Cloud-based email service SendGrid has joined the Google Cloud Platform Partner Program in a move that allows App Engine to add transactional email services to their apps. Having SendGrid available gives developers the ability to build add transactional email platforms for their apps and then test and deploy them through the Google Cloud Platform. SendGrid then gives developers access to real-time analytics and reporting via a Suite of APIs.

After the UK government put into place strict controls over the consumption of Internet online, the hacktivist group Anonymous encouraged Internet users to flood the inboxes of a few hundred government and county council officers with their favorite porn images as part of "Operation Pornstorm." The government took the threat seriously but it appears that the effort may have petered out before it ever got started. So far, the campaign has yet to impact the government's ability to send and receive email.

The personal Gmail accounts of three different White House employees have been breached in what is likely to be a hack targeted at Obama's social media outreach team. The hackers have been using the hacked accounts to send other White House digital media staffers spam emails with malicious links that are designed to gain the personal email logins and Twitter credentials of the users. More than a dozen people were targeted in the attack.

Recording artist James Blunt has had to apologize for an email that went out to people across the UK promoting his music, after Twitter users complained about receiving "spam." The email included a link to download a new track from Blunt and apparently many Twitter users didn't appreciate getting the unsolicited email. One Twitter user wrote, "Let me see if I've got this right. If we want porn we have to opt IN, but if we don't want James Blunt we have to opt OUT?" Blunt took to Twitter to apologize for the email blast. "Oops... Just emailed the whole …

Adding the personal touch to marketing messages can have a positive impact. Sixty-one percent of U.S. consumers feel more positive about a brand when they send personalized marketing messages, according to new research from Responsys. The report also revealed that 44 percent of consumers are less responsive to non-personalized messages. In addition, 53 percent are more likely to buy something from a brand that uses personalized marketing and 52percent trust brands that let consumers their digital communications marketing preferences.

David Kernell, the hacker who served a year in prison for hacking into Sarah Palin's personal email account back in 2008 when she was running for vice president, has ended his probation period early. A student of a student at the University of Tennessee at the time, Kernell was caught illegally accessing Palin's email account, changing her password and posting in online forums on her behalf. He served a year in prison for his crime and he was supposed to serve on probation until November 2014, but a federal judge agreed to Kernell's request to end his probation early.

Cryptome.org, an organization dedicated to government transparency, has published the names and email addresses of 1,350 corporate leaders, media figures and policy executives who served on the Council on Foreign Relations. According to The Council on Foreign Relations, hackers gained access to this private information by breaking into one individual's email account, rather than hacking into the entire organization's computer network.

Spam emails are on the rise and they are becoming harder to distinguish than they have been in the past as spammers have gotten better at creating "phishing" emails that look like they are coming from real companies. According to research from Verizon Communications almost every incident of online espionage in 2012 involved a phishing attack. American Airlines was the victim of a recent phishing attack and it was hard to distinguish the emails from real American emails. Walmart was also the victim recently. Even though the spam email spelled the company's name wrong, the email reached 2 million consumers, …

Marketing services company Deluxe Corporation has acquired the San Francisco-based email marketing service provider VerticalResponse in a $27 million cash transaction. The deal adds email, mobile and social marketing capabilities to Deluxe's suite of services. It is expected to generate $12 million in revenue for Deluxe during the remainder of 2013. The deal, which was announced today, closed in June. VerticalResponse will keep its offices in San Francisco. Last year, Deluxe acquired local search engine optimization company Orange Soda to beef up its search offerings.

New York City mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner sent an email to his supporters on Wednesday explaining why he plans to stay in the race after new sexting allegations have come to light, the same illicit behavior that led him to resign from his U.S. House seats. He defended the work he has done and his plans for the city, while apologizing for his past actions. "Sending these embarrassing messages to women online, whom I never met, was a personal failing that was hurtful to my wife and a part of my life that Huma and I have put behind us," …