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Mailbox 1.3 for iOS brings iPad support
There have been calls for an iPad-native Mailbox app virtually from the get-go -- some of us want to get to inbox zero on a bigger screen, after all. The team has clearly been listening, as the free Mailbox 1.3 update now supports Apple's larger gadgets. While there isn't much mystery in the new version for anyone who has used both Mailbox and other iPad email clients before, power users should appreciate seeing full messages while they swipe away at their inbox. We're still waiting on Mailbox support for other platforms -- and services beyond Gmail, for that matter -- but iPad owners can get some satisfaction at the source link.
Mailbox for iPad now available
Popular email client Mailbox is now available for iPad. Previously Mailbox was iPhone-only, but today's version 1.3 update makes it a universal app that runs on all iOS devices. The iPad version of Mailbox comes less than a month after the developers announced plans that they were working on it and other (yet to be seen) desktop versions of the app. Mailbox has received rave reviews for its sleek design and unique approach to email management by supporting features that are usually only found in separate task-management apps. Mailbox is a free download.
Mailbox is working on iPad app, desktop and other versions are in the future
In what should be one of those no-brainer decisions, the developers behind Mailbox have plans to bring the app to iPad, with desktop and Android clients not far behind, TechCrunch reports. There is no ETA on a desktop version, Mailbox developers tweeted, but it did confirm that the iPad version is in development. Mailbox did away with its reservation system last week, the first key step in expanding to the iPad and other platforms. While the app initially gained a lot of users, expanding beyond the iPhone is imperative for users to keep using it. It was one of the key criticisms TUAW staffers had when we reviewed Mailbox collectively, and my stint with Mailbox lasted a couple days until I realized that Mailbox just couldn't integrate with my workflow as long as it remained iPhone-only.
Mailbox app does away with reservation system
Users still waiting in line for access to the task manager/email client Mailbox will be happy to hear that the app's reservation system is no more. Orchestra announced yesterday that the waiting system has been eliminated thanks to its engineers optimizing the service's load to managable levels. Here's what the company said in a blog posting announcing the end of the reservation system: Good news! Mailbox is now available without having to wait in line. After 10 weeks of around-the-clock hard work, our engineering team has scaled the Mailbox service to deliver over 100 million messages per day (and growing). We believe we can now confidently handle new users as they sign up, so we've pulled down the reservation system. There's also a new version of Mailbox in the App Store with lots of little bits of goodness, from faster swiping to smarter snoozes. Thanks to our amazing users for the oodles of emails and tweets with valuable feedback -- we're so grateful you've taken the time to share your thoughts and help us track down issues. We'll continue to use your feedback to shape the product -- together we're making Mailbox better and better. Mailbox is a free download.
Mailbox 1.2 drops the reservation system, opens up to all iOS users
Mailbox for iOS launched with much fanfare in the winter, but it also drew more than a little flak for its reservation-based access system: it's hard to get jazzed for an alternative Gmail app when you're 297,045th in line to use it. The developer now believes that it has the capacity to handle new users as they come in, so it's pulling back the velvet ropes with its app's 1.2 update. Mailbox isn't just shedding notions of pseudo-exclusivity with the new revision, however. It's also improving swipe speed, introducing more time-sensitive message snoozes and slipping in a handful of minor UI tricks. Although some may lament the sudden rush of commoners into a once-elite club, we'd say 1.2 is an auspicious start to Mailbox's life in the Dropbox era.
Mailbox app has filled 1 million reservations, gets new features
Orchestra took the iOS world by storm last month when it released its iOS email client, Mailbox. It was so popular at launch that Orchestra had to institute a registration process that gave access to the service on a rolling basis. Less than one month after launch, the team at Mailbox announced it has filled more than 1 million reservations. If you haven't used it, Mailbox app is more than just a client to send and receive emails. It uses the principles of a task manager to help you organize your incoming email into a manageable list. It's an interesting take on the usually boring email client and has caught the eye of users and app developers alike. Dropbox scooped up the company in a recently announced acquisition. Along with its 1 million mailbox announcement, Orchestra/Dropbox also confirmed that the company has updated the Mailbox app with some UI enhancements and a new shake-to-undo feature. You can download Mailbox from the iOS App Store for free.
iPhone email manager Mailbox merging with Dropbox
This is going to make for a few Box-heavy headlines: the company behind Mailbox, the streamlined email client for the iPhone, has merged with Dropbox, according to the Mailbox blog. The developers note the app's huge growth and eager would-be users as the motivations to join forces. "We can't wait to put Mailbox in the hands of everyone who wants it. This means not only continuing to scale the service, but also including support for more email providers and mobile devices. Add to that a host of new features and we've got a LOT of work to do... Rather than grow Mailbox on our own, we've decided to join forces with Dropbox and build it out together." The post emphasizes that the app is not going away, but rather will receive the time, attention and development superpower of a combined Mailbox/Dropbox team. Dropbox, of course, has the experience and the resources required to scale a service to support millions of users. The app's long waiting list dissuaded some potential users, as did its support for a single email service. Reading between the lines, it sounds like the new Mailbox team will address both of these concerns in the near future. Our own TUAW team shared initial reactions to Mailbox here. Best of luck to the Mailboxers and to their new 'box colleagues.
Dropbox acquires Mailbox, teases an email and cloud collaboration
That was fast. It was just a month ago that Mailbox launched its unique (if queue-ridden) email client for iPhone users, and today we're hearing that it's been acquired by Dropbox. While the two aren't explicit about their plans, the Mailbox crew makes clear that a Dropbox union will help scale its client, including to non-Gmail providers and more devices. The team also isn't shy about speculating about what could happen if Dropbox's cloud storage was "connected" to Mailbox. We'll just have to give the new partners some time to produce what could be an alluring software hybrid. Update: "Sources" are suggesting the asking price was around $100 million. Which... we'll present without comment.
TUAW bloggers take on the Mailbox app
You may have heard of Mailbox, an email productivity app that promises to rescue you from your overflowing inbox with its efficient method of email management. The app launched late last week with a long waiting list that's still being processed by the company. Mailbox is more than an email client; it's a productivity tool. Rather than store all your email in your inbox, Mailbox encourages you to use your inbox as a place to store only those emails that need your immediate attention. Each non-important email should be archived, deleted, added to a list or stored temporarily. This temporary storage feature moves an email out of your inbox for a set period of time and then brings it back into your inbox when it is time to deal with it again. Mailbox's strategy of "focus on one thing" is a simple concept, but how well does it work in real life? Several of us on the team at TUAW have been using Mailbox for the past few days and will share our thoughts on this new way to tame your inbox. Dave Caolo I don't remember where I first heard this sentiment, but it's true: a geek will always try a new system if s/he things it might be better than what he's currently using. Email is ripe for such experimentation as nearly everyone uses it; yet, as far as I've seen, no one has mastered email productivity. I've been using Mailbox for about a week, and have found it compelling. The feature that I like the most is also the bit I dislike, and that's the option to put off or "snooze" messages. On one hand it's very useful. If you're on vacation, stuck in a day of meetings or what have you, it's convenient to request to be shown a message at a later time. In fact, it's like creating a reminder: "Oh yeah. Tell me about this again this evening." If you can time that to when you typically sit down to process your inbox, you're good. The problem is that I've been abusing it. "Eh, I don't want to deal with this now." Delay. "Oh God, really?" Delay. You can even snooze the entire contents of your inbox with a swipe and a tap. Mailbox then reports that you've achieved "inbox zero," but really you've just pulled a curtain over the box so you can't see what's inside. That's not the app's fault, really. I'm me avoidance abuser. But I know it's there, and because it is, I'm going to use it. Steve Sande To start with, let's just say that Mailbox was worth waiting for. I find the ability to perform operations on emails with a swipe to be a time-saver and very easy to get used to. I love how Mailbox enables me to reach "Inbox Zero" very quickly. But there are a couple of things that have soured my experience. First, I don't want to use different email apps for my iCloud mail and Gmail. Until Mailbox can work with any IMAP mail server, I have to use Mail.app for my busy iCloud account and Mailbox for Gmail. It's annoying to have to monitor two inboxes with two different ways of manipulating messages. Second, Mailbox only works on one platform -- the iPhone. I work on three different platforms during the course of the day; the iPhone when I'm truly mobile, the Mac when I'm in my office, and the iPad while relaxing. I want a consistent experience on all three platforms. Right now I may read an email on the Mac, then have to either put it into a file or do something else with it to get it out of my Mailbox inbox. I just want to touch email once, not multiple times depending on what device I'm using. Finally, the default settings for notification are annoying as hell. After an hour of having Mailbox buzz my iPhone every single time an email arrived, I changed the setting so that only "snoozed" email would alert me. Sure, it's easy to change the setting, but this should be something that is set up during the first use of the app. I'll continue to use Mailbox on my iPhone, but I'll be a lot happier when I it becomes a cross-platform system that works with all of the email servers I regularly use. Kelly Guimont I feel like Mailbox is a bit of a tease right now. It's good on my iPhone. VERY good. But if I'm on my iPad, or my Mac, I don't get the same experience, and it's frustrating to only have the option of this sort of setup exclusively on my iPhone. I don't know how the processing would work on the Mac side, but I don't care, I just want to have the same experience everywhere. Dave pointed out being an avoidance abuser, and I'm guilty of that too, but since Mailbox is still a novel experience, I haven't been doing a lot of needless snoozing of messages. I did notice the stampede to the beta (since there were screenshots of everybody's place in line all over my Instagram feed), so I think the Mailbox folks are really on to something, and people clearly want in on it. I hope the next "killer feature" they implement is support for more platforms, because the second they do I probably won't look back. Kelly Hodgkins I am an email junkie. I have several email accounts for work, one account just for personal conversations, one for online shopping, one for my social networks and a handful of spam accounts I use for signing up for new services. I get a ton of email and hate having to go through each and every message. I would love to bulk delete my inbox, but I am afraid of accidentally deleting a critical email. When Mailbox was announced, I jumped all over it because of its promise to deliver an efficient way to handle incoming messages. I setup the service with one of my moderate use accounts to see how the Mailbox method of email management worked for me. I wasn't ready (and am still not ready) to turn over my important work accounts to the service. Thus far, Mailbox has been wonderful at helping me easily separate the wheat from the chaff in an account that gets about 30-40 messages each day. A push notification alerts me when I get a new email and I can immediately process it to get it out of my inbox. I like the idea of getting everything out of the way and working with only those important emails in my inbox. It keeps me focused and minimizes the chances that I will overlook an important email. I especially appreciate the temporary storage option as I get a lot of email that doesn't need my attention right now, but needs my attention in the near future. For those emails, I can set them to reappear in my inbox at a designated time. I don't have to set an alert or star a message. All I have to do is put the messages to the side and process them when they reappear. For me, this is a key feature that'll keep me interested in Mailbox for the foreseeable future. There are some downsides to Mailbox, though. At launch, the app only supports Gmail, so I still have to use iOS mail for my IMAP accounts. Having to use two email clients is not very efficient. Another big detractor is the lack of an OS X app. I spend a lot of time on my computer and there is a huge disconnect between Postbox on the Mac and Mailbox on my iPhone. Right now, I feel like I am wasting a lot of time processing my email in both places. Until Mailbox gets an OS X client, I will only use it for my side email account and will continue to evaluate how well it helps me maintain my current inbox zero status. In the end, I give Mailbox app a thumbs-up for its streamlined email management and look forward to future improvements. Once there is an OS X app and support for IMAP, then I will consider becoming a full-time user of the service. Megan Lavey-Heaton My frustrations run along the same lines as Steve's. It's a great system if you're just processing email through the iPhone. But, this is a case where I argue that a desktop program was needed first. Say, a marriage of Mailbox and Postbox. Like Steve, I have to use separate email clients to handle work email (Microsoft Exchange) and personal/TUAW email (Gmail) because of app limitations. Furthermore, I use Evernote and OmniFocus in conjunction with my regular email clients. Usually, when I bring up an email on my Mac, I either send it to Evernote if it's material I want to archive or OmniFocus if it's part of a project I need to do. I would love an option to pull up an email on my phone in Mailbox and have an option be "send to Evernote" or "send to OmniFocus." That way, I don't have to snooze the email and go reprocess it later on the Mac. I can set up a list for these tasks, but I still need to process these emails again at a later point. If I do send it to a list via Mailbox, I have to go hunt down the email again once I get back to my desktop. If you're using the native web client for Gmail, you can easily see the lists that Mailbox has created for you. However, you don't have the reminder that the email is sitting in those folders, which could be useful when you're on your Mac. I think Mailbox is great if you have an iPhone, and your workflow isn't tied to other apps. It'll be even better when it can be used on the iPad and maybe a desktop.
IRL: Mailbox, Behringer iNuke Boom Junior and the Fujifilm X-E1
Welcome to IRL, an ongoing feature where we talk about the gadgets, apps and toys we're using in real life and take a second look at products that already got the formal review treatment. You may have heard that a little app called Mailbox launched a few days ago. You may have also heard it's the greatest thing since sliced bread. As it turns out, Darren hates it. Fortunately, it's not all doom and gloom this week: Jason's impressed with the miniaturized iNuke Boom Junior speaker, and Philip is just happy to answer questions about his new camera.
Mailbox for iPhone arrives to keep us on top of Gmail, aims for true inbox zero (video)
Anyone who gets a regular deluge of email knows how tough it is to clear the inbox rather than just hope all those messages will go away. Orchestra thinks its new Mailbox app for the iPhone has a simple solution to the glut: treat email like task management. Along with reducing mail deletion to a single swipe, it lets readers postpone action until the evening, the following day or whenever it's easier to handle. It may come in handy for a few power users as well when it supports multiple accounts and can send push notifications. There are a number of caveats beyond just the iOS-only nature, however -- it supports just Gmail for now, and it doesn't have ways to assign custom labels or select multiple messages at once, like Google's app. When Mailbox is free, however, it's worth a try if your inbox has ever looked more like a monument to neglect than a clean slate.
Mailbox for iPhone targets the "broken to-do list" of email
Feeling oppressed by your inbox? Struggling under the weight of unread messages? You're not alone. With half a billion results for "manage my/your email" there's obviously a need for help. Now add in the new wrinkle: many of us are interacting with email primarily or exclusively via our mobile devices, something that the legacy POP and IMAP protocols were never truly built to handle. Big problems need smart solutions: enter Mailbox, a free app and matching cloud pre-processor for mobile email. The team behind the iOS and web to-do app Orchestra decided to bring its savvy to the email challenge after the experience of trying to manage tasks without integrating the inbox proved frustrating. "In hindsight, it was obvious," said CEO Gentry Underwood. Even with the power of Orchestra in hand, "people kept sending us tasks by email." Underwood doesn't mince words about the effectiveness of email for task management: "Email is a broken to-do list," he says, and "the way we live our lives on email is ridiculous... marking messages unread, sending things to ourselves" -- all symptoms of a round peg in a square hole. For a fuller rundown of what's not right about email, read Underwood's manifesto on TechCrunch and his interview with AllThingsD. Mailbox's approach to dealing with the onslaught is to optimize the heck out of your inbox, specifically tuning it to the mobile experience. The company's cloud servers download and compress your messages from Gmail; the app gives you tools for quickly reading, replying, snoozing ("I want to see this tomorrow morning") and sorting your email. Mailbox tries to keep your attention on critical items while allowing you to do email triage, catching opportunities to deal with messages where and when you can in short bursts of engagement. The app's previews to a selected few testers have garnered some raves, and today's launch of the app is bound to excite many more... if they can use it. %Gallery-178258% Aside from the Gmail-only support in the initial release, users of Mailbox may need to wait in line. The company is scaling out its middleman servers to match demand as it builds, and in order to avoid overloading new users will be added to the system by reservation only. Mailbox has been accepting reservation requests since late January, and now that the app is available for download it's going to start to fulfill them -- queued users will get a text message with a signup link and activation code, and away they go. The app will even tell you where you are in the queue until you get your magic stamp of approval. (I requested a reservation on January 27, and there are only 228,431 people in front of me. Shouldn't be long now!) The pace of reservation fulfillment may seem slow at first, but the company says it should accelerate as the shakedown period for the infrastructure continues. This tiered access may be somewhat atypical for an App Store release, but Underwood says it's the only way to fairly and reliably bootstrap the service. When it comes to the scaling process, Orchestra has done all it can, but "we don't know what we don't know," he says, and "email just has to work." Rather than opening the floodgates and seeing what breaks, the plan is to "add users as fast as we can, but no faster." Mailbox is free at launch and intended to remain so, with premium buy-up features planned down the line. If the app UI sounds confusing, check out this demo video. It's swipe, swipe and hold, and act upon -- all very easy once you get the hang of it. If you're already on the reservation list and ready to start Mailboxing, let us know your impressions in the comments.
RIFT veteran rewards coming with 1.5 update
It's somewhat wonky to think about veteran rewards for an MMORPG that's barely six months old, but nonetheless Trion is trotting out various incentives to keep players subscribing to RIFT and adventuring through the wilds of Telara with in-game shinies in tow. Beginning with the game's 1.5 update, "being a veteran Ascended means honor, respect, and awesome rewards," according to the informational blurb on RIFT's website. We'll leave the honor and respect bit to your fertile imaginations, but the awesome rewards are quite tangible. They include full Guardian and Defiant uniforms, personal vendors, and on-the-go mailboxes. You can also buy your way to full veteran status (and unlock the high tier rewards immediately) by purchasing a multi-month subscription. Look for more details in our upcoming interview with Trion. [Thanks to Ren54 for the tip!]
Real-life mailbox mod tells your iPhone when you've got snail mail (video)
Do you spend your days desperately awaiting credit card bills, coupons to Pizza Hut, and reminders from your dentist's office that it's time for another cleaning? We've pared down our dependence on USPS, but for those who still get physical communications of note, Make has developed an Arduino-based mailbox mod that sends push notifications when the post is in. Back in 2005, we saw a clunky device called POSTIN that did much the same thing. Thankfully, this system doesn't require an extra gadget, instead it sends messages straight to your iPhone. The postal alert system uses a snap-action switch, connected to an Arduino sensor, to signal when your mailbox is opened. A piece of code waits for the signal and then requests a URL from a PHP-enabled server, pushing an alert to your cellphone using the Prowl iPhone app. Die-hard USPS fans can check out the instructional video after the jump.
Apple G4 turned into a mailbox
We love mods of older Apple hardware and the resurgence of this oldie but goodie is no exception. Spotted and photographed in the Te Atatu suburb of Auckland, New Zealand, this classic mailbox features a gutted G4 that has been modified into a mailbox, complete with a front flap and address numbers. Stuck waist-high on a post, this novel use of non-functional Apple products brings new meaning to the words "You've got mail." We have seen several other G4 and G5s used creatively in the past, including our favorite G4 cube aquarium, which turned a gutted and cleaned G4 cube into a stunning Maquarium. We also have the defunct G5 that was morphed into a clock and the simplistic, yet practical G4 tower table that was lovingly placed outside as a stylish shelf. Any other mods you have seen, or perhaps even done yourself, that are worthy of a shout out? [Via WeLoveApple]
Brando's USB mailbox lights up, thrills your heart when email arrives
Is the plastic heap you're peering at above anywhere near as cute as the notifying papercraft Wall-E we spotted late last year? Not even close, but it's equally captivating. Crafted by the geniuses at Brando, the USB Mail Box Friends Alert works with Windows-based machines that happen to have an open USB port. Simply plug it in, install the software and link your Facebook, Twitter or email account; when a new message arrives, the mailbox lights up, a sound can be emitted and the flag can even raise to alert you. Never mind the fact that the flag should only raise when you've got something in the outbox -- you know you're dropping $18 on this, anyway.
Officers' Quarters: Mailbox roundup
Every Monday, Scott Andrews contributes Officers' Quarters, a column about the ins and outs of guild leadership. He is the author of The Guild Leader's Handbook, available this spring from No Starch Press. Here at Officers' Quarters I receive a number of e-mails every week that don't get featured in the column. Sometimes they are too personal and the sender requests that they do not appear on the site. Others are topics I've already addressed. Some are questions that don't require a long and detailed response and thus don't have quite enough depth to merit an entire column. This week I am featuring a few of these latter e-mails with the common theme of loot. If you think the topic requires more discussion than I've given it, tell us about it below! Culling the Strong Scott, I am a part of a raiding guild which has been having a lot of growing pains. I have been with this guild for several years and many of the new players that we get are very poor players in general. I can often out dps someone in my same class running with my spec who has better gear. My guild has a loot policy which gears the lower dps players first in an effort to help progression, even if they have better overall gear than me.
Combination Mac mini, coffeemaker and subwoofer stuck in an iMac
That's why, we're guessing, tinkerer Klaus Diebel put together this incredibly useful device that will make your coffee, play some thumping tunes, and do your computing tasks as well. He tells us it was something like that -- he really enjoyed the look of the gumdrop iMac, and has experimented with it a few times, creating both a mailbox and a birdhouse from the computer's case. And this one just sort of snowballed -- when he found that the Mac mini's optical drive slot fit perfectly with the iMac's slot, without any alterations at all, it had to happen. And we're glad it did. The iMac is an exceptional little computer with a very distinctive form factor -- if you have to put a coffeemaker in the thing just to keep it on your desk, so be it!
World of Warcraft Patch 3.2 Loot Guide
WoW.com has covered patch 3.2 extensively. Everything from the surprising changes to flying mounts, to the latest and greatest loot, and all the changes in between. In our patch 3.2 class, raiding, and PvP guides we take a look at exactly what changes and how the changes will affect your playing.New instances and raids are fun and all, but let's not forget what we're all here for: the loot. With the new patch out on servers, there's a whole slew of new items and gear to win and collect. Here's a quick roundup of everything we know about the new loot coming in patch 3.2, from the badges you pull from dead bosses' bodies, to the sweet epics you can turn them in to get.
Four year anniversary pet and feat of strength achievement
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/pc_games/World_of_Warcraft_Celebrates_4_Years_Online'; Those of us waking up today and tomorrow will log into Azeroth and find in our mailboxes a little Baby Blizzard Bear non-combat pet. This pet will also give you a feat of strength achievement celebrating World of Warcraft's four years online.This is a nice little way for Blizzard to thank all of us for spending years in the game. With over 11 million people playing WoW, and Wrath becoming a hit overnight, there's definitely a lot of celebrating to do over at Blizzard HQ.The little bear that you get looks a like a small version of the BlizzCon Polar Bear Mount those of us lucky enough to attend BlizzCon this year got. It's a perfect traveling companion for you as you adventure around Northrend.Edit: The pet is active on US, EU, and Oceanic servers.Thanks to Mangowire for sending us the pics you see below. %Gallery-37708%
