It's really hard to tell the exact utility of such an office gadget: since you work in an office with a computer that's connected to the Internet and e-mails are part of your work routine, it's to be assumed that you're using an e-mail client with notification settings as well. All sorts of balloons popping up on your screen (hopefully in the lower right corner) and dings should tell you that you've got mail. Yet, it seems like this does not suffice, at least for some guys – and thus the USB Webmail Notifier has been created.

The USB Webmail Notifier is a luminous desktop gadget that will light up when incoming e-mail has reached your inbox.

Now, let's think a bit about how useful such a gadget could be. OK, it is a USB peripheral and this means that it can get power from your computer; just a small cable and you're all set up. It can also change color to let you know that your inbox is almost full. Now, all decent companies have a mail server that automatically warns users about the "almost full" status of their inbox. The USB Webmail Notifier could be somewhat useful when it comes to webmail but come on, every webmail provider shows you the status of your inbox directly on the dashboard.

It seems that this gadget is just a tool for fun or to help you tell your work mates how busy you are; just take care with the personal webmail – too much activity will not be in your best interest. The USB Webmail Notifier comes with blue, red and green indicator lights and can be used with any POP3 accounts, as well as with Yahoo, Gmail, Outlook and Outlook Express, under Win2000, XP and Vista. No word on the Mac compatibility, at least not yet.

With 74 x 30 x 47 mm dimensions, it will definitely not crowd your desktop too much. If you feel like you really need something to help you with your e-mails, you can get it here, for only $17.


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