Throbbing e-mail

Right now, FireDrop offers free Zaplets for a variety of typical office-worker functions like setting up a meeting, planning a party, gathering contact information for a company phone list or discussing someone's risumi. But even these display what makes Zaplets more than just a way to consolidate (though that's certainly useful). These messages use the computer not just to relay information, but to perform another function such as making the calculations for a chart.

The product is still in beta, but it's easy to see how it could be extended to commercial applications such as running a private auction or a sale on a specific product, good only for one day, after which the message expires. Click here right in this message to buy now! In the works, according to FireDrop co-founder Brian Axe, is the "Mission Impossible" Zaplet: "This Zaplet will self-destruct in 30 seconds!" he laughs.

Thankfully, the company isn't placing ads on Zaplets, but instead hopes to make money by selling its services to companies who want customized Zaplets for their customers. So for the moment, the business model seems to depend on keeping development of new Zaplets in FireDrop's own hands.

Right now FireDrop is only giving away the handful of initial Zaplets to consumers, while developing more customized versions for partner firms. But, Axe mentions suggestively, that's just Phase 1. "We don't want to be the world's biggest bottleneck to creating Zaplets," says Axe, choosing his words carefully.

The company has more than a dozen patents pending on the technology, which has competitors raising eyebrows and calling their lawyers. Josh Silverman, CEO of Evite.com, an online invitation company in San Francisco, says that it experimented with the same concept over a year ago, but customers didn't understand it. "The technology behind Zaplet is super easy," says Silverman. "When you open your e-mail, it's the same as hitting a Web page except it's in your e-mail box." Axe counters that the hard part is making the application understand what kind of e-mail client you're using to make what you see work for you.

Every time you open the message, the Zaplet contacts FireDrop's server to look for new information. Of course, this means opening a message may involve a delay, just like calling up a Web site; in effect, the Zaplet is clicking on a link for you, which brings up the new dynamic information in the message. The result: As long as you're online, the information is current when you open the message, not just when it's sent.

If live e-mail sounds like a computer version of the ebola virus waiting to happen, don't be too nervous about getting zapped. Zaplets do use JavaScript, as well as HTML, but work even if JavaScript is turned off. "What they're doing is not risky," says Richard M. Smith, a computer security expert in Brookline, Mass., who recommends shutting off JavaScript as a preventive measure against viruses.

Web usability consultant Jakob Nielsen, who is on the advisory board of FireDrop, thinks that wide use of Zaplets could cut down the number of e-mails we all receive by as much as 75 percent.

Reducing in-box obesity may sound like a Holy Grail for time-starved, information-overloaded Internet users. But though Zaplets may help reduce the number of clicks between us and the information flowing toward us, they won't necessarily reduce the volume of that information. And cutting down on the number of messages doesn't cut down on the number of times that we'll have to open them to see what -- if anything -- is new.

Still, Zaplets might make it easier to tune out some interminable e-mail thread that you never wanted to join in the first place. And, now, instead of compulsively checking to see if you have new messages as a handy form of procrastination, you can compulsively open old messages to see if anything's happened since the last time you looked. Neat.

The other promise of Zaplets is to bring some of the functions of Web sites conveniently into your e-mail. In that spirit, I've sent a Hunger Site Zaplet to myself. I used to have to try to remember to visit the Hunger Site every day -- making my infinitesimal contribution to charity -- by pulling down the bookmark in my browser. Now, I have to remember to call up my e-mail program and dig up my Zaplet. In this case, I'm not sure that I've gained anything, except another e-mail awaiting my attention.

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