手機版
If you're feeling guilty about how rarely you update your email contacts, you're not alone. There are loads of people just like you who would rather not waste time cutting and pasting contact information from emails into digital address books. Instead, they search through email messages for the most up-to-date information, like phone numbers or addresses.
But it's easy to delete or lose emails. Contacts in a digital address book are more permanent, and they synchronize with smartphones.
This week I tested Gwabbit (Gwabbit.com), a tool that automatically hunts through your emails as you receive them, finding contact information that can be captured -- 'gwabbed' -- and saved in your contacts. It starts on its own without prompting and uses pop-up notifications to tell you that a message has contact information you might want stored in your address book.
Gwabbit comes from Technicopia LLC and uses a pink Gwabbit Wabbit as its mascot, which adds a little whimsy to the dull task of saving contact information. Currently, it works only as a Microsoft Outlook plug-in, but Technicopia is working on a BlackBerry application that will come out at the end of May. Down the line, the company is planning products for the Mac and Web-based email services.
I started with the free version of Gwabbit, which lasts for 14 days or 20 Gwabbit uses, then upgraded to the paid version, which costs $20. Gwabbit's accuracy -- its ability to find the right information in an email and put it in the right field in an Outlook contact card -- was usually reliable. The product works by looking for symbols, like '@' to designate email addresses or parentheses to indicate phone numbers, as well as where information appears in a signature.
In most cases, Gwabbit took only a few seconds to work, per contact. It wasn't always perfect, but worked well enough to make me start saving a substantially larger number of Outlook contacts -- and it updated my contacts that had old, outdated information.
Gwabbit installs with a few annoying features turned on. If you're like me and you get a lot of emails from people you don't know, Gwabbit's notifications will pop up often, which could be irritating. If you turn the notifications off, you may not remember to use Gwabbit.
I found it irksome that Gwabbit installs its own promotion in every contact that it creates for you. If you used Gwabbit to make a contact card in Outlook, the notes field will be filled with an announcement that you used Gwabbit, including a Web link for the product -- even in the paid version. Technicopia says that it will eliminate this in the next paid version of Gwabbit, which is due out in about three weeks.
Competitors to Gwabbit include the built-in contact grab tools in email clients like Microsoft Outlook and Apple Mail. But these programs don't automatically extract information from all email addresses the way Gwabbit does. Other third-party programs like Signature2Contacts don't pop up automatically when an email contains information that you don't have; instead, you must initiate extracting information.
When Gwabbit is downloaded and installed, it adds to Outlook its own toolbar, which can be hidden at will.
When Gwabbit's auto-grab feature is turned on, a small bubble appears in Outlook when any highlighted email has contact information that isn't saved in your address book -- including people whose signatures have changed since the last time you saved them. The Gwabbit bubble takes a few seconds to appear, which Technicopia says allows enough time for you to read an email. But if you're scrolling down a list of emails, this bubble will keep popping up for many different emails and can slightly slow down your ability to arrow down through the list.
When Gwabbit can't find signature information in an email, it creates a bare-bones contact card for the person, and then gives you the option of highlighting the person's signature block, from which to extract information for the contact card. In my experience, this problem occurred only a handful of times -- usually when looking at a recent email in a string of messages back and forth, because Gwabbit couldn't find someone's signature buried within the correspondence.
If a Gwabbit notification pops up and you don't want to save the contact information for the person who sent that email, you can hit an 'Ignore this Contact' option in the notification. This sets Gwabbit so it never tries to save that person's information again. If you want to save information but you're in the middle of doing something else when the notification pops up, you can hit the 'X' button in the notification bubble. This closes the notification but doesn't ignore the contact in the future.
Gwabbit seems like a simple tool, but its ability to find contact information that you don't already have -- or that differs from what you already have -- is a task that you aren't likely doing regularly. So stop feeling guilty about your contacts and just gwab them.
nikenengyinweihenjiumeiyougengxindianziyoujiantongxunbuergandaoneijiu，dannibushiweiyiyigeyouzhezhongganshouderen。youhenduorenheniyiyang，buxianglangfeishijianbadianziyoujianzhongfudaidelianxifangshijianqiebingfuzhidaotongxunbushang。xiangfan，tamenhuicongmourenjinqidedianziyoujianzhongzhazhaozuixinlianluoxinxi，birudianhuahaomahedizhideng。
然而，電子郵件很容易丟失或被刪除，而電子通訊簿更持久，並能同步到智能手機上去。
最近我測試了Gwabbit軟件(Gwabbit.com)，這(zhe)是(shi)一(yi)個(ge)收(shou)到(dao)郵(you)件(jian)後(hou)能(neng)在(zai)內(nei)容(rong)中(zhong)自(zi)動(dong)找(zhao)到(dao)相(xiang)關(guan)的(de)聯(lian)係(xi)方(fang)式(shi)，然(ran)後(hou)保(bao)存(cun)到(dao)通(tong)訊(xun)簿(bu)裏(li)的(de)程(cheng)序(xu)。它(ta)會(hui)自(zi)行(xing)啟(qi)動(dong)，並(bing)彈(dan)出(chu)一(yi)個(ge)通(tong)知(zhi)窗(chuang)口(kou)，告(gao)訴(su)你(ni)這(zhe)封(feng)郵(you)件(jian)含(han)有(you)可(ke)以(yi)存(cun)到(dao)通(tong)訊(xun)簿(bu)裏(li)的(de)聯(lian)絡(luo)信(xin)息(xi)。
Gwabbit是Technicopia LLC公司開發的，用一隻粉紅色的“傻兔子”(Gwabbit Wabbit)作為吉祥物，這給單調無聊的信息保存功能帶來一點好玩的感覺。目前，該軟件隻能作為微軟Outlook的插件，但Technicopia正在研製能在黑莓手機(BlackBerry)上使用的版本，預計於2009年5月底推出。隨後，公司計劃為蘋果電腦和基於互聯網的電子郵件服務開發相應的版本。
我最開始測試的是Gwabbit的免費版，可以試用14天或執行20次任務，然後就得更新到付費版本，費用是20美元。一般而言，Gwabbit的準確性－－即在電子郵件中找到正確信息並將其放入Outlook通訊簿相應位置的能力－－是很可靠的。該軟件通過尋找“@”字符來定位電子郵件地址，或尋找“括號”來定位電話號碼，以及尋找那些跟簽名在一起的信息。
在大多數情況下，Gwabbit每添加一次通訊簿隻需幾秒鍾時間。它並非十全十美，但已足以給我的通訊簿裏加上很多聯絡信息，而且還能更新原來那些老的、已經失效的聯係方式。
Gwabbit安裝後會開啟幾個不討人喜歡的功能。如果你像我一樣經常收到很多陌生人的來信，Gwabbit就會經常彈出通知窗口，讓人不厭其煩。但如果把通知功能關掉，就可能不記得使用Gwabbit。
讓我覺得不舒服的是，Gwabbit在每個創建的聯係方式中都插入自己的廣告。如果你用Gwabbit在Outlook中生成一個名片，備注欄上會有一個聲明，說你使用了Gwabbit軟件，還有一個產品網址－－即使用付費版本也一樣。Technicopia表示將在下一個付費版本中消除這些內容，大約還需三周時間就能推出。
Gwabbit的競爭對手包括微軟Outlook和蘋果電郵(Apple Mail)中內置的聯絡信息捕捉工具，但這些程序不像Gwabbit那樣能自動從所有郵件中提取信息。其他第三方軟件，如Signature2Contacts等，在郵件包含新聯係信息時不會自動彈出提醒窗口，你必須自己啟動信息提取功能。
下載並安裝Gwabbit後，它會在Outlook中加入自己的工具欄中，並可以選擇隱藏。
啟用Gwabbit的自動抓取功能後，如果收到一封內含新聯絡信息的郵件－－包括那些自上次保存在通訊簿後個人簽名又發生變化的聯係人－－就會在Outlook上出現一個小氣泡。Technicopia公司稱，Gwabbit的(de)氣(qi)泡(pao)會(hui)過(guo)幾(ji)秒(miao)鍾(zhong)才(cai)顯(xian)現(xian)出(chu)來(lai)，給(gei)你(ni)留(liu)下(xia)足(zu)夠(gou)的(de)時(shi)間(jian)閱(yue)讀(du)郵(you)件(jian)。但(dan)如(ru)果(guo)你(ni)滾(gun)動(dong)打(da)開(kai)一(yi)長(chang)列(lie)郵(you)件(jian)，氣(qi)泡(pao)就(jiu)會(hui)不(bu)斷(duan)出(chu)現(xian)，從(cong)而(er)讓(rang)你(ni)快(kuai)速(su)瀏(liu)覽(lan)每(mei)封(feng)郵(you)件(jian)的(de)速(su)度(du)有(you)所(suo)放(fang)緩(huan)。
當Gwabbit找(zhao)不(bu)到(dao)一(yi)封(feng)郵(you)件(jian)的(de)簽(qian)名(ming)時(shi)，就(jiu)會(hui)生(sheng)成(cheng)一(yi)張(zhang)該(gai)發(fa)件(jian)人(ren)的(de)空(kong)白(bai)名(ming)片(pian)，讓(rang)你(ni)選(xuan)擇(ze)該(gai)人(ren)的(de)簽(qian)名(ming)部(bu)位(wei)，從(cong)而(er)提(ti)取(qu)聯(lian)絡(luo)信(xin)息(xi)。在(zai)我(wo)的(de)測(ce)試(shi)中(zhong)，隻(zhi)有(you)幾(ji)次(ci)出(chu)現(xian)過(guo)這(zhe)種(zhong)情(qing)況(kuang)－－通常是在閱讀一封多次往返的郵件時產生的，因為Gwabbit在那麼多的往返內容中找不到正確的簽名部位。
如果Gwabbit彈出通知氣泡，而你不想保存發件人的聯絡信息，就可以點擊氣泡中的“忽略該人”選項，這樣Gwabbit以後就不會再提示保存此人的信息。如果你想保存信息但又在忙著做別的事情，就可以點擊通知氣泡的“X”按鍵，關閉通知但以後不會忽略該聯係人。
Gwabbit似si乎hu是shi個ge簡jian單dan的de工gong具ju，但dan它ta能neng找zhao到dao你ni通tong訊xun簿bu中zhong沒mei有you的de聯lian絡luo信xin息xi，或huo與yu現xian有you內nei容rong不bu一yi致zhi的de信xin息xi，這zhe是shi你ni自zi己ji難nan以yi定ding期qi做zuo到dao的de。因yin此ci，你ni不bu必bi再zai為wei不bu更geng新xin通tong訊xun簿bu而er感gan到dao內nei疚jiu了le，用yongGwabbit吧。
