All quiet on the tech front: After many tech companies announced mandatory work-from-home policies for their employees in light of the COVID-19 outbreak, the typically bustling heart of the tech hub has gotten very quiet in recent days. Traffic has plummeted in and around San Francisco while events with more than 1,000 expected patrons have also been banned by the city’s government. It’s all part of an effort to “flatten the curve” and contain the virus’ spread. [SF Examiner]
Facebook’s COV-19 commitment: Last Friday, Mark Zuckerberg announced Facebook is donating $20 million to support global efforts to address the COVID-19 pandemic. This funding includes a $10 million donation to the United Nations Foundation and World Health Organization’s COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund, plus $10 million to the CDC Foundation via a Facebook fundraiser in the coming weeks. The tech giant is also offering free ads to the World Health Organization in an effort to support the spread of accurate information on the outbreak. [TechCrunch]
Hand washing stations installed: As part of its effort to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus, the City of San Francisco just installed 20 hand-washing stations throughout the city. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends 20 seconds of hand washing to “Happy Birthday” or the 20-second chorus of your choice (our personal pick? “Jolene,” of course). [Business Insider]
Chatting to fight isolation: Working from home or taking part in other social distancing best practices can be a lonely experience, but artists Max Hawkins and Danielle Baskin have come up with QuarantineChat, an app that aims to connect people who are self-isolating amid the current outbreak. The app currently has 70 users throughout the world. [Artnet]
SF startups vs. meeting culture: Meetings can be a drag on any office professional’s work productivity, but a number of SF startups are coming up with unique solutions to address the problem. In what has proven to be one of its employees’ most popular perks, Asana has “no meetings Wednesday.” Two more SF startups shared their approaches with us as well. [Built In SF]
SF tech aesthetics: There are reportedly 11 fashion symbols that scream to the outside world that you are a Bay Area tech employee. No, the city is not known for cutting-edge style but comfort is key with these fashions. And yes, one of them is Allbirds sneakers. [SF Gate]
Props from Forbes: Speaking of Allbirds, the company just came out on top of Forbes’ new ranking of top startup employers. The list was compiled from an analysis of 2,500 businesses throughout the country with at least 150 employees. The analysis considered employer reputation, employee satisfaction and company growth. Placing second was another SF startup, Chime, while Curology also landed in the top 10 at eighth place nationally. [Forbes]
What’s in a good user story? We spoke with product managers at Optimizely, Sesh and Mozilla to get their views on this software development tool, which describes the characteristics of a product from the perspective of its end user. [Built In SF]
