For some time Gmail has offered the ability to default to using HTTPS, for more secure access. However, they have now announced that it is to be made the default.

One thing this will lead to, assuming you use it, is Gmail Notifier to stop working.

Google themselves, hidden away in a help screen¹, offer a solution to this in the way of a downloadable registry change that will force Notifier to use HTTPS too. Simply download the zip file, uncompress it and run the file named notifier_https.reg. There’s a second file in the folder too – notifier_https_undo.reg – this is for restore Gmail Notifier back to how it was.

1. read the section in the yellow box [↩]

Yes, I’m still in the market for a new phone. I’m now 2 months away from the end of my contract which means that if I stick with O2 and Carphone Warehouse I can move contracts now. Except, well, they don’t have a half decent Android phone.

At the moment the HTC Hero is the only one that interests me. None-the-less the New Year looks to bring the Sony Ericsson X10 and the Google Nexus One so, right now, my plan is to ride out my final 2 months and then look seriously at what’s available. If it’s still only the Hero in contention then I’ll jump ship and move networks.

Whilst I’m on the subject of Carphone Warehouse, I received a letter after I had 2 months of remaining contract, saying that I would SOON have only 2 months left. But it confirmed the correct date, indicating that it had already passed. Hmmm. After that, though, I heard nothing for a week until I started getting mysterious phone calls in the evening – if I don’t recognise the number then I don’t answer. Anyway, they eventually rang during the day and I decided to see who it was. The voice was distant and foreign enough to make understanding them quite difficult. They identified themselves as being from Carphone Warehouse, but a few seconds later the line went dead (duff signal I suspect). They never rang back.

Google have released details of a public, global Domain Name System (DNS) resolution service that they’ve created.

Simply replace your default DNS server settings with their own and you could – potentially – see a speed improvement in your surfing. I’ve already done this and can already see a noticeable improvement, with no issues (yet) experienced.

You can either change these settings on a per-computer basis or on your router (I’ve done the latter). The new DNS servers are 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 (in which ever order you want).

Google states that their aims are to provide greater speed and with improved security. Of course, whether you choose to allow Google to (potentially) track your domain usage, is down to your own level of paranoia. Personally, I’m happy.

Let me know your own experience.