CTM Development has released a new beta of its email client PowerMail.

The new beta (5.5b2) is now a fully native universal application, a development which the company says underscores its “commitment to PowerMail’s future”.

It is now twice as fast thanks to code rewrites for its new universal status and upgrades to the database format.

The developers also say that Intel Mac users will notice much improved stability.

I took a look at PowerMail, which advertises itself as “A better Mac OS X mail client than Apple’s own”, at the end of last year.

I was unimpressed then with its IMAP support, lack of native spam filtering, its lack of extensibility and its cost (USD 82 = 65 euros including a bundled copy of SpamSieve).

Still, people with POP accounts who like more complicated searching than Mail.app can provide, extensive AppleScript support and a mail client with a built-in text snippet manager might like to try it out.

You can download a demo of the new universal beta from the app’s web site . email in general, powermail, email, mail.app, apple mail, POP, IMAP, searching, universal binary

Giles Turnbull has pulled out all the stops in a fine post on MacDevCenter. He discusses the the ins and outs of POP and IMAP, the rise and rise of Gmail, text messaging and the future of email in a three page whopper post.

Basically a stock-take of where email stands at the moment, along the way he takes in the free re-release of Mulberry, Google Apps for your domain and more.

For example, did you know that POP usage is gradually declining but IMAP is not taking off the way it should? I didn’t:

All email nuts should read what Giles has to say. A fine piece. email in general, IMAP, POP, gmail, text messaging, mulberry, google, apple mail, mail.app

My RSS reader NetNewsWire served up a tragic Apple Mail story today.

A poster on the macOSXHints forums had a very bad day :

So I was having trouble with one of my POP3 accounts in Mail.app. It was locking up when receiving the last message. It’s safe to say that this problem is already fixed.

In the process of fixing it I decided to remove the account and re-add it (a common solution in MS Outlook). When I deleted the account I did not realize that it also deletes the folder with all your messages in it with out noticing me! So I lost all of my email in that folder (stupid me didn’t have a backup of that box). Is there anyway to get it back? I tried using Data Rescue X but it pretty much just recovered files that were already there (unless I am using it wrong).

Please help! Thank you!

The sad thing is that there is no help. When you delete a POP account in Mail.app, it doesn’t just delete the settings. It deletes the lot. Gone.

Of course, it’s not helpful after the fact to point out that Mail warns you first:

Or that you should have a backup.

Or that MS Outlook is an unreliable guide for life as a whole.

Or that IMAP is an email protocol with many advantages.

Still, it’s not after the fact for most readers here (yet).mail.app, apple mail, backup, POP, IMAP, disaster, data loss

While .Mac offers Mail.app users an easy way to sync their account settings, rule and other settings across multiple Macs, Thunderbird users are not so lucky.

If you want to use Thunderbird on multiple Macs, a post in the MozillaZine Knowledge Base offers seven ways to get the job done.

Solutions range from switching to IMAP, using portable version of Thunderbird on a flash drive, a work-around for POP users and more.Thunderbird, email, IMAP, POP, syncing, profiles, multiple Macs, home and work

Jussar Interactive has created an AppleScript that will retrieve messages from a Hotmail account into Mail.app.

It does this using the open source MrPostman software to drag down the mail.

Unlike some other utilities for retrieving email from web-based services, Mail to Fetch promises to work with Intel Macs.

The script is available from MacUpdate and installation instructions from the developer’s web site .

I haven’t tested this. I’d be glad to hear if it works.

UPDATE: The author has updated this script to fix a significant problem that could occur after reoot. (28 June 2006)hotmail, webmail, pop, mail.app, apple mail, applescript, plugins, Microsoft, MSN

Joe Kissell, author of Take Control of Apple Mail in Tiger and senior editor for TidBits , has written a piece for MacWorld on the advantages of IMAP .

He outlines how the IMAP protocol is better than POP, although he notes some drawbacks too (account quotas, very slow with Apple Mail over dial-up).

Instructions are provided on switching Mail.app and Entourage over to IMAP accounts. Joe also offers some tips for IMAP users, including the thorny issue of whether to sync changed mailboxes automatically or not.apple mail, mail.app, IMAP, entourage, POP, email, howto

Mail widget is a widget for Mail.

It polls a specified POP, IMAP or .Mac account every time the Dashboard is loaded (even when Mail is not running) and displays the number of unread messages. It also features the option to “speak” the number of new emails.

Version 1.4 is completely rebuilt. It now offers support for SSL connections. The developer claims that it also now much faster. And he is right.

Mail Widget is freeware. You can get it from the developer’s site .mail.app, apple mail, widget, notification, ssl, IMAP, pop, plugins