Techzone

Gmail fans have been building unofficial extensions to spice up their
inboxes for a while, but up til now themes haven't been an integral part
of Gmail.
We wanted to go beyond simple color customization, so out of the 30 odd
themes we're launching today, there's a shiny theme with chrome styling,
another one
that turns your inbox into a retro notepad, nature themes that change
scenery
over time, weather driven themes that can rain on your mailbox, and fun
characters to keep you in good company. There's even an old school ascii
theme (Terminal)
which was the result of a bet between two engineers — it's not exactly
practical, but it's great for testing out your geek cred. We've also done a
minor facelift to Gmail's default look to make it crisper and cleaner –
you might notice a few colors and pixels shifted around here and there.

As you can see from these photos taken around our office in Zurich,
Switzerland, themes have made their way into more than our inboxes —
that's a
character from the ninja theme made out of pixel blocks, customized laptop
decals, and a
giant Zoozimps character on a beam next to my desk:

To customize your inbox, go to the Themes tab under Settings. We'll be
rolling out themes to everyone over the next couple of days, so if you
don't see
them yet, check back soon. As for which theme to choose, don't ask us.
We're
neutral

Article:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OfficialGmailBlog/~3/_qa9949kqOc/spice-up-your-inbox-with-colors-and.html

I happen to work in the New York City office (one of Google’s many distributed offices), while most of my teammates work in the Mountain View headquarters. While we make good use of video conferencing, there are times when I need to talk to a teammate at a moment’s notice.

That’s where Gmail’s new voice and video chat comes in. Now, regardless of where I am — whether I’m in New York, working from home, or traveling — I can connect with my coworkers instantly by starting a voice chat, or better yet, a video chat. By video chatting, we can hear and see each other in real time. And since voice and video chat is integrated with the Gmail interface, you can have a productive conversation with colleagues without ever leaving your browser.

Using voice and video chat in Gmail is free no matter how near or far the other person is. All it takes is a small (~2MB) plugin. For video chatting, you’ll also need a webcam.

Learn more about voice and video chat aSee voice and video chat in action: