With vaccines rolling out and the pandemic slowing down, businesses have begun experimenting with hybrid work, allowing employees to work from home for part of the week, while heading into the office for the rest. As you can imagine, this kind of flexible schedule will require some unique adjustments to existing technologies. Fortunately, Microsoft Teams is up to the task, as the collaborative platform has added some new features aimed at making hybrid work a bit easier for everyone in the office and at home....

As reported by The Washington Post earlier this week, researchers at the University of Exeter and University College London found that the overall mortality risk for people wasn’t influenced by how long they say or by the kind of sitting they did. Per the Post: The study was published in the International Journal of Epidemiology and overall concluded that the amount spent sitting was not associated with risk of mortality....

Just as Apple stores showcase Apple products better than any other retail outlet, Microsoft is betting that their shiny new storefronts will better engage customers, create fans and move more Microsoft product. Within the past few weeks, the technology giant has had ribbon cutting ceremonies at many locations from California to Scottsdale (their first opening), to the latest location in Northern Virginia (part of the Washington, DC metro area). Their 14th store opened in the shopping mecca of Tyson’s Corner....

His visit comes the day before the 4th of July and also the day that the June jobs report was released. 1776 is an incubator, coworking space, and fund whose goal is to help startups in regulated industries like health, energy, and education get the connections and resources they need – something DC is well suited for. Here are some photos from the president’s visit:

In a study conducted by the Pew Research Center, the links between business and the digital economy are examined. In particular, the research is looked at how it has impacted the emergence of the sharing economy. Of the 4,787 American adults who participated in this study, a whopping 72 percent were found to have been users of at least one of the 11 different “shared and on-demand services”, with one-in-five using four or more of these services, and 7 percent having used six or more of these apps....

With the announcement of the N10 5G and N100, OnePlus is having another stab at the cheaper end of the phone market and, in particular, the new iPhone SE and Google Pixel 4a with the sub-$500 N10 5G. Let’s take a closer look at the phones and see how they stack up to the ever-growing low-to-mid-range competition. OnePlus Nord N10 5G Specs, Features, Prices The N10 5G is the first Nord-series phone to release in the US....

The report details how threat actors are deploying a myriad of extortion techniques – often in tandem – in order to force companies to negotiate and ultimately pay fees to protect and/or retrieve their data. By understanding the attack vectors that are most commonly used by ransomware groups, businesses can take action to protect themselves. Password managers, for instance, are one way to ensure your business’ employees aren’t providing an easy way in with weak account credentials....

In a blog post published this week, the company stated that the original return to office date of the 4th of October had been scrapped. If a company as big and tech-ready as Microsoft is rethinking its plans, should other businesses be doing the same? No Firm Return to Office Date for Microsoft The conversation around returning the the office hasn’t always been an easy one, and even now, eighteen months since the pandemic began, many companies are still not in agreement about the best way forward....

Before anything else, you have to make sure that your product or service offer has quality and is perfectly designed and easy for mass user adoption. Your website has to be adjusted to your intended audience’s needs; it should be easy and quick to operate, and should be optimized for desktop and mobile. From there, consider the location of your intended expansion and make sure you have a presence in the following social media networks within those regions:...

Here’s why they’re in a bind, and what it should remind everyone about how we live our lives in the Internet age. SoundCloud Needs Revenue SoundCloud operates with a $100 million annual run-rate currently. They’ll need to lower costs and/or boost revenue in order to remain alive a year from now. TechCrunch has a few details about the hoop-jumping SoundCloud needed to execute just to close the round they needed to stay afloat: SoundCloud CEO Alex Ljung is getting swapped out for Kerry Trainor, who previously ran streaming video service Vimeo....

A recent study conducted by Oakland non-profit Kapor Center for Social Impact, titled the Tech Leavers Study, has found that discrimination in the tech industry is responsible for an annual loss in the sector of about $16 billion. The study conducted a national survey of over 2,000 adults who left a job in a technology-related industry or function within the last three years in search of these answers. They found that nearly 40 percent of those who left cited unfairness and mistreatment as their primary reasons for leaving....

Last we heard from the San Diego based company they were launching their App Install Platform to help OEMs to simultaneously improve revenues and their user experience via cloud-base services and client-side software. Today’s announcement shows us that the launch of SweetLabs’ platform back in May 2014 not only helped OEMs, but also themselves. According to Thompson, the app install ad market is currently exploding largely due to the influence of players like Facebook, Twitter, and Google....

Need more funding news? You can get the Tech.Co deals roundup send directly to your inbox by subscribing here. Funding Agora Agora focuses their entrepreneurial efforts on developing communications as a service, and their work attracted the attention of Morningside Ventures, SIG, GGV Capital, ShunWei Capital, and IDG Capital Partners. Each of these players invested into Agora’s Series B funding round which totaled $20 million. To date the company has raised $25....

Whatever the case, trying to predict the business trends of the near future isn’t frivolous: It’s an attempt to deal with the present, and to prepare for what’s to come. And it can be fun. Just ask Nike and Boeing, the two latest companies to bring on science fiction writers as consultants. We’re barrelling into 2019 – the setting for Blade Runner and Akira — and Tech.Co has reached out to a raft of tech industry experts for their opinions on what’s really going to happen in the upcoming year....

Remember! Apply now to Tech.Co’s Startup of the Year competition, which will give you a chance to join us at Innovate! and Celebrate 2017! Register now and get ready for a fantastic 3-day journey. Here Are This Week’s Tech.Co Top Stories: Need more Tech.Co? Sign up for the Tech.Co newsletter today, and get the weekly wrap-up direct to your inbox. Interested in coming to a Tech.Co event? Check out our Tech....

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Check out the week’s top stories below and sign up for the Tech.Co newsletter today, and get the weekly wrap-up direct to your inbox. Here Are This Week’s Top Stories: Password Manager Reviews Photo: Flickr / Andy

Here’s a rundown of the results, starting with the top result and going down, with additional explanations detailing just what happened. The impact of social media and Google search algorithms on the political state of America can’t be understated, though plenty of spokespeople attempted to while testifying to Congress. Taking out ads that impacted millions and fostering facebook groups that existed to churn out ad-supported outrage are just a few of the ways social media failed to be responsible with the power it holds....

Whether you’re looking to give some new apps a try or want to expand the resources that your remote team uses to keep in communication and get daily tasks done, here are a few Slack alternatives that your should consider for your business needs today. HipChat For small businesses looking to keep their costs low, HipChat could be the Slack alternative for you to consider. Giving you the best value for your money, HipChat allows for remote teams and digital-based businesses to focus on making communication at the forefront....

Google Assistant is Google’s newest virtual assistant. It is compatible not only with Google Pixel smartphones but also with the Google Allo app. This makes it accessible both to Android and iOS users with the Allo app, broadening its usage across all smartphones. While Siri is Apple’s gem, it will always be limited only to iOS users. What makes the battle between Siri and Google Assistant all the more intense, however, is the identical roles they perform....