Is Google Sunsetting Gmail In 2024? New Hoax Leaves Users Confused

 Rumors are going strong on social media about Google’s journey with Gmail coming to an end. And that too as early as this year.

If you paid witness to such a shocking hoax that’s fast spreading online too then we can confirm that it’s not true by any means. The Android maker is addressing the need for users to calm down after the hoax emphasizing the company’s goodbye to Gmail.

Many versions of this hoax can be found online on the Twitter (X) app. But Google has rest assured everyone to take it easy and that it’s not going anywhere. However, a clause also mentions how users would now be defaulted to new views on Gmail. So other than those cases where you had specifically requested for the basic HTML version, nothing is going to change.

The search engine giant just made updates to its respective support page too instead of this hoax and how it will now change to Standard display after the issuance of a deadline date.

Reports by users on tech outlet Hacker News mentioned how they got emails from the company that signaled the feature was now coming to a close and that obviously created a state of panic across the board.

Screenshots: DIW - Gmail web

Google says it wants to make it very clear about where its Gmail stands right now to avoid last-minute panic. Users can expect to see their mobile and desktop web Gmail Basic HTML views getting disabled from the start of January this year. The basic HTML views on display right now are from old variants of Gmail that had been replaced by modern versions close to a decade ago. They don’t entail complete Gmail features.

Today, when users make the effort to access HTML variants, the company rolls out messages stating how the variant is designed for slower connectivity and those having legacy browsers. Therefore, it’s now asking users to confirm whether or not they want to make use of standard variants or not.

The latest HTML variant has a few new features like chat, grammar checks, shortcuts for the keyboard, and any kind of rich formatting tools. But we can see how it will serve as something super useful in those scenarios where you happen to be in an area with low connections.

The same would be the case if users wish to look at emails without having more bells and whistles attached. For now, it’s still not clear if Google wishes to add a new variant for situations where there is low connectivity.

For the time being, the search engine giant is focusing more on the likes of adding AI-based technology to a wide array of its offerings. And Gmail seems to be a part of that list. In the past month, we saw the company roll out Duet AI features to assist users in generating emails when in a rush.

Meanwhile, last week, we saw it giving Bard the chance to incorporate several Google accounts so queries can be asked regarding email history.

Study shows where Americans fail to read texts and emails

 Ding! There’s your phone again, telling you another message just came through. We’ve all been guilty of taking a look at a new notification and thinking, “I’ll get to that later.” Then later turns to hours or days, and that text from mom or email from a coworker is still unanswered.

Maybe you were busy or just didn’t feel like replying—but a new study by Secure Data Recovery suggests there might be something more going on. Almost half of Americans report that the notification bubble or bell makes them feel overwhelmed. If your phone is stressing you out, it might be easier to put it face down on the table and let it buzz than try to sift through all your new messages.

So, is ignoring our messages a valid way to cope in an often too-fast-paced world? Or are we just hurting our friends’ feelings when we leave them “on read”? Secure Data Recovery’s study answers these questions and more, and this post offers some insight into people’s habits with this practice as well as how it impacts their lives.

How unread messages impact relationships

Despite living in the age of hyper-connectivity, almost 57% of Americans have a backlog of unread messages. And your phone’s storage space isn’t the only victim of the pileup—almost half of us have had a relationship negatively impacted by our slow response time.

Unread messages have broken friendships (43%), dampened romances (31%), and even hurt our prospects at work (25%). While that might seem a little blown out of proportion, your buddy, partner, or project lead just might not appreciate being as low on your priority list as that unread promotional email from three weeks ago.

Funny enough, 92% of us consider ourselves to be low-maintenance friends, meaning we don’t expect things like regular check-ins, calls, or face-to-face interactions. Maybe it’s a tacit acknowledgment of our own bad communication habits. Who are we to demand timely replies if we can’t even answer texts ourselves? Looks like, even in an increasingly digital world, we’re still getting the hang of this instant communication thing.

America’s message response habits

So, you finally opened that message. Now comes the hard part—actually writing back.

Responding too quickly shows obvious desperation (uncool), but responding too late might earn you an honorary spot in the “bad friend” category (also uncool). Most of America has found a sweet spot: About 56% of us agree that a response to non-urgent texts should come within a day.

Of course, not everybody sticks to this unspoken rule. Dwelling among us are the 43% of champion procrastinators who have comfortably waited over 24 hours to open a text. Another 43% are the masters of suspense, taking their sweet time to respond once they’ve read the message. Text is at least a little less egregious than email, where 63% of us have waited a week or more to check the inbox.

We’ve gotten so good at this game that 65% of us have pulled out the classic, “I forgot to respond” excuse. Yeah, right. Does anyone ever believe that line? And yet, we somehow still manage to spend over 11 minutes a day on average dealing with text messages. Maybe deciding whether or not to open them eats up some time.

Where Americans are the worst at opening messages

America, land of the free—and land of a lot of unread messages, apparently. Though text message procrastinators can be anywhere, some states have worse communication habits than others.

Of all the states in our great nation, people in California, Kentucky, and West Virginia have the most unread texts, with averages of 5.6, 5.2, and 4.9, respectively. Compare that to people in Maine, Arizona, and Alabama, who only leave, on average, 2.2, 2.39, and 2.78 messages unread.

But Alabamanians aren’t perfect. They might read their text messages, but they lead the pack in holding onto unread emails, with a whopping 13.10 in their inboxes on average. Massachusetts and Maryland aren’t far behind, leaving 12.25 and 11.6 emails unanswered. If you want your email answered, send it to someone in Washington (5.2), New York (6.2), or Virginia (6.5), where the average number of unread messages is nearly cut in half.

Final Thoughts

An incessantly buzzing phone is the last thing you need at the end of a stressful day. Having the ability to instantly connect to anyone at any time, anywhere is great and all, but, on the other hand, it can also make us feel bound to our phones—sometimes we just want to rage against the pocket-sized machine.

While there’s no shame in leaving your messages unread, try to remember that they’re not just designed to annoy you, at least not always. Usually, someone you care about is on the other end of the line, waiting for your reply.

So, before you contemplate hurling your phone to the far reaches of your room, pause a moment, and remind yourself of the human connection each ping represents—it might just make tackling that dreaded inbox a little easier.

Google Expands AI Capabilities On Gmail With Innovative ‘Draft Email With Voice’ Feature

 AI is coming to Gmail in a new and improved manner as search engine giant Google looks to further expand its AI capabilities through its products.

The company mentioned how the latest feature to take center stage for Gmail is a ‘draft email with voice’ endeavor that was first sighted in its beta version by TheSpAndroid recently. They claim the feature enables users to make verbal prompts across the app’s AI and ensures it’s easier for them to draft emails.

This email already has a Help Me To Write feature which makes use of the technology to make suggestions about text used for drafting the email, depending on what prompts come forward.

As per a recently launched feature on Gmail, users would get the chance to see microphone buttons when they roll out new emails or generate replies through the Gmail application.

When you click on it, it rolls out voice interfaces and that means users can have short prompts recorded by simply explaining everything they wish to see in the email’s body. For instance, you might generate a prompt that asks the system to better describe your thoughts or demands. This might be related to scheduling a workplace meeting with a fellow client at a specific date or time on the platform.

After the recording is done, you click on Create which makes use of AI technology as well as natural language to understand prompts and produce drafts for the email in question. You will also see customized email features like the subject heading, receiver, and body featuring all the key details you want to talk about.

You can further edit drafts as required before sending them off. And if the user exits the interface of voice, you’ll see a button pop up in the composition for the email screen and enable easy access toward getting exactly what you need through a simple click.

• Also read: Google Downsizes: Ends Contract With Appen's Search Quality Raters

Such experiments were in the latest version so that means we just might be seeing it launch very soon. So by the looks of it, the Android maker wants to test functionality and the capabilities that AI has through a limited rollout first and then a bigger one after that. But you have to note how the search engine giant is yet to announce through official means any clues regarding the Voice AI drafting endeavor.

To make the most of the feature, users must sign up for the ordeal through the Workspace Labs of Google. And after recently joining, it might take a while before such a feature pops up on mobile devices. If you missed that, don’t worry. The company’s AI assistant for writing is present on Google Docs.

n other news, the company also just rolled out a new native translation feature that’s all set to get support for the Gmail mobile application. It would allocate work locations for certain times throughout the day.