miahz » email

Gmail Inbox Spam

Jeremiah — Sat, 23 May 2009 07:02:22 +0000

Been using Gmail for almost 5 years. Only 20 spam emails have ever landed in my inbox. Amazing. (And i’m still only using 16%.)

Get Better Gmail

Jeremiah — Thu, 03 May 2007 03:45:30 +0000

If you’re on the Gmail tip and you use Firefox like a good little girl or boy, then you need to holler at Lifehacker’s Better Gmail extension. It adds a bunch of new options and features to Gmail, my favorite being the Air Skin style which makes Gmail a little easier on the eyes.

Getting Gmail Spam

Jeremiah — Sun, 10 Dec 2006 09:17:40 +0000

The honeymoon was nice, but i’ve started to get spam at my main Gmail account. ~~It’s only a few per day~~ A few weeks ago i only got one or two a day, but i just cleared 17 from today that were tagged as Spam. Fortunately, Gmail is properly catching and tagging the Spam as such. So far. I don’t recall any spam slipping into my Inbox, but there may have been one or two crafty messages it couldn’t identify. The thing that kills me is that they’re all basically the same—a jumble of English words with the same ad for drugs attached as an image. There’s got to be a way a computer can figure out that’s spam, if i know it’s spam just by the nonsense name and subject with an attachment. Not that i’ve really had to worry about this—no false positives so far (i don’t think), and they’d all evaporate after 30 days. It just nags me to see a number next to the Spam label.

Still, props to Gmail for being the easiest to use and most spam-free email account i’ve ever had.

Going On A Diet

Jeremiah — Mon, 01 May 2006 22:17:31 +0000

Part a long-running realization that i waste a lot of time, and part kick-in-the-pants after just reading “The myth of ‘keeping up’” at Creating Passionate Users [via Lifehacker], i’m trimming some unnecessary input. So that means stuff like all the consumer- and pop-culture-related feeds i was subscribed to in Google Reader. I need to limit my web/blog reading/wandering all around—too often i surrender to my curiosity, but am no better off for it.

[Shout out to SessionSaver. Firefox just crashed, and the SessionSaver extension brought everything back up just how it was---tabs, text, and all.]

More discipline. That’s what it all boils down to. Oh yeah, i need to clean up the Web Clips feeds in Gmail. Better yet, maybe i’ll just turn them off. It’s interesting stuff, but truely just a time-wasting distraction. Now i just have to figure out a way to stop people from sending me those “funny” emails from work.

[Hmm. Somehow, most of this post was eaten when published, so i had to rewrite it from memory. Some errant quote encoding is likely to blame.]

The Spoils Of WordPress 2.0.1 & Akismet

Jeremiah — Sat, 11 Feb 2006 11:31:59 +0000

WordPress 2.0.1 is alive and kicking on miahz.com. The upgrade from 1.5.3 went hitchless[ly?]. Initial impressions: i like the cleaner admin interface, the abbridged reverse-order drafts list, the Akismet plugin included by default, along with all the other i’ve-been-spoiled-by-wordpress.com features like in situ file uploading and on-the-fly new categories. I’m especially relieved by the prospect of Akismet, as i’ve been getting increasing comment spam over the past few weeks. Interestingly, Akismet found and displayed all the comments in the database i had tagged as spam before the upgrade (i didn’t delete them) on plugin’s management page. It’s now telling me, “Akismet has caught 3 spam for you since you installed it,” which was only about an hour ago. And three in one hour is quite a bit for this meager parcel of the ‘sphere. I’ve been spoiled with no email spam in Gmail. I’m hoping to be equally spoiled by Akismet.

Windows Live

Jeremiah — Fri, 02 Dec 2005 04:31:10 +0000

Hmm…

Signed in with my Hotmail address/Passport whatever. Looks like some new attempt at a “portal.” Whatever good that is. Only if you use Mircosoft’s email or other services. Google’s already winning this war. I’d use a Google portal. I’m tied to Gmail, and have started using Google Reader. That’s how i wandered onto this [via < via].

Track Package

Jeremiah — Wed, 02 Nov 2005 18:07:54 +0000

Gmail, you amaze me.

Gmail makes it easy for you to keep track of your packages, and map out directions to your destinations; when you open a message that lists an address or package tracking number, Gmail shows you handy links to maps and directions, or your package’s delivery status.

Gmail Draft Attachments

Jeremiah — Fri, 09 Sep 2005 22:12:10 +0000

Just realized a new trick for transfering files using Gmail. I have a bunch of files piling up on my work computers that i haven’t been able to easily carry home since my JumpDrive died on vacation. I knew you could simply send files as attachments, but i didn’t want to leave trails of email all over the place—i just wanted to hold them in limbo while i changed locations. I recently started using unaddressed drafts in Gmail as sort of a portable scratch pad to jot down ideas and reminders. Just now i thought to try to attach a file to a draft, and it works just like it should. When you click Save Now, the file is uploaded and attached to the draft. And it waits there until you unattach it or discard the draft. Just like that. I’ve read about the GMail Drive shell extension for Windows, but never tried it. It has to be installed, so that kinda breaks the whole portability thing. Gmail Draft Attachments just works “right out of the box.”

Funny, Gmail

Jeremiah — Tue, 06 Sep 2005 03:37:54 +0000

Gmail’s Web Clips offers Recycling Facts in ‘Trash’ and Spam Recipies in ‘Spam.’

Gmail Clips

Jeremiah — Tue, 30 Aug 2005 23:04:47 +0000

Well, it’s been a busy week at Google. Now Gmail is sporting a new “Web Clips” feed reader on a single line above the inbox. It displays items from preset lists in different categories, and you can add your own custom Clips. This feature is only on one of my accounts. And i found this post from over four months ago that seems to document the same thing. At first i was a little annoyed—oh great, ads. Especially with the few Clips i kept seeing. But you can easily customize it to only show feeds you’re interested in, and i added a few others i knew of. And very quickly, i’ve changed my mind, and think that i’m going to like this.

I never could get into the whole feed thing before—either with a dedicated feed reader, or using Thunderbird, or with Firefox’s Live Bookmarks. Just didn’t want the hassle of a whole nother program. I also roam too much, so wouldn’t always have access to certain programs or local copies of my bookmarks. Something integrated into Gmail—which i use all the time at every location— is perfect. Now i just need to find a web-based bookmarking system that i’m really happy with and i’ll be set.