Insomnic Dreams

Hotmail (also used under the name MSN and Live) used to be the leader in web based email. Then Yahoo and Gmail came online and pretty much wiped Hotmail off the map. Unfortunately, it can be a real pain to switch providers but luckily Hotmail has now made that easier. They offer POP now.

No… not cola or soda. POP is a function of web mail that allows you to access your email from another place besides that company’s web interface. So what does this mean for Hotmail users? Well it means you can switch to Gmail with ease because you can still get your Hotmail emails after you switch! It makes the transition much easier.

If you are interested in switching then head over to the How-To Geek for detailed steps to swap your Hotmail/MSN/Live account for a Gmail account. Once you have setup your email then it’s time to go through some of the other Gmail switching tools like contact and email import. Check Lifehacker’s article about the Gmail switching tools for more details.

Why switch to Gmail? My main reason is that their spam filtering is top notch and there’s just something about the different options and tie-ins with other Google services that it has become extremely useful. A good example is a function they just added to allow Picasa, Flickr, YouTube, and Yelp to be previews in the email itself. Check out the Official Gmail Blog post about this update for more details. Look through some of their other posts to see some of the other recent updates and features.

The other feature I like but is hard to grasp for some new users of Gmail are the function of labels instead of folders to organize your email. Labels show up as links on the left of the Gmail interface similar to how folders would show but they work differently. Instead of moving an email to a specific folder, it can be assigned a label – kind of like applying the folder to the email instead of the email to the folder. The advantage of this is that an email can have multiple labels without having to be duplicated in order to be in multiple folders. Lets go over an example.

Pretend I run an anime viewing club (whee!) and I order Cowboy Bebop The Movie for an upcoming viewing. I get an email confirmation from Amazon about my order. I apply the label “Orders” and the label “Anime Club”.  Now I can find that email if I click on Orders or if I click on Anime Club. If I used folders it would only appear in one or the other. Add the power of Google search and I can do a quick search to show me all my emails that are labelled both Orders and Anime Club and I can see all my anime club orders!

That’s just the tip of the iceberg as far as organizing is concerned and luckily the Gmail help is very good at working you through all of these options. Another good place to check for getting the most out of Gmail is Lifehacker’s directory of Gmail tips, tricks and hacks.

Sorry about all the text of this post (the links have lots of screenshots though). To make up for it here’s a couple videos to watch that may brighten your day just a bit:

Cute (awwwww factor 11):

Kinda Dirty Funny:

UPDATE: Gmail has now also added an “Undo Send” function that allows you to recall a message within seconds of sending. A very useful function for those accidental sends.