What won't the Gmail team think of? First, the folks behind Google's e-mail service began watching our back to make sure we weren't drunk e-mailing. And now, they've done it again: A built-in auto-responder to PR pitches! Huzzah!

OK -- technically, Gmail's new Canned Responses feature is not just for gently rebuffing persistent pitches. But it certainly can't hurt.

Let's take a look. From Google's blog post on the subject:

If you're sick of typing out the same reply every time someone emails you with a common question, now you can compose your reply once and save the message text with the "Canned responses" button. Later, you can open that same message and send it again and again.

It couldn't get any easier unless Gmail automatically pushed the Send button. If you're lazy enough to think that would be a good idea, then read on, friend.

Gmail already lets you create filters based on a combination of keywords, sender, recipients, and more in your incoming messages. Turn on Canned Responses in Labs, and you can set a filter to grab one of your saved responses, create an automated reply, and hit the Send button for you.

A conversation I had this weekend with the head of a branding and creative agency here in the city got me thinking. How well is Linux positioned to convince users at the small business or consumer levels to switch?

That's right. I'm talking about the other "Switch" here -- not the Windows-to-Mac one. I mean the big one: from proprietary to open source, which very easily may be the harder of the two Switches.

His take: Why switch to Linux at all? After all, it will require giving up a number of apps he and his coworkers are already expert with. He balked at switching to alternatives like GIMP and OpenOffice -- neither of which he had heard of -- and doubted that open source apps could measure up to the proprietary applications he uses daily. He was concerned at the thought of how he might go about getting support for open source applications -- and how much he'd have to pay.

Of course, there's the dissenting opinion. Open source software advocates point to environments like Wine, which, despite a performance hit, enables you to still run many proprietary applications, including older versions of Photoshop -- thanks in part to the efforts of Google in prodding Wine along. And, yeah, there are GIMP and other free alternatives to handle graphics-editing needs that many cite as suitable replacements.

YouTube Hot Spots. Source: Google

I noted with interest Google's latest addition to YouTube: a new feature for video uploaders called "Hot Spots". Here's the gist: When viewing a clip's stats through the seven-month-old Insight tool, an uploader can now identify the most popular parts of their video.

From Google:

We determine "hot" and "cold" spots by comparing your video's abandonment rate at that moment to other videos on YouTube of the same length, and incorporating data about rewinds and fast-forwards [...] when the graph goes up, your video is hot: few viewers are leaving, and many are even rewinding on the control bar to see that sequence again. When the graph goes down, your content's gone cold: many viewers are moving to another part of the video or leaving the video entirely.

...Users can figure out which scenes in their videos are the "hottest" and edit those videos, or include well-timed annotations, to keep their audience more engaged. Partners might similarly create better content -- like more exciting promotional trailers -- for use on and off YouTube ... Now that Insight shows what parts of videos viewers are watching and skipping, creators no longer have to play guessing games. YouTube, the world's largest focus group, provides them with answers.

That's truly awesome, near-professional-grade market research for budding user-generated-content moguls out there.

I hope a few traditional media stakeholders take notice, as well. Wouldn't it be a useful step up from focus testing to try out existing or new advertising creative live, on YouTube? It seems so, particularly for ads targeting the elusive, media-savvy and user-generated-content-fiending youth of today. How would they fare when analyzed with Hot Spots and an audience of millions?