I’m starting to think Google is making up new features for Gmail just for kicks.
They have this nifty little Google Lab named “Don’t Forget Bob” which suggests recipients of your email based on other recipients. The idea is that your past behavior has shown that when Steve is a recipient of one of your emails, you usually are sending to Bob too. So Gmail autofills Bob for you, assuming you’ll want to send to him if you’re sending to Steve.
I haven’t given much thought to this feature, because I mostly use my Gmail for personal emailing and I don’t tend to send messages to groups of people. But I get it, it’s clever. Not for me, but clever.
But now they’ve come out with “Got the Wrong Bob”, because sometimes they’re going to suggest Bob Smith, and you might be too busy to notice that you actually want to send to Bob Jones.
To break it down for you — Gmail is providing you with a way to screw up — by auto-filling your addresses — and then graciously creating a new feature to help you avoid screwing up that way.
You could just fill in the email addresses of the people you want to send an email to, all by yourself like a big boy.
Or you could let Gmail guess who you want to send to and then hope it corrects itself (correctly) when it guesses wrong. Because that’s a pretty neat trick. Sure hope you don’t know too many people named Bob…
In other news, yet another new Gmail Lab is called Home For Christmas. When your mother emails you any time in October, November, or December, asking when you’re coming home, Gmail will search through your previously sent emails. Based on a complicated algorithm that measures the content of messages you’ve sent to your mother over the last year (comparing instances of expressions of love, happiness, etc., versus hostility and avoidance), Gmail will reply appropriately.
If it determines things are strained between you and mommy, it sends her an email saying “Sorry, looks like I have to work through the holiday.” If it thinks the relationship is a good one, it asks her when she’d like to have you and what can you bring to dinner.
If you’re having trouble figuring out how to turn this Lab on in your Gmail account, send me an email and I’ll direct you right to it.
