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We get that like total frustration when you're trying to check email on your

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phone. Yeah, it's just spinning and spin.

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It's like the loading icon just mocks you.

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You're just stuck. And you know, you sent us something about this, actually.

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I did. Yeah.

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About a web based email client called snappy mail.

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Right. Right. So that's our focus today.

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We're going to really dive deep into this snappy mail thing, see what's going on.

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And more importantly, like what it means for us, right?

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Like, is this actually the answer to our email woes?

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I mean, that's the hope, isn't it? We've all got email woes.

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Exactly. Before we get started, though, got to do the shout out thing.

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Right. Of course. To Safe Server. Our amazing sponsor.

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Yeah. They're the ones who handle the whole hosting side of things for this type of

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software. And if anyone's thinking about that digital transformation journey,

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they've got some awesome advice. Yeah.

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So check them out at www.safeserver.dd.

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All right. Let's get back to snappy mail.

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Simple, modern, lightweight and fast. That's what caught my eye.

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Straight to the point. Right. It's also described as, wait for it,

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drastically upgraded and secured fork of rain loop web mail community edition.

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That's a mouthful. It is.

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So for those of us who just want email to actually work,

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especially on our phones. Yeah. What's the key takeaway here?

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What does all that really mean? Okay. Let's start with that fork idea. Okay.

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Think of it like, you know, a recipe. Okay.

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You've got a really good base recipe. Let's say it's rain loop. In this case,

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it worked great, you know, back in the day. Yeah. But things change. Right.

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So the folks behind snap email,

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they saw a chance to take that recipe and make it even better for today with

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fresh ingredients, new techniques. And it seems like their main focus,

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the thing they really zeroed in on is making email super smooth and

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speedy on modern browsers, especially on mobile.

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Our phones are basically our lifeline these days. They are.

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And in our research, they threw around some pretty impressive numbers.

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I saw 138 KB download using broadly. I mean,

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what does that even mean?

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Well that's for when you first open it on mobile and it's tiny, tiny. How?

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Think about it.

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138 KBB is like the size of a single photo on your phone,

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a decent quality one. Oh, okay.

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So instead of waiting for this giant app to load,

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snappy mail should just pop up instantly. Yeah. Even if you're on a dodgy

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connection,

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that'd be amazing. Right.

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And they also mentioned a performance grade of up to 99% by Lighthouse.

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Now that sounds like some serious tech jargon. It does,

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but basically it's like getting an A plus in web performance. Oh, okay.

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So it's going to run smoothly and quickly. Exactly. No more lag, no more waiting.

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Okay. So it's designed for speed, especially on our phones,

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but our notes also said it's something like 66% smaller and faster than

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Rainloop. And how did they manage that? Like, what are the big changes?

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So a big part of that comes from embracing all the newest web technologies and

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ditching some of the older clunkier stuff. For example,

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Snap email needs a more recent version of PHP on the server. Okay.

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It's like making sure the engine running, everything is up to date, powerful.

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Exactly. And on the front end, what you actually see and interact with,

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they've switched to a newer version of JavaScript called ES 2020,

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which is like a more efficient, streamlined language for web browsers.

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So the code is just leaner and meaner. Yes.

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And they've also changed how the website's code is packaged and sent to your

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browser. Oh, how's that?

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They moved from this tool called web pack to another one called rollup. Okay.

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Think of them like packing systems. Rollup is like the modern, efficient one.

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So smaller packages, faster delivery.

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Precisely. And even in how the website looks, the layout,

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they're using modern techniques, flex box, border box, things like that.

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I've heard those terms before. Yeah.

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They're all about making the website more responsive and faster to load.

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It sounds like they really went all in on modernizing things. They did.

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And that's not all. What else?

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They also made some big improvements in security and privacy. Oh yeah.

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That was a big point in the notes. It's a huge deal.

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They've made a real effort to make snappy mail more privacy focused.

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Like how? Well, for one,

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they've removed connections to all those social media platforms and other third

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party services, you know, Gravatar, Facebook, Google, Twitter,

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Dropbox. Oh wow. That's a lot. It is. Yeah.

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But that means less tracking,

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less data being sent out just because you opened an email.

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So it's keeping your info more secure. Exactly. And on top of that,

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they've also really strengthened the actual security measures.

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What do they do?

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They use stronger methods for securing your admin password. Okay.

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They keep a log of failed login attempts to catch any suspicious activity.

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Exactly. Plus they even included instructions for using this tool called fail

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to ban.

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It basically blocks computers that keep trying to guess your password like a

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digital bouncer. That's a great way to put it.

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And they've also added support for something called fetch metadata request

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headers, which is another layer of security to prevent certain types of attacks.

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So they're not just taking things away for privacy.

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They're also adding more protection. Yes.

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It's a multi-pronged approach to security.

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I like it. Now beyond speed and security,

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any new features that'll make using it, you know, nicer.

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Absolutely. For one, they added a dark mode. Oh, nice.

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Which is easier on the eyes, especially at night.

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Yes. And I'm all about that. What else?

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Well, for those who like to really customize their email organization,

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there's a more advanced editor for Civ scripts. Civ scripts.

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Remind me what those are again.

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They let you create really specific rules for your incoming emails.

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Oh, okay.

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Like if I wanted all my work emails to go directly into a specific folder.

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Exactly. You can totally automate that. Very cool.

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And for even more convenience,

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they've added push notifications for new emails.

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So even if Snap email isn't open, I'll still get alerted. Yep.

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You'll get a little notification on your phone or computer.

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And they've also made big improvements to how Snap email handles encrypted

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emails using PGP. PGP. That's for keeping messages extra secure, right?

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Right. They're using a more up-to-date version of the technology

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and supporting newer, more secure types of encryption keys.

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So it's all around more secure and modern. Absolutely.

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One last thing from our notes, which browsers can actually use Snap email?

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Right. So they've decided to focus on the latest versions of popular browsers,

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Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Opera, Safari, all the big ones.

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Okay. This lets them take full advantage of all the newest web features.

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But it does mean that older browsers like Internet Explorer won't work.

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I think most people have moved on from Internet Explorer by now.

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Probably. So to bring it all back to our listener who asked about this,

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seems like Snap email is worth checking out if you're fed up with slow,

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clunky web mail, especially on mobile, right? Especially on mobile.

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It's faster, smaller, more secure.

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And it's got all those modern bells and whistles.

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It really seems like a completely modern take on web-based email.

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Totally. And I love that they prioritize privacy and security from the ground up.

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It's a big deal.

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And it really looks like a significant improvement over Rain Loop.

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Definitely. And it's all about getting you to your emails faster without the

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hassle. So thinking about how quickly web technology moves,

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how do you see email clients adapting in the future? Like what's next?

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That's a great question. I think we're going to see a lot more experimentation,

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especially as we all demand faster speeds and better privacy online.

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Makes sense.

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We might see some really outside the box ideas about how we interact with email,

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you know.

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It's exciting to think about.

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And thanks again to Safe Server for making this deep dive possible.

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Couldn't have done it without them.

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If you're out there and need reliable hosting for your software,

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or maybe some extra advice on your digital transformation,

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definitely check them out at www.safeserver.de.

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They're the best.

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Alright, until next time, happy emailing everyone!

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Stay snappy!