Now That is Cool

[suityou01]

Just for fun, I viewed one of the spam emails that had got past my spam filter - I've been very lax about training the filter recently, so slightly more spam is getting through.

The first paragraph contained an address in Texas, complete with zip code, and I thought it might be interesting to examine this on Google Maps.

As I moved the pointer over it to start the process of selecting and copying the text, then switching to the browser, then opening a new tab, then going to Google Maps, then pasting the address into the search box... ...a wonderful thing happened: a dotted outline appeared (with a very slight fade-in effect) around the text of the address (not just the zip code, the several words of free plaintext ending with the zip code, yet nothing that wasn't part of the address) with a nice downwards-arrow icon at the end. Moving over to said icon, I clicked on it and a context menu appeared.

I immediately identified the "Copy" menu item and started heading for it when I realised that there was also a "Show Map..." menu item - and when I selected that, it switched to my browser, created a new tab, and opened Google Maps at a search for that address

A little playing shows that the outline-plus-menu-arrow fades in if I move the pointer over the specific text that has been identified as an address, but it immediately fades out if I move the pointer away again, including continuing my existing motion (it fades out from the opacity it had reached on the fade in - it doesn't go all the way there and back). Lingering presumably indicates to the system that I am interested in this piece of text, whereupon it applies interpretations to it and offers relevant options: the menu also offered the option to add the address to my contacts. Note however that I have to explicitly click to activate the menu and then select one of the options, so there is no chance that I will accidentally add a spammer to my address book or finish up viewing a map I don't want.

All in all, a beautiful piece of functionality, wonderfully implemented

I try to avoid the "Get a Mac" thing (except when it's the obvious answer), but this just blew me away... and I've been using Macs (on and off, but always for serious work) since the early Nineties.

The precise link that was generated points one to here, Mac Mail having extracted the address from the sentence "I reside here in New Braunfels Texas 78132."

Missing some info here Nick. Was this via webmail? BHO (Browser Helper Objects) can filter for address information and reformat it. The Skype Browser Plugin does similar for telephone numbers, and offers to call them if you hover over them.

Agree, it's nice to find software with that "German Engineering" quality.

[NickFitz]

Just for fun, I viewed one of the spam emails that had got past my spam filter - I've been very lax about training the filter recently, so slightly more spam is getting through.

The first paragraph contained an address in Texas, complete with zip code, and I thought it might be interesting to examine this on Google Maps.

As I moved the pointer over it to start the process of selecting and copying the text, then switching to the browser, then opening a new tab, then going to Google Maps, then pasting the address into the search box... ...a wonderful thing happened: a dotted outline appeared (with a very slight fade-in effect) around the text of the address (not just the zip code, the several words of free plaintext ending with the zip code, yet nothing that wasn't part of the address) with a nice downwards-arrow icon at the end. Moving over to said icon, I clicked on it and a context menu appeared.

I immediately identified the "Copy" menu item and started heading for it when I realised that there was also a "Show Map..." menu item - and when I selected that, it switched to my browser, created a new tab, and opened Google Maps at a search for that address

A little playing shows that the outline-plus-menu-arrow fades in if I move the pointer over the specific text that has been identified as an address, but it immediately fades out if I move the pointer away again, including continuing my existing motion (it fades out from the opacity it had reached on the fade in - it doesn't go all the way there and back). Lingering presumably indicates to the system that I am interested in this piece of text, whereupon it applies interpretations to it and offers relevant options: the menu also offered the option to add the address to my contacts. Note however that I have to explicitly click to activate the menu and then select one of the options, so there is no chance that I will accidentally add a spammer to my address book or finish up viewing a map I don't want.

All in all, a beautiful piece of functionality, wonderfully implemented

I try to avoid the "Get a Mac" thing (except when it's the obvious answer), but this just blew me away... and I've been using Macs (on and off, but always for serious work) since the early Nineties.

The precise link that was generated points one to here, Mac Mail having extracted the address from the sentence "I reside here in New Braunfels Texas 78132."