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Email

Figure out who's bringing what with MyPunchBowl's checklists

There's something to be said about Web services that have been set up to help people coordinate things in the least stressful way as possible. I dig sites like CircleUp (coverage) that offer a way to set up polls, or to solve quick logistical questions within a group, without requiring the creator or the users to agonize over the interface and execution. That's why MyPunchBowl's new checklist feature is pretty much the best addition to a party-planning service yet.

The idea is simple: you, as party creator, make a list of things you need for the party. … Read more

Handy e-mail helper: Xobni

The first demo at the TechCrunch 40 conference today is from Xobni ("inbox" backwards, oh how clever), which makes the "Insight" plug-in for Outlook that looks like it will be worth installing when it opens up to the public later this fall. When you highlight an e-mail, it gives you useful intelligence related to the sender: other messages from him or her, who the sender is connected to (via cc), and a graphic showing when the sender's previous e-mails have been received.

It also extracts phone numbers and other contact info from e-mail message bodies … Read more

Orgoo mashes up your mail and IM in a good way

Orgoo is a new service for aggregating all sorts of communication platforms together, in one solution. The easiest way to describe it is a mix between a Web mail client and an IM app. You might say, "well my Gmail and Yahoo Mail already have IM built in." To that I'd say you're right, but Orgoo's take is a little bit like Meebo--take all your existing services and integrate them together in one place.

To start out, just plug in any accounts you want to access. Orgoo will handle five of the major IM clients, along with a handful of Web mail providers including Gmail, .Mac, and Yahoo and Microsoft's premium Hotmail services. You can also drop in any old e-mail account that can be accessed via POP or IMAP. The service can save your passwords and login information, so every time you log in to Orgoo, it will pull in each and every account. I found it really helpful with Gmail, since I could be logged into several accounts at once--which usually requires juggling two different kinds of browsers.

Orgoo's interface is a mishmash of the classical mail inbox. Besides your e-mail reader, which takes on an appearance much like that of Yahoo Mail, you've also got an entire buddy list that resides on the right side of the screen. Orgoo employs drag-and-drop to organize your messages and IMchat logs, and you've got a list of folders which can contain several levels of user created nesting; meaning you can store a message within a folder within a folder within a folder, to your heart's content. You can also organize your IMs into tabs on the top, or pop them out (virtual-desktop style) if it's easier for you to manage.… Read more

Mozilla gets serious about e-mail

This is very good news. We've long needed real competition in the e-mail market, given how much time people spend in e-mail. Now the organization that gave us competition in the browser market has decided to get serious about e-mail. This is a Very Good Thing.

Mozilla (on Monday) announced a new initiative to stimulate innovation in Internet mail and communications. Mozilla plans to develop Internet communications software based on the Thunderbird product, code and brand. The new initiative also aims to nurture a robust developer ecosystem in order to drive improvements through open source and community innovation, in the tradition of the Firefox web browser.

Why is this such a good thing? Let me count the ways...… Read more

Zimbra goes to Yahoo! for $350 million

Wow. Yahoo! just bought open-source email provider, Zimbra, for $350 million. For anyone who still doubts that valuations for open-source companies are rising fast and steep, Zimbra is a case study rebuttal.

[UPDATED (sounded too negative before, and I didn't meant to be.] I don't know Zimbra's revenues, but the company is on track to hit $20 million this year. (This is actually pretty impressive, given the growth it would mean over the previous year, which was $6 million.) That's one heck of a valuation.

The real question is why Yahoo! would bother buying Zimbra, when it already has an equivalent Ajax-style email solution stemming from its Oddpost acquisition. Open source? Not in this case. I don't think open source was Zimbra's strongest selling point.… Read more

Yahoo buys e-mail software firm Zimbra

Yahoo is buying e-mail software provider Zimbra for about $350 million, the companies announced on Monday. Zimbra offers branded e-mail with calendar and mobile features as well as the ability to work offline. The company has more than 200 educational, business and ISP partners, including Comcast, that offer branded e-mail service to roughly 9 million subscribers.

What differentiates Zimbra are the "Zimlet," Web service mashups that offer richer functionality in e-mail. For instance, people can simply mouse over airline flight information in an e-mail to check on flight status. Users are also able to track FedEx deliveries and … Read more

Report:MediaDefender e-mails leaked to Web

MediaDefender, a company that offers to protect copyright content from illegal file sharing, saw private internal e-mails leaked to the Web over the weekend. The e-mails appear to reveal some controversial tactics used by the firm to fight piracy.

The e-mails indicate that MediaDefender, which works closely with the music and movie industries, may have been secretly behind MiiVii, a Web site that promised to enable people to upload and download copyright movies, TV shows and music, according to a report Sunday evening in The Wall Street Journal.

The e-mails indicate that the site was a ruse. The MiiVii software … Read more

Mozilla offers open-source Eudora beta

Qualcomm's handoff of its Eudora e-mail software to the Mozilla Foundation has taken an important step: release of the first beta version of the software, 8.0.0b1.

Mozilla already has an open-source e-mail program, Thunderbird, and the new Eudora will be a branded offshoot with some new features, according to the release site. In addition, a related extension called Penelope will provide some extra features to both Eudora and the regular Thunderbird.

Eudora rose to popularity in the dial-up days of the Internet, but it was mostly supplanted by Microsoft Outlook Express and by Web-based e-mail services. Qualcomm … Read more

Three cheers for portable Thunderbird

Thunderbird is the best e-mail program for Windows users, and the portable version is the best version of Thunderbird.

On August 31st I explained why I think Thunderbird is the best client-side e-mail program for defensively thinking Windows users (see There is only one e-mail program). Earlier the same day I discussed my personal e-mail backup scheme (Backing up e-mail). Here I'll tie both these previous postings together.

To begin with, a portable application is one that does not need to be installed. The entire application exists in a single folder. It does not store anything in the Windows … Read more

There is only one email program

There is only one email program for Windows users. No, I haven't lost my mind, and yes Windows users can chose from many client side email programs. But this is a Defensive Computing blog and speaking defensively, that is, with the hope of avoiding problems in the future, there is only one choice when it comes to email programs (webmail is another topic entirely - if you use webmail exclusively you can stop reading here).

Outlook

Outlook is out because it stores all your email in a single file. You don't need to be a techie/nerd to … Read more