Google says it’s building a national coronavirus website in the U.S., Microsoft Teams goes down just as people settle in to work from home, and Bill Gates exits Microsoft’s board of directors.
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During an outbreak, it’s crucial to have reliable information as close to real-time as possible. Google says it’s building a U.S. national coronavirus website that will provide information about COVID-19 symptoms, risk and testing. The announcement comes shortly after President Donald Trump said Google was working on a website that would have capabilities similar to the ones previously mentioned. After his announcement, Google clarified that it was its sister company Verily that was developing the website for the Bay Area, not the entire nation. The Verge recently reported that the website will be accessible by anybody as a result of Trump’s press conference.
Just as the world began to settle in for a full day of remote work, Microsoft Teams crashed for more than two hours across Europe. The popular chat and communications tool was down for thousands of workers who signed into the service amid the growing coronavirus pandemic. “We’ve taken steps to address an issue that a subset of our customers may have experienced. Our engineering teams continue to actively monitor performance and usage trends,” a Microsoft spokesperson told the Verge. Combine this with the fact that Xbox Live was experiencing major disruptions over the weekend, and you got some angry social distancers.
And lastly, news that Bill Gates is stepping down from Microsoft’s board continues to make waves on social media. Gates and Paul Allen founded the company in 1975. In a blog post, Gates wrote he made the decision to “dedicate more time to philanthropic priorities including global health and development, education, and my increasing engagement in tackling climate change.”
That’s all the tech news that’s trending right now. Hashtag Trending is a part of the ITWC Podcast network. Add us to your Alexa Flash Briefing or your Google Home daily briefing. I’m Alex Coop, thanks for listening.