The Navy has signed a contract with Dell to run its email system for members of the Navy reserves in a $2.14 million deal. Dell will power the Navy's Microsoft enterprise-as-a-service cloud email system as an alternative to the service's Next Generation Enterprise Network, known as NGEN. The new platform will help the government organization save millions of dollars over several years.

Two top deputies in New York Mayor de Blasio's office have been caught using personal email accounts to discuss official city-related business. First Deputy Mayor Anthony Shorris and Emma Wolfe director of intergovernmental affairs, have been caught using Gmail accounts to communicate business that should go through their official email accounts.

Google is reportedly working on an update that will allow Gmail for Android users to access email accounts from different providers within the Gmail for Android app. This will include support for Microsoft Outlook, Yahoo and AOL. The update is expected to go live.

British police are being accused of using a loophole to spy on citizens' emails, despite privacy laws. Police have gotten around the law which protects consumer privacy by obtaining a production order from a judge to read stored emails, as the law only protects active email. According to reports, British police officials have spied on hundreds of messages in the last three years.

Flavorpill, a culture-focused website for residents in New York City, Los Angeles and San Francisco, uses content marketing to attract readers back to its site. While social media is playing an important role for the site, email is core to their strategy with more than 120,000 newsletter subscribers in New York City and 75,000 in other cities. The outlet focuses on curated content, a focused editorial voice and strong imagery to engage subscribers.

Barbra Streisand sent a fundraising email on behalf of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee over the weekend. The email called on recipients to give $5 to Democratic campaigns, urging that the organization is running out of money. "Have you seen Congress lately? It's a mess," Streisand pleaded in the message. "And it's only going to get worse if people like Karl Rove and the Koch Brothers continue to treat corporations better than people."

New York Republican Governor candidate Rob Astorino's latest email marketing message includes an endorsement from Senator John McCain. The latest email to Astorino supporters includes a glowing push from the former Republican presidential candidate. "At a time when many economies were hurting, Westchester saw 30,000 private sector jobs created under the leadership of Rob Astorino," McCain said in the campaign message. "Imagine what he could do at the state level. Rob Astorino is exactly what the Empire State needs, and right now he needs your support."

WordPress maker Automattic has teamed up with Google to make Google Apps features available directly within the WordPress.com dashboard. This means that Wordpress users can automatically use their blogging platform to set up email addresses and to access Google Apps services such as Calendar, Drive file storage and Hangouts.

Oracle ranked high on Gartner's latest e-commerce report which rated the best e-commerce services companies in Australia. The company was given high marks for its comprehensive suite of commerce technologies and its recent purchase of email marketing firm Responsys earned attention in the report.

Consumers that received regular emails that were coordinated with Facebook ads from a leading U.S. retailer were 22 percent more likely to make a purchase than those that just received an email, according to research shared by Salesforce. The email was sent to 565,000 email subscribers and the unnamed retailer saw its reach rise by 77 percent.