Tag Archives: Gmail

Gmail unveils “undo” feature

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Ever had those moments when you thought you should not have sent that message soon after hitting the “send” button? Worry no more. The Gmail engineers at Google have developed a new feature for the popular e-mail server called the “undo send,” which lets users to retract that sent e-mail before it pops up in the inbox of the person it was directed to. That’s right, with Google’s help you now can clean your mess up and avoid unnecessary troubles.

Although this new feature is helpful, time may not always be on your side, because you have only five seconds to change your mind and quickly hit the “undo” button before Google’s server sends your message.

Since Temple University uses Gmail system as its primary form of electronic communication, you have the ability to take advantage of this feature.

To activate “undo send” in your inbox, click on the “Labs” tab under settings on the main screen.

Look Ma, no Wi-Fi!

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Leave it to Google. They recently launched the Offline application, which allows users of Gmail (and TUmail, intrinsically) to browse e-mail without an Internet connection.

You can read, search and star messages and even download attachments like you would with your Web-based TUmail. You can’t immediately send messages (yet), but you can compose them and Google will send them as soon as it picks up the slightest bit of Internet connection.

To get TUmail Offline, make sure you’re using the most up-to-date version of your browser and follow these steps:

  1. Download Google Gears. (It’s what bridges the gap between the Web and your desktop.)
  2. When logged into TUmail, click on “Settings” and then the “Labs” tab.
  3. Enable “Offline” and click “Save Changes.”
  4. TUmail will reload and a new “Offline” tab will appear in the upper right-hand corner. Click it. You will then be guided through the synchronization process, which could take as little as 15 minutes to an hour or so, depending on the amount of e-mails you have stored.

Voilà. A TUmail icon should appear on your desktop, allowing instant access to all of your electronic mail, regardless of how few wifi4owls bars you’re picking up.

For an in-depth look at the inner-workings of Offline, check out Gmail’s Blog.

North Broad falls victim to Google empire

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Well, at least Temple’s little slice of North Broad Street has. According to a Computer Services memorandum sent out Wednesday, TUmail will be making the switch to Gmail (read: Google Mail) by mid-November.

The memorandum, for those of you who have not received or have not read it, starts off:

“The current TUmail system is almost six years old and is reaching the end of its lifecycle. To ensure that Temple’s e-mail remains first-class, Computer Services needs to upgrade this resource.”

Funny, I didn’t know e-mail systems had lifecycles, but hey, TUmail was as close to dead as I’ve seen any technology lately, so more power to them.

So, your fancy new Temple e-mail will be officially called “TUmail Powered by Google,” and worry not, Computer Services says it won’t change your @temple.edu addresses or any of your aliases. Those are yours to keep. Gmail features what will appear to be unlimited space (more than 7GB to be exact, for anyone who knows what that means), special labels for your e-mail (to separate that highly important Facebook e-mail from that not-so-hot note from your sociology prof about extra credit field trips or what-have-you), Google Calendar, Google Docs and a pretty cool e-mail search engine (like that of Google.com … surprise!). And, Google assures you, you will never have to delete a message again.

Enjoy!