Pivotal IQ Blog

We've heard reports from numerous ESP partners and clients that AOL has been sending back large volumes of bounces due to the deactivation of old and unused email accounts. Although the exact reasons for what constitutes an inactive email account isn't 100% clear the numbers and reports we've been seeing range anyway from the documented 30 days in their Terms of Service (this document specifically applies to screen names but also appears to cover email) to 90 days and upwards of 6 months.

We've heard from end mailers and from top-tier email service providers who are experiencing large queues attempting to deliver email to Comcast, one of the leading cable providers in North America. More than 5 separate email service providers have reported queue times from hours to days. The behavior appears to have started on Friday, May 14th and has persisted till today, Friday the 21st of May. Comcast is looking into the issue and working with one ESP to help them, Comcast,  trouble shoot the problem as they are not seeing any specific problems that may be leading to the delays on their end.

We know that spammers are the enemies of all legitimate marketers—the fear spread by malware, fraud and spoofing have made our jobs increasingly more complicated and difficult. But if we think we have it tough then the ISPs are fighting an uphill battle where the end-game hasn't appeared on the horizon. I'm happy to bring you another fantastic interview from the spam trenches, as the title says, in email the wind doesn't blow, it sucks. No one knows this better than Yahoo!'s Carlo Catajan who has been on the front lines and in the trenches at one of the world's largest ISPs for almost a decade. As a member of the anti-spam operations team at Yahoo! Carlo has seen it all and now he shares a bit of his knowledge and insight with us here on the Unica blog.

When an ISP changes their webmail interface I sometimes cringe anticipating more advertising, poorer support for CSS and other nuances that will drive any HTML designer bonkers. In the case the new Verizon 2.0 email client the overall feel is sleeker with less advertising to interfere with user's interaction and email reading experience.

We're at T minus 15 hours and counting down to April 3rd, the day the iPad officially hits store shelves. Leading pundits and devotees of the digital brand anticipate an end to global hunger and disease, the cessation of all wars, the beating of swords into plough shares, peace and brotherhood among men and the return of Elvis. Oh wait, yesterday was April Fool's day and I'm a day late and a buck short. Oh well, time for a little truth.

Let’s start with a confession: I went to the movies last night—and I went to see Hot Tub Time Machine! Yes, I admit it, I laughed till my belly ached, my eyes teared and my bladder wobbled on the verge of erupting. I’m tempted now to peg my pants in honor of the 80’s and sit down with a bag of Cheetohs and RC cola and watch every John Cusack film made between 1980 and 1989 and for good measure I’ll throw in The Breakfast Club, Some Kind of Wonderful & 16 Candles.

Starting on March 23rd Lycos began to roll out a new email client. The new front end is powered by Zimbra, an open source collaboration suite.

The NCAA Tournament started last Thursday which means that sports fanatics all over the country are consuming massive quantities of $0.99 Doritos, developing calluses changing channels frantically and going cross-eyed staring at their brackets. What I didn't count on was Gmail joining the the festivities and filtering a significant amount of email to the junk folder!