Gmail & Political Mail; VW ID Buzz Production Bump; Amazon Product Event; Pixel 7 May Be Slightly Late

In a move to appease politicians…and one none of the rest of us will like, Google will apparently launch a pilot program to exempt political campaign email from the spam filter. 9to5google.com reports that this is to stay in the good graces of the Federal Election Commission. In a concession to non-politicians who hate the begging spam, there will be a ‘prominent notification’ asking ‘whether the user wishes to continue receiving messages from the sender.’ Now you will have to click on that email from the politician’s so-called ‘personal account!’

Volkswagen is apparently getting much stronger interest than expected in their ID Buzz…the electric revival of the legendary micro bus. Although production is still 2 years from hitting the pavement, VW has started taking orders in Europe, and according to arstechnica.com, the demand has been so strong, they are bumping production up to 130,000 units a year. The Buzz is built on VW’s modular EV platform. The initial ones will be a smaller, two row passenger version and a commercial version that ls all cargo space. They plan to start building US ones for sale here in 2024 in their Chattanooga, TN plant.

Amazon’s annual product launch event kicks off virtually next week, on September 28th. Theverge.com says it will begin at 9am Pacific. The online giant is expected to roll out new Echo devices, new Ring products, new services, and more. Interestingly, there haven’t been many leaks about what’s coming. Don’t expect much regarding Roomba…which amazon bought…the acquisition of Roomba maker iRobot hasn’t closed yet. 

Google’s launch event is coming up on October 6th, and new Pixel 7, Pixel 7 Pro, Pixel Watch, and Nest products are expected. Androidpolice.com note that a usually reliably leaker—Caschys Blog—says that although the devices will be shown that day, the Pixel 7 won’t really be available for sale October 13th, as expected. You will be able to preorder after the 6th, but the Pixel 7’s won’t be available until October 18th. As for the Pixel Watch, it won’t be arriving until November 4th.