OtherInbox saves your e-mail from bacn, spam at same time

OtherInbox is a service that helps with one of the growing problems of using Web services: e-mail overload. More specifically, services that take your information and sell it to third parties--thus filling up your in-box with decentralized junk.

OtherInbox works by giving you a special address you can use when you sign up for things and it helps you filter them in a central location with tags and layout akin to Apple's Mail application. Each "subscription" reads like its own in-box.

The service may be most useful for figuring out what services are selling out your e-mail address to other parties, but it's also good for handling bacn--the messages you may want from a service, but not necessarily filling up your in-box. What makes it special is that users can effectively kill off that special address making the messages bounce back to the people who would be spamming you.

One thing to consider is that you can currently do this with Gmail. I do this with my in-box by adding a +servicename after my username, coming out to something like [e-mail]. That way you can phase them out completely using a simple filter if you start getting spammed. OtherInbox offers you a little more security with its block feature, and the fact you're basically signing up for another address.

The service is currently in private beta, but made its public debut at Monday's TechCrunch50 conference. On a side note: you need to provide OtherInbox your e-mail address when you sign-up. And we have 25 invites to give out--so go here to get yours while they last.

OtherInbox lets you use a special sign-up address when signing up for various services. That way you can tell if someone's sold your information to third parties.

(Credit: CBS Interactive)

[AndrewRich]

"Bacn"? Will the age of stupid vowel-declined names never end?

[logangreer]

Actually, you should know that MANY spammers have caught on quickly to the gmail "+whatever" trick and automatically remove the addendum on any gmail address, thus rendering it largely useless. Though it was a great idea.

You might want to update your article, so that people don't plunge themselves into spam hell by trusting too fully in the Gmail "+whatever" trick.

[msink12]

Yahoo offers "disposable addresses" as well with their premium Mail Plus service.

[DrewTX]

I make extensive use of Yahoo's 'disposable email addresses' (AddressGuard) - and they are one of the main reasons I have stuck with Yahoo for so long. But 'New' Yahoo Mail sucks so badly (slow access, incomplete searches), and Classic is so clunky, that I am now planning to migrate off Yahoo! Mail. I'm liking Microsoft's Live Mail so far (good GUI), and coupled with OtherInbox it may be a viable solution for me. I'm still not 100% convinced that Gmail is as good as everybody says it is :-)