Google tries keeping political campaign emails out of Gmail spam

It's Wednesday, June 29, 2022.

Google’s Gmail has generally rigorous spam filters, but they can sometimes be too rigorous. Google is working on a way to ensure emails from US political campaigns reach users' inboxes instead of automatically getting tagged as spam.

The company has asked the Federal Election Commission for approval on a plan to make emails from "authorized candidate committees, political party committees and leadership political action committees registered with the FEC" exempt from spam detection. That said, missives will still have to abide by Gmail's rules on phishing, malware and illegal content. Google spokesperson José Castañeda told Axios: “We want Gmail to provide a great experience for all of our users, including minimizing unwanted email, but we do not filter emails based on political affiliation."

One reason Gmail puts many campaign emails in the spam folder is other users often mark the missives as spam.

— Mat Smith

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HTC’s latest phone is a baffling one centered around the metaverse

No, not sure what that means either.

HTC

The HTC Desire 22 Pro supports HTC's Viverse ecosystem so users can visit communities using their browsers, even without VR devices. It's also compatible with the company's $499 Vive Flow VR headset and can pair with the device if users want to explore experiences, watch movies and TV or just access their apps in virtual reality.

The spec sheet is otherwise middling, and most of the metaverse / VR appeal comes from other HTC hardware.

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Airbnb is banning party houses permanently

Party’s over.

Airbnb is permanently banning all parties and events at all host properties, globally. It follows a temporary 2020 ban it instituted to comply with COVID-related social distancing restrictions. "Over time, the party ban became much more than a public health measure," Airbnb said in a blog post. "It developed into a bedrock community policy to support our Hosts and their neighbors."

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Facebook and Instagram are blocking posts about mailing abortion pills

Even if they're outside the US.

If you post on Facebook or Instagram about being able to mail abortion pills, don't be surprised if you get a warning — or even get your account restricted. A tipster told Motherboard they were notified a minute after posting "I will mail abortion pills to any one of you" that their status update had been removed. When they tried to post it again later, they were banned. We replicated the restriction measure.

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NASA takes a step towards putting humans back on the Moon

Its CAPSTONE launch will help NASA's space station safely orbit the Moon.

NASA

Rocket Lab has successfully launched NASA's 55-pound CAPSTONE CubeSat that will eventually orbit the Moon — if all goes to plan. It's a small but important step in NASA's Artemis mission to send humans to the Moon for the first time since 1972. Rocket Lab used an Electron rocket with a special addition called the Lunar Photon upper stage, with enough power to send it into deep space. It's one of the smallest rockets to attempt to launch a payload to lunar orbit.

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Both of Valve's classic Portal games arrive on Switch today

The $20 Portal Companion Collection includes the complete Portal experience.

Yesterday’s Nintendo Direct presentation, among a fewother things, revealed that the Portal Companion Collection is now out on Switch, priced at $19.99. The collection includes both the original Portal from 2007 as well as the more expansive, story-driven Portal 2. While the original Portal was strictly a single-player experience, Portal 2 has a split-screen co-op experience; you can also play this mode with a friend online as well.

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