Gmail will be AMP’d up using a speedy new tech that makes emails pretty

By Kevin Parrish Published February 13, 2018

Google’s Gmail Product Manager Aakash Sahney said on Monday, February 13 that the company’s popular email client will be injected with Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP). What this means for you is that Gmail will not only be faster, but more interactive than before. For instance, rather than clicking on a link within a received message, users can interact with content without leaving the Gmail client.

“AMP started as an effort to help publishers, but as its capabilities have expanded over time, it’s now one of the best ways to build rich webpages,” Sahney said. “With this came the opportunity to modernize one of the most popular places where people spend their time: email.”

Recommended Videos

AMP is an open-source framework created for a richer web experience. It consists of three core components: HTML web page code with “restrictions” that promise fast, reliable performance, a JavaScript library capable of rendering AMP-based pages extremely fast, and a dedicated Google Cache reservoir to cache AMP-based pages.

Technically, this new platform is called AMP for email and Google is now providing a sneak peak in a Gmail Developer Preview. This will start the ball rolling for service developers who want a richer interaction than boring emails with static links and images. Sahney said Pinterest, Booking.com, and Doodle are already working on new email methods that take advantage of AMP.

“Imagine you could complete tasks directly in email. With AMP for Email, you’ll be able to quickly take actions like submit an RSVP to an event, schedule an appointment, or fill out a questionnaire right from the email message,” Sahney said.

Google first introduced the AMP Project in October 2015 after collaborating with technology companies, news publishers, and the European Digital News Initiative to improve the internet’s performance on mobile devices. Among the named collaborators were Twitter, LinkedIn, WordPress, and more than 30 other companies and news agencies.

AMP-based pages began to appear in Google search results as “Top Stories” on mobile in February 2016. They weren’t fully integrated into mainstream search results until the following September. Around 900,000 web domains published more than 2 billion AMP-based pages by May 2017, including Twitter, which automatically began linking to AMP-based pages in its Android and iOS clients.

Just on the search front, Google claims that AMP-based pages load from a Google search in less than one second and use 10 times less data than an equivalent page not based on AMP technology. According to the AMP Project webpage, Gizmodo now publishes all pages using the AMP foundation and saw an immediate performance increase after the initial switch — three times better page load performance and an increase in traffic due to those faster load times.

Now that technology is coming to Gmail. “We’re opening up new possibilities for companies to engage with their audiences, and we can’t wait to see what developers will build,” Sahney said.

The AMP for Email specification is now available for developers as a preview. Jump on the bandwagon to sign up for the preview.

Former Contributor

Kevin started taking PCs apart in the 90s when Quake was on the way and his PC lacked the required components. Since then…

Topics

Computing

AI agents are acting like rogues and causing a huge headache for US banks

US banks block AI agents over fears they could make unauthorised financial moves

Banking

US banks are facing a new kind of digital headache: artificial intelligence agents attempting to access customer accounts and perform actions that may go beyond what users intended. As AI tools become more capable of navigating websites and carrying out tasks independently, financial institutions are scrambling to prevent them from crossing security boundaries.

According to a report published by Axios on October 22, major US banks have detected third-party AI agents operating inside customer accounts without authorisation. Some agents reportedly appeared to attempt actions independently of user instructions. The banks involved have not publicly detailed every incident, and there is no evidence that the reported activity resulted in widespread theft of customer funds.

Computing

Canva enters the AI image generation race with Craft, and it’s thinking beyond pretty pictures

The new model plans layouts before generating images, with precise editing and support for 30 aspect ratios.

Canva Craft Featured Image

AI can generate all kinds of pretty pictures, but getting it to spell a headline correctly or keep a poster's layout intact can be another story. Canva wants to fix that with Canva Craft, its first in-house image generation model. Rather than focusing primarily on photographs, Craft is designed around the posters, presentations, social media graphics, and other visual content people actually create. The goal is simple: spend less time fixing AI's mistakes and more time making something useful.

Canva Craft plans before it generates

Computing

Mori might be the cutest AI companion robot yet, and it reacts to you like a pet

The Pokémon-like companion can blink, dance, act shy, and respond to what is happening around it.

OKA Mori The Nature Companion AI Home Robot

With AI progressing so fast, it's only a matter of time before we start getting AI companions like the ones we used to see in movies like R2-D2, Wall-E, or Baymax. Now, Singapore-based OKA Technology has unveiled Mori, a cute little AI companion that looks less like a conventional home robot and more like someone turned the Pokémon Foongus into a table lamp.

Mori isn't meant to clean your house or control your smart home, but to serve as what OKA calls a "Nature Companion." It uses subtle movements, warm lighting, nature-inspired sounds, and small reactions to make its presence around the house feel calming rather than distracting. Mori can sit quietly while you read, sway along to music, welcome you when you enter a room, or encourage you to slow down for a moment without requiring a screen or a conversation.