Everyone's talking about a new iPhone app, Mailbox. It uses simple swiped gestures to archive email, or postpone it, or send it to a “to do” list. Mailbox users can quickly highlight their entire inbox and instruct it to come back “tomorrow”. If you have an iPhone, you're probably already in the queue for the app.
What's intriguing about Mailbox is that it is basically a redesigned front-end for Gmail; it adds very little actual functionality to Gmail but it strongly nudges us in particular directions, making it easy for us to handle our email in the way we should have been handling it anyway. The word “should” is intriguing: I've strong opinions about how to handle email. Mailbox also has strong opinions, unlike the bland “do with me as you will” of most email clients.
Modern software is fascinating because of the rapidly evolving way in which software designers try to make complex tools intuitive to use. The results are patchy but, at their best, rather brilliant. And the way in which the best software is created is fascinating, too: it's a potent blend of thoughtful design with constant experimentation. The design gurus brainstorm and create; the experimenters see what works. In fact, this process - supported by the relentless improvement of our silicon infrastructure - has become so successful that when somebody says “technology”, we immediately think of computers and phones, rather than aeroplanes, vaccines or nuclear reactors.