Consumer-facing AI isn’t designed to perform chores like dealing with email or browsing the web: It is software that mediates interaction through email, the web and the physical world. 

Mixmax, a email service company that recently snared $10.4 million in new funding, was co- founded by Chanpory Rith, a former Google staffer who worked at Google on Gmail design. Noticing that students’ email use soared when they entered the workforce, he had an idea: to improve Gmail by providing functions like email tracking and scheduling. He says Mixmax is profitable. 

Only 55% of consumers subscribe to subscription services they are considering, but 65% convert to replenishment offerings, according to a study from McKinsey and Co. But almost 40% cancel subscriptions to any service type, over a third in less than three months. 

Cybercriminals are exploiting an Adobe Flash Player vulnerability in a spam campaign that hits unpatched computers, according to Morphisec. Victims who download and open a Word document enable macros that take advantage of an Adobe Flash player bug. 

The Supreme Court seems to be ready to rule against Microsoft in its email privacy case. That would force Microsoft and other tech companies to hand over emails and other data stored in the cloud outside the U.S. when it is sought in criminal cases. Several justices seemed to agree with the government’s contention that emails would be retrieved at Microsoft’s headquarters in Redmond, WA. 

London councils have spent £1.2 million to prepare for GDPR. Individually, they have spent up to £300,000 on software, training and consultancy.   

Consumer complaints to Ireland’s Data Protection Commissioner rose to 2,642 in 2017 — a 79% increase over the prior year. Half were concerned denial of access to records, and there was a spike in data breach reports. A small number of complaints came from people pursuing the “right to be forgotten.”

Consumers are being scammed by emails that falsely claim to come from package delivery services. These fake notices often have subject lines such as “Delivery problem,” “order acceptance” or “express shipment notification.” 

The U.S. Government is consolidating its on-premise email systems. The Department of Justice began its migration to the cloud in 2016, moving its Microsoft Exchange Server inboxes to Office 365. 

Email is facing a challenge from SMS. The latter has been gaining because of the prevalence of mobile phones. Which medium is winning? An infographic presents marketing stats on both.