contentious.com » e-mail

E-mail on your phone? Watch out for phishing

Amy Gahran — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 14:34:36 +0000

My latest CNN.com mobile blog post concerns the recent Epsilon e-mail security breach. I received four e-mail notifications from companies I do online business with (banks, etc.) about this break last week, so I knew it was a big deal — but as the scope unfolds, it’s pretty staggering

Then I found a recent bit of research that has special relevance to mobile e-mail security. So I wrote this article: Mobile users more vulnerable to e-mail phishing scams – CNN.com.

My favorite comment: “The reason iPhone users are 8 times more likely to enter a phishing site is because with an iPhone you can actually get to the website. Ever try to use the web browser on a Blackberry…their built in phishing security is that the web browser can’t open websites.”

Another reason to consider e-mail a key part of any mobile strategy

Amy Gahran — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 18:08:54 +0000

My latest CNN Tech mobile blog post: E-mail migrating to mobile devices, survey says – CNN.com.

This has a lot of implications for any mobile strategy — and it means that both your e-mail alerts and the links included in them need to be mobile friendly.

Google Wave: I want it because I hate e-mail

Amy Gahran — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 17:55:05 +0000

I have come to loathe e-mail. Well, at least for coordination (like setting meetings) or collaboration (like working together on projects) or tasks (like answering people’s questions) or ongoing conversations (like discussion groups). I quickly get overwhelmed by all those separate messages, each of which requires a surprising amount of thought to place it in context and figure out what I’m supposed to DO with it.

It makes my brain hurt.

This video from EpipheoStudios.com nails exactly why I hate e-mail, and how Google Wave is trying to solve the problems of e-mail.

YouTube – What is Google Wave?.

I don’t know whether Google Wave will actually solve these problems. But dammit, at least they’re trying to tackle the problem. And they have the development power and user base to stand a chance of pulling it off.

A friend has sent me an invite. I haven’t received it yet. But when I do, I’ll give it a try. UPDATE: I just got my Google Wave invitation today! I’ll get a chance to play with it over the weekend. I expect it to be rough. (OK, everyone who’s whining about it: rough is what “alpha testing” is all about!) And hopefully I’ll start to glimpse an end to the e-mail madness.

After Google Shared Stuff dies, how to easily e-mail links?

Amy Gahran — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 23:01:39 +0000

As of 3/30, Google Shared Stuff will be no more. I’m annoyed, because it was an easy bookmarklet-based way to quickly e-mail a link to someone while simultaneously saving it in an easily findable, searchable way.

…So I’d switched back to Furl — which is clunkier but also performed those two key jobs.

…Then today Furl announces that it’s shuttering. Users can export their bookmarks to Diigo. Whatever that is. Don’t know yet if it will e-mail links easily. I’ll check it out.

So this blog recommends using the Google Reader Notes bookmarklet as a replacement. But it doesn’t seem to offer an e-mail function.

Market opportunity here, folks!!!! Really, I just want a social bookmarking service that offers an “e-mail link” function from a browser bookmarklet. That’s all. Any takers?

Gmail storage space hits 5 gigabytes

Amy Gahran — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 15:36:01 +0000

Just noticed this today:

We’ll see how far this keeps going…

UPDATES:

Nov. 18: 5028 MB (37% used)

More Gmail space; still waiting for GTDinbox update

Amy Gahran — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 18:48:16 +0000

A month after Google announced it was going to increase free storage space for Gmail users by an unspecified amount, I’m still seeing the storage space in my account creep steadily upward.

For context, a month ago my account had about 2.9 G of space, with 59% of it used. As of this morning, I have just over 4.8 G of space, with only 38% of it used.

Pretty cool!Also recently Google unveiled its new version of Gmail. The update hit my account Thursday. I haven’t had a chance to play with it yet, because I rely on the GTDinbox Firefox plugin for task management, which isn’t compatible with the new Gmail. The makers of that great plugin are working on a Gmail-happy upgrade. So for now I’m still using the older version of Gmail. A new version of GTDinbox may be out this week.By the way, if you’re a fan of GTDinbox too, please do consider donating to support its development and maintenance. I just did. They work very hard on this free tool.

UPDATES
- Nov. 14: 4927 MB
- Nov. 15: 4852 MB, 37% used

GTDinbox clashes with Gmail update

Amy Gahran — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 16:07:07 +0000

What’s happening with the GTDinbox upgrade? Watch the Productive Firefox blog.

Apparently, Gmail is undergoing a major upgrade, which is being rolled out to users. The upgrade hasn’t hit my account yet — but at least I’ll be spared a nasty shock when it does.

As I’ve mentioned before, I rely heavily on the GTDinbox Firefox add-on (which applies David Allen’s Getting Things Done productivity system functionality to Gmail) to manage my tasks and life. The Productive Firefox blog, by the creators of this tool, recently announced that GTDinbox doesn’t yet work with the new version of Gmail.

A new version of GTDinbox that will work with the new Gmail should be out soon — so if you haven’t yet started using this tool, you might want to wait for that. (Watch the Productive Firefox blog for the announcement.)

In the meantime, if you get hit with the Gmail upgrade, you can apparently select an option to use the older version of Gmail, so you can keep using GTDinbox until the new release is ready. Here’s the latest news on the progress of that upgrade.

Whew!

Gmail Space: Still Growing….

Amy Gahran — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 17:01:14 +0000

On Oct. 18 I posted about how Google’s free Gmail service has been gradually increasing the storage space allocated to its users. Around Oct. 15 the space in my account was at about 2.9 G, with 59% of it used. As of today, I’m at just over 4.4G, with only 40% of that space used.

So what? For me, it matters because I rely on Gmail to manage my tasks and priorities via GTDinbox. One reason I do that is because Gmail has an excellent search capability for the content of messages. So for me, more space means that I can search back over a longer history. And free matters to me because, well, I prefer to save money where it makes sense to do so.

However, I know other people have taken to using Gmail as a backup service — either by e-mailing important files to themselves, or by using utilities like GMFS.

Personally, I don’t use Gmail as a backup service because I want my backup to be something I can easily restore to my computer in the event of hardware loss or damage, or accidental deletion. I back up my computer regularly to both and external hard drive and a cheap online backup service (Mozy). Also, as far as I know Gmail’s search functions does not yet include the content of attachments, which for me significantly reduces the temptation to use Gmail for backup purposes. (I like to be able to search for specific stuff in my backup, occasionally). But that’s just me.

Anyway, I’ll continue to update my own storage space below. (All times listed are in the U.S. Mountain time zone):

Oct. 27:
- 12:20 pm: 4439 MB

Oct. 28:
- 5:00 pm: 4467 MB

Oct. 29:
- 1:00 pm: 4494 MB

Oct. 30:
- 5:00 pm: 4520 MB

Oct. 31:
- 1:00 pm: 4548 MB

Nov. 2:
- 11:15 am: 4580 MB
- 1:00 pm: 4602 MB

Nov. 3:
- 6:45 pm: 4635 MB

Nov. 5:
- 7:00 pm: 4683 MB

Nov. 6:
- 3:00 pm: 4712 MB (39% used)

Gmail Space Keeps Growing

Amy Gahran — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 15:43:59 +0000

As I mentioned earlier, Gmail is gradually increasing the storage space allocated to users. As of this morning, I’m at 3608 MB (see updates below):

A little over a week ago I’d used 59% of my Gmail storage space; this morning I’m down to 49%. Way cool, given how I rely on Gmail + GTDinbox for task management. It’ll be interesting to see how much space Google ends up adding to these free accounts.

Interestingly, Google doesn’t seem to be ramping this space up evenly for all Gmail accounts. Contentious reader David DeJean commented yesterday that he currently has 3660 MB of Gmail space — slightly more than what I’m seeing at the moment. Those difference may just be artifacts of the rollout process, so they may even out over time.

How much space do you have on your Gmail account today? Please comment below. I’ll keep updating this post as I see changes in my account storage.

Updates: (All times in U.S. Mountain time zone)

Oct. 18:
- 10:04 am: 3622 MB
- 11:36 am: 3731MB

Oct 19:
- 10:00 am: 3860 MB

Oct. 20:
- 11:30 am: 3988 MB
- 2:00 pm: 4001 MB
- 5:00 pm: 4014 MB

Oct. 21:
- 12:00 pm: 4118 MB
- 10:00 pm: 4129 MB

Oct. 22:
- 11:50 am: 4245 MB

Oct. 23:
- 12:00 pm: 4332 MB

Oct. 24:
- 12:00 pm: 4359 MB

Oct 25:
- 12:15 pm: 4386 MB (40% used)

More space for Gmail users

Amy Gahran — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 20:14:16 +0000

More and more available space in my Gmail account today, yay!

Aha, I thought Gmail was getting roomier!

As I mentioned yesterday, I’ve noticed over the past few days that the % of space used on my Gmail account has been steadily dropping. A week ago I was at 59% (of just under 3000 MB). Yesterday I was at 54% of 3224 MB. And right now I’m at 52% of 3351 MB.

So I checked Google’s official Gmail blog, and found an Oct. 12 announcement: More Gmail storage coming for all. Gmail engineer Rob Siemborski didn’t specify exactly how much more space free Gmail accounts would be getting, but the paid Premier Edition of Gmail ($50/year) will be getting a storage increase from 10GB to 25 GB.

Well, as much as I rely on Gmail for managing my life and work, that’s good news for me. (And yes, I do back up all my Gmail to a hard drive, via Gmail’s POP access.)

How much space do you have on Gmail right now? I’m wondering if they’re varying available space by user, or if we all get the same deal. Comment below and tell me what you’re seeing.

(See Oct. 18 update…)