Gmail feature lets recipients know where you are
New experimental feature in Gmail automatically lets the recipients of your e-mails know where you penned your missive.
Google has added an experimental feature to Gmail that automatically lets the recipient of your e-mails know where you penned your missive.
Gmail Labs announced in a blog posting Tuesday that Gmail users can now append their e-mail signature to include their current city and country location. If you are overly officious, or travel frequently and enjoy "place dropping" to your friends and colleagues that you are in Dubai, Dublin, or, um, Duluth, this feature will appeal to you.
However, Google software engineer Marco Bonechi acknowledges that because the feature keys in on your IP address, it may not accurately report your location. (To illustrate that point, I should admit that I posted this blog--and captured the Gmail screenshot--from Oakland, Calif., while on a virtual private network attached to CNET's headquarters in San Francisco.)
As a result, Bonechi suggests that users' browsers have a version of Google Gears that supports the location module, allowing Wi-Fi access point signals to pinpoint your location.
To activate the feature, turn on "Location in Signature" from the Labs tab under Settings, then go to your signature preferences and check the box next to "Append your location to the signature."