Dynamic images (ex. live countdown clock) in HTML emails
email, html, php
Solution
It's a PNG (although animated PNGs don't work on some browsers...this one somehow manages the trick).
Some of these large companies buy the service from http://movableink.com
Check out lastminute.com's recent clock http://www.movable-ink-4805.com/p/lp/aad7a5df0fdfe6be.png
It runs for 1 minute. The expectation is nobody will look at it for longer.
By the way, you may want to check out the Open Source project https://github.com/Omgitsonlyalex/EmailCountdown
Problem
I've been trying to figure out how companies like GAP, Starbucks, Office Depot etc... have been able to send emails with a live countdown timer in them. Obviously, javascript won't run on emails and neither will flash. Can PHP do such thing? Here's a sample of what Starbucks sent me this morning. http://ink1003.com/p/lp/4a4d39bdf193841d.png?mi_t=BQsyGEAJvkyvB8vVgWNsoVfTVZ The closest I've seen to handling this is a paid service http://stylecampaign.com/blog/2010/12/dynamic-time-based-images/