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If Google ran the world, my guess is that they'd do a pretty good job. They seem to be everywhere, always growing and expanding, coming up with new ways to be the dominant player in the search arena. Google's latest invention (or should I say re-invention?) is email. Now, I know what you're thinking: "Big Deal. Free email accounts are a dime a dozen." While that may be true for your everyday email providers like Yahoo and Hotmail, it's definitely not the case with Google's new Gmail.
Gmail is web-based email on steroids. To start with, you're given over 1,000 MB of storage, which means you can keep messages for years without ever hitting your delete key and still have plenty of room. In fact, Google encourages you not to delete messages; they would rather you "archive" them, but we'll get to that in a minute. When you send someone an email and he replies and then you reply, Google calls this a "conversation." Similar to a "threaded discussion board," these conversations are grouped together for easier searching. If you open an email, any responses to it are "stacked" on top. Pretty cool! The contacts from your pre-existing Yahoo, Outlook or other email accounts can be imported into Gmail quite easily. Now let's talk about that dirty word, "Sp.m." Gmail has its own built-in filter and includes a button that enables you to report any junk mail you didn't request to Google directly. Because of possible viruses, HTML images are automatically disabled but can be viewed by clicking on a separate button. Also, for this reason .exe files are not allowed to be sent or received by Gmail account users. This could pose a problem for marketers who attach .exe ebooks to Gmail users. Unlike other email programs that allow you to create folders to hold emails you wish to file, Google uses what is called "labels." One email conversation can have more then one label attached to it, making it easy to find when searching on a specific topic later.
When you're done with a message, clicking on the "archive" button will take it out of your Inbox and put it into what Google calls "All Mail." This is a holding ground for all emails you have sent or received, so you don't have to delete them, but it still removes them from your Inbox. When you need to do a search for a past message, you would want to click into "All Mail" first. So what does all this great email search technology cost? Are you ready? It's free -- but you will be exposed to text ads from Google's Adsense Program in the side border of your emails. All messages are scanned for their main theme and related text ads are shown within the emails content. Of course, this has many privacy advocates in an uproar. But why should it? The messages are not read by a human; it's all an automated machine process. The way I see it is, if it bothers you, don't use it. Gmail is not forcing itself on anyone and last time I checked it was still a free country. Now, before you go rushing over to Google to sign up I have to tell you this service is still not available to the public. Sort of like a private club right now while they're in the testing phase, you'll have to be "invited" by a current Gmail user or you can buy your way in. If you do a search on Ebay you may find an account or two for sale. There's also a website dedicated to Gmail account sharing at GmailSwap.com. Remember, once you get an account, failure to log in for 9 months or more will cause you to lose it. Compared to Hotmail's 30 days, this is something I can live with. Google is also working on rolling out POP3 support so you can use your account from within your current email application and possibly add on an antivirus scanning feature by licensing an existing virus protection technology.
Anytime a new service or application pops onto the Net, hacks and software add-ons are never far behind. Here are some software additions that will enhance your life as a Gmail user: 1) POP Goes the Gmail: Enables you to read your Gmail from any POP3 account. Go to Jaybe.org. 2) Import Your Email: Tool to export your existing email from your current email client over to Gmail. 3) Gmail Drive: Uses your Gmail account for additional storage. This software creates a virtual file system around your email account. It literally adds another drive onto your computer. You can drag files or folders and have them sent and saved to your Gmail account. Only works with IE 5.0 or higher. Get it at http://www.viksoe.dk/code/gmail.htm
4) Hide the Ads: This hack is for the Firefox Browser and actually hides the text ads that Gmail displays within each message. For install info, see... DigitalMediaMinute.com 5) Icon Generator: Create your own Gmail Icon. 6) Gmail Notifier: Downloadable software for Windows 2000 or XP. This icon sits in your Window tray and alerts you when a new Gmail message arrives in your in box. http://toolbar.google.com/gmail-helper/ 7) Gmail Trax: Allows you to search your Gmail account, emails from your desktop. See http://www.tong-web.com/gmail 8) PS Gmail: If you already have a POP Email account, use this service to check your Gmail account too. 15 day fully functional trial- Cost is $7.90. Go to http://windohs.net/psgmail/ So there you have the "skinny" on Google's new Gmail. The two biggest benefits I can see are the searching and storage capabilities. These two factors alone outperform any other web based email program out there today. By combining Google's powerful search functions with email, you'll never again have to say "Now where did I put that message?"
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