Computer Tips for Travelers » Gmail http://wifisavvy.com Computer Tips for Travelers Mon, 06 Sep 2010 17:39:37 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 Using Gmail for All your Mail http://wifisavvy.com/2010/01/04/using-gmail-for-all-your-mail/ http://wifisavvy.com/2010/01/04/using-gmail-for-all-your-mail/#comments Tue, 05 Jan 2010 01:05:00 +0000 chrisadmin http://wifisavvy.com/2010/01/04/using-gmail-for-all-your-mail/
  • Why we like Gmail for Travelers
  • Gmail: How do you organize email messages into folders?
  • Import AOL Contacts to Gmail
    • ]]>     Jim just bought a Droid smartphone and he’ll be able to read and write his email on that little device now. So, what does he do when he’s sitting at his computer and sees the same email sitting in his Outlook inbox? He’s using the web-based Gmail program to read all his mail on the Droid. And, Outlook is programmed to download his email to his computer – creating a duplicate set of email.

    To eliminate this dilemma, he’s decided to use Gmail for everything. The Gmail.com program can fetch his @geeksontour.com email and his @jimandchris.com mail as well as his @gmail.com mail. All 3 sets of email will be collected in his gmail.com inbox. Then he can use the web-based gmail program on his laptop, and be looking at the exact same thing from his Droid.

    This is an example of ‘Cloud Computing’ where none of your data resides on your computer, rather it resides on the Internet … in the clouds … and you just use a computing device to connect to it.

    You can use Gmail without using a gmail address

    There are two ways to set up gmail to get email from your other addresses.

    1. You can import all email and contacts from your other email. Then just use your @gmail.com address from that point forward.
    2. You can set up the gmail program to fetch your other email and collect it in your gmail inbox. You can also set gmail to automatically label the fetched email so you know where it came from.
      Using the ‘Fetch’ method means that people will continue to email you using your other address (e.g. @geeksontour.com) and gmail will make your responses be *from* your other address as well. Gmail will just be acting as your mail center for all the address you have set up.

    The image below is a screenshot snippet of my gmail inbox. I have it fetching my @geeksontour.com email. Notice the green ‘labels’ telling me what email address each message was sent To. Only one message – the Daily Blog Tips – has no label, meaning it was actually sent to my @gmail.com address.

    When I reply to a message, it will be ‘From’ the same account as it was To.

    gmail inbox

    Related posts:

    1. Why we like Gmail for Travelers
    2. Gmail: How do you organize email messages into folders?
    3. Import AOL Contacts to Gmail

    ]]> http://wifisavvy.com/2010/01/04/using-gmail-for-all-your-mail/feed/ 2 Computing in the Clouds is Good for RVers http://wifisavvy.com/2009/12/21/computing-in-the-clouds-is-good-for-rvers/ http://wifisavvy.com/2009/12/21/computing-in-the-clouds-is-good-for-rvers/#comments Mon, 21 Dec 2009 16:43:05 +0000 chrisadmin http://wifisavvy.com/2009/12/21/computing-in-the-clouds-is-good-for-rvers/
  • Using Gmail for All your Mail
  • Keep your online favorites … Online!
  • Email on the Road
    • ]]>     Have you heard of ‘Cloud Computing’?’  It means using applications on the web rather than on your computer.  Blogging is one example, it’s all web-based, any computer will do.  As long as you can connect to the Internet (the ‘cloud’) you can use the blogging applications.  And, there are more web-based applications every day.  Now, you can even create spreadsheets and letters in the Clouds with Google Docs.

    Home is Where You Park It

    Cloud computing holds the same appeal to me as living in a motorhome.  A home on wheels means I’m not tied to any particular block of ground.  Cloud computing means you’re not tied to a particular computer.  You could use a desktop computer at home, a laptop on the road, and your smartphone anywhere, with no thought for what is on each device because everything is in the cloud instead.  Grab a computer, any computer, connect to the Internet and there’s all your stuff … in the clouds.  The obvious drawback is that you need a good Internet connection.  With Wi-Fi, Satellite and Cellular, it is getting easier all the time for travelers to stay connected.

    If you’ve ever bought a new computer and had to transfer everything over from your old one – you might appreciate cloud computing!  It takes me several weeks to get a new computer up to speed with all my old stuff – especially all my email settings.  Each application that I start using in the cloud means one less thing I need to transfer. 

    Recommendations for Cloud Computing:

    Email:  we recommend Gmail – a free email program by Google.  You don’t even have to use the @gmail.com address because the Gmail application can gather email from other addresses and put them in your gmail inbox.  It can also backup everything to your laptop just in case something goes wrong in the cloud, or you want to compose some email when you’re offline.  See a past article: Why we like Gmail for travelers.

    Website Favorites: If you’re like many people, you mark your favorite websites to make it easier to get back to them at a later time.  Those ‘favorites’ are stored on your computer.  If you switch to another computer, you either have to know how to transfer all your favorites, or you do without.  But, if you put your favorite links ‘in the clouds’ you will have access to them anytime you’re connected to the Web.  There are *lots* of applications for storing your favorites online.  The two we use are iGoogle.com and Delicious.com.  See past article, Keep your Online Favorites … Online!

    Web and Internet Basics

    If the concept of ‘Cloud Computing’ is still eluding you, maybe a refresher on Web and Internet Basics will help.  Here’s one of our original Geeks on Tour Show-Me videos on Web Basics:

    For the full size version and more of our computer basics tutorials, see Geeks On Tour Essentials

    Chris Guld,
    www.GeeksontTour.com

    Related posts:

    1. Using Gmail for All your Mail
    2. Keep your online favorites … Online!
    3. Email on the Road

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