E-mail: the Fun Stuff *:o)
Electronic mail is a relatively fuss-free, flexible, speedy, and low-cost
tool for one-on-one and "one-to-several" communication. One can also subscribe
to news and information services through e-mail. All e-mail software have
file management features that enable users to organize their message in
folders, i.e. Inbox, Sent, Draft, and Trash. In addition to these, one
can also add folders and label these anyway they want, ex. "Friends," "Family,"
"Work," and so on. All mailers have address book features that may be sorted
in alphabetical order either according to last name, first name, or e-mail
address.
The more advanced e-mail software, also called mailer or reader,
have extra features that allows users to choose different fonts, colors,
and even stationeries or e-mail with colorful text and backgrounds -- but
these take up extra memory space and may not translate well with less fancy
readers. Highly imaginative people have found many ways to get around the
dryness of text-based messages to jazz up their personal correspondence.
There are emoticons -- so called because they express emotions --
like smileys.
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Tilt your head sideways to look at the smiley :-)
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Another version of smiley =)
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This is a smiley clown *:o)
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This is a smiley wearing glasses 8-)
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Laughing :D
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Sad :o(
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Sticking tongue out :-p
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Winking ;-)
There are also ASCII text art like the bumblebee shown below. Some use
this as signature in personal correspondence.
/_/_ . ' ' ' .
=O(_)))) . . .' `.
jgs \_\
`. . ' ' ' . .
` . . '
Another variation is called the figlet and here's one example
showing acrobats:
o__ __o/
/v
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/> / \
\
\o/
o
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<\__ / \
The advantages of having an e-mail account with an ISP is you can compose
mail and read downloaded mail offline. This is a helpful option when one's
subscription to the Internet is paid by hourly usage or when one does not
want to tie up the phone line. The limitation of the local ISP-based e-mail
account is access outside the local area. This makes it hard for those
who travel to access their mail. There are two ways to get around that
limitation. One is to telnet to the server computer of one's ISP,
and thus remotely log-in and access one's e-mail. Check with your ISP for
instructions to do this. Another option is the Web-based e-mail which can
be accessed from any computer with a Web browser. This means one can send
and receive e-mail anywhere in the country and the world through any computer
with Internet access. This is one good reason why people often have Web-mail
in addition to their ISP-based mail (unless their ISP is nationwide like
AOL or Compuserve).
The most popular Web-based e-mail are Hotmail, Yahoo, Excite, Mail.com,
Netscape Webmail, AOL, and Eudoramail. Their common characteristic is the
presence of ads. Many of these offer powerful features, which, when properly
harnessed, is like having a competent office assistant that never sleeps.
Here are the most common though not all may be available at the same time:
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Calendars. For reminders of payment deadlines, special occasions,
and appointments.
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E-cards. Many Web-based mail providers offer electronic greeting
card services so you can send birthday or anniversary greetings. Some feature
links to product and services site so you can order flowers and gifts online.
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Mail forward allows you to all incoming mail to be forwarded to
another e-mail address. This is useful if you want to avoid confusing people
everytime you change ISPs or e-mail addresses.
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Vacation responders is the equivalent of answering machines of informing
senders that you are on vacation or whatever for a certain period of time,
and therefore unavailable to respond to their e-mail until you get back.
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POP Mail access allows the person with multiple e-mail accounts
to access all from one.
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Block Sender is useful when you don't want to receive mail from
specific addresses.
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Bulk Mail Filters very useful to weed out spam mail, particularly
unsolicited commercial mail, although this may also filter mail of friends
who like to send group or bulk mail.
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Voicemail & Fax. Yes, you can receive voice and fax messages
through e-mail.
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Instant Messaging & Mail Alerts. Option for people who want
to be notified through their computer, mobile phone, and handheld computers
whenever an e-mail goes in. Extras include receiving stock quotes and weather
reports. MSN Messengering Service is a freeware that works with Hotmail
and Outlook Express.
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Chat. Instant messaging also alerts you when friends are online
so you can chat. AOL's Instant Messenger is another freeware which
can even be enjoyed by those who don't have AOL accounts. If you
have a good set of speakers/headphone, mic, and audio player Yahoo and
Excite also offer free voice chat.
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Custom News. For those who want to read new but prefer not to clog
their In-box, Netscape, Microsoft's Hotmail, Excite, and Yahoo lead you
to the news and information page usually when you exit or log out from
your e-mail account. You can customize this for headlines news, sports
news. You can add news by topic such as health, education, travel, technology,
entertainment, and by countries from various online sources like PC Magazine,
CBS, and MSNBC. Extras include weather reports, TV schedule, top ten movies,
horoscope, cartoons, maps and directions, etc.These pages of course have
the ubiquitous search engine, directories, yellow pages, and "people finder."
You can even choose your colors. A lot of people make these their portals,
the default or Homepage, that is the first page they see when they open
their browsers.
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Homepage. Yahoo throws in 5 MB of free space for your website in
Geocities. Online tutorials, wizards, free clipart, search engines, counters,
and other goodies are available. Xoom offers unlimited space for website
hosting and similar tutorials, free downloads, and tools. Netscape gives
registered members 11 MB of space. MSN feature top picks from among members'
homepages every day and a list of model homepages. To support this free
hosting Yahoo/Geocities, Netscape and MSN use pop-up ads which most people
find annoying. Xoom uses banner ads in frames.
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Free ISP. A new feature from Excite. Suited for those who travel
around with laptops because it allows them to log-on to the nearest site
anywhere in the United States and Canada. Download the FreeLane for unlimited
56k speed access to the Internet then find the local number to dial in
the list of states or by typing the area code.
ASCII Text Art Sites
Sample Web-based Mail Providers
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