It's good to know that we try too hard. Gives you that special sort of feeling that says "hey, this guy put three months of hard labor into this idea, so it's gotta be good."

Something can be good, but still not right.

Remember back, if you will, about ten years ago, when we had the "multifunction era". When we had clock radios with flashlights, and TVs that would boil water before waking you up. Or phones that had alarm clocks and radios. And remember how no one bought any?

This is happening today in two different ways. The first mimics the one above: people are combining hardware to produce the ultimate multifunction. I saw a keyboard a couple of days ago that had a phone built into it, and a headset you could speak into. Where? On the clearance table of an office store.

The second way we are experiencing the "multifunction era" all over again is with software. This is not as clear cut as the other. Software doesn't have to combine features together to qualify... usually, when that happens, you have a decent product. What software does instead is to take a simple feature, blow it so out of proportion that it looks good and sounds good, but just doesn't work.

And this is where I bring you: "push" technology.

I won't name any names, but there are programs which sit on your desktop, "pushing" stock quotes, or "pushing" the latest news, which you can then double click to go to the website or download the full article. They combine glitzy animation with the latest news to provide you with what they think you want.

But, the problem with the software is that it's really not "push". "Push" assumes you are getting the information you want, sent to you before you want it, ready to be read and disposed of. Instead, the software sends a crapload of information to you (making you wait for information you will never read), randomizes and rotates that information (during the program's screensaver mode), making you have to search for the news you want in a jungle of garbage, and then saves all that information on your hard drive until you tell it to clean up, or it reaches some large set limit (usually ten megs).

That's... um... uh... well, it's not "push".

"Push":

• sends you only the information you want.

• sends it without you having to search for it. Often, when you wake in the morning, it's there.

• lets you get rid of it easily.

• is NOW. You won't want to wait for something to download.

• is individualistic. You can't satisfy every single person on the planet with one glitzy, high media software package. By doing so, you turn people into a number in your database... "push" can't work that way.

So, what is the ultimate "push"? It's been under our noses right along and we use it every day. We're already familiar with it and we like it a lot. As a matter of fact, we probably already use it for "push", we just never thought to call it that.

Email.

In a wonderful article entitled "The Hot New Medium Is... Email", David S. Bennahum confirms "the cost of production and distribution is extremely low. That's an important distinction..." Why? Let's say you love alpacas, the cousin to the llama. If you subscribe to what the industry and company leaders label as "push", who spend millions of dollars in attempts to make some sort of profit, you'll never see anything about an alpaca. But, through email, you can find a list that is ALL about alpaca's... you have found only the information you want.

Why does this work? Bennahum continues "...quality information [attracts] people with little time, people who [want] the best information. They, in turn, [begin] forwarding good information..." So, you subscribe to the alpaca list, and funny enough, you like it. You start sending your favorite grooming tips and other handy knowledge. The list prospers because of communication amongst the people who care. Unlike the "push" software you see today where you sit there, it comes, and you like it or you don't, email has a wonderful dose of interaction that can't be found anywhere else.

From Mark Anderson: "The Web is not a broadcast medium; it's a transaction medium. During all this hype about videostreaming, people have been emailing each other. There's been a denial about what's going on. Email works and people like it... There is always this disconnect between what the media focuses on as new and what people are using in the market-place. There is no better example of that than the Web."

I bid you welcome to Low Bandwidth.

What we attempt to do is provide you with real "push"... that which is part of your routine already and doesn't require "extra steps", doesn't make you wait, can be deleted at any time, and allows you to communicate with the very people who provide it for you. And with the collections of both Todd Kuiper's Email Zine Listing and the Email Ezine Emporium (E3) combined into Low Bandwidth, we'll be able to do just that.

Bennahum mentions that writers (read: anyone with work to do) often procrastinate by checking their email... much like grabbing another cup of coffee and hoping to run into someone on the way. It's a simple way to prolong the inevitable.

So... uh... checked your mail lately?

[Hey!]: Visit Low Bandwidth by going to http://www.disobey.com/low/.

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Devil Shat is published by Disobey & is protected under all copyright laws.
Devil Shat Twenty Nine was released on 06/18/98. Last updated: 06/23/98.