Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

Sending nasty text messages about your boss - or sending an email to another company asking about openings - always rated high on the employee risk scale if you were using a work-based account. Never mind the existence of personal email accounts; some workers felt they had a reasonable expectation of privacy even if they were sitting in a cubicle.

The Justice Department and lower courts said no, but the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has actually ruled in favor of those workers. The court said employers who outsource email and electronic communications to an outside company do not have the right to read those emails just because they’re paying for you to use those services; they have to get your permission first. Of course, all emails kept on internal servers are still fair game.

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Verizon Wireless has pushed the RemoSync application to its customers who use any of Verizon’s Get It Now-capable phones. This means that these users can now access their corporate e-mail even if they don’t have high-end a smartphone (e.g. Blackberry). For customers who are employed in businesses running the Microsoft Exchange Servers to handle their corporate email system, they can now enjoy almost the same service that Blackberry users enjoy, on their not-so-expensive mobile phones. Even sweeter is the fact that the service only costs $10 for a month’s access.

Aside from providing access to corporate email accounts, this push email technology also allow customers to download their Outlook contacts to their mobile phones or the other way around. Additionally, RemoSync also allows users to view their calendar events and even add or delete calendar entries from their mobile phones.

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“Send us your email and win a prize” – while the Internet is littered with thousands of promises like this one, Sprint Communications is using this familiar concept to promote their “new Sprint products, services, and exclusive offers.” Sprint is asking for your email address. Interested parties may take home a Palm Centro (valued at around $400 each) if they’re among the lucky four who will be chosen.

The offer is open to legal residents of the United States, the Simpler Life Weekly Giveaway Sweepstakes began last June 1 and will end on June 23, 2008.  Participants can either visit http://sprint.p.delivery.net/m/p/nxt/reg/cmb/sweeps.asp and complete the online entry from or mail a postcard to Sprint with a detailed set of required information. 

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Dreamhost users who have problems with your email server, you might be told to switch to Gmail. With the largest amount of support tickets being email-related, hosting-giant Dreamhost has started to recommend users use Gmail (or more specifically, Google Apps for Domains) as an alternative so they won’t have as many problems. Already having a strong track record, Google’s Google Apps for Domains is a very versatile platform where you can have your Google Calendar, Google Docs, Google Talk, and of course, Gmail, all under one virtual roof powered by some of the most reliable servers in the world at Google. Dreamhost has made it easier for users to switch to Gmail by adding a button to use Gmail and it will automatically set up the accounts for you, leaving you with only having to set up the administrator account. Of course, Google Apps for Domains is already available for any domain hosted and/or registered anywhere.

Via [Slashdot]

Microsoft has brought back their “Ultimate Steal” promotion, and once again are offering a great deal on Office Ultimate. Microsoft is currently running the promotion for students which will allow them to save $620, which is 91% off the retail price of Microsoft Office Ultimate. The office suite normally retails for $680, however up until May 16 anyone with access to a .edu address can take advantage of this deal.

Based on the website for the promotion, you must be an active student, meaning you are currently enrolled in a class, however the New York Times is reporting that all you need is an active .edu email address. Well, I have a spare $60 lying around, just a shame I don’t still have access to my old .edu address.

Read [The Ultimate Steal] Via [Lifehacker]

AVG announced that their Anti-Virus Free Edition 8.0 is now available for download. This free edition combines an anti-virus and anti-spyware engine to protect users machines against spyware attacks aside from the usual viruses that threaten your computer on a daily basis. The software also provides real-time searching protection with AVG’s LinkScanner technology which was incorporated into the new AVG Security Toolbar.

An English version of the Anti-virus software will be released first, to be followed by other language versions over the next few months. The software can be freely downloaded and used only on single computers which are running on Windows 2000, XP or Vista. 

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Helio has just become the first cellular provider to offer Gmail as a push service. Sure other carriers can take advantage of either POP or IMAP access, but push is so much nicer, because what is better than instant gratification. Helio users with an Ocean, Mysto or Fin will now have access to the “ultimate inbox.”

Setting up push support for Gmail is about as simple as it can be, assuming you already have your Gmail account set-up, then all you have to do is go to the Menu and hit the “Send/Receive” button and it will ask you whether or not you want push support activated.

In addition to the push support for Gmail, Helio also supports push for Helio Mail, Yahoo, Windows Live, and AOL. If email is a high-priority and you are not into the BlackBerry then Helio may be worth checking out.

Via [HelioCity]

SimulScribe offers a great service, one that is a benefit to anyone who dislikes checking and responding to voicemail. They convert your voicemail message to text and then deliver it to you as either an email or text message, to which you can then respond to the “voicemail” by return message. This is a wonderful option to have, especially when you need to check and respond to messages but are in a setting where using and speaking on a phone would be considered rude. It also helps to save time, because you can simply read the important parts of the message and get the details you need without having to listen to whoever is leaving the message ramble on and on.

While all this sounds great, and there service works wonderful their name has been holding them back. The name SimulScribe was born from “Simultaneous Voicemail Transcription,” and while its a catchy name, it turns out that a name with missing letters is not always a good way to get customers to be able to find you easily. 

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Palm has recently begun looking for users to test an “innovative new product”. The lucky recipients of the email invitation must be a “heavy” smartphone and email user as well as use a Wi-Fi router and they also need to be a Sprint customer. While this sounds like, and most people would think that this was for the rumored Wi-Fi equipped Treo 800, The Register has a unique thought and its one that I am not sure how much I can believe. They are calling for the re-birth of the never launched Palm Foleo, and as a comeback it will be WiMAX enabled.

While it almost sounds logical, I think they are off from the simple statement of “innovative new product,” as the Foleo was never really that innovative. Not to mention, although it never officially launched I am not sure it could be considered new at this point, unless of course (as Kevin from jkOnTheRun points out) that Palm launches the device as the Foleo II, then technically it would be new. Still I think this is clearly just a rumor, and one that will never come to see the light of day.

Of course for this rumor to even have a chance, we would have to see Sprint actually get their WiMAX service up and running.

Read [The Register] Via [jkOnTheRun]

Have you ever received an email from a company that told you not to reply? Chances are the email address included the domain “donotreply.com”.  Many companies use this thinking it’s fake and will cause any replies to bounce back. Still more customers ignore the instructions and reply to it anyway, and their emails don’t bounce back at all. They end up in the inbox of a man named Chet Faliszek, he happens to own the donotreply.com domain.

Along with various customer service inquiries and complaints, and large amounts of spam, he’s gotten emails containing information that might surprise or even shock you. For example, PDFs from a bank detailing every computer they had that wasn’t secure, emails from Capital One customers including various details of their accounts, and even documents from an engineering firm containing details of their business dealings in Iraq. Does Faliszek contact these companies to let them know what’s going on? Only in the most extreme cases, because he says most companies respond with anger rather than gratitude. Instead, he blogs about them. Companies who want their entries removed can do so for a small fee, which he then donates to a local animal shelter.

The moral of the story? Next time you get an email from a company you do business with, read the instructions and double check the address before hitting send!

Read[WashingtonPost]