug 555109).

You may also be interested in the Firefox 3.6.2 release notes for a list of changes in the previous version.

Download: Mozilla Firefox 3.6.3

Microsoft Office 2011 for Mac screenshots revealed

Boy Genius has posted some early screenshots of Microsoft Office 2011 for Mac. The screenshots reveal development on Outlook, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2011.

Much like Microsoft Office 2010 appearance, Office 2011 for Mac includes the ribbon on every application. This will also be the first time Outlook will be available in the Office Suite for the Mac. The appearance between Outlook for Windows and Mac appear to be similar, including a mail preview pane, calendar, contacts, tasks and notes available for use.

The screenshots also show a quick search in the toolbar for Outlook, Excel, and Word, for searching within your inbox, spreadsheet, or documents. Office 2011 is also said to include the same multi-use feature that Office 2010 includes, allowing for you and your co-worker to work on the same document at the same time.

Microsoft planning full-screen Windows Live Messenger adverts

Shaz3e has learnt that Microsoft is planning full-screen advertising within its flagship Windows Live Messenger product.

The latest internal build (15.3.2689.110) for Windows Live Messenger 2010 compiled only last week contains the new advertising. When users first launch the client they will be presented with a pop over video commercial with an option to cancel the advert (clicking on an X). The commercials pop-up and cover the contacts list until a user skips the advert or waits until the 30 second commercial has finished.

Videos will be provided by Microsoft’s MSN Video service and will include movie trailers, local news clips and product commercials. The move is likely to be a controversial one that could be met with criticism from Windows Live Messenger users. Neowin understands that the full-screen adverts are only at the testing stage and that Microsoft may offer a subscription or one off payment for users to remove adverts altogether.

YouTube to launch redesign today

Youtube is set to roll out their new video page design for all videos sometime today. The Google-owned site claims that it will be one of the biggest redesigns in the history of their company.

The interface overhaul will replace star ratings with a familiar “like/dislike” system. Video pages have been streamlined and extra clutter removed by grouping actions together in menus and uniting other areas of the site together, like the description and statistics area. Users can also search without interrupting the current video that’s playing and queue it right from the results.

Here is the the full email acquired by TechCrunch that was sent out to Youtube partners about today’s events:

Dear Partner,

We want to provide you with an update on YouTube’s new video page, which we’ve been hard at work on for the last several months.

You can read more about it here:

http://youtube-global.blogspot.com/2...-makeover.html

http://youtube-global.blogspot.com/2...-page-new.html

On Wednesday, March 31st we’re happy to let you know that we’ll be transitioning all YouTube videos to this new video page.

This new video page makeover is one of the biggest redesigns in YouTube history — and we’re excited to make YouTube a better place for you and your content!

Update: After some initial hiccups, the new redesign should be live for most users. Youtube has updated their blog with more information on the new design and also posted a getting started guide to visually walk you through the new changes.