tech stuff » gmail

Google suffers major failure

Cody Taylor — Fri, 15 May 2009 01:00:26 +0000

Google Search and Google News performance slowed to a crawl, while an outage seemed to spread from Gmail to Google Maps and Google Reader. Comments about the failure were flying on Twitter, with “googlefail” quickly became one of the most searched terms on the popular micro-blogging site.

Google Apps gains business cred with 30k-seat deal

Cody Taylor — Thu, 14 May 2009 21:00:15 +0000

Gmail may not yet have the same footprint as Microsoft Exchange, but megadeals such as a recently announced 30,000-seat installation at Valeo prove that large enterprises are comfortable running applications in the cloud.

Confirmed Gmail / Google App Outage

Cody Taylor — Thu, 14 May 2009 21:00:09 +0000

mbone writes “Earlier today there was a confirmed Google outage which got a lot of attention from network operators. From a post to NANOG after everything calmed down: ‘Google ack’da maintenance on their core network did not go as planned-Forced traffic to one peer link that was unable to handle all the traffic. Maintenance has been rolled back. Issue has been restored.’ This is exactly what makes me nervous about cloud computing and data storage. It’s bad enough when I screw up a config and it takes down my mail, but what about when it happens to the entire globe at once?” Several readers also point to CNET’s coverage of the outage. Update: 05/14 19:25 GMT by T : CWmike adds this: “Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols writes that what may be happening is a massive DDoS attack. Based on the size of the attack that would be needed to interfere with Google, I believe that it’s quite likely to be the result of an attack from the controllers of the Windows worm, Conficker. Another theory that has been put about — that the problem was due to AT&T NOC routing problems — does not appear to hold water, writes Steven.”

In France, Fired For Writing To MP Against 3 Strikes

Cody Taylor — Sun, 10 May 2009 13:00:22 +0000

neurone333 sends along the cause célèbre of the moment in France: a Web executive working for TF1, Europe’s largest TV network, sends an email to his Member of Parliament opposing the government’s “three strikes and you’re out” proposal, known as Hadopi. His MP forwards the email to the minister backing Hadopi, who forwards it to TF1. The author of the email, Jérôme Bourreau-Guggenheim, is called into his boss’s office and shown an exact copy of his email. Soon he receives a letter saying he is fired for “strong differences with the [company's] strategy” — in a private email sent from a private (gmail) address. French corporations and government are entangled in ways that Americans might find unfamiliar. Hit the link below for some background on the ties between TF1 and the Sarkozy government.

Google Bulks Up Gmail With Built-In Search

Cody Taylor — Sat, 02 May 2009 07:00:10 +0000

Google has added the ability to search Google directly within Gmail, a move that increases the centrality of the e-mail service and gives Google a new opportunity to show advertisements.

The Man Who Made Gmail Says Real-Time Conversation is What’s

Cody Taylor — Sat, 02 May 2009 03:00:13 +0000

Paul Buchheit built the first version of Gmail in one day. Then he built the first prototype of Google’s contextual advertising service Adsense, in one day as well. …

Worm Solves Gmail’s CAPTCHA, Creates Fake Accounts

Cody Taylor — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 23:00:20 +0000

Malware creates new accounts until Google blocks the infected computer, then the worm uninstalls itself

Google shows off Gmail mobile Web app

Cody Taylor — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 07:00:24 +0000

What Google did with Gmail in conventional browsers five years ago it is expecting to do again with a new mobile version of its Web-based e-mail service.

MPAA Spying Case To Be Appealed

Cody Taylor — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 23:00:09 +0000

esocid writes “Back in 2005, the MPAA hired Robert Anderson, a former associate of TorrentSpy’s owner, to illegally obtain internal emails and trade secrets. He did so by routing the email from the internal server to his own Gmail account. He subsequently sold 34 pages of stolen information for ,000 to the MPAA. TorrentSpy owner Justin Bunnel sued them for spying, but lost the case due to a ruling that stated it was not illegal since the information was not intercepted under the Wiretap Act. The EFF called this decision a ‘dangerous attempt to circumvent privacy laws,’ since it implies that the unauthorized interception of anyone’s personal email is legal. The appeal could have ramifications for MPAA president Dan Glickman, as the decision is expected around the time of his contract renewal.”

22 Firefox Extensions to Turn Gmail into a Powerhouse

Cody Taylor — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 19:00:20 +0000

Gmail is perhaps the greatest web app ever developed, it is very popular (over 100 million users), has 2GB of free storage (very few will ever use this), and very, very easy to use. It is certainly powerful, but is it powerful enough? With Firefox Addons you can take your inbox even further…