Gmail Adds Voice and Video Chat
Google has added voice and video chat to Google Mail. They say getting started is easy and all you need is a webcam. You can download the video chat software from Google here. Will this be what sends video chat into the mainstream? Here's a video from Google where Serge explains how Gmail video chat works.Posted on November 12, 2008
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Xobni Microsoft Outlook Plug-in Getting High Praise
Xobni is a plug-in for Microsoft Outlook that has been garnering a large number of positive reviews. The plug-in helps you organize your Outlook inbox with features like fast email search, email analytics, social network type features and threaded conversations. Newsweek reports that Bill Gates, speaking at the Microsoft Office Developer Conference, called Xobni "the next generation of social networking." Here's a review of Xobni from the WSJ's Walt Mossberg.
Posted on August 8, 2008
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Show Off Your Inbox Zero Victory
An iniative called Inbox Victory from the F.A.T. (free art and technology) website is encouraging people to take pictures and screenshots of when they have managed to clear out their email inbox.
Have you ever been in the situation where you spend days trying answer all of your email only to accomplish your goal and have no one to share in your victory? All you want is a high five, a pat on the back, and a "job well done soldier!", and yet most likely all you are left with is an empty room and a cold cup of coffee. Inbox Victory is an initiative that says, "you deserve that high five!" And here is how you get it:It can be very difficult and time consuming to get your email inbox down to zero. It is also usually a very short-lived experience because it isn't long before new emails come rolling in. This is a great way to keep a momento of your inbox success story. (via Boing Boing)
1) Get your email inbox down to zero. People have various methods for dealing with their email so 'inbox 0' is going to mean different things to different people. A basic rule of thumb, however, is getting it to a point where no further action can be taken.
2) Open up your webcam software and take a screenshot of yourself profiling in front of your defeated foe (See examples below).
3) Leave your screenshot in the comments of this post.
Posted on July 30, 2008
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20% of U.S. Population Has Never Sent an Email
Not everyone is using the Internet. About 20% of the U.S. population has never sent an email or looked up information online according to a recent study by Parks Associates.Age and education were significant factors cited in the study, which was conducted by researcher Parks Associates. Half of those who have never used e-mail are older than 65 and 56 percent had no formal education beyond a high school level, the telephone survey found.20 million households with no web access is signicant. It would be interesting to know how many are going without because they can't afford it and how many are simply uninterested. It would also be interesting to know whether there are still areas in the U.S. where it is simply unavailable.
"Nearly one out of three household heads has never used a computer to create a document," John Barrett, director of research at Parks Associates, said in a statement. "These data underscore the significant digital divide between the connected majority and the homes in the unconnected minority that rarely, if ever, use a computer."
Just 7 percent of the 20 million households without Internet access indicated during the survey that they plan to subscribe to an Internet service within the next 12 months. However, the study noted a steady decline in the number of disconnected households when comparing findings with previous years; the 2006 survey found that 31 million households, or 29 percent, of all U.S. households were without Internet access.
Posted on May 19, 2008
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Orgoo Integrates Your Email, IM, SMS
TechCrunch is blogging about a new Ajax-based service called Orgoo. Orgoo claims to integrate your email, IM, chat, SMS, video messaging and other web communication accounts all in one place.
Los Angeles-based Orgoo is a new webmail service that is going to be a popular application for some users. Not only does it emulate Outlook-style desktop mail applications extremely well, it also integrates instant messaging from all of the major IM providers directly into the interface. If you are looking for a service-independent webmail/IM service, you'll want to check this out.TechCrunch says Orgoo is offering 3 GB of storage for free. Competition includes Goowy and Foldera. These kinds of services will probably be of interest to people who like to try lots of different email and IM providers.
If you've been around long enough to remember Oddpost, which launched in 2002, you'll see similarities with Orgoo. Like Oddpost, Orgoo is an Ajax webmail service that lets users access their favorite email accounts via POP or IMAP access. Evolution of the Oddpost service stopped, however, in 2004 when it was acquired by Yahoo. Much of the Oddpost engine has now been integrated into Yahoo mail.
The key difference between Orgoo and the major Internet webmail services (Gmail, Yahoo, Live Hotmail, AOL) is that it also integrates instant messaging from all major providers.
Posted on May 14, 2007
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Yahoo to Allow Yahoo Email Mashups
Reuters is reporting that Yahoo is going to be allowing software developers to develop new applications using Yahoo Email.Officials of the world's largest Internet media company said on Friday it planned to give away the underlying code to Yahoo Mail, one of the crown jewels of its business, in a bid to encourage software developers to build new applications based on e-mail.The announcement was made at Yahoo Hack Day. You can read the Hack Day blog for more informatoin. Reuters reported that developer Dan Lindquist is already working on a mashup using Yahoo Mail and Flickr.
The move to open up the underlying code of Yahoo Mail -- used by 257 million people -- is designed to spark development of thousands of new e-mail applications built not only by Yahoo engineers but by outside companies and individuals.
Chad Dickerson, head of the Sunnyvale company's software developer relations program, said he believed that the open approach to programming represented the biggest single Web software ever to be opened up for public development.
Posted on October 2, 2006
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