Gmail

I am toying around with Google's Gmail service. I think web based e-mail has some advantages over app based mail. The first web based e-mail that I used was Hotmail, which I only left when I began blogging. I wanted one interface where I could get my personal and blog mail and Hotmail didn't seem to offer a way to do that, but Mozilla's Thunderbird did. Now I'm messing with Gmail and wondering the same thing. Is the only way to do this to create a second Gmail account and have all of the mail from it sent to the first account? I know I can send mail from the designated main account using a number of "from" and "reply to" addresses. Getting it all to arrive in one place looks trickier. Is there a simpler way than what I'm suggesting? It is getting to be a challenge to keep up with all changes the tech world is sending out way. As I'm trying to figure this mail thing out, I am just beginning to "get" the RSS feeds thing. I'm using Google's Desktop 2.0 (beta, of course) to see a constant feed of headlines from sites I've visited recently. It's a neat idea, allowing me to peek at some blogs and news sites that I don't frequent every day and some that are new to me. If you don't yet have an RSS feed on your blog, you may want to reconsider. This is an easy way to get onto someone's desktop, and that's a big step in getting them to drop by. Like I was saying, as I'm trying to keep from being left in the dust I am also trying to teach my parents about computers and the internet and in a year I think we have finally got to the point where Dad can get his pictures off of his digital camera. Thank goodness for Adobe's free photo viewer, which makes that job a great deal easier than Windows does! Speaking of Windows, isn't it neat the way that Google is slowing taking over the Windows desktop? It's like they're building a windows shell by stealth. Honestly, I always thought that was Netscape should have done. Google isn't perfect but they seem to have a really big edge on MS in that they understand the Zen of tech, which is to say that simpler is better. MS never seems to spend enough time on keeping things smart and simple and fast. They always seem to take the shovelware route, carelessly gobbling memory, processor speed, and customer's time and patience. I have also been pondering the day I'll trade in the system I'm using now, which is getting long in the tooth. I get by on it because my demands on it are slight. The HD however, is getting full and I have to guard my swap files in order to keep it from crawling. And it seems like there's always a new TSR program taking up space in my RAM. I have been very curious bout Macs ever since Apple came out with OS X. The iMacs are absolutely gorgeous. Does anyone have any experience with them? Are they worth the extra money? Or will a newer and faster Intel machine running a "Google" desktop be the way to go? Not that I'm about to pull the trigger on a new machine. That would have to be in well after Christmas. I'm just... curious.