The moment of Yahoo Mail Beta has arrived!

I was accepted into the Yahoo Mail Beta last night! I almost yelled out Yahoo! Except that it was late. And I was tired. I left the window open all night (even though it was cold outside), just so I could make sure it wasn't some sort of cruel dream. Sometimes known as a nightmare.

Behold! In the morning it was still there. And I love it. I think it increases the amount of memory that Firefox uses, but it is worth every byte.

I remember reading – oh so long ago – about how it seemed to take a really long time to load. Well, my friends, and people I've never met, it doesn't. I don't know if they cranked it up since the first people were accepted in, but I did some tests and it seemed to only take a little longer than Gmail does to load up all that Javascripty goodness. Sometimes it ran even faster than Gmail. I'm not going to post any numbers since it wasn't like I was doing scientific testing.

But, it is pretty. And it goes fast. And it comes with a keyboard shortcut for "Delete" (Google, are you paying attention?) I'm not sure about the RSS in my mailbox thing – at least not with the way they have it right now (sans folders/tags, differentiation of new vs. read, and a lack of "keep this one"-ability. And that's fine, since I have 2 good feedreaders as it is.

As an added bonus, it doesn't trap my keyboard the way the Yahoo Maps beta does.

Speaking of bonuses! It looks like WordPress has upgraded to the newest version of, well, WordPress. No more gruesome pop-up windows to handle links and HTML editing – it's all in the div's now!

Tag, you're it! Yahoo Mail Beta, Yahoo, Gmail, WordPress

Gladwell and Simmons

http://gladwell.typepad.com/gladwellcom/2006/03/sports_guy.html

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/060302

There are two people writing in the Simmons column. I liked reading one of them. No offense (well, actually, some offense, I guess), but I am not feeling Bill Simmons much anymore. Of course, while I am at it, I’m not feeling FreeDarko that much anymore either. There is something to be said for inserting random pictures in your blog posts… but do you really need 4 of them in every post?

I digress… I just started reading Gladwell’s blog a few weeks ago, and it’s impressive. He can certainly write. I was supposed to read the Tipping Point back in MBA school, but I never did. Too much Madden I guess. I was also supposed to read Crossing the Chasm. Neither were for a class, though, so the priority slipped.

Again with the digression. So far, I have enjoyed reading Malcolm as much as I used to enjoy reading Simmons, and so far, haven’t been burned out by him. Maybe that’s what happens when you just write whenever you feel like it, instead of having to write a column every week whether you like it or not. I mean, I’m not exactly one to talk, right?, since I’m not exactly the best nor most prolific writer ever. But there is a point where things just start getting old. I reached that point with Simmons just as I am with FreeDarko. It will be interesting to see how long I continue to read and be entertained by YaySports. It is funny and somehow still insightful in a way that has very rarely failed to amaze me. And I’m not just saying that because Brian The Cavalier is my friend on MySpace.

Qwerty watches the prodigal sun rise

Who I am hates who I’ve been. – Relient K

So, my Dvorak experiment is over. I made it 2.5 months with the new language, and was getting pretty fluent in it (thanks to the little stickers on my keyboard). But the other night, sitting in the Hostelling International Chicago, and pounding away at a keyboard that I barely recognized I realized why it was time to return to Qwerty.

Portability.

One of my favorite things is (are) web applications. Not because of the “corporate” style benefits they provide (along the lines of “ease of deployment and management”)… No, my reasons are selfish ones. I like being able to log in to an application anywhere in the world and have all my personalized data there. My Gmail is ready and waiting (and soon my Yahoo will be too, if they ever roll out with that Beta version). My Bloglines still knows what I’ve read and what I haven’t. And my Yahoo bookmarks are there instead of being held captive by my browser. I am free (so long as I am still tied to a computer). I don’t actually have a need for that kind of portability, and I really don’t make use of it that often. But it helps me sleep better at night knowing it’s there for me when I need it.

So, I thought, as I sat there struggling to control a computer that was ringing up 10 cents a minute…. how arrogant, oxy-moronic, and traitorous I was to work so hard for that portability, and just throw it all away.

I’m sorry Mr. Dvorak (and to all those who struggle to bring his method to the mainstream)… I cannot sacrifice something for which I so yearn. I cannot turn my back on portability. The best don’t always win.