Category Archives: E-mail
Gmail Motion
I’m sure most of you say the April Fool’s Day post from Google — Gmail Motion. Their guide for usage is hilarious!
However, as funny as this is . . . here’s a group that really made it work!
What Americans Do Online
Nielsen data for June 2009 – June 2010 shows how Americans spend our time online:
There is nothing surprising here — social networking (22.7%) and online gaming (10.2%) at the top of the list, with email coming in at 8.3%. However, they’ve also done a study of what Americans do on their mobile phones:
On the mobile side, email is the definite winner at 41%, with portals at 11.6% and social networks at 10.5%. Quite a difference from the previous statistics.
This is all in the midst of change, of course. You might think that, although email is prominent on mobile devices, that it’s share is probably declining; actually, that isn’t true. From the previous year’s statistics, email actually increased its share from 37% – 41%.
I find it interesting that the advertising for mobile devices is primarily geared toward the younger generation, who focus on social networking when the most popular application – email – is probably due to the working crowd.
Outlook ToneCheck
ToneCheck, a plug-in for Outlook, analyzes your email message before it’s sent and lets you know if you are being too emotional. Specifically, it looks for emotions such as elation, humiliation, excitement and fear. The beta is free, but for enterprise-level implementation, there is a cost.
Interested? There’s a demo.
Haptic Hugs
Researchers in Japan are mimicking physical emotions like the pressure of a hug using a wearable vest. The I_FeelIM (I Feel Therefore I Am) system includes:
- HaptiHug which reproduces the pressure felt on the chest and back when you are given a hug
- HaptiHeart reproduces noticeable heartbeat patterns for sadness, anger, and fear
- HaptiButterfly and HaptiTickler reproduce butterflies in the stomach and nervousness
- HaptiShiver and HaptiTemper reproduce shivers running up and down your spine
The focus of these behaviors is to provide a more immersive experience in virtual worlds like Second Life, instant messaging, Twitter, and even email. Computer-mediated communication lacks the emotion of a face-to-face experience; researchers hope to bring some of these sensations back to our conversations.
How to Embed . . .
Thanks to the LibrarianInBlack, here is a page that explains how to embed just about anything in your web page. From RSS feeds to to events from Google Calendar to Chat to other fonts, Digital Inspiration has it. A great one-stop resource.
Deleting Accounts
Thanks to PCMag.com, we have one place to check if you want to delete your accounts on some of the major services. I don’t know about you, but I have many accounts on different services — primarily to see if they fit me or if I fit them. There are many that I just leave behind. It would be nice to made a clean break and delete the account, but it isn’t always easy to know how. PCMag.com gives us instructions for:
- Social networks: Classmates.com, Facebook, Friendster, LinkedIn, MySpace, MyLife.com
- Online retailers: Amazon.com, Audible.com, Blockbuster Online, eBay, iTunes, Netflix, PayPal
- Blog services: Blogger, Twitter
- Sharing services: Flickr, Photobucket, YouTube
- Online services: AOL/AIM, MobileMe, Google, Windows Live, Yahoo
Swype
If you’ve ever tried to type using a cell phone, you’ve probably encountered the T9 system. It’s the predictive typing system. So, when you type a letter, you get a list of words you’ve used before that start with that letter. The more letters you type, the more likely your word will be in the list. It’s a shorthand way to type on a cell phone.
Now, however, one of the co-developers of T9 has come up with a different, possibly faster way to type — and not only on cell phones. Swype uses an on-screen keyboard and you literally use your finger or stylus to swipe from letter to letter to create a word. Start again and it knows you’re writing a separate word. It doesn’t have to be exact; the software has a 65,000 word dictionary and will match your swipes with real words. If there is a question, it will offer both choices.
The example above shows you how you would track the path of the word “quick.”
Below, you’ll see a video that will give you a better understanding of how it actually works.
The developers are hoping to license this technology on mobile devices (including the iPhone, PDAs), laptops, and tablets. If you’re interested in knowing when Swype comes to your device, you can sign up for notification.
DailyLit
Short on time, but you’re still curious about . . . everything? I think that describes almost everyone who works in a library. ;-)
DailyLit will send you installments (about 5 minutes reading time) via either email or RSS on different topics or books. You decide how frequently you want to receive them and, if you like, can get the next installment immediately when you’ve got extra time on your hands.
Public domain books are free; copyrighted books usually provide the first few installments at no charge, but then there will be a cost. Wikipedia Tours use that database to give you an overview of that subject, e.g., World Capitals, Famous Inventors.
Happy Belated Birthday to Spam
Spam is 30 years old! I bet you thought it was older! ;-)
On May 3, 1978, Gary Thuerk, then a marketer at DEC, sent an email message to all 393 users of the Arpanet – the first spam message. Note that the number of email addresses didn’t fit into the To line, so most of them ended up in the body of the message.
Improving Webcam Pictures
The Strobist, a blog about lighting with cameras, is focused on lighting for people using DLSR cameras. As an aside, the blogger gave us a gem of a post concerning 5 easy things to do to make yourself look better on camera by using lighting:
- Find a light source other than your monitor
- Soften the light
- Adjust the monitor’s brightness
- Provide white in the picture
- Provide a background other than your office
