Month: February 2023
Serena Ventures backs SoLo Funds as finance platform tops 1M registered users
The over 1 million registered users makes SoLo Funds “the largest and first Black-owned personal finance platform” to reach that milestone, according to the company.
Serena Ventures backs SoLo Funds as finance platform tops 1M registered users by Christine Hall originally published on TechCrunch
SoLo Funds has acquired over 1 million registered users and over 1.3 million downloads to make it “the largest and first Black-owned personal finance platform” to do so, Rodney Williams, co-founder and president of SoLo, told TechCrunch.
The community finance company defines the claim “as a business-to-consumer personal finance banking solution, U.S.-based and Black-owned with registered users or downloads above 1 million. Black-owned is defined as Black majority ownership.”
“It’s a huge testament to the product we’ve built, that it is actually addressing a real problem,” Williams told TechCrunch. “The system is somewhat discriminatory or selective, in that it’s extremely expensive to start a financial services company. That cost is a significant barrier of entry for the average American who are the ones that need these financial services. It’s challenging across the board.”
SoLo has been on a mission to right-bank some 254 million underserved Americans since launching its platform in 2018, Williams said. The company enables its members to set their own borrowing terms and lend to other members to make returns or a social impact. After borrowing, some 30% of members have even turned around and lended money, he added.
The 1 million registered user milestone hasn’t come without some blood, sweat and tears, though. Before we profiled the company in 2021 when it raised $10 million in Series A funding, SoLo basically ran out of money, causing the founders to shut down the platform toward the end of 2019, Williams said.
SoLo Funds’ lending marketplace Image Credits: SoLo Funds
SoLo was relaunched in April 2020 with what Williams said was a better product and new features, including protection for lenders. That paid off: In less than a year, the company had aggressive growth — like 2,000% — and a Series A.
Williams also credits the registered user milestone to that perseverance. Not to mention, it is why the company recently landed a seven-figure investment from Serena Ventures and other investors and funds.
Speaking about the investment, Serena Williams, managing partner at Serena Ventures, said in a written statement: “SoLo is transforming the lives of everyday Americans with democratized access to capital and returns that’s truly rooted in community. Community finance is working and SoLo is proof of that.”
Meanwhile, the Los Angeles–based company continues on its growth streak. Since its relaunch in 2020, SoLo has amassed nearly 100 employees and processed over 600,000 loans, some 45,000 of those in the last month. Over 80% of those loans were taken out by members from underserved zip codes. The number of loans per month has steadily grown over six months when the company processed around 30,000 loans, Williams said.
In addition, those 600,000 loans accounted for $300 million in transaction volume. Williams said the company is on pace to more than triple that transaction volume to over $1 billion by the first quarter of 2024.
“We have a strong network effect: for every loan funded, we attract five or six users,” Williams added. “We always wanted to be an alternative to payday loans, and the best part is we are finally making the impact we envisioned.”
SoLo members get a consumer deposit account, but coming down the pipeline the company will be releasing some new features, including access to debit cards, credit lines, credit cards, high-yield savings accounts and an auto lending account that will be launched later this year. It will enable members to upload capital into an account and set risk tolerance and the account will lend automatically.
Serena Ventures backs SoLo Funds as finance platform tops 1M registered users by Christine Hall originally published on TechCrunch
Gable raises the roof (and $12M) for better remote working options
Remote working options and workplace flexibility can be a bit of a head-scratcher for employees and employers alike, but Gable, which has just raised $12 million in Series A funding following on a $3.25 million round of seed funding, is hoping to make it smoother for everyone. The company provides a one-stop-shop for managing employees’
Gable raises the roof (and $12M) for better remote working options by Haje Jan Kamps originally published on TechCrunch
Remote working options and workplace flexibility can be a bit of a head-scratcher for employees and employers alike, but Gable, which has just raised $12 million in Series A funding following on a $3.25 million round of seed funding, is hoping to make it smoother for everyone. The company provides a one-stop-shop for managing employees’ remote working options. Through the Gable portal, employees can search for and book a spot at a locally available workspace in 26 different countries and employers can manage payments.
There are reams of research showing how much workplace flexibility is valued by employees, but workers also recognize that it comes at a cost. Employees can feel disconnected from their colleagues and there are concerns about whether remote work is a barrier to career progression. From the employers’ side, remote recruitment gives an opportunity to build the strongest team that’s the best fit for their company, but the negatives mean that as well as wanting to maintain engagement and workforce satisfaction, they also need to manage their budgets and figure out how to extract value for money from their existing premises.
This is where Gable thinks it can help. The portal doesn’t just show which nearby workspaces in a company’s budget have available slots — it also indicates if colleagues are booked in to work there, too. Someone can then book to work adjacent to a colleague, giving them a bit of connection. According to Gable, companies using its service have seen their employees’ interest in coming into an office increase by 75%.
Gable claims that its service provides support to multiple different teams within a company, from HR and people operations to real estate and workplace teams, saving both time and money.
“Companies find it hard to provide workspaces across locations, stay on top of budgets, and have insight into how the spaces are being utilized. That’s where Gable comes in,” says Gable’s co-founder and CEO, Liza Mash Levin.
The benefits that Gable describes include vetting all of the locations that it lists to check things like Wi-Fi speed and kitchen availability. Its pay-as-you-go model is designed to give control to companies over how much they spend on flexible working places and hopefully reduce costs as well. Gable suggests that its tools can help to reduce real estate costs by giving companies an overview as to how they are spending their money on workspaces. It also aims to be a time-saver by providing integration for its centralized management suite with HRIS tools and Slack. I don’t know about you, but I’m not super-psyched about spending even more of my time on expense claims, so that seems like a pretty decent idea.
“The most challenging task for a product team is to build simple solutions that people actually want to use, so, naturally, that’s what I’m passionate about. There’s no better feeling than showing someone a demo of Gable and them being amazed by its capabilities and simplicity, says Levin.
Gable can provide workspace in cities reaching across the globe, from Buenos Aires to Yokohama; Brisbane to Vancouver. The company says over 5,000 employees are making use of Gable’s service. Gable reports that employees have enjoyed a 4x to 5x increase in productivity, collaboration, and satisfaction since switching to it, and now they want to bring this improvement in engagement to more businesses and more employees.
Gable’s admin dashboard. Image Credit: Gable.
Gable’s $16 million investment has been co-led by SemperVirens and Foundation Capital, with participation from Tishman Speyer Ventures, Ulu Ventures and January Ventures. With this funding, Gable has two goals:
First, to expand its workforce in the sales, customer success, and marketing areas. The intention is to target larger enterprise customers, spreading Gable’s roof further.
Second, Gable wants to extend its product offering and will be hiring more engineers and product team employees in its Israel offices to facilitate this.
“We’re expanding our product offering to provide a hybrid management solution that will become a one-stop-shop for People and Workplace teams to have full visibility and control over their workforce, whether in flex space or leased spaces,” says Levin. “Another exciting thing we’re focusing on [is] deepening the insights and data we can surface based on tracking employee bookings and behavior. With this, we’ll be able to help people-leaders be more data-driven.”
For Gable, the intention is to assist companies in increasing their employees’ satisfaction and engagement while at the same time being able to effectively manage their workspace spending and reduce real estate costs.
In the long-term, Gable’s aim is to make itself as ubiquitous as Slack or Microsoft Teams and be part of every company’s essential toolkit for managing its hybrid workforce.
“The world of work is changing rapidly, and there is a growing need for creative, and powerful solutions that help companies build connected and engaged teams while supporting flexibility,” said Colin Tobias, partner at SemperVirens, one of Gable’s lead investors. “The Gable team has built a differentiated, people-focused solution and we’re excited and proud to support them in powering the workplace of today and tomorrow.”
Gable raises the roof (and $12M) for better remote working options by Haje Jan Kamps originally published on TechCrunch
Final Fantasy XVI casts dark for a grittier RPG
Image: Square Enix
‘One game that is close to how the whole game cycle works is the most recent God of War.’ There’s a lot riding on Final Fantasy XVI. Its predecessor, Final Fantasy XV, didn’t do so hot, critically speaking. And with FFXVI, the team at Square Enix is trying to right the ship by making a Final Fantasy that has a broader appeal.
To do that, the development team nixed some elements that have become synonymous with Final Fantasy. The static, turn-based combat system is out, in favor of a more fluid, action-oriented system filled with swift and flashy melee strikes, powerful and splashy-looking spells, and acrobatic dodging.
The team has also adopted a darker tone, aiming for a story rooted in what the developers say is more like reality. I remember seeing the first trailer for Final Fantasy XVI and being shocked at the copious amounts of blood. Final Fantasy’s never really shown blood like that.
Image: Square Enix
I got the chance to play this darker, more broadly appealing Final Fantasy XVI at a Square Enix press event. I played about an hour of a specially made demo designed exclusively for the event, and I got to talk to the game’s senior developers, including the game’s fan-beloved producer, Naoki Yoshida.
For the demo, I played as Clive Rosfield, a young man on the path of revenge. I was dropped in about five or so hours into the game, tasked with searching a soldier-filled keep for a prisoner of special interest to Clive. I’m not alone: I have my faithful hound Torgal with me as well as this game’s Cid (Cidolfus Telamon). Though I have my companions, they aren’t party members in the sense that I can issue them commands or control them. All I got is Clive, a sword, and some neat bits of magic.
Final Fantasy XVI’s attempt at broad appeal is evident in its combat. Clive strings melee combos together with a simple set of button presses, augmented by the occasional spell. He’s also equipped with the blessing of several Eikons, which changes up what kind of spells he casts and gives him access to special abilities attuned to an Eikon’s element. Titan, the Eikon of earth, lets Clive smash into opponents with rocky fists. His Phoenix blessing lets him cast fire spells and spin around, igniting a wheel of flame that catches enemies in its wake.
I never jived with either Final Fantasy XV’s or Final Fantasy VII Remake’s combat. Final Fantasy XVI feels better and simpler. No need to worry about which combat mode Cloud is in or switching between any of Noctis’ many equippable weapons.
With Final Fantasy XVI, I felt like I was playing the way the developers intended. I was mixing up my melee and spells, chaining them with Eikon abilities, switching those abilities by changing which Eikon I had active, and it was all very fluid and natural. There’s a stagger mechanic; the faster you combo, the faster a stagger bar fills until it’s full and your opponent is briefly stunned. I was atrocious at this in FFXV and FFVIIR, not so much in FFXVI.
With Final Fantasy XVI, I felt like I was playing the way the developers intended
And even if I didn’t gel as well with the combat as I did, the developers created a suite of accessories designed to make combat accessible. There are several rings you can equip on Clive that make him auto-combo or auto-dodge or slow time down, giving you a more permissive window to dodge or parry yourself.
The result, whether you have these accessories equipped or not, is combat that looks extremely slick and impressive. The developers want you to be impressed because they want you to feel like you’re playing a movie.
Yoshida likened Final Fantasy XVI to his first time playing the original Final Fantasy 35 years ago.
“You’re there in the game, then you cross that bridge and get to the title screen, and it felt like you were in a movie,” he said through translator Michael-Christopher Koji Fox, who also worked as the game’s localization director. “That’s the thing that we wanted to create with Final Fantasy XVI.”
There were a lot of other descriptors thrown around for FFXVI. Rollercoaster was one; Ultraman and Neon Genesis Evangelion were others. In the demo, there’s a moment where Clive, who’s been transformed into the Eikon Ifrit, fights against the Eikon of the wind Garuda, and it feels very much like the city-toppling battles in the mecha anime.
Image: Square Enix
Ifrit vs. Garuda
There are several such Eikon vs. Eikon battles in the game, but only the one I played will feel like a kaiju battle.
“There are other battles that more resemble a 3D shooting type of game or a high-speed action type of game,” Yoshida said. “And each of these boss battles are all created from the ground up. They’re all unique and have a different type or feel to them and are going to provide players with a unique experience with each individual battle.”
Each Final Fantasy across the series’ 35-year history has been pretty different from each other. No two games have ever been alike. That’s always been to the series’ benefit, but even with all that variety built-in, Final Fantasy isn’t as popular as it once was.
“We’ve seen that our fans are distancing themselves from the series,” Yoshida said. “There are not as many people playing the series as it’s gone on. Those numbers are going down.”
“One game that is close to how the whole game cycle works is the most recent God of War.”
And so the strategy that the developers have come up with — the combat’s flashiness, the visual spectacle of the Eikon battles, even the game’s darker, bloodier tone — is all designed to make Final Fantasy XVI look and feel more like the games that are already out there. Games like God of War.
“One game that is close to how the whole game cycle works is the most recent God of War,” Yoshida said.
I, of course, do not blame Square Enix for wanting Final Fantasy XVI to have the same kind of success as 11-million-copy-selling God of War Ragnarok. But God of War isn’t Final Fantasy. I go to each game to get separate things. If I want to watch hurt people hurt people, I play God of War.
In talking about FFXVI’s darker tone, Yoshida said, “The past 10 or so years of Final Fantasy has been about how bright the series is. You still have these dark themes about how we’re going to save the world. But then it’s like you have these kids that are in their teens running around saving the world, having fun and going fishing and things like that, even though the world is supposed to be ending. And so there’s not a sense of reality.”
Image: Square Enix
Gritty reality realness be damned, give me my road trip with my bros.
I understand the desire to do something different, something that feels more rooted in reality, but I feel like I and a lot of other fans come to Final Fantasy specifically because we want the series’ signature brand of youthful optimism (child soldiers and all).
I want chocobos and airships and a huge open world in which I can get lost all while listening to the comforting sound of the newest iteration of the “Prelude.”
And while I was assured by the developers that the RPG and story elements that fans have loved about Final Fantasy for 35 years are still in FFXVI, I worry that Square Enix’s attempt to appeal to everyone will end up pleasing no one. I enjoyed the demo, and I look forward to seeing the full game when it releases in June. I just wish that the parts I did see felt like a Final Fantasy.
Image: Square Enix
‘One game that is close to how the whole game cycle works is the most recent God of War.’
There’s a lot riding on Final Fantasy XVI. Its predecessor, Final Fantasy XV, didn’t do so hot, critically speaking. And with FFXVI, the team at Square Enix is trying to right the ship by making a Final Fantasy that has a broader appeal.
To do that, the development team nixed some elements that have become synonymous with Final Fantasy. The static, turn-based combat system is out, in favor of a more fluid, action-oriented system filled with swift and flashy melee strikes, powerful and splashy-looking spells, and acrobatic dodging.
The team has also adopted a darker tone, aiming for a story rooted in what the developers say is more like reality. I remember seeing the first trailer for Final Fantasy XVI and being shocked at the copious amounts of blood. Final Fantasy’s never really shown blood like that.
Image: Square Enix
I got the chance to play this darker, more broadly appealing Final Fantasy XVI at a Square Enix press event. I played about an hour of a specially made demo designed exclusively for the event, and I got to talk to the game’s senior developers, including the game’s fan-beloved producer, Naoki Yoshida.
For the demo, I played as Clive Rosfield, a young man on the path of revenge. I was dropped in about five or so hours into the game, tasked with searching a soldier-filled keep for a prisoner of special interest to Clive. I’m not alone: I have my faithful hound Torgal with me as well as this game’s Cid (Cidolfus Telamon). Though I have my companions, they aren’t party members in the sense that I can issue them commands or control them. All I got is Clive, a sword, and some neat bits of magic.
Final Fantasy XVI’s attempt at broad appeal is evident in its combat. Clive strings melee combos together with a simple set of button presses, augmented by the occasional spell. He’s also equipped with the blessing of several Eikons, which changes up what kind of spells he casts and gives him access to special abilities attuned to an Eikon’s element. Titan, the Eikon of earth, lets Clive smash into opponents with rocky fists. His Phoenix blessing lets him cast fire spells and spin around, igniting a wheel of flame that catches enemies in its wake.
I never jived with either Final Fantasy XV’s or Final Fantasy VII Remake’s combat. Final Fantasy XVI feels better and simpler. No need to worry about which combat mode Cloud is in or switching between any of Noctis’ many equippable weapons.
With Final Fantasy XVI, I felt like I was playing the way the developers intended. I was mixing up my melee and spells, chaining them with Eikon abilities, switching those abilities by changing which Eikon I had active, and it was all very fluid and natural. There’s a stagger mechanic; the faster you combo, the faster a stagger bar fills until it’s full and your opponent is briefly stunned. I was atrocious at this in FFXV and FFVIIR, not so much in FFXVI.
And even if I didn’t gel as well with the combat as I did, the developers created a suite of accessories designed to make combat accessible. There are several rings you can equip on Clive that make him auto-combo or auto-dodge or slow time down, giving you a more permissive window to dodge or parry yourself.
The result, whether you have these accessories equipped or not, is combat that looks extremely slick and impressive. The developers want you to be impressed because they want you to feel like you’re playing a movie.
Yoshida likened Final Fantasy XVI to his first time playing the original Final Fantasy 35 years ago.
“You’re there in the game, then you cross that bridge and get to the title screen, and it felt like you were in a movie,” he said through translator Michael-Christopher Koji Fox, who also worked as the game’s localization director. “That’s the thing that we wanted to create with Final Fantasy XVI.”
There were a lot of other descriptors thrown around for FFXVI. Rollercoaster was one; Ultraman and Neon Genesis Evangelion were others. In the demo, there’s a moment where Clive, who’s been transformed into the Eikon Ifrit, fights against the Eikon of the wind Garuda, and it feels very much like the city-toppling battles in the mecha anime.
Image: Square Enix
Ifrit vs. Garuda
There are several such Eikon vs. Eikon battles in the game, but only the one I played will feel like a kaiju battle.
“There are other battles that more resemble a 3D shooting type of game or a high-speed action type of game,” Yoshida said. “And each of these boss battles are all created from the ground up. They’re all unique and have a different type or feel to them and are going to provide players with a unique experience with each individual battle.”
Each Final Fantasy across the series’ 35-year history has been pretty different from each other. No two games have ever been alike. That’s always been to the series’ benefit, but even with all that variety built-in, Final Fantasy isn’t as popular as it once was.
“We’ve seen that our fans are distancing themselves from the series,” Yoshida said. “There are not as many people playing the series as it’s gone on. Those numbers are going down.”
And so the strategy that the developers have come up with — the combat’s flashiness, the visual spectacle of the Eikon battles, even the game’s darker, bloodier tone — is all designed to make Final Fantasy XVI look and feel more like the games that are already out there. Games like God of War.
“One game that is close to how the whole game cycle works is the most recent God of War,” Yoshida said.
I, of course, do not blame Square Enix for wanting Final Fantasy XVI to have the same kind of success as 11-million-copy-selling God of War Ragnarok. But God of War isn’t Final Fantasy. I go to each game to get separate things. If I want to watch hurt people hurt people, I play God of War.
In talking about FFXVI’s darker tone, Yoshida said, “The past 10 or so years of Final Fantasy has been about how bright the series is. You still have these dark themes about how we’re going to save the world. But then it’s like you have these kids that are in their teens running around saving the world, having fun and going fishing and things like that, even though the world is supposed to be ending. And so there’s not a sense of reality.”
Image: Square Enix
Gritty reality realness be damned, give me my road trip with my bros.
I understand the desire to do something different, something that feels more rooted in reality, but I feel like I and a lot of other fans come to Final Fantasy specifically because we want the series’ signature brand of youthful optimism (child soldiers and all).
I want chocobos and airships and a huge open world in which I can get lost all while listening to the comforting sound of the newest iteration of the “Prelude.”
And while I was assured by the developers that the RPG and story elements that fans have loved about Final Fantasy for 35 years are still in FFXVI, I worry that Square Enix’s attempt to appeal to everyone will end up pleasing no one. I enjoyed the demo, and I look forward to seeing the full game when it releases in June. I just wish that the parts I did see felt like a Final Fantasy.
Bing AI is coming to the Windows 11 taskbar, of course
Three weeks after introducing the new AI-infused Bing, Microsoft is ready to shove it into Windows 11 with an update coming today. If you’re in the Bing AI preview, you’ll be able to access all of its new features from the search box in the Windows 11 taskbar. Just imagine a slightly more streamlined version of what we saw with the Bing AI on Edge: In addition to general web searching, you can ask Bing natural language queries and its intelligent chatbot will reply conversationally. If you don’t have access to the new Bing yet, you can still sign up for access on Microsoft’s waitlist.
The impetus here is pretty clear. Now that people are finally talking about Bing in a less derogatory way, Microsoft is aiming to infuse it into the very core of Windows 11. No need to open up Edge or switch your primary web browser. Last week, the company also rolled out the Bing AI preview on its mobile apps and Skype. More so than the expanding access, though, we’ll be keeping a close eye on how Microsoft is improving Bing’s capabilities, while also trying to limit some of its bad behavior. Remember folks, chatbots are just very good predictive text generators, not arbiters of truth.
MicrosoftIf you don’t give a lick about Bing AI, this latest Windows 11 update is still packed with plenty of intriguing new features. For one, Windows Insiders will be able to test out Phone Link for iPhones, which will let you make calls and send texts from within Windows. (This follows Microsoft’s recent iCloud integration in Windows 11’s Photos app.) Android users with Samsung phones, who have had access to Phone Link for a while now, will also be able to easily turn on their Wi-Fi hotspots and transfer their browser sessions. It’ll be interesting to see how Microsoft’s solution compares to Intel’s Unison app, which supports calls, texts and file syncing between iPhones and select Windows 11 PCs.
Microsoft is also diving deeper into “touch” experiences with this update. If you’ve got a detachable or convertible PC, the taskbar will automatically shrink down to give you more screen real estate. A swipe up will let you use the taskbar as you normally would. For some users, this may be easier to deal with than having the taskbar hide itself entirely.
The new minimized Windows 11 taskbar for detached touchscreen PCs.MicrosoftWindows 11 is also expanding support for more braille displays, including three “Designed for Surface” devices from HumanWare. Microsoft this will make it easier to flip between its built-in Narrator screen reader and alternatives. Additionally, Windows’ voice commands are coming out of preview, allowing you to have complete control of your PC without a mouse or keyboard. Microsoft expanded that functionality in its 2022 Windows 11 update — now it appears to be even more robust.
Here’s a quick rundown of a few other features you’ll find in today’s Windows 11 update, which will roll out to users over the next few weeks. (As always, you can check for its availability in the Windows Update app.)
NotePad is officially getting tabs — it’s no longer limited to Windows Insiders.
Windows Studio Effects, which includes AI-driven features like background blurring and eye contact during video chats, are now accessible through the taskbar’s quick settings.
You’ll be able to quickly preview your video from the taskbar’s Team’s video chat button.
The Quick Assist app is faster, and you’ll also be able to quickly switch between screen sharing and full control of another users PC. (Troubleshooting your parent’s PC just got a bit easier.)
There are more widgets coming, including Xbox Game Pass, Phone Link, as well as some from third parties like Meta and Spotify. (In the two years since Windows 11’s release, I’ve yet to see anyone actually use its widgets regularly.)
The Snippet Tool can now record your screen.
Enhanced energy recommendations will help you save a bit more power.
The Windows 365 app is now in the Microsoft Store, giving you quick access to Cloud PCs.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/microsoft-bing-ai-windows-11-taskbar-140056212.html?src=rss
Three weeks after introducing the new AI-infused Bing, Microsoft is ready to shove it into Windows 11 with an update coming today. If you’re in the Bing AI preview, you’ll be able to access all of its new features from the search box in the Windows 11 taskbar. Just imagine a slightly more streamlined version of what we saw with the Bing AI on Edge: In addition to general web searching, you can ask Bing natural language queries and its intelligent chatbot will reply conversationally. If you don’t have access to the new Bing yet, you can still sign up for access on Microsoft’s waitlist.
The impetus here is pretty clear. Now that people are finally talking about Bing in a less derogatory way, Microsoft is aiming to infuse it into the very core of Windows 11. No need to open up Edge or switch your primary web browser. Last week, the company also rolled out the Bing AI preview on its mobile apps and Skype. More so than the expanding access, though, we’ll be keeping a close eye on how Microsoft is improving Bing’s capabilities, while also trying to limit some of its bad behavior. Remember folks, chatbots are just very good predictive text generators, not arbiters of truth.
If you don’t give a lick about Bing AI, this latest Windows 11 update is still packed with plenty of intriguing new features. For one, Windows Insiders will be able to test out Phone Link for iPhones, which will let you make calls and send texts from within Windows. (This follows Microsoft’s recent iCloud integration in Windows 11’s Photos app.) Android users with Samsung phones, who have had access to Phone Link for a while now, will also be able to easily turn on their Wi-Fi hotspots and transfer their browser sessions. It’ll be interesting to see how Microsoft’s solution compares to Intel’s Unison app, which supports calls, texts and file syncing between iPhones and select Windows 11 PCs.
Microsoft is also diving deeper into “touch” experiences with this update. If you’ve got a detachable or convertible PC, the taskbar will automatically shrink down to give you more screen real estate. A swipe up will let you use the taskbar as you normally would. For some users, this may be easier to deal with than having the taskbar hide itself entirely.
The new minimized Windows 11 taskbar for detached touchscreen PCs.
Windows 11 is also expanding support for more braille displays, including three “Designed for Surface” devices from HumanWare. Microsoft this will make it easier to flip between its built-in Narrator screen reader and alternatives. Additionally, Windows’ voice commands are coming out of preview, allowing you to have complete control of your PC without a mouse or keyboard. Microsoft expanded that functionality in its 2022 Windows 11 update — now it appears to be even more robust.
Here’s a quick rundown of a few other features you’ll find in today’s Windows 11 update, which will roll out to users over the next few weeks. (As always, you can check for its availability in the Windows Update app.)
NotePad is officially getting tabs — it’s no longer limited to Windows Insiders.
Windows Studio Effects, which includes AI-driven features like background blurring and eye contact during video chats, are now accessible through the taskbar’s quick settings.
You’ll be able to quickly preview your video from the taskbar’s Team’s video chat button.
The Quick Assist app is faster, and you’ll also be able to quickly switch between screen sharing and full control of another users PC. (Troubleshooting your parent’s PC just got a bit easier.)
There are more widgets coming, including Xbox Game Pass, Phone Link, as well as some from third parties like Meta and Spotify. (In the two years since Windows 11’s release, I’ve yet to see anyone actually use its widgets regularly.)
The Snippet Tool can now record your screen.
Enhanced energy recommendations will help you save a bit more power.
The Windows 365 app is now in the Microsoft Store, giving you quick access to Cloud PCs.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/microsoft-bing-ai-windows-11-taskbar-140056212.html?src=rss
Bonusly, a startup aiming to help employees get recognized for quality work, raises $18.8M
Employee recognition is a key retention tool in a competitive jobs market. According to a recent SurveyMonkey poll, 82% of staffers consider recognition an important part of their happiness at work, while an equal percentage — 82% — report feeling happier overall as a result of receiving (presumably deserved) work recognition. It’s not just employees
Bonusly, a startup aiming to help employees get recognized for quality work, raises $18.8M by Kyle Wiggers originally published on TechCrunch
Employee recognition is a key retention tool in a competitive jobs market. According to a recent SurveyMonkey poll, 82% of staffers consider recognition an important part of their happiness at work, while an equal percentage — 82% — report feeling happier overall as a result of receiving (presumably deserved) work recognition. It’s not just employees who see the value. In an industry poll, 56% of HR leaders told the Society for Human Resource Management that employee recognition programs help with recruiting top talent.
Perhaps it’s unsurprising, then, that startups facilitating employee recognition and the doling out of merit-based rewards have gotten a lot of investor attention. WorkAngel, a mobile-first employee reward and recognition platform, has raised millions of dollars to date from prominent VC backers. So has Fringe, which is developing an HR employee benefits platform with customizable perks.
Another vendor in the space is Bonusly, which was launched in 2013 by co-founder and CEO Raphael Crawford-Marks. The startup today announced that it raised $18.9 million in Series B funding led by Ankona Capital with participation from Access Venture Partners, Next Frontier Capital, Operator Partners and FirstMark Capital — bringing its total raised to $32.4 million.
“I ran Bonusly as a side project for a couple of years prior to raising a seed round, and grew the company organically until 2020 when the company raised its first round of funding,” Crawford-Marks told TechCrunch in an email interview. “Since our Series A, we have seen our valuation more than triple, despite the multiple compressions that have occurred in today’s market — a strong recognition of the value we already provide and the even greater opportunity that lies ahead.”
Bonusly’s platform attempts to capture and analyze data on how organizations work and connect, informing HR teams and managers. Every month, employees get an allowance to give small bonuses to their colleagues to recognize their contributions. Bonuses appear in a feed so everyone can see the work happening across their team.
As for the bonuses, they can be spent on gift cards from popular brands like Amazon and Hulu, as well as on cash and charitable donations. Crawford-Marks says that Bonusly users receive an average of two recognitions from peers and managers every week.
Image Credits: Bonusly
“Our platform and data put us in a unique position to enter the performance management space with capabilities that are extremely difficult for the competition to duplicate,” Crawford-Marks said. “We don’t think there’s value in adding features like 1:1 or OKR templates that everyone else has. Instead, we want to lean into and expand upon what people already love about Bonusly.”
Of course, there’s a risk that platforms like Bonusly become a popularity contest. An MIT study found that merit-based rewards have the potential to actually increase bias and reduce equity in the workplace.
Crawford-Marks argued that Bonusly’s requirement that recognition contain a written reason and be tagged with a company value or goal prevents explicit — or implicit — biases from getting in the way. “Given Bonusly enables positive communication at work that is focused on effort and achievement, rather than personality, it can actually mitigate any notion of a popularity contest,” he added.
Crawford-Marks also asserted that customers were generally happy with Bonusly’s platform, pointing to the growing subscriber base.
“As of the end of January 2023, we have 3,175 current customers and 396,813 current users,” Crawford-Marks said. “After deploying Bonusly, more than nine in ten Bonusly customers see improved employee engagement, 88% see a morale increase and 89% experience better employee satisfaction.”
Take those stats with a grain of salt. But what you can count on is continued technical improvements to the platform — at least according to Crawford-Marks. In the near term, the focus will be improving Bonusly’s analytics capabilities; recently, Bonusly introduced new tools that make it clearer how each department and team is using Bonusly and how that compares to benchmark usage across Bonusly’s clientele.
Crawford-Marks says that Bonusly is also in the process of expanding its rewards catalog, adding non-U.S. redemption options in addition to travel and experiences “at scale.” AI is another area of exploration for Bonusly — specifically AI to “spotlight work that might have otherwise gone unnoticed” and “encouraging peer-to-peer recognition to promote stronger team connections,” Crawford-Marks says.
When asked about potential economic headwinds ahead, particularly in regard to funding, Crawford-Marks stressed that Bonusly is “capital efficient” and “knows how to make every dollar count to grow.” However, he declined to say whether the company plans to add to its 108-person workforce before the end of the year.
“The value we deliver to customers has become even more critical as organizations navigate the inevitable changes characterized by the need to be more efficient coupled with the on-going ‘great resignation’ and tight labor market,” Crawford-Marks said. “It’s a platform that empowers real-time recognition to highlight accomplishments big and small in a very positive and public way ultimately fosters stronger cultures and builds resilient companies that weather the storm.”
Bonusly, a startup aiming to help employees get recognized for quality work, raises $18.8M by Kyle Wiggers originally published on TechCrunch
AI Bing is bringing chat-powered searches to Windows 11
Microsoft launches a huge Windows 11 update with AI Bing, Phone Link for iOS, Quick Assist, and video recording in Snipping Tool.
As expected, Microsoft is bringing the powerful and somewhat controversial AI-Enabled Bing to Windows 11, and putting it right inside your taskbar.
The update arrives today (February 28), but if you don’t already have access to AI Bing (perhaps you’re still on a waiting list) you won’t see it.
For those that do have access, and are running at least Windows 11 version 22H2 on one of the best Windows PCs, they’ll see the same OpenAI ChatGPT-enabled Bing chatbot at least a million people have been running for almost a month.
AI-Enabled Bing is designed to be like a search-engine copilot. You can use the new Bing in the standard search fashion, or in a more conversational mode, where you ask the chatbot anything, even a series of questions that stay in context and, when all goes well, help you to elicit better answers.
Now, that experience will live inside Windows 11’s centered and quite popular search box in the taskbar.
While Microsoft, in the blog post announcing the update, points to some of the inspiring information discovery stories generated by the AI-powered Bing, the decision to introduce it on a platform used by millions of people is not without controversy.
Since its introduction at a surprise event a few weeks ago, users have pushed AI-enabled Bing to its limits. It’s been accused of making stuff up, cheating at Tic-Tac-Toe, and basically going off the rails. Microsoft responded by putting some guardrails on the new technology, such as limiting interactions to five responses at a time.
None of that, though, has slowed Microsoft’s expansion plans. Just last week, Microsoft unveiled the mobile version of AI-enabled Bing that includes voice interaction.
Microsoft is, in a way, hedging its bets here by introducing AI-enabled Bing to Windows 11 and not the much more widely-used Windows 10, which may be on well over one billion devices.
Even so, this is a significant expansion in AI-enabled Bing availability, and the roadmap is clear. This ChatGPT-powered search will eventually be a part of all Windows 11 installs, which means its learning could grow at an exponential rate. It might also mean that Microsoft encounters even more unforeseen chatbot challenges.
Windows 11 update with Phone Link for iOS (Image credit: Microsoft)
Along with the AI-enabled Bing Taskbar update, Microsoft is finally bringing Phone Link to iOS devices.
For years, Microsoft has offered a direct Windows connection to the best Samsung phones through Phone Link, enabling browser hand-off, and the ability to send texts and other notifications from the phone to the Windows screen.
This Windows 11 update finally adds support for iPhones, allowing Windows users to view messages and notifications from their iPhones on their Windows 11 PCs and sync contacts. You’ll even be able to manage phone calls through your PC.
Unlike the Bing update, this one is still only available as a preview for Windows Insiders, a beta-release program that you can sign up for here. Just remember that running unreleased software comes with its share of risks, including data loss in the event of a system crash.
Windows 11 update with Quick Help (Image credit: Microsoft)
There are a bunch of other notable Windows 11 updates in today’s full public release including:
• The ability to adjust Windows Studio Effects directly from the taskbar in Quick Settings.
• A slide-away taskbar when you use Windows 11 in tablet mode. A swipe up from the bottom of the screen will bring the taskbar back into view.
• The ability to open Quick Assist from the help menu to receive and deliver tech support. It will even let you switch between screen-share mode and full remote control of your or someone else’s system (assuming you trust who you’re working with).
• Finally, Microsoft is adding Screen Recording to its Snipping Tool, which has traditionally been used to capture screen images. We would love to see it add the ability to create GIFs from these screen caps, maybe in a future Windows 11 update.
As we mentioned earlier, this major Windows 11 update rolls out today (February 28) and while most of the updates will be available to everyone, the AI-enabled Bing will only show up if you’re already part of the Bing preview program.
Major Windows 11 update adds Notepad tabs, iPhone pairing, and a dash of AI
2023’s first big update drop is a mix of app and UI changes for the 2022 Update.
Enlarge / A PC running Windows 11. (credit: Microsoft)
Today Microsoft announced 2023’s first major batch of updates for Windows 11, part of the company’s plan to release new Windows features “when they are ready” instead of waiting for the big annual update in the fall.
The headliner, at least for people who have signed up for the AI-powered preview of “the new Bing,” is support for those AI-powered Bing features (including the infamous Bing chatbot) in the Windows taskbar. We’ve written more about those features separately. The other changes are more typical of a regular Windows 11 release, featuring a combination of things we’ve seen before and stuff Microsoft has been testing in its Insider Preview channels for the last few weeks or months.
The Notepad app has tabs now—welcome to 2003, buddy! (credit: Microsoft)
Some of the additions enhance existing Windows 11 apps or features. The Notepad app, updated relatively recently with a Windows 11-style design and dark mode support, now supports tabs so you can view multiple notes in a single window. A redesigned Quick Assist app streamlines the process of remotely connecting to, viewing the screen of, and taking control of a PC you’re providing remote tech support for. And the Snipping Tool now supports recording onscreen video in addition to screenshots, making it more useful for recording quick app demos or other snippets.
Microsoft’s New Phone Link for iPhone Brings Messages, Calls and Notifications to Windows 11 – CNET
The software giant kicks off public testing for its Phone Link software.
The software giant kicks off public testing for its Phone Link software.
Microsoft Adds Bing AI to Windows 11, Expanding Access Further – CNET
The AI, based on Bing search and technology from OpenAI, is intended to remake the way we use computers.
The AI, based on Bing search and technology from OpenAI, is intended to remake the way we use computers.
New Windows 11 update puts AI-powered Bing Chat directly in the taskbar
Occasionally controversial work-in-progress AI project will hit millions of PCs.
Enlarge / The “new Bing” running directly from the Windows 11 taskbar. (credit: Microsoft)
Microsoft is adding support for Bing Chat and the other “new Bing” features to the Windows taskbar as part of 2023’s first major Windows 11 feature update. Microsoft Chief Product Officer Panos Panay announced the updates in a blog post released today.
The Windows update doesn’t open the new Bing preview to anyone who hasn’t already signed up for it, and there’s currently a waitlist for new users who want to try the feature. But if and when Microsoft expands the Bing preview to more of its users, millions of PCs that automatically install today’s update will already have built-in support for it.
You can read about the other changes in the new Windows 11 updates here. Anyone running the Windows 11 2022 updates can download them manually via Windows Update starting today, and all of the new changes will roll out to those PCs automatically in March.