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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.
MailTags 2 beta gets major todo and event enhancements, goes 'feature complete'
Scott Morrison has released a 6th beta of MailTags 2, his quintessential tagging and organizing plug-in for Mail.app that we're big fans of. This new beta heralds a 'feature complete' status for the plug-in, meaning that Scott has implemented all the new features and tricks that version 2 will have, and now it's simply time to clean up the code and stomp out the bugs. Also new in this version is an updated UI with a slick new pop-up window for entering todo and event information (pictured). This makes recording events and staying on top of things with MailTags much more functional and enjoyable, causing Scott's plug-in to rise even farther towards the top of my list of apps that help me get more done with my email.MailTags 2 costs $25 and can be had from indev.
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]
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.
Hawk Wings Best of the Year
Here's another great end of year post. Hawk Wings is one of my favorite blogs covering all things related to Mail.app (as well as other email and GTD related stuff). Anyway, Tim is taking a Christmas break until January, but he has his own best of Hawk Wings 2006 end of year post chock full of cool Mail related tips.Also, if you haven't seen it be sure to check out his enormous list of Mail.app plugins
Apple still doesn't really get email
Fix one problem, and another comes up. Everyone was a big fan of how Apple's .Mac webmail used to sometimes attach a text document when you simply replied to someone. I mean, I know I was utterly overjoyed to go back, copy and paste, remove the attachment, and reply. Wow, that was really easy, wasn't it? Yeah. Well now Apple has fixed that with their shiny new "Web 2.0"-ish email. Unfortunately, there's a new problem. When I reply to certain emails (usually Reply All in a list), the address is often filled out with the person's name, followed by their email address. This makes sense, as pretty much every email system in the world does this. But Apple, ever the innovator, has made this "break" your email. Trying to send will result in an error, claiming quoted contents aren't valid email addresses. Golly Apple, thanks for saving me from my own stupidity! Now I get to manually edit the addresses just to make sure they are correct. Another time waster. Don't get me started on how it's taken our favorite fruit half a decade just to build an almost-usable email client application (certainly won't be business-class anytime this decade). I mean, waiting until 2007 just to have a proper email client? Super. Anyone else not really digging Apple's lame attempts to manage email?
Mail.app keyboard navigation
While navigating a UI using solely the keyboard may seem like basic stuff to some of you, the truth is that a good many computer users on all platforms are not even aware that this functionality exists. For those users trying to learn the in's and out's of moving around their Mac with the keyboard, Hawk Wings has a neat little tutorial on navigating Mail.app with the keyboard.
E-mail client for homebrew users
Sony once considered adding e-mail as an official feature for upcoming versions of the PSP's firmware. Well, it looks like the homebrew community (as usual) has beaten Sony to the punch. "PSPoste is the first fully functional email application for the Sony PSP. It supports the SMTP and POP3 protocols (possible future IMAP support), and provides a skinnable user interface allowing the user to retrieve, compose and display messages from multiple email servers." It has a nice, clean interface, with a less frustrating keyboard method than what the PSP currently has. It still won't be the most comfortable e-mail application, but for people that are constantly on the go, this feature may be a life-saver.[Via PSP Hacks]
Hawk Wings updates an already massive Mail plugin list
We mention Hawk Wings from time to time here on TUAW, as it's a great blog for all things Mail.app. One handy resource of Tim Gaden's Mail-obsessed blog that not everyone knows about, however, is its ever-growing directory of plugins, in which Tim relentlessly tracks and categorizes all the 3rd party add-ons, scripts, haxies, tweaks and other Mail goodies. The list was recently updated with 10 new entries, ranging from Note to Self (inspired by Leopard's Mail.app Notes feature) and a Return Receipts AppleScript (you know, that feature where you can bug email recipients with a 'yes I read this' dialog) to a Mail to Yojimbo script for those times when the 'print to Yojimbo' service is less than convenient.Check out the recent update and the full plugin directory for virtually any and every tool you could need to make Mail.app bend to your every whim.
Mail to iPod AppleScript
Every now and then, I'll get an email with a lot of handy info that I'd like to have access to without having to take out my PowerBook. I usually save the message as a PDF and sync it with my phone, but this can be cumbersome and slow. Lucky for me, Ryo has created a handy AppleScript named MailPod just for these situations. When the script is first run, it creates a new mailbox within Mail.app named MailPod. Any emails you drag into the MailPod box will be synced to your iPod the next time you run the script. If you're looking for a bit more features and control over your Mail to iPod syncing, check out MailToPod or iPDA.[via Hawk Wings]
Mail attachment reminder saves embarassment
I've done it again -- sent an email that mentions an attachment, and then forgot to attach the file. It's always embarassing. Here's a way to save yourself from similar humiliation. Download this free Attachment Scanner plugin for Mail.app, and install it following the directions on the developer's site. Now when you type "attach," "attachment,", "attaching," or similar words in an email, if you hit Send without actually attaching a document, you'll see a warning like this one: "Message Has No Attachment. Your mail appears to refer to an attachment, but none exists. Do you wish to continue?" If you don't mention an attachment, you won't see anything different than usual. I've been using it all day, and really appreciate getting a second chance to save face thanks to developer James Eagan.[via macosxhints]
MailTags 2.0 public beta - Mail.app organization redefined
It is with immense pleasure ladies and gentlemen that I am able to announce the public beta of MailTags 2.0 - an update (I can't say enough great things about) to Scott Morrison's indispensable message tagging plugin for Mail.app which we've mentioned plenty of times already. This update takes tagging messages to entirely new levels with a host of new abilities, such as: IMAP syncing of tags (so all your other machines can keep tags in sync (and not just over .Mac) Spotlight and Mail.app searching based on MailTags metadata (project, tag/keywords, notes, etc.) Sending tags with outgoing messages (so other MailTags-using friends and coworkers can stay right in tune with your tags) Displaying keywords, projects and due dates in the message list view Assigning colors to projects, due dates and priorities - great, for example, if a message becomes overdue (marked in red) or for marking all messages of a particular project as green Display custom notes in place of a message's actual subject in the list view These new features, and more, are all in addition to MailTags' standard abilities of being able to create iCal todo's and add extra notes to messages. In case you haven't taken this plugin for a test drive yet, virtually all of these features, including whether the message sidebar you see above is displayed or hidden, are customizable to your heart's content.I was able to participate in the beta process for this plugin and I must to say: Scott had to threaten me to keep this from being posted on TUAW sooner (kidding). Honestly though: I think this is the best organizing aid for email I've ever seen, and I highly recommend it (in case you can't tell) for anyone who's been looking for a better way to wrangle their inbox. No, Scott isn't paying me to say this (we don't roll like that), and yes: I'm purchasing a license just like everyone else.Speaking of licenses: MailTags 2.0 ushers in the shareware era for MailTags (the previous 1.2 version is still available, however, as donationware). It comes as a fully functioning 30 day demo (Tiger required, Universal Binary), while a full licenses costs $30 (easily a steal). During this beta period, however, a license can be purchased for a discounted price of $25, and I can honestly say that you should run, not walk, to grab a copy of such a productivity improving masterpiece as MailTags 2.0.
More juicy in-depth Leopard screenshots of Spaces, Mail, Safari and more
At this point it seems like these websites are placing bets between each other to see who can get closest to an NDA violation without actually getting nailed with one. HardMac has posted the latest set of (non-blurry, properly grabbed) screenshots of some hitherto unforeseen areas of Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, including the Spaces and Time machine system preference setup panes, Mail.app stationary and a photo browser (which might make these iTunes and iPhoto library browsers extinct), RSS feeds and setup, notes in Mail with todos and calendar settings, as well as exclusives of new Finder functionality (note the lack of brushed metal in the Smart Folder) and Preview features.So far I'd have to say this is probably the most exciting set of screenshots as they are some of the most revealing of new features and abilities in Leopard. Er, I mean, a friend told me they look really great... check them out while they're still live boys and girls.
Access Gmail through IMAP in Mail.app
Hawk Wings is at it again, and this time Tim Gaden has tracked down a method for using Gmail with IMAP in Mail.app. It might not be pretty - it's a Perl module that needs a little bit of finagling - but it apparently works. I can't even begin to fake that I know a lick about Perl, so I'm just going to have to point you to the original post to have at it yourself.If any TUAW readers get this to work, feel free to post your thoughts on this most sought-after of (wholly necessary) Gmail features.
A Mail.app rule for catching image spam
It seems that I'm not the only one being inflicted with a new wave of image spam, as Bill Benson, a MacInTouch reader, has posted his rule solution for this junk that seems to so easily elude Mail.app's filters. Tim Gaden at Hawk Wings, also a victim, elaborates on how to set up this rule, as a trick is involved. To summarize: for the first condition, select 'Edit Header List...' in its accompanying option, chose 'Content-Type' (or create it if you have to) The Content-Type option will then take first place in the rule (or you might have to select it from the criteria list), allowing you to finish building the rule as pictured The rule is based off of Bill's observation that these spam emails always come from a different address, and the content type header (as you might now assume) begins with multipart/related'.Since I have been receiving around a dozen of these messages on a daily basis, I think I can say that, so far, this rule has been a success. Three cheers for the power of community -based spam filtering. If you aren't using Mail.app, however, I would imagine this trick can be adapted for other email apps. Anyone else try it outside of Mail.app?
In-Game Spam Takes Players for 35g
Well we've all seen the gold ads, and Blizzard has warned before about spammers trying to nab your account, but I'm pretty sure this is the first instance of in-game mail fraud we've ever seen. Forumgand from Emerald Dream is reporting on the forums about a piece of in-game mail that showed up in his mailbox from a player named "Blizzard." Inside was an urgent note from Scarlet Commander "Mormon" (?) and an item called Symbol of Kings, offered COD for 35g. The note says that if the Symbol of Kings is brought to LHC, a nice quest reward will be given.What's the problem with that? As any high-level Pally will tell you, Symbol of Kings is a simple level 60 reagent, available from any reagent vendor for the kingly sum of 30s. But, as Forumgand points out, a lot of Horde may never have heard of this thing, and may think the in-game mail is legit.Community MVP Palehoof has replied to the post as well, and reminds everyone that Blizzard mail never comes from in-game characters named "Blizzard." It's all special and stuff, and comes on its own custom stationery. Any in-game mail that looks normal but comes from someone named "Blizzard" or "Viviendi," or, as Palehoof points out, level one rogues named "Caydiem," probably isn't legit at all.
Mac DevCenter: palettes or sidebars?
Following a dilemma that Gus Mueller faced when designing the UI for his latest release of VoodooPad 3, Mac DevCenter has posted a request for feedback on this most heated of UI topics: palettes or sidebars? Preferences can easily sway in either direction, and I personally miss the old-school functionality of Mail's pre-Tiger drawer (yay for column widths that don't have to be constantly re-adjusted), though I will concede that the drawer look is old and ugly by today's slick UI standards of palettes and sidebars.But what do you TUAW readers think? Do you prefer palettes, like in Photoshop, OmniOutliner, iWeb and Pages, or do you prefer the sidebar UI of Tiger's Mail, ecto and NetNewsWire's subscriptions panel (though it's interesting to note that NNW also uses a drawer for its site catalog)? Sound off.
Bored with Mail.app's icon? Roll your own
Are you getting tired of other good icons? Hawk Wings, obsessed with all things Mail.app, has tracked down a Photoshop template for creating your own Mail.app icon. Courtesy of John Godfrey, this Photoshop template contains instructions for inserting your own images into a Mail.app icon, and Tim Gaden also recommends rotating your inserted image to 11.2 degrees counter-clockwise, as well as using an 85 x 90 size to get just the right fit.But, "how do I turn an image into a Mail.app icon?" you ask. Hawk Wings has a solution for that step too: img2icns is a Universal Binary freeware app that can convert JPEGs, PNGs, TIFs and GIFs to the ICNS format, ripe for using a previous (and simple) TUAW Tip for replacing Mail.app's icon with your much more exciting new creation.
AppleScript to view next unread message in Mail
If you've ever wished for the ability to go to the next unread message in Mail, instead of having to shuffle through all the unread ones, some enterprising AppleScript.net forum members have put together a script that might go well with your favorite app/script launcher, such as FastScripts.I tried this out with my preferred everything-launcher, Quicksilver, and it worked like a charm. I saved the script in Script Editor, then simply added it as a Trigger in Quicksilver with a keyboard shortcut. This has the fortunate side effect of being accessible from anywhere in the OS, so when I press my hotkey, Mail comes to the front and moves to the next unread message in the selected mailbox. Here's hoping Apple's Mail engineering team is listening and has something a little more integrated cooked up for Leopard's Mail.[via Hawk Wings]
iVideoMail and iVoiceMail plugins for Mail
Here's a novel idea: being able to easily send something besides text and pretty pictures in email. iVideoMail and iVoiceMail are Mail plugins that take the legwork out of recording video and audio clips for easy emailing. They install as preference panes within Mail, and once you customize a message's toolbar to add a button for either plugin (there doesn't seem to be any other way to use them when composing a message), you're ready to start emailing your beautiful mug and American Idol-worthy voice to anyone who can handle it. Just don't blame us if your friends and colleagues begin removing you from their address books.I only briefly tried out the iVideoMail demo and it works pretty well, although the resulting 6-second 320 x 240 video in MPEG4 was 376 KB, which might be considered a little large by some. By why not judge for yourself? Demos are available via a rather annoying submit-your-email-for-a-customized-download-link process, and a license for either plugin is a mere $10 USD.[via Hawk Wings' plugin list]
