gmail

Mailbox for iPhone goes live

Mailbox, a mail client that delivers Gmail messages to the iPhone, went live in the iTunes store today, but not everyone is going to have access right away -- the service is filling reservations on a first-come, first-served basis.

The app is designed to make for a mobile-friendly experience. To archive or trash, users can simply swipe the messages. If they want to look at an e-mail later, users can send e-mails back to the in-box with a tap. There's also a push notification.

Reservations can be had by downloading the Mailbox app. You'll need a reservation code … Read more

Microsoft goes after Google with attack on Gmail privacy

Microsoft is ratcheting up its attacks on Google with a campaign urging users of the Web giant's e-mail service to dump Gmail for its own Outlook.com over privacy concerns.

In its national campaign titled "Don't get scroogled by Gmail," Microsoft dredges up an old issue with Google's free e-mail service: Google scans users' e-mails to determine relevant advertisements to place alongside the messages.

Microsoft says a study it commissioned found that 70 percent of consumers polled were unaware that major e-mail providers "routinely" scan e-mail to sell ads and that nearly 90 … Read more

Clean up that mess of an inbox with Unroll.me

If you are like me, you ignore most of the messages you receive from your various e-mail subscriptions -- the spam you asked for -- but you are loath to unsubscribe from any because every now and then one of these e-mails will include something important, interesting, or financially advantageous. With Unroll.me, you get a cleaner inbox and better way to manage your e-mail subscriptions. You'll still receive all of your e-mail subscriptions but in a much more digestible form.

Here's how it works:

Head to the Unroll.me site and choose Gmail/Google Apps or Yahoo … Read more

A better way to select messages in Gmail for Android

The latest update to the Gmail app (4.2.1) for Android has provided some welcome new features, like pinch-to-zoom and swipe-to-delete. But another useful feature you might not be aware of is hiding check boxes.

To select multiple e-mail messages in Gmail for Android, you have to tap the tiny check boxes to the left of each message. If you miss the check box and tap the message instead, the message launches and you have to go back to the conversation list and try again. Luckily, there's a Gmail setting that will remove the check boxes entirely, and … Read more

Google extends free calling through Gmail

People who use Gmail to make free phone calls in North America will be able to keep doing so for another year.

Google said in a blog post today that it was extending free domestic calling through 2013. It also touted its cheap rates for international calls.

Launched in the summer of 2010 as an alternative to Skype, Google's calling plugin lets people make calls to any mobile phone or landline via the Chat section in Gmail. The service is available for a slew of countries (there's a list here, under "show all rates").

For a … Read more

Send one-click automated Gmail replies with Chrome extension

Do you find that you are forced to repeat yourself throughout the workday? If this repetition occurs via e-mail, then you might give GmailWiz a try. This Chrome extension adds up to four buttons to Gmail that send automated responses.

After installing GmailWiz, a thumbs-up Like button gets added to the right of Gmail's reply button. You won't see this button when viewing your inbox; it shows up only when you are reading an e-mail message. You'll also see that wand icon gets added just above, in the row with the print and open in new window … Read more

Google shutting down sync services in winter purge

Google said today that it is closing down a handful of products, including several that make it easier to synchronize data between devices.

Google Sync, Google Calendar Sync, Google Sync for Nokia S60, and SyncML will all go away. In the case of Google Sync -- which allows access to Gmail, Calendar, and contacts via Microsoft Exchange's ActiveSync protocol -- customers won't be able to create new accounts after January 30, but existing connections will continue to function.

Google said the recently developed CardDAV protocol would make sync possible after its own sync product goes away.

The announcements … Read more

How to enable pinch-to-zoom in Gmail on your Android device

Last week when Google rolled out Gmail 4.2.1 to all Android users, swipe-to-delete wasn't the only feature added to the app. Google also added pinch-to-zoom, but it's not called pinch-to-zoom in the settings. Wait, what? Yeah, it's a bit confusing. So here's what you'll need to do to enable pinch-to-zoom in Gmail on your Android device.

Download the latest version of Gmail from the Google Play Store. It should be version 4.2.1. After you're up to date, launch the Gmail app and navigate to Settings > General Settings. Check the … Read more

How and why Gmail and Chrome crashed yesterday

Google's email service crumbled yesterday for about 40 minutes, leaving millions of enterprise and consumer users without access to their cloud-stored email. 

Gmail didn't fall down due to a denial-of-service attack as was reported initially yesterday (which was quickly amended), despite no initial evidence to suggest that it was. The search giant said on its dashboard status pages:

Although our engineering team is still fully engaged on investigation, we are confident we have established the root cause of the event and corrected it.

Then millions of Google Chrome browsers crashed at around the same time. … Read more