Friday, January 30, 2009
12:17 by FoxTwo
In the old days, we wanted to do our mails offline because the cost of Internet connection was high - many places charge by either the amount of data downloaded or the amount of time you spent online. The more you use, the more you pay. Hence, it made sense to download all your mails quickly, reply them offline at leisure, connect again and send your replies quickly.
Compare that to today's age of broadband - everyone's "always on", and it makes very little difference how long they spend online get their email. Many people no longer are on the pay-by-amount-of-data plans. Most ISPs offer "unlimited connections" or close to it.
So, when I came across this article - "Official Gmail Blog: New in Labs: Offline Gmail", I was wondering, has everything come full circle? Do people now want a way to read their mail offline, again?
Now Gmail is offering an "offline" function to assist people with "spotty network connections". To do that, you need to install a small bit of software from Google to allow it to detect the state of network connection on your computer.
I find this redundant because we already have software that can do the same thing for years upon years. Heck, you may even know it, because one of them is called "Outlook". Yes, Outlook (like most other email software) can download your mail to your PC and let you read and reply at your leisure! Amazing isn't it?
Not only can Outlook do it, so can Thunderbird, or Pegasus, or whatever. Just go to any software library site like CNet's Download.com, Softpedia, or Tucows and do a search on them. You will find a whole slew of them!
If you use IMAP on these email software, you are simulating the web-based experience only via a new GUI - your email software's. Everything you do when on an IMAP connection is real-time, just as if you're on the actual web page.
All these email software will download your mail by using a protocol called POP3. That is the traditional method. This is also the method that Google is mimicking to download a copy to your local PC.
Personally I've always used an email software, even if I may be using a web-based mail service. The advantage is, all my email accounts from the various services are contained within ONE software. For example, in Thunderbird, I can configure a mix of POP3 and IMAP services as I please, depending on how I wanted to get my mails. I am sure it will be the same in Outlook or whatever other modern email software that you do decide to use.
The caveat is - if your primary email service is HOTMAIL, you may have no choice but to use the latest versions of Outlook. Only MS Outlook can download emails from your Hotmail account.
Since this entry is talking about Gmail, you can relax. Google has wisely allowed both POP3 and IMAP protocols to be activated on your account, so you can easily configure an email software to access your Gmail emails via either protocols.
So I'm still puzzled - why's everyone going gaga over this "feature"? I've had it for YEARS :)
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12:17 by FoxTwo
Offline Gmail - What Is The Point?
Image via CrunchBase
In the old days, we wanted to do our mails offline because the cost of Internet connection was high - many places charge by either the amount of data downloaded or the amount of time you spent online. The more you use, the more you pay. Hence, it made sense to download all your mails quickly, reply them offline at leisure, connect again and send your replies quickly.
Compare that to today's age of broadband - everyone's "always on", and it makes very little difference how long they spend online get their email. Many people no longer are on the pay-by-amount-of-data plans. Most ISPs offer "unlimited connections" or close to it.
So, when I came across this article - "Official Gmail Blog: New in Labs: Offline Gmail", I was wondering, has everything come full circle? Do people now want a way to read their mail offline, again?
Now Gmail is offering an "offline" function to assist people with "spotty network connections". To do that, you need to install a small bit of software from Google to allow it to detect the state of network connection on your computer.
I find this redundant because we already have software that can do the same thing for years upon years. Heck, you may even know it, because one of them is called "Outlook". Yes, Outlook (like most other email software) can download your mail to your PC and let you read and reply at your leisure! Amazing isn't it?
Not only can Outlook do it, so can Thunderbird, or Pegasus, or whatever. Just go to any software library site like CNet's Download.com, Softpedia, or Tucows and do a search on them. You will find a whole slew of them!
If you use IMAP on these email software, you are simulating the web-based experience only via a new GUI - your email software's. Everything you do when on an IMAP connection is real-time, just as if you're on the actual web page.
All these email software will download your mail by using a protocol called POP3. That is the traditional method. This is also the method that Google is mimicking to download a copy to your local PC.
Personally I've always used an email software, even if I may be using a web-based mail service. The advantage is, all my email accounts from the various services are contained within ONE software. For example, in Thunderbird, I can configure a mix of POP3 and IMAP services as I please, depending on how I wanted to get my mails. I am sure it will be the same in Outlook or whatever other modern email software that you do decide to use.
The caveat is - if your primary email service is HOTMAIL, you may have no choice but to use the latest versions of Outlook. Only MS Outlook can download emails from your Hotmail account.
Since this entry is talking about Gmail, you can relax. Google has wisely allowed both POP3 and IMAP protocols to be activated on your account, so you can easily configure an email software to access your Gmail emails via either protocols.
So I'm still puzzled - why's everyone going gaga over this "feature"? I've had it for YEARS :)
Labels: email, Google, internet
Friday, November 16, 2007
00:23 by FoxTwo Ahhh the wonders of what a restrictive company firewall can do to its staff....
Well I spent the whole day surfing whatever sites I could, and they're usually technology-related sites (and yeah the network guys didn't block my domain so I could still do stuff on it). Yup, I came across this website which is new to me, and which I think should have been discovered by me much sooner, like maybe 5 years sooner.. :)
The website? It's called Contactify.
What does it do?
Nowadays it's damn dangerous to even put your email address up on the web in the clear, unless you really like attracting spam-bots. One of the ways to beat these spam bots is to convert your email address into a graphic to foil the spam-bots, the other is to use Contactify. It's sorta like what Haloscan does for comments and trackbacks in a blog. It's a free service which presents a form where users on your website can email you, but you don't even have to reveal your email address at all.
The basic service just gives you a URL link which is uniquely yours. You just slot this link just like any other link onto your site, and when the visitor clicks on it, it brings them to contactify's website to fill in a form to send an email to you.
Better yet, it also offers a widget which you can use to integrate it into your own website, and even use the CSS stylesheets on your website, so that it has the same look-and-feel as the rest of your website. When you choose this option, the visitor doesn't get whisked off to contactify's website - they can fill in the form right there on your own website, with a form that is css-styled to suit the rest of your website theme.
Want a real live working demo? Sure, click here to email me :)
Cool huh?
As I said, this service should have been around years ago, before blogs became prominent. Back then, spam was a big problem (still is, now). People used to have "homepages" and left their email addresses as valid mailto: links, and spam-bots quickly picked these up and spammed them. If Contactify had been around back then, this problem would have been quickly nipped in the bud.
Now, I guess you don't really need this service much. Most people now have "blogs" instead of "homepages" (I'm one of the few dinosaurs who still have a homepage, and you're on the "blog" part of it). I just happen to have both, and integrated my blog as part of my "homepage". Yeah my website's kinda retro heh!
00:23 by FoxTwo Ahhh the wonders of what a restrictive company firewall can do to its staff....
Well I spent the whole day surfing whatever sites I could, and they're usually technology-related sites (and yeah the network guys didn't block my domain so I could still do stuff on it). Yup, I came across this website which is new to me, and which I think should have been discovered by me much sooner, like maybe 5 years sooner.. :)
The website? It's called Contactify.
What does it do?
Nowadays it's damn dangerous to even put your email address up on the web in the clear, unless you really like attracting spam-bots. One of the ways to beat these spam bots is to convert your email address into a graphic to foil the spam-bots, the other is to use Contactify. It's sorta like what Haloscan does for comments and trackbacks in a blog. It's a free service which presents a form where users on your website can email you, but you don't even have to reveal your email address at all.
The basic service just gives you a URL link which is uniquely yours. You just slot this link just like any other link onto your site, and when the visitor clicks on it, it brings them to contactify's website to fill in a form to send an email to you.
Better yet, it also offers a widget which you can use to integrate it into your own website, and even use the CSS stylesheets on your website, so that it has the same look-and-feel as the rest of your website. When you choose this option, the visitor doesn't get whisked off to contactify's website - they can fill in the form right there on your own website, with a form that is css-styled to suit the rest of your website theme.
Want a real live working demo? Sure, click here to email me :)
Cool huh?
As I said, this service should have been around years ago, before blogs became prominent. Back then, spam was a big problem (still is, now). People used to have "homepages" and left their email addresses as valid mailto: links, and spam-bots quickly picked these up and spammed them. If Contactify had been around back then, this problem would have been quickly nipped in the bud.
Now, I guess you don't really need this service much. Most people now have "blogs" instead of "homepages" (I'm one of the few dinosaurs who still have a homepage, and you're on the "blog" part of it). I just happen to have both, and integrated my blog as part of my "homepage". Yeah my website's kinda retro heh!
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Thursday, November 15, 2007
00:06 by FoxTwo
Well, I just found something really useful today and thought I'd share it with everyone.
First of all, I am sure that for many of us who have registered their own domain, we usually get ONE measely "free" email address that is named for the domain we purchased. In some cases, may be 5, or 20. Or, in worst case scenarios, none.
Well when I registered mine, I only got one free one. It was a no-brainer to create the email address. However, most "professional" sites have email addresses like "support@domain.com" and "sales@domain.com" etc for different purposes. Assuming you registered your domain for a business goal, having just one "free" email probably wouldn't suit your business, and you would probably already have paid a small fee to "upgrade" your plan so that you can get more email addresses to run your business.
Today, I ran across Google Apps. Ok, with a name like that, it's nothing to shout about. Google Apps is a web-based office productivity suite, kinda like Microsoft Office On The Web. Yes you get the usual Google Docs, Google Calendar, Google Pages and all that jazz. However, what drew me to it was the fact that the "standard" edition, ie FREE edition, already allows you to create up to 100 free email accounts, and they can be named for your domain! Not only that, each of these email account is a Gmail clone - ie you get 4GB (and counting) storage for your email PER ACCOUNT. FREE! If you went ahead and created 100 accounts, you'd have 400GBs of storage for your email.. wow! For a small business, I doubt anyone would need more than 50. Oh did I mention they are POP and IMAP capable too? Would probably fit right in to most organisations.
In any case, I wasted no time in signing up, and configuring Google Apps for a few more email addresses to my domain. Instructions provided by Google Apps are easy for guiding you to create DNS entries or to point them to Google so that your brand-spanking-new email addresses are ready to accept email.
No I'm not making any money off this, and there's no "referral link". Just something really cool that I'd like to share with you guys.
00:06 by FoxTwo
100 Free Email Accounts For Your Domain!
Well, I just found something really useful today and thought I'd share it with everyone.
First of all, I am sure that for many of us who have registered their own domain, we usually get ONE measely "free" email address that is named for the domain we purchased. In some cases, may be 5, or 20. Or, in worst case scenarios, none.
Well when I registered mine, I only got one free one. It was a no-brainer to create the email address. However, most "professional" sites have email addresses like "support@domain.com" and "sales@domain.com" etc for different purposes. Assuming you registered your domain for a business goal, having just one "free" email probably wouldn't suit your business, and you would probably already have paid a small fee to "upgrade" your plan so that you can get more email addresses to run your business.
Today, I ran across Google Apps. Ok, with a name like that, it's nothing to shout about. Google Apps is a web-based office productivity suite, kinda like Microsoft Office On The Web. Yes you get the usual Google Docs, Google Calendar, Google Pages and all that jazz. However, what drew me to it was the fact that the "standard" edition, ie FREE edition, already allows you to create up to 100 free email accounts, and they can be named for your domain! Not only that, each of these email account is a Gmail clone - ie you get 4GB (and counting) storage for your email PER ACCOUNT. FREE! If you went ahead and created 100 accounts, you'd have 400GBs of storage for your email.. wow! For a small business, I doubt anyone would need more than 50. Oh did I mention they are POP and IMAP capable too? Would probably fit right in to most organisations.
In any case, I wasted no time in signing up, and configuring Google Apps for a few more email addresses to my domain. Instructions provided by Google Apps are easy for guiding you to create DNS entries or to point them to Google so that your brand-spanking-new email addresses are ready to accept email.
No I'm not making any money off this, and there's no "referral link". Just something really cool that I'd like to share with you guys.
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Labels: domain, email, Google, internet
