from the Sydney Morning Herald

Hot email

Want a GMail address? If you have a spare donkey at the Grand Canyon to swap, it could be yours.

Desperate to secure one of the first, limited release email addresses from the internet search engine Google, people around the world are logging on to an independent website called Gmailswap.com and offering to exchange everything from donkey rides to a drum solo, and even a pair of “aviator shades from the Dalai Lama”.

GMail will offer 500 times the storage space of the free email juggernaut Hotmail, but will scan messages and insert what it thinks are relevant ads.

One enterprising banana bender has posted a fishing weekend in Cape York. “You find your own way to Kowanyama (west coast of Cape York Peninsula, Australia) and I will provide accommodation for a weekend and take you out for great fishing,” wrote the IT technician Brian Atkin on Monday. “You can catch barramundi, salmon, grunter, mangrove jack plus many more.”

Still waiting for a nibble yesterday, Atkin told Spike he might have to think of a better swap today. Here’s hoping he has a donkey he’s grown tired of.

i knew there was a reason i was so keen to get one! looks like my rambling about nothing in particular has paid off!

*well I gave one to Fenton.