civicfeatures

[civicfeatures]

While iOS and Android have offered crash detection for some time now, Waze just added alerts about roads with a disproportionate number of crashes. Nice to see Waze introducing this safety feature, since the app is better known for evading speed cameras.

#waze #driving #safety

[civicfeatures]

French voter outreach nonprofit A Vote partnered with Tinder on "Match with Democracy" campaign. It got these information cards in front of the electorate, with links to additional info. Not the worst use of this dating app!

#tinder #voting #france

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Spotify with the off-year voter registration push! Looks like they've partnered with headcount.org.

#spotify #voter registration

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"Earlier this year, the Mozilla Firefox Profiler became the first major web browser developer tool to display carbon emissions alongside performance and resource utilisation metrics."

The Green Web Foundation

#firefox #climate change

[civicfeatures]

Sort of an update to an existing feature --

#google #googlemaps

[civicfeatures]

Twitter expanded its rollout of alt text reminders, where it prompts users sharing images to describe the images with text that screen readers can access

#accessibility #twitter

[civicfeatures]

Between out of control wildfires and aerosol-based global pandemics, the whole world is paying more attention to air quality than we used to. The tech platforms are helping drive this attention with air quality warnings in certain markets and in their weather apps and homescreens.

#air quality #google #android

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Belatedly sharing The Verge's postmortem tribute to Google's Trusted Contacts app

#google #emergency

[civicfeatures]

This one is a godsend for anyone with non-obvious name pronunciation, or who, like me, grew up in an incredibly Anglo-centric language environment only to go on and meet people all over the world, and consequently made a fool of themselves. Good for Slack for removing barriers to positive multicultural communication.

#slack #multilingual

[civicfeatures]

Skype (owned by Microsoft) offers free calls to Ukraine

"Stay connected by calling to Ukraine for free and translating your Skype and phone calls from/to Ukrainian language. To help further, we support Ukraine through these non-profit organizations and you can as well through Skype Credit donations.

Polish Humanitarian Action Slovak Človek v ohrození Code for Romania Hungarian Red Cross Czech Člověk v Tísni o.p.s."

#skype #ukraine

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I need to do a full roundup of Ukraine support within tech products, as there have been many. Quick props to Google, for having the courage to put one right in the top corner of Gmail (!), and matching another $5M in donations not just for employees but for their billion-plus users (assuming this notification went to everyone).

Airbnb has activated its excellent Airbnb.org housing program for Ukrainian refugees and promoted it right on the Airbnb.com homepage. I like the program because it leverages Airbnb's core strength, a huge network of shelter, in times of great need.

And lastly (for now), Gorillas instant grocery delivery service has added virtual products that make it easy for customers to add Ukraine support to their orders. It's a savvy way to make the app feel like a place to do good when the company is struggling with its labor relations.

#ukraine #airbnb #gorillas #google #gmail #donations

[civicfeatures]

Snapchat's Run for Office 'mini' is already producing mainstream-app results:

"In the first partial week, more than 24,000 Snapchat users expressed interest in working with one of those organizations to explore running for local positions, such as a school board or city council. Another 46,000 users nominated a friend to run." (Axios)

This feature follows the winning formula of mainstream social app (Snapchat) + NGO partner (Run for Something) + civic data provider (Ballotready).

Read more about it at The Verge.

#snapchat #elections #run for office

[civicfeatures]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbHuSHGZf5U

Google launched a whole bevy of climate features across its products. Nest thermostats got the Renew program, which can shift energy usage to times of day with more clean energy, among other things. Google Maps and Flights will promote more fuel efficient routes, and Google Search and Shopping will highlight climate-friendly options for queries about products like cars and appliances. The bikeshare stations in Google Maps have already made my own commutes easier.

The Verge has a great summary of all these features in context with Google's own carbon footprint.

#google #nest #climate #google maps

[civicfeatures]

Snap Lenses that teach users how to fingerspell in American Sign Language

#sign language #snapchat #augmented reality

[civicfeatures]

Google provides its German users information about how to vote, like its related features in the US.

#google #vote #elections #german elections 2021

[civicfeatures]

Airbnb.org boosted its existing refugee housing program by announcing it will fund temporary stays for 20,000 Afghan refugees, in addition to any stays donated by hosts.

Apparently a significant number of people who have never hosted with Airbnb have reached out to the company to help host Afghan refugees, and the company is inviting them to create host profiles solely for this purpose, and will extend its home insurance coverage to these stays. Airbnb is also working with resettlement non-profits to help refugees establish longer-term plans.

#airbnb #refugees

[civicfeatures]

Yelp continues its tradition of introducing timely civic features with dedicated data fields that indicate whether a restaurant requires vaccination of its customers and/or staff.

#yelp #vaccines