Google Rolls Out Gmail Redesign for Web Browsers, Featuring Email Snoozing, Confidential Mode, and More

Google launched its redesigned Gmail web interface today, introducing several new features including some the company trialed in its Inbox for Gmail app. The launch is a phased rollout, so not all users will have immediate access to all the changes listed below, and those who do will need to opt-in to them.

The major visual difference comes in the form of a new right-hand sidebar that provides multiple options for customization. Users can choose to add Google Calendar, Google Keep, or Google Tasks in the side window, or collapse it completely and focus only on their inbox. Likewise, the left-hand panel can be collapsed now, too.

The inbox view has also been updated with the ability to perform actions on messages without opening them. Hovering over an email with the mouse cursor displays buttons to archive, delete, mark as read, and a new “snooze” feature.

Opting to snooze an email hides the message until later in the day, tomorrow, or later in the week. The function has been brought over from Inbox for Gmail, but currently there doesn’t seem to be any way to activate it for an email that’s currently open.

Google has also introduced a new AI-powered feature that “nudges” the user to follow up and respond to messages it thinks are important, offering up quick reminders for them to take action. Also, the smart reply function has been brought over from the Gmail mobile apps, allowing users to respond to emails quicker.

In addition, Gmail is rolling out a number of security/privacy features in the coming weeks, one of which is a new confidential mode. This lets the sender set a time-limit in which a message can be accessed, should the email contain sensitive information. It works by sending a link to the content in your inbox that the recipient clicks, rather than sending the content in the email itself.

There will also be a new two-factor authentication (2FA) option for confidential individual messages, which means recipients can be asked to authenticate with a passcode via SMS message before they’re granted access to the content of an email.

Elsewhere, Gmail now includes integrated rights management (IRM), which allows business users to block the forwarding, copying, downloading, or printing of specific messages, offering a welcome extra line of defense against accidentally sharing certain emails.

Also new under the hood are a series of machine learning algorithms to help protect users from phishing scams. The user-facing element of this redesign comes in the form of warning banners and color-coded alerts.

In tandem with the web interface redesign, Google is also launching a new Goole Tasks mobile app later today on both iOS and Android. For more information on the new Gmail web features, click here.

Tags: Google, Inbox by Gmail, Gmail
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Amazon renews ‘Jack Ryan’ months before it premieres

Amazon is confident that Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan will be a success — so confident, in fact, that it’s not waiting for initial viewings to declare it a hit. The company has already renewed Jack Ryan for a second season despite a months-long wait for Prime Video show’s August 31st premiere. If you ask Amazon, it’s a combination of its reaction to watching the show (generally a good idea) with early hints of customer interest. Reportedly, there was a 400 percent jump in watchlist additions for Jack Ryan following Amazon’s Super Bowl ad campaign.

There’s very little to say about season two at this stage, although Amazon noted that Ryan will go to a “new, exciting and dangerous world.” You can presume he survives the first season, then.

The renewal bodes well for the series, although we’d take Amazon’s hype with a grain of salt. It’s not exactly shocking that watchlist additions would surge for a show when it gets one of the most coveted ad spots on the planet. And the watchlist doesn’t guarantee that people will watch the season at all, let alone every episode. Think of this as an experiment on Amazon’s part — it’s betting that a strong presence in show queues will translate to strong audience numbers. If that bet pays off, viewers won’t have to wait as long for the follow-up as they would if Amazon had been more conservative.

Via: AFTVnews

Source: Amazon

OnePlus 6 to be announced on May 16 in London, first sale kicks off May 21 in India

Tickets are on sale now and start at $21 USD.

There’s been plenty of talk regarding the OnePlus 6 over the last few weeks, but soon all those rumors and speculation will be laid to rest with the phone’s official unveiling. Today, OnePlus announced that it’ll be showing off the phone on Wednesday, May 16 in London.

The event will kick-off at 5:00 PM BST, and in addition to the press/media, it’ll also be open to any OnePlus fans that are willing and able to attend. Tickets are available for purchase now, with Early Bird pricing starting at just $21 USD per ticket. Those will be on sale until 8:00 PM BST on Friday, April 27, and from 8:01 PM onwards, Standard Tickets will cost $41.

OnePlus is also selling Plus One tickets that allow you to get two tickets at a lower rate. You’ll need to purchase two tickets in a single transaction, but you’ll pay just $27 per ticket for a final price of $54 for two people to attend.

OnePlus is touting this as its “biggest ever community event” with over 1000 tickets up for grabs, and in addition to being among the first to try out the OnePlus 6, visitors will also receive a swag bag that includes a OnePlus backpack, t-shirt, stickers, a mystery gift when buying the OnePlus 6, and more.

If you can’t physically be at the London event but still want to watch everything as it unfolds, you can sign up for the livestream here.

Like previous years, OnePlus is hosting dedicated launch events in China and India, which are scheduled for May 17. OnePlus will start selling tickets for the event in Mumbai from May 8, and those attending the launch will walk away with Avengers merchandise.

As for availability, India will be one of the first markets where the phone will go up for sale, with Amazon Prime customers in the country able to pick up the device in an early access sale on May 21.

See at OnePlus

OnePlus 5T and OnePlus 5

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Gmail’s massive redesign is now live: Here’s a look at the new features

Gmail picks up a new design and a host of new features.

Google announced earlier this month that it would revamp Gmail’s design on the desktop, and the changes are going live today. Gmail is getting a significant design overhaul that makes in more in line with its Android counterpart, and Google is introducing a whole host of new features centered around security and ease of use.

There’s a new confidential mode that lets you set an expiration date for a particular email, smart replies, easier options for snoozing emails, an offline mode, high-priority notification setting that cuts down on the push notifications, and much more. Here’s a look at all the new additions in Gmail.

Confidential mode

The major new feature in Gmail is confidential mode, which allows you to set granular controls for sensitive emails. Confidential mode lets you remove options to forward, copy, download or print messages, and you can also set the message to expire at a specified time. There’s also an option to revoke access entirely.

Google is able to offer these controls by limiting access to the content itself. When you send a message in confidential mode, Gmail essentially creates a link to the content, and delivers that to the recipient. Upcon clicking that link, the recipient will be able to view the content as if it were a normal mail, provided they’re using Gmail. For other email providers, the link will redirect to a Google-hosted site where the content will be viewable until the specified date.

Google is also introducing two-factor authentication for individual emails, which will require recipients to key in a passcode delivered by SMS before they can open a message.

Google is hoping that the new additions like confidential mode and 2FA on a per-message basis will cut down a hacker’s ability to access sensitive information, particularly at large organizations. Speaking to TechRepublic, Google’s lead product manager for Gmail Jacob Baker said:

What we’ve seen, especially in business scenarios, is that lots of these leaks happen accidentally or near accidentally. They didn’t realize they weren’t supposed to forward the email, or they saw ‘Do not forward’ but they didn’t think it applied to them and hitting the forward button was just so easy.

Email snoozing

With the redesign, Google is offering easy options to snooze emails. You’ll be able to access the snooze option — along with commonly used options like archive, delete, and mark to send — via a new hover menu. Just hover over an email, and you’ll see all the options highlighted.

Another change on the UI front has to do with attachments — you’ll see thumbnails for the attachments under the mail, allowing you to open an attachment without having to load the message itself.

Integration with Calendar, Tasks, and Keep — and nudging

Gmail is now getting a right-hand side panel that integrates Google Calendar, Tasks, and Keep seamlessly into the email client. The panel allows you to copy or paste content from Gmail into other apps, or just quickly jot down a note or add a task.

Gmail is also getting anuidge option, where Google will bump messages it deems important to the top of your inbox. It will leverage its machine learning smarts to surface messages that may need a response, with Baker noting:

We don’t nudge very often, but when we do it can save people from missing making a really high consequence mistake.

Smart replies

Smart replies debuted last year on the Android app, and now they’re making their way to the web client. The feature works the same way it does on Android, giving you a few options for canned responses based on the content of the mail.

New security features

Google will also start rolling out phishing warnings within emails, displaying colored banners at the top of the email in red, yellow, or grey based on the perceived risk factor. Gmail had these options for some time, but Baker said that prominently highlighting them at the top of messages will better inform users of the risk:

So we undertook a massive effort to redesign all of our warnings within the UI. If you see this message at the top of the email, you’re not going to click the link inside of it, both because the warning is very prominent and impossible to ignore, and explains to the user in plain language what the attacker might be trying to do.

Native offline mode

Google will also offer a Gmail offline mode that has the same UI as the online version. You’ll be able to continue working in Gmail even when offline, and the changes will be synced the next time go online.

High-priority notifications

While most of today’s features are focused on streamlining Gmail on the web, Google is introducing a high-priority notification settings for mobile users that drastically cuts down on push notifications. With the option enabled, Google will only deliver push notifications for messages that are deemed important or urgent, with Baker noting that the feature will cut “97% of all push notifications across Gmail users.”

When will I be able to use it?

Confidential mode will be available in the coming weeks, but if you’re looking to get started with using some of the new features right away, head to the Cog wheel icon in the top right corner of your inbox, select Settings, and select Try the new Gmail.

The option isn’t available for everyone right away (I couldn’t access it), but Google says it will roll out the changes internationally in a phased manner over the coming weeks and months.

What do you make of Gmail’s new features?

Xiaomi Mi 6X offers upgraded cameras and Snapdragon 660 for just $250

The Mi 6X is the phone that sets the foundation for Xiaomi’s upcoming Android One device.

Xiaomi is once again doing what it’s good at — launching products that offer incredible value for money. The manufacturer unveiled the Mi 6X at a media event in China, with the phone likely to make its way to global markets as the Mi A2, the successor to the Android One-based Mi A1.

Just as the Redmi Note 5 Pro was the first device to introduce the Snapdragon 636 to the $200 segment, the Mi 6X is the first phone for under $300 to feature the Snapdragon 660. The rest of the specs aren’t all that bad either: you get a 5.99-inch FHD+ panel, up to 6GB of LPDDR4X RAM and 128GB of storage, microSD slot, IR blaster, Wi-Fi ac, Bluetooth 5.0, and a 3010mAh battery.

On the software side of things, the Mi 6X runs the latest version of MIUI 9 atop Android 8.1 Oreo. Another welcome change is the addition of USB-C, as well as the inclusion of Quick Charge 3.0.

On the camera side of things, the Mi 6X offers a dual 12MP (Sony IMX486) + 20MP (Sony IMX376) camera setup at the back, along with a 20MP (IMX376) sensor at the front. The front camera has a Selfie LED light module, and the latest version of Beautify.

Xiaomi is increasingly focusing on AI-assisted features to get the best out of the camera, and the Mi 6X also has the same features that we’ve seen on the Mi Mix 2S. The AI will automatically switch the shooting mode based on the subject and lighting conditions.

Xiaomi will offer the Mi 6X in five color options — red, blue, black, gold, and rose gold — and three models. The base variant with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage will retail for ¥1,599 ($250), and the version with 6GB of RAM and 64GB of storage will cost ¥1,799 ($280). The model with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage will set you back ¥1,999 ($315).

The phone will go up for sale in China from April 27, and as of now there’s no word on international availability. The Mi A1 was a successful device for the brand, and if the Mi 6X makes its way to global markets as the Mi A2, it will be able to take the fight to the Nokia 7 Plus.

OnePlus 6 will make its debut on May 16th

OnePlus hasn’t exactly been shy about hinting that its next phone is right around the corner, and now you know just when to expect it. The company has announced a OnePlus 6 launch event in London on May 16th at 5PM BST (that’s noon Eastern). And to guarantee a packed house, it’s selling roughly 1,000 tickets to fans who want to attend in person (starting at £16/$21 if you order before April 27th, £30/$41 after that). There’s naturally a livestream for those who prefer to watch from home. Despite the hype, though, this may be little more than a formality — many of the phone’s details have been made public well in advance.

As with many other 2018 flagships, the OnePlus 6 is expected to center around a virtually-all-screen design — in this case, a 6.3-inch 2,280 x 1,080 display with the seemingly obligatory notch. It won’t represent a radical break from the 5T on the inside, although the Snapdragon 845 chip and doubled maximum storage (up to 256GB) will help. And to no one’s surprise, leaks have the OnePlus carrying dual cameras (16MP and 20MP) on the back. This is an evolutionary phone, albeit one you might like if you’re either a fan or just don’t like the higher prices of OnePlus’ rivals.

Source: OnePlus (1), (2)

Gmail’s big redesign helps you spend less time in your inbox

We probably don’t need to tell you that Gmail has become the email service of choice for innumerable people since it first went live in 2004. New features have been added at a steady clip ever since, but we haven’t really seen a big redesign since 2011, though you could consider the addition of inbox tabs in 2013 a significant change, too. Whispers started cropping up earlier this month of another considerable overhaul, which Google is formally revealing today. What’s immediately obvious is the new flatter, cleaner look intended to bring Gmail more in line with Google’s Material Design principles — the web version of Calendar got similar treatment last year. The bulk of what’s new here, though, is a swathe of features designed to make Gmail a more productive place for business users. But the updates apply to Gmail as a whole, so there’s plenty for the personal user to play around with, too.

Features for everyone

There are several features in the big Gmail update everyone is likely to appreciate. In general, managing your inbox should get a lot easier thanks to new action buttons for individual emails. Usually you’d have to either go into an email or click the left tickbox to deal with it. Now all you have to do is hover over an email and buttons for deleting, archiving and snoozing will appear on the righthand side. Similarly, attachments are historically something you’ve had to go into an email to see. Little buttons Google calls “chips” now show up beneath the subject line of emails with attachments, allowing you to open them up from the main inbox screen. All of the above shortcuts are only available in certain viewing modes, mind, and you’ll pick which one of these you prefer when you load up the new Gmail for the first time. You’re likely familiar with the different ‘display densities’ Gmail offers, so be aware that if you want to continue seeing as many emails as humanly possible on the one screen, you’ll have to forego these new features.

Smart Reply has been available in the Gmail mobile apps (and others) for a while, and now they’re coming to the web. That means a canned response to your brother’s BBQ save-the-date along the lines of “Sounds good!” will be just one click away. There’s also a new ‘assisted unsubscribe’ feature that’ll notice if you’re getting weekly promotional blasts you never read. When the next one lands, it’ll appear alongside a little card that lets you quickly take yourself off the list without digging into the email’s small print to find the link. This will show up in the mobile apps too, and is actually one of the tools making the transition from Google Inbox — the client the company tends to use as a testbed for experimental features.

Google

Gmail already flags emails that are blatant phishing attempts or seem pretty sketchy in general, but this feature is ditching all subtlety. Open one of these up and you’ll now see a huge red banner that is your cue to immediately delete the thing and move on.

By far the biggest change to the overall look of Gmail is a new side panel off to the right that lets you load up other Google apps alongside your inbox. You can, for example, see your calendar in that panel, meaning you don’t have to switch tabs to add an event you’ve just received an email about. Or maybe you want to add a note to Google Keep or your Tasks list. If you haven’t used Tasks before, it’s a very simple to-do list app integrated into Gmail. This is finally getting a visual refresh, moving away from the basic plain text look to something more fitting of the decade. Dedicated iOS and Android apps for Tasks are also being launched to make it more useful when you’re away from your laptop.

Using the side panel does mean losing some screen real estate to accommodate your calendar or what have you, but to make up for that you can now hide the left side rail to temporarily declutter. While the side panel sounds great for all types of use cases, the idea is Gmail’s third-party add-ons — the majority of which are geared towards enterprise — will be particularly handy in this new spot next to your inbox. The side panel will become a feature common to several Google apps in the future, so eventually you’ll be able to have, say, a G Doc sitting next to a Slide presentation.

Down to business

Just as there are aspects of the big Gmail update that’ll be useful for all, there are some new features geared specifically towards G Suite enterprise accounts. In the one camp are those intended to boost productivity, like the option to temporarily suspend all but the most important of push notifications. Google’s secret sauce will figure out when an email is urgent and let you know; otherwise, radio silence. This should be especially useful on mobile, stopping you getting distracted every 10 seconds by a company-wide thread about the Friday drinks location.

Nudging is another new, automated feature that should more or less eliminate the need to constantly revisit the bottom of your inbox or sent folder. Google’s algorithms will detect emails that look like they need replying to, but that you might not have thought about in a few days. Gmail will ‘nudge’ these emails to the top of your inbox and add a little note reminding you to think about replying. Similarly, if you’ve sent an email that has gone unanswered, this will be flagged so you can send a follow-up if you need to.

Possibly the best news of all, at least for anyone that’s tried to catch up on emails on a plane using the clunky Gmail Offline Chrome extension, is native offline support. Your Gmail tab now syncs the last 90 days of activity, so take your laptop offline and that same tab should work as normal. Naturally, you can’t send or receive emails, but you can manage your inbox and queue up replies for when you’re next in WiFi range.

Making Gmail a more secure place to operate is another big push in this update. There’s a new “Confidential mode” for emails a sender doesn’t want permanently sitting in your inbox. The sender can set an expiration date for any sensitive comms, or manually self-destruct them whenever — these emails are also stored in the sender’s Gmail account, not in some other random part of Google’s cloud. The sender can even enable two-factor authentication, meaning the recipient must request an access code via SMS before they can access the contents (this is in case an inbox is potentially already compromised).

In addition, these emails will have special rights management controls, effectively disabling the recipient’s ability to copy, forward, download or print an email. This won’t stop someone that really wants to leak sensitive information. They could always just take a screenshot, or snap a picture of an email on their phone, but it adds a bit more friction Google hopes will prevent accidents (an unintended forward, for example) and deter those that will give up when they realize they can’t easily print a sensitive email in a few clicks.

Say when

There’s a lot of moving parts to this update, not all of which you’ll start seeing immediately. Your Gmail mobile apps will need to update, for example, and certain smart features like assisted unsubscribe will need a while to figure out what constitutes spam before offering the quick out. Confidential mode will be available in a few weeks, and if you’re a G Suite user, your administrator will be responsible for flipping the switch on your account.

The core redesign is live for everyone worldwide as of today, though, so just head into the settings menu to opt-in by hitting that “Try the new Gmail” button. In the coming months, Google plans to run in-app promotions to encourage people to make the move manually, before eventually enabling it by default and retiring the old Gmail forever.

Opera’s ‘Flow’ keeps its new mobile and desktop browsers synced

Opera continues to lag behind Chrome and its other rivals, but it’s not out of the browser game just yet. The company has launched a brand new mobile browser, an updated one for desktop and a way to keep them synced and connected even without logging in. Its new mobile browser called Opera Touch was specifically designed to be used with one hand, so you can do searches and browse websites even if you’re holding onto a subway strap or carrying a baby with the other.

When you launch the browser, the keyboard’s already up and the cursor’s already blinking on the address bar — all you need to do is start typing what you want to search for. Opera also made sure you can access its key features with one thumb, including the new Fast Action Button (gloriously nicknamed FAB) at the bottom of the screen, which gives you a way to quickly switch between the most recent tabs and the search function.

If you want a seamless way to connect your phone and PC browsers, though, Touch’s most useful offering is a new feature called “Flow.” According to Opera, 69 percent of smartphone users don’t use their browsers’ syncing features, because doing so typically requires you to log in and follow a set of steps. You’d only need to set up Flow once: after you update to the latest version of Opera on your desktop, simply activate the feature and scan the QR code that pops up with the Touch browser. Once that’s done, anything you add to Flow — any website, page, video, and so on and so forth — on one device will be accessible on the other. And, yes, the feature is end-to-end encrypted.

Opera is holding a live online launch on its website right now (April 25th, 4AM ET). But you can also watch videos featuring the new browsers below:

Source: Opera

How to Float Notes Over Application Windows in macOS

In the Notes app in macOS, it’s possible to float individual notes over other windows so that they stay visible regardless of which application is active.

This makes for a convenient way to reference an existing note while writing an essay or report, for example. It also comes in useful if you want to take notes when researching something online. Keep reading to learn how it’s done.

How to Float a Note in macOS

Launch the Notes app, located in your Mac’s Applications folder.
Click the Create a Note button, or click an existing note in the list on the left-hand panel.
In the Notes menu bar, select Window -> Float Selected Note.
The note will be automatically given its own window, which will remain above other open application windows. To turn off the floating behavior but retain the note’s separate window, simply click inside the note’s window and again select Window -> Float Selected Note to untick the option in the menu bar.

You can have as many note windows open as you want – just double-click each note in your Notes list and they’ll pop up separately on the screen. If you’ve selected several in the list by holding down the Command key, simply double-click one to open them all at once. You can then position them on the screen and control which ones float using the same menu bar option outlined above.

If you close Apple Notes, the number and position of your open note windows will be remembered the next time you launch the app, as well as which ones you’ve opted to float on top of other open windows. Just remember that your floating notes can’t share the same screen as another app that’s in fullscreen mode.

• How to Use Notes’ Pin and Table Features in iOS 11 and macOS High Sierra

Related Roundup: macOS High SierraTag: Notes
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Could this easy-to-learn tactile typeface replace braille?

Braille, the tactile writing system used by people who are visually impaired, helps transform life for people who are unable to see. It allows them to read information in books and magazines and, thanks to technologies like refreshable braille displays, on computers. However, not everyone is able to learn braille. Originated in 1824, the language wasn’t designed for ease of use, but rather around the technological capabilities of the tools of its day.

Entrepreneur Andrew Chepaitis discovered just how difficult braille can be when his grandmother lost her vision and was unable to pick up the new language. Working with his mother, a student of human factors design, Chepaitis went on to develop a new font which, he claims, is significantly easier to learn. Rather than taking months at a time to learn, Chepaitis’ ELIA Frames font can reportedly be learned in just a few hours. According to Chepaitis, after 5 to 11 years of learning braille, readers have an average reading speed of 23 words per minute. With ELIA, a person can achieve 25 words per minute after just 60 hours of study.

“We customized the standard alphabet for tactile reading,” he told Digital Trends. “It is raised print, optimized for a specific use case. We set about applying best practices from the field of human factors design to the standard alphabet. But standard alphabet letters weren’t made for tactile reading, so we pushed the basic elements of each letter to the edges of a given space by using a frame. We then added the core elements of the letters to the interior of the frame, and iteratively tested letter designs to identify what is easiest to feel.”

Chepaitis said that his ELIA Frames font could be used to help the roughly 8.4 million people in the U.S. and 284 million people worldwide who have a visual impairment. The ELIA Frames font can be added to a computer font library like Times New Roman, Helvetica or Arial. Going forward, the plan is to develop a commercial printer thath can print ELIA Frames documents.

To raise money, the team is currently hosting a Kickstarter campaign. While we offer all our usual warnings about the risks of crowdfunding campaigns, if you do want to get involved, a $25 pledge will (hopefully) secure you an ELIA Frames silicone overlay for your keyboard. Larger amounts will get you a learning starter kit or classroom kit. Shipping is set for September 2018.

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