08-22-2003, 03:35 PM
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Executive Editor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 29,160
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Pocket PC Thoughts Weekly Newsletter Launched
Some of you will have already seen this in your Inbox, but I'm very pleased to announce that, after four weeks of false starts, we've finally launched our weekly newsletter! It's been in development for months, but we kept having trouble with our mailing script timing out. Fabrizio got it nailed down, and the newsletter went out today. You've all had an option in your preferences to turn on/off the newsletter for the past couple of months, but strangely enough no one asked me what this was for. :wink:
The newsletter will be sent out every Friday morning at 8 AM MT, and it will dynamically take a snapshot of the news of the previous seven days and give you a summary of all the headlines. We've also created some slick code that looks at all the stories of the past week, and how many comments people made on the stories, in order to list the "hot" stories of the week. The funny part is that the off-topic stories tend to generate the greatest number of comments, so the hot stories will quite often be off-topic stories as well.
We'll be evolving the newsletter over time, and I'm eager to listen to feedback about it. What else should we include in it? One of the primary goals of the newsletter is to make it as automated as possible. Other than the editorial introduction that I have to write every week, everything else there is automated.
I hope everyone enjoys the newsletter! It's free for everyone, subscribers and non-subscribers alike. I've chosen to make it banner-ad free (there's a sponsored item and featured download zone however), so you can focus on the content instead of flashing and blinking graphics.
Constructive comments welcome!
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08-22-2003, 03:45 PM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Feb 2004
Posts: 185
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It is too bad we can't read it on our Pocket PC :-(
You should at least include a link to the message on the web in the text body of the mail ...
Except for that it is a nice thing :-)
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08-22-2003, 04:15 PM
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Contributing Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 8,228
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Is anyone getting a TEXT version? I am supposed to be but it still comes through as HTML. I'm wondering how many text subscribers there are.
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08-22-2003, 04:17 PM
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Executive Editor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 29,160
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by butch
It is too bad we can't read it on our Pocket PC :-(
You should at least include a link to the message on the web in the text body of the mail ...
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We're looking at bundling a plain text version of the newsletter alongside the HTML version. The biggest problem with that is that it almost doubles the size of the newsletter. We'll look at some options, but I don't know if it's feasible for us to blast out two separate versions of the newsletter. One option would be to include an URL to the newsletter online, then Pocket PC/Smartphone users could go visit the page on the site. I don't know that we're generating a static page though, so that may be difficult.
Thanks for the feedback, we're new at this and eager to learn more. :-)
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08-22-2003, 04:23 PM
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Contributing Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 8,228
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Jason Dunn
Thanks for the feedback, we're new at this and eager to learn more. :-)
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It would be cool if we could automate this process into a Repligo .RGO file.
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08-22-2003, 04:25 PM
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Mystic
Join Date: Feb 2004
Posts: 1,911
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I like it. You guys are full of surprises. Thanks! 
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08-22-2003, 04:27 PM
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Executive Editor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 29,160
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Ed Hansberry
It would be cool if we could automate this process into a Repligo .RGO file.
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It would, but Cerience has no server-side components. They're considering developing something, but nothing so far for us to use.
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08-22-2003, 04:31 PM
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Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 1,998
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Just got mine. Very cool.
Nice job!
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08-22-2003, 04:39 PM
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Ponderer
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 80
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Sweet - well done.
You need a link from the home page to the weekly digests - or at least the editorials as you can get to most of the rest from archives.
Looking forward to the long weekend here in the UK. Why Banks need holidays I will never know; but I welcome each and everyone. (For those that don't know - most public holidays in UK are called Bank Holidays).
Rgds,
Theo
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08-22-2003, 04:50 PM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Aug 2002
Posts: 254
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+
+ Summary of the week at the bottom!
+ Free (also for non subscribers) & Banner Ad-free
+ "Push tech"
+ Delivered on friday (another thing to look forward to on fridays  )
+ Add's some new things for people who already visit daily.
+ Clear whats sponsorship and whats editorial
+ Easy to set up filters/rules based on the subject field (Pocket PC Thoughts Weekly Digest: mmmm dd, yyyy
+ Easy to read, great choice of colors
+ Makes clear how to stop recieving the newsletter (bottom)
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- No TXT version/No PPC "version"
- Miss a freeware download section (al� Lockergnome)
- Miss a "This weeks Q&A" section (look to Lockergnome Windows daily)
- Online version? (ability to sync via Repligo/Avantgo/Other)
Total verdict
8.5/10
__________________
In times of change, its the learners who will inherit the earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to handle a world that no longer exist.
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