As ReadWriteWeb has said in the past, "Whereas MySpace is still a website, Facebook has become an entire eco-system." With the new Prototypes site, Facebook is not only leveraging its users to create new applications, but also crowdsourcing their reviews to improve the development environment.

To access Prototypes, users can visit the Application Directory and filter by "Prototypes" to find new projects. Some of the current Prototypes for users to review include the Mac Desktops Notifications application, search by "Similar Posts", Photo Tag Search and Recent Comments Filter. The project will begin rolling out gradually beginning this afternoon.

We do like the idea of these features. But in a way, these features are walking a line that Gmail has carefully been avoiding in directly marking up the information inside an email. Of course, we realize these features are optional and that Google already mines email contained within Gmail for keywords to power their contextually-sensitive ads, but these tools go a step further and modify the content of the message.

We would also like to note that the enhanced content is not in the printable view, so if you were thinking you could quickly print out that email with the attached Yelp review, you will find the additional content isn't there. That said, these features are fun and are another stepping stone for Labs in their continuing quest to find ways of constructively enhancing the Gmail experience.

Now, you can. Thanks to Google Labs.

But what if you're simply inspired by the email and not its contents? Create a Document can help you there, too. Once the feature and keyboard shortcuts are enabled, you gain the ability to start a new blank Doc directly from Gmail. Simply, hit the G and W keys at the same time and you'll have a new blank document. Ta dah!

Now, granted, this may not seem like a huge leap forward in technology. But it does mark yet another step that enhances the interoperability among the Google offerings. And that provides a glimmer of hope - and a reason to seriously consider Google's suite of tools - especially for those of us who constantly bemoan the lacking interoperability among the components of other more popular office productivity suites.

At the very least, it makes more sense than Google Mail Goggles.

To try the new feature, log into Gmail and then visit Google Labs to enable Create a Document.

Now, you may have the option to rectify that situation with a new Gmail Labs feature that adds SMS messaging to Gmail chat.

How do you use it? After activating the feature through Google Labs, simply establish a mobile phone number for the contact with whom you want to exchange SMS messages. And begin firing messages their way.

The mobile user will receive a message from a unique phone number beginning with the 406 area code. So they'll be able to save it to their contacts and send you messages in the future. If they don't want to be getting messages from you, they have the option to block them.

With the new feature, you'll be able to continue conversations with people who have left their computer mid-conversation. What's more, the next time you get an inbound SMS message while you're sitting in front of your machine, you'll also be able to jump into Gmail chat to converse using your full keyboard - instead of your mobile. And that may mean a more meaningful conversation for both of you.

Google Code Reviews

Google Code Reviews is, as the name implies, aimed at developers. It allows developers to share code for review and propose changes.

Google Moderator

Google Moderator is an application that Google first released for the App Engine just about a month ago. Moderator is basically a forum for group discussions and Q&A sessions, with the ability to vote questions and answers up and down.

Google Short Links

Short Links is a URL shortener like TinyURL or snurl, but works with your own domain name. This allows you to turn complicated and long URLs into short, more memorable ones.

More to Come

According to Google, these are just the first three in a long list of products that will make their debut in Labs for Google Apps. Google also intends to open this platform up to all App Engine developers, but it hasn't provided a timetable for this yet.

One interesting twist to the story is that Almaer used to be at Google.

What's New About This?

Mozilla already has a "Labs" section, and the relationship between that and this latest development isn't terribly clear. We suspect, though, that Mozilla Labs will continue to build and launch Mozilla specific projects that can be coded against - software like Weave, Snowl, Ubiquity and Geode, for example. The new Open Web Developer Tools Lab will be building tools that can be used in development processes anywhere, not just in projects incorporating Mozilla software.

Update: Almaer responds in comments and explains that this work will go on inside of the existing Mozilla Labs. Thanks Dion!

What Do Developers Say About the Project?

In quickly talking to a few developers about the announcement, it's apparent that the Lab's leaders Almaer and Galbraith are widely liked and admired. The project is one that Open Web advocates seem enthusiastic about so far.

Scott Kveton, Chairman of the Open ID Foundation, told us that he thinks "this is great news and Mozilla is the perfect place for it. Tools are the key to proliferation of open web technologies." Tools, in this case, are contrasted with talk - something that many in the Open Web community have complained there's an excess of relative to tools development.

We asked Eran Hammer-Lahav, Open Web Evangelist at Yahoo!, a participant in the newly launched Open Web Foundation and one of the leading voices in support of standards based safe-login protocol OAuth what he thought of Mozilla's announcement and he articulated very specifically the dire need for better tools.

"The quality of open web libraries is generally poor and lacks enough resources to support it. For example, OAuth has libraries in many languages but the implementations are buggy and completely inconsistent. Many developers find it easier to implement from scratch than use available code, and bugs are found on a weekly basis so to have dedicated resources working to bring these technologies to the mainstream by making them available as reliable and supported tools is a very promising proposition.

In terms of the Open Web Foundation, having running code available before specifications are completed is critical. This is by far the most difficult part of any spec-work - getting it up and running. You don't know if something will interoperate until you do it. If Mozilla is going to keep their leadership position in the industry, this sounds like a great way to apply their resources and influence."

We couldn't have said it better. We are very excited to see what comes out of Mozilla's new Lab.