Orderly Email

Young people nowadays communicate via social networks and text messages, rather than by email. But, as social-first users start to engage in business, whether at work or for their own finances, purchases, and the like, they will have to keep track of their communications, which social networks do not permit users to do.

PHOENIX – You may have heard of the “quantified self” movement – the idea that you monitor your own vital signs such as weight or blood sugar, and then (ideally) adjust your behavior in order to stay healthy. Sometimes I half-joke that the primary metric that I monitor is my email inbox count: When it’s high, I’m too busy and stretched thin; when it’s low, I’m on top of things and able to concentrate on more important matters.

So imagine my delight upon meeting Dave Troy of the company 410labs in Moscow last month; he was on the “Geeks on a Plane” tour of the former Eastern bloc.

Actually based in Washington, DC, rather than Silicon Valley, Troy is a throwback to the old days when the Internet had just emerged from a US government project. His latest product, the cleverly named Mailstrom, seems almost retro in this age of social messaging: it helps you manage your email. But, unlike some new tools that guess – usually inaccurately – whose mail is important to me, Mailstrom does an excellent job not only of categorizing my mail, but also of helping me to get rid of it by applying my own intelligence – and willpower.

https://prosyn.org/kuHKpr9