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Slack adds long-awaited threaded messaging feature
Slack, the ever-popular communication tool and current darling of enterprise software, is getting a long-awaited update: threaded messaging. As the company writes in a blog post today, threaded messaging is a way to reduce clutter in ever-crowded Slack rooms. If someone in a room starts a conversation that only involves a select group of participants, you can hover your mouse over the message and click the new "start a thread" option. That'll open this separate conversation in the Slack app's right sidebar and let you add specific participants.
AOL's Alto email Dashboard adds Alexa and Slack integrations
Email, it's the granddaddy of messaging apps. That doesn't mean it doesn't need a little nudge into the teens... the tens... whatever we're calling this decade. AOL's Alto is exactly that, a modern email client that extracts all the useful info tucked away within it, putting it front and center in a Google Now-like "Dashboard." Today, it's getting a little more up to date, with hooks into Amazon's ubiquitous Alexa, and the work-chat du jour, Slack.
Slack now has built-in video calling
Slack's quest to become a do-it-all chat app continues. The company is trotting out video calling support in the Mac, Windows and Chrome versions of its client, making it easy to see a coworker or catch up with a friend. Anyone can start a one-on-one chat, while those on paid plans can have calls with as many as 15 people at once -- handy for virtual meetings where your voice isn't enough. This isn't exactly a revolutionary feature by itself, but Slack adds its signature emoji responses to let you raise your hand or offer approval without interrupting the discussion.
Microsoft's Teams is its Slack competitor for Office 365
Because Yammer isn't quite enough to take on Slack, Microsoft is launching yet another business chat app: Teams. It'll be part of the Office 365 suite, and from the video below, it looks like it'll differentiate itself from Slack and Hipchat with threaded chats, Office document collaboration and multi-person video chat. Basically, the company is trying to bring all of productivity strengths together in a single app.
IBM's Watson is lending its smarts to Slack and its chat bot
Slack is going to tap into IBM pet Watson and its cognitive computing skills, covering both bots and other conversation inferences. Slack's own Slackbot will be the first to get the intelligence makeover, with IBM and Slack looking to share what they learn from the experience with other developers. The companies believe integrating Watson will improve accuracy and efficiency of troubleshooting with the bot. IBM is also working on a Watson-powered Slack chatbot specifically for IT and network issues.
Google Docs helps you figure out who's responsible for tasks
It's not always easy to determine who's responsible for what in a given online project, but Google thinks it can sort out that mess. It's introducing a slew of Google Docs updates (as part of a larger G Suite upgrade) that help you delegate tasks. On the desktop, typing phrases that assign tasks will automatically suggest action items -- write "Andrea to schedule a weekly check-in" and you'll foist that duty on your colleague. Both desktop and mobile users can also manually assign items by mentioning people in comments, so it should be easier to ask for an edit or status update. You'll get a heads-up on any files with tasks assigned to you.
Facebook at Work officially launches as 'Workplace'
Right on schedule, Facebook's private social networks for companies officially launched today. After several years in private beta, the company's Slack and Yammer competitor is now known simply as "Workplace," and is available to companies, non-profits and educational institutions of any size.
Facebook's Slack competitor may be coming next month
With nearly two years of development and 450 companies already on board, Facebook at Work is gearing up for a commercial launch of its in-house social network and communications platform for companies. According to a report from The Information, the service will launch next month and the social network will charge a set monthly fee per active user.
Microsoft is reportedly taking on Slack with 'Skype Teams'
Microsoft is building Skype Teams, a group messaging service that's similar to Slack, according to a report from Microsoft news blog MSPoweruser. Skype Teams takes a lot of the features that makes Slack so popular, including the ability to add channels, share files and privately message people, and it adds a few more functions.
Slack finally opens up work calls to everyone
After testing voice calls for the past few months, Slack is now opening up the feature to all of its workaholic users. It works as you'd expect: you can initiate calls with a new telephone icon in Slack's desktop offerings, or by clicking through a dropdown menu on its iOS and Android apps. Then you can chat with coworkers using your voice, just like olden times. Any Slack user will be able to make individual calls, and teams who pay for the service can also initiate group calls for any Slack channel or group chat.
Everything you love will die, especially in tech
A little over a year ago, Microsoft bought beloved calendar app Sunrise. For the past 14 months or so, things have been more or less business as usual ... at least for customers. But this week, the other shoe finally dropped: Aug. 31st will be the last day Sunrise exists as a standalone app. Sure, you could use Outlook, which by now shares some of the same DNA, but it'll never be the same. Indeed, some of us here at Engadget are pretty heartbroken about it. Which got us thinking about all of the other apps and services we loved and relied on that ended up being unceremoniously shuttered.
Roger app puts Amazon Alexa in your phone for free
Roger, a voice app brought to you by former Spotify engineers and Facebook executives, is relaunching soon as a voice platform with support from third-party services. Among them is Amazon's Alexa, the virtual assistant that ties into Amazon's Echo device.
FreshTeam is a messaging app that tracks employee locations
Traveling salespeople of yore could get away with plenty because, hey, who was ever gonna find out? These days, there's a smartphone in your pocket and a boss at the other end of the internet expecting an answer. That's where FreshTeam comes in, which is an Android and iOS app designed to let employers keep track of employees without needing to harass them. By harnessing the sensors in your smartphone with its own algorithmic secret-sauce, the app is capable of detecting your presence without your input. The service allows your boss to know where you are, what you're doing and how much battery you've got left on your device without ever having to ask. Yep, it does sound like a privacy nightmare, but the team's reasoning does make some sense, at least on paper.
Taco Bell wants you to order food from a chat bot
We've seen some clever ways to order food online in our day, but this one is decidedly off the wall. Taco Bell is testing TacoBot, a chat AI that helps you order (what else?) tacos in a Slack conversation. Think of it as a tasty text adventure -- you can ask questions about the menu, customize your order and check your cart. It's only in a private beta with a few companies at the moment, but you can sign up for a waiting list to have your Slack team give TacoBot a try. Just think -- you could have tacos sent your way while you're stuck in a planning session.
Slack to start integrating native voice chat into its app
A couple of months ago, you could start making Skype calls from within Slack, an award-winning work chat app that's pretty popular with a lot of companies (we certainly use it over here in the Engadget office). Now, however, voice calls are simply baked into the app itself, without you having to use an external service. The feature is in beta right now, and testing will roll out in Slack's desktop apps as well as in Chrome. The voice calling feature actually comes from Slack's acquisition of Screenhero over a year ago. If you have it, you'll spot a phone icon at the top of your screen next to the info button. Click it and you can initiate a voice call much like most other chat apps out there. This doesn't work with just individual folks either; you can also make channel-wide calls with up to 15 folks, but this is only for Slack users who pay for the service. And because this is Slack -- known for its wide range of emoji -- you can also respond to voice chats with one of several colorful reactions imposed over your user icon. This isn't to say that Slack will stop supporting the aforementioned Skype or other voice chat services; it's just another option. We should also note that rival Hipchat has had voice and video chat for awhile now. Still, for loyal Slack users, this is great news; here's hoping that video support will be coming too.
Skype makes it easy to start work calls in Slack
If you think the one thing Slack is missing is the ability to start voice/video calls, you're in luck. Skype released a preview version of its Slack integration, allowing you begin calls inside the workplace chat room app. Once you add Skype's new feature to Slack, typing /skype in a chat window will offer a join link for your colleagues to call in.
Slack's App Directory proves it's more than just a chatroom
All those apps in collaboration suite Slack are about to get a little easier to find and integrate within your team -- and over 160 of them live within the company's new Slack App Directory. Just type "/apps" and then the keyword of your choice to bring up a list of compatible applications. For example, "/apps productivity" in the Engadget Slack channel brings up Google Calendar, Wunderlist and WorkingOn, while "/apps video" comes back with storage and video chat applications like Dropbox and Google+ Hangouts. The idea is that when one of these integrated apps is connected, like Weiko's visitor check-in system for example, the relevant party will automagically get a ping saying their guest has arrived.
Burner's disposable phone numbers save everything in the cloud
Thanks to The Wire (one of the greatest TV shows ever), we know all about burner phones. These cheap and quickly discarded phones are an easy way to communicate without sharing your permanent number with random folks (or the police). The Burner app for iOS and Android works under the same concept. It creates temporary numbers to hand out to people while keeping your main digits a secret. To add value to those short-term (and in some cases long term) numbers Burner is adding integration with Dropbox, Soundcloud, Evernote and Slack. Linked numbers can auto-save texted photos and voicemails to Dropbox. Slack can route messages from a channel to a number and accept replies. While Evernote can create an auto-response bot that replies to texts with pre-determined messages.
Slack Posts 2.0 explains big ideas without sending more emails
We live in an Orwellian future where every "k" and "LOL" brings us ever-closer to 1984-style Newspeak. To fight back, Slack's latest update acknowledges there are times when a line or two of IM-speak doesn't get the job done. Sometimes ideas need a little more explanation, and with that, it has released an update to its Posts tool dubbed -- creatively -- Posts 2.0.
Slack ties in with Windows 10's notification center
Communication / productivity tool Slack is starting to blend in with Windows 10 after its latest update. In version 1.2.0, notifications show up in the desktop OS' Action Center, and clicking them links directly to the appropriate conversation in the app. Many Windows applications never updated to take advantage of new features in Windows 8, or even to become fully compatible with how it worked with hardware like touchscreens, so it's encouraging to see some support.
