Mike Wickstrand, Senior Director of Product Planning for Windows Azure has put together a site where you can post and vote for Windows Azure ideas. The idea came from the success with Silverlight feature suggestions page. “If you’ve something you need from Windows Azure, please tell us what its and vote for other's ideas. I put a few things on list just to get you started, but feel free to add you own! We want to better understand what you need from Windows Azure and to build plans around how we make things that "bubble to the top" a reality for our customers in future. Comments which aren't feature requests’ll be moderated. It’s that simple,” noted Mike.

Visit: Windows Azure Feedback Forum

Alan Cooper has been a pioneer of modern computing era, and is the Father of Visual Basic. His groundbreaking work in software invention, design and construction has influenced a generation of programmers, business people, and helped a generation of users for over 30 years. Alan is the author of About Face: The Essentials of User Interface Design and The Inmates Are Running the Asylum books, Tina.

Google now allows includng attachments in Gmail messages composed while offline. If you’ve Offline Gmail enabled, you'll notice that all your mail now goes through outbox, regardless of whether you're online or offline. This allows Gmail to capture all attachments, even if you suddenly get disconnected from network. If you're online, your mail will quickly be sent along to its destination. To enable offline access, go to Labs tab: Select Enable next to Offline Gmail; Click Save Changes; After your browser reloads, you'll see a new "Offline" link in upper righthand corner of Gmail. Click to start offline set up process and download Gears if you don't already have it.

Google Reader now allows adding favicon support for subscriptions; The feature is disabled by default, and to add this feature: go to settings page and check "Show favicons for subscriptions". Another way to enable the feature’s to click on arrow next to "Subcriptions" and select "use favicons". Google uses a special service for obtaining the favicons instead of loading the images directly. "We realize that not everyone wants their subscription list to turn into a multi-colored extravaganza, so we've made it into a setting that you can access from your subscriptions menu," explains Mihai Parparita.

Google Apps Connector for BlackBerry Enterprise Server was launched to address needs of companies operating their own BlackBerry Enterprise Servers. As companies of all sizes are adopting Apps, Google makes it easier for companies large and small to manage their BlackBerry smartphones and save money. “With Google Apps Connector for BES version 1.5, large businesses can now support 500 BlackBerry devices per server. This lets them serve more users with fewer servers. Small businesses get more flexibility too. Apps Connector now supports BlackBerry Professional Software, designed for up to 30 BlackBerry smartphones. Also made it possible for a single BlackBerry Enterprise Server to serve users in multiple Google Apps domains, enabling low cost hosting services to be offered by our hosting partners,” noted Enterprise blog.

Google've been developing and testing a variety of new ad formats to provide a better search ads experience, focused on giving information you need, and are relevant and useful. U.S. users may’ve already seen a number of these ad formats when searching on Google.

• Some of them include visual elements; if you’re curious about movies, you might see an ad with a video that lets you watch a trailer.
  
• You might also see an ad with more links so you can quickly find a specific page in an advertiser’s website.
  
• When you try to find a holiday bouquet, you might see an ad that shows your local florist's location on a map and provides driving directions.
  
• Some new ad formats might help you find all the addresses and locations of a chain store in your area.
  
• Now, you might spot ads that include images and prices for specific products, you might see pictures from retailer’s inventory to help you quickly determine.
  
• Comparison Ads allow you to specify exactly what you're looking for and to compare rates and prices in a single location.
  

Source:→ Google Blog

On Nov 26, at 5 p.m. (UK time), European partnerships team is holding a webinar designed to help partners better manage their accounts and uploads. “A 20-25 minute presentation where YouTube partner team specialists’ll share some useful information on how to boost your video views and increase your earnings. They'll also go over new product features and share best practices and innovative ways to attract visitors to your channel and content. At the end of session, there’ll be a 15-minute Q&A session with all webinar participants. This’s perfect chance to ask a YouTube specialist any questions you may’ve about Partner Program.” If you couldn’t attend, you can watch recored sessions at YouTube Partner Support channel.

More info: Registration

Gmail for mobile got a new look for ‘buttons and toolbars’. If you use a web browser to access Gmail, Latitude, Calendar, or Tasks on your Android phone or iPhone, you'll see a freshened up buttons and toolbars. “We never want buttons and toolbars of Google apps to compete with your content; rather, they should compliment them. So the headers and buttons are now darker, to better show content of your emails and calendar entries. We also made all buttons a bit larger, for easier button-tapping,” noted Charles Warren. To try, point your mobile browser to gmail.com, google.com/calendar, google.com/latitude, gmail.com/tasks, or just go to google.com and find all these web apps under 'more' link.

Google announced a new AdWords feature for U.S. advertisers, called “product extensions,” that let you enrich your existing AdWords ads with more relevant and specific information, and allow you to use your existing Google Merchant Center account to highlight your products directly in your search ads. When your AdWords text ad appears, and your Google Merchant Center account contains products that’re relevant to searcher’s query, product extensions show images, titles, and prices of your products in a plusbox under your ad. You're charged same cost-per-click (CPC) whether a user clicks on your main text ad or any of offers within product extensions plusbox; however, you won't be charged if a user simply expands plusbox without clicking through to your site.

More info: AdWords blog

Yahoo! released a new set of features for its Search Assist service. The most innovative is the inclusion of content and information right inside Search Assist dropdown box. When you do a search for a company’s stock symbol, sports, travel, and movies, Yahoo’ll show real-time search results and couple of related links before you execute the search. Search Assist can also help users reach other Yahoo properties quickly. For certain queries, Yahoo’ll show quick links to Yahoo News or Yahoo Images. For other queries, Yahoo’ll show deep links to other Yahoo properties, like Flickr or Yahoo Mail. Type “mail” while you’re viewing Yahoo Sports, for example, and you’ll get quick links to send an email, visit your in box, or create a new email address.