Just logged in to Gmail and found in bold red letters the words New Features! Yay! I’m discovering that I’m really enjoying Gmail, the ease of use it provides, the lightning quick web interface, and the features it provides are top-notch. I’m glad I gave it a try and decided to make it my primary email address.

The new features:

• Import Contacts
  You’ve made a list. You’ve checked it twice. Now you never have to check it again. Move all your contacts from Yahoo! Mail, Outlook, and others to Gmail in just a few clicks. Then simply rely on our auto-complete feature to prefill all your addresses for you. Keep all your contacts in one place and keep in touch with all of them using Gmail.
• Signature options
  From the settings page, create a signature that’s automatically added to the end of all your outgoing messages. Change it as often as you like, but always get the last word.
• Safari browser support
  Everybody’s gone surfin’… now Mac OS X’s Safari is surfing Gmail as well (versions 1.2.1 and newer).

One thing that Google has taught me is that quick, easier searching is an invaluable tool in my daily web life. iTunes has also taught me that quickly, and easily searching for the tunes on my computer is an appreciative and welcome ability to have. Now Apple introduces Spotlight, for their upcoming OS X Tiger system. The one thing that Apple is proving a lot lately is that usability and attention to detail, truly pays off. Which is exactly why I love web standards, and the benefits if provides. For more on Spotlight, check the link below:

Apple - Mac OS X - Tiger Preview - Spotlight

Update: Along these same lines, I discovered this article at Adaptive Path shortly after posting this, showing how Apple even shows careful attention to detail in their Apple Stores. It’s thinking like this that should be infectious to all businesses out there, because it benefits all of us consumers tremendously.

CNN.com - Returning soldiers ride first-class is an article on CNN detailing how some businessmen offered some soldiers who were flying home for 2 weeks of rest and relaxation their seat in first-class. This should develop into a trend, wouldn’t that be nice? Every soldier offered a seat in first-class by the original occupant of that seat as a way to show appreciation for the men and women that serve this country.

“”The soldiers were very, very happy, and the whole aircraft had a different feeling,” flight attendant Lorrie Gammon told The Dallas Morning News in Thursday’s editions.”

Kudos to the man who offered a great kindness (would be nice if they named him.)

Nothing says hearty like a thick and chunky potato soup, and nothing says “Mmmm” like a potato soup made for a man to enjoy (women may enjoy it too.) I had some leftover baked potatoes, and at first I was gonna do a simple sausage and onion fry in the iron skillet, then throw in the potatoes and some cheddar cheese and put it under the broiler, but it’s Summer here in Florida, too hot for that to heat up the house.

I decided to go for a potato soup. It turned out really delicious! Since I got the camera back today, I figure I’d share:

• 1 andouille sausage (or any sausage you prefer)
• 1 red onion
• 1 leftover baked russet potato
• 1 bottle of beer (dark preferred)
• 5 tablespoon tabasco hot sauce (or 10 splashes)
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 1 can baked beans and bacon
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper powder
• 6 ounces chives
• 2 teaspoon lemon pepper
• 5 pinches of salt (or to your taste)

Dice up in 1/2 inch cubes the sausage, onion, and potato. Throw into a skillet and fry on high heat until the onions become translucent or you notice some black forming on the potatoes. Quickly throw in a seperate pot and throw in the rest of the ingredients into the pot except for the chives. Bring it to a boil, then lower the heat to a simmer, and let it simmer uncovered for 30 minutes. If you don’t want to use the beer, 2 cups of water is fine. Serve sprinkled with chives.

Since I didn’t have chives here, though I wish I did, I used parsley instead, which is just fine. Here’s a picture of the dish right before I was about to gobble it up:

Click to enlarge

My friend, Phy, pointed out how horrible Mozilla Update looks when using Internet Explorer, and man he was not kidding! Holee Crap! I bet the designer did that on purpose though. ;)

AllMusic.com has been redesigned with a new look. I got greeted by a lovely yellow message, and unfortunately they cover up their tail poorly. I reveal the truth in the message.

Waxy.org gives some straight criticism on the new redesign.

I haven’t been posting much lately because I’ve been working on a big project, which I hope to unveil in a few days. I’m pretty excited, it is my best work yet in web design, and can’t wait for the world to see it. Meanwhile you can check little tidbits I’ve been posting in the Link Quickies bar on the right, which gives me a quick way to post points of interests I’ve discovered while surfing.