Gmail Labs area. These new features, which are opt-in for all Gmail users, range from very useful (Quick Links) to fairly absurd (Mail Goggles). Today, rather than create a new Gmail Labs features, the service has rolled out an update to the actual site: Emoticons.
We're not just talking your typical run-of-the-mill smiley faces and frowning faces, either. We're talking hardcore emoticons (can an emoticon be hardcore?). Nearly 200 of the tiny illustrations that can be inserted into email are now available, in a wide range of colors and sizes -- and many of them move.
These are great for users who really want a more graphical way to say, "I love crab cake," as I do in the screenshot at the top. You can now say so much in an email without saying anything at all. You may wonder if anyone actually uses them. If you do, you apparently aren't on the same mailing lists from high school friends that I am. They will eat this up -- like crab cakes.
You'll also notice a interesting one below:
