Gee, Mail
I managed to snag a preview account for Google’s Gmail web mail service. Coverage in both the blogosphere and mainstream press has been extensive. For instance:
- Mark Pilgrim evaluates Gmail with five different web browsers and complains of several usability problems.
- Kevin Fox replies: “Accessibility, for the visually impaired, for those who love Firefox’s keystrokes, and for those who use Lynx as their browser of choice, is very important to the Gmail team.” A few days earlier, Kevin tried to assuage some privacy concerns by contrasting the kinds of personal data that different web mail services collect.
- Liz Figueroa, a state senator from California, is apparently drafting legislation to block Google from releasing Gmail.
Let others opine on these issues for the moment; I propose a quasi-experiment that might make for an interesting future post.
Text ads have been displayed next to only about one quarter of the emails I’ve received so far. Where they have appeared, I’ve judged them to be highly relevant. It seems that Gmail only displays ads when it can be reasonably certain (algorithmically speaking) about the subject matter of a conversation.
To test accuracy, I’m soliciting “interesting” emails (also to be entertained). For instance, you can start off writing about undead pirates and transition to discussing the types of choke collars preferred by dog obedience schools. Or, consider starting with an overview of luminous tubes and moving on to the pornographic-image mosaic of John Ashcroft’s face. Let your imagination guide you.
The address is: mayzenshtat [at] gmail [dot] com.
