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As much as other options seem to be attempting to replace it, email is still the bread and butter of most of our Internet usage.  Thousands of applications and software suites have been created to make email more useful and manageable since its inception.

For the Mac user, however, the choices have usually been sparse and with the emergence of easy-access Web-based email, it’s even harder to really organize your inbox.  That’s where Sparrow comes in.  It’s a simple, minimalist email app for the Mac that goes a long way towards simplifying your email experience.

Sparrow has a Twitter-like look to it that condenses a lot of information into a small space.  Any email account can be integrated into your Sparrow inbox, including Gmail, AOL and more, using IMAP.

Much of Sparrow’s great usability comes from Gmail.  Threaded conversations within a subject, color-coded labels for quick reference, and more are included in Sparrow, but incorporate something that most Gmail users don’t have: the Mac’s multitouch capability.  You can do a lot of your email marking and prioritizing through gestures rather than multiple clicks thanks to that.

When minimized, Sparrow resides on the Menu Bar with an indicator so you always know if new messages arrive.  Aliases, notifications, and great handling of attachments all round out Sparrow’s services.

This application will change the way Mac users interact with their email.  It’s a great addition to the toolbox of any busy person.

The most recent Super Bowls have featured a lot of great advertising from tech-related companies.  This year was no different with no fewer than 18 ad spots during the game going to tech (21 if you include cellular).  Here’s a roundup of the commercials during the big game, in alphabetical order by company name.

BestBuy: How Many Bloody Gs Are There Anyways?

Careerbuilder: Parking Lot

Carmax.com:

Cars.com:

Chatter: Will.i.am #1 / #2

The Daily: America Meet the Daily

E*Trade:

GoDaddy: Joan Rivers

Groupon: Save the Money, Whales / Tibet / Rainforest

Homeaway.com:

LivingSocial: Changed My Life

Motorola Xoom Tablet: Empower the People

Teleflora.com: Faith Hill

Verizon will begin selling the iPhone to its customers later this week (probably tomorrow).  When they do, unlike AT&T, they’ll offer unlimited data plans to go with the phones.  The wireless carrier says they’ve got the network to handle it, thanks to recent upgrades and beef-ups.

AT&T, which has long been the exclusive carrier for the Apple devices, retorted that iPhone users on Verizon will be experiencing “Life in the Slow Lane.”  Of course, this is coming from AT&T who’s had a long history of network outages and data stream problems during its tenure as the iPhone’s exclusive carrier.

Of course, the unlimited plans on Verizon are likely just a sales gimmick since the company has already been on board with AT&T and others regarding tiered pricing.  That model makes sense, since it incentivizes uses to lessen network load and go easy on the data usage – charging those who do so anyway for the privilege.  Verizon already charges on a tier for 4G LTE access.

Verizon has a lot to worry about as well, in terms of PR.  They, more than any other, have built their reputation on their network and its reliability and speed.  They have wide coverage – often in areas the others don’t – and a large customer base.  Any problems with their iPhone coverage in the first few weeks could be disastrous for PR.

So only time will tell how all of this pans out, but one thing is very clear: this means competition in the iPhone market and that can only be a good thing for consumers.

The search for relevance seems never-ending.  Google is undeniably the search king and Bing might be considered a prince, but few others even register on the search engine map.  Now there’s Blekko, yet another attempt by a fledgling search engine to get into the market.

Unlike the others, though, Blekko might actually get somewhere.  Why?  Because it’s unique and relevant – two things most other search startups can’t really claim, though many try.

First of all, Blekko is crowd sourced.  So searches are refined by other people using the system, in the same way Wikipedia is written and edited by others.  As the Blekko founder’s blog says:

Not everyone has to participate for the model to work – most people don’t edit Wikipedia, yet we have a vast encyclopedia which long ago dwarfed the closed Britannica.

But a small fraction of the web audience that does get involved can help make the search experience better for everyone else.

That makes the blog unique.  The blog is relevant because it specializes in what are called “vertical” searches.  These are category-based searches that are narrowed (refined) by the category they fall into.  On Google, when you search for a topic and then click the News link, you’re narrowing the search into a vertical space based on the News category.  Blekko lets you do that, but with anything as a category.

So a search for “Time Zone in California /encyclopedia” would give you results for the phrase “Time Zone in California” in the vertical zone (category) “encyclopedia.”

This has the potential to give excellent results.

Blekko has been in closed beta for some time and has only now gone live to the public.  It’s worth a try and may become something you add to your search arsenal.

North Carolina State (NC State) launched a new and free game on Apple’s iTunes App Store on August 27.  The game is a collaboration between the school’s Distance Education and Learning Technology Applications (DELTA) program and a local gaming company, Spark Plug Games, who hosts interns from the DELTA program.

The application is a simple match-3 game on an 8 x 6 playing field with 17 levels of game play.  It’s curiously addicting and is themed on the NC State Wolf mascot (hence the name, WolfMatch).

The game’s theme isn’t just window dressing either, as its matches spell the school’s name, splash screens and marques give fun facts and background on NC State’s history, and more.  Future releases will also focus on the various educational disciplines of the college, which obviously appeals to fans, alumni, and current students and faculty at NC State.

Several current students, including David Drews, a senior Art Applications major in NC State’s College of Design: “Over the past few years, we’ve explored various marketing channels,” he says, including a lot of the traditional ones.  “We wanted to try something new,” he continues, “and push into mobile app development.”  He says that working with the app team at DELTA and Spark Plug Games proved to be valuable experience for him.

Other students interned through NCSU’s Instructional Support Services team on several aspects of the game’s design and build.

Altogether, the game is fun, a great showcase of branded app building, and fun to play.  Even those who aren’t fans of NC State might find themselves changing their minds because the game keeps you entertained a lot longer than you’d expect.

WolfMatch can be downloaded from the iTunes App Store or from NC State’s DELTA website.

In a move that seems to be confusing many in the blogosphere, Google has moved to purchase visual search engine Like.com (which has search tools and several properties) for a reported $100 million.  TechCrunch broke the story followed by several others who jumped in to put in their two cents.

Here’s mine.

The main reason Google would buy a property like Like.com is solely for the patents.  Google has experimented with visual search in the past, as have a lot of other companies.  It turns out, though, Like.com has a patent on using visual search in e-commerce.  They’ve actively enforced that patent against startups in the past, such as the now-defunct Modista.

In the industry, buying a company merely to get their patents is called a “land grab.”  It’s common practice and, in the case of many “paper only” startups (which Like.com doesn’t appear to be), it’s their sole reason for existence.  A paper-only startup is one that exists merely to own and enforce a patent.  They’ll start the company with some idea, but instead of creating technology around it (beyond a rudimentary level, in order to qualify for a patent), they’ll instead file for a patent and carry that along as their sole reason for being, using it to bash all those who infringe upon it.

As I said, Like.com appears to have been really using their technology, however.  They have several properties that surround the Like.com core and its visual search, embedding themselves in nearly every type of ecommerce out there.  While none of their sites are popular, they are all legitimate.

So it’s obvious to me that Google purchased a patent here, not a visual search algorithm.  Given their investment in Pixazza, it’s even more obvious that this is what they’re doing.