The Zoomification of Slack
Uncanny Valley | WIRED23 Kesä 2022

The Zoomification of Slack

If you work in an office, chances are you spend a lot of time on Slack. The workplace messaging platform has become an even more important tool in the work-from-home era. And it has been rolling out new stuff that's supposed to replicate the office atmosphere, online. Last year Slack introduced Huddles—a spontaneous audio room you can join right in Slack—and it quickly became became the fastest-adopted feature in Slack's history. Now the company is adding video to Huddles, inching toward becoming a full-fledged video conferencing service.

This week on Gadget Lab, WIRED writers Lauren Goode and Gilad Edelman chat about the Zoomification of Slack, whether we really need another video chat app, and what this all means for how we communicate online.

Show Notes

Read Lauren’s story about how the future of Slack looks a lot like Zoom. Read Mat Honan’s 2014 WIRED profile of Slack founder Stewart Butterfield. Here’s Clive Thompson’s piece about how it’s time for “maximum viable product.”

Recommendations

Gilad recommends getting a chef’s pan. Lauren recommends using the Calendar chatbot in Slack.

Gilad Edelman can be found on Twitter @GiladEdelman. Lauren Goode is @LaurenGoode. Michael Calore is @snackfight. Bling the main hotline at @GadgetLab. The show is produced by Boone Ashworth (@booneashworth). Our theme music is by Solar Keys.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Jaksot(428)

Google’s ‘Woke AI’ Problem

Google’s ‘Woke AI’ Problem

The last few months have been rough for Google. Company executives have been in the hot seat because of some embarrassing missteps, the most awkward of which was the bungled launch of Google’s latest ...

7 Maalis 202437min

The Non-Techie's Guide to Nvidia

The Non-Techie's Guide to Nvidia

Unless you were really into desktop PC gaming a decade ago, you probably didn't give Nvidia much thought until recently. The company makes graphics cards, among other tech, and has earned great succes...

29 Helmi 202433min

Tech Workers Are Stressed Out

Tech Workers Are Stressed Out

tech companies seemed immune to large-scale layoffs, and as their profits skyrocketed, those cushy jobs became highly sought-after. But economic headwinds, and the looming influence of AI, are leading...

22 Helmi 202431min

The Weird World of an AI Clickbait King

The Weird World of an AI Clickbait King

Domain names have value, even when the websites that were once hosted there are shut down or abandoned. Prospectors will often swoop in and snatch up an unused domain, then erect a new website filled ...

15 Helmi 202437min

Several People Are Talking

Several People Are Talking

At its core, Slack is a chat app. Every day, millions of people use it to communicate, share files, and gossip with coworkers or friend groups in one organized place. That style of free-flowing intera...

8 Helmi 202438min

Apple’s Uncanny Valley Pro

Apple’s Uncanny Valley Pro

Apple's first ever mixed reality headset, the Vision Pro, arrives tomorrow. Apple has a knack for revitalizing and legitimizing a product category—something that the face computer market really needs ...

1 Helmi 202442min

I Know What You Did With That Bitcoin

I Know What You Did With That Bitcoin

If you’ve committed any internet crimes lately, you probably shouldn’t have paid for them with Bitcoin. While many crypto-evangelists have long thought of digital currency as a means of buying legal a...

25 Tammi 202428min

AI Hits the Campaign Trail

AI Hits the Campaign Trail

It's an election year in the US, which means you can expect a fresh tsunami of campaign ads in your feeds, in your inbox, and jammed in front of YouTube videos. This is also the first election of the ...

18 Tammi 202431min