google has come a long way from being just a search engine. now includes products and features like document sharing, cloud storage, maps and the list goes on. and of course it also includes an email program called gmail.
introduction to gmail
Email is an integral part of everyone’s life today. Arguably, we rely more on our email than on the postman to deliver envelopes and packages to our door. we keep in touch with family and friends through email. We even receive electronic copies of our invoices. we also get our magazine subscriptions, newsletters, coupons, important reminders, job interview requests, and just about anything else you can think of sent to us electronically via email.
That said, most of us today have more than one email address. employers usually give you one. You may have one that your ISP (or Internet Service Provider) issues to you. if you have your own website, you can have one that you have created with that. plus, you may have one or two more to use for personal reasons. Most likely, they are email addresses that you got for free to access certain websites or features that came with the email address. five years ago, for example, everyone had a hotmail account because it could be used for msn messenger. The same can be said for Yahoo email accounts. But today, as the world of the internet continues to expand and grow, you have even more options. one of them is, of course, gmail, which was created by google.
gmail started in 2004. it is a relative newcomer to the internet world when you compare it to hotmail and yahoo, which had already signed up millions of people. when google introduced their new gmail program, they knew it had to be special to steer people away from the other popular email accounts and get them to sign up. They did this by offering incentives like “by invitation only” accounts during their five-year beta phase and an initial storage space of 1GB, much more than hotmail, yahoo or other free accounts offered.
Today, Google has updated its storage space per account to 10 GB, as well as integrated Gmail with other products and services that Google offers, including Google Calendar, Google Talk, and Google Buzz. It is also available as part of the Google Apps. And as is typical of Google, they have also added unique features to their Gmail services to try to stay one step ahead of the competition and continue to attract email users to their services.
news from gmail
google is always on the go. if you spend any time online, then this is something you already know. they are always expanding, always looking for ways to improve their services, and definitely always looking for ways to outperform the competition. however, this is all for the benefit of gmail users.
We have listed the newest features to be added to gmail below. take the time to read them.
ü more storage space. as we said, google increased its storage space to 10 gb.
ü translation of messages. google labs instantly translates messages that are written in another language for you.
u google+. You can now filter your inbox messages by Google + Circles to see the messages that matter most to you. If you’re not familiar with Google+, it’s Google’s answer to the social media empire called Facebook.
ü a new look. gmail’s look and feel can now be further customized. it also has a cleaner, more modern look.
ü new languages to call. if you want to call phones from gmail, now you can do it in 38 languages. calls made to the usa and Canada are $.01 per minute. international calling rates have also been reduced. if you want to make calls, click “call phone” at the top of the chat list.
ü priority inbox. gmail will identify your important message and separate it from everything else.
ü default httpsmakes gmail even more secure than ever. Your emails are encrypted as they pass from your web browser to the gmail servers. this is the same protocol used by banks and credit card companies.
ü additional storage for little money. If you need more storage, you can upgrade to 25GB for just $2.49 a month. You’ll also get an additional 25GB of storage on Google Drive, which is Google’s cloud-based storage service (much like Dropbox or Windows SkyDrive).
ü functions for gmail on iphone and android.
ü undo send. Have you ever sent a message only to realize half a second later that you didn’t mean to send it yet? gmail now helps you prevent that from happening again with undo send. With undo send, you can “undo send” an email after you hit the send button.
gmail versus gmail for google apps
When you use gmail as your preferred email service, you have two different ways to check your email. You can verify it through a web browser by going to Gmail or Google and logging into your account, or you can verify it from your iPhone or Android using the Google apps. this is useful as most people regularly check email from their cell phone, perhaps even more regularly than from their home computer.
However, there are some differences between gmail using a web browser and gmail for google apps.
or gmail for google apps also allows you to check email with an email address in the format you@yourdomain.com. browser based gmail only allows you to verify your gmail account. The reason for the difference is that you can use the features of the Google app if you have a Google account. You can sign up for a Google Account with any email address you have, including a Hotmail address. but this does not include gmail. To use Gmail, you must have a Gmail email address.
google apps offer more than just gmail. also includes google talk, google calendar, google docs, google sites and much more.
o There are several versions of google apps, such as standard, business, and education. each one has different characteristics and capabilities.
or in google apps, an administrator can control accounts in a company’s domain.
gmail vs. a google account
Just because you have a google account doesn’t mean you also have a gmail account. A Google Account is a username and password that you use to access Google applications, such as Docs (where you can share documents), Sites, Maps, and Search. You can use any email address that belongs to you to create a Google account. this means you can use a hotmail address to create a google account. It’s free to sign up for a Google account, and once you have it, you can use the features. This is something we’ll discuss further once you’re familiar with Gmail and can understand and appreciate the features a little better. With that said, let’s start talking about gmail