Gmail's New Inbox

Google recognise that these days peoples Gmail inboxes are bombarded with loads of emails. They created Priority Inbox in 2010 (info here) but now it's time for another inbox revolution. This time they are calling it Gmails 'new inbox'.

The basic principle is a set of customisable tabs for managing emails which are Updates, Offers, Social or, and most importantly, Primary. The emails are filtered automatically. Here's an image of the new layout from Gmail's blogger page.

Here's a description of the new feature on Google's website: click here.  And below is a promo video for the service. Gmail users should get this automatically added to their account in the coming weeks however from Gmail's blogger page:

If you'd like to try out the new inbox on Desktop sooner, keep an eye on the gear menu and select Configure inbox when it appears in the Settings options.

Paperless 2013

Is 2013 the year that the paperless office finally exists? Probably not, but there is no harm in trying. Since technology such as fax machines, photocopiers and printers have become common place in offices it has been inevitable that our use of paper has continued to increase. And paper isn't expensive so there is very little financial incentive to just stop printing.

We waste the planets resources, cutting down trees, creating paper, and shipping tons of paper to your office just to print out an email which could be read perfectly well on screen. It just doesn't make sense. In 2013 a group of companies have teamed together to sponsor an initiative 'Paperless 2013'. It is no surprise that these sponsors offer technologies and products that will help anyone hoping to reduce their paper consumption. These include online storage and scanning products.

To get email updates with hints and tips from Paperless 2013, or to just find out more, visit www.paperless2013.org

Facebook Email

Facebook now offer their 600 million users a new unified message service - Facebook messages, Facebook chats and even a Facebook email address all find their way into a single inbox. In order to get this service you will need to upgrade to the Facebook Messages service. Invitations will appear when you log into Facebook.com but until you receive yours you can find out more from Facebook New Messages.

Once upgraded you can claim your @facebook.com email address. Here's how: Click Here. by default your @facebook.com email address will be your vanity URL which you may have chosen in 2009. Here's a quick reminder of the username/vanity URL feature.

It will be interesting to see if the addition of a facebook email service will have any impact of the existing web based email dominance of Microsofts Hotmail, Google's GMail and Yahoo's YMail. The Facebook email experience isn't as fully featured as GMail, for example. Facebook Messages seems to focus on continual conversations with friends, in a similar mannor to the old facebook messaging service. The ability to start these conversations from an external email service would appear to be the only real benefit.

The iPhone app highlights the change:

Gmail Priority Inbox Beta

Google have added a new beta feature to their web mail system - Priority Inbox. It sorts out the important emails from the endless adverts and updates from companies. Gmail users can try it out now as it's being rolled out this week. Look to the top right of the page for a link to activate it. The system gets better with time and use so it's probably worth trying out for a few weeks before commenting on how good it is. This Google video explains all...



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