As Microsoft prepares to retire its unfashionable Hotmail in favor of Outlook.com this summer, let's remember the viral marketing revolution that Hotmail invented. Journey back seventeen years to Hotmail's origins, the birth of the dot.com millionaire, and the boozy optimism of a pre-crash web industry in full-growth mode (Wired, December 1998) .
posted by Chinese Jet Pilot on Feb 22, 2013 - 64 comments

It seems that there is increasing frustration with the current state of email leading some to look for more technical solutions, such as Shortmail - an email client/social networking tool which attempts to redefine what its creators see as a broken relationship with email described on their blog as a "river of trash." , while others to turn to less technological solutions to lessen their email burden. [more inside]
posted by SpaceWarp13 on Jul 13, 2011 - 40 comments

Google began inviting volunteers to a public preview test of their new Wave web-based collaborative email and document communications platform yesterday, which enables users to "communicate and work together in real time." Initial reviews this past May seemed positive. (Previously) [more inside]
posted by zarq on Oct 1, 2009 - 75 comments

Vanity Fair has a typically excellent article out -- "How the Web Was Won," an oral history of the Web. Even if you're familiar with ARPANet, Metcalfe's Law, Pearl Harbor Day, the VC rush, whatever -- the story told by the often-animated people at the center of the whirlwind is an enlightening and entertaining experience. And for those of you don't know the history of the Internet, learn it! This is part of your heritage now. [more inside]
posted by spiderwire on Jun 4, 2008 - 19 comments

E-motional breakdown: The state of e-mail misery. Is email finally at the breaking point? My inbox is so oversaturated I need professional advice to avoid bankrupcy. Or maybe I'll just wait it out -- the kids might know best.
posted by Chinese Jet Pilot on Jul 23, 2007 - 32 comments

Email used to be the ultimate application of the Internet, and there are still some interesting artifacts of that left behind today: As a source of randomness Email Roulette (which we've seen before) is my favorite application of email. TPC Remote Printing Service, a free mail-to-fax gateway, is pretty useful in a pinch and is something of an Old Internet institution with a history predating the web. Nearly as venerable is the more frivolous Internet Pizza Server from the days when the very idea of making a purchase over the Internet was funny, and the idea of browsing the web via email didn't seem so peculiar as it does today.
posted by majick on May 18, 2006 - 12 comments

Spamusement Poorly-drawn cartoons inspired by actual spam subject lines. (via The Ultimate Insult)
posted by Turtles all the way down on Jul 31, 2004 - 17 comments

Yahoo! Mail is trashing Gmail invites. Regular Gmail appears in the inbox, but invites are sorted to the spam folder.
posted by tranquileye on Jun 22, 2004 - 53 comments

Ain't this grand? Pop Goes the Gmail is a program that sits between the http://gmail.com web server and your email client, converting messages from web format into POP3 format that a program such as Outlook Express or Thunderbird can understand.
posted by sunexplodes on Jun 15, 2004 - 43 comments

RFC 1855: Netiquette Guidelines. "Never send chain letters via electronic mail. Chain letters are forbidden on the Internet. Your network privileges will be revoked... Remember that many people pay for connectivity by the minute, and the longer your message is, the more they pay.... Don't point to other sites without asking first."
posted by reklaw on May 4, 2004 - 6 comments

Destroy those old love letters (emails) to your ex Big String is a new service that use HTML email to allow you to delete, alter or recall sent emails. Amazing that it took this long for someone to come up with this. Which email do you wish you could have recalled? Bet this kid wishes he had something like this.
posted by wsfinkel on Mar 9, 2004 - 20 comments

Spam: This Time It's Personal. Andy Markley was really looking forward to a work-free Labor Day weekend far away from his computer. But he made the mistake of checking his inbox before he left for his planned holiday.
posted by lola on Sep 30, 2003 - 32 comments

Perhaps you've seen the new MSN commercials that use M$'s "spam-blocking" technology to support their ISP service. Maybe you've read fluff pieces like these, where AOL and Microsoft execs are allowed to wax poetic about their deep anti-spam convictions:

"'I get spam too, and I am as fed up with it as all of our members are,' AOL chief executive Jonathan F. Miller said yesterday." "'To help keep intruders at bay,' Microsoft said, "we must all do our part.'"

So what's this all about? "'AOL and Microsoft argue there is a place for legitimate unsolicited e-mail in the marketplace,' said Marc Berejka, Microsoft's senior director of public policy."
posted by Pinwheel on May 9, 2003 - 19 comments

Zoë is Google for your inbox (and outbox, too). It's written in Java and actually works on a number of platforms, using a browser-based interface. Jon Udell describes the way he uses Zoë in this O'reilly article.

But be warned: navigating through archived email from five years ago is as humbling as it is addictive.
posted by gdog on Oct 9, 2002 - 12 comments

About damn time. If I ever get another email asking me to go to Nigeria on behalf of Mr.Ngkoskusomethingoranother for some large sum of cash I could just...
posted by lostbyanecho on May 24, 2002 - 12 comments

Not a hoax!? 'We are in Mrs. Lentz's Computer Class at Clara Bolen Elementary in Tawa City, MI. We are doing an experiment for the art and science fair to be held in April at our school. We are trying to see where our email can travel in the space of one month.'
posted by asok on Mar 12, 2002 - 19 comments

Did someone say pancakes? [RealPlayer required] PlayMail by AT&T Labs allows you to send emails read by a talking face. If you get froggy, you can even create your own talking yak, chiffarobe or even yourself.
posted by pedantic on Feb 8, 2002 - 15 comments

Zero-Knowledge's Freedom Network to shut down. The network provided Internet and email anonymity. I always found it very slow and cumbersome, and stopped using it in favour of SafeWeb many months ago.
posted by tranquileye on Oct 4, 2001 - 5 comments

The web in your inbox. You want to surf. But your friends want to get together to play Werewolf. You can have it all. Search with Tracerlock and The Informant and when you can break away to check your email, you'll find links waiting. Did they find an interesting link for you? Then use GrabPage to have the page sent to you as an email attachment.

Surfing with email is cool. But why stop there? Why not do everything by email?
posted by otherchaz on Aug 31, 2001 - 4 comments

SpamCon 2001 gets underway in one month. It's a meeting of the minds to crush spam and guys like this. But it's probably too late. Can legislation ever make a dent in spam? Are technical solutions possible (no open SMTP ports allowed)?
posted by mathowie on Apr 26, 2001 - 10 comments

the news versus e-mail news Is this link, an article about spreading news via e-mail and the net, an example of my present posting?
posted by Postroad on Jan 29, 2001 - 2 comments

Yet another reason why HTML email sucks. WebTV should limit incoming messages to plain text only, or at least let users turn off HTML rendering in their mail clients.
posted by mathowie on Jan 4, 2000 - 0 comments

Today on a web list I subscribe to, some members were complaining about spam and the need for sites to have privacy policies that promise not to sell your address. I have a hotmail address that I use whenever a site requires an email address and doesn't post a privacy policy. I hadn't checked my account in a month, but I did today and look what was in it. 74 useless messages in 30 days. Thanks spammers.
posted by mathowie on Nov 21, 1999 - 0 comments