Gmail Now Supports IMAP

Gmail now supports IMAP, in addition to POP3. So use it if you want it.

Source: Google Blog

Filter Russian Spam in Gmail

If you’re like me then you get a lot of Russian spam in Gmail. There has been no way to filter it out, until now. I found that if you create a filter to search for emails that have the words “в OR и” you will filter out a lot of the Russian spam.

Though it would be nice to filter out all non-english emails, considering I don’t deal with anyone who doesn’t speak english. Though I imagine if I sold things on ebay that could be a small problem, but I don’t.

Source: Dr Nic (5th comment)

Firefox Update Solves Gmail Crash

It appears that the latest update to Firefox has solved a serious bug I often ran into. The browser would frequently crash if you try to switch tabs while loading Gmail. According to Mihai, the issue appears to now be fixed in version 1.5.0.2. Bug 265740 describes the problem and shows it as being resolved. Firefox 1.5.0.2 also fixed several other crash bugs.

So far I haven’t noticed any more crashes, but I will let you know if I do. Have you been using the update, and do you still experience crashes with Gmail?

Google Talk Chats in Gmail

You can now save your Google Talk chat history in your Gmail account. And you can go “Off the Record” if you don’t want to save a specific chat with someone. The feature is off by default, but you can turn it on in your Gmail settings. See the screenshot here.

And you can chat with your friends directly from Gmail. No longer will you be tied to the computer where you installed Google Talk. Login quickly, send off a message, and voila.

Just the feature I was looking for. Cheers!

Gmail Contacts Groups

As reported on Google Blogoscoped, Gmail now has contacts groups that enable you to easily send emails to a select group of people.

The nice thing about it is that it auto-completes from your current contacts when you are creating a group, or you can add new people. If you add a new person that is not currently one of your contacts, they are then listed in your regular contacts. They remain in your contacts even if you delete the group later on. Each contact has their group affiliations listed next to their email in your contacts list.

Now this is a feature that can come in handy. I know quite a few organizations that use Gmail for correspondence, and this is something they are always looking for.

Gmail Invites Abound

It appears that Gmail has started giving out 100 Gmail invites to their users, or at least I just received it now. Previously most users received 50 invites. This appears to be an extra bonus combined with the latest announcement that you can get an invite through a text-messaging enabled phone by going to the Gmail homepage.

I would also be interested to find anyone out there who has been unable to find a Gmail invite. If you are someone who wants one then it’s always easy to find a place to get a Gmail invite. A google search for free gmail invites brings up a few automated sites and people with invites to spare.

Google Talk Released

Google Talk has officially gone active and the application is available for download. It ties in with your Gmail account, and can display all your Gmail contacts. Then you can easily invite people to use Google Talk, and if they aren’t Gmail users they will also be sent an invitation to join Gmail. You can also send contacts email whether they are online or not (it opens a Gmail compose window).

This is everything I had hoped for.

Gmail Talk Is Already Here

Google is set to announce a new product on Wednesday, but talk.google.com is already a fully functional Jabber server. Jabber is a messaging client similar to AIM and ICQ. You can login with your Gmail username and password, and you can chat with other Gmail users who are logged in. Hopefully the Google announcement will come with a nice client for the server, and possibly the ability to import contacts from Gmail to your buddylist.

Now imagine if they let you send messages to buddies that aren’t logged in, and instead they send them an email. And then Gmail can keep track of Google Talk messages and list them as such. That would be great.

Update: Download Squad has a review of Google Talk, where they show screenshots and more details.

Goodbye Gmail Invite Spooler: Hello Others

Recently the Gmail Invite Spooler was shutdown when the owner received word from Gmail that his service was no longer tolerable. The Gmail Invite Spooler allowed Gmail members to send their invites to be included in the site, and then the invites were doled out as visitors requested them. Invites are needed in order to create a new Gmail account.

With the site down there are other lesser-known sites. There’s the Automatic Gmail Invite Giver-Awayer, the free gmail inviter, and the Gmail Invites Queue. You can use those sites to get a Gmail account if you don’t already have one.

Google to Double Gmail Capacity

CNET has word from Google that they plan to double the free storage on Gmail from 1GB to 2GB. After that they will add storage daily with no plans to stop. Also, Gmail will remain in beta for now.

The Gmail Help Center new features section has been updated. It says “To celebrate our one-year birthday, we’re giving everyone one more gigabyte. But why stop the party there? Our plan is to continue growing your storage beyond 2GBs by giving you more space as we are able.”

This is a great move and I am as giddy as a school girl. As I write this my Gmail account storage is going up; it’s up to 1058…1059 MB.