The future for webmail with flash
Stumble It!Enter flash-based email
In a previous article, The virtual road warrior software checklist, I wrote about using web-based email to ensure that you stay connected whilst you are on the road. However the reality is that most forms of web-based email represent a compromise on the kind of email service you enjoy at home or at work.
The problem is web-based email is just that - it is a web-based application and all this implies in style of interface and speed.
Furthermore this is compunded by the fact that web-mail cannot rely on all sorts of useful add-ons and plug-ins being installed on a given users desktop.
Requirements such as having to continually refresh your browser to see if you have any new messages can be frustrating especially if you are trying to quickly check-up on your email on the move.
But all that might all be changing...with flash-based email.
TechWeb News reports in EarthLink Takes On AOL, Gmail With Flash-Based Web Mail, that EarthLink will roll out a beta of a new, members-only, Flash-based Web e-mail within four weeks in a bid to upstage rivals such as America Online and even Google.
By generating a Flash-based application, EarthLink hopes to avoid the basic problem most users have with Web mail due to the fact that most PCs have already got Flash installed.
"We've taken a completely different approach than, say, AOL and Google," said John Foltz, the product manager for EarthLink's e-mail. "It doesn't behave like a Web page at all."
"Among the features possible with something like Flash, he went on, are keyboard shortcuts identical to those used in desktop mail clients such as Outlook -- the Delete key erases messages, a Shift-Click manoeuvre selects multiple messages -- a single page interface, and in-the-background mail transmission".
For a review of EarthLink's e-mail by PC Magazine click here
Digg | 
del.icio.us | 
Reddit | 
Yahoo! | 
Add to my favourites
Bioteams Books Reviews
Collaborative thinking: four key roles
In his unique book Dialogue and the art of thinking together William Issacs introduces the Four-Player System originally developed by David Kantor. This is a very important technique for supporting real collaborative thinking in teams.
Buy it now from:
Amazon.Com
Amazon.Co.UK
Related Online Collaboration Tools Articles
The virtual road warrior hardware checklist
Staying connnected whilst on the road - part 1
I came across this article by Dan Gillmor in the Financial Times, A road warriors essential travel kit.
RFID implants: passwords you cannot forget
Reuters report, Jan 6 2006, that some users are taking their lead from tagged animals and having minute RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) Chips storing their personal codes implanted into their hands to allow them automatic access to computers and access-controlled locations. But its going to make you think twice about changing your password. To read Computer chips get under skin of enthusiasts.
Teambuilding 2.0
Many company executives are now questionning the value of 'traditional' forms of teambuilding such as executive retreats or staff games (e.g. Executive team building: stop wasting their time). Recently I ran across a New York technnology company GoCrossOffice pioneering a more novel approach....
Leave a comment