Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by martyb on Wednesday February 14 2018, @01:22AM   Printer-friendly
from the ActiveX-2.0 dept.

Google wants you to be able to book a flight without exiting an email:

Google is bringing its Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) capabilities to email today through a developer preview for Gmail. The feature, called AMP for Email, will allow developers to make emails "more interactive and engaging." Google envisions the feature to be beneficial to users because developers can embed widgets in emails that are constantly up-to-date and include actionable functions that work without leaving your inbox. Google's existing AMP webpages are an emerging standard for webpages that load radically faster than regular mobile pages.

AMP for Email is open-source so developers can freely play around with the capabilities and use them to their advantage. Companies developing features for AMP for Email include Pinterest, Booking.com, and Doodle. Google says the AMP for Email feature will allow you to do things like RSVP to events, browse and interact with content, or fill out forms without leaving an email. For example, Google says if a contractor wants to schedule a meeting with you but isn't able to see your calendar, they'll contact you about availability. With AMP for Email, you could respond interactively through a form without ever leaving the email client.

Accelerated Mobile Phishing:

Some observers believe AMP allows more effective phishing attempts. One serious flaw, noted by tech writer Kyle Chayka, is that disreputable parties who misuse AMP (as well as Facebook's similar Instant Articles) enable junk websites to share many of the same visual cues and features found on legitimate sites. "All publishers end up looking more similar than different. That makes separating the real from the fake even harder," said Chayka.

Also at Google and TechCrunch.


Original Submission

Related Stories

Google Attempting to Standardize Features of Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) 33 comments

Google promises publishers an alternative to AMP

Google's AMP project is not uncontroversial. Users often love it because it makes mobile sites load almost instantly. Publishers often hate it because they feel like they are giving Google too much control in return for better placement on its search pages. Now Google proposes to bring some of the lessons it learned from AMP to the web as a whole. Ideally, this means that users will profit from Google's efforts and see faster non-AMP sites across the web (and not just in their search engines).

Publishers, however, will once again have to adopt a whole new set of standards for their sites, but with this, Google is also giving them a new path to be included in the increasingly important Top Stories carousel on its mobile search results pages.

"Based on what we learned from AMP, we now feel ready to take the next step and work to support more instant-loading content not based on AMP technology in areas of Google Search designed for this, like the Top Stories carousel," AMP tech lead Malte Ubl writes today. "This content will need to follow a set of future web standards and meet a set of objective performance and user experience criteria to be eligible."

Also at Search Engine Land and The Verge.

Related: Kill Google AMP Before It Kills the Web
Google Acquires Relay Media to Convert Ordinary Web Pages to AMP Pages
Google Bringing Accelerated Mobile Pages to Email


Original Submission

Google Moving to Relinquish Control Over Accelerated Mobile Pages 7 comments

Google may be relinquishing control of its controversial Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) project:

The project has been led by Malte Ubl, a senior staff engineer working on Google's Javascript infrastructure projects, who has until now held effective unilateral control over the project.

In the wake of all of this criticism, the AMP project announced today that it would reform its governance, replacing Ubl as the exclusive tech lead with a technical steering committee comprised of companies invested in the success in the project. Notably, the project's intention has an "...end goal of not having any company sit on more than a third of the seats." In addition, the project will create an advisory board and working groups to shepherd the project's work.

The project is also expected to move to a foundation in the future. These days, there are a number of places such a project could potentially reside, including the Apache Software Foundation and the Mozilla Foundation.

The AMP Contributor Summit 2018 will take place at Google in Mountain View, California on September 25 and 26, 2018.

Previously: Kill Google AMP Before It Kills the Web
Google Acquires Relay Media to Convert Ordinary Web Pages to AMP Pages
Google Bringing Accelerated Mobile Pages to Email
Google Attempting to Standardize Features of Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP)
Google AMP Can Go To Hell


Original Submission

Google to Enable "Dynamic Emails" Using Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) 46 comments

Google makes emails more dynamic with AMP for Email

Google today officially launched AMP for Email, its effort to turn emails from static documents into dynamic, web page-like experiences. AMP for Email is coming to Gmail, but other major email providers like Yahoo Mail (which shares its parent company with TechCrunch), Outlook and Mail.ru will also support AMP emails.

[...] With AMP for Email, those messages become interactive. That means you'll be able to RSVP to an event right from the message, fill out a questionnaire, browse through a store's inventory or respond to a comment — all without leaving your web-based email client.

Some of the companies that already support this new format are Booking.com, Despegar, Doodle, Ecwid, Freshworks, Nexxt, OYO Rooms, Pinterest, and redBus. If you regularly get emails from these companies, then chances are you'll receive an interactive email from them in the coming weeks.

[...] [Not] everybody is going to like this (including our own Devin Coldewey).

Also at The Verge, 9to5Google, and Engadget:

As you might imagine, Google is determined to keep this secure. It reviews senders before they're allowed to send AMP-based email, and relatively few will support it out of the gate (including Twilio Sendgrid, Litmus and SparkPost).

Previously: Google Bringing Accelerated Mobile Pages to Email

Related: Kill Google AMP Before It Kills the Web
Google Attempting to Standardize Features of Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP)
Google AMP Can Go To Hell
Google Moving to Relinquish Control Over Accelerated Mobile Pages


Original Submission

This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
(1)
  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by Apparition on Wednesday February 14 2018, @01:30AM (16 children)

    by Apparition (6835) on Wednesday February 14 2018, @01:30AM (#637395) Journal

    What could possibly go wrong? In addition to the potential for increased phishing viability, I imagine this will lock people even further into using Gmail on the web. Heck with e-mail clients! Who uses those these days, am I right?

    Ahh, the good ol' days when e-mail used to be just plain text...

    • (Score: 3, Informative) by KiloByte on Wednesday February 14 2018, @01:46AM (8 children)

      by KiloByte (375) on Wednesday February 14 2018, @01:46AM (#637398)

      Ahh, the good ol' days when e-mail used to be just plain text...

      e-mail is just plain text. Unless you count spam.

      The only HTML-only pieces of ham I got this month were from Indiegogo where Gemini [indiegogo.com] is hosted; everyone else managed to provide actual text.

      --
      Ceterum censeo systemd esse delendam.
      • (Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 14 2018, @01:51AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 14 2018, @01:51AM (#637401)

        A man was walking down the sidewalk to his workplace. It was a good day for Nickson, as evidenced by his beaming smile. On Nickson's way to work, a woman casually strolled past him.

        Crash! Slam! Bang! These sounds could be heard coming from inside a certain house, and they seemed to continue endlessly. If one were to look inside said house, it would appear as though a tornado went through it; tables and chairs were knocked over; there were broken windows; glass cups were shattered all over the floor; there were large holes in the walls, as if objects flew through them; and, in general, every aspect of the house was in disarray. A man could be seen assuming the fetal position in a dark corner, sobbing. That man was Nickson.

        Nickson, once a kind, cheerful man, was now a mere shell of what he once was. A grave injustice was done to him, transforming his life forevermore. If things continued as they were, only depression, anger, and suicide awaited. Would Nickson give up so easily?

        No. Nickson would never give up. Nickson would never allow evil to prevail. Nickson would struggle against injustice. The man slowly rose up, his face displaying the ferocity of a god of war. Nickson was going to strike back.

        With only a bit of effort, Nickson identified his target. He learned about the target's schedule, their family, and their habits. Using this information, Nickson devised a grand plan that would allow him to exact his revenge. "Justice will prevail!" Nickson shouted. It was time to execute his scheme.

        Captured. The target, along with members of their family that met certain criteria, was captured and imprisosoned within Nickson's house. Tightly bound to metal bars, they could do nothing but stare in horror at the man whose eyes seemed to be made of fire. Beaten. Pain. Screaming. Violated. Pain. Screaming. Mutilated. Pain. Screaming. Silence.

        The next day, Nickson walked out of his house in triumph. The man had returned to his former self now that the wrongs committed against him were made right. Indeed, no woman would enter Nickson's presence without acknowledging his superiority ever again.

      • (Score: 2) by TheGratefulNet on Wednesday February 14 2018, @05:10AM (6 children)

        by TheGratefulNet (659) on Wednesday February 14 2018, @05:10AM (#637468)

        if someone sends me non-text email, it shows they're an idiot. or some corporate flunkie who doesn't know a thing and their 'IT' dept has zero clue (or was MS trained, same thing).

        my apartment complex sends me html email and it bugs me no-end.

        I don't know of a good mail client for android that is safe from html-bugged emails. at home, I run thunderbird and am pretty sure that if I diable images and html, no web-bugs can track me and no single pixels get lit-up by the simple act of me opening the mail. on android, I'm not sure there are any email clients that are truly safe and let you disable all bugs and trackers in emails.

        I miss ELM and PINE. that shit was safe and things were much better back then (GOML).

        --
        "It is now safe to switch off your computer."
        • (Score: 2) by Apparition on Wednesday February 14 2018, @05:29AM

          by Apparition (6835) on Wednesday February 14 2018, @05:29AM (#637471) Journal

          R2Mail2 [google.com]. It's not free unfortunately, but it displays text e-mail messages and is the best Android e-mail client I've found.

        • (Score: 2) by Arik on Wednesday February 14 2018, @05:36AM

          by Arik (4543) on Wednesday February 14 2018, @05:36AM (#637475) Journal
          "I don't know of a good mail client for android that is safe from html-bugged emails."

          A touch screen is only marginally more suited for email use than a toothbrush, but a 'classic' non-javascripted webmail is probably your best bet. Gmail still has one, though it's clearly not maintained. If you run your own email server it's pretty easy to add webmail to it.

          "I miss ELM and PINE. that shit was safe and things were much better back then (GOML)."

          They still work last time I checked, but Mutt sucks less.
          --
          If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
        • (Score: 2) by coolgopher on Wednesday February 14 2018, @06:32AM

          by coolgopher (1157) on Wednesday February 14 2018, @06:32AM (#637487)

          Actually, PINE had a steady stream of vulnerabilities found. I recall reading somewhere that the code was rather, umm, haphazard at best, but I never dug into the source.

          Here are some that got CVEs assigned:
            https://www.cvedetails.com/vulnerability-list/vendor_id-55/product_id-85/University-Of-Washington-Pine.html [cvedetails.com]

          Overall it was a pretty good mail client though, I used it for quite a while back in the day.

        • (Score: 3, Interesting) by Aiwendil on Wednesday February 14 2018, @08:49AM (2 children)

          by Aiwendil (531) on Wednesday February 14 2018, @08:49AM (#637522) Journal

          Regarding the html-emails, I have a script that makes the html-usage a bit.. hostile.. in my replies.
          Or rather - I have three such scripts.
          1) Makes sure that no consecutive paragraphs has the same font size nor color (optionally changes font as well)
          2) Instead paragraphs we have the granularity at characters
          3) Hello marquee and blink-tags.

          Yes, all of them prefixes with a normal black-on-white static no messing with fonts yet "I can also do this html-styling".
          Tends to result in one of three things
          1) People stop emailing me
          2) People start sending me plain text.
          3) People get very angry and after confronting me sorts into cat.1 or cat.2.
          (Cat.3 usually are met with just showing them a printout of their email - sans html-parsing - and ask them to read it to you, tends to drive the point home)

          alpine exists btw.

          • (Score: 2) by FatPhil on Wednesday February 14 2018, @09:11AM

            by FatPhil (863) <pc-soylentNO@SPAMasdf.fi> on Wednesday February 14 2018, @09:11AM (#637530) Homepage
            > alpine exists

            This part of your post got drowned in the rest, and was what I was about to post. If you want pine without most of the bugs, alpine's your thing.
            (But I'm a reluctant mutt user.)
            --
            Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 14 2018, @03:14PM

            by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 14 2018, @03:14PM (#637610)

            Can you include a crypto miner for good measure?

    • (Score: 2) by darkfeline on Wednesday February 14 2018, @03:23AM (6 children)

      by darkfeline (1030) on Wednesday February 14 2018, @03:23AM (#637430) Homepage

      What COULD go wrong? You can already send HTML emails (and embed JavaScript in them). If your mail reader renders AMP emails, it probably renders HTML emails too. AMP is just a subset of HTML [1], so if you're offended by this and not regular HTML emails, you're barking up the wrong tree. If you are offended by regular HTML emails, you're still barking up the wrong tree; that ship has not only sailed and arrived at the destination port, but has started making regularly scheduled round trips.

      [1]: https://www.ampproject.org/docs/reference/spec [ampproject.org]

      If you irrationally hate it, just use a mail reader that doesn't render AMP or HTML, seems simple enough. You can embed all manner of things in an email, including, say, Windows bitcoin mining malware, I don't see why you're getting upset over this of all things.

      Also, this is more or less inevitable. “Every program attempts to expand until it can read mail. Those programs which cannot so expand are replaced by ones which can.” Conversely, mail readers for the average user will expand until they can replace every other program (and everything is a web app nowadays).

      Also, let's just clarify some things, since there are a ton of crotchety fear mongers here. AMP is just a subset of HTML. It is an open standard, licensed under Apache. It is not managed by W3C, which might actually be a plus. It removes a lot of the shit in HTML that get abused by mainstream sites. AMP is fine. The fact that Google is using their market dominance to push AMP is less fine, but that's not a problem with AMP itself.

      --
      Join the SDF Public Access UNIX System today!
      • (Score: 4, Insightful) by Arik on Wednesday February 14 2018, @05:30AM (5 children)

        by Arik (4543) on Wednesday February 14 2018, @05:30AM (#637472) Journal
        You can send HTML emails if you want but don't be surprised if I don't bother to read them.

        Email is text. HTML is text with a few semantic tags. Heck, if you send me decent HTML I might just read and answer without noticing, though it's still not the thing to do. But then there's bad HTML - that's text with a pile of layout tags. Dumb, dumb, dumb, much less likely to get read. Then there's not HTML, just straight pig poo, that's a bunch of tags and scripts with no text at all. That's probably what the client will produce if you think you're sending an 'HTML' email and that's just fine, it's a great time-saver for me. I see that, I realize you're a moron, and I block further email from you immediately.

        "irrationally hate it"

        No, I rationally despise it. It's completely pointless at best, a thoroughly bad idea about which absolutely nothing can be said that is both good and true.
        --
        If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
        • (Score: 3, Touché) by Wootery on Wednesday February 14 2018, @10:46AM

          by Wootery (2341) on Wednesday February 14 2018, @10:46AM (#637545)
          I agree, it's really annoying when people misuse formatting tags.
        • (Score: 2) by darkfeline on Wednesday February 14 2018, @06:31PM (3 children)

          by darkfeline (1030) on Wednesday February 14 2018, @06:31PM (#637732) Homepage

          If you want to rant, I'd prefer you not rant at me. Your post does not even mention AMP at all, so I'm not sure how it is relevant to the discussion.

          You hate HTML emails, knowing that HTML emails are in widespread use. Okay.

          How does that make AMP worse? All that means is that you'll be getting HTML emails with less worse formatting, which you will continue to not read.

          --
          Join the SDF Public Access UNIX System today!
          • (Score: 1) by Arik on Wednesday February 14 2018, @07:37PM (2 children)

            by Arik (4543) on Wednesday February 14 2018, @07:37PM (#637814) Journal
            "Your post does not even mention AMP at all, so I'm not sure how it is relevant to the discussion"

            As a direct refutation of your sophistry.

            "You hate HTML emails, knowing that HTML emails are in widespread use. Okay."

            No, I *despise* HTML emails, can you not read?

            And what kind of mental damage makes you think that the second half of the first sentence is in any way relevant to anything? Are you really stupid enough to think that anything in wide use must be good?

            "which you will continue to not read."

            Yes, I will continue to screen them out, nonetheless other people exist and their lack of technical expertise really should not result in them being reduced to digital slavery. But because of trash like this, that's exactly what happens to them. Can you not imagine someone's interest in the world going beyond their own immediate, personal needs?
            --
            If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
            • (Score: 2) by Wootery on Thursday February 15 2018, @11:29AM (1 child)

              by Wootery (2341) on Thursday February 15 2018, @11:29AM (#638188)

              "You hate HTML emails, knowing that HTML emails are in widespread use. Okay."

              No, I *despise* HTML emails, can you not read?

              Is that really your idea of a cutting retort?

              http://www.thesaurus.com/browse/despise [thesaurus.com]

              • (Score: 1) by Arik on Thursday February 15 2018, @04:36PM

                by Arik (4543) on Thursday February 15 2018, @04:36PM (#638278) Journal
                I'm sorry if no one ever taught you how to use a thesaurus properly. The words they list as 'synonyms' will carry overlapping or related meanings, but they're still individual words with individual meanings. A good writer can use it as a resource when he's searching for the right word, "it's not x but that's close, so look up x in the thesaurus and start trying words from that list." Notice that you can't just grab anything from the list and plop it in (though that's a common freshman mistake) but you have to *consider* each word individually for fit in the context.

                In the case of despise and hate, for instance, they're very different words with very different meanings, though both may be taken to imply a very strong dislike, that's where the resemblance ends.

                To *despise* something is not to be filled with hatred for it, but rather to be filled with *contempt* and/or *repugnance.* To hold something in *contempt* means to have evaluated and found it to be without worth, below consideration. To find something to be *repugnant* means to have evaluated and found it in conflict with, incompatible with, fundamental values and decency. Neither of these words can be adequately represented as merely 'hate.'

                (This has been a PSA from the "English, do you speak it?" Foundation for Literacy.)
                --
                If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
  • (Score: 4, Informative) by Appalbarry on Wednesday February 14 2018, @01:36AM (6 children)

    by Appalbarry (66) on Wednesday February 14 2018, @01:36AM (#637397) Journal

    There are many reasons to avoid Google's AMP pages [ycombinator.com], but in this case I have to assume that once again Google will find some way to screw up Gmail even more than they have. Have they ever made a significant change to Gmail that hasn't made it less usable?

    Time to check out how Mailpile [mailpile.is] is doing these days.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 14 2018, @01:47AM (3 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 14 2018, @01:47AM (#637400)

      I'm with ya. gmail is so bad that hotmail and yahoo are starting to look good. Are they operational these days? Doesn't matter - they would still be better than gmail.

    • (Score: 2) by stretch611 on Wednesday February 14 2018, @08:07AM

      by stretch611 (6199) on Wednesday February 14 2018, @08:07AM (#637511)

      I agree.

      Gmail used to be a beautiful and clean webmail client. However, the last 5+ years it has turned to crap. Any valuable function in an icon was hidden until the web client became completely useless. Seems to me like their material design means hide every useful button.

      For years I used to have an open browser window with Gmail at all times and would use that as my preferred client. Now I let thunderbird grab the mail and use that as my primary interface, and god knows how many years Thunderbird has gone without proper support.

      --
      Now with 5 covid vaccine shots/boosters altering my DNA :P
    • (Score: 1) by DeVilla on Thursday February 15 2018, @11:10PM

      by DeVilla (5354) on Thursday February 15 2018, @11:10PM (#638514)

      Have they ever made a significant change to Gmail that hasn't made it less usable?

      When I first got onto Gmail (2004-ish) I didn't really like it any more than any other web mail client. Somewhere since then, they got better and I grew to like it. So yes, there was a time when they made changes that did not make it less usable.

      ... I'm not saying they've kept that momentum, but it did happen.

  • (Score: 2) by chromas on Wednesday February 14 2018, @02:01AM

    by chromas (34) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday February 14 2018, @02:01AM (#637403) Journal
  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by crafoo on Wednesday February 14 2018, @03:56AM (1 child)

    by crafoo (6639) on Wednesday February 14 2018, @03:56AM (#637443)

    Yo dog, remote-executing code in your emails! Let's take a universal system for delivering text communications and just fucking wreck it as hard and as thoroughly as we can imagine.

    Anyway, how is the javascript annihilation of html going? Good? Good. Crank some "web asm" in that bitch. No sense in leaving anything useful.

    • (Score: 2) by MostCynical on Wednesday February 14 2018, @05:01AM

      by MostCynical (2589) on Wednesday February 14 2018, @05:01AM (#637466) Journal

      Is gmail turing complete yet?
      Is it an operating system yet?

      The mobile version already runs as a browser without any change to phone permissions or settings.

      --
      "I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
  • (Score: 2) by MostCynical on Wednesday February 14 2018, @04:48AM

    by MostCynical (2589) on Wednesday February 14 2018, @04:48AM (#637459) Journal

    "package for you!"
    "Why is it ticking?"
    "No idea, I just deliver them, I don't inspect them"
    "It has been opening and re-taped shut; I can see the repairs"
    "Yes, I looked inside"
    "What? You said you didn't inspect it"
    "No, I just checked the timer was set on the explosives"
    "Explosives?!"
    "Yes, special offer: every package now goes 'boom' when opened"
    "So how do I get my messages without blowing up?"
    "Dunno - have you tried sms or whatsapp?"

    --
    "I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by bradley13 on Wednesday February 14 2018, @07:07AM (4 children)

    by bradley13 (3053) on Wednesday February 14 2018, @07:07AM (#637498) Homepage Journal

    It's definitely time for a Googlectomy - my project for the summer.

    One problem I have already come across: Android will not auto-update apps without a Google account. So one at least has to have "pretend" accounts. That said, one can definitely get rid of Gmail, Calendar, Google Maps, etc. Stop using Google search.

    AMP is a fundamentally stupid solution to a problem that needs addressed in a different way. Want to accelerate web pages? Eliminate scripting frameworks, eliminate links to third-party servers that send unknown amounts of crap to your visitors, etc.. Stop sending massive pictures, animations and auto-loading videos. The speed problem is almost entirely due to poor website design.

    --
    Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.
    • (Score: 2) by Shimitar on Wednesday February 14 2018, @08:22AM (3 children)

      by Shimitar (4208) on Wednesday February 14 2018, @08:22AM (#637516) Homepage

      I tried this a couple of times. Always had to go back and re-install GAPPS on my phone. Google is ONLY on my phone... But it seems getting really rid of it is impossible unless you can live without some major functionality. Maps for example. Google Maps is really good and there is no real substitute. Not as a GPS navigator, i use a real one in the car, but as a general information-search tool (gas station? Pizzeria? and so on) Absolutely NO valid substitute anywhere i could find.

      ... And speech-to-text... I dictate a lot to my phone while i drive... and NO valid substitute, specially no offline substitute i could find.

      Find me replacement for these two and i can go google-less.

      (updating apps is not an issuel Use f-droid for most of your needs, and there are nice apps on f-droid which can help you check for updates and even download the APK. Of course, paid apps and apps with in-app purchases are a bye-bye unless the developer has other options besides google play).

      --
      Coding is an art. No, java is not coding. Yes, i am biased, i know, sorry if this bothers you.
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 14 2018, @08:46AM (2 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 14 2018, @08:46AM (#637519)

        For maps replacemeny I use OSMAnd, it's terribly slow and quite a resource hog but the offline maps are great and in much better quality than Googles (at least in my region) for navigation it also works quite well actually

        • (Score: 2) by Shimitar on Wednesday February 14 2018, @08:53AM (1 child)

          by Shimitar (4208) on Wednesday February 14 2018, @08:53AM (#637524) Homepage

          Well, i mostly use google maps to find "places" like a gas station, a specific restaurant or such for which i have no address... And also to check on traffic and decide my route.

          OSMAnd unfortunately cannot help.

          --
          Coding is an art. No, java is not coding. Yes, i am biased, i know, sorry if this bothers you.
          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 14 2018, @02:56PM

            by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 14 2018, @02:56PM (#637606)

            wow you have a lot of dependencies for services I haven't even tried to use. i tend to look up my route before I go and take a printout that I can refer to. I have a foldable paper map in case I am lost and my batteries are dead or dying. sometimes that battery power is best saved for an emergency call.

            either you make a lot of decisions on the fly and engage in no actual planning prior to your trip, or you need a self-driving car, or are in sales or something and have to try to make heroic sales pitches in a fairly dynamic schedule. which is like making decisions on the fly and having no actual plan besides 'sell'.

  • (Score: 2) by inertnet on Wednesday February 14 2018, @09:50AM (1 child)

    by inertnet (4071) on Wednesday February 14 2018, @09:50AM (#637536) Journal

    Thunderbird: "Always block remote content". Problem solved.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 14 2018, @03:20PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 14 2018, @03:20PM (#637615)

      The solution to that is to get the sheeple to only read their mail in the browser.

  • (Score: 1) by manyon on Wednesday February 14 2018, @07:26PM

    by manyon (5835) on Wednesday February 14 2018, @07:26PM (#637800)

    I prefer my email the same as my women, plain and in text

(1)