Category: UNCATEGORIZED

Twitter wants to make it easier to see the conversations taking place around a tweet. This May, the company rolled out a change to its user interface that allowed users who clicked on the “Retweets” metric beneath a tweet to view both those Retweets with comments and those without all on one screen. But a new feature may soon make those retweets where discussions are happening even more visible to the end user. Twitter confirmed it’s experimenting with a new “Quotes” count on tweets. This engagement metric would sit alongside the tweet’s existing retweets and likes counts, which today appear beneath the tweet itself.

The feature has already shown up for some subset of Twitter users in recent days, where it has received mixed reviews. Some applauded the addition for helping to separate quotes from standard retweets, while others claimed the placement of the new metric was confusing because they’re used to seeing the Like count on the far right.

The social media news site Social Media Today first reported on the addition, citing social media consultant Matt Navarra’s tweet about the feature as a source.

Twitter confirmed to TechCrunch that what users are seeing now is still considered a test. In addition, the company isn’t yet set on using the word “Quotes” for the new feature, either. It’s also trying out language like “Quote Tweets,” they said.

“A few months ago, we made Retweets with Comments more visible when you tap to see Retweets on a Tweet so everyone could see the entire conversation,” a Twitter spokesperson told TechCrunch. “This is available to everyone. Now, we’re testing making Retweets with Comments accessible directly on the Tweet and new language — Quotes, Quote Tweets — to see if this makes them easier to access and more understandable,” they added.

Breaking out “Quotes” into its own section would make sense, given that referencing the Retweet count as “Retweets and comments” is a bit wordy.

In addition, the feature plays hand-in-hand with another recent change to the Twitter user interface. As of this month, Twitter now lets everyone limit direct replies to tweets, if desired. That means some tweets on the platform won’t be open for public conversations in the traditional sense, where people can respond directly to the poster.

Instead, Twitter users can now choose to limit replies to just the people they follow or only those mentioned in a tweet. However, these tweets with limited replies can still be engaged with in other ways — including by retweeting them or by retweeting the tweet with a comment. That will take the resulting conversation to a different part of Twitter’s network, where it can then be discussed among other users. The only way to truly limit the audience for a tweet is to run a private Twitter account, which few choose to do.

Twitter’s confirmed tests with “Quotes” indicate the feature is moving forward with development.

Before the feature entered public testing, it had been discovered by reverse engineer Jane Manchun Wong, who often finds new features within an app’s code before they go live.

Twitter is always experimenting with interface changes in the hope of enabling better conversations. But fundamentally, its concept of a “online town square” may be at fault for the chaos and unhealthy engagement that can take place on its platform. Its users’ worldviews are too divergent and internet culture itself is too intertwined with trolling to make any social media platform a place for thoughtful discourse.

In June, President Donald Trump signed an executive order temporarily suspending work visas for H-1B holders, which includes skilled workers like software developers.

Considering that 71% of workers in Silicon Valley and other tech hubs are international, the order poses a number of logistical and business challenges for startups.

While nearshoring was an option before the virus struck, the urgency to nearshore due to the visa ban, combined with the remote revolution taking place, has meant companies are reconsidering it as a solution. As a result, the suspension presents an opportunity for companies to bring on board software development capabilities from abroad.

Nearshoring is a way to hire teams in locations that share similar time zones and are easily accessible. Nearshoring also enables U.S. companies to utilize services from close locations, where the talent, working conditions, and salaries are more favorable. In fact, it can save businesses up to 80% on costs, while providing employees with flexibility, autonomy and better career development pathways.

Not only is nearshoring a pragmatic response to the visa ban, it has the potential to be a long-term hiring alternative for businesses. Here’s how:

Laying the groundwork for remote teams

Amid the pandemic, demand for developers has remained high, no doubt due to companies needing teams to build, maintain and optimize digital platforms as they transition to online services. The visa ban means that businesses in foreign markets can help meet such demand, particularly as tech talent from other countries comes with a fresh, different skill set that empowers companies to solve problems in new ways.

In the past, moving to the U.S. and living the American Dream oriented many foreign businesses’ professional paths. However, the trend has changed. The appeal of the United States was slipping prior to the virus — it ranked 46th out of 66 for “perceived friendliest to expats” — and post-COVID-19 may be even more detrimental.

In a more connected world, businesses and individuals can reap the benefits of U.S. opportunities — top technology stack, access to exciting companies and world-class research — without having to actually live in the country. In this respect, nearshoring means foreign teams have the best of both worlds: the comfort of home and ties to an international powerhouse.

The remote shift is demonstrating that teams can function well at a distance; some studies have even revealed that employee productivity and happiness benefit from remote work. In the global remote shift, nearshoring is being seen as an accepted and advantageous model. Companies that opt to nearshore in response to the visa ban can take advantage of the changing tides and use this time to lay the groundwork for best practices within remote teams. For instance, by devising policies for things like communication, tracking progress, vacation and development plans according to the new conditions and specific mission statements. As a result, businesses can seamlessly build professional partnerships.

Another advantage of nearshoring is that the flexible teams contribute to a ready-to-scale model for startups. By having development partners located in different countries, companies can network on a wider level and grow faster among local markets. Rather than start from scratch when expanding, nearshoring gives companies a presence — no matter how small — across regions, which can later be built upon.

Attracting fresh investment

Similar to having a readiness to scale, the H-1B visa suspension positions nearshoring as a viable way to strategically partner with foreign development studios. In contrast to offshoring, nearshored businesses are often more vested in the projects they work on because they share time zones and are thus able to work more closely and with greater agility. Within startups, such agility is essential to continuously test, iterate and pivot products or services. Outsourced teams often have defined outputs to achieve, while freelancers are split across several projects, so aren’t completely ingrained in companies’ visions.

With nearshoring, startups can target partners that have experience in a particular area of business or with a specific tech feature and accelerate their time to market. Instead of building systems from zero, they can launch into version 2.0 because the wider choice of experts means there’s a higher chance of partnering with teams who already understand how the industry functions. Nearshore partners also have vast knowledge across industrial fields at a level that is impossible for direct hires to have. Companies therefore don’t have to tackle the difficulty of curating a great team, because nearshore partners are an already solid pairing.

When it comes to funding, this synchronicity, agility and preparedness indicates that a startup has momentum. For investors, nearshoring shows that the company has on-the-ground insights about potential markets to disrupt, and that the business model can thrive using remote teams. As the world braces itself to go fully digital, startups that have already adopted remote processes that catalyze growth will no doubt catch the attention of investors.

Promoting greater diversity in teams

Latin America is a clear choice for U.S. businesses looking to nearshore. The region’s proximity, increasing internet penetration, and impressive number of highly skilled developers are all a significant draw.

It’s also worth noting that diversity plays a core role in nearshoring. Currently within tech, Hispanic workers are noticeably underrepresented, making up a mere 16.7% of jobs. Despite the physical distance, nearshoring in Latin America can bring people from different social and economic backgrounds into companies, boosting their visibility in industries as a whole, and setting a firm foundation for equality.

Studies also show that diversity influences creativity among teams, as well as increases company revenue.

Moreover, nearshoring accelerates diversity in a manner that isn’t disruptive. Foreign team members don’t have to sacrifice their home, friends and family to further their professional career. Relocating to the U.S. can be daunting for people who haven’t previously worked abroad, especially when factoring the change in living costs and new culture norms. Nearshoring means teams can work from locations they’re familiar with, so need less time to get up to speed on business processes. They additionally have the emotional support of their social circles nearby, which in the current climate is important for employees’ personal and professional wellbeing.

Leveraging the right partnership

Research is key to successfully find a nearshore company, and startups don’t always have the time and resources to conduct an in-depth analysis of locations and their ecosystems. The most practical manner to nearshore the right talent is with a nearshoring partner that is responsible for scouting, vetting and communicating with foreign developers.

To find an appropriate partner, ensure that they have previous experience in your industry and positive testimonials from startups in your location. They should also have a clear presence in the regions they operate in; try checking online for their press releases, events they sponsor and general content that validates they are active and respected.

Once you’ve found an appropriate nearshore partner, rely on them to know what teams in your preferred locations need in terms of culture. Nearshore partners will essentially be your development partner — you can leverage them to be your whole Research and Development department. They can guide you on the tech side of your business, advise you on the right team at the right time, give you direction on stack and methodology, and curate the right environment for the team to be productive. In contrast, hiring freelancers comes with risks because you won’t necessarily know the specific needs of the location they’re in. Be aware — if there’s a cultural disconnect, you risk not finding a partner, but a vendor that’s buying into a superficial version of your startup, as opposed to your real startup vision.

Once you’ve settled on a well-fitting nearshoring partner, ensure you have detailed contracts with all team members, as well as nondisclosure agreements. Nearshoring requires a level of mutual trust, however, at such an early stage of your company’s lifecycle, you need to know that your processes and data will not be revealed to competitors. Check that your nearshore partner’s financial status is secure and sufficient for a long-term model. Correspondingly, service level agreements will set the parameters for job responsibilities and deliverables. After all the formalities are covered, you can focus on curating fruitful, long-term relationships.

Acclimatizing in the new normal

The COVID-19 crisis has made recruitment a remote-dominated sphere. Traditional modes of hiring are being reassessed, and companies are realizing that teams don’t have to be in an office to be productive. In fact, not having to cover visa and administration fees for foreign employees is much more cost-effective for companies.

As time passes and businesses develop habits best-suited to remote work, nearshoring will become increasingly popular. People are prioritizing joining teams where their career development, well-being and ethics are protected, all of which nearshoring can offer with the added benefit of not completely upheaving workers’ lives.

Startups who embrace nearshoring early on could find themselves competing with top tech firms that struggle because of recruiting limitations. With the end of the pandemic unknown, and thus no hard deadline for the visa ban, tech companies have to look at alternative modes of building teams. Startups have the advantage of revising their remote product development approach without disturbing workflows too severely. They are also known for pioneering fairer and more innovative workplaces that are enticing for a broader scope of employees.

Nearshoring is mutually beneficial because developers don’t have to give up their culture for a great employment opportunity, and businesses can reap the benefits of diversification. Ultimately, the H-1B visa suspension could stimulate true globalization in tech, where companies can achieve their best performance using global resources.

For Dr. Cecily Morrison, research into how AI can help people who are blind or visually disabled is deeply personal. It’s not only that the Microsoft Principal Researcher has a 7-year-old son who is blind, she also believes that the powerful AI-related technologies that will help people must themselves be personal, tailored to the circumstances and abilities of the people they support.

We will see new AI techniques that will enable users to personalize experiences for themselves,” says Dr. Morrison, who is based at Microsoft Research Cambridge and whose work is centered on human-computer interaction and artificial intelligence. “Everyone is different. Having a disability label does not mean a person has the same needs as another with the same label. New techniques will allow people to teach AI technologies about their information needs with just a few examples in order to get a personalized experience suited to their particular needs. Tech will become about personal needs rather than disability labels.”

Image Credits: Cecily Morrison

Dr. Morrison will speak at Sight Tech Global, a virtual, global event on Dec. 2-3 that will explore how AI-related technologies will shape the future of accessibility for people who are blind and visually impaired. The event, which launched on TechCrunch, takes place on Dec. 2-3 and is free to attendees. Pre-register here.

Dr. Morrison is currently involved in several research projects that explore the potential of AI to enable people who are blind or low vision. Project Tokyo, for example, is exploring ways to provide information about the immediate social environment to enhance people’s existing sense-making skills and abilities.

The team works closely with people who are blind or low vision to ensure that the research is grounded in their experience and needs. “It is critical that we imagine what the technologies do for people who are blind and low vision in a way that is empowering. Many blind and low vision people have well developed strategies for making sense of their environments. AI technology must augment these acute sense-making skills, covering information gaps. It is important that technology is not seen as replacing vision, but rather augmenting the information a person already has  when going about their lives.”

As the mother to a blind child, Dr. Morrison believes she has gotten  “to see the world in a different perspective, taken part in communities that I wouldn’t otherwise have seen or taken part”. That has definitely driven her research.  An inclusive design project, Torino, was inspired by the need of blind children to learn to code. What resulted was a physical programming language designed to teach computational thinking and basic programming to children ages 7–11, regardless of their level of vision. The effort led to a spin out project called Code Jumper, which is now commercially available from the American Printing House for the Blind. 

That success came from working very closely through trial and error with blind 7-11-year-olds, which is also where Dr. Morrison deepened her understanding of how critical it is for researchers to work closely with the people they aim to help. Then too, she points out, people with vision limitations are outstanding early technology adopters in general. 

“In the agent space,” Dr. Morrison says, “we have done some work with people who are blind and low vision because, at the time we started working with agents, typical people were not heavy users of agents. In fact, most people thought they were toys. Whereas for people who are blind and low vision were early adopters and heavy users of agent technologies. They really could help push the boundaries of what these technologies can do. If you’re not using technology regularly, you can’t really imagine what the next steps are. So, it’s a great example of inclusive design where we can work with this cohort of very able blind people to help us think about what agents of the future are going to look like for all of us.”

Dr. Morrison holds a PhD in Computer Science from University of Cambridge and an undergraduate degree in Ethnomusicology from Barnard College, Columbia University. She shares life with her partner and two children, one of whom is blind.

Pre-registration for Sight Tech Global is open. And the event is free.

Sight Tech Global is a sponsor-driven event, and our partners so far include Waymo, Google, Wells Fargo, TechCrunch and Verizon Media. All proceeds go to the Vista Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired 501 (c)(3). For more information on sponsorship, please contact us at sponsor@sighttechglobal.com.

Like any successful founder, Andrew Grauer had bright, long-term ambitions for Course Hero from the moment he launched it in 2006.

He started the business to create a place where students could ask questions and get answers similar to Chegg, which launched 15 months before Course Hero . But as he slowly built it, he was tempted by a larger question: “What would a university look like if it was built by the internet?”

And so, the Redwood City-based startup itched at that nebulous goal throughout the years. Course Hero tested and failed products: free curated e-courses, in-person tutoring and teacher advice and ratings.

Clarity only came when Grauer realized that the core goal Course Hero launched with — giving students a place to ask and answer questions — wasn’t simply one product that should be fit into a broader suite of services. Instead, it was a thesis around which to build products. So, the startup began looking for different ways and formats to organize knowledge and questions and answers.

“That was a breakthrough insight,” Grauer said. The startup stopped launching other business verticals and decided to stick to Q&A as its core — and only — business. It sells Netflix-like subscriptions to students looking for access to learning and teaching content. Teachers and publishers can put course-specific study content on the platform.

Image via Getty Images / manopjk

In 2020, Course Hero is a profitable business with annual run revenue upward of $100 million.

Today, Course Hero tells TechCrunch that it has raised a new tranche of capital in a Series B extension round of $70 million. The round is now totaling $80 million, bringing Course Hero’s total known venture capital to date at $95 million.

Its $80 million Series B round is one of the largest U.S. funding deals of 2020, and brings Course Hero’s valuation to $1.1 billion.

From a high level, the new raise is not surprising. Other edtech companies have also recently added on more capital to their balance sheets to meet remote learning demand amid the coronavirus pandemic.

But in Course Hero’s case, the new capital comes as a stark contrast to how the business functioned before 2020. After launching, the startup waited eight years to raise a $15 million Series A. Now, after going another nearly six years without raising venture capital, Course Hero has closed two rounds in this year alone.

Grauer tells TechCrunch that the capital will be used for operations, product innovation and feature development. It also plans to use the capital for future acquisitions (in 2012, Course Hero bought an in-person tutoring business).

Course Hero’s change of heart with venture capital boils down to the company meeting new scale demands. Last year, it passed 1 million subscribers on the platform. Now, it is eyeing “many millions” of students, the co-founder says.

Paraphrasing Bill Gates, Grauer said, “We do overestimate what we can do in just three years. And we dramatically underestimate what we can do closer to 10 years.”

Any edtech company that raises money off of current momentum in remote education will have to face the reality of what it is like to grow when remote learning is no longer a necessity. In other words, when the coronavirus pandemic ends, will these same platforms still find surges in usage?

“That’s the risk and reward of raising capital,” Grauer said. He added that “if you raise too much money early on, you can get misaligned expectations based on different time horizons set up by different terms of incoming shareholders or investors.”

Course Hero sees tailwinds in a dynamic that has been brewing since before the pandemic, and will likely grow during and after: the growth of “non-traditional students” enrolling in and participating in higher education. Grauer noted that more than 40% of students work 30 hours or more per week. Over a quarter of students are parents, and of that quarter, over 70% are single moms.

“Because that’s the reality, and because we can make an affordable subscription and the economics can work, Course Hero is aligned to serving the majority, the real majority, and that’s the beauty of opportunity,” he said. There is a freemium model, but on an annual plan, a subscription costs $9.95 per month. On a monthly plan, a subscription costs $39.99 per month.

It’s not an opportunity the company hopes to expand into, its a reality of its diverse customer base. An internal data analytics survey of Course Hero shows that 58% of students that subscribe are employers part time or full-time. Over 1/4 of subscribers are 35 years old or older, and 22% of subscribers are parents.

Looking ahead, Course Hero hopes to continue to broaden its multi-sided marketplace.

In July, the business announced it is launching Educator Exchange, which allows college faculty to make money by uploading study materials for fellow teachers or students.

The “direct-to-faculty” relationship could pacify earlier tensions between the platform and teachers by giving the latter a way to monetize on how Course Hero “open sources” creative content on the point of copyright infringement.

Grauer compares Course Hero’s long-term vision to that of Google Maps, in that the platform can make recommendations of content based on other people’s usage.

But we’re not talking recommendations for the closest gas station. Based on how a user learns, Course Hero can recommend a specific professor who has a specific syllabus on a topic in which the user is interested.

“We’ve seen that specificity level differentiates us from others,” he said. “It helps students when they’re doing their real work, that one homework, that studying for one test. And I think that’s where the magic is for us.”

Here’s another edition of “Dear Sophie,” the advice column that answers immigration-related questions about working at technology companies.

“Your questions are vital to the spread of knowledge that allows people all over the world to rise above borders and pursue their dreams,” says Sophie Alcorn, a Silicon Valley immigration attorney. “Whether you’re in people ops, a founder or seeking a job in Silicon Valley, I would love to answer your questions in my next column.”

“Dear Sophie” columns are accessible for Extra Crunch subscribers; use promo code ALCORN to purchase a one- or two-year subscription for 50% off.

Dear Sophie:

I work in people ops in tech. Restrictions and conditions placed on visas and green cards seem to be continuously changing.

What’s the latest for tech, such as H-1Bs and other nonimmigrant visas?

—Strong in San Francisco

Dear Strong:

And what a summer it’s been! Fortunately there’s a bunch of great news in immigration this week. I’d love to dive in to new State Department exceptions that apply for new H-1B visas at embassies and consulates around the world. This will help a lot of tech companies whose H-1B employees got stuck outside the U.S. on trips for “visa stamping” (consular interviews) earlier this year.

Before we get into that though, I wanted to share some additional and recent top immigration highlights: First, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is restarting interviews (our team just handled several naturalization interviews remotely for clients across the country) and it looks like green cards will be scheduled again soon. Second, USCIS announced that it is canceling plans to furlough more than 13,000 employees next week, thereby averting a massive slowdown of visa and green card processing. Third, for those Dreamers out there and the tech companies who love them, USCIS is starting to accept some DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) renewals and work permit applications.

There’s a growing wave of commercial activity from companies that are creating products using new biological engineering technologies.

Perhaps the most public (and tastiest) example of the promise biomanufacturing holds is Impossible Foods . The meat replacement company whose ground plants (and bioengineered additives) taste like ground beef just raised another $200 million earlier this month, giving the privately held company a $4 billion valuation.

But Impossible is only the most public face for what’s a growing trend in bioengineering — commercialization. Platform companies like Ginkgo Bioworks and Zymergen that have large libraries of metagenomic data that can be applied to products like industrial chemicals, coatings and films, pesticides and new ways to deliver nutrients to consumers.

The new products coming to market

In fact, by 2021 consumer products made with Zymergen’s bioengineered thin films should be appearing at the Consumer Electronics Show (if there is a Consumer Electronics Show). It’s one of several announcements this year from the billion dollar-valued startup.

In August, Zymergen announced that it was working with herbicide and pesticide manufacturer FMC in a partnership that will see the seven-year-old startup be an engine for product development at the nearly 130-year-old chemical company.

Benchmark used to be the quintessential Silicon Valley venture firm. It was small. It was focused. It was aggressive while also remaining founder friendly. It stuck to its knitting, when it came to its fund size, raising fund after fund in the $450 million range.

Over the years, the world changed. Some of the biggest brands in the venture business now manage many billions of dollars, having raised a series of increasingly enormous funds over the last decade. They now oversee massive “talent teams.”

Not Benchmark. In fact, by operating much the same as it did when it was founded in 1995, raising roughly the same relatively conservative amount of capital every time it closes a fund and running the firm with a handful of general partners — no principals, no associates, just executive assistants for each partner — Benchmark is no longer the stereotypical venture firm. Instead, it has become an anomaly.

Who is keeping the firm on this path? While seemingly all of the firm’s partners maintain a relationship with Benchmark (no matter if they were investing in the late ’90s or a decade ago), Peter Fenton is now the firm’s most senior member. It’s Fenton to whom Benchmark’s most famous investor, Bill Gurley, is passing the torch as he steps away from an active role at the firm, 21 years after joining it. It is Fenton who — poached from Accel back in 2006 at the age of 33 — has also outlasted other peers, including Matt Cohler and Mitch Lasky, both of whom moved on from actively investing on behalf of Benchmark in 2018.

Fenton has also been key in establishing the current team at Benchmark, including by being the first to reach out to general partner Sarah Tavel when she was still a partner with Greylock.

We don’t know how involved Fenton was in bringing aboard the two other general partners who’ve joined Benchmark in recent years –Eric Vishria and Chetan Puttagunta — but guess what? We’re thrilled to have the chance to ask him that question and many more during this year’s TechCrunch Disrupt, where Fenton is joining us this year in a somewhat rare public appearance.

We can’t wait to talk with him. As someone who has long been considered a top VC yet also managed a low profile, Fenton is someone who we’re genuinely eager to talk with about a wide range of issues, from how an apparent exodus from the Bay Area might impact the local startup scene, to his thoughts on rolling funds, to whether Benchmark would ever sponsor — or even try to manage — a SPAC, or special purpose acquisition company. (We wrote recently about how these work; Bill Gurley wrote soon after about why they might make more sense than they have in the past.)

We’re also wondering: will Fenton take on a higher-profile role on behalf of Benchmark? Given the firm’s outsize returns — its early bet on Uber alone reportedly produced more than $7 billion in returns to its limited partners — that wouldn’t seem necessary. Then again, firms like Benchmark and Sequoia stay on top precisely because they go that last mile.

Either way, you won’t want to miss Fenton at this year’s show, which is shaping up in every way to be an incredible program. Disrupt 2020 runs from September 14 through September 18 and will be 100% virtual this year. Get your front row seat to see Fenton live with a Disrupt Digital Pro Pass or a Digital Startup Alley Exhibitor Package. And if you act before Thursday, August 27 at 11:59pm PT, you can even save an additional $100 during our flash sale! We’re excited to see you there.

A bitterly divided nation heads into the 2020 presidential election with accusations of potential voter fraud, calls for delays and charges of voter suppression as state and local election officials cope with the ongoing threat of COVID-19.

Their challenge: Keep the polling places safe and efficient while providing more effective and trustworthy options for citizens.

Efforts to expand mail-in voting options because of COVID-19 were criticized for overwhelming election clerks and disenfranchising voters, whose ballots were either lost or not counted during the primaries.

Recently, government and media criticism of allowing more mail-in voting beyond traditional absentee ballots has cast a harsh light on flaws in the system.

I believe we can implement a better technology choice that guarantees a voter’s identity, keeps the vote anonymous and keeps voters safe from COVID-19. A mobile voting system that provides a supplemental option to in-person voting makes the most sense in this highly charged political atmosphere.

We have an archaic voting system

Efforts to provide voting options beyond in-person balloting have increased over the years to encourage greater turnout, which is still abysmally low. Ideas such as mail-in balloting, extended hours, weekend voting and other options have found mixed success, but still rely on old, outdated processes. The decentralized nature of the U.S. election process, in which individual towns choose their preferred voting method, has resulted in voting devices that range from paper ballots to mechanical voting machines to electronic voting via a touch-screen tablet.

One only needs to look at the 2000 presidential election recount to see this archaic process in action, as the term “hanging chad” entered the lexicon. Many efforts around improving the election process began as a result of the 2000 election, but now, two decades later, we still see the same process, and the same mistakes, in many locations.

Efforts aimed at expanding mail-in voting earlier this year during the primaries were troubling. In one Pennsylvania county, 6,000 voters were not mailed their ballots until the day before the election, preventing them from getting ballots postmarked before the deadline.

Across the nation, voters requested ballots but did not receive them in time to vote. Even when ballots were mailed in on time, election officials were overwhelmed with the spike in volume.

In-person voting: Long lines, masks, dangerous for at-risk populations

With the COVID-19 virus maintaining its hold on a large part of the country, election officials need to develop in-person voting plans that keep residents safe, but the potential for disaster looms. In many locales, a presidential election often results in long lines and wait times at polling centers, often with understaffed officials or volunteers working tables to verify voter registration.

Many of these volunteers are older Americans, members of the highest-risk population for developing serious complications from the virus. Not only will election officials need to ensure the safety of voters, but they will also need to make sure their own workers and volunteers are protected. This means developing more protocols, testing and potential disinfection procedures, which could extend the time it takes for people to vote.

Given the potential of a multihour wait with hundreds or more people in line, many citizens would likely simply choose to not vote, which would be a greater disaster to American democracy.

Mobile voting is secure

A mobile voting system allows registered voters to use their mobile phones and a verified app to record their vote. Using blockchain technology, an app can provide an audit trail that verifies the identity of the voter, and keeps their vote anonymous. Mobile voting systems can also include a paper record for additional security.

Early mobile voting programs have allowed an easier way for citizens and military personnel overseas to cast their ballots. The same is true for individuals with physical disabilities that could also be vulnerable to the COVID-19 virus.

A 2018 mobile voting pilot program for citizens and military personnel overseas held in West Virginia provided a high rate of engagement.

Mobile voting has also proved more secure than other electronic voting methods, including web-based voting systems. Critics of electronic voting have lobbed accusations of potential hacking, but the facts tell a different story.

As of May 2020, Tusk Philanthropies has successfully completed 14 mobile voting pilots in five states with several mobile voting technology platforms and a mix of overseas voters and those with disabilities. It’s good to be concerned about election security, but mobile voting offers more security than existing electoral systems, which can include late or lost ballots, incorrect markings, machine breakdowns and other errors.

Democracy is strengthened when everyone participates

In these challenging and worrisome times, trust and faith in our government leaders is of utmost importance. The right for Americans to vote in a safe, secure and trustworthy environment is fundamental to continue the ideals that so many of our predecessors fought and died to protect.

When more citizens participate in the process, democracy is strengthened. Failing to explore new options to prevent a voting disaster this fall amidst a global pandemic could have grave repercussions on the future of this nation.

If you’re overwhelmed trying to choose the next movie or TV show to watch on Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, HBO Max or any other streaming service, Bingie could be the app for you.

You may recall a previous wave of TV recommendation apps from a decade ago, like Viggle and GetGlue. Those apps have largely disappeared, with most of us relying on social media and group chats when we want to talk about TV with our friends.

However, Bingie’s co-founder and CEO Joey Lane pointed out that the world has changed since then, with people needing more guidance than ever when it comes to navigating the streaming world. (Obligatory plug: TechCrunch has a podcast devoted to that very proposition.)

“I think the time is unique,” Lane said. “The amount of content that’s out there makes it such a big challenge.”

He recalled surveying potential users at the beginning of the year and having them say, “Let me show you this notes section of my phone with 60 titles and no idea where to watch them [and] no one to tell me, ‘Dude, that was horrible’ or ‘That was really great.'”

Image Credits: Bingie

So with Bingie, you can search for different shows and movies, then share a recommendation link with a friend and start a chat about that specific title, with a direct link to wherever people can stream that title. And if your friend isn’t on Bingie already, the app allows you to send them a link via SMS.

The Bingie team created the app (launching today, and currently iOS-only) with digital agency Wonderful Collective, and Wonderful’s Matt Knox is a co-founder of the startup. He described the startup’s approach to content discovery as “the human algorithm,” where you’re getting recommendations from people you care about, rather than relying on Netflix’s technology.

Lane added that his hope is to make Bingie the home for all your conversations and arguments about this content.

“There’s no politics, there are no pictures of food,” he said. “Here, it’s all about sharing this really, really fun content that’s out there in TV shows and movies.”

Canon and Google today announced a new software integration that enables automatic Google Photos backup of pictures taken with select Canon cameras – a full list is available here, but it’s most of their recent interchangeable lens cameras dating back basically to when they started getting wifi on board.

The auto backup feature will work via the Canon mobile app, which is available on Android and iOS devices. If you have the most recent version, you can add your Canon camera to the app and set it to automatically transfer full, original-quality photos from your camera to Google Photos when your phone is connected to the camera. That takes out the typically manual process of somehow connecting either your camera or its memory cards physically to either your computer or your smartphone.

This feature does come with some caveats, however, including that it’s only available to Google One members. To ease the financial sting of that requirement (though it’s one of the more affordable and comprehensive cloud photo and data products out there), Canon users new to Google One will get one month of access free, with up to 100GB of cloud storage.

Speaking from experience, I know that a lot of photos I take with my ‘real’ cameras just end up staying on the camera, or on countless backup drives and SD cards I have strewn about. This auto-backup feature makes it much more likely I’ll actually discover and look at more of those photos again – and possibly even print and share them with loved ones. Here’s hoping it expands to other camera-makers in future, too.