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Microsoft buys Acompli, an email app for Android

Microsoft announced today that it acquired Acompli, an email client for Android and iOS, in an effort to own more productivity apps on each mobile platform:

This acquisition is part of our company-wide effort to help people accomplish more with their mobile devices. This year we brought Office to the iPad and the iPhone, and we recently announced that we’re bringing Office to Android devices. These are significant steps in our work to deliver the best productivity experiences across mobile platforms, and we’re continuing to push forward.

Acompli also wrote about the acquisition news while discussing support for various file services:

Soon after launch we started working with a number of enterprise IT departments who believed, like we do, that great products need to be “Loved by Users, and Trusted by IT.” Right around this time we began conversations with the folks at Microsoft about how we could go farther by integrating the capabilities of their Office 365 platform into our product while continuing to provide amazing support for email and file services from Apple, Dropbox, Google, and Box. Those conversations led to today, where we have decided the opportunity to join forces in pursuit of a better, faster, more powerful email experience is something we can do better as one company.

The acquisition follows Microsoft’s announcement last month that Android tablet users can sign-up to preview the upcoming version of Office. Microsoft also integrated Office support with Dropbox as part of a new partnership between the two companies.

According to Re/code, Microsoft spent more than $200 million to buy up the email app although neither company disclosed that amount.

Less.Mail Android app aims to automatically handle emails for you

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[vimeo 110052494 w=704 h=396]

Robin Labs, the developmental team behind mobile assistant platform Robin.AI, has today unveiled their latest project, an app that responds to emails for you. Dubbed Less.Mail, the app handles routine email responses by automatically replying to emails based on how it interprets the message’s initial text.


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Google makes three Inbox invitations available to the app’s current users

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Earlier this week, Google launched Inbox, a new email management app that’s currently available on an invite-only basis. Almost reminiscent of when Mountain View launched Gmail as a beta product in the spring of 2004, the now social media-driven internet worked itself into a frenzy of tweets, +1s and likes from people vying to get hold of an invitation.


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Google’s new Inbox app is a marriage between Gmail and Google Now (update)

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Today, Google unveiled a new email solution called Inbox, which looks like a marriage between Gmail and Google Now. Currently available by invitation only, this new app takes bits from your email like purchase invoices and bank statements and groups them together for fast access. Like Google Now, Inbox adapts to the way you operate, highlighting key pieces of emails like flight plans, photos, documents and upcoming event information.


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Android’s stock data-wipe tool doesn’t fully delete your personal files, can allow easy recovery

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Before selling a used smartphone, most users take the time to erase personal data contained on the devices to prevent anything from falling into the hands of strangers. Most smartphones come with an option for doing this built right into the operating system, but a newly-discovered flaw in how Android handles the process could allow anyone to recover your personal information, including text messages, social media data, and a lot more.

How much more, exactly? According to researchers at security software maker Avast who purchased 20 smartphones from eBay, they were able to recover over 40,000 photos, 750 emails and text messages, and even a completed loan application. A few hundred contact entries were also pulled from the phones, and the original owners of four of the devices were found using the recovered information. That’s not even the worst part…


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Android’s stock Email app now available at Google Play

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Slowly but surely, Google is starting to bring some of Android’s core apps to Google Play and today that trend continues. The company recently added its stock Email application to the Play Store, making it available to folks with eligible gear like Nexus or select Google Play edition smartphones and tablets. In the past, Mountain View has opened its base apps up to most devices, so it’s possible that we may see its Email app get the same treatment at a later time.


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New Chrome extension PixelBlock lets you stop email trackers in Gmail

A new extension has landed in the Chrome Web Store called PixelBlock, which lets you block companies and individuals from tracking whether or not you’re opening their email. As you can see above, the extension shows a small red eye when it has detected a tracking attempt.

The creator, Omar Qureshi, had this to say about the plugin:

I made this to protect my email privacy and find out at the same time who’s trying to track me, and what they’re using. Was pretty surprised to see who used email tracking on me while sifting through my emails with PixelBlock on.

It’s not uncommon for companies that send out newsletters and the like to track those who are and aren’t opening them. With this quick extension, available completely free, you’re just one click away from being protected while using the web-based Gmail client.

Google breaks down how much email is encrypted during transit, launches End-to-End encryption tool

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Google wants you to know exactly how much email you send and receive is encrypted during transit, so today it launched a new section in its Transparency Report that does exactly that:

When you mail a letter to your friend, you hope she’ll be the only person who reads it. But a lot could happen to that letter on its way from you to her, and prying eyes might try to take a look. That’s why we send important messages in sealed envelopes, rather than on postcards… Email works in a similar way. Emails that are encrypted as they’re routed from sender to receiver are like sealed envelopes, and less vulnerable to snooping—whether by bad actors or through government surveillance—than postcards.

Google notes that Gmail has always used encryption in transit using Transport Layer Security (TLS), but that doesn’t do much if the email client on the other end isn’t doing the same.  Around 40 to 50 percent of emails between Gmail and others aren’t encrypted, according to Google, and it provided the following chart of what services are using encryption:
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Google launches cloud-based email migration to Google Apps, contacts & calendar on the way

Google announced on its Google Apps Updates blog today that cloud-based email migration for Google Apps is being rolled out over the course of the next 2 weeks, making it much easier for businesses to move from their own mail servers to Google’s Gmail servers.

Starting this week, we are making it easier for businesses to migrate email into Google Apps using our cloud-based data migration service. The data migration service can be configured via the Admin console to connect to your mail server and migrate email over to Google’s Gmail servers.

Notably, this means that those wishing to migrate no longer need to download migration tools and install them on local servers, moving the process entirely to the cloud. Google says that currently this service is only for mail, but that support for calendar and contact migration is in the works.

A support page for the service is also now online if you’re looking for more information.

Gmail adds action buttons for Offers, restaurant reviews, & YouTube, Dropbox, & Drive uploads

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Back in May Google rolled out new contextual quick action buttons in Gmail that appeared next to messages in your inbox allowing users to, for example, quickly RSVP to an invitation or check-in to flights. Today Google announced on its Gmail blog that it’s rolling out even more quick action buttons in Gmail. One of the new buttons will allow users to rate and review restaurants and save Google Offers with a single click:

For example, you can rate and review restaurants you ordered from on Seamless and even modify OpenTable reservations—all without opening an email. And for the deal lovers out there, you can conveniently save a promotion from Google Offers with one click, making it easy to find and buy it when you’re ready.

Another new quick action button will allow YouTube and Vimeo uploaders to click a “View video” button next to emails in their inbox to jump right to viewing their finished uploads (pictured below). The same button will also appear for Dropbox, Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides. 
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Google testing ads that look like emails in tabbed interface

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A few weeks ago, Google unveiled a new tabbed interface for Gmail that divides your inbox into several tabs, including primary, promotions, and updates. It looks like the company has some bigger plans for revenue with the third of those sections, however.

According to a new report from the Google System blog, the company is testing ads that resemble emails in the promotion tab. The ads look exactly like other emails in the inbox, but have a small ad logo below the sender’s name.

“It’s a new type of ad which you can forward to a friend, or star to save it to your inbox. If you dismiss this ad, you won’t see it again,” informs Google. You can click “dismiss” or use the “x” icon to remove an ad. If you want to see all the sponsored promotions for your account, go to this page.


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Gmail adds ability to create Google Calendar events directly from inbox

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Google is beginning to roll out a new feature in Gmail today that will allow users to quickly and easily create or add an event to Google Calendar without ever leaving their inbox. Once the feature has been enabled, users will be able to click the date and time within emails to add or create an Google Calendar entry using the data from the email (as pictured above). The calendar entry  can be edited before added and will also automatically include a link back to the original email for reference:

When you click on one of these underlined dates, you’ll be able to preview your schedule for the day and change the title, date or time of the event. Clicking “Add to Calendar” will do exactly that — add the event to your calendar, and for extra convenience, the calendar event will include a link back to the original email.

Keep an eye out for the new feature rolling out to everyone using the English (US) language setting over the next week.

Google follows an email’s epic journey with ‘The Story of Send’ [Video]

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[youtube=http://youtu.be/5Be2YnlRIg8]

Google released an animated video today that explores what happens to an email once the “send” button is clicked in Gmail.

The cartoon visually depicts a digital message’s journey as it travels past servers, cables, hard drives, even underground pathways equipped with vampires, from a user’s inbox to another’s mobile device.

The interactive timeline, dubbed “The Story of Send,” is meant to detail Google’s safety, security, and low energy footprint within its data centers as they handle billions of emails each day. While the HTML 5-based documentary provides an illustrated, advertised view of the process, visitors can get a more in-depth look by clicking on the informational tidbits, promotional videos, and photos embedded within the animation.

Check out the feature’s advertisement reel above, or just visit the website. You can even take a peak at 9to5Google’s video screen capture below.


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Fluent is a Sparrow-like UI for Gmail making the ‘future of email’, web-based service runs on all browsers

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z07MnBf9QNY]

Fluent is a web-based workflow stream that works with existing Gmail accounts to bring a Sparrow-like user interface to email.

Users can stream email threads and replies, preview aggregated attachments in a tab, quickly reply or compose inline, archive messages, and even add a to-do list with the new design concept that claims to run on any web browser.

Sparrow is a great success as a Mac-only application, and now Fluent hopes to balance the playing field and snag users whom are in dire need of a new Gmail look and functionality. Fluent’s website specifically praises its workflow ability, multiple accounts options, and “blazing” fast search-as-you-type filter.

The streaming email UI is the work of three former Googlers who quit the Mountain View, Calif.-based Company. BusinessInsider said Cameron Adams, Dhanji Prasanna, and Jochen Bekmann left because designers were “less valuable” than engineers at Google, and they felt disconnected from Google’s culture while operating from across the world in Sydney, Australia…


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Meet Dr. Richard Muscat, Email Intervention Specialist with Google

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Gmail is admittedly the world’s most popular web-based email service, but it’s still ranked third as both Microsoft Live Mail (formerly known as Hotmail) and Yahoo! Mail command larger user bases. As of November 2010, Gmail had 193.3 million monthly users, according to Wikipedia. So to help you initiate the uninitiated, Google has created a new mini-site called Email Intervention, accompanied by a nifty little video included above. A notice on the website says:

You’ve probably already improved the lives of your friends and family members by helping them switch to Gmail, but what about that one friend who still hasn’t made the switch? It’s time to take a stand and stage an intervention.

Email Intervention is basically a simple web site where you select people from your address book and have them receive a nicely formatted email message (see below) asking them to jump on the Gmail bandwagon. The message includes Google’s intervention video featuring Dr. Richarc Muscat, Intervention Specialist, but you can replace it with your own footage. Of course, only Gmail users can send glorified invitations to Gmail using the website tools. The Gmail blog is even more straightforward in attempts to convince folks to make a switch:

On the Gmail team, we affectionately refer to them as “email interventions.” We hear about them all the time: the cousin who finally switched from an embarassing address like hottie6elliot1977 to a more professional elliot.d.smith@gmail.com, a co-worker who helped his dentist switch after he heard her grumble about having to pay for IMAP access, etc.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PE1il5znICA]

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