A senor e-threat analyst at email security company Bitdefender analyzed over 260 billion spam emails sent daily, and found that 300 million of them - 1.14% - were carrying a malicious attachment. The firm forecasts an increase of email malware by 2% - 6% per year. 

Brushing up on the basic psychology of human decision-making may not seem as relevant to email marketers as A/B testing and deliverability audits, but it can have as profound an impact on email programs. Understanding what forges emotional connections and resonance allows email marketers to execute campaigns that honor the intellectional reasoning component of how people make decisions.  Read the full article at The eMail Guide. 

Email services provider TailoredMail announced the release of EmailApptimizer 6.0, including functionality that automatically converts email messages composed for a desktop environment into mobile-optimized messages that take on the appearance of rich touch-screen applications. The application also allows for the creation of mobile-specific landing pages and microsites. 

Integrating email and social can mean using your email program to promote your social channels. But it can also mean tapping the reach of vast social networks like Twitter to feed new subscribers into your email program. Linking your bio to an opt-in page, using Twitter Tools for a promotion and using "Click to Tweet" for your signup page are all ways to leverage Twitter's unique platform and tools to extend your reach in the inbox. Read the full article at Social Media Examiner. 

J.C. Penney's email program has undergone some changes recently, coincidental to the arrival of new CEO Ron Johnson, formerly of Apple. An email marketer analyzes one of the new emails, a message from the new CEO which courageously prefaces the call-to-action with nine paragraphs of copy.  

A new German academic paper points out a security lapse that is possibly leaking the passwords, email contents and other personal data of over 185 million Android users. At fault are 41 applications available through Google's Play Market which contain serious SSL flaws. 

A recent survey of email marketers by Strongmail and eMarketer shows that the timing of transactional and promotional messages is seen as highly important for success. 44% of marketers surveyed indicate that their goal is to have a transactional message delivered in less than one minute, while over two-thirds believe that keeping customers waiting even five minutes is unacceptable. Over half believe that sending well-timed promotional emails results in increased engagement (54.6%) and the ability to run more time sensitive promotions (52.4%). One in three believe well-timed promotional messages lift revenues. 

A new study analysis of over 150 emails by TailoredMail has found that mobile opens spike at breakfast and dinner times. 14% of all mobile opens and clicks occurred between 6am anf 8am, with another 12% from 6pm to 8pm. No other block of time reached the double digits in percentage, though noon - 2pm was closest at 9%.   

Craig Venter, the DNA expert who sequenced the human genome using his own DNA, has theorized the transmission of biological molecules via email, and then recreating them at the receiving end using 3D biological printers. Speaking at the Wired Health Conference last week, Venter pointed out the enormous ramifications for epidemic-prevention, as the bottleneck currently is in the production and distribution of required vaccinations.

A thorough article on the host of features in AOL's new Alto email application appears in Businessweek, including mention of "Snooze," a feature similar to the Gmail plugin "Boomerang" that allows users to banish an email from view for a period of time and have it automatically re-appear later. The reviewer also found that messages reached Alto sooner than they did the native Gmail inbox that Alto was filtering.