Thanks to a friendly listener of the radio show I host, I received a GMail invite literally within hours of the broadcast of today's show. Check it out:



I'll have a ton more screenshots here when I get a chance to look around and play with the features.

Tuesday -
MSNBC - USA - GOOGLE vs. Yahoo!
... and Microsoft in the Web mail business. Earlier this month it announced its GMail service, which will include one full gigabyte of mail storage for free. ...

Wednesday -
BIG Google is watching Chicago Tribune (subscription) - Chicago,IL,USA That's right, anyone taking advantage of the tempting new Gmail service must allow Google's computers to scan their incoming email. ...

HAVE faith in under-fire Google getting it right in the end ic Wales - Wales,UK ... faith. Google has received unprecedented bad press recently for its web-based email system Gmail, which is currently being tested. ...

GMAIL Compatibility Issues
WebProNews - Lexington,KY,USA
The news concerning Gmail has had a negative bent lately. Google's ...Add compatibility questions to the mounting Gmail criticisms. It ...

GOOGLE'S Gmail Is Great -- But Not For Privacy MSNBC - USA By Stephen H. Wildstrom. I expected to hate Google's new Gmail service.
I'm not a big fan of Web mail services -- such as Microsoft's Hotmail or Yahoo! ...

Thursday -
GOOGLE (finally) files for IPO Ars Technica - USA
... In addition, they plan to launch Gmail, a web-based e-mail service that will serve up advertisements to subscribers based on the content of their messages. ...

THE Google Invasion: A peak inside Gmail W3Reports (Press Release) - United States ... the future. I received an invitation to try out Google’s experimental (Beta) Gmail service, and I was truly blown away. I’ve ...

GOOGLE: how much is privacy worth? GSMBOX - UK
This service has been named "Gmail". As its name suggests, Gmail is Google’s email service, that can be accessed only via Internet. ...

Today (Friday)

GOOGLE denies FBI link to Gmail eBCVG - USA
Google on Thursday denied that it has had any contact with the FBI regarding the design of its Gmail Web e-mail service. The search ...

GOOGLE Email Accounts Auctioned on eBay Auctionbytes - USA
Google released a test version of its free email service, Gmail, on April 1 to a select few. Now invitations to get a free Gmail ...

SEARCH engine finds lucrative future Guardian - UK ... Google's recent attempt to broaden out from internet searches into email with its Gmail service provided clear evidence of its shortcomings ...

Same thing happened with Orkut. I'm sure this is a violation of the agreement but it's doubtful that eBay will pull the listing. eBay item 4165403204 (Ends 02-May-04 05:32:53 BST) - **AWESOME** Gmail account invitation!! google e-mail

Update: With one day and 9 hours left, the bids for the free GMail invite are up to $26.00 ... amazing!

Google is pretty slick with how they are making their invites to the beta like Orkut invites. However, they are limiting the invites which will drive up the demand even more. Jeremy Zawodny's blog:

"You'd think I was giving out free money or something.
They're not pre-IPO shares, just gmail invites."

I put in my request to get an invite if Jeremy has any left. My guess is I'm too late. If anybody reading this has invites, then send one over. My contact info is listed here

The GMail privacy page has been updated - Biz Stone: GMail updates: "HTTPS access
Spammers don't know you clicked through
SSL-encrypted login
External Images blocked (optional)
Blocked transmission of executables "

Remember, it's still beta but this sounds like something GMail is going to be changing. Conversations in Google Gmail - The Spam Weblog - spam.weblogsinc.com:

Gmail lists your email by “conversation”. Put in more pedestrian terms, email with the same subject line gets threaded and collapsed together - by which I mean that if you have twelve pieces of email, all with the subject “Re: Foobar”, all you will see in your view of the inbox is: [ ] *Anne, Bob, Jerr…(12) Re: Foobar >Here is a line of text from the last email 9:21pm

One of the more thorough reviews I've come across. I'm going to make a column along the left and start adding the better reviews of GMail to this list. Good job, Adam! BLADAM - Entry: "Google's Gmail - An in-depth look": "Gmail is generally a delight to use. While it is not yet fit to be a substitute for client-based e-mail systems (Eudora, Outlook, etc.), nor does it yet have all the features of competing Webmail services, Gmail is blindingly fast, its ads are unobtrusive (often even informative and useful), and its label paradigm is promising. And of course, as one would expect, the search features are unparalled"

Detroit Free Press - Google's new Gmail has a few quirks, but it works - "I've been e-mailing like a spammer the past few days, testing out the new, soon-to-be-public e-mail service from Google called Gmail. ..."

I like this article because Mike gives specific real world examples of how the controversial targeted advertising works. It sounds to me like it isn't all that controversial at all. He also lists the cool features:

Gmail's most outstanding feature is the cogent and convenient way it organizes mail by collapsible threads, displaying the messages in context and sequence, just like conversations. All the e-mail is searchable. Other nice touches include a spam filter, a spell checker and keyboard shortcuts you can program.

Aldoblog :: Michael Alderete's Weblog: "I'm happy to make the deal with Google, relevant ads for a great web mail service (and it is noticeably better than Yahoo!'s e-mail service, which I've used extensively for many years). My only real concern is, how do I get my archived e-mail (all 250,000 messages) into it?"

This is one of the best articles I've read to date on the GMail privacy situation. It is well-reasoned and thorough. Kudos to Mr. Templeton:

The GMail Saga: "I come to this problem from two sides. One, I'm a fan of Google, and have been friends with Google's management since they started the company. I've also consulted for Google on other matters and make surprising revenue from their Adsense program on my web site.
I'm also a privacy advocate and Chairman of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, well regarded as one of the top civil rights advocates in cyberspace. The EFF has issued some statements of privacy concern over GMail, though we declined joining the coalition against it."

BizReport - GMAIL Deepens Google's Advertising Flirtation - World With all the brouhaha surrounding the company's new e-mail service known as GMail, this shift is worth revisiting. by Jonathan Krim. ...

I am using the Google news alert system to notify me for new articles on news.google.com related to the keyword "Gmail" and have received these five notices since my last entry yesterday:

Salon ($$ subscription $$ - 1 year for 10 cents a day) Don't be afraid of the big bad Gmail: ... I'm not scared of Gmail. ... Gmail is the new Web-based e-mail service from Google that offers a gigabyte of storage space to users. ...

Boston.com - WHERE are you now? -
... Brin takes the credit, or the blame, for Google's plan to offer Gmail, a new, free Web-based e-mail service that can hold up to a gigabyte of personal e-mail ...

MacWorld - GOOGLE co-founder promises Safari compatibility with GMail - When Internet search engine giant Google launched its free 1GB email service, Gmail on April 1, 2004, they did so without support for Apple Computer Inc.'s ...

BusinessWeek - Google's email is great -- just not for privacy - I expected to hate Google's new Gmail service. I'm not a big fan of Web mail services -- such as Microsoft's Hotmail or Yahoo! Mail ...

San Diego Union Tribune - GOOGLE'S free Gmail service comes under fire overseas - Google's free e-mail service Gmail is under fresh fire from an international privacy rights group that said the soon-to-be-launched service violated privacy ...

PC Pro (UK) Safari and 'GMail' - ... Google co-founder Sergey Brin has assured Mac users that the search engine's purported email service - Gmail - will be compatible with Apple's Safari Web ...

CNET News.com - GMail and its discontent - The sharp reaction to Google's announcement of the Gmail service earlier this month underscored a deep divide in the tactics and strategies employed by ...

Feedster search results for gmail: 11120 posts found [RSS]

I'm noticing a fair number of non-English results from Feedster for the gmail keyword. I see that there is a cool geographic option which displays where blogs are coming from but I wonder how to remove the non-English results (anybody know if this is possible?). I also wonder if there is a way to speed up the Feedster search results because sometimes the search is very slow to respond. I will get around to setting up comments on this blog sooner or later, but in the meantime, you can comment on any post at GMail Talk here

Here's some Google articles and blog entries:

Overclockers: News: Google's E-mail Service Gmail, goes into Beta

PR Leap: Investors say Google’s Gmail should not be blocked over privacy issue

Wired: Google Still Sparking Debates -

These include questions about why communications providers have the right to scan for spam, but not for ad triggers; whether Gmail's scanning sets a precedent for government initiatives to search all e-mail for incriminating keywords; and whether corporations have the responsibility to tell their customers that their stored e-mails have little protection from law enforcement.

Washingtonpost.com - GMail Deepens Google's Advertising Flirtation

Webpronews - California Senator Submits Anti-Gmail Bill

ZDNet Australia - Gmail is more promise than threat

LinuxWorld - "The Gmail Saga" - Google vs. Privacy

O'reilly - The Fuss About Gmail and Privacy: Nine Reasons Why It's Bogus

Slashdot is having a discussion about GMail being available to some active Blogger subscribers. I decided to look up how long ago I started my personal blog through blogger.com: 6/2002. I tried to post to this blog recently but apparently it isn't taking my FTP info any longer.

I started this blog to discuss GMail. After realizing that I was one of the longer time blogger users who was slighted by not receiving the beta offer to try GMail. Who else is in this camp? Misery loves company! I'm going to try and write something to this blog every day until I get a GMail invitation. I'm also going to be citing what other proponents and opponents are saying about GMail.