I'm using that backup-gmail.com application right now. Seems to be working great. I watched it download my messages until some of the subject lines from when I first got the account (in college) got embarrassing. Then I minimized it. But it seems to be backing up just fine.

ETA: It doesn't seem to come in a mac version, BTW, though the Linux version might work on a mac.

With the new Yahoo sucking, and the increasing desire to not use Google, anyone have a rec for free email?

How tied up in the Apple infrastructure are you? Apple will have free email later this fall.

Except for my iPod, not at all. Although (hang on to your hats), I was in the AT&T store yesterday contemplating smartphones. Apple might work.

And, of course, now they're a client.

Plan B is indeed the software I was looking for.

I use gmail a lot, but my primary email address will always be my own domain name. That hasn't had to change in a decade or more. I'm sure Apple will do something to suck soon. Every lets you down.

Is it possible to activate the GPS remotely? I usually leave it (and wireless) off to conserve the battery so Plan B might not work for me.

I use gmail a lot, but my primary email address will always be my own domain name. That hasn't had to change in a decade or more. I'm sure Apple will do something to suck soon. Every lets you down.

I'm happy to use gmail until they make me create a profile. Yahoo just isn't refreshing properly for me now. So I want to have at least one more backup, hopefully one where I can also be lastname@email.com. Not that people can spell my name, but I appreciate the consistency.

FWIW, Google makes you create a profile but they don't make you add any information to it. I think mine has my Gmail address and gender but that's it. (It will also be linked to your Picassa and Google+ accounts, but that information isn't publically visible unless you allow it.)

I have neither Picasa nor Google+ and now have no interest in either. I don't even like that my gmail address is used for Blogger since I don't use it for anything else that's not personal mail. And now that Blogger has a log-in glitch I may migrate to WordPress anyway. Sorry, but I like that no one has my gmail address and now I don't trust Google to keep it that way.

Sorry, but I like that no one has my gmail address and now I don't trust Google to keep it that way.

I have found Google to be pretty okay with this - for a long time my gmail account was very much personal only. You could open a second google account for things like Blogger if you want.

But the real truth is that if you're getting something for free, there's something in it for the people giving it to you, so they're probably not that trustworthy. For your most private option, you'll need to do something like what ita does and set up your own, which requires you to pay for a domain name, or look into what your ISP gives you (though they are also often sadly untrustworthy).