Software trbc

Microsoft keeps making boring software look really sexy. Earlier this year the software giant put out sizzle videos for SharePoint and Windows Terminal, which were highly produced and looked like the type of video you’d see for a new Surface device. At Microsoft’s Ignite conference last week, the company quietly released three new sizzle videos for Yammer, Tasks, and the Fluid Framework. All three follow the same sizzle approach as the SharePoint video from earlier this year, seeking to turn what is typically boring software into something much more desirable. Yammer is used by companies as a private social networking service, and Microsoft is overhauling it with a new design that’s more integrated with Teams, SharePoint, and Outlook. To celebrate this new design, Microsoft’s sizzle video includes reams of paper for conversations, tiny buttons that represent avatars, and a focus on dark mode options. It makes Yammer seem fun to use, instead of the boring … [Read more...] about Microsoft’s new videos make boring software look sexy again

I haven’t used SharePoint for nearly a decade, and I never thought I’d want to voluntarily use it again. That changed this week after Microsoft revealed its latest sizzle video. The software giant usually reserves these for new Surface hardware or flashy Windows and Office features, but this latest one (see above) is all about SharePoint “innovations.” It’s colorful, pretty, and makes SharePoint seem sexy instead of the boring corporate intranet website that most people associate it with. Microsoft’s video also contains the bubbles that form part of the new SharePoint logo — part of a broader revamp of the company’s Office icons that are rolling out right now. It also includes a bunch of Microsoft’s Fluent Design elements that form part of the company’s big push towards open design internally. So why did Microsoft make such a flashy video for SharePoint? The company held a SharePoint conference earlier this week and launched … [Read more...] about Microsoft is putting the sexy into unsexy software

On Friday, California’s Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) updated its website to reflect that Apple now has a permit to test self-driving cars on public roads. Apple has been hiring automotive experts—particularly those with experience in autonomous driving—for years. (In 2015, Tesla CEO Elon Musk even taunted Apple by saying, “If you don’t make it at Tesla, you go work at Apple.”) But Apple has long kept quiet about its aspirations. That began to change in December, when the company wrote a letter to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration saying that it was “investing heavily” in machine learning to support autonomous systems, especially in transportation. The update on the California DMV website confirms that after years of speculation, Apple is serious about building self-driving car software. Getting an autonomous-car testing permit with the California DMV requires that a company fill out an … [Read more...] about Is Apple self-driving car software coming? DMV permit suggests so

Another day, another allegation against Uber . Keala Lusk, a former Uber software engineer, just posted to Medium her story of sexism, disrespect and condescending behavior at the hands of a female manager at Uber. In her post, Lusk summarizes an email she sent to Uber’s HR department about her manager. The TL;DR was that Lusk’s manager allegedly refused to accept any feedback, and implied that the reason Lusk was not progressing in her career was because she wore tank tops. “I was shocked and suddenly painfully aware of my body and appearance in a way that I’ve never been at work,” Lusk wrote. “It made me feel humiliated, as if I shouldn’t be wearing anything to show my arms or skin. How could she say this? I have never faced discrimination because of what I was wearing (which was a black tank top from DefCon) and was at a complete loss for words. I didn’t know what to say. She kept going with, “Maybe he doesn’t want … [Read more...] about Former Uber software engineer alleges sexism from female manager

The Samsung Galaxy S8 is a strange beast. All at once it seems like both the culmination of several generations’ worth of solid smartphone evolution, while feeling like a still-incomplete peek at the company’s grand plans moving forward. It’s a beautifully crafted piece of hardware with some cool software tricks that is less of the revolution that Samsung promised than it is an insight into a unified Galaxy theory that will likely define generations of the company’s devices to come. When Samsung took the stage last month, it offered, “Not just the launch of a great device, but the beginning of a new way to experience the world.” A months-long apology tour following what had been an utterly dismal year for its public image gave way to the promise of the next key moment in mobile communication history. The reality of the S8 is a solid device that furthers the company’s valiant quest to vanquish the bezel. Samsung’s building upon several … [Read more...] about The Samsung Galaxy S8’s beautiful hardware deserves a more unified software experience