GMailify Connects Non-GMail Accounts to GMail and Other News

The week is ending, and news is up on our RADAR. Without further ado, here’s the latest tech news mashup for today.

GMailify Connects Non-GMail Accounts to GMail

Maybe you are one of those users who love GMail’s service offerings and features but are still stuck with your current email provider. Well, Good News! GMail has launched GMailify, a service that allows non-GMail accounts to enjoy GMail’s Google Now integrations, inbox tagging and organization features, spam protection and searching prowess.

Although Android users were able to add additional accounts to the GMail app, it never exactly allowed a full integration by allowing those accounts to enjoy GMail’s features. GMailify allows users to connect non-GMail accounts and forward emails from other accounts and reply from the GMail account, if needed. And all this, without changing the current email address.

To enable GMailify, a user has to enable GMailify in their settings dashboard from the web version or Android. Just add a non-Gmail account and click on the option ‘Link Account’. After this, all non-GMail accounts will enjoy all of Google’s features, including emails being categorized as Social, Promotions or Updates and mobile notifications of Google’s services through Google Now and others.

GMail launched this feature (coincidently?) on the same day Microsoft took Outlook.com out of the Beta stage. Currently, GMailify works only with Yahoo! Mail and Microsoft’s Outlook.com.

Facebook to Introduce Ads in Messenger

According to a document by Facebook for its advertisers (by an unnamed verified source), the social network is planning to integrate advertisements in its Messenger app.

Facebook plans to launch these ads in the next few months. The ads will be different than those of Facebook’s web version, and only users chatting with businesses will be able to view the advertisements. Additionally, only those users will be shown ads with whom businesses have engaged in a conversation in the past. Along with these plans, the company plans to have a short URL (fb.com/msg/) for users to chat with businesses directly.

Facebook’s mobile advertisements revenue was 80% of the total $5.84 billion reported, an increase of 52% since the same period last year.

Windows Phone Market Share in Q4 2015

Gartner reports the Windows Phone market share to be 1.1%. Android had the highest number of users in 2015, 80.7% of the total amount of users. The Google-owned platform increased 16.6% in Q4 2015. Windows Phone sales dropped 60% from 2014-2015, from ~10 million to almost 4 million devices.

New York Launches Free WiFi, Uses Old Pay Phones as Hotspots

New York has launched free WiFi in five boroughs, and uses old pay phones as internet hotspots. Called ‘Links’, the hotspots include a red 911 button, two USB charging sockets, a tablet for web access and a landline phone to call anywhere in the U.S. for free.