Today, we’re excited to announce a deeper integration of Boomerang with Google Apps. Introducing the Boomerang Contextual Gadget:

Because it is a contextual gadget, a Google Apps domain administrator can now install Boomerang for his or her entire domain. From then on, the Boomerang service will be available for all users instead of only in browsers that have the plugin installed. Installing the contextual gadget is easy; just have your domain adminstrator visit our Google Apps Marketplace page and click “Add It Now.”

It doesn’t support all of the features of the full Boomerang for Gmail plugin, but the Boomerang Contextual Gadget is a great way to introduce Boomerang to your co-workers. Once installed, Boomerang will allow you to set reminders and track responses directly below the emails themselves.

Google Apps Developer Hackathon

We built the Boomerang Contextual Gadget on Google’s own campus in Mountain View, CA as part of the Google Apps Developer Hackathon. It was a last minute decision for us to attend, and we’re really glad that we showed up.

Building on top of Google Apps can be challenging. Fortunately, Google engineers were present and eager to help. Among them were Ryan Boyd and Dan Holevoet, who helped us debug our first manifest file. We discussed the Apps APIs and learned about best practices and what to expect in the future from Google Apps.

We’re glad that people enjoyed the Boomerang Contextual Gadget. In fact, we won first place for Best Integration of Google Apps with an Existing App!

If you’re interested in building a new application with Google Apps APIs, be sure to follow the Google Apps Developer Blog and the Official Apps Developer Twitter feed. If you attend the next event in Mountain View, maybe we’ll see you there!