In the past 20 years, more than 200,000 post boxes have been removed due to lack of use (less than 25 pieces sent per day), leaving only around 175,000 nationwide. That’s just the most obvious sign that the Postal Service isn’t doing too hot, but financially they’re really suffering, with a projected $US6 billion shortfall this year. That’s bad news for the USPS, which has been considering actions like ending Saturday delivery to make up. But that may not be enough.

Unfortunately, it’s our fault that the USPS is dying. Us early technological adopters have hastened the death of all kinds of physical media: We pay bills online, we communicate online, we send invitations online. Hell, the only thing I use USPS for is Netflix, and even they’re pushing streaming video to replace mail-service DVDs.

As anybody who’s experienced the horrors of Canadapost knows, USPS is a fantastic service: It’s cheap, fast, reliable, safe and they still deliver on Saturdays. But the only way to save it is to send more mail, and I just don’t see that happening. Sorry, USPS, on behalf of all nerds who killed you. [Washington Post]

On May 4, 1536, Francesco Lapi—a Florentine merchant who at the time was in Seville, Spain—used the symbol @ in a letter, the first ever known instance of a document containing it. It didn’t have a domain name after it, however. Back then, he was referring to the number of “amphoras” that were shipped in three vessels which departed Spain on their way to Rome, Italy. An “amphora” was a commercial volume measure of those times. The document you can see above says:

There, an amphora of wine, which is one thirtieth of a barrel, is worth 70 or 80 ducats.

In Spanish, the word for that measure was called “arroba,” which is the name the @ symbol still receives today in that language. Later, the symbol was conserved in typewriters’ keyboards: People kept using the at sign through the centuries, and it was common in commercial accounting where it meant “at the price of.”

It was in 1971 when Ray Tomlinson saw the symbol and thought it could be good to append the mail server host to the name of the person receiving an email:

I chose to append an at sign and the host name to the user’s (login) name. I am frequently asked why I chose the at sign, but the at sign just makes sense. The purpose of the at sign (in English) was to indicate a unit price (for example, 10 items @ $1.95). I used the at sign to indicate that the user was “at” some other host rather than being local.

And the rest, as they say, it’s history. I don’t know about you, but from now on I would be saying jesus amphora gizmodo dot com every time I have to tell my mail address. It just sounds so much better. Or better yet, jesus monkey gizmodo dot com. Yes. Definitely that one. [NYT Blog]

Backstory first. A package supposedly was left on my doorstep on a Friday, or at least its delivery status claimed. Nothing was there. The next week goes by. Nothing shows up. Monday rolls around, my doorbell rings, and a guy’s standing there with my package.

Some anonymous Fedex employee scanned the entirety of his truck and claimed he left those items on people’s doorsteps, reported another Fedex driver who had to eventually come and clean up his mess. “He doesn’t work for us anymore,” said the man, subconsciously hoping to convince me not to go with UPS in the future.

I can see regular mailmen doing it, since very few people will miss another credit card offer or a Pennysaver or a 20% off coupon at Bed Bath & Beyond. But Fedex? Like there aren’t tracking numbers on most of those packages?

Image credit Washington Times

Yahoo!7 announces a new era of Yahoo! Mail

Sydney, 16 December, 2008 – Yahoo!7 is today announcing the launch of the next generation of Yahoo! Mail with Australia the first country outside the United States to launch the new mail features including the Smarter Inbox, Yahoo! Updates^ and 1 GB file sharing^ which take mail to the next level for millions of Australian Yahoo! Mail users.

Yahoo! Mail enables a smarter communications experience by making the important people in your life – your connections – the centre of your online communications experience. The Smarter Inbox helps users de-clutter their inbox by prioritising messages from their connections.

With Yahoo! Updates^, the user is automatically updated whenever their connections upload photos, write reviews, post blogs and update their status across a range of websites. Without having to leave the email inbox they can see the feeds, bringing their social connections together into one place.
The 1 GB file sharing^ breaks the historical barriers to mail and allows people to share large files such as images or video files, all without leaving the inbox.

“Australians are well-known as early adopters and Yahoo!7 is bringing the new Yahoo! Mail to Australians first. We’re starting with the Smarter Inbox and will be rolling out new innovations such as Yahoo! Updates, and 1 GB file sharing in the next few months,” said Mark Helvadjian, General Manager, Consumer Platforms, Yahoo!7.

“With over 274 million users worldwide* Yahoo! Mail has a history of continuous innovation. We were the first email provider to utilize Ajax technology, the first to provide an integrated calendar, the first to provide free unlimited storage, the first with integrated interoperable messenger within mail and now we are raising the bar again on what people should expect from their email,” he said.

The new Yahoo! Mail is the company’s largest-scale implementation of its new Yahoo! Open Strategy (YOS) initiative, bringing to life Yahoo!’s Open and Social efforts in its consumer products.

Yahoo! Mail users in the United States and Australia will begin to experience the social features of the Smarter Inbox beginning today with more features rolling out in the coming months.

^available in 2009
* comScore September 2008
ENDS

[SantaMail App]

… Your application duplicates the functionality of the built-in iPhone application Mail without providing sufficient differentiation or added functionality, which will lead to user confusion. …

Macworld points out that “user confusion” isn’t an issue when one examines the endless faceless Sudoku applications that are available in the iTunes store, but it’s a huge problem when such alleged confusion steps on the toes of an Apple application.

But from Apple’s perspective, it sure would take the wind out of Jobs’ next keynote if he were to announce that the iPhone was supporting a series of features already implemented by third parties. Maybe it would be more fair for Apple to simply restrict categories of applications from the iTunes store to begin with and not waste developers’ time. [MacWorld]

Our own account looks fine—we were shipped something on Monday and Tuesday of this week—but that’s just anecdotal. Our own call to Blockbuster communications to check on the situation went unanswered. How does yours look? Keep in mind that you not getting something shipped in a timely manner could also mean they’re throttling your account, which is especially true if you’ve been shipping stuff in and out really fast lately. [Thanks Michael!]