Slashdot Mirror
GMail Sign-Ups Via Mobile
jm.one writes "In the wake of recent releases releases Google Desktop 2.0 Beta and Google Talk 1.0 Beta, Gmail (known as Google Mail for legal reasons in some areas) is finally open to everyone. Learn more in the Google Blog entry and register at the Gmail website. Please take note that sign-up occurs via mobile phone at the moment, and only U.S. citizens can register for now. Plans to add more countries are on the way."
So a person can still get on even if they aren't in the US.
Helping with organizational effectiveness is our job.
I just noticed that I'm now able to send email out with addresses other than my gmail account.
VERY cool from a business standpoint.
It is still clearly marked "Beta" and no links to registration is found on the gmail.com website.
Gmail is out of beta is it? News to me, still says 'beta' in the logo and nowhere in the blog entry does it say Gmails out of beta, just that you can sign up for it without an invite in the US.
So they want your mobile phone number as well
**Strokes chin...**
"You need to receive and enter a special invitation code in order to create an account. Currently, we are only sending these codes as text messages to US mobile phones. So you will need to have a mobile phone with text message capabilities (most phones have this) and the invitation code itself.
One of the reasons we are offering this new way to sign up for Gmail is to help protect our users and combat abuse. Spam and abuse protection are two things we take very seriously, and our users have been very happy with the small amount of spam they've received in their Gmail accounts. We take many measures to ensure that spammers have a difficult time sending their spam messages, getting these messages delivered, or even obtaining a Gmail account (spammers will often use many different accounts to send spam). Sending invitation codes to mobile phones via SMS is one way to address this, as the number of accounts per phone number can be limited.
If you want to open an account a different way, you may want to ask a friend with a mobile phone to receive an invitation code for you or to ask someone you know who already has a Gmail account to email you an invitation."
Please take note that sign-up occurs via mobile phone at the moment
Let me be the first to say, huh?
Is this odd to anybody else?
Mod me down with all of your hatred and your journey towards the dark side will be complete!
1. Extremely quick
2. Very simple, unobtrusive interface
3. Extensive search features
4. Very large storage space
For a Webmailsystem from a commercial operator it is extremely good imho.
Give Google your phone number to get free email? Whoa, if Microsoft tried this, they'd have a mob with pitchforks and torches descending on Redmond.
My personal opinion is that Google waited to long to release this service to the general public, and they have lost their edge in web mail.
Whoever corrects a mocker invites insult;
whoever rebukes a wicked man incurs abuse.
--Proverbs 9:7
For all those saying "huh?"
/. writeup...
From the Google blog:
Why use mobile phones? It's a way to help us verify that an account is being created by a real person, and that one person isn't creating thousands of accounts. We want to keep our system as spam-free as possible, and making sure accounts are used by real people is one way to do that.
Right now, sign-ups only work with U.S. mobile phone numbers, but we're eager to support others.
Honestly, it would have been useful to have that in the
"A week in the lab saves an hour in the library"
Not that Google is evil now, but their ability to get *really* evil if they ever go evil has been steadily increasing...
One notable hole in Google's research lineup has been privacy. If all Google wants is aggregate data, why no clever solutions to provide the individual with guarantees that Google can't get useful individual data but can get useful aggregate data?
Any program relying on (nontrivial) preemptive multithreading will be buggy.
2. Undoubtedly better than Outlook.
3. Yes. This is Google we're talking about.
I do think my e-mail should be backed up, and I trust the good folks at Google to do that for me.
Moving from one computer to another constantly, it's a must that I have a webmail account that I can use anywhere, and for that, GMail is simply the best.
Quicker than Thunderbird or Outlook?
Depends on the speed of your computer and internet connection.
Simpler than Thunderbird or Outlook?
Sure.
Better than Thunderbird or Outlook?
Much better! It's as if you were searching the web with google!
I already keep every mail that's not spam or duped in the replies, it's not nearly 2TB yet.
It's not TB, it's GB.
Plus; it's not backed up! If keeping e-mails is important, don't you think it should be backed up?
Google employs redundant storage. I've heard that data is stored at least 3.5 times, but I'm not going to search for a source for this right now...
The AACS key is NOT 0xF606EEFD628B1CA427BEA93A9CA9773F
Ever since Goolge had its IPO, I can't seem to trust this company. Personally, I will never sign up for any Google product....though I do use the search engine. I hate the fact that they want/have so much control over various services ... their practice of "Do no evil" is dying...I personally believe they are trying to assimilate us all!
I was planning on using my 150 GMAIL invitations as christmas presents! Now they won't be very valuable.
SLASHDOT: news for people who can't concentrate on work or have no life at all and got tired of yelling back at the TV.
All the spammer needs is a pocket pc phone and a program that can read the SMS, and go to the web page and authenticate it. Easy peasy and all they have to use is a smartphone.
Since Google will inevitably store it, they would no longer allow other users to register with the same phone number. The purpose is not really that of a Turing test, but instead a way of limiting the demands on their resources.
shrug. don't like it? don't sign up. not like anyone is forcing you to. i'm sure you can sign up right now for a hotmail account and MS doesn't want your cell phone number.
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
So they want our mobile numbers? I'm guessing that they are going to try to triangulate our positions. So they can put your position in Google Earth. Can you picture all those red dots in Google Earth? Can you picture the accompanying tooltips?
"CowboyNeal is currently in Club Blue Oyster and has unchecked mail"
Actually, there's a Captcha in there, too.
So, cell phone number + a Captcha, and then you'll get an SMS with an invite code.
If you believe that your public phone number is too much information to give google, then just have a friend sign you up. This is an added feature, not an added restriction. Before you couldn't sign up at all, now you can sign up if you have a phone. Doesn't really seem like anything to lose sleep over.
As the URL to be translated is passed using GET on just about every translation service, some filtering software (*cough*8e6 R3000*cough*) can read that.
Also, some other filtering software (*cough*WebSense Enterprise*cough*) blocks GLT and Babelfish as "Proxy Avoidance".
Try again?
subjects like "Man f***ing hot blonde"?
That's spam?
I'm confused as to how "sign-ups only work with U.S. mobile phone numbers" became "only U.S. citizens can register for now". Do you have to prove you're a US citizen to buy a mobile phone in the US now?!
Never trust what they say, you can sign-up with a canadian cell phone number.
i'm sure you can sign up right now for a hotmail account and MS doesn't want your cell phone number.
No, they just want your soul.
Bastards didn't get mine, though...I signed up for my Hotmail account back before Microsoft.
If you sign up for a Google account, it comes with GMail. All you need is a valid email address to confirm with. All this fuss is silly considering that such an easy backdoor exists.
https://www.google.com/accounts/NewAccount/
And access to my emails...who cares? It's the same no matter what email service you use...unless you host your own server.
No...regular internet companies don't save any of your mail. Especially once you download it off your POP3 server. Google is the only one that ENCOURAGES you not to delete it....it's the only one whose servers READ your email to give you targeted ads. Because of your Google cookie, Google in theory knows exactly what you search for, what you shop for, who you IM, and your entire email records. I don't think Google actually cares, but the GP was pointing out that if you are suddenly suspected of being a terrorist under the patriot act or whatever, the Gov can find out your entire life from one court order to google. Microsoft, Apple, etc... know nothing about your personal life.
Cingular charges US$0.10 for messages sent and received. (source)
If you were grandfathered-in with AT&T however, incoming messages are free. (source)
Can simply wait for hotmail and yahoo(well, it is pretty good already) to wake up and introduce smooth AJAX and WYSYIG interface, add more memory, clean up their advertising and spam filters. For a company like Microsoft with billions in cash, it should not be a big deal. So, my guess is if one waits for about 6 months, one does not have to abandon his 9 year old Hotmail account.. Is Microsoft listening? Providing a good interface is a matter of willingness to think about the user and innovate rather than hire rocket scientists. I recently worked on http://www.collaze.com/ and found that any feature I want to give to the user can indeed be implemented in DHTML/Javascript, if you are passionate enough to research and experiment.
Explore your creative side
[Google] wanting my mobile number is insane.
Why is this insane? Anyone you call or text-message knows your number and very well may keep it indefinitely. All privacy paranoia aside; maybe Google is working on an interface for simplified text-messaging that links all your contacts from your email, IM, and mobile phone accounts. They are becoming heavy in communications apps, so maybe they want to track usage patterns of the Gmail users, who sign up by mobile phone, to see if there are any significant differences compared to their standard online-only users. Maybe they are using the numbers to track which mobile providers are most popular with their own users. Maybe they are using the numbers to simply keep track of how many accounts the average user opens. There are likely many, many more reasons that we're just not smart enough to think of, but they are.
I doubt very seriously they want your number to sell to telemarketers or track where you eat dinner on Friday night. What I don't doubt is that there is at least one very easy way to prevent them from knowing anything about you.
The Stone Age did not end because humans ran out of stones. - William McDonough
I just signed up with a Canadian mobile phone, so the whole "US Only" thing isn't strictly true.
Of course, it might be out of date, but...
2. Does creating a Google Account give me a Gmail account?
Unfortunately not. Gmail is currently in a limited release, so you need to get invited by another Gmail user in order to sign up. If you're interested in Gmail, you may want to check the About Gmail page periodically for updates. If, on the other hand, you already have a Gmail account, you can use your Gmail username and password to sign in to your Google Account.
http://www.google.com/help/faq_accounts.html