Episode 114 - SendGrid - You have mail

Cale and Sujit talk to Sam Gabor, who owns Advanced Trading Solutions, and discuss his foray into Azure, especially the SendGrid service for sending email. He offers valuable advice and tips for developers that want to incorporate sending email into their applications.

Media file: http://azpodcast.blob.core.windows.net/episodes/Episode114.mp3

Sam's tips on using SendGrid:

1. CAN-SPAM Act Info: https://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/business-center/guidance/can-spam-act-compliance-guide-business Pay close attention to this part: “Each separate email in violation of the CAN-SPAM Act is subject to penalties of up to $16,000” In a bulk e-mail scenario, that can be disastrous!

2. SendGrid API Docs: https://sendgrid.com/docs/API_Reference/

3. Mail tester site: https://www.mail-tester.com/

4. Some pointers on increasing e-mail deliverability:

   1. White-label domains that send e-mail through SendGrid (https://support.sendgrid.com/hc/en-us/articles/200548228-All-You-Need-to-Know-About-Whitelabeling )

   2. Use http://mail-tester.com to score e-mails transmitted through SendGrid

   3. Always check SPAM reports in the SendGrid dashboard and act on them promptly.

Other updates:

You can transfer a subscription to a colleague
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/azure/mt130656.aspx

Export Band Data
http://winsupersite.com/microsoft-band/xportband-export-microsoft-band-data-gpx-file-format

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/price-reduction-for-azure-media-indexer/

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/azure-search-indexer-for-azure-blob-storage-now-in-public-preview/ 

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/azure-premium-storage-available-in-more-regions/

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/announcing-early-preview-of-azure-paas-services-and-devops-tools-for-azure-stack/