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Mailplane 1.46 adds multiple accounts and menubar notifer
We keep teasing you with news about the as yet unreleased Mailplane, but this excellent dedicated Gmail client just keeps getting better. The latest update to 1.46 adds several very cool features, most importantly multiple account support. You can now use Mailplane to access different Gmail accounts, simply by double-clicking the account name in the drawer. This release also adds a menubar notifier, which very cleverly includes multiple accounts at the same time so you can check for new mail easily from either account. Finally, there's also a new text snippet feature that allows you to easily insert often typed text.I've been using Mailplane for a few months and I must say that it is shaping up to be a stellar release. It's one that I'll spend my own hard-earned money on when it comes out. Unfortunately, Mailplane is still in closed beta, but you can apply to be a beta tester.
TUAW Tip: An easier way to email your logs
Since we play around with a lot of pre-release and beta software in the name of you readers, we often have to email logs to developers to help them iron out quirks that help an app get all growed up from alpha to beta and to the big release version. As any of you who have gone through this kind of testing will know, it aint always the easiest process to deal with. Typically, all this emailing involves lots of copy/pasting, file - saving or juggling at least a few files. Fortunately, I just stumbled upon an easy trick that will hopefully make some of our beta testing lives easier. It turns out you can add a Mail button to the Console app, allowing for a one-click process to embed all the text of the current log you're viewing in a new Apple Mail message (not as a file attachment), ripe for firing off to a developer. Either right-click the toolbar, or go to the View menu, and chose Customize Toolbar to find this button.Unfortunately, this appears to only work with Apple Mail; I tried setting both Entourage as my default email app (I know, I cringed when writing that myself) and even the Google Notifier to see if this would work with Gmail. Entourage created a new message, but the log gets fubarred when automatically pasted into the message, and Gmail simply returns a 'Bad Request' error without creating a message at all. I guess I picked a good time to switch back to using the wonderful Mac OS X integratedness of Apple Mail.
Spamtrap automatically prints, shreds spam for ultimate satisfaction
Watching the digits in front of your dedicated spam folder grow isn't entirely enthralling, and to be honest, witnessing just how much junk email you receive on a daily basis can actually be somewhat infuriating. The Spamtrap provides a much more tactile and satisfying way to demolish said waste, as it disregards the delete command and gets straight to the dirty work. The installation interacts with spammers by monitoring several email addresses, and once any spam is received, the Pentium II-based machine "automatically prints and shreds" the garbage so you can really tell the spam whose boss. Subsequently, the system then feeds blacklists with the information it receives in an attempt to further clean up the web for other individuals without such extreme means of purging their inbox. And for those environmentally conscience folks who are on the edge of irate, yes, the creator does go the extra mile by recycling the paper that inevitably gets wasted. Hit the read link for a video demonstration.[Via BoingBoing]
Wireless email pioneer wants to fight -- with products
When RIM settled out of court with NTP over wireless email patent infringements, we wondered if more than a handful of others had thought of the idea as well. One such individual, Nicholas Fodor, really doesn't want $612 million like NTP was granted, but instead wants his products to do the talking. Fodor's self-proclaimed expertise in his years of working with email systems is enough to "make it possible to view and respond to messages sent to almost any e-mail account on a cellphone or other mobile device." While that's not exactly a revolutionary concept these days, Fodor's "Freedom Mail" will be platform and device-agnostic (no BES here) and will be supported by small advertisements appended to messages. The service will be supported on any cellphone that has Internet access. With RIM's recent outage causing quite a stink, maybe Fodor will get a fan base going here.[Via techdirt]
BlackBerry email still down, withdrawal setting in
As we noted last night, BlackBerry email is experiencing a service interruption of massive proportions, with the entire Western hemisphere unable to do the push email thing since 8PM EST on Tuesday. Things were supposed to be patched up by midnight last night, but apparently RIM is still trying to reset the system, and expects the problem to last into the morning. Even once the system is good to go -- and we are starting to here reports of some people getting their email -- it'll still take a while for RIM to process through the backlog of email, and the word is they'll be taking it slow as to not esplode the system again, so for all you CrackBerry addicts out there: you might be in for a wait, our thoughts are with you and your idle thumbs.[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]Update: BBC is now reporting that RIM has "most" of its North American network back, and that it's "closely monitoring systems in order to maintain normal service levels." (What were they doing before, playing ping pong?) As mentioned before, some users will experience delays as RIM clears the backlog of unsent emails.Read - CNNMoney.comRead - PINStack forums
Cornell researchers developing lie-detection software
While most of the world simply takes what everyone else says at face value, there's always been a dark market for inconspicuous lie-detecting gadgetry for the overly paranoid, but researchers at Cornell University are hoping to take lie-detection to the next level by carefully analyzing emails and SMS messages for fibs. In a three-year effort to "compile a list of indicators of written deception," the team drew from some "40 years of research in linguistics and lies, including recent work in the context of computer media and reviews of Enron emails." By carefully inspecting word choices, verb tenses, and a variety of other textual factors, the software can purportedly use "contextual parameters" to spot lies, and they hope to market the goods to police agencies, upset spouses, and of course, corporate ethics committees.So if you're ever-so-suspicious significant other (or mischievous youngster) has just recently put down the Skype headset in favor of pounding out emails, rest assured, help is on the way.[Via TechDirt, image via Cornell]
First Impressions: Mailplane - the desktop Gmail client
The fusion of web services and desktop software is a holy grail of computing bliss that few can claim. The web can often be clunky and limited by the constraints of a browser, while the data in your desktop software takes a swim with your MacBook when you drop it at the beach. Anyone who has ever gone back and forth on whether to use the convenience and innovation of Gmail on the web vs. the power and integration of a desktop email client like Apple's Mail.app knows what we're talking about. While the melding of these two universes might seem like an impossible hope to some, Mailplane is a new desktop Gmail client in private beta that just may be a light at the end of the tunnel.Continue reading for the details on just what Mailplane is about, and be sure to check out our screenshot gallery for a taste of how well (so far) Gmail and the desktop are getting along.%Gallery-2135%
Emailing entire Webpages (not just links)
Here's a little-promoted Safari function that you might find useful. Safari offers the ability to send entire webpages via email. This is a nice feature to have on hand when you want to create a web archive using your gmail acccount or when you know the person receiving your mail won't necessarily click on a link. By selecting File -> Mail Contents of the Page (Command-I), Safari copies the page to Apple Mail and allow you to post it to the recipient of your choice. The always excellent how-to site Murphy Mac offers a detailed video tutorial on using this feature, going beyond the menu selection into how to configure options in mail so that the the media attachments can be viewed. I'm also particularly impressed by his excellent choice of webpage material while demonstrating this trick's functionality.
Speed Up Your Mail.app
The guru of all things Mail.app, Tim Gaden at Hawk Wings, has posted a tip that seems to offer a considerable speed boost to Mail. Basically performing the tip strips the "bloat out of [Mail's] Envelope index, an SQLite database Mail uses to store senders, recipients, subjects and so on." It requires a little bit of terminal jockeying, but this is limited to running one command using sqlite3. Tim himself reports considerable speed gains, as do many in the comments. As always, backing up before attempting such things seems like a good idea, but quite a few people have performed the trick without adverse results. Check it out for yourself over at Hawk Wings.
Correo 0.1
Correo is an open source mail app that aims to blend Camino with Thunderbird to create the best darn OS X email client out there. This 0.1 isn't exactly feature rich, but you can't expect lots of features from a 0.1 release. At the moment you can check both IMAP and POP email accounts, send email via SMTP, and choose a 2 pane view or a 3 pane view. Here's hoping that Correo really takes off, since OS X is really lacking a top notch email client.Thanks to everyone who sent this in.
Resize photos within Mail
Here's a nifty tip from Apple that I was completely unaware of. Whenever I email a photo, I do so via iPhoto, which takes care of resizing for me. Apparently you can resize photos that you drop into Mail messages from the Finder just as easily. Once you've got the photo into the body of your message, a drop down menu will appear in the window's lower right hand corner. Click it to reveal several options: Small, Medium, Large and Full Size. Make your selection and your image is resized for you.Perhaps you've been doing this for ages now, but as someone who uses iPhoto for this procedure, it was news to me.
Use Quicksilver to send SMS messages
If you're familiar with Quicksilver's ability to send email without ever having to touch an actual message, this hint might not be too groundbreaking for you. However, if you're looking for a way to easily send SMS messages and/or still looking for good examples of Quicksilver's far-reaching power, this might be right up your alley: Mac OS X Hints has a short tip on how you can use Quicksilver to send SMS via the Apple Mail plugin (note: Mail.app isn't actually needed when using this method; the plugin simply calls a Mail.app-related service to do the sending). All you need is the recipient's phone number and their network's email gateway, such as XXXXXXXXXX@cingularme.com (at least in the US; I'm unfamiliar with how texting like this works in other countries), and you're all set. The hint goes even further by recommending you simply enter these addresses into your contact's Address Book cards as actual email addresses. Then you can simply call up their entries from Quicksilver (via its Address Book plugin) instead of having to remember and manually enter them each time you get your SMS on.
Palm pushes Direct Push to Palm OS
Users of Windows Mobile 5 have been enjoying Direct Push for some time via AKU2 (from the manufacturers that have decided to offer it, anyway) -- but getting that always-fascinating corporate email beamed straight on down to your Palm OS Garnet OS device, on the other hand... well, that's novel concept, indeed. Palm has announced that an update for its 680 and 700p handhelds will be made available Monday to add automatic synchronization of email, contacts, and calendar with the Exchange Server of your choice. Cobalt, it ain't, but at this point we'll take what we can get.[Via Phone Scoop]
TUAW Automator Action: Mail Man - attach to email and automatically send
A while ago I had to help the TV Squad crew cover an award ceremony by snapping screenshots with my Eye TV. I needed a way to fire these shots off to members of the team with the least amount of effort, so I put together a few Automator droplets that could take whatever files I drop on them, attach them to a Mail.app message and automatically send them to pre-determined recipients with no questions asked. At the time I didn't think too much of the actions, so they got busy with collecting dust on my backup hard drive, waiting for a time when they might be called back into action. Well, this similar hint at macosxhints.com was just that time, as it inspired me to bring these actions out of mothballs. That hint seems a little overly complex to me, what with the scripts and the editing and creating folders and attaching - oh my! I figured this Automator action might be a little easier to deal with, so here you go. I call it Mail Man, and we're hosting it on TUAW. Here's how it works.
Correo - New Mozilla based Mail Client
Continuing the theme of alternative email clients, today saw the 0.1 release of Correo, a new email client from Nick Kreeger. He says that it "blends technology from two popular Mozilla projects, Camino and Thunderbird, to create a polished native Macintosh application" (Nick has been a contributor to the Camino project). Obviously, it's still a bit rough around the edges, but it already supports IMAP and POP3 and an Outlook style 3-column view (are you listening Apple, we want it in Mail.app without a hack).Nick has an ambitious roadmap for Correo and is releasing it as Open Source Software. If you're one of the many who complain about Mail.app and have some Cocoa chops maybe you can help out.[Via Hawk Wings]
GyazMail 1.5 Released with IMAP support
GyazMail is something of a cult favorite among some OS X power users. I first discovered it on the late, lamented Drunkenblog. However, for many of us it was simply a non-starter in that it only worked with POP3. Well, now GyazSquare has finally added IMAP support in version 1.5. It's still a bit rough around the edges, but this is definitely one to watch for those of you who can't abide Mail.app.GyazMail is $18 shareware and a demo is available for download now.[Via Hawk Wings]
Widget Watch: g4me checks Gmail for your Domain
Google Apps for Your Domain is a service from the world's largest search company that allows just about anyone to run the major Google web apps on their own domain. Gmail, Google Talk, Google Calendar and Google Page Creator can all work for you or your business with a minimal amount of setup (which, by the way, just got easier). The problem with GAfYD (Google Apps for Your Domain) is that a lot of the available add-ons, such as the Google Notifier and various Greasemonkey scripts, don't work with the Google apps that are hosted on your domain. Fortunately, however, this hangup is changing. A new widget called g4me is adding to a slowly growing pile of 3rd party add-ons (such as the private beta Spanning Sync) that are compatible with GAfYD. This widget can check Gmail on your domain, complete with Growl integration for new message alerts. With Google's recent commitment to the Mac OS X platform, it will be nice to see more solutions like this coming from the big G and 3rd parties alike.
87% of e-mail traffic is spam
InformationWeek reports that spam accounted for nearly 87% of e-mail traffic this year, nearly a third more than last year. And that spam wasn't all about getting you to buy V1agra and C1al1s. Quite a bit of it was phishing bait, intended to get you to hand over your personal information and passwords. If you you're unsure whether an e-mail is phishing you, choose View -> Message -> Raw Source in Mail and check out the actual URLs the e-mail is linking to. And don't forget to train your junk filter rather than just deleting unwanted items. As our filtering technology becomes more sophisticated, so does the spam. From the InformationWeek article, "Among the more effective new techniques was the use of image-based spam, which is much harder for security software to detect than text-based spam. The former accounted for 70% of the bandwidth taken up by spam this year..." David posted a great rule-based solution this summer for image spam that may help make a dent in your inbox.
As runs the fox so flies the bird
Right behind the update to Firefox, the Mozilla crew has bumped resident email/news/RSS client Thunderbird to version 1.5.0.9. Several security and bugfix changes are included. You can lift your wings and download it at mozilla.org. I will admit that I've never used Thunderbird on a regular basis, as I am bound to Entourage/Exchange at work and I've gotten (reluctantly) used to it. Email clients are like your barber; even if the haircut isn't that great, switching to a new one involves a degree of discomfort. I'd be interested to hear what T-bird users like or dislike most about their feathery friend. (No John Travolta jokes.)
Webmailer - Make Webmail your default Email
Here's a neat little tool for those of you who use a webmail service as your default email. It installs as a Preference Pane in your System Preferences and allows you to define any URL to open in your default browser when you click on a mailto link (instead of opening a new message in Mail.app). The Google Notifier will do this for you if you Gmail, but this would be handy if you use some other email service.[Via Hawk Wings]
