بدأ محرك البحث جوجل يسحب دعمه لإنترنت إكسبلورر6، المتصفح الذي بات يعتبر الحلقة الأضعف في حال تعرض المحرك إلى هجوم إلكتروني “معقد ودقيق”

وقال جوجل ابتدا من أول مارس لن تعمل بعض خدماته مثل جوجل للوثائق، كما ينبغي على المتصفح

ونصح محرك البحث بالعمل على الانتقال لأى متصفح أرقى “في أقرب وقت ممكن

وبعد هذا الإشعار بادرت السلطات الفرنسية والألمانية إلى نصيحة مواطنيها بالتحول إلى متصفح آخر في انتظار سد الثغرة

كما بادرت مايكروسوفت إلى تحديث متصفحها ، قبل ثلاثة أسابيع من الموعد المعتاد

وقال راجن شيث من إدارة محرك البحث في مدونته: “إن شبكة الإنترنت قد تطورت خلال السنوات العشر، من مجرد صفحات إلى تطبيقات ثرية تشمل الصوت والصورة. ومن المؤسف أن بعض المتصفحات القديمة لا تستطيع تشغيلها”

ويستخدم حوالي 20 المئة من مستخدمي الإنترنت متصفح إنترنت إكسبلورر

وتريد الكثير من شركات الإنترنت استبعاد متصفح مايكروسوفت، فانضمت 70 منها إلى حملة أطلقت على نفسها اسم “كفاية من الإنترنت إكسبلورر6″، تتهم المتصفح بشد ” الإنترنت إلى الوراء”

وهدد جوجل بالانسحاب من الصين بعد هجمات تعرض لها وقال إنها شُنت عليه من الصين

واستغل القراصنة ثغرة من المتصفح إنترنت إكسبلورر للتسلل إلى حسابات عدد من المعنيين بحقوق الإنسان في الصين على بريد جوجل الإلكتروني جي ميل

Posted by Marc Miller, Software Engineer

When I get sent a PDF, sometimes I just want to view it — I don’t always need to download and save it right then. So starting today, you’ll see a new “View” link next to PDF attachments you get in Gmail:

Clicking “View” quickly opens the PDF inside your browser, complete with the graphics and formatting you expect to see in a PDF. You may have seen this feature before, in Google Docs. It’s the way that we did uploading and viewing of PDFs online. Here’s a screen shot:

If you want, you can still view in plain HTML from a link at the top of the new viewer. And if you want to download, save, and view your PDFs later while offline using client software, you can still do that by hitting the “Download” link.

Posted by Jonathan Terleski, Michael Lancaster, and Brett Lider, Tasks team

People use Gmail to get stuff done, so we’ve added a lightweight way to keep track of what you need to do, right from within Gmail.

Take entering a new task: just click in an empty part of your list and start typing. No buttons to click and it’s saved automatically. Hit Return and you’ve got a new task right there.

You can also easily convert emails into tasks: select one or more messages and go to More Actions > Add to Tasks. (Or turn on keyboard shortcuts and use <shift> + t.)

We put your tasks in the same kind of window as chats, so they’re visible while you’re scanning your inbox, reading mail, or searching (and in Settings, too!). Just pop your list out into a new window to use Tasks outside of Gmail.

To enable Tasks, go to Settings, click the Labs tab (or just click here if you’re signed in). Select “Enable” next to “Tasks” and then click “Save Changes” at the bottom. Then, after Gmail refreshes, on the left under the “Contacts” link, you’ll see a “Tasks” link. Just click it to get started.

We have a list of things we’d like to do to make Tasks more useful, and we want to hear your ideas, too — drop us a line.

Posted by Arielle Reinstein, Gmail Product Marketing Manager

Not too long ago, one of the Gmail engineers broke out her vinyl cutter and made some Gmail m-velope stickers. Pretty soon, they were pasted to our desks, stuck on our laptops, and adorning the walls around the office. Then other people started asking us about them — first it was just other Googlers. But when a guy I was sitting next to on an airplane asked where he could get a Gmail sticker, we realized other people might like them too.

So we designed some more, and printed up a whole bunch.

There’s the standard Gmail m-velope — dressed up in glitter. One of three bookplate style stickers you can stick on anything from the inside of a favorite book to your laptop or your skateboard. (Trading with friends is encouraged — we realize the unicorn isn’t for everyone.) And there’s a sheet of keyboard shortcut stickers intended as a tool to help people learn Gmail’s shortcuts. The adhesive is a bit more removable than standard stickiness, so you can take them off once you’ve trained your fingers.

So how do you get your stickers? We may be all about speedy electronic communication, but this time we’re going old school with snail mail. Just send a self-addressed stamped envelope (along with a note if you’re so inclined) to:

Send me some Gmail stickers already
P.O. Box 391420
Mountain View, CA 94039-1420

Make sure to include enough postage to return a sticker pack via U.S. mail. It’s less than one ounce, so a standard $0.42 stamp will do if you’re in the United States; enclose an international reply coupon (IRC) if you’re outside of the U.S. And be sure to send your envelope in soon — one per person please.

*Our lawyers asked us to make sure it was clear that your contact information won’t be maintained in any way and these stickers are “void where prohibited and only while supplies last.”

(photos by Dustin Diaz)

Posted by James Yum, Developer Programs Engineer, Google Desktop

On the Google Desktop gadgets team, we’ve seen countless requests for a Gmail gadget over the years. That gadget is finally here, so if you’ve got Google Desktop for Windows, give it a try.

You’ll see that it covers the basics such as reading, searching, and sending messages. You can star messages, use the same keyboard shortcuts, and we didn’t forget about contact auto-complete. It doesn’t take up much space in your sidebar or desktop, and you can also resize it to show as few or as many messages as you’d like.

When I’m at work, I keep two instances of the gadget open: one logged into my personal Gmail account and the other set to my Google Apps account for work related stuff. Instead of getting lost in a sea of tabs or browser windows, I can bring up the gadgets in an instant (hint: pressing the shift key twice brings up all your hidden Desktop gadgets).

The Gmail gadget currently works with the latest release of Google Desktop for Windows. Try it out and please let us know what you think.

Update: Changed title to clarify this is for Google Desktop.