Do you find dealing with email boring? Would your day be brighter if your email was rendered as characters in a SecondLife style universe, complete with spam eating sharks? Were you dropped on your head as a child? Introducing 3D Mailbox.
We get to see a lot of new products and services at TechCrunch, many of them bad; usually it’s a case that they won’t get a run. Then there are those that are so bad they a worthy of mention. Crunchgear’s John Biggs summed it up well in an email to me (see their very brief coverage here): “I was so disgusted that I couldn’t write anymore”. 3D Mailbox has also received attention from the press; Michael Parsons at The Times Online described 3D Mailbox as “The worst software application I have ever seen…a waste of valuable processing power,” Richard Bartle in the Guardian notes “When I first saw the trailer, I thought it was a parody.” Sadly Richard, it’s not.
By all means, judge it for yourself. The 3D Mailbox client is Windows only with no plans for a Mac version.
I use their visitorville product. I just turned the 3d part off. The rest of it actually provides some great real time visitor stat info. No need for email though. I really enjoyed the over the top video, however.
I think this is a really interesting concept, but horribly executed - but the idea of adding some pizazz to email made me start thinking that email is still the one aspect of the web that isn’t much different than it was in Gopher days - and this may be a consequence of the medium, but there hasn’t been much major innovation (besides in spam filtration and back-end delivery system scale).
It would be cool to have this kind of system in a personal email box where you could choose avatars for people and get a “visit” from someone whenever you receive an email - or it might work for game systems (like the Wii Miis). I think my 50 year old mom who can’t really use a computer would find this a cool and familiar way to answer mail.
Having people download and run a bloated client is really a backward approach - but it really makes you think outside the box
this is an interesting idea - and at least it serves a purpose - as opposed to second life, where you just wander around aimlessly. and look how popular second life is.
Michael Parsons is full of shit - if processing power were so valuable, why does everyone use tons of it to watch a cat flush a toilet over and over? people don’t want to fold proteins all day, they want to be entertained - and this seems to fit the bill.
but speaking of useless apps, how about a review of the techcrunch toolbar? it’s not even 3d!
Anything that the haters hate so much, needs to be judged independently. That’s where I come in Seriously, I downloaded and installed it, which the haters don’t do, and I was pretty friggin impressed. It’s very well put together, is a full featured email client with a MUCHO entertaining world around it. I like Brazilian music, bikini chicks, and humour… and this has it all in abundance. You need a sense of humor, as this is high-parody. In fact, it doesn’t take itself very seriously, but it is seriously done, and that alone is very cool.
The inventor of this program is a very rich man because of internet software. He has a private island. He can do whatever he wants. That’s why office mice like me hate this so much. How can the Sims and Second Lifes and 3D Mailbox make their inventors so rich while I work for a stupid ISP for the rest of my life?
Nigel Powell, columnist and feature writer for the Sunday Times newspaper in London and author of the Sunday Times Book of Computer Answers (Harper Collins), writes:
“3D Mailbox is definite proof that Robert Savage is either a genius or a fruitcake. For the record Robert is the creator of Visitorville, the 3D web stats program which shows site visitors as 3D avatars arriving to a site on buses labeled Google, Yahoo! or other referrers etc…
I think it’s probably genius. It’s certainly different and could be quite a bit of fun.”
This is my 1st comment on TC after reading for a long time….
when will the insanity end? it is email.. why would anyone want or need this, email to most people is a necessity and not something that is “fun”. If I want fun, listen to some tune, watch a movie, or maybe as someone else said.. go outside..
At least they know the demographic to go after.. the 15-24 year olds.. spam eating sharks.. the inbox is a pool? If this is the future of web apps, stop the bus and let me off right here..
I haven’t read the other comments so maybe someone already covered this. But here’s one big reason why this app is “Worst. App. Ever.”
A 3d email program is a cheesy gimmick that nobody will ever use for more than 3 seconds. I don’t think anyone, even the creator, would ever deny that. It’s silly and slow. But, for some reason, the creator decided have the option “Delete mail from server after retrieval” checked by default, and I think hidden somewhere, because I never saw it.
So, after installing this app and entering my server details, all of my email was retrieved and deleted (I had about 40-50 work-related emails in the account that required my attention). But I didn’t know it was deleted. So, I uninstalled 3dmailbox after a few minutes (like anyone would after seeing such a program), and the next time I logged in to my webmail I noticed all the email was gone.
Ouch.
If anyone else comes across this, there’s some good news. When you uninstall 3dmailbox, it leaves your mail files somewhere on your computer (I can’t remember where, in your user account folder or something). Inside that folder you’ll find some database files. This is an “SQLite” database. If you know SQL, you can recover the email from these files with a little bit of work. Find someone who knows databases and they’ll be able to help you.
Now, I realize it was dumb of me to install such a program, and even dumber to use it with my primary email account, so I don’t blame you if you’re laughing at me.
Seems there is a lot of good press about this program which the Orally man omitted. (Remember that line from Fawlty Towers? Manuel cannot pronounce O’Reilly, so he calls the workman “Orally” LOL). Anywho… checks dis out, it’s a brilliant interview with the chap who invented 3DM: http://www.smartmoney.com/thep.....;nav=RSS20
Oh my god, now I read the comments and some people actually wrote in support of this thing. Haha that’s great. Seriously, in this history of computing no worse program has ever been created.
This reminds me of iBloks.com http://www.ibloks.com/ another total useless piece of crap. “Oh, but we have developers and PMs who’ve worked at MSN therefore out idea is good” - bullcrap. Should be a way to nominate sites like this for some kind of “Worst of…” award.
Maybe it would be cooler if you could convert each one of your friends’ email addresses into a small avatar of that person, complete with their voice. Then when you open up an email from them, you’d see a little image of your friend standing there talking to you…
Don’t laugh, but if I had to choose between the bloated monstrosity that is Outlook 2007 and 3D Mailbox…at least 3D Mailbox might give me a reason to laugh, as opposed to hurling this Vaio out the nearest window!
“When not coordinating the 40 people behind 3D Mailbox from his home office, he enjoys relaxing on his private island with his wife and daughter, road biking up mountains, poring over Shakespeare’s plays, and playing the absurd Italian playboy Marcello Mastrantonioni on YouTube.”
– Too much time spent lying in the hot sun on his private island methinks.
As a morbidly obese individual, I take offense at the depiction of spam as morbidly obese individuals, and the depiction of good mail as slim and beautiful girls and guys. Or am I taking this too personally? Hell, if there were an anorexic as spam too, that would round things out, and I’d feel better about it. I don’t want to be sittin eatin my Big Mac and have some guy yell out, “Hey, you’re the dude from 3D Mailbox!” Ya know?
I may have overreacted. It was really frustrating to lose my email and spend 2/3 of a day trying to recover it, but, fair enough, it was my own fault for missing the option. The bad memory of losing my email stuck around a bit longer than the good points, which I guess is always what happens when you have a less-than-awesome customer experience
The program does exactly what it says it does - it is a 3d mail application. The company replied quickly to my email with tips on how to avoid the problem I had, and even made a change to the program in response to my issue. So, there’s really nothing about it I don’t like… so try it out and form your own opinion
What happened to me could have happened with any mail program.
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The Good,The Bad,The Ugly.
The are all worth checking out.
BeingParents
some though are created more badly than others
This has to be a joke.
I LULZD.
So if my mom emails me, it will show up as a half naked, hot blond? uugh… no, thanks
I use their visitorville product. I just turned the 3d part off. The rest of it actually provides some great real time visitor stat info. No need for email though. I really enjoyed the over the top video, however.
The logo ist cool, though =)
Cool video demo indeed. Any teenager in here?
I think this is a really interesting concept, but horribly executed - but the idea of adding some pizazz to email made me start thinking that email is still the one aspect of the web that isn’t much different than it was in Gopher days - and this may be a consequence of the medium, but there hasn’t been much major innovation (besides in spam filtration and back-end delivery system scale).
It would be cool to have this kind of system in a personal email box where you could choose avatars for people and get a “visit” from someone whenever you receive an email - or it might work for game systems (like the Wii Miis). I think my 50 year old mom who can’t really use a computer would find this a cool and familiar way to answer mail.
Having people download and run a bloated client is really a backward approach - but it really makes you think outside the box
oh my word. you have got to be kidding me. can we feed this program to the sharks? or maybe i can get a 3D virtual reality read out of my notepad doc.
this is an interesting idea - and at least it serves a purpose - as opposed to second life, where you just wander around aimlessly. and look how popular second life is.
Michael Parsons is full of shit - if processing power were so valuable, why does everyone use tons of it to watch a cat flush a toilet over and over? people don’t want to fold proteins all day, they want to be entertained - and this seems to fit the bill.
but speaking of useless apps, how about a review of the techcrunch toolbar? it’s not even 3d!
Even them are not serious about this. That trailer looks as a parody to me
Wow. Just wow… I’m nearly speechless. Needless to say I agree with most everyone else. Very poor idea.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again… if I wanted a 3d universe, I’d go outside.
“The 3D Mailbox client is Windows only with no plans for a Mac version.”
What a pity…
Looks like Grand Theft Auto for email.
Anything that the haters hate so much, needs to be judged independently. That’s where I come in
Seriously, I downloaded and installed it, which the haters don’t do, and I was pretty friggin impressed. It’s very well put together, is a full featured email client with a MUCHO entertaining world around it. I like Brazilian music, bikini chicks, and humour… and this has it all in abundance. You need a sense of humor, as this is high-parody. In fact, it doesn’t take itself very seriously, but it is seriously done, and that alone is very cool.
My Almighty God have mercy on the kids. I’m trembling.
looks like was incredimail was trying to do
So Duncan, please explain why this is such a waste but SecondLife, Gaia, etc. aren’t?
It’s amazing how you selectively choose to call stuff “The worst” or “the best” but have no consistency.
Again, when is Duncan Riley getting fired for worthless editorial standards?
The inventor of this program is a very rich man because of internet software. He has a private island. He can do whatever he wants. That’s why office mice like me hate this so much. How can the Sims and Second Lifes and 3D Mailbox make their inventors so rich while I work for a stupid ISP for the rest of my life?
I hate to think about what amazing product could have been built using those wasted development hours.
Nigel Powell, columnist and feature writer for the Sunday Times newspaper in London and author of the Sunday Times Book of Computer Answers (Harper Collins), writes:
“3D Mailbox is definite proof that Robert Savage is either a genius or a fruitcake. For the record Robert is the creator of Visitorville, the 3D web stats program which shows site visitors as 3D avatars arriving to a site on buses labeled Google, Yahoo! or other referrers etc…
I think it’s probably genius. It’s certainly different and could be quite a bit of fun.”
Source: http://www.redferret.net/?p=8969
a private island eh…i hope one of his sharks eats him…or maybe too many people will use it and the intarweb will break..ohnoez
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJCyAHJ27Uw
i love when you guys tear into a product/service. it makes me laugh.
This is my 1st comment on TC after reading for a long time….
when will the insanity end? it is email.. why would anyone want or need this, email to most people is a necessity and not something that is “fun”. If I want fun, listen to some tune, watch a movie, or maybe as someone else said.. go outside..
At least they know the demographic to go after.. the 15-24 year olds.. spam eating sharks.. the inbox is a pool? If this is the future of web apps, stop the bus and let me off right here..
I haven’t read the other comments so maybe someone already covered this. But here’s one big reason why this app is “Worst. App. Ever.”
A 3d email program is a cheesy gimmick that nobody will ever use for more than 3 seconds. I don’t think anyone, even the creator, would ever deny that. It’s silly and slow. But, for some reason, the creator decided have the option “Delete mail from server after retrieval” checked by default, and I think hidden somewhere, because I never saw it.
So, after installing this app and entering my server details, all of my email was retrieved and deleted (I had about 40-50 work-related emails in the account that required my attention). But I didn’t know it was deleted. So, I uninstalled 3dmailbox after a few minutes (like anyone would after seeing such a program), and the next time I logged in to my webmail I noticed all the email was gone.
Ouch.
If anyone else comes across this, there’s some good news. When you uninstall 3dmailbox, it leaves your mail files somewhere on your computer (I can’t remember where, in your user account folder or something). Inside that folder you’ll find some database files. This is an “SQLite” database. If you know SQL, you can recover the email from these files with a little bit of work. Find someone who knows databases and they’ll be able to help you.
Now, I realize it was dumb of me to install such a program, and even dumber to use it with my primary email account, so I don’t blame you if you’re laughing at me.
The woman diving in the beginning isn’t half naked. She’s COMPLETELY naked!!!
Seems there is a lot of good press about this program which the Orally man omitted. (Remember that line from Fawlty Towers? Manuel cannot pronounce O’Reilly, so he calls the workman “Orally” LOL). Anywho… checks dis out, it’s a brilliant interview with the chap who invented 3DM:
http://www.smartmoney.com/thep.....;nav=RSS20
How come no-one pointed out the diver chick loses her bikini for a moment?
Oh my god, now I read the comments and some people actually wrote in support of this thing. Haha that’s great. Seriously, in this history of computing no worse program has ever been created.
Spam rendered as big fat guys on the beach? Who actually thought that was a good idea?
3-D Mailbox: “TnA for your email”
This reminds me of iBloks.com http://www.ibloks.com/ another total useless piece of crap. “Oh, but we have developers and PMs who’ve worked at MSN therefore out idea is good” - bullcrap. Should be a way to nominate sites like this for some kind of “Worst of…” award.
Porjects like this announcing that the “new economy bubble 2.0″ is going to burst in the very near future.
Maybe it would be cooler if you could convert each one of your friends’ email addresses into a small avatar of that person, complete with their voice. Then when you open up an email from them, you’d see a little image of your friend standing there talking to you…
Naaaah!
This is pretty awesome right here.
So if your get a virus by email, all the people will be infected with horrible diseases and die and the shark will putrefy in the pool?
Outstanding. I almost peed myself.
Oh shut up nay sayers. Someone went out and tried something new. Support entrepreneurs, leave your bitterness at you 9-5 bullshit, safe corporate job.
Don’t laugh, but if I had to choose between the bloated monstrosity that is Outlook 2007 and 3D Mailbox…at least 3D Mailbox might give me a reason to laugh, as opposed to hurling this Vaio out the nearest window!
Haha, I am keeping an ear out for news of someone buying this (I know a few who would).
They created a buzz and it’s working. They knew they couldn’t compete with the YMail/Gmail, so this is definitely the way to go.
@42 Brian, you have other choices
I think it’s a great-looking ‘email client’ (can i call it that?). Utterly pointless but pure genious!
someone tried for being best for worst, and fortunately succeeded
“When not coordinating the 40 people behind 3D Mailbox from his home office, he enjoys relaxing on his private island with his wife and daughter, road biking up mountains, poring over Shakespeare’s plays, and playing the absurd Italian playboy Marcello Mastrantonioni on YouTube.”
– Too much time spent lying in the hot sun on his private island methinks.
As a morbidly obese individual, I take offense at the depiction of spam as morbidly obese individuals, and the depiction of good mail as slim and beautiful girls and guys. Or am I taking this too personally? Hell, if there were an anorexic as spam too, that would round things out, and I’d feel better about it. I don’t want to be sittin eatin my Big Mac and have some guy yell out, “Hey, you’re the dude from 3D Mailbox!” Ya know?
“So if my mom emails me, it will show up as a half naked, hot blond? uugh… no, thanks”
LMAO.
I may have overreacted. It was really frustrating to lose my email and spend 2/3 of a day trying to recover it, but, fair enough, it was my own fault for missing the option. The bad memory of losing my email stuck around a bit longer than the good points, which I guess is always what happens when you have a less-than-awesome customer experience
The program does exactly what it says it does - it is a 3d mail application. The company replied quickly to my email with tips on how to avoid the problem I had, and even made a change to the program in response to my issue. So, there’s really nothing about it I don’t like… so try it out and form your own opinion
What happened to me could have happened with any mail program.