Welcome back. Companies such as Google and Tommy Hilfiger are using a living center for people with disabilities to get feedback on accessible and adaptive products. Last year was only a beginning for video chat experiences. And the year ahead promises new ways to work, exercise, see the doctor, watch movies and sanitize every surface in sight.

A new living center for people with disabilities is doubling as an incubator for companies’ adaptive and assistive technologies, Katie Deighton writes for the Experience Report.

Champions Place in Johns Creeks, Ga., aims to offer those with physical disabilities an accessible space to live and socialize. But partnerships with companies like Google and Tommy Hilfiger also mean residents get to test the latest accessible products in exchange for providing feedback.

Tommy Hilfiger has provided residents with clothing from its Adaptive line, which is designed to help people with disabilities dress more easily using features like one-handed zippers.

Google, meanwhile, has enrolled some Champions Place tenants as official product testers of products in development, such as its Jacquard by Google smart jacket and Project Euphonia, an initiative to train voice recognition technology to understand people whose speech is impaired. 

“We walk the walk so to speak—we know what works and what doesn’t work,” she Sarah Grace, a 26-year-old resident. “And getting new products first before anybody else? That’s always a good thing.”

Zoom and Microsoft led the way during the lockdown-driven surge in video calls, but other players are putting their own spins on the experience, Ann-Marie Alcántara writes.

Gather and Sophya.AI, for example, both mix virtual worlds in with videoconferencing. Mmhmm augments videoconferences for businesses and performers with tools like its “big hand,” which lets participants show an emoji-like thumbs-up in place of their real hands.

While companies like Zoom have been category leaders, new approaches are coming from many directions.

“Where I see a lot of innovation happening are more on the personal calls, or new experiences that kind of sit at the intersection of work and life,” said Brianne Kimmel, founder and managing partner at Worklife Ventures.

The year now thankfully behind us will inevitably inform the  consumer experiences of 2021.

Expect crisper video calls courtesy of better cameras, smaller UV sanitizers for cleaning phones and other gadgets, and even face masks with built-in bluetooth and microphones, The Journal’s Joanna Stern, Christopher Mims, Nicole Nguyen and Wilson Rothman report.

Some people may even end up wearing a social-distancing sweater. SimpliSafe, a home-security company, made a version that sounds an alarm when someone comes within 6 feet of you. Intended as a fun prototype, the sweater sold out immediately.

The soaring new Daniel Patrick Moynihan Train Hall finally gives Penn Station commuters a glimpse of the sky. [Dezeen] 

Samsung’s alternative to stainless steel kitchen appliances offers lots of colors and modular design. [Fast Company]

Instagram is experimenting to find the best design for Stories on desktop computers. [Engadget]

Microsoft plans a “sweeping visual rejuvenation of Windows.” [The Verge]

Reddit is exploring ways to help its users avoid notification fatigue. [Adweek]

Google is testing new colors and shapes for the buttons it shows in mobile search results. [Search Engine Roundtable]

Google will add Apple’s newly mandated privacy notices to its apps for iOS as soon as this week. [TechCrunch]