Hotmail of Microsoft Blocked

An undisclosed technical glitch blocked users from logging on to Microsoft Corp's free Web-based email service and other sites.

After several hours, the software maker was able to reduce but not completely fix the problem that left Web surfers around the world unable to access Hotmail and other services that require a Microsoft login. These include the Xbox Live video game community site and the Windows Live Messenger instant messaging programme.

“The issue is purely impacting the login process for customers and largely does not impact customers who were already logged in,” said Microsoft spokeswoman Samantha McManus in a statement. “We have made significant progress in decreasing the number of customers currently affected since initial reports, but the issue has not yet been completely resolved.”

Microsoft did not say what caused the problem.

McManus said the sites will be working again for all users “shortly.”

All Google Gmail Users are given 2 separate Email Addresses - Wow Its Amazing

You probably know how to create multiple email aliases in Gmail by adding the plus symbol and dots to your Gmail username but there’s something more interesting.

When you create a Gmail account, you actually get two email addresses - one is the regular @gmail.com while the second email address has @googlemail.com in the domain.

That means if your email address in Gmail is something like billgates@gmail.com, all email messages that are sent to billgates@googlemail.com will also be delivered to your own Gmail account. That’s two for the price of one.

Like the Gmail plus trick, you can take advantage of these two domains so that less spam reaches your Gmail Inbox.

Give the @googlemail.com address to your close contacts (put that in the visiting card) while keep the @gmail.com address for public (put it on your blog). Then set a Gmail filter such that all email messages with @googlemail.com in the header go a special folder so you will never miss important email from close friends.

Create a Personal Handwritten Signature For Your Email Messages

A handwritten signature at the bottom of your email messages can sometimes add a pinch of personal touch to your emails. (Also read - "How to Add Image Signatures in Gmail")

If you are on a Tablet PC, you can very easily sign off emails with handwritten cursive signatures using the stylus but for everyone else, MyLiveSignature is the place to go.

MyLiveSignature, as the name suggests, allows you to create email signatures online that look as if they are handwritten. You can customize the slope (tilt) of the writing or choose from a variety of cursive handwriting fonts so that the image closely resembles your real signature.

And if don’t like approximations - write your signature on a sheet of paper, scan the signature and upload that image to MyLiveSignature. They will send you an exact copy of the signature ready for use in emails and blogs - this however costs $10.

MyLiveSignature.com - Type your name to get started.

Embedding MP3 Audio Files In Web Pages With Google or Yahoo! Flash Player

Question: How do you embed an MP3 file (like a podcast, song or background music) into a web page or an RSS feed so that visitors can listen to the audio in the browser itself without requiring an external player like QuickTime or Windows Media Player ?

Answer: We earlier recommended the Google MP3 Player for embedding MP3 songs and audio podcasts in web pages but for some reason, the Google Flash player has stopped working on external websites other than listening to voicemail messages on Gmail.com.

So here we explore some new Flash MP3 players from Google and Yahoo! that are again light-weight, easy to implement and extremely efficient.

1. Google Reader MP3 Player

Google Reader has an inbuilt MP3 player that is pretty much the same as Gmail player but it also works on non-Google websites. This player has volume controls, no Google branding and it auto-detects the duration of the music file so your readers know how long the song will last. Here’s a live example followed by the HTML embed code:

To use this MP3 player on your website or blog, copy-paste the following code and replace the MP3_FILE_URL with the link to your MP3 file.

MP3_FILE_URL" width="400" height="27" allowscriptaccess="never" quality="best" bgcolor="#ffffff" wmode="window" flashvars="playerMode=embedded" />

2. Yahoo! MP3 Player

If you think normal is boring, check this out. Yahoo! offer a code generator (Easy Listener) to help you create a Flash based MP3 player that matches your website color theme and layout. See example:

Though this Easy Listener MP3 player requires you to pass the address of the web page that contains the MP3 file(s), you can directly pass the MP3 link and it will work just fine. Supports auto play and you can decide where the meta data associated with the MP3 file should be displayed.

MP3_FILE_URL&skin_color_1=-145,-89,-4,5&skin_color_2=-141,20,0,0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" />

3. Yahoo! Media Player

If you maintain an MP3 blog or run a podcast and regularly link to MP3 files, it makes little sense to embed a separate Flash player with every MP3 file. I would therefore recommend using the Yahoo! Media Player that auto-detects links to MP3 files in your web pages and creates an embedded player for each link.

All you have to do is insert the following link in your blog template and all MP3 hyperlinks will be converted into inline MP3 players. This also has the shuffle feature and visitors can easily skip to any song in the playlist. Excellent stuff.

4. Odeo MP3 Player

Odeo offers a pretty impressive MP3 player (see example) that works perfect in web pages as well as RSS readers but a small issue is that Odeo Player requires you to type the exact duration of the song in the embed code. You can skip this step but then the progress bar won’t reflect the true status when you play the song. And there are no volume controls.

To use Odeo MP3 player in your website, add the following code replacing MP3_FILE_URL and DURATION with relevant values.

DURATION&external_url=MP3_FILE_URL" />

Summary: With so many choices, how do you pick the right MP3 player for your website ?

As a minimalist, I prefer the Google Reader MP3 player since it offers volume control and minimal branding. But if you are regularly linking to MP3 files, this will prove cumbersome and I suggest integrated the Yahoo! Media Player on your website.

Google's Gmail Has a Daily Limit on Sending Email -- Everything Has a Limit

Gmail imposes a limit on the attachment size (20 MB) and the overall storage space (6 GB and growing) but there’s also a daily quote on sending email. Break the rules and Google will disable you Gmail account temporarily without any warnings.

So while sending an email message to a large group of friends using Gmail, read the following rules to avoid temporary shut-down of Gmail:

Rule 1. If you access Gmail via POP or IMAP clients (like Microsoft Outlook), you can send an email message to a maximum of 100 people at a time. Cross the limit and your account will be disabled for a day with the error "550 5.4.5 Daily sending quota exceeded."

Rule 2. If you access Gmail from the browser, you may not address an email message to more than 500 people at a time. Try adding any more recipients in the To, CC or BCC field and your Gmail account will get probably disabled for 24-72 hours. Error: "Gmail Lockdown in Secton 4"

Rule 3. Always double check email addresses of recipients before hitting the Send button in Gmail. That’s because your account will get disabled if the email message contains a large number of non-existent or broken addresses (<25>

Rule 4: This is slightly unrelated but still important - Google will disable your Gmail account permanently if you don’t check your Gmail email for a period of nine months. All the stored messages will be deleted and you Gmail address (user name) may be released for others to grab it.

Wants to know who reads your E-mail message or who doesn't -- Get A Read Receipt When Friends Open Your Email Message

If you are using Microsoft Outlook with Exchange Server, you can easily request read receipts and get notified when your email is opened by the recipient(s).

As such a tracking feature in not available in web email like Gmail, Yahoo! Mail or the new Windows Live Hotmail, here’s an extremely effective and free solution that works with every email program.

The service is called SpyPig and it will instantly send you a notification when your email is read by the recipient. The read receipt will also have other details like the IP address of the recipient and the exactly number of times he or she read your email.

Using SpyPig is simple - type your email address (where you wish to receive the notification) and they’ll give you a small tracking graphic that you have to embed in your outgoing Gmail message via a simple drag-n-drop (just like the Gmail Smileys). That’s it.

Now if you are worried about sharing your email address , read our previous email read receipt hack that shows you how to construct your own SpyPig kind of solution using Google Analytics or Statcounter.

The SpyPig trick however works only with Rich Text or HTML email, not plain text.

New Feature in Gmail: Info Box When You Mouse Over any Name

Google has added a new feature in Gmail that makes it extremely convenient for you to compose email messages (without typing addresses) or initiate chat sessions with your Gmail contacts using Google Talk.

When you mouse over any name in the Gmail standard message view, it pops a small window that will lets your write an email to that person, start a new chat session or even find “recent conversations” with that person.

And if that Gmail contact has an account on Orkut, you can access his or her Orkut profile directly through this new “info box” of Gmail.

Currently, this feature is only available in standard Gmail, not the Google Apps Gmail.

Every time give a new Email Id to Your Friends

Now Friends the very first Trick Of Gmail that I Love the most.So, it goes like this, say you have a email id anoopdreams@gmail.com
If Your Friends wants to send you a mail then they will send it at this email address.
Now, Let there be three friends of yours, there may be many, just talk about three at present.
amit shyam
If you want to give your friends a unique email id For amit It could be anoopdreams+amit@gmail.com
For Shyam It could be anoopdreams+shyam@gmail.com
So, its simple you could add anything after the initial mail by adding a "+" sign.
As all these Email Addresses anoopdreams+amit@gmail.com , anoopdreams+shyam@gmail.com are the same as anoopdreams@gmail.com.
If you have a girlfriend then impress her that how much you love her by showing her name mail id.
Note: This only works when you are sending mails, Not for logging into your account.
Enjoy.....