Browse Web sites through e-mail

02.12.2008
Rediff has started a new 'Web-in-Mail' service that lets its users access websites through the comfort of an e-mail client like MS Outlook, Outlook Express and your Blackberry device. That's right, it doesn't require the use of a Web browser.

Webinmail should allow people at work or school, behind Web block filters, to surf websites that are out of bounds. All you need is an email account to get started. Here's what you should do:

Click on the compose new mail button of your email client, and in the addressed 'To' field type 'browse@webinmail.com'. The URL you want to visit should be mentioned in the subject line; for eg, http://www.pcworld.in

An HTML page of the website (in the subject line) requested will be emailed back to you within a few seconds, the service claims. Clicking on any links in the reply mail will automatically fill it up in the subject line. From here, just repeat the procedure to access further links.

But that's not all. Webinmail can also provide search results through popular search engines. Just type the search keywords (eg, stereo headphones) in the subject line and email it to the same address: browse@webinmail.com. The search results are subsequently emailed.

Webinmail is still in beta, and didn't quite work consistently when we gave it a shot. Email requests from Gmail worked, while Rediffmail accounts couldn't fetch results even close to half an hour after sending the query mail.