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HTML5 beckons the world with its dashing logo and also, we suppose, all the clever little things it can do. Desktop notifications in Gmail and folder-dragging in Docs already refuse to work with anything less -- and before long that will apply to the entirety of Google Apps. Come August 1st, you will find that Gmail, Calendar, Talk, Docs and Sites are all unsupported unless you're using either the current or last major release of Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome or Safari. An older browser won't suddenly stop working with Google Apps, but it will begin a steady descent into oblivion. Hey, being popular means you don't have to be nice. Yahoo! News Google

The  Contagio  security blog posted evidence back in February of targeted attacks against government and military officials on Gmail. Today, nearly four months later, Google has finally admitted this is true: hundreds of personal accounts have been compromised by hackers it believes to be working out of Jinan, the capital of China's Shandong province. The accounts include those of "senior U.S. government officials, Chinese political activists, officials in several Asian countries (predominantly South Korea), military personnel and journalists." The hijackers' aim appears to have been to spy on their targets using Google's automatic forwarding function. But unlike the PSN fiasco, Google insists its internal systems "have not been affected." Instead it seems the hackers used a phishing scam, possibly directing users to a spoof Gmail website before requesting their credentials. Google says its own "abuse detection systems" disrupted the campaign ...

Well, this was inevitable. After Sprint's website snafu outing its Android 2.3 intentions for the EVO 4G, we've received evidence that points to June 6th as its release date. Better yet, if you're willing to manually check for its availability, you might even find a happy surprise this Friday. In addition to Gingerbread, users will find SMS and Gmail fixes, along with a tweak to the phone's power management software. Hopefully you've got WiMAX, because this update is coming over-the-air. Should everything go according to plan, users will have less than a week to say goodbye to Froyo. It's a trusty companion for sure, but that spicy aroma is quite enticing. Hit the break for some corroborating clues.

Despite our commander-in-chief's seemingly undying allegiance to BlackBerry, it looks like the federal government could be ready to make a break from RIM. According to a  Washington Post  article published yesterday, a number of agencies within the federal government are questioning their attachment to the standard-issue BlackBerry devices, and allowing government employees to bring in their own preferred methods of communication -- among other things,Congress now allows the use of iPads and iPhones on the House floor and use of BlackBerrys at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory has dropped from 1,000 to 700 in the past year. What's more, the General Services Administration is currently shifting 17,000 employees to Gmail, a move it says could reduce expenses by 50 percent in the next five years. Likewise, the USDA will also move its email services to the cloud with Microsoft's services, claiming $6 million in annual savings. Now, we doubt Obama's going to...

Yahoo is the latest in a line of would-be champions to try to topple king Gmail from its perch atop the email mountain. The company's newest Mail Beta (no relation to Gmail Beta) was introduced last October, but now its overhauled UI and fresh features are available to all. With the change comes quicker load times, stronger spam filtration, and it lets you send and receive Facebook updates and tweets. It also automatically turns picture and video links into thumbnail previews and handles up to 100MB attachments. These fancy new features are certainly a step in the right direction (even if the purple paintjob isn't), but time will tell if it'll rule the webmail world. Yahoo News Yahoo

Google's currently in the process of detailing Chrome OS' latest improvements and there are a couple of big 'uns: Netflix and Hulu support will be available right out of the box for the pair of new Chromebooks -- one from Samsung and one from Acer. An improved file manager has also been added to the upcoming version of Chrome OS, plus offline versions of Gmail, Google Calendar, and Google Docs -- all will be made available for Chromebook users this summer. You can learn more about these improvements in the video after the break. Far more monumental, Google's also just announced the cost of these Chromebooks and there's no upfront payment to speak of. Instead, Chrome OS laptops will be distributed on the basis of a recurring monthly subscription, which will cost $28 per user for businesses and $20 per user for schools. That includes regular software  and  hardware upgrades. Hardware as a service, folks! Chrome OS at Google I/O 2011 Chrome OS screenshots

Are you quietly proud of the girth of your social circle? Do you think having 146 Facebook buddies is impressive? Snap out of it, saddo. Some Gmail users have  thousands   upon thousands  of contacts in their list -- so many, in fact, that they've been begging Google to increase its 10,000 limit. The Big G has now obliged these jabbering fiends, yanking the limit up to 25,000 and also boosting available cloud storage to 128KB per contact instead of 32KB. We imagine this could be of some help to business users perhaps, or those nice strangers who send out stock tips. But for the rest of us, the gesture is about as inconsequential as the professionally good-looking. The Official Gmail Blog

With over 300,000 devices activated per day, Android's clearly firing on all cylinders from a consumer standpoint, but much like the famed Cheez-It wheel, some would argue that the OS isn't quite mature enough for unabashed enterprise use. Being a corporation itself, El Goog's obviously been toiling around the clock to change that, and it's taking three major strides today. An updated version of its Google Apps Device Policy enables employees to secure a lost or stolen Android 2.2+ device by locating it on a map, ringing the device, and resetting the device PIN or password remotely via the new My Devices website. Furthermore, Apps admins now have an option in the control panel to "Encrypt Data on Device," which will now include requiring encrypted storage on Android 3.0 tablets. Finally, Google Apps Lookup is acting as a type of internal blackbook, allowing users to easily sift through colleagues and contact them through one form or another. So......