Logging out of AppEngine App only

I wanted to create a logout URL in an Google AppEngine app, but unfortunately the documented method (users.create_logout_url()) logs you out of all Google services, not just the app.

Fortunately, I found this post which describes how to set cookies to log you out of the app.  Here is what I did in my app:


https://gist.github.com/anonymous/4733505 

Now, I can add a link to /logout, and the user will be logged out of the app.

Many thanks to the pts.blog!

Quickly find shipping information in Gmail

My wife uses a Hotmail account for her email, and the other day I noticed a "Quick Views" section in her Hotmail.  One of the Quick Views is titled "Shipping Updates". 

Clicking this link filtered out all of her emails that had to do with shipping information.  Pretty handy!

Since I am a Gmail user, I figured the same thing would be possible in my favorite email service as well, so I tried to figure out how to make this happen in Gmail.  It's really not too difficult, and a lot of people probably already know how to do this.

Basically, I used a custom search to find shipping related emails in my Gmail account.  In order to save that search, I used the Gmail Labs feature, "Quick Links".  Here is what I did:

In Gmail, click on your "Settings" link in the upper right corner:


Next, click on the "Labs" tab in your settings.  (Note:  If you don't see the "Labs" tab in your settings, your browser may not be compatible with Gmail labs - see this Google help page for more information).


Now, scroll down to the "Quick Links" labs feature, and click the "Enable" option:


Scroll up or down to the "Save Changes" button, and click it:


Now, go back to your Gmail inbox, and enter a search phrase to find emails with shipping information, and click the "Search Mail" button.  Here is the search string I used:

"tracking number" OR "ship to" OR "has shipped" OR "shipment confirmation"

And here is what it looked like after I clicked the "Search Mail" button:


Now, to save this search to your quick links, click the "Add Quick Link" link on the left pane of your Gmail:


Enter a custom name for you saved search and click "OK" (I picked "ShippingInfo"):


Now, anytime you want to get a list of emails that have to do with shipping information, just click the "ShippingInfo" link under your "Quick Links"!

Google Me

I heard some buzz about the new Google “Me” Profiles and thought I’d check mine out.  Apparantly you go to google and search for me (you need to be logged into your Google account) and it will bring up your profile.  I did this, but saw nothing.  I guess at one time I had selected a privacy that prevented my profile from showing up in Google.

After some searching, I found the URL to visit to change your profile is http://www.google.com/profiles

I’m not exactly sure what the end result is useful for yet – now people should be able to search for my name and pull up my profile.  You can add links to your profiles on other social networks too – maybe Google is trying to create a “center of the universe” for all social networks?

After you’ve saved everything, people can view your profile, and send you emails (without even seeing your email address).  I’m sure Google Profiles will evolve a lot in the next year… we’ll see!

Here’s a good summary help page of Google Profiles: http://www.google.com/support/accounts/bin/answer.py?answer=97703&hl=en

There’s also a help page that shows how you can Verify your Name so you can get a Name Verified Badge.  You have to sign into Google Knol to do this, and apparently you have to write a Knol or a comment in order to enable the “My profile” drop down on Knol.