This (below) has to be one of the absolute coolest (hidden) features of Gmail... now I have a good reason to start using it ... I'd still want IMAP support, though, and I'd even pay for it. However, it looks like Google just added forwarding support, which is good enough for now.

From ranchero.com:

P@ Sunglasses: Gmail adds Atom feeds: "From Steve Rubel I learnt that Gmail added an atom feed to read the emails from your Gmail account in a RSS aggregator... Your RSS aggregator must support https and basic auth." Which of course, NetNewsWire does! (Thank you, Brent!)

PS. You can email me at my-first-inital+my-last-name @ gmail.com. (Leave out the +)