New Yahoo Mail Worthwhile?

There's actually not a whole lot of tech news today, which is good because I have plenty of work to get to. The article I spent the most time with was talking about the Yahoo Mail beta, so I felt that it was worth talking about myself. I like the crux of his editorial there: an upgrade should always be defined by its purpose. What meaningful changes is it adding? They crammed all these ads in and they're retaining frames, which is so 1997. Their design was so much better before, though I guess part of it is the fact that it's one of the older web-based e-mail services. They're almost stepping backwards with this one. Also, it doesn't seem like they've tried to speed things up. All in all, this was a really clumsy execution on Yahoo's part. I almost wonder if they want to stay the under dog. They made some good advances with Yahoo Maps, so why don't they try to stand out from Google in any of their other services? It just irritates me a bit because I know that they're better than this! They need to go back to the drawing board and rethink the service and come back with something that has real people abuzz, not just a few magazine writers. Meanwhile, the New York Times is writing about how good Gmail's spam filter has become, and yet Yahoo Mail still hasn't done much with theirs, and I agree along with many other people I've spoken with. I can't remember the last time I've had to actually read spam in my inbox.

One more thing about Gmail: there are actually some hidden labels I wasn't aware of and I'm sure many of you could benefit from. If you're curious as to how fast you can really type, then you'll enjoy this application. If I wasn't worried about murdering my RAM, I'd install it myself. It looks really nifty. The rest of the stuff I have is pretty frivolous. Someone finally made a list of ways to get on the Digg front page, and it's sad how true they are. They just speak to what kind of crowd Digg has drawn in though, not because of any hacking or cheating. I was thinking of being a giant spoon this Halloween, but how pimp would it be to be a giant rubiks cube? I'm really tempted to build one now. Lastly, Macenstein put up their Mac Chick of the Month, and you'll see why I decided to plug this right here:



It looks like most of the principal photography is done on Spider-man 3 and they're well on their way to their May release date, but I just can't wait that long! AICN nabbed some set pics from Grind House featuring the car in the poster and Kurt Russell. Not terribly exciting, but something is better than nothing. There's a trailer for Sleeping Dogs, which appears to be a kind of interesting romantic comedy. I'd see it if it got even half-way decent reviews. Lastly, Netflix is offering a cool $1 million to the person who can improve their movie recommendation feature by at least 10%. If only I didn't have this school gig going I could try it!

Now for some Monday Madness:

1. From amanda f:
What do you do when somebody complements you?
d. Turn red in embarrassment at the attention and look around to see other people's reaction
This actually happened last week when I was wearing a shirt too small and people were remarking at my biceps. They're really not that big, I wasn't just being modest about them. I'm disappointed in them, actually.

2. From shelly:
What color are your eyes?
Light brown. I'm so glad I got contacts so that people can see them now!

3. From kia:
What do you like most about yourself?
I like how easy I am to get along with. I try to be a nice guy because I like being in people's good favor. I'm not afraid to stand up if it means people not liking me, but I still try to be nice overall.

4. From julie:
How do you spend Christmas?
In Houston with my family.

5. From wide imagination:
When do you normally blog? Day or night?
At night, around 10PM or whenever I get home from campus (sometimes just before I go to bed).

6. From rach:
What song can you relate to your personal life? Share a line or two of that song.
I'm going to go with Like a Stone, by Audioslave
"In your house I long to be
Room by room patiently"
Sorry it's so corny, but I'm too tired to come up with a better one.

7. From sherle:
What is your favorite color for a sleeping environment?
Cream white, because it's soothing.