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Google Introduces Gmail Paper
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slashdottit! tm
nacturation writes "Everyone loves Gmail. But not everyone loves email, or the digital era. What ever happened to stamps, filing cabinets, and the mailman? Now with Gmail Paper, you can request a physical copy of any message with the click of a button, and it'll be sent to you in the mail. Photo attachments are printed on high-quality, glossy photo paper, and secured to your Gmail Paper with a paper clip. And it's totally free: the cost of postage is offset with the help of relevant, targeted, unobtrusive advertisements printed on the back of every print."
Come on. Come ooooooon.
No Google stamps?
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Remember that your requests for Gmail Paper go through faster if you're a subscriber to Google TiSP.
I caught a nasty virus when I got a paper cut from a piece of Gmail paper spam.
This is the second time I've been fooled since getting to work an hour ago.
I can't be discerning at this ungody hour.
clifgriffin > blog
...for people who don't have photo printers.
Watch the calendar: April 1st...
Is it really necessary to make the site completely useless one day of the year?
:)
What day in particular is that? I'd like to see them make the site completely useful for one day of the year
It'd be a start
Haha, this is so funny, I am rolling on the floor laughing out loud. Ha. Ha. You really had me for a moment. I thought Google would actually do this. Then I remembered that it's April Fools day and realized my mistake. It's so hilarious. You owe me a new monitor, because I spat coffee all over mine when I laughed about myself. What a prank. Absolutely genius. I'll forward this to everybody because it's so freakin believable and comical at the same time. They'll love it. I love it. Can't believe you got me. Two thumbs up. I'm still laughing. Sooo funny.
Since when does "kill trees" come under "do no evil"?
I hope they use recycled paper.
May we have 32 days in March and then April, 2nd, please?
This is no april fools joke (you heard it here first).
One day? It is more like 2 or 3 days if you account for people's April 1st's starting at different times due to differences in time zones.
Frankly, I cannot wait to tell my boss what I did with his last memo.
I love the testimonials on google's page: "Now that I have Gmail Paper, I understand the difference between labels and folders. I had one message with two labels, but when I tried to stick the paper version into two filing cabinets at the same time, it just wouldn't go." Mayumi M., Associate I'm so sending this link to everybody complaining about anything digital. You've got to admit, google sure makes cool april fools; the page looks really professional.
Don't take my posts literally; it's just code to control my botnet.
Google has released products on the 1st of April before, and today there's two product announcements:
:)
* Google TiSP: Free 8/2Mbps asynchronous fibreoptic connectivity through your toilet.
* Google Paper: Print as much email as you like, and have it shipped to your door.
Personally, I find it hard to discern which one of these is most likely to be the joke, and which one is most likely to be the product. If I have to guess, Google Paper seems less serious, while Google TiSP seems serious, even if TiSP seems like a more expensive prospect (given the likely number of users). Also, I've seen no Paper Archive button.
Can someone please send me an invitation to imsolame@sillyme.org
... because then I wouldn't have a birthday.
Which means no new gadgets for me.
Which means no more joy for me.
*Aw*
Did I mention I've got a kidney stone?
Is there a Mod +1 Needs Sympathy?
We Build Beautiful Websites
Can I get an insightful mod for nothing? Come on...
"Sure there's porn and piracy on the Web but there's probably a downside too."
Of course, Google Filing Cabinet, soon to be announced, does allow double filing by creating an ethereal copy for the second cabinet.
Have you read my journal today?
I don't mind the pranks and jokes on April 1st, I really don't. What I do mind is the fact that almost nobody does it well. I've seen some good pranks over the years but most sites - including slashshot - just post outrageous things that aren't worthy of being "pranks". Seriously, if you're going to post a bunch of garbage then just shut down the web servers for 24 hours during April 1st and save yourself some bandwidth.
Of course if you do post good pranks then you piss people off for not reporting identifiable jokes on a news site. You know what, just report real news all year, then people won't have to deal with horrible April Fools' jokes on April 1st (and 2nd, 3rd, and 4th here on Slashdot).
Er. Google in the EU has had problems using the name "gmail" - because there's a german company whose business model is to print off emails and post them to you called "g-mail". http://www.gmail.de/_content.php
I just wanted to say that I had forgot that today was the 1st but I got the joke (even without the OMG PONIES!!!!) or opening TFA (hell, I wouldn't do that on a regular day) - there was one massive tell; it was already ou of BETA, less than 100 years after they thought of the idea...
come one guys, this has to be believable
*''I can't believe it's not a hyperlink.''
Lame!!!
I know people who really will benefit from GMail Paper. For example, Farmer Files has always been uncomfortable with normal Email and prefers paper mail. This will really help him.
:-)
From memory, he farms spaghetti on a farm in Switzerland that was featured on Panorama in the 1950s...
Those using pirated Tinysoft signatures(TM) are a real threat to society and should all be thrown in jail.
I know of some State Government agencies that would LOVE this! Of course they would most likely get talked in to using Microsoft paper instead, which locks you in to using only Microsoft Pens, Microsoft Staplers, etc.
On a side rant, it boggles my mind how everybody think putting something "on a computer" or worse yet "on the web" magically makes things better. Sometimes paper and pencil is the best solution.
C'mon now, this is getting a bit lame. Bring back the ponies, I say...
95% of all computer errors occur between chair and keyboard (TM)
"In Romania, during the Ceausescu era, one newspaper printed an article as an April Fool's joke saying all political prisoners were being freed. People started turning up at prisons and waiting for family and friends to be released. It didn't go down well when it was revealed to be a hoax."
I checked this wasn't a fool with in a fool, and it wasn't. This really happened. Jesus Christ, can you imagine that? A mother and her kids rushing along to the prison, the kids skipping along.. 'Yayy! We're going to get Daddy back!' And then to be told it was a joke. Easily the most depressing thing I've read about in weeks.
"I cannot wait to tell my boss what I did with his last memo."
I've gotta tell my boss to hurry up with their memo writing, I HAVE TO GO!
Saskboy's blog is good. 9 out of 10 dentists agree.
Must be US only initially. ;)
The best thing about this very profesionally done April fools joke is that it's almost believable. Can advertising as described make for a viable business model? Why not? In any case kudos to the G people for a job well done: the photos of people smiling as they receive their packages had me spilling tea over my keyboard, almost.
Remember, it was April 1st when GMail itself was announced--leading myself and a few others to think it was a hoax. Of course, now I use GMail exclusively so I am very happy to be wrong. :)
This didn't immediately set off my hoax radar, either, until I read the details. At first I thought perhaps Google had improved the printing functions of GMail to look better when printed out; it wasn't until I saw others talking about it that I actually saw the details and knew immediately it was a joke.
What's scary? 10 years ago this idea would've been funded and seen as visionary.
They have delivered their first paper to a wrong person. The person who clicks (http://mail.google.com/mail/help/paper/more.html) is not the one who gets the parcel. Probably because of it being still beta.
Will the wandering google theatrical troupe come and perform all my porn for me ?
Everybody should stop being so frustrated over all this April Fools stuff and buy some of this.
http://www.google.com/googlegulp/
Drink this an no joke will ever fool you again!
Big waste of shareholders' money!
This is a bs story for april fools.
No! :)
I'm laughing for long minutes!
Let's make slashdot useless for one day!
damn, I got nothin, this is just...
stupid.
dB Masters
I'm still holding out for Apple iPaper :)
-Cnik
Lemme guess... you clicked on this link, right? And then did a page search for "Ceausescu"? And there it was, almost verbatim:
Did you happen to see the date on that BBC article?
Linux doesn't even get any love as during an April Fool's joke...
This is also on their login screen. Caught me for a moment as a.. how dumb of a new feature is that. Then I remembered..
My Babylon
Um, This site is useless EVERY day of the year...
Politics will sooner or later make fools of everybody... - Dick Armey
and today is april 1st!!!
Yes, I did happen to see the date. Though you apparently didn't happen to actually read it. This is a list of past April Fools, not an April Fools itself. The Opinia hoax is referred to elsewhere, not just on that page.
Now I can get my spam to my bed and read until I slept.
How much cost print 500 e-mails spam?
In India, there are actually services which print out email and deliver it. The infrastructure is a wonderful blend of electrons and meat-based delivery systems. Even the state postal service prints out email and delivers it.
Deconstruct the State
And because they'll probably remove it once Mrs. Grundy complains about the scatological humor.
Most people don't even think inside the box.
for those that still didn't get it:
:S
http://mail.google.com/mail/help/paper/more.html
besides that, i think that, if actually implemented, it would not only surelly find it's own market niche, but also would become as cool as terrifying. not terrific, but terrifying. think google 'absorbing' not only a big chunk of email, but also another big chunk of snail mail - or the postal system if you want. add government mandated custom 'filtering', china style. cool, huh?
"For every Gmail Paper we produce, the environment gets incrementally healthier." What is up with Google and shitty April Fool's Day jokes?
Where did they get that hottie shown in step One (Click)? Is this a Gpr0n star?
Wasn't GMail itself also released on April Fools' Day...?
Trolling around the "upcoming" section of digg last night I found this:
e -blunder-seriously-read-this.htmld -class.html
"Oh this is so funny!!! Google tried to release an April Fool's joke today about Google Paper
- the ability to have your emails printed and sent via snail mail!
The problem they didn't realise is that in the latest issue of Fast Company, this ACTUALLY HAPPENS in India!!!
It's called the ePost service from the Indian post office. Now you have a Billion Indians who are thinking that this is a legitimate alternative to their ePost service - nice try Google, but next time, make sure your PR people read Fast Company!!"
Link to blog: http://www.vinnylingham.com/2007/04/massive-googl
Link to article: http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/113/next-worl
And no this definitely isn't my blog. And wtf, people being modded insightful just for asking? This must be April Fools day.
--
Northern Virginia? Fairfax Underground! Forums, Wiki, and database of arrests and traffic tickets
Gmail can smell sometimes. When you press the back button to return to the inbox and it logs you out.
I hate to think of the Google web "operating system" where daring to press the back button turns it off.
And in other news readers notice that (once again) every Slashdot posting on 4/1 is an April Fool's joke. Since April Fool's jokes arn't funny when you see them coming, no one is fooled. Commander Taco continues to laugh.
the clock on the wall says 4 til 7
The summary should actually link to the main page, as there's no way back to it from that subpage.
OK 8000 messages is equal to about 550 megabytes (including some attachments) Most people have multiple accounts - lets say 3 per person Most people have filled theirs up anywhere from 300 - 1000 megabytes (excluding attachments)(probably not true, but lets just say) so lets say that they have filled theirs up at about 800 megabytes per account so that is 2400 megabytes, or 34000 or so emails problem a. Where would you store it? problem b. How would they ship it easily? problem c. How many printers would they need? problem d. How long would it take to print all of these? problem e. What if they were to ask for, like it said in the article, 10000 COPIES OF EACH??? So, its all good and well that this is april fools :P
I really thought they had something good going, until I read this:
MP3 and WAV files will not be printed. We recommend maintaining copies of your non-paper Gmail in these cases.
Well, that pretty much makes this new service worthless. Someone let me know when they start printing audio attachments, and I might reconsider.
Dan East
Better known as 318230.
It was quite a useful tool; you could use it to send a mail to yourself@hinman to print out simple notes, and you could pick it up at your mail box instead of the main campus printers.
Well, I think if any email (containing audio files or video files) send to paper archive. Google should deliver an iPod to listen up to it :)
Yes, because he should let someone who _isn't_ a doctor cut things out of him.
:-)
That's one interpretation. Most people use enough discretion with other random people, so I qualified my statement for greater clarity. People tend to be blinded by credentials, and think that the certified know enough to be right 100% of the time. I'm suggesting that people investigate anything that anyone suggests that involves the removal of anything:
gallbladder
thyroid
your left arm
your child's foreskin (fucking 50% of males born currently in the US, and only 3% in the UK). am I the only person who thinks this is weird?)
But if you're looking to have something removed, I'll be right over with the scissors. I'm very inexpensive!
Please stop stalking me, bro.
What's really bad is that I got logged out of my gmail account, and when I logged back in it came on with a splash screen telling me all about this fancy new paper gmail service for chats and whatnot. Unfortunately, I hadn't logged on to slashdot yet, so I didn't realize it was an April fools joke.... alas, no massive shipment of paper logs are coming my way!
Because it is free, you will get SPAM not only in your e-mail but in your actual mailbox.
What terms were they specifically?
There is a startup called potsful which is doing something like this for real -- you can tie an email address to a postal address, and they'll print and mail to the postal address anything you send to the email address.
Uh, this actually exists. It's called *JUNK MAIL* (and yes, there are actually a few companies that use registered post to post a whole fat envelope of ads, at least here in Australia).
Commodore64_love: I don't comprehend people who're so frightened of death that they'll bankrupt themselves to stay alive
are they even trying anymore?
There are 10 types of people in the world; those who can read binary, and those who can't.
Seriously, seriously, I was totally fooled by google this morning when I went to Gmail's page to check my mail.
I wonder how many of you were fooled by Google about this paper mail feature - they can print your emails/attachments unlimitedly for free and ship to you for free too! I went into my gmail account and was desperately looking for that so-called "paper mail" button.. I didn't find it of course, and yet it still didn't ring the bell. I continued to search in the help section and saw a whole bunch of fools like me wondering where the damn button was, although I still hadn't got it until someone said it outloud and clear "happy april fool's day!" Darn it!
Well, although google's print-for-free service is just a joke, I do want to recommend a website that can truly turn your softcopy into hardcopy and mail for free. Definitely not a joke.
http://www.freepostit.com/