OKLAHOMA CITY – A man in Oklahoma City said he was attacked for his bologna and cheese sandwich. Police say 24-year-old Roger Hamilton told them he was sitting on a bus station bench Wednesday, about to put mayonnaise on his sandwich, when another man began staring at him.

Hamilton told police that the man then punched him in the mouth and grabbed his sandwich and left.

Police said Hamilton has a swollen lip and his face was covered in blood. The police report listed the value of the sandwich at 76 cents.

Police have not found the attacker.

So the moral of the story? Don’t use mayonnaise in public places, especially on your sandwiches

Source: ELN: Top News Story

Gmail has long used a labeling system for managing emails rather than folders, which are used in email programs such as Microsoft Exchange. The labels let users organize their emails, which have a little more flexibility than folders in that emails can have multiple different labels at the same time.

Google admits:

“it’s not always obvious how to use labels, especially for people who are new to Gmail and used to using folders, and it hasn’t helped that some common tasks have been more complicated than they should be.”

Today, that changes. Google has revamped the buttons and menus along the top of the Gmail inbox. The new buttons allow you to hit the “Move to” button, which will label and archive an email in a single step, rather than the two steps it used to take. There is a separate button for labels, which are now supported with auto-complete. Start typing the first few letters of a label, and list of suggested labels will appear from which you can select the one you want.

Lastly, Google is adding new keyboard shortcuts to support these new functions. Use “v” for “Move to” and “l” (lowercase L) for “Labels.” You have to have the keyboard shortcuts turned on in order for them to work.

So there you have it, more features for Gmail that should make labeling and archiving just a little bit easier.

I’ve never used this product, but the idea is great. According to Google:

Google Earth Enterprise lets customers build globes with their own data that can be accessed with the same fast, easy-to-use technology as Google Earth. Previously, Google Earth Enterprise customers could only access their private Google Earth globes when connected to the network. Sometimes, when working in the field, limited or no network connectivity prevented our customers from accessing the full potential of the geospatial data.

The portable version of Google Earth Enterprise allows organizations to distribute geospatial data to their employees where bandwidth is limited or unavailable — such as emergency workers responding to a disaster. Customers can deploy the portable solution for a single individual, or for a multiperson team.

This version is also appropriate for situations when users are away from their desks and need to access an organization’s geospatial data. Data collected in the field can also be transferred to the primary system when network connectivity is available.

I can imagine many uses of this product on the enterprise level. Think about your field force workers, or emergency response teams. For those who travel regular routes, or need to take down survey data or need access to other geospecific information, having remote access to this tool can be highly beneficial.

Google says that the software is loaded on a customer-supplied USB drive or a large partition on a user’s laptop using VMware. In this case, mobile means accessible via a laptop, and not a mobile phone. Google didn’t say that Google Earth Enterprise will be available on any mobile platforms, but that would be the pinnacle of mobility.

The consumer version of Google Earth is available for the Apple iPhone.

Google engineers Jonathan Terleski, Michael Lancaster, and Brett Lider have published a blog post with the details:

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.

Adding a new task is just a matter of clicking inside an empty part of one’s list, typing, and hitting return. E-mail messages can also be converted to Tasks using the menu More Actions/Add To Tasks.

Google has been throwing new features at Gmail with abandon recently. In June, it opened Gmail Labs. In October, it launched seven features for Gmail: Gmail Gadgets, emoticons for messages, Gmail for mobile version 2.0, Canned Responses, contact manager improvements, advanced IMAP controls, and Mail Goggles. Last month, Gmail got Themes, Video and Voice Chat, and stickers.

Frankly, I wish they’d slow down a little. Every time I open Gmail, there’s something new to learn about.

The Wall Street Journal posted an extended story today on what Google is doing to curtail costs in light of the current economic climate. The laundry list is very long. It includes:

• Running ads in services it previously provided ad-free.
• Shifting engineers from pet projects to those that are more likely to succeed.
• Cutting back the number of hours its cafeterias are open.
• No more afternoon tea for Google’s NYC office.
• Killing off services that aren’t succeeding.
• Office closures.
• Merging overlapping services into one unit.
• Slowing down the rate of hiring new staff.
• Reducing current staff levels by up to 10,000 people.
• Delaying the production of new data facilities.

What I think is most significant is the way Google is going to manage its engineers. Google CEO Eric Schmidt told The Journal that it is shifting its engineering and sales resources to areas and projects that show promise, and reducing the number of engineers working on projects with less promise.

This represents a pretty big change in Google’s thinking. It has always offered Google employees the opportunity to work on projects and services that they wanted to for 20 percent of their time. Google didn’t say that it was taking away that 20 percent, but it is going to manage it differently.

SearchMash has already been killed off by Google, and Lively will be shut down at the end of this month. Other services on the brink of elimination include Google Notebook (which I use and happen to like) and Google Audio Indexing. If there are any other services that Google might pull the plug on, they haven’t yet been named.

In all, Google is taking the economy seriously and making the appropriate shifts in its business practices to meet these uncertain times.

The latest is called Mail Goggles — a play on “beer goggles” — that just might save your tail when it comes to e-mail.

Everyone has probably done it. Late at night, clouded by fatigue, you send an e-mail to someone that you later wish you could recall.

Heaven forbid you send an e-mail after consuming a few alcoholic beverages. That’s a recipe for disaster, and one that is all too easy to serve up given the proliferation of smartphones with mobile e-mail capabilities.

You surely remember the term “beer goggles” from when you were in college. You know, the more you drink, the more attractive you are likely to find someone of the opposite sex (even if they aren’t).

When you were on the prowl, you probably had a wingman or other friend who served as a filter to prevent you from making a mistake when you were wearing your beer goggles.

It’s in the spirit of protecting us from our inner e-mail demons that Google engineers brewed up Mail Goggles. Think of Mail Goggles as your new, electronic wingman.

According to The Official Gmail Blog:

“When you enable Mail Goggles, it will check that you’re really sure you want to send that late night Friday e-mail. And what better way to check than by making you solve a few simple math problems after you click send to verify you’re in the right state of mind?

By default, Mail Goggles is only active late night on the weekend, as that is the time you’re most likely to need it. Once enabled, you can adjust when it’s active in the General settings.”

Some people will either love this feature or hate it. For me, I love it. Not that I’m out on the prowl these days and need a wingman

“The Internet of the future will be suffused with software, information, data archives, and populated with devices, appliances, and people who are interacting with and through this rich fabric. The Internet of the future will be suffused with software, information, data archives, and populated with devices, appliances, and people who are interacting with and through this rich fabric.”

Source: Vint Cerf, Chief Internet Evangelist at Google.

He has some interesting thoughts about how the Internet will be used in the future — and what will be connected to it. It will not be restrained to just computers. I found Cert’s comments about how mobile devices will interact with the Internet most interesting.

He writes:

In the next decade, around 70% of the human population will have fixed or mobile access to the Internet at increasingly high speeds, up to gigabits per second. We can reliably expect that mobile devices will become a major component of the Internet, as will appliances and sensors of all kinds. Many of the things on the Internet, whether mobile or fixed, will know where they are, both geographically and logically. As you enter a hotel room, your mobile will be told its precise location including room number. When you turn your laptop on, it will learn this information as well–either from the mobile or from the room itself. It will be normal for devices, when activated, to discover what other devices are in the neighborhood, so your mobile will discover that it has a high resolution display available in what was once called a television set. If you wish, your mobile will remember where you have been and will keep track of RFID-labeled objects such as your briefcase, car keys and glasses. “Where are my glasses?” you will ask. “You were last within RFID reach of them while in the living room,” your mobile or laptop will say.

RFID tags have some shrinking to do before they’ll fit onto a set of keys or eyeglasses. There’s also a lot more at play than just the Internet in this scenario. Wireless technologies, such as Bluetooth and GPS, will be required. The important aspect is that they will all interact to share and retrieve information seamlessly.

This is already beginning to happen today.

In order to help you parse through all the chatter, Google has set up a special Web site where mobile phone users can find the latest headlines.

Google appears to be throwing everything it has at the upcoming Presidential Election. It is using multiple avenues and products to provide coverage.

Google believes that plenty of people will be interested in accessing news from their mobile phones. So it set up a “one-stop-shop” for mobile phone users to get what they need.

The site is located at http://m.google.com/elections.

The products that it is tailoring to election coverage are mobile Search, News, Reader, YouTube and Maps.

In its search product, Google will let you “link to search results for Obama and McCain, so you don’t have to type in their names on your phone each time you want information.”

The Mobile News Web site has set up a special link that will go to a site that only houses news that is relevant to the election.

Google Reader has already set up specific places for the general public to see what Obama and McCain are reading. If you use Google Reader, you can subscribe to the candidates’ reading lists here.

On YouTube, both McCain and Obama have their own channels. These channels will be used to hold their speeches, press conferences and other public statements. Users will be able to watch the videos on their mobile phones.

Lastly, Google is suggesting that attendees of the Democratic National Convention in Denver and the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis take advantage of Google Maps for mobile to help get around town.

There you have it. If you’re a political news junkie, Google’s various mobile products will help you get your fix.

Best New Add-on

Pencil is a user interface prototyping tool. Not your ordinary extension and it could be useful, too.

Tagmarks is tagging in a click. Rather than use words to describe a bookmark, click icons.

HandyTag uses text tags, but doesn’t make you create them yourself (though you still can). Grabs common tags from del.icio.us and other sources.

Best Updated Add-on

Read It Later has almost hit 1.0. This extension makes it easy to create a “to read” list without the clutter of using standard bookmarks.

TagSifter provides several different ways to browse through the tags you’ve already created. Advanced users can use some fancy logic syntax to find just what they want (i.e., tagged with movie and comedy, but not jackblack).

Bookmarks Preview brings coverflow to bookmarks. Scroll through thumbnails of the pages before deciding where to go.

In addition to these six, the judges also chose some excellent honorable mentions (Close and Forget is a neat idea, if not a little paranoid).

Also, probably in honor of sponsor Last.fm, the judges named Fire.fm the best music add-on.

Amazon has since removed tabs from their site, but it’s still a useful metaphor when done right. So what’s right and wrong? The Usability Post shares 5 tips for tabbed navigation:

1. Connect the active tab to the content
2. Make other tabs a different color
3. Change the font color on the active tab
4. Have the link area span the whole size of the tab
5. Make sure the landing page has its own active tab

Each step is illustrated with the right and wrong way, and explained. That’s helpful. Now you can include tabs on your website without the wrath of the entire design community (you’ll never avoid all the wrath, no matter what you do). Just don’t look like Amazon in 2000:

If you’d like to implement tabs and don’t know how to do them, you can’t miss with this classic A List Apart tutorial.