The folks at Gmail labs are always busy experimenting new things and implementing new ideas. Today, Gmail has launched a few lab experiments that will let you add gadgets to the left navigation in Gmail, next to Labels and Chat.

Engineers at Docs and Calendar teams have come up with a basic integration for Docs and Gadgets in the left nav, so you can easily check your calendar agenda and access your previous docs from there. Google wants it to make easy for the users to access all Google services at one place as mailbox is one of the most commonly used services of all.

There is a third lab experiment on going that allows users to put add any gadget by pasting its URL XMl spec file (e.g. http://www.google.com/ig/modules/youtube_videos.xml). But it's not user friendly. It's a sandbox actually aimed for developers who want to experiment gadgets in Gmail.

Gadgets are made using common gadget infrastructure, such as the Apache Shindig project, and with other gadget containers to make gadgets more portable.

Gmail is also looking for new gadgets and ideas, just post your thoughts at Labs forum. Also share with us if you think these new gadgets feature will help users in anyway?