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Return to Main Press Page Full Story  Silicon Forest Watch Monday, June 4, 2001 -------------------- Bells and whistles just beginning with messages from CoolerEmail There once was a time when plain, text-based e-mail was cool. But these days, with most e-mail programs able to read graphics, music and animations, text messages seem so . . . 20th century. For small organizations that don't have the horsepower to create eye-catching, HTML-programmed e-mail, Leif C. Youngberg and Lars Helgeson have created a way for neophytes to dress up everyday e-mails. They call it CoolerEmail. Launched last month, Portland-based CoolerEmail enables a user to create a cooler e-mail using a template on CoolerEmail's Web site. A user can choose background colors, fonts and layouts, create multiple text boxes with headlines, embed Web links, and import pictures, graphics, banners, music and videos. CoolerEmail also can add buttons for e-commerce so that a recipient can buy items directly through the e-mail rather than having to jump to a Web site. The result is an e-mail that looks and acts like a professionally designed Web page. "We're trying to make CoolerEmail simple to use," said Youngberg, who gave up a law practice a few years ago to become an Internet entrepreneur. Helgeson, a former aerospace engineer, does the heavy computer coding from his San Diego home. Users build and send each e-mail via CoolerEmail's Web site, www.CoolerEmail.com. They also use the site to manage their e-mail address lists and track who reads the e-mail, when and how. A "test-drive" subscription lets a user send 10 free CoolerEmails. The basic subscription lets a user send up to 1,000 monthly e-mails for $39.95 a month. To drum up interest in CoolerEmail, the duo is sponsoring The Cooler Contest. They will award a free, one-year, basic CoolerEmail subscription daily until Aug. 17 to contestants who sign up for a test drive, build the coolest free CoolerEmail and send it to at least one cool person. That's something to e-mail home about. -- Steve Woodward |