"The worst day of your life so far!"

Can we really see what's around the corner for HR Tech?

May 24, 2021

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Happy Monday, folks!

That's a quote from one of the best movies of all time, Simpsons - The Movie. Homer is lovingly telling his son Bart that it's just the worst day in his life so far. So why a Simpson quote? Well, it's not only an opportunity to quote the GOAT movie; the quote also fits nicely into the remote work debate. One of the most significant objections to remote work is that "it doesn't create the same feeling as the office does."

Let's change that to "It doesn't create the same feeling - right now."

But right now, VCs are pumping money into anything that has to do with remote work. It would be mean to say that they are throwing money at every product that mentions something around remote work, but it's almost that way. ProductHunt is overflowing with products that, one way or another, are trying to solve pieces of the remote work puzzle.

What was UX sketches a few months ago are now being deployed. Development in this area is happening at a rapid pace, saying the least.

Some notable mentions that I've seen over the last couple of weeks;

Common that works as an internal version of Clubhouse. I think they are on to something, and I'm eager to try it out.
CoffeeCall aims to create watercooler moments online.
Geneva is an app that lets you connect with a community of your liking.

And in the midst of all this, Google is dropping Starline.

What’s Google Starline?

Imagine looking through a sort of magic window, and through that window, you see another person, life-size and in three dimensions. You can talk naturally, gesture, and make eye contact.

Starline was dropped last week at Google’s annual developer conference Google I/O. Google I/O is where Google usually releases a bunch of new stuff.

The Verge has an excellent 16-minute overview of the keynote highlights should you want to take a closer look. In this keynote, Google launched Starline.

In short, it’s an ultra-realistic video experience. The video almost looks too good to be true. I highly recommend that you watch it.

One of the things we are most proud of is that as soon as you sit down and start talking, the technology fades into the background, and you can focus on what's most important: the person in front of you.

And no, it won't be in everyone’s home this fall, but that's also not the point. The point is that it's towards Google Starline we're moving. We're not there yet, but the journey has, as you see in the video, not only begun but appears to have come some way. And you can bet your right arm on that more people are working on similar or better technologies.

So when we say that "remote work doesn't create the same feeling," we should always add a "right now."

That’s it for today! Thanks for stopping by.