Gmail Gets Emotional

— -- You know that guy who replaces every period in his e-mail with a wink ;) ? Well, if he's got Gmail, watch out -- because now he can take his emoti-madness to a whole other level.

The folks in Mountain View who have brought us mail Goggles and canned responses recently have unleashed a collection of 148 emoticons into the Gmail space. Gmail has created all its emoticons as GIFS (little pictures) so that your true feelings can cut across all e-mail brands. Now when you want to say something is not so good, there's a nice steaming pile of you know what (there's also an animated version with flies buzzing around it); if someone is giving you the cold shoulder you can hit back at them with the snowman. With 148 emoticons to choose from you may never have to type a complete sentence again!

So how do the competitors stack up against Gmail's emotional meltdowns? Not even close. Hotmail comes in second with a paltry 60 emotions, Yahoo Has only 40, and AOL comes in dead last with an anemic 16 emoticons. There's no question, Gmail is the most sensitive e-mail service of them all. Some emoticons are appropriate for the presidential election. For John McCain there's a frowny face or maybe the I-can't-believe-I'm-behind panic face; Barack Obama can show off his Spock-like calm with the straight face. And for anybody in the audience at a rally with either vice presidential candidate there's shock, horror and "did I just hear what I thought I heard?" faces.

So, watch out, world! Gmail emoticons are here with a vengeance!