=> 1. News From the Net => 2. Feature Article-"What's so Wonderful About Google's Gmail? => 3. Webmaster Resources => 4. Promotional Resources => 5. Other Ezines of Interest => 6. Just for Fun or Useful => 7.E Books and Things of Interest to Publishers => 8. Freeware and Shareware to Download => 9.Subscribe/Remove Information *************************************** Hi Kids, Happy Holidays! Hopefully you've been on your best behavior with Santa coming soon. If not, it'll be coals for your stocking. I'm beat....Christmas Shopping is enough to kill a person. I mean it's physically so exhausting. Why is that? The only thing I can figure out is that your so busy picking things up and scanning the walls for goodies that your senses become overloaded. That has to be it. As you can tell I've been living in the stores lately. My boyfriend likes to hit almost every store around for miles when we get the time to do it. Now I've got presents to wrap, tons of them, and boxes to ship to some of my far away Internet friends. If you don't get a box soon, you must be on my sh.. list. <grin> Just don't leave your nose pressed against the glass too long waiting for the UPS truck or you might be stuck there permanently. Hustle and bustle...good words to describe the weeks leading up to the holiday. Time just flies and I still haven't done my Christmas Cards yet. My boyfriend, Jim, I call him George, but his name is Jim. Don't ask. He just sits there and says "have you sent those cards out yet, do we have gifts for everyone?". Men are quite amazing this time of year. As if the good fairy will come down from the sky and wave her magic wand and all the prep work will be done. In my next life I'm coming back as a guy. Looks easier. The hard part will be finding a good woman who's good with details and can remember everyone's Birthday and Anniversary for me. That way I can save all of my human man power for more important things like Football and Beer. Did I tell you my Vet gave me Valium for Teddy Bear? He's my Italian Greyhound in case you don't read this rag on a regular basis. He's a ball of nerves always shaking and trembling over something. So now when I want to take him out in public I'm going to try to drug him a little to take the edge off. I wonder if the vet could prescribe a bottle for me? (LOL) If you like to give to charity this time of year and you're a bit twisted in the head and often enjoy this ezine you can always donate to "Merle" via Paypal at http://tinyurl.com/3gzpa You can give any amount you'd like, even 2.00, but 10.00 would be better. If you'd like to have your very own MerlesWorld.com toolbar now you can. I designed it myself. Download it now at and while you're there make one for your own website to give away. http://www.effectivebrand.com/LandingPage.aspx/CT7480 If you still haven't downloaded my latest f-r-e-e ebook, shame on you. It's called "50 Easy Ways to Promote Your Website". Get your copy over at my new site http://WebSiteTrafficPlan.com I'd really like to see you over at the discussion board. Please give me your thoughts at http://www.merlesworld.com/webbbs/ Don't forget to bookmark the Blog. You'll want to pay an occasional visit for extra goodies I find. http://merlesworld.blogspot.com/ This week's winner for a free ad is..Dan Kubb of http://onautopilot.com For your own chance to win fill in the survey. You'll find the link at the very bottom of this ezine. A winner is pulled twice a month. Enter now. Thanks for joining me, let's get to the good stuff. If you have any comments you can send them to Me. Merle http://www.MerlesWorld.com http://www.EzineAdAuction.com http://www.MCPromotions.com

Google Plans Flashier Image Ads
http://tinyurl.com/3whll

------
Online Ad Networks Back in Vogue
http://tinyurl.com/5hjmv

------
Holiday Visits to Retail Sites Up 24 Percent Over 2003
http://tinyurl.com/3ljjx
-----

iCop Email Accreditation Program
http://trusted-email-sender.com/
----

Ohio Legislature Passes Felony Anti-Sp.m Bill
http://tinyurl.com/4p25q
-----

MSN Launches Blogging Service
http://www.msnspaces.com/Default.aspx
-----

Creative Commons Search Integrates with Firefox
http://tinyurl.com/5shpj

Go Back Up

"Google's Gmail: Search and Email Finally Come Together"

by Merle http://MCPromotionsPress.com

If Google ran the world, my guess is that they'd
do a pretty good job. They seem to be everywhere,
always growing and expanding, coming up with new
ways to be the dominant player in the search
arena.

Google's latest invention (or should I say re-
invention?) is email. Now, I know what you're
thinking: "Big Deal. Free email accounts are
a dime a dozen." While that may be true for
your everyday email providers like Yahoo
and Hotmail, it's definitely not the case
with Google's new Gmail: http://Gmail.Google.com

Gmail is web-based email on steroids. To start
with, you're given over 1,000 MB of storage, which
means you can keep messages for years without
ever hitting your delete key and still have
plenty of room. In fact, Google encourages
you not to delete messages; they would rather
you "archive" them, but we'll get to that in
a minute.

When you send someone an email and he replies
and then you reply, Google calls this a
"conversation." Similar to a "threaded discussion
board," these conversations are grouped together
for easier searching. If you open an email, any
responses to it are "stacked" on top.
Pretty cool!

The contacts from your pre-existing Yahoo,
Outlook or other email accounts can be
imported into Gmaill quite easily.

Now let's talk about that dirty word, "Sp.m."
Gmail has its own built-in filter and includes
a button that enables you to report any junk
mail you didn't request to Google directly.
Because of possible viruses, HTML images are
automatically disabled but can be viewed by
clicking on a separate button.

Also, for this reason .exe files are not allowed
to be sent or received by Gmail account users.
This could pose a problem for marketers who
attach .exe ebooks to to Gmail users.

Unlike other email programs that allow you to
create folders to hold emails you wish to file,
Google uses what is called "labels." One email
conversation can have more then one label attached
to it, making it easy to find when searching on
a specific topic later.

When you're done with a message, clicking on the
"archive" button will take it out of your Inbox
and put it into what Google calls "All Mail."
This is a holding ground for all emails you have
sent or received, so you don't have to delete
them, but it still removes them from your Inbox.
When you need to do a search for a past message,
you would want to click into "All Mail" first.

So what does all this great email search technology
cost? Are you ready? It's free -- but you will be
exposed to text ads from Google's Adsense Program
in the side border of your emails. All messages
are scanned for their main theme and related
text ads are shown within the emails content.
Of course, this has many privacy advocates in
an uproar. But why should it? The messages are
not read by a human; it's all an automated
machine process. The way I see it is, if it
bothers you, don't use it. Gmail is not forcing
itself on anyone and last time I checked it was
still a free country.

Now, before you go rushing over to Google to sign
up I have to tell you this service is still not
available to the public. Sort of like a private
club right now while they're in the testing phase,
you'll have to be "invited" by a current Gmail user
or you can buy your way in. If you do a search on
Ebay you may find an account or two for sale.
There's also a website dedicated to Gmail account
sharing at http://www.GmailSwap.com

Remember, once you get an account, failure to log
in for 9 months or more will cause you to lose
it. Compared to Hotmail's 30 days, this is
something I can live with. Google is also working
on rolling out POP3 support so you can use your
account from within your current email application
and possibly add on an antivirus scanning feature
by licensing an existing virus protection technology.

Anytime a new service or application pops onto
the Net, hacks and software add-ons are never
far behind. Here are some software additions
that will enhance your life as a Gmail user:

1)POP Goes the Gmail: Enables you to read your
Gmail from any POP3 account. Go to
http://www.Jaybe.org

2) Import Your Email: Tool to export your
existing email from your current email client
over to Gmail. http://www.marklyon.org/gmail

3) Gmail Drive: Uses your Gmail account for
additional storage. This software creates a
virtual file system around your email account.
It literally adds another drive onto your
computer. You can drag files or folders and
have them sent and saved to your Gmail account.
Only works with IE 5.0 or higher.

Get it at http://www.viksoe.dk/code/gmail.htm

4) Hide the Ads: This hack is for the Firefox
Browser and actually hides the text ads that
Gmail displays within each message. For install
info, see...
http://digitalmediaminute.com/article/1063/

5) Icon Generator: Create your own Gmail Icon
http://www.nhacks.com/email/index.php

6) Gmail Notifier: Downloadable software for
Windows 2000 or XP. This icon sits in your
Window tray and alerts you when a new Gmail
message arrives in your in box.

http://toolbar.google.com/gmail-helper/

7) Gmail Trax: Allows you to search your
Gmail account emails from your desktop.

See http://www.tong-web.com/gmail

8) PS Gmail: If you already have a POP
Email account, use this service to check
your Gmail account too. 15 day fully
functional trial- Cost is $7.90

Go to http://windohs.net/psgmail/

9) Known Gmail Bugs
http://www.google.com/gmail/help/bugslist.html

So there you have the "skinny" on Google's
new Gmail. The two biggest benefits I can see
are the searching and storage capabilities.
These two factors alone outperform any other web
based email program out there today.

By combining Google's powerful search functions
with email, you'll never again have to say
"Now where did I put that message?"

=====================================
Merle of WebSiteTrafficPlan.com offers a
F-r-e-e ebook and an e-course that will
teach you how to promote and market your
website. Grab your copy now at
http://WebSiteTrafficPlan.com

Go Back Up

BestCatalog.net

"The largest directory of the Web for web developers.
Free web tools, free web hosting with Cpanel, SEO
tools, links on applications, articles, books, code
samples, tips, FAQ's, tutorials and documentation.
Everything you need to design, build, develop and
promote your web site."

http://www.bestcatalog.net/

-------

Email Encoder

Do you put your email address on your website?
If you do the sp.m bots are just gonna love
you. They troll the net just looking for
addresses to add to their junk email lists.
Use this handy dandy encoder to stop em
dead in their tracks.

http://www.bronze-age.com/nospam/encode.html

------

Paypal Developer Network Blog

Keeping up with all the latest with PayPal
can be difficult. If you're an RSS fan you'll
want to add this feed to your reader or bookmark
the Blog itself.

http://paypal.typepad.com/

Go Back Up

***********************************
Useful Tips
***********************************

Password Protect Office 2003 Documents

Did you know you can password protect documents
you have created in Word, Powerpoint and Excel.
Here's how.

1) Open the file you wish to password protect
2) Select tools, then options from the toolbar,
then security
3) Type a password in the "to open box", type
it again then say ok

That's it. You're done and your documents are
safe from prying eyes.

Co-Op Text Link Ad Service

Another great idea by Duncan Carver. F-r-e-e
to join, similar to a banner exchange but it's
for text links only, which are better when
it comes to ranking well with the search engines.
You can display 1 to 5 links per page. Add a
short piece of code to your site and you're
in.

http://www.digitalpoint.com/tools/ad-network/

-------

Google Groups

Now with Google you can create, join and search
mailing lists. You can even create an email
list of your very own. Very cool.

http://groups-beta.google.com/

Go Back Up

If you'd like to swap ads with this ezine please send your
requests to mailto:adswap@merlesworld.com Please include
your ezine name and the number of subscribers.
-------------------

ATTENTION: Small Online Biz Owners!

If you're trying to market your Website and are not
sure where to turn, subscribe to MC Promotions Press
Newsletter and get the information you need to be a
success online. Sure-Fire Promotion/Marketing Tips.
Sites that will help you. Little known advertising
tricks.....and much more. Start increasing traffic
to your site Now http://www.MCPromotionsPress.com

Go Back Up

Volunteering

Holidays seem to bring out the nice side in everyone.
Except for the Grinch that is. If you've been
wanting to donate some of your time to a precious
cause both of these websites make it easy to find one.

http://www.volunteermatch.com

http://www.networkforgood.org

--------

Google Suggest

A new tool from Google still in beta.
You type in a keyword or phrase and as
you type it offers suggestions.

http://www.google.com/webhp?complete=1&hl=en

------

GoHook

Interesting search engine that allows you
to search completed auctions, PDF files o
Audio files.

http://www.GoHook.com

-----

Online SpellChecker

Here's a handy dandy little tool. Paste in your
text or just a single word if that's all you
need to check and find out the error of your
ways instantly. This might be nice to have
open when posting to discussion boards and
looking like you flunked the spelling bee,
ay kids.

http://spellcheck.net/

Go Back Up

"50 Easy Ways to Promote Your Website"

This f-r-e-e ebook contains over 100 resources that
will help you get traffic to your website quickly
and inexpensively. Grab your copy now at:

http://www.websitetrafficplan.com/ebook.htm

Go Back Up

SnapFish Photo Show

"Snapfish PhotoShow generates beautiful photo shows
from your photographs automatically. So it takes
only a moment to present your memories in a
beautiful, professional format.Share your photos
with friends or order reprints with this f-r-e-e
software."

http://www.snapfish.com/photoshow/

-------

Super Ad Blocker

"The first ad-blocker to block all new forms of
advertisements including slide-in, fly-over, pop-up,
pop-under, spyware ads, messenger ads and more!
Blocks the major Spyware/ Adware applications
responsible for serving pop-up ads!"

http://www.superadblocker.com/

----

NVU

Need an HTML Editor that's very powerful and
f-r-e-e? You won't believe the features of
this open source software and you don't have
to pay a dime to download it. This rivals
Dreamweaver and Frontpage.

http://www.nvu.com/

Go Back Up

Well, that wraps it up,once again thanks for joining me.
If you have any comments please send them to comments@merlesworld.com or visit the site.

For advertising rates for this ezine visit http://www.merlesworld.com/advertising.htm

Current subscriber base is over 3,300- My list is clean as all email addresses are removed the very first time they bounce.
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For great web hosting or if you're in need of a programmer contact mailto:DavidBlack@SiteDesignandHosting.com .He's wonderful and an expert at what he does. Tell him "Merle" sent ya.

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Disclaimer: Merle's World does not accept any responsibility for any liabilities as resulting from any claims in this newsletter or by the advertisers in it. This newsletter is for informational purposes only. We respect your privacy and do not share our mailing list with anyone. All content provided "as is" without warranty of any kind. Comments in this ezine are strictly the opinion of the publisher. Merle does not endorse, and is not responsible for, the above ads. Please use your own discretion when responding to ads in this ezine. Copyright 2001-2004 All Rights Reserved. View our Privacy Policy and our...Site Disclaimer

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