gistfile1.python

#! /usr/bin/python2
import os
import string
import urllib

#Enter your username and password below within double quotes
# eg. username="username" and password = "password"
username = "user"
password = "pass"

com = urllib.urlopen("https://" + username + ":" + password + "@mail.google.com/mail/feed/atom")

temp = com
msg = temp.read()
index = string.find(msg, "<fullcount>")
index2 = string.find(msg, "</fullcount>")
fc = int( msg[ index + 11:index2 ] )

if fc == 0:
   print "no new emails"
else:
   print str(fc) + " new emails"