Remember when being able to send an email seemed futuristic, when the very idea of being able to send an instant message to someone without pulling out a pen and paper seemed George Jettsonish?
It seems the moment that email became available it changed many of us from occasional letter-writers, who only sent letters on special occasions, to full-on correspondents who contacted people for just about any reason, even if it was just to say a quick hello. Â
Also, email made it easier for people to keep up with the hard-to-get-in-touch-with types.
But just like any other revolutionary invention, the revolution was short-lived and before you knew it, checking your inbox went from an anticipated daily event, to something you looked forward to about as much as you did to checking your physical mailbox.
And once social media sites swooped down from the digital skies and took over the Internet, email took a back seat while pages like Facebook and Twitter shared the driver's seat and advanced the vehicle of communication to much greater speeds.
Another shot at steering
Well, a company by the name of Orchestra Inc. wants to give email use another shot at the steering wheel by releasing the very buzzed-about app Mailbox, that's supposed to make checking your messages way easier by allowing you to quickly swipe them into various categories.
It's like the creators of the app took the concept of message filtering and added a much-needed 2013 twist to it.
Arguably the best feature of the app is that users don't have to click on emails the traditional way, since it lets you swipe messages back and forth and allows you to really control how messages are accessed.
And just like you swipe images on your smartphone screen, Mailbox lets you quickly put messages in places like your trash bin or in your archives and it allows you to move emails to virtual folders that can later be opened.
But unlike traditional email folders, users can place messages into very specific destinations, which helps, since most of us tend to read different emails at different times of the day or week.
Users can store messages in specific locations named "later today," "the weekend," "next week"Â or "in a month," and once you make your selection messages will be resent to you, so you don't have to manually check those folders in order to read them. You can also select a date as to when the email will arrive in your inbox again.
Take a number
What's also different about Mailbox is that people have to reserve a slot in order to access it, and the reason for that is twofold.
For one, there's been a crazy demand for the new app, which recently launced and two, the company is using this reservation system to build even more buzz and anticipation, which so far seems to be working.
For those who downloaded the app prior to its launch, users can simply enter their registration code and begin using it, but for those who are newly interested you have to download it, which puts you on a first-come-first-serve waiting line.
You can also watch your place in the waiting line once you download the app, so you'll have a basic idea of when you'll be able to use it. The company also sends you a message that lets you know that your access is available.
The co-creator and CEO of the app, Gentry Underwood, said having the ability to specify where emails go, according to how you want to read them, allows your inbox to become less muddled and lets people manage how they're contacted.
"We want to decide "do I need to reply now,' can I deal with this later,' or "should I get it out of the way and never deal with it again,'" he said in a published interview.
Blissful euphoria
"That creates a very different experience and peace of mind where you know that everything is in its place. All of a sudden you can have the blissful experience without developing the ninja-like discipline and that's the secret sauce behind this more euphoric experience."
Honest, he really said that. And maybe it's a good thing because not everyone is feeing blissful or euphoric.
Over at BusinessInsider, columnist Nicholas Carson griped that after waiting two weeks to active Mailbox, he deleted it in just two days.
Why? "Mailbox makes you deal with one email at a time," he grumped. The whole idea is to save time, not create more busywork, he said.
Bonnie Cha at AllThingsD was a bit more pleased: "It has its limitations. Namely, it only works with Gmail accounts, and it doesn't automatically sync labels. But I found the ability to set aside messages with reminders to respond later to be extremely useful."
Will it work for you? Well, it might. There's only one way to find out.
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How they voted
Yes
Yes