Gmail Now Lets You Make Multiple Calls at the Same Time

Remember those old multi-line phones with all the buttons across the bottom? That gave you access to more than one line at a time, a feature now available in Google‘s Gmail.

According to the official Gmail Blog, this new multi-call capability will let you put callers on hold with Gmail’s phone service, picking up another call at the same time. Too bad there’s no music on hold to entertain that first caller.

Also imitating conventional phone systems is call waiting, where you receive a notification of an incoming call, and then it’s up to you whether you’re going to answer it or not. The only limitation with this new capability is that you’re only allowed two outgoing calls to physical phones at the same time.

Best of all, U.S. and Canada calls using the Gmail phone and video system will be free through 2011, and all these new multi-line features work with Gmail’s phone, voice and video calls.

Google Releases a Preview of the New Gmail:

Google has decided to update its offerings with a new look with the launch of its Google+ service. You would have already noticed the black bar above the Google search page. Adding multiple features over the years has made their Gmail interface more cluttered and complicated to use. They are attempting to clear it up as well as add some more features, however, they have scheduled to do it in phases, so not all features will work at this time. You can check out the new interface by logging into your gmail account and changing your theme. The new interface not only changes the colour scheme of the interface, but also introduces many UI enhancements such as changes in buttons and overall layout. Changes to the Google Calender are also coming soon

Google’s Gmail new anti-phishing feature may attract more users

Increasing cyber attacks in recent months have led Google to add an anti-phishing feature in Gmail that automatically displays the sender’s address for some messages.

Last month and earlier this month, Google disrupted aggressive phishing activities that were targeted to stealing Gmail accounts from U.S. government officials, Chinese political activists, South Korean officials, military personnel and journalists.

Starting Tuesday, Gmail users can see the sender's email address on all messages from people the recipient had either not sent mail to or were not in his contact list on the message header. The sending address of a third-party firm such as email marketing bulk mailers who send messages for their retailers will also be automatically displayed.

Before the feature was added, Gmail users had to manually click on a "show details" link in the email service's interface to see the sender’s address. But the new feature is designed to help users easily spot suspicious messages that try to hoax the users into divulging their Gmail login access or other personal information.

According to Gmail support site, Gmail will also boost security on identified contact list by not showing the full address of a sender once the recipient communicates with the sender, either by replying to emails or adding the address to Gmail's contact list.

As long as other Web mail services do not have the similar feature, Gmail may attract more users with its strengthened anti-phishing feature.