Technology | Google Gmail Goes Dark for 2 Hours; Email Addicts Freak Google blames outage on internal error By Sam Biddle Posted Aug 12, 2008 9:59 AM CDT Copied In this May 8, 2008 file photo, a Google worker rides a company bike in front of Google headquarters in Mountain View, Calif.. Google's Gmail service was unexpectedly down for several hours yesterday. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, file) Google's Gmail was largely inaccessible for 2 hours yesterday, as both the company and compulsive email checkers struggled to figure out what went wrong, the Los Angeles Times reports. The blackout was followed by a flurry of anxious web-chatter on the subject of the much relied-upon email service. The company later blamed the downtime on an internal outage. "It made me less productive because I needed to make sure I was communicating with my friends," complained one Gmail user, "but we were communicating via other means that weren’t as efficient as Gmail." Read These Next Trumps ends trade talks with Canada. Mid Actor Sam Rockwell gets residuals from movie he wasn't in. The Bezos-Sanchez wedding: guest list, cost, the dress, and more. Report an error