How to add additional Google account in Android phones

This is strange. There is no direct method to add additional Google accounts (though they say up to 5 accounts can be added) in Android based phones. If you want to integrate, say both your personal and work Gmail IDs in the Android phone, there is no default method. In fact, there is one, but it does not work. When we try to add an additional account by touching 'Add account', it gives this error: "Can't establish a reliable data connection to the server". May be they will fix this in version. 2.2

Ok. Cant wait till that. Here is a simple work around to Fix this issue:

Create an account in Youtube with a Gmail ID you want to add to your phone. Do this from computer. That's easier.

Now, take your Android phone. Open Youtube app. Add this newly created ID.

Surprisingly, thats the end of the trick, hack, work around or whatever you call it.

That particular Google ID is automatically added to the 'accounts' list.

Now you can use it for Gmail, Calendar, Document, etc.

Simple.

Online Backup - These two tools make a great combination.

The traditional custom of believing Hard Disk for storing important files has been proved insecure. The habit of storing files online has grown drastically from the last 2, 3 years. There are tons of sites and tools available for this task. Choosing a best site is a tricky job.

The first thing that come in our mind is the reliability of the site we use. After testing many sites and tools all these years, we at TechnoPark, are using two tools constantly. Let us explain it.

1. GDrive.

This is a shell extension for windows. This tool helps us use the massive storage offered by GMail. We have earlier reported about this tool. Read here:

How to use Gmail space as Hard Disk Space

For practical usage, it is awesome. It is smooth and seamless. Works like an angel.

2. DriveHQ

DriveHQ.com is a great service for online storage. It offers 1 GB free space for every user. That is more than enough for many real time users. Registration is free. What makes this service worth is the File Manager tool they offer for free. It is an amazing tool. Everything about the tool is so good. Take a look at the screenshots:

click to enlarge

click to enlarge

Both these tools are added in the context menu of Windows. It makes life easier. Just a right click. That is all you need to do. You will have a backup seamlessly in two reliable, online services.

Download links:

GMail Drive Shell Extension

DriveHQ

Technorati Tags: Gmail Drive, Gmail, DriveHQ, Online Backup

Enhance Gmail experience with 'Better Gmail' addon for Firefox.

Folks at LifeHacker have created a Firefox extension called 'Better Gmail'. 'Better Gmail' is a firefox plugin that has 25 Gmail enhancement scripts. This plugin makes Gmail with Firefox an ultimate experience. These scripts need Greasemonkey to be installed in Firefox.

It has a collection of 25 small scripts to enhance Gmail utility. Some of these scripts are absolutely useful. Let us review few of the best tools.

Filter assistant

It adds a 'filter assistant' button on the individual mail page. By clicking the button, the filtering options window is displayed with the from address is filled by default. See the screenshot:

Click to enlarge

Mailto: links compose in Gmail

I love this one. It adds a small Gmail icon wherever there is an Email link. The icon means, when we click the email link, it will open Gmail compose box, instead of default mail clients like Outlook or ThunderBird.

Attachment Reminder

This reminds you to attach a file to your Gmail if it appears that you have not, based on whether you have the word attach(ed, ment, etc) in the body. Brilliant Idea!

Attachment icons

Shows relevent icons in mails with attachments. See screenshot:

Note the zip icon and jpg icon. This is cool. The old pin icon is boring.

Conversation Preview

This is one of the the very useful tools. Right click any conversation to see the preview in bubbling window. This tool saves us time that we spend clicking the mail and clicking inbox or back button to return to inbox again. Simply superb. Look at the screenshot:

There are many other features like adding Google calendar or Reader in the sidebar, many skins, etc.

Overall its a good work by lifehacker folks.

How to make 'Better Gmail' work? Installation guide for dummies.

Step 1:

Install Greasemonkey if not already installed.

Step 2:

Install Better Gmail.

Step 3:

Restart Firefox.

Step 4:

Click on 'Tools' and then 'Addons' in Firefox menu.

Step 5:

Click on 'options' on Better Gmail entry in Addons list.

Step 6:

Customize it the way you want.

Step 7:

Refresh Gmail to see the changes.


Thats it.



Technorati Tags: Gmail

Attach files upto 20 MB with Gmails now

Gmail has got a news for us. They let us attach files upto 20 MB with mails sent from Gmail. Earlier it was 10 MB. This is an expected move from Gmail as the competition grows thick and fast. Earlier, Yahoo cut off its limitation on email storage and made it unlimited. Windows live mail, which was adamant in offering only 2 MB storage per email account for a long time is offering 2 GB now. AOL is revamping its mail and now is offering 2 GB. Only Lycos seems to be having no limitation on storage or attachment in its mail system.

The war is on now.

What is Gmail Child Email

There are times when you need to create a child email account within a parent email ID. The best example is the real meaning of the 'child' account. Suppose your child wants an email ID. It is pretty obvious that you don't want him or her to get distracted by the very bad nature of the internet and the spam culture. Now what is the solution?

Do not worry. Gmail lets you create a child email account within your existing Gmail account. There are two options. One is to use your same Gmail ID with a '+' symbol followed by child name. For example, if your gmail id is johnny@gmail.com, then your child id can be like jhonny+peter@gmail.com. The other option is to add another email id (other than the Gmail ID you are adding now). For example petermario@yahoo.ocm

Here are the steps:

1. Click on settings

2. Click on 'Accounts Tab and then Click on 'Add another email address' link.


3. Type name of the child (or anybody in that case!) and the email id.


4. Now, your Accounts setting page should look like this. You have two options for reply to choose from. Look at the self explanatory screenshot below.


5. Try composing a mail now. You will have a drop down menu in the 'from' field. Look at the screenshot below.


This is an useful feature in more ways than the one mentioned here. Limited only by your imagination.


Technorati Tags: Gmail

Email trick: How to see Unread mails easily in Gmail

This is the first of the Email Trick Series.

In yahoo mail, there is an easy way to list all unread mails with one click. In Gmail, its a little bit tricky. Here are two small tricks to list unread mails:

1. In mail search box, type label:unread. It will show all Unread mails.

2. Another method

a. If you feel the first method a little boring, then follow this method. Create a label with whatever
name your like except system specific names like unread, read, inbox, etc.

b. Now, Mark all Unread mails by clicking Unread

c. Click 'More actions' and apply the label you just created.

Note: if you have unread mails in the next pages too, you need to do the same procedure for all the pages. Hint: Keep number of mails per page to 100 to make things easier.

I will be writing more Email tricks regularly.

Technorati Tags: Gmail, Gmail Tricks

Gmail is open to all

At last it happened. Yes, Gmail is open to all. All means all. A few days back it was opened for for some countries and regions. Now, It is available all over the world. As you may know already, it was available only by invitation.

How to use Gmail space as Hard Disk Space

As we all know, Gmail offers free 2+ GB space (and its still growing) for its users. This free offering of this huge online space has tempted many to use it as their Online Data Storage Disk. There are many tools available to accomplish it. Lets us analyse two best utilities around:

GMail Drive shell extension and GSpace Firefox extension.

GMail Drive shell extension

GMail Drive is a Shell Namespace Extension that creates a virtual filesystem around your Google Gmail account, allowing you to use Gmail as a storage medium. It creates a virtual filesystem on top of your Google Gmail account and enables you to save and retrieve files stored on your Gmail account directly from inside Windows Explorer. GMail Drive literally adds a new drive to your computer under the My Computer folder, where you can create new folders, copy and drag'n'drop files to.

When you create a new file using GMail Drive, it generates an e-mail and posts it to your account. The e-mail appears in your normal Inbox folder, and the file is attached as an e-mail attachment. GMail Drive periodically checks your mail account (using the Gmail search function) to see if new files have arrived and to rebuild the directory structures. But basically GMail Drive acts as any other hard-drive installed on your computer. You can copy files to and from the GMail Drive folder simply by using drag'n'drop like you're used to with the normal Explorer folders.

Because the Gmail files will clutter up your Inbox folder, you may wish to create a filter in Gmail to automatically move the files (prefixed with the GMAILFS letters in the subject) to your archived mail folder.

Fig 1: GMail Drive in My Computer. Click to Enlarge.

An Important note from the Creator:

"Please note that GMail Drive is still an experimental tool. There's still a number of limitations of the file-system (such as total filename size must be less than 65 characters). Since the tool hooks up with the free Gmail Service provided by Google, changes in the Gmail system may break the tool's ability to function. I cannot guarantee that files stored in this manner will be accessible in the future. "

Download URL: http://www.viksoe.dk/code/gmail.htm

GSpace Firefox extension

This extension allows you to use your Gmail Space (2.5 GB and growing) for file storage. It acts as an online drive, so you can upload files from your hard drive and access them from every Internet capable system. The interface will make your Gmail account look like a FTP host. After the installation, you'll get an option called "GSpace" in your "Tools" menu, which opens the GSpace window. It's great for storing/sharing files with your friends. Also very good to backup photos and music files (as you can view/listen to them from Gspace).

Fig 2: GSpace Interface. Click to enlarge.

Download Link: https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/1593/