GMail is open for everyone!

[piccolomondo]

It is a universal truth that all search engines, including Yahoo, Google and MSN, retain search data of their users which can easily give a clue about the person's identity and a glimpse into his mind and online activity.

If you are worried that some day Google, by mistake, might disclose your private search terms into public internet domain, try some of the following suggestion that may fool the search engine or give it a hard time recognizing you.

The background is that when you perform a search on Google, the site search logs keep a record of your computer IP address, cookie ID and the search query terms. Google may also track your clicks on the search results by rewriting the destination URL. So we will look at possible ways to manipulate each of this information:

1. Block cookies from Yahoo, Google and MSN.

Disallow Google to Store Cookies - The important thing is that it doesn't suffice blocking cookies from just google.com domain, you must also block cookies from google site in your country.
For example, in India, one would block google.com and google.co.in - This is because Google redirects you to your local country page when you type in google.com in the browser address bar.
To block cookies, open the Cookie blocking dialog in your browser, type the site url and click disallow or block.

IE: Click Tools->Internet Options->Privacy->Sites
Firefox: Click Tool->Options->Privacy->Cookies->Exceptions

Remember that Google Personalized Search History won't work after you disable cookies from Google.com. Also, you may have to type the user name and password of other Google services like each time you have to login since cookies are disabled and you won't be automatically logged in.

2. Use Scandoo - Scandoo is a wonderful wrapper written around search engines that warns you of malicious websites in search results. Now the good part is that Scandoo can help you search Google, Yahoo or MSN without disclosing your actual geographic location (or IP Address) to the search engine. [Scandoo Google]

3. Block Google from Tracking Your Clicks

4. Don't use Google or Yahoo to search the web as they will store your entire trail of activity on their servers.

[piccolomondo]

Yahoo! uses cookies and Web Beacons (*) to track your surfing habits.

According to their privacy policy, Yahoo uses Web Beacons to determine if you read the email message, display relevant banner advertising or record usage of sites that you surfed on the Yahoo! Network.

If you like to disable this setting, click the Opt-Out link and Yahoo! will immediately stop using Web Beacons to track your surfing habits on that computer.


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(*) A Web Beacon is generally a 1x1 pixel transparent GIF image that can track if the user viewed a particular email message or a webpage.

A Web beacon can be detected by viewing the source code of a Web page and looking for any IMG tags that load from a different server than the rest of the site.

[piccolomondo]

Google is asking Gmail users to suggest up to five features, including "Have Gmail do my laundry", to improve Gmail experience.

If your feature request is not shown, please share it in the "I have a better idea" section.

[piccolomondo]

With so many great webmail offerings out there, only two are considered the frontrunners. Yahoo, the oldest player, has just revamped with unlimited storage and some drag and drop interface changes, while Google has the threaded simplicity thing going on adding built in Chat, Doc, Calendar, and Spreadsheet applications with a less cluttered appearance.

The Webmail battle: Yahoo Mail vs. Gmail

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In this battle, who is the real leader?
Veronica Belmont from Cnet put up both Yahoo Mail and Gmail up to the test on which one of these AJAX email applications is the leader. She weighs in and compares all of the strengths and weaknesses of both services in interface design, features, speed, organization, and security to come up with the end winner.

[piccolomondo]

Gmail upgraded the maximum attachment size from 10 MB to 20 MB.

Now you can make your Gmail space even more useful: sharing more of those home videos, large presentations and files.

Of course, few mail providers will accept a such a big message, so it's safe to send messages bigger than 10 MB to other Gmail accounts, to Yahoo Mail Plus or to other premium accounts.

[piccolomondo]

The GMail team at Google launched their Official GMail Blog where they'll post feature updates, productivity tips (through Gmail, naturally) and some insights into the people and the technology behind Gmail.

Get the feed here.

[via Amit Agarwal]