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Google's Gmail: Search and Email Finally Come Together
By Merle http://MCPromotionsPress.com

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: http://Gmail.Google.com

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 http://www.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 http://www.Jaybe.org

2) Import Your Email: Tool to export your existing email from 
   your current email client over to Gmail. 
   http://www.marklyon.org/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...
   http://digitalmediaminute.com/article/1063/

5) Icon Generator: Create your own Gmail Icon
   http://www.nhacks.com/email/index.php

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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Merle of WebSiteTrafficPlan.com offers a F-r-e-e ebook and an 
e-course that will teach you how to promote and market your
website. Grab your copy now at http://WebSiteTrafficPlan.com
================================================================

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