Gmail server 502 error - m.gmail.com also not loading

Gmail seems to be down for some time now. The mail server gives a 502 error.

The problem was reported in the gmail error reporting and support page. ( http://mail.google.com/support/ )


And they have put a red box with a message telling that they know.

Other Google partner pages would also have been affected, so Gmail for Google Apps (Business), and providers like sify.com have also been affected.

The email part of sify alone does not load. To file an error report use the sify - gmail error reporting and customer care links.

Status Update

2/24/2009

We're aware of a problem with Gmail affecting a number of users. This problem occurred at approximately 1.30AM Pacific Time. We're working hard to resolve this problem and will post updates as we have them. We apologize for any inconvenience that this has caused.

Hope they fix this soon. This has happened previously too. And gmail has apologized about it.

Many of you had trouble accessing Gmail for a couple of hours this afternoon, and we're really sorry. The issue was caused by a temporary outage in our contacts system that was preventing Gmail from loading properly. Everything should be back to normal by the time you read this.

We heard loud and clear today how much people care about their Gmail accounts. We followed all the emails to our support team and user group, we fielded phone calls from Google Apps customers and friends, and we saw the many Twitter posts. (We also heard from plenty of Googlers, who use Gmail for company email.) We never take for granted the commitment we've made to running an email service that you can count on.

We've identified the source of this issue and fixed it. In addition, as with all issues that affect Gmail and our other services, we're conducting a full review of what went wrong and moving quickly to update our internal systems and procedures accordingly. We don't usually post about problems like this on our blog, but we wanted to make an exception in this case since so many people were impacted. In general, though, if you spot a problem with your Gmail account, please visit the Gmail Help Center and user group, where the Gmail Guides are your fastest source of updates.

Again, we're sorry.

Smile Train - Smile Pinki - short documentary gets Oscar award

As Indians around the world celebrated Slumdog Millionaire's eight Oscars today, residents of one small village in northern India were busy giving thanks for another Oscar winner – a 39-minute documentary called Smile Pinki.

The film, which won the award for best short documentary, tells the story of Pinki, a six-year-old Indian girl who was born with a cleft lip in the village of Rampur Dhavaia village in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.

Directed by Megan Mylan, an American, it documents Pinki's transformation from an introverted social outcast into a vivacious local celebrity after a 45-minute operation in 2007 funded by a US charity called The Smile Train.

India alone has a backlog of more than a million people with cleft lips waiting for surgery and every year, another 35,000 people are born with the condition on average, he said.

The Smile Train says that it has provided free corrective surgery to 470,000 children since it was set up 10 years ago and now operates in 76 of the world's poorest countries.

Brian Mullaney, co-Founder and president of the charity, said: "We hope that this recognition and exposure will help us raise awareness so that we can provide life-changing surgery for every child in the world who needs it no matter where they live or how poor they may be. The Smile Train will not stop until we reach that goal."

Hope they make more kids smile....

India Celebrates as 'Slumdog Millionaire' TopDog at Oscars

From slum residents to filmmakers, Indians celebrated as the film Slumdog Millionaire swept eight Oscars and hoped it would bring global recognition to Indian technical talent. There was also jubilation that the Oscar for the best short documentary, won by American filmmaker Megan Mylan, was inspired by an Indian story.

The film by Danny Boyle won 8 Oscars at this year's Academy Awards. It was a running favourite in the run up to the awards. Indian Music director AR Rahman, was finally recognised for his musical talent by the international community. All international readers lease note that Rahman has created many many other even more wonderful songs for India, all of which you must listen to.


Malayali Resul Pookutty also won for Sound mixing in the same film "Slumdog Millionaire"


You would like to download the movie from iTunes and watch it with subtitles, you would want to buy or download the music online. Well, what you can get for free and legally is thewallpapers and mobile phone themes based on the SLumdog Millionaire movie.

The screenplay is based on the book "Q & A" which you may want to buy for Amazon.

Official Gmail Blog: Get your Gmail stickers

Official Gmail Blog: Get your Gmail stickers





Want free gmail stickers ? Well, not much time left. And you have to send them a self addressed envelope anyway.

But if you still want them (and it's still not tooo late by the time you read this),

Just send a self-addressed stamped envelope (along with a note if you're so inclined) to:

Send me some Gmail stickers already
P.O. Box 391420
Mountain View, CA 94039-1420

Make sure to include enough postage to return a sticker pack via U.S. mail. It's less than one ounce, so a standard $0.42 stamp will do if you're in the United States; enclose an international reply coupon (IRC) if you're outside of the U.S. And be sure to send your envelope in soon -- one per person please.

*Our(Gmail) lawyers asked us to make sure it was clear that your contact information won't be maintained in any way and these stickers are "void where prohibited and only while supplies last."

Have fun gmailing. And wish you Happy Valentine's Day in advance.

Or Happy Singles Appreciation Day (if you are single)

Crash Nokia s60 phones- Curse of Silence - cure found

Are you affected by the "Curse of Silence" ?

You just stop receiving any text message: "People who send messages to me may report that they get a delivery report, but I don't get any SMS on my Nokia phone !"


It can be almost classified as a mobile virus or malware, but ti isn't - but unlike other mobile malware : This can affect the user without any interaction from his/her part.


Released when the new year of 2009 began, the following advisory shows how some Nokia phones can be made to stop receiving SMS simply by sending it a text message (SMS) formatted in a special way. It can be sent by fairly any normal Nokia phone but it affects only specific Nokia smartphone models.

http://berlin.ccc.de/~tobias/cos/s60-curse-of-silence-advisory.txt

Affected phones are :

S60 3rd Edition, Feature Pack 1 (S60 3.1):
Nokia E90 Communicator
Nokia E71
Nokia E66
Nokia E51
Nokia N95 8GB
Nokia N95
Nokia N82
Nokia N81 8GB
Nokia N81
Nokia N76
Nokia 6290
Nokia 6124 classic
Nokia 6121 classic
Nokia 6120 classic
Nokia 6110 Navigator
Nokia 5700 XpressMusic

S60 3rd Edition, initial release (S60 3.0):
Nokia E70
Nokia E65
Nokia E62
Nokia E61i
Nokia E61
Nokia E60
Nokia E50
Nokia N93i
Nokia N93
Nokia N92
Nokia N91 8GB
Nokia N91 
Nokia N80
Nokia N77
Nokia N73
Nokia N71
Nokia 5500
Nokia 3250

S60 2nd Edition, Feature Pack 3 (S60 2.8):
Nokia N90
Nokia N72
Nokia N70

S60 2nd Edition, Feature Pack 2 (S60 2.6):
Nokia 6682
Nokia 6681
Nokia 6680
Nokia 6630

This might work out to be a nasty prank since its very easy to do and the receiver doesn't even know when he gets it.

This is not much of a problem now since most mobile service providers now block the malformed messages that do this, but just in case you want to be safe, nokia has released a patch for the so called "Curse of silence"

The Curse f Silnce cleaner can be downloaded from Nokia's website.

Update: Android Whatsapp bug in 2014 that did a similar thing.
Update : iPhone bug crashes iMessenger with an evil text message "effective Power Arabic"

Here's the direct link to the smscleaner

Install and run the application to remove the offending text messages if you have been sent any.


Please do leave a comment if you were affected - who did it, why and did they tell you ?