New Gmail Version is Live

Google Operating System reports that the new version of Gmail that was the subject of speculation a few days ago is now live on a few accounts. The new features include an updated Contact Manager and faster loading of messages due to the prefetching features built in. However, Google Gears support is still lacking, and makes this seem like a minor update instead of a major overhaul.

Now, the question is: When is my account gonna be upgraded? :)

Gmail adds IMAP support

Many users have been waiting a long time for Google to add IMAP support to their popular Gmail service. Today Google System announced that this feature has finally been added, and will be rolled out to all existing accounts in the next few days.

IMAP has many benefits over POP, including a continuous connection to the server and more intelligent client/server interaction. This means that users of Outlook or Evolution will be able to
synchronize their read items and folders across computers. When you mark an item as read in Outlook on your desktop, the same item will be marked read on the web interface as well as your laptop and PDA.

This is a long-awaited feature which is certainly going to boost Gmail's appeal, especially to the business users of Google Apps.