Looks like they pushed a few more out and would like to share if you are interested.  Ping me via email or leave a comment and I’ll send them until I run out. 

I’ve seen a recent uptick in both coverage and inquiries about Xobni.  We can debate the merits of naming your company a word spelled backwards (inbox – get it?), but they are definitely getting some buzz.  I have been using the beta for a while and plan a summary of my thoughts when I get spare moment.  Good for them..they have tapped into the universal pain of email and our daily combat with Outlook.  It does a lot of good things but not sure it solves the larger problem.  More on that later.

I still have a couple of invites so ping me if you want one.

The folks over at Basex have now confirmed it by naming "information overload" as the problem of the year for 2008.  Here’s an article on it.  Ok, great.  Not sure anyone would debate that interruptions and reply all emails are not a pain, so what to do about it?  The recommendations are all focused on end-user behavior changes like not immediately following up on an email or call, being better about subject lines and selective use of "reply to all."  All good advice but of all the things to change in organization, human behavior is the hardest.

Thanks to the folks at Xobni for including me!  I loaded it tonight and will let you know what I think as I start using it.

Good write up on email and the massive drain it creates on productivity from the (now free content) Wall Street Journal.  The answer to this problem is not simple…and not readily at hand despite the efforts of companies like Xobni and ClearContext.  Seriosity, one of the other companies mentioned in the article, has a pretty unique approach to this – applying gaming concepts to email activity.  I spoke with Ken Ross some time ago while he was at the helm and thought the approach was interesting.  I signed up for Xobni’s beta some time ago and am anxiously awaiting my invite.  Once I get it, I’ll be sure to let you know my thoughts.

This is an interesting story from NY Times Technology section.  It discusses how Google and Yahoo will be emphasizing email patterns to extract your "social graph" to compete in social networking.  I pointed out some time ago that email is the most meaningful and mature social network around because it is indicative of who you actually collaborate with on a day to day basis.  We’ll see how they bring it to life…

Stuff like this never ceases to amaze me.  This story is about some rather unsettling accusations against Bear Stearns CEO Jimmy Cayne and what happened when a few ill fated employees decided to share his internal email response with the outside world.  Although down over 5% today, I remain long (gulp) Bear because I think they got their dirty laundry out first (unlike Citi and Merrill).  Should Cayne go the way of Prince and O’Neal?  Dunno, but this swift action is an example of the tight controls I believe Bear has in place.  Time will tell…

Yahoo buys Zimbra for $350MM.  Good for them and good indication of a) Yahoo’s meandering strategy and b) the value of an alternative to the Notes/Exchange/Gmail and an open source one at that.  Analysis here, here, and here.

This story from eWeek covers the topic of the pain that companies feel from their Exchange environments as well as some alternatives available to address that pain.  This story is consistent with what we see and hear across corporate messaging environments.  Companies are needing Exchange to do things above and beyond its original intent from being a file management system/document repository to e-discovery activities.  Unifying voice together with email all through Exchange for "unified communications" will make it even more mission critical as well as intensify much of this pain.  If you think your business comes to a halt when email goes down, just wait until it takes your voice system down with it.

This post by Robert Scoble pretty much nails why email is here to stay.  Scoble is an interesting fella and I enjoy reading his posts although the drama gets a bit old. Anyway, he puts forth a conversation he had about how to share news and pictures of the arrival of a new baby (early congrats by the way). 

And now you know the trouble that these Web 2.0 sites will have in getting everyday people to try them out.

Most of the population (aka ‘everday people’) have no awareness or inclination to try the new tools out there with cute names and default to the most known and dependable way to connect electronically – email.  Further, without a need to learn how to use something else, they will continue to rely on email.  Would Flickr be easier?  Yes.  Does Twitter make broadcast updates quicker?  Sure.  But "everyday people" don’t use them so after you use all the new web 2.0/social media tools, send an email to make sure everyone gets the information.