PC problems, recommended software, tips and tricks, coding and so forth. Things that make your life in the cyberspace easier.
gmail - free email service from google
braja - Thu, 17 Jun 2004 20:39:11 +0530
Google is slowly rolling out its new email service--1000MB of free space, filtering, etc.--and if you'd like an account, just submit to the form on
this page. It took me about 3 weeks before I was sent the sign up information. By getting in early-ish, you have a better chance of finding an email address of your own liking. They only allow one per sign up so it seems there is still an abundance of decent names.
There was much made of google's searching the content of emails for sorting and perhaps even using the content to push relevant advertising, but I have no problem with that.
There are also sites now for swapping/selling gmail addresses--search google (of course!) for "gmail"
In response to this new offering, Yahoo has upped its limit to 100MB. The standard has definitely been raised by Google.
Sri Sri Google Maharaja ki...
Madhava - Thu, 17 Jun 2004 20:55:17 +0530
Actually, Google was the first to announce the plan for 1 GB mail accounts, but SpyMac beat them when it came to offering it.
http://www.spymac.com/user.php?action=loginSpyMac is free from the controversies related with Gmail's mail scanning, targeted advertising etc. which are a big issue in EU among those concerned over privacy. I think the main gripes was with the fact that the mails don't get permanently deleted if you want to delete them. You should have the freedom to permanently delete whatever is yours whenever you wish.
braja - Thu, 17 Jun 2004 21:22:33 +0530
QUOTE(Madhava @ Jun 17 2004, 11:25 AM)
I think the main gripes was with the fact that the mails don't get permanently deleted if you want to delete them. You should have the freedom to permanently delete whatever is yours whenever you wish.
I think that got blown out of proportion:
http://gmail.google.com/gmail/help/more.html#dataQUOTE
Data retention
Some news stories have suggested that Google intends to keep copies of users' email messages even after they've deleted them, or closed their accounts. This is simply not true. Google keeps multiple backup copies of users' emails so that we can recover messages and restore accounts in case of errors or system failure. Even if a message has been deleted or an account is no longer active, messages may remain on our backup systems for some period of time. This is standard practice in the email industry, which Gmail and other major webmail services follow in order to provide a reliable service for users. We will make reasonable efforts to remove deleted information from our systems as quickly as is practical.
That policy makes sense to me.
There was a great article in the NY Times a few weeks back about Google's army of PhDs and work environment--everyone is encouraged to take time to invent/research any idea they'd like to pursue. They are a smart company in my book.
arekaydee - Thu, 17 Jun 2004 21:24:08 +0530
I had a paid Yahoo account for 100MB of storage. After their upgrade I found that I had 2GB of storage due to my paid account. Nice surprise. This was right after a friend gave me an invite to Gmail. Go figure. Gmail is nice. The scanning of email thing was/is overblown a bit.
Madhava - Thu, 17 Jun 2004 21:44:03 +0530
It's obvious that any e-mail service provider would do that to avoid those "sorry oops we lost your year of important mails, we hope you kept backups yourself" situations.
I wonder how that got so badly blown out of proportion.
* prepares to zip up things for online backups *
ramakesava - Wed, 23 Jun 2004 15:23:33 +0530
I would recommend GMail. It's pretty nice, and the way it sees everything as conversations, although new at first, is refreshing.
I never got asked by google to use it; instead a friend gave me an invite, after he had something like 6 of them.
I can post here again, if I get anhy invites.
-Rama
ramakesava - Wed, 23 Jun 2004 19:59:40 +0530
QUOTE(ramakesava @ Jun 23 2004, 09:53 AM)
I can post here again, if I get anhy invites.
I have 6 gmail invites now, it would seem.
Anyone who wants one, I need your e-mail address. Maybe best to email to
rama.kesava@virgin.net
Madhava - Sat, 11 Sep 2004 03:17:23 +0530
I have Gmail invites, if someone needs a G-mail account, PM me.
Madhava - Mon, 13 Sep 2004 04:15:57 +0530
Still have a couple of more left...
ramakesava - Mon, 13 Sep 2004 04:40:22 +0530
Me too: six.
Madhava - Mon, 04 Oct 2004 18:30:13 +0530
Still have some of these left... PM me if you're interested in having a 1GB inbox.
ramakesava - Mon, 04 Oct 2004 18:48:10 +0530
| QUOTE (Madhava @ Oct 4 2004, 01:00 PM) |
| Still have some of these left... PM me if you're interested in having a 1GB inbox. |
I have a feeling we won't get rid of them now... ;-)
arekaydee - Sun, 10 Oct 2004 19:29:28 +0530
| QUOTE |
GMail Drive shell extension
GMail Drive is a Shell Namespace Extension that creates a virtual filesystem around your Google GMail account, allowing you to use GMail as a storage medium.
GMail Drive creates a virtual filesystem on top of your Google GMail account and enables you to save and retrieve files stored on your GMail account directly from inside Windows Explorer. GMail Drive literally adds a new drive to your computer under the My Computer folder, where you can create new folders, copy and drag'n'drop files to.
Ever since Google started to offer users a GMail e-mail account, which includes storage space of a 1000 megabytes, you have had plenty of storage space but not a lot to fill it up with. With GMail Drive you can easily copy files to your GMail account and retrieve them again.
When you create a new file using GMail Drive, it generates an e-mail and posts it to your account. The e-mail appears in your normal Inbox folder, and the file is attached as an e-mail attachment. GMail Drive periodically checks your mail account (using the GMail search function) to see if new files have arrived and to rebuild the directory structures. But basically GMail Drive acts as any other hard-drive installed on your computer.
You can copy files to and from the GMail Drive folder simply by using drag'n'drop like you're used to with the normal Explorer folders.
Because the GMail files will clutter up your Inbox folder, you may wish to create a filter in GMail to automatically move the files (prefixed with the GMAILFS letters) to your archived mail folder.
Please note that GMail Drive is still an experimental tool. There's still a number of limitations of the file-system (such as total filename size must be less than 40 characters), and it doesn't make full use of the secure internet protocols available. |