Alex commented on my recent post regarding email overload, and is offering an invitation to participate in a beta of the OtherInBox, a new service he is developing. The link is beta.otherinbox.com/signup/rodeworks .
The idea behind the service is to custom email address on the fly. Want to send me a comment? Send it to comments@rodeworks.otherinbox.com . When you do that your email comes into a folder in my account called comments. And you use this for all your various digital memberships. The example they use is twitter — you’d register there with an address like twitter@rodeworks.otherinbox.com . Buying something from Amazon? amazon@rodeworks.otherinbox.com – etc. Those emails would auto set up a folder in your account called twitter, amazon, etc. and the mail goes there. The main inbox in OtherInBox doesn’t get filled up with unsorted mail — your email is auto-organized for you.
This strikes me as a really powerful idea, and it seems amazing that no one has implemented it before. Sure, many email programs offer the ability to set up filters that will do something similar, but how many people really take the time to figure out how that works. Plus those filters often fall apart if the sender starts using a different domain address or has other back-end changes While it is in beta, the service looks pretty good. A nice simple interface and simple sign-up process. At least on a test basis I look forward to giving it a real spin.
My only negative reaction so far is the thought of needing to manage another email account. Like many people I’ve got a pretty heavy investment in my existing personal email account. Friends and family have it, I can check it on my mobile phone, it is used for countless services, accounts, and is even my user name for services. So I don’t want to dump it. What I’d love to see is this type of service be offered as a plug-in for my Yahoo or GMail account — that would be great.
But that said, I will use it, and who knows — maybe I’ll get hooked. Give it a spin yourself! And good luck to Alex and his team — keep up the good work.
OtherInbox – the cure for email overload!: About OtherInbox
OtherInbox is the cure for email overload – it provides consumers with a free email account that automatically organizes newsletters, social networking updates, coupons and receipts from online purchases so that its easy to find the most interesting things and ignore the rest.
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Randall Rode's online home for thoughts, notes, and experiments with a wide range of technology topics. Visit the about page for info on my recent projects and professional background. I welcome your comments!
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