Nine years after Microsoft shook things up with Windows 8, it seems to be at a place where it can tackle fresh challenges and still play to its strengths
By Harry McCracken
A high percentage of the virtual product launches I have attended since March 2020 have involved executives declaring that they’ve built the perfect product for the new era of work and play brought on by the pandemic. On Thursday, Microsoft’s presentation introducing Windows 11 was no different. …
Inspired by the audio-first social network and frustrated by the current state of social media, entrepreneurs are turning to the human voice to create connection online
By Ruth Reader
Between January and February, Clubhouse, a platform for audio-only panel discussions, went from 2 million downloads to 10 million. By April it had garnered another 6 million downloads and a $4 billion valuation. The mobile app has been a go-to during the pandemic, for captive Americans stuck at home, and its popularity has sparked Twitter and Facebook to launch their own audio platforms. But it’s also allowed a bevy of smaller social audio apps to share the spotlight and push for an alternative form of social media, one that centers on authenticity.
CB Insights credits Clubhouse with…
There’s hope at the end of all these rainbows
By Dan Howarth and Jonathan Marotto
It’s June, which has meant a month of events commemorating Pride. The annual celebration of the diverse and multifaceted LGBTQIA+ community is marked in a multitude of ways — dazzling parades, debaucherous parties, friends and family get-togethers, lavish fundraisers, and more throughout the month. And for many brands, it’s become tradition to join in the festivities and show support by sponsoring parade floats, changing their logos to incorporate rainbow motifs, and selling Pride-branded merchandise.
A running joke is that on July 1 these brands shed their multicolored identities like snakeskins, and the Pride paraphernalia…
For years, the accelerator insisted that founders come to the Bay Area to participate in its program. Then it was forced to go remote — and learned to like it.
By Harry McCracken
It was a ritual that Y Combinator (YC) had down pat. On February 12, 2020, the startup accelerator issued an email invitation to its Winter 2020 Demo Day on March 23 and 24. Almost 200 early-stage companies would “present themselves to a room of specially selected investors,” the invite explained. It included information on the venue — a pier next to the San Francisco Giants’ Oracle Park — and noted (twice) that lunch would not be provided.
After 15 years and 30 batches of companies, YC Demo Day was one of the startup ecosystem’s most familiar institutions…
The first nationwide Tree Equity Score data could serve as a guide for leaders and residents to advocate for more tree shade in lower-income neighborhoods
By Talib Visram
The list of benefits that trees bestow on urban neighborhoods is long: People who live near more trees feel younger, are happier, and are healthier. But perhaps one of the most important factors in a world of rising temperatures is that trees have the ability to keep urban areas they cover up to 45 degrees Fahrenheit cooler than those exposed to sunlight. Yet the number of trees fluctuates between any two neighborhoods. In Austin, there’s a 20% difference in the amount of tree cover between high- and low-income neighborhoods. In Memphis, the hottest neighborhoods, usually with the…
Always feeling like you have to mask who you are is contributing to a one-dimensional version of what success looks like, particularly in the tech industry
By Phil Schraeder
As a gay CEO who was in the closet until age 22, I’m familiar with the process of faking it. I know what it is to listen to locker room talk that’s all about girls, or to hear colleagues laugh at a male coworker with a “feminine” walk.
“Fake it till you make it” seems innocuous enough until you are trapped in a hell like I was. You may start off acting a bit brasher or more contained than your normal self. And before you know it, you’ve forced yourself into a cookie-cutter shape, eroding who you…
These skills can make a big difference as we shake off the cobwebs from working remote for so long
By Shirin Trehan Toor
The CDC’s announcement last month made it official: Corporate America is ready to return to the office. While many of us built up our digital skills while working from home, it could be an awkward transition back to our daily watercooler moments.
We’ve spent more than a year interacting with coworkers and clients through a computer screen. Most of us haven’t held eye contact with them or had a conversation that didn’t include lagging or that frequent Zoom reminder, “you’re on mute.”
The good news is it doesn’t have to be awkward. We flexed and grew…
Ivy Ross, the Google designer who conceptualized the space, offers us an inside look
By Elizabeth Segran
Twenty-two years into its existence, Google is finally launching its first brick-and-mortar store tomorrow morning.
Housed on the ground floor of Google’s New York headquarters in Chelsea, the store will be a place to explore and purchase Google’s hardware, including Pixel phones and Nest devices, as well as bring products in for repair. But it will also be a lot more than that, according to Ivy Ross, Google’s VP of hardware design, UX and research, who also served as the creative director of the Google Store. It will be a place for consumers to immerse themselves in…
The social media platform recently announced it would be launching a job service. But what will it look like — and is that what users want?
By Stephanie Vozza
TikTok is apparently launching a jobs service targeted at Gen Z. While the program is still being developed, brands can post jobs and users can apply by uploading video résumés. Since the Gen Z age group makes up a large portion of the platform’s user base, will social media-style recruiting drive the future of hiring?
“As a recruiting tool, it makes sense to go where the candidates are,” says Eric Sydell, executive vice president of innovation at the talent screening platform Modern Hire. “But reports are saying that TikTok will also allow posting of video résumé. …
Before you jump to answer an IM, take a step back and try tidying up your office space
By Nahla Davies
During the pandemic, remote work became the new norm as companies grappled with how to continue operations during lockdown. For many employees, like those at Salesforce and Twitter, remote work arrangements will continue permanently. Other big names have announced hybrid work plans, where employees will be in the office for part of each week and work from home for the rest.
Finding work–life balance has never been easy, even before COVID-19, but it became even more difficult as home and office merged this past year. …
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