Default Text Styling: This enables a user to change the default font and text size.

Got the wrong Bob? “Doh, have you ever addressed an email too quickly, and included Bob (your boss) instead of Bob (your friend) by accident? If you’re emailing more than two people at once, Gmail will check if you meant to include Bob Smith rather than Bob Jones based on the groups of people you email most often.”

Message Sneak Peek: “Peek into a conversation without opening it by right-clicking on a message in your inbox.”

The Labs features I use most are:

Send & Archive: “Adds a button to the compose form that lets you send a reply message and archive the email conversation in a single action.” This is really useful if you receive a mail which already has a label filter. When you reply to the message you effectively archive it at the same time.

Mark as Read Button: If you receive an automated message and couldn’t be bothered reading it, this helps you to clear it from the inbox.

I now forward all my email accounts to Gmail while using a personalised address as the default sender.

I’m starting to use Gmail filters a lot more to avoid automated messages clogging my inbox.

These are typically messages from subscriber lists where I have registered somewhere and forgotten about it. I don’t necessarily want to unsubscribe or can’t, in some cases. They now go to a general “Mail” folder and I browse through them once a week.

Given that I use Chrome or Firefox for Gmail alerts, it’s dropped the number of items I need to read significantly, perhaps by 80 percent.

I also use Gmail on my Android phone while away from the desk. Filters minimise the time spent checking messages.

I’m not even a customer of the Commonwealth Bank.

But every message needs to be read and marked as spam, which wastes time and effort.

I like to read emails straight away, and as soon as I get an alert there’s a new message I tend to visit the inbox and read it. These are some of the recent emails:

Sent by customer@commbank.com.au

Dear CommonWealth Bank Account Holder ,

We are currently updating our online banking services , and due to this upgrade we sincerely call your attention to follow below link and confirm your online account details . Failure to confirm the online banking details will suspend you from accesing your account online . Due to this , you are requested to follow the provided steps and confirm your Online Banking details for the safety of your accounts .

link deleted *

* We use the latest security SSL measures to ensure that your online banking experience is safe and secure. The administration asks you to accept our apologies for the inconvenience caused and expresses gratitude for cooperation .

Thank you for your cooperation ,
CommonWealth Bank Group

Sent by qjrrjp@google.com.au

Dear Commonwealth Bank member,

You have received this email because you or someone had used your account from different locations. For security purpose, we are required to open an investigation into this matter.

In order to safeguard your account, we require that you confirm your online banking details.

The help speed up to this process, please access the following link so we can complete the verification of your Commonwealth Online Banking account registration information.

link deleted

If we do not receive the appropriate account verification within 48 hours, then we will assume this Commonwealth account is fraudulent and will be suspended.

The purpose of this verification is to ensure that your bank account has not been fraudulently used and to combat the fraud from our community.

Sent by security@commbank.com.au

Dear Customer,

Your NetBank access has been locked as a result of too many incorrect logon attempts.

In order to re-activate, please LOG ON to your NetBank account and follow the steps.

Sincerly,
Commonwealth Bank of Australia Customer Services

Sent by admin@common.net

Dear Valued Customer,

This email is your official notification from Commonwealth Bank .Your online NetBank has expired on 25-05-2009 ,if you want to continue using our service you have to renew your acount if not your account will be deactivated and deleted

To continue please click the link below:

link deleted

Many Thanks and Kind Regards – Commonwealth Bank Customer Department

© Commonwealth Bank of Australia 2009 ABN 48 123 123 124

Final comment: Poorly written using dodgy email addresses, but very annoying.

It surprises me they’re getting through the Google and Yahoo! spam filters.

I don’t imagine the bank is too happy about what’s going on either. They say:

Hoax Emails – There are a large number of spam emails being sent to customers claiming to be from the Bank. Do not be duped. DO NOT CLICK LINKS IN THESE EMAILS NO MATTER HOW GENUINE THEY MAY LOOK. To check if an email is genuine a copy will be available in NetBank for viewing. If you suspect you have received a spam email, please forward it as an attachment to hoax@cba.com.au and then delete the email.

According to Spam Fighter, the bank last year alerted federal authorities. While the e-mails’ origin is not clear, it said the messages seemed to be “international”.

That means my user name is now mgorey across all the major messaging services: Gmail, Yahoo (ymail), Skype and MSN (live). Full contact list here.

I’m also experimenting with Nimbuzz, which aggregates IM accounts and makes them accessible from a PC, the web or mobile phone.

I took the liberty then too of registering my children. They might thank me for it one day.

Google Docs is continuing to improve as well. I checked it out today for the new dictionary feature and it’s very good.

Just an aside on a new India-based webmail service: If you want a short email address visit www.in.com.

Apparently Twitter was flooded with Gmail comments and on Google itself the system failure was one of the most searched terms over that period.

For Australians, or me at least, it was only a minor inconvenience. I noticed the problem when I arrived at work about 7.15am and the service was restored within half an hour.

The failure must have been overnight.

On logging in I was greeted with this announcement:

Note: the Gigya webmail service will be discontinued permanently on June 15th. We recommend that you forward any email containing important contacts or content to another email service of yours by July 15th. We are sorry for the inconvenience.

And yes, there are two different dates quoted there. I think they mean it’s closing on July 15.

I appreciate the fact they gave notice, but this shutdown doesn’t inspire confidence in any new webmail venture.

I’m holding back on greater use of Zenbe, GMX and Orgoo until I see how they fare.

Gmail is such a great product it’s hard to see others gaining traction. Competition is good, choice is good. Hopefully a couple of the challengers gain enough traction to stay in the marketplace.

Kwout is responsible for the images you see in this post and some of my other recent articles.

With Kwout you can quote part of a web page as an image with an image map. You need to add a bookmarklet to your browser or use the Firefox addon.

I’ve got the Firefox extension and find it the easiest way to add small extracts from web sites to my blog. It’s much faster than making a screenshot, which requires editing and uploading. Kwout even hosts the images.

The Lijit search tool you can see in the top of the sidebar on the right-hand side.

From the screed: “Using the power of people, their content, and their connections, Lijit enhances the way your readers search for and discover information on the internet. You serve as a filter for all of the results your readers could possibly receive, ensuring they only receive the most relevant results from the source they trust…YOU.”

I find it useful because it searches my site and others that I nominate. It also gives me stats on what people are searching for. You can see a summary here.

BlogUpp Link Exchange I have mentioned previously. I find it strangely addictive to see screenshots of other people’s web sites on mine, complete with a teaser from their RSS feed.

I’m clicking on them quite a lot, but so far it’s only brought three visitors to my site.

I really like the concept, but it will need to drive some traffic here to justify taking up a fair lump of space in the sidebar. I’ll give it a few more days to make a decision.

I’m also trying Zenbe webmail. Zenbe is “designed to be the world’s best email experience”.

“Zenbe lets you use all of your email accounts in one place. Use Zenbe to make your Gmail, AOL, or Yahoo Mail Plus, almost any email address better. You can easily read and organize all your email in one place, accessible from any computer on the internet.” There are no ads.

At the moment I’m forwarding my gmail there to test the service, in addition to using my unique Zenbe address for some messages.

Unfortunately it can’t receive my Google Apps email at this stage.

It’s an invitation beta test at the moment and I’m happy to keep trying it. Zenbe is the best new webmail service I’ve seen for a long time.

Whether it can shift me from Gmail remains to be seen.

1. Sending group emails to people who don’t really need to know;
2. Attaching large files;
3. Sending an email to someone in the same room about a mundane matter;
4. Asking to be notified when the email is deleted;
5. Phoning to see if the email was received (true)!

MacNevin said the rapid growth of email means that many organisations and individuals have forgotten the business guidelines for written communication, sending, receiving and filing of mail.

“People feel compelled to reply to emails even with just a ‘thanks’ adding to the overwhelming number of emails people receive. A simple ‘NRN’ (no reply necessary) can reduce the overload significantly,” she said.

Before email came along I was a big memo writer. The information conveyed and requests made were precise. In most cases, immediate action was not required. I wasn’t very good at filing memos though.

That’s why I find email useful for retaining a written copy of semi-important things which would otherwise not be recorded, like: did I really approve that request for leave? Scan Outlook to find the answer.

Email demands attention and I agree we’ve become slaves to it. I like MacNevin’s idea to tag emails with NRN if appropriate, and will implement that in my workplace.

As a means of personal communication, I’ve observed that text messaging has overtaken email among young people.

It is no longer. There’s no explanation on the new site and Google doesn’t reveal much.

I’ve said before that new web services are interesting to try but how reliable are they? When you’re dealing with important personal items such as email and photographs you really need certainty that they will always be available.

I hope the failure of a few start-ups doesn’t deter new ventures. Users however, need to be wary of anything that doesn’t have a strong track record.

Fortunately I didn’t lose anything in the 30gigs shutdown. I can’t recall any communications from them either about the closure.