I believe Bill Hansen's New York Times article is referring to this announcement:
---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Gmail Team <[email protected]> Date: Thu, Jan 9, 2014 at 6:26 PM Subject: Gmail update: Reach more people you know Gmail update: Reach more people you know Ever wanted to email someone you know, but haven't yet exchanged email addresses? Starting this week, when you're composing a new email, Gmail will suggest your Google+ connections as recipients, even if you haven't exchanged email addresses yet. How it works with email addresses Emailing Google+ connections works a bit differently to protect the privacy of email addresses. Your email address isn't visible to your Google+ connections until you send them an email, and their email addresses are not visible to you until they respond. Receiving email from people outside your circles<http://www.google.com/appserve/mkt/p/6MjX0vJb7mWvMIHfY2cFEXn8eHjzzlAFgudln2tFNNBEp30hgnpJM2q7XGo3Vecf1iMaOpLBueotlhniZo_RC5d_izm5lB8=> If you receive an email from someone outside your circles, it will be filtered into the Social category of the inbox<http://www.google.com/appserve/mkt/p/zdubeXnlicp0TVULEohQ_L-iR6z-sXxYAq0xDj9R8QXs8kLbTsrAZY3UZfbeN8_UTovr-HiRGtf_hmJQ5Imc_OSjzMpdg2vhdBGGmLFJCQ==>(if enabled) and only after you respond or add them to your circles, can they start another conversation with you. How to control who can contact you You're in control of whether people can reach you with a new setting in Gmail<http://www.google.com/appserve/mkt/p/-KUW0FuDnQQd2Y3IOPG64FMipuz4XFOIw_dyW0Odn-KL-bMAmlXs8HbgsSumDzFLvcemTX7Xv8rK5p9GpK2V>on the desktop. To learn more, check out the Help Center<http://www.google.com/appserve/mkt/p/nHot9DEQLvzE_gDYpR8rTOzbFW1_0rhd69FDmNeHdDxe2pQ7D0s4SfiAli8cQnRECfGgTwLCZbTj3TeUCSkFnC8qcNM=>. The Gmail Team © 2013 Google Inc. 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043 You have received this mandatory email service announcement to update you about important changes to your Gmail product or account. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Gmail-Users" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/gmail-users. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
