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Microsoft’s Accessibility Officer Discusses Her Role; Tech Companies Tackle Burnout With New Features; Taco Bell’s Digital Makeover
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Welcome back. This is Katie Deighton and Ann-Marie Alcántara, filling in for Nat. Microsoft’s chief accessibility officer shares plans to reach more consumers and employees with disabilities. Tech firms want to remedy Zoom fatigue. And Taco Bell’s new restaurant cuts out cashiers.
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Microsoft's Next Accessible Steps
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Jenny Lay-Flurrie was named Microsoft’s chief accessibility officer in 2016. She is one of very few corporate leaders to hold the title.
PHOTO: CHRISTOPH NEUMANN
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Microsoft’s chief accessibility officer, Jenny Lay-Flurrie, this week spoke to the Experience Report about her remit as the technology giant announced steps it plans to take in the next five years to improve accessibility for people with disabilities.
The company is known as one of the more inclusive companies in the technology industry, with products including an adaptive Xbox controller and initiatives such as offering grants to startups helping people with disabilities. Ms. Lay-Flurrie is also one of very few executives with the CAO title, which she took on in 2016.
“We manage this thing like a business, so my role is to motivate, to inspire, to help people see the vision and the strategy, but also to hold them accountable for everything that they do,” she said of her position within the company.
Ms. Lay-Flurrie added that the company plans to hire more people with disabilities over the next five years by expanding initiatives such as its autism hiring program and supported employment practice, which creates job opportunities for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Microsoft also aims to make its office building more accessible, she said.
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Burnt Out? Your Work Calendar Wants to Help
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Tech platforms’ new features for remote workers include automatic breaks between meetings and the ability to demarcate work hours. PHOTO: FABIAN STRAUCH/ZUMA PRESS
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Companies including Google, Microsoft and Adobe are experimenting with new features to help people fight Zoom fatigue and general exhaustion.
They vary from automatic breaks between meetings in Microsoft’s Outlook to updates to Google's Workspace tools to let users demarcate their working hours, Ann-Marie Alcántara reports.
The tweaks may not be enough on their own to address the burnout and isolation of stuck-at-home workers. But they should help, said Nellie Hayat, head of workplace transformation at VergeSense.
“The acceleration that happened during Covid, where suddenly the only way to connect with others was through technology, it was clear that we needed to be better at using it and defining our own boundaries,” Ms. Hayat said.
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Taco Bell Shells Out Lockers For Food
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Locked cubbies hold online orders at Taco Bell’s new location in New York’s Times Square. Moving away from the cash register is one of the tactics restaurants are trying to attract staff in a tough labor market. PHOTO: SHANNON STAPLETON/REUTERS
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Taco Bell’s newest store in New York removes cashiers from the ordering process and prompts customers to order online or through kiosks located throughout the restaurant. Customers can pick up online orders from locked cubbies.
The Taco Bell Cantina is the first in the U.S. to emphasize digital ordering, Ann-Marie Alcántara writes for the Experience Report. The company opened a similar concept in London last year.
The restaurant mimics other concepts already in existence, like the dedicated pickup areas in fast casual spots such as Sweetgreen and Cava. It took two years for Taco Bell to develop the store. The restaurant chain will continue to develop the design, company executives said.
“What we’ve done in Times Square is not the finish line for us,” said Mike Grams, Taco Bell’s global chief operating officer.
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“A lot of people my age are living on a shoestring budget, and the advice on TikTok seems to match where younger people are in life.”
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— Dana Eble, a 25-year-old public-relations professional who uses TikTok as an additional resource to learn how to manage her finances.
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A MedMinder pill-dispensing device is designed to make sure patients take their correct medications at the right times. PHOTO: STEPHANIE LUEHRS
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Pill-dispensing gadgets help patients remember to take their medicine. But some are finding the technology only works when coupled with human intervention. [WSJ]
Facebook’s content moderation system baffles and bemuses some users locked out of their accounts. [WSJ]
Microsoft is replacing Calibri as the default font in Office—and asking users to help it pick a successor. [Input]
Instagram introduced an auto-caption feature for Stories and Reels. [TechCrunch]
More than 180 musicians signed a letter protesting a Spotify patent for technology to record users’ speech to help recommend music. [Pitchfork]
Apple said its AirTags were designed to be stalker-proof. A domestic violence charity is still concerned over how they might be used. [Fast Company]
More social platforms are building features that let users tip creators. [Axios]
Hilton has a new hotel perk for hungry dogs. [CNN]
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