Zen computing: simplify life with gmail. part 1 of 20

Tip 1: Sign up for gmail.

This will be the first in 20-part series of posts about transferring your digital life to gmail. The idea is not to use gmail in order to have the latest, greatest, best, or You can argue over better email programs. There is but one goal in mind: to use this particular technology to simplify and enhance your life - to use gmail to stop the ever dangerous “tech-creep.”

(Tech-creep is the place where a new gadget or piece of software makes life more difficult and/or unnecessarily complex rather than easier. Gmail can help combat tech-creep. Facebook can alleviate or cause tech-creep. Twitter right now is sitting right on that boundary. You get the idea.)

What gmail does, it does very, very well.

So in keeping with the theme, the first tip is a simple one: get a gmail account. How? Go to gmail.com, of course.

Once there, click on the ‘sign up for gmail link, pick a user name, password, security question, and you’re on your way.

If you’re just starting out, that’s all you need to do for today. Should take you 5 minutes, including the time needed to read this post.

Don't just Gmail - Better Gmail instead.

A new post every week. That's how it works from now on. And an extra bonus with this one: two posts.

The first - passing along a valuable tip/tool for users of Gmail. It's called Better Gmail, and you can get the download from LifeHacker. I've tried it out on both a Mac and PC, and it will work across platforms.

The catch is that you have to be using Firefox, which you probably should be using anyway. Downloads for the Firefox browser are here.

Once Better Gmail is installed, you'll configure it by using Tools | Add-ons, selecting the Better Gmail 2 extension, and then clicking 'Preferences.'

I won't go over each feature; you can read the whole thing at the LifeHacker link I included. The most useful feature is not enabled by default, however: it's the 'Show Agenda' button on the General tab, which will place your Google Calendar agenda right next to your Gmail inbox.














I'll have lots more about gmail v. outlook v. google calendar v. windows live etc. in the weeks that follow. Let me know if there's anything in particular you'd like answered.