A couple days ago, we started seeing reports of spam sent to email addresses used only by Shoeboxed.com and eApps.com. Since a lot of people trust sites just like these two, we started to dig a little deeper. It turned out that our CEO, Joshua Baer, even received an email with the subject "Pharmacy Best Product Vicodin. Viagra!!!!" to an email address that was only given to Shoeboxed.com! Some of our
users also noticed spam being sent to their OtherInbox because they
gave each website a unique OIB address. After some detective work, we found one link that ties them all together – they all use iContact to send their email newsletters. Along with Shoeboxed.com and
eApps.com, we
know of at least 8 different companies whose email lists appear to have
been stolen. Somehow their lists got into the hands of spammers and now
everyone who signed up for these companies are receiving Viagra spam. Déjà vu?

Sadly, yes. If you've read our blog post on the AWeber database hack, this may sound all too familiar.

iContact is an email service provider that serves over 430,000 users. If your list is managed by iContact, it may have been stolen, similar to AWeber's database hack where their subscribers' email addresses were accessed and also started receiving spam.

Most people who are on these lists are screwed. There is no way to
"undo" or make the spam stop. However, if you signed up with an
OtherInbox address, you're safe! When you use OIB addresses, it's easy
to see who is responsible for the
spam you get and even easier to Block it if needed. Just use the "Block
All" button on that mailbox and change your email address at
Shoeboxed.com (just as an example) to
shoeboxed2@yourname.otherinbox.com instead.

People think that their email address is safe and that this sort of
thing never happens. It actually happens all the time. Protect
yourself. Defend your personal information by giving out OIB addresses,
anytime, anywhere. Get an OtherInbox account and beat the spammers at their own game by hiding your true identity. Leave your Inbox for real people and be fearless with your email!

After listening to your feedback on how to make Organizer for Yahoo! Mail even better, we’ve made several improvements:

Senders Settings

Organizer is designed to be simple and easy to use. There is nothing to manage and no rules to create. However, if you need to change where emails are filed or want to add your own folders, it’s very easy. Just click on Automatic Organizer in the applications menu in the lower left corner of Yahoo! Mail. 

You will see a list of folders Organizer uses to file your messages. These folder names start with the letters OIB, like OIB Shopping. Under each folder, there’s a list of senders. When Organizer recognizes a message from one of these senders, it will move that message to that OIB folder.

 
Do you want to change which OIB folder is used for a sender? Simply drag and drop the sender, using the drag handle, to the new OIB folder. Don’t see the OIB folder you need? Just click Add folder to create your own.

What does Organizer match on?

When you create a custom sender, by default we set the sender name to the full email address of the sender. You can rename a sender, but you may have forgotten what Organizer is matching on. Now, simply click on the sender’s name to see what sender email address created it. It might be a full email address or just a domain (the part after the @ sign).

Control the delivery of Digests and New Sender Notifications

When we find a new sender to organize, we send you an email. We also do the same thing when you create your own custom senders. If you like, you can now turn off these New Sender Notifications. Of course, we’ll always let you know when we find a new sender in the Daily Digest.

An easier to read Daily Digest

Each morning, the Daily Digest arrives in your Inbox summarizing everything that has been organized. Save time by scanning your Digest instead of going though numerous emails in your Inbox. The Daily Digest has been revamped with a new look to make reading it even easier.

Part of the excitement of buying something online is waiting for it to show up on your doorstep. When you get the shipping notice email, you probably cut and paste the tracking number into a browser and check on its whereabouts on the carrier's website.

It's not difficult, unless your package experiences this sort of nightmare! 

But we thought how much nicer it would be if it could be automated. Organizer now recognizes the package tracking numbers from major carriers like FedEx, UPS, USPS and DHL. Using these numbers we can now determine the delivery dates of your packages for easy and simple tracking. 

Your daily digest now includes notifications of when your FedEX & UPS packages ship, and give a daily countdown to when they will be delivered! 

 

 

We are very excited about this new feature, and would like to share some of that excitement with you. 

We would be delighted to get your
feedback and ideas about Package Tracking at help@otherinbox.com.

From founding the Email Team at Travelocity.com, to Global Director of Deliverability and Social Networking at Premiere Global Services, Kevin Senne, from Someupside.com, has worked in the Online Marketing and Technology space for the last 11 years. We are excited to introduce him as our guest blogger today as he gives his reasons for loving OtherInbox so much:

I want to start by thanking the OtherInbox team for allowing me the opportunity to talk about a service I have grown to love over the past year.  I try to be open to new services, apps, or products.  I find myself constantly looking for the next killer app that will change the way I operate.  The reality of my searching is that most of the “next” things fall by the wayside.  Luckily, I found one of those rare killer apps when I began using OtherInbox.  I honestly can’t imagine getting through a single day without my OtherInbox account. 

I proudly admit to being an email geek.  I subscribe to email programs and evaluate the incoming mail just for fun.  As you can imagine, I get a LOT of email.  I have a Yahoo email account that I have used for the last fifteen or so years.  I also maintain email accounts with Gmail, Hotmail, AOL, and too many more to mention.  Checking email at multiple places is a logistical nightmare.  The value of OtherInbox for me became apparent over the last twelve months as I went on a quest to have an account at as many Social Networking sites as I could.  At last count, I have about 300 different accounts/profiles.  I needed a real workhorse to make this challenge a reality.  That’s where OtherInbox comes in for me.

Why do I love OtherInbox so much? 

• Daily Routine:  My daily email routine couldn’t be easier.  I log in to my OtherInbox account and see the hundreds of different mailboxes I have created.  Mailboxes with new messages have a number showing the amount of new mail that has arrived.  A quick scan of my account allows me to see what’s new each day.
• Organization:  OtherInbox is my one-stop shop for email.  No visiting multiple locations just to check my mail.  It’s all here in one place.
• Yahoo:  Yahoo mailbox clean.  Check.
• Gmail:  Gmail mailbox clean.  Check.
• Multi-purpose:  You can create email addresses on the fly.  My process for creating addresses is to use sitename@yourname.oib.com.  Examples would be amazon@yourname.oib.com or ebay@yourname.oib.com.  Using this format, I never forget what email address I used to sign up.  This format also makes it easy to browse my mailbox inventory.  Further, this gives me the ability to create multiple addresses for companies.  For instance, I could create amazonmarketing@ or ebaymarketing@ addresses.  The possibilities are endless.
• Social Networking:  I couldn’t have made it through my Social Networking adventure without OtherInbox.  The tool makes managing multiple profiles and sites actually manageable.  This is something many of us will have to address with the emergence of new challengers to Facebook and Twitter.
• Community:  Have a question?  It’s all there in the forums.  Good news, bad news, and future plans are all there for everyone to see.  Want to have an idea developed?  You’ve got a shot with this product.
• OtherInbox Gets It:  I love the OtherInbox involvement in the Social Networking community.  They do things that indicate they will be around for a long time.  I added them to a Twitter list of mine and they thanked me.  I’ve also seen them acknowledge problems in a public forum.  These examples encourage loyalty and trust.  
• Email Marketing Pro:  As an Email Marketing professional, this is THE tool.  Want to monitor the competition?  Done.  Want to track your clients in the wild?  Done.  Want to monitor companies you do business with, or might like to review?  All done.

I am constantly finding new uses for my OtherInbox account.  It’s a great tool made by a team with a great vision.  Keep it up, OtherInbox team! 

Look for the Team.
You won’t be able to miss us, we will be wearing our OtherInbox T-Shirts of course! What’s even better is if you wear your OtherInbox T-Shirt, you will get 3 free months of Premium. Just make sure our marketing gal, Caroline Lim sees you! If you don’t own one yet, Caroline will be giving out T-Shirts to 20 lucky individuals as well. See you there!

Calling all OtherInbox users! It's that time of year again, the 2nd annual Shorty Awards nominations are NOW OPEN!

It
has been an exciting and busy year for all of us at OtherInbox, working on the "cure for email overload". As is customary for this time
of the year I'd like to take a look back at the highlights of 2009, but also
take a look forward at some of the exciting things ahead in 2010.

In
March we came out of Beta and did our public launch at South by
Southwest Interactive (SXSWi) with our Organizer for Gmail. We had a
blast sharing the excitement about our launch. Most importantly, we
enjoyed meeting many of our beta users and supporters in person!

In
June we jumped at the chance to use Yahoo! Mail's new application
platform and we developed Organizer for Yahoo! Mail in 45 days. Launched in
North America in September, Organizer for Yahoo! Mail has now grown to support more than
200,000 users. Click here to try it out on your Yahoo! Mail account!

Now we're taking another look at Organizer for Gmail and
identifying how we can take it to the next level. Please read this blog post for more details and add your comments!

What do we need to improve?

We've
had some growing pains as we've scaled the service. We implemented some
major database and architectural improvements in October that have
addressed speed and reliability for all users. We are now confident
that we have the right platform to grow to millions of users.

But we also need to improve the way our IMAP server works and fix some lingering bugs with RSS feeds.

What to expect in 2010?

• We're working to make Organizer faster and smarter by adding calendar functionality
• We'll handle Receipts and Coupons automatically for you
• We're improving the usability, layout and design
• We're looking at how we might integrate with Google Wave and other new technologies
• What else? Give us your suggestion here

Giving back to our Community

We're
proud to live in Austin, Texas and we give back to our community by
volunteering and supporting local causes. This year we helped pack bags at Meals on Wheels. We also host the local Austin on Rails user group meetings at our office once a month.

What a team. We're hiring!

None
of these successes would be possible without an amazing team.  The
OtherInbox Team is a group of talented individuals who are dedicated,
high-spirited, and enjoy working together. They are absolute rockstars.
We all work hard but we have fun doing it. We are also looking to
expand, so if you know anyone who enjoys a fun and flexible startup
environment and values a sense of community, check out the open job positions!

Thank you

I
want to sincerely say thank you for believing in OtherInbox and
supporting us over the past year. A year from now I hope to be
celebrating our 1 million user milestone!

Joshua Baer
Founder & CEO