Posts Tagged ‘GMail’
Google Buzz – Social networking through GMail
Category Technology
Thunderbird 3.1 Alpha 1 (Lanikai) released
Category Announcement
Mozilla Messaging team has released the 1st alpha version of Mozilla Thunderbird 3.1 code named Lanikai. I’m using Thunderbird 3.0 since it was released and I like it. I like the tabbed interface. The only irritating problem I have is with the folders that Thunderbird created under Archives for my GMail accounts. Even if I read the emails under my inbox, the archive folder doesn’t get refreshed and when a new email comes, I get new email notification with multiple email subjects. This is pretty irritating and I have no idea how to stop it unless I go and click each individual mails under Archives. I also would like to see the compose window open in a new tab instead of a new window.
Lanikai Alpha 1 is built on top of the Gecko 1.9.2 platform. Here are some important changes in Thunderbird 3.1 alpha 1.
- Several improvements to IMAP.
- Several fixes for Smart Folders, message filters, and attachment handling.
- Several design improvements and corrections to the interface.
- Download Manager is now accessible as a menu item (Tools > Saved Files).
- Stability and memory improvements.
If you want to give it a try, read the known issues in this release, below.
- All Systems
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- If you are using the Kaspersky Anti-Spam Extension, it is disabled in Lanikai Alpha 1. The Kaspersky Anti-Spam Extension will support Thunderbird 3 in their next version.
- If you use or had previously used the master password feature, you may be prompted to enter your master password when you first start up Lanikai.
- Your passwords are stored in a new location. If you go back to using a Thunderbird 2, or switch back and forth between Lanikai and Thunderbird 2, your password lists do not get updated.
- Searching your emails is case sensitive for languages other than English.
- If using SSL or TLS, and the certificate that comes from the server is self-signed, expired, or has a domain that does not match the server domain, a dialog will be shown asking if Thunderbird should permanently make an exception for the cert. This should only be done if the error is understood.
- The extended columns in the folder pane were removed in Thunderbird 3 Beta 1. There is an add-on that restores this functionality.
- The compact header view was removed in Thundebird 3 Beta 3. There is an extension that offers similar functionality.
- Some Thunderbird 2 users upgrading to Lanikai may not be able to login to their smtp server because the secure authentication setting maybe turned on but not supported by the smtp server. Check your smtp server settings in Tools -> Account Settings -> Outgoing Server, and edit the smtp server with the issue. If use ’secure authentication’ is checked, uncheck it and try again.
- Lanikai requires that extensions either come from a secure server using the HTTPS protocol or are digitally signed, or they will fail to install.
- If you are unable to view content for your RSS feeds in the Wide View Layout, you may need to disable the Lightning Calendar add-on if you have it installed or switch to Classic View and restart Thunderbird.
- Some emails sent in Plain Text may move the message and some of the buttons out of the message pane. Open the message in a New Tab, resize the window, or change your layout to Classic View or Wide View to view the message.
- When working Offline, if you compose an email and select ‘Send Later’, your message may not be sent if you reconnect automatically to the Internet. You will need need to manually resend the email from your Drafts folder.
- In some cases, using ‘Save As Template’ from the File menu may not work. You can still Save As Template from the email Compose window or drag the message into the Template folder.
- Microsoft Windows
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- The keyboard shortcut for ‘Mark All Read’ has changed from Ctrl+Shift+C to Shift+C.
- You can download alpha1 from here.
Technorati Tags: Gecko, Mozilla Messaging, Thunderbird 3.1, Lanikai, IMPA, Google, GMail
SlideScreen for Android – Home screen replacement
Category Droid
Larva Labs has introduced a new Android Apps called SlideScreen. According to Larva Labs, the purpose is to create an intelligent home screen that creates a meaningful hierarchy out of a user’s information. The Apps displays messages/information from various sources like your email, Tweets, text messages, calendar, Google Reader, stocks etc. You can scroll through those information and each source has a color coded side bar to indicate it’s a tweet or it’s an email etc. A center bar divides the personal messages and appointments from news, stock and more general information. By moving the bar, you can see less or more personal information. You can also completely hide the personal information by moving the central bar all the way up.
Most of the information on the SlideScreen has icons to their right, which when long pressed will open the respective applications. The central bar also shows the weather information, which users can flip through to get weather, date and time for different cities. A micro forecast gives a compact indication of the week ahead.
SlideScreen is available in the Android Market in two forms, an ad-supported free version and the Pro version for $6.99. I’m not sure if I would go for it. Though it shows useful information in your main screen, it makes the phone look more like older version of text only OSes rather than recent Icon(ic) OSes. It also lacks Facebook and Google Talk integrations. I might give the free version a try once they add those 2 services and if I feel it’s quite useful, I might buy the paid version.
Here is a demo video from Mobile Crunch.
Technorati Tags: Android, SlideScreen, Twitter, Facebook, GMail, Google, Larva Labs
Compose or open a mail in a new window in GMail
Category Technology
If you want to compose a mail in GMail, but at the same time you want to be able to refer to old emails while composing, all you have to do is hold the SHIFT key while clicking the Compose Mail link with the mouse button. It will open the compose mail in a new window. If you want to open a particular mail in a new window in GMail, hold down the Shift key while clicking the particular email. The pop up blocker might block the window the 1st time you do it, but once you add mail.google.com to the exception list, it should work fine from the next try.
Gboard – Keyboard for GMail
Category Technology
Gboard is a mini keyboard specifically designed for GMail as a replacement for keyboard shortcuts. It contains 19 color coded keys in the size of numeric keypad and each key performs a particular keyboard shortcut. The keyboard can be used with other application as a normal keyboard.
The device is USB powered and required no drive (good for Linux users). You have to make sure that you have enabled keyboard shortcuts in your GMail settings to make it work. The price is also decent ($19.99).
You are screwed even if it’s not your fault?
Category News
A dumb employee from Wyoming based Rocky Mountain bank sent names, addresses, SSNs and loan information of more than 1,300 customers to a Gmail address mistakenly. The bank tried to contact the GMail account owner, but they didn’t get any response. The bank filed a case against Google in U.S District court in California. The judge ordered Google to deactivate that particular email account and Google complied. Google said they can’t restore the account until the court orders to do so.
The user, though it was not his fault, has lost his email account along with his emails. I’m not sure why he didn’t respond. If he didn’t with bad intention, then, good he lost the account. If he didn’t respond because he thought it was one of the many spams that emails users get and didn’t care to open it, then I pity him. I generally get lots of spam with different bank names and I don’t open them normally. This case shows that unless you have backed up your emails (which most people don’t since they trust the service providers), it’s not sure you’ll have it tomorrow. This case clearly shows that you might loose your emails and your email account due to some dumb activity by someone somewhere.
Update: The GMail user never viewed that particular email and Google deleted that email. The judge ordered Google to reactivate the GMail account. The funny thing was, the bank took no action against that dumb worker who created all this mess.
GMail having issues this morning
Category General
I’m having trouble accessing my GMail accounts through Thunderbird or through web or through my GMail manager. I could log in through web sometimes, but then I get the error shown below. I heard from others that they too have issues with GMail this morning, including the IMAP access through Thunderbird.
Technorati Tags: GMail, Thunderbird, IMAP
Firefox, Skype, OpenOffice kick Microsoft’s butt
Firefox, Skype and OpenOffice are finally cracking Microsoft’s monopoly in the browser, instant messaging and Office software suite. According to InfoWorld, exo.preformance.network, which tracks the actual usage and configurations of thousands of PCs around the world, reported that Firefox is being used in 50.6% of the PCs and Skype became the most widely used instant messaging client and OpenOffice adoption is 50% higher in Europe and Asia than in U.S.
It’s a good news and would finally make Microsoft deliver better products if they want to compete. I also read this morning that Google Docs is giving serious challenge to Microsoft Office in workplace. The survey reported that 1 in 5 companies reported that Google Docs is widely used in their workplace. It’s a good sign and I hope more companies will look into other options before they decide to pay a high price to Microsoft. We use Firefox for browsing, Thunderbird as email client and GMail for emails in our office.
Technorati Tags: Microsoft, Firefox, Thunderbird, Skype, OpenOffice, GMail
Auto-unsubscribe feature in GMail
Category Technology
Google team has introduced auto unsubscribe feature in GMail. When you mark a message as spam, GMail will offer you an unsubscribe tool which, when selected, would send a request to the sender that your email address be removed from the mailing list.
Google also states that mailing lists may take up to three days to process your unsubscription request, so it may take a few days for you to stop receiving mail from the list. Also, the auto unsubscribe option is not available for all mailing lists. Gmail won’t display Unsubscribe for lists that are known to be owned by spammers. When you don’t see the unsubscribe tool for a particular newsletter or mailing list that you trust, check the actual message for unsubscribe options, or try contacting the list owner about removal.
I think it’s neat feature, but you have to use with care. If you, by mistake, click unsubscribe to a spam message, then it’s like confirming to the spammer that your email address is valid.
Source: Google.
Technorati Tags: Google, Gmail, auto unsubscribe, spam
More emoticons in GMail
Category Technology
If you want to add lot more emoticons to your GMail, go to Settings – Labs and enable Extra Emoji. Save the settings and go back to the compose windows. Click on the emoticon icon and you’ll now see lots more new tabs with several new emoticons. Enjoy!!!
Source: Google Blogoscoped.
