Need a break from the dire state of the world right now? No problem. We've rounded up some of the best tech news of the day, and thrown in an adorable pet for good measure.
Today, we've got Microsoft Store employees lending a hand to remote workers, a way to give back with Bing, and one man's quest to design a bot that lets him ditch meetings. Let's dive in.
Giving back with Bing is dead simple
Bing Give Mode isn't brand new, but it is an excellent way to give back while we're all stranded at home and using out computers more than ever. The feature rolled out earlier this year, and it makes it dead easy to give to your favorite charity using your Microsoft Rewards points. All you have to do is toggle it on and start searching with Bing.
You could always convert your Microsoft Rewards points into charity donations, but Bing's Give Mode makes it all automatic. You just head to the Give Mode page, toggle the feature on, and you're set. From then on, all of the Microsoft Rewards points you generate with Bing searches will be converted and donated to the charity of your choice.
There are tons of charities to choose from, so any cause you care about is covered. Let us know if you're planning to use Bing Give Mode and what your charity of choice is.
One man frees himself from meetings with a bot (not really)
What would you do if you could avoid all of your virtual meetings? Read some books? Play some games? Actually get more work done?
That was one man's mission, as reported by Mashable. Coder Matt Reed created an AI chatbot to fill in on his Zoom meetings so he could get back to doing some livin'. The only problem was, well, it wasn't too convincing. But it was pretty funny.
Check out Matt's Zoombot in the video above. For more on the project, you can read up on how Matt built the bot here.
Microsoft Store employees lend a hand to remote workers
Microsoft shut down its retail stores in March because of the current global health crisis, but the company has found a way for many of them to get back to work while at home. Microsoft revealed in a blog post today that around 2,000 Microsoft Store employees are now providing virtual training sessions for remote employees. With huge swaths of workers around the globe working from home for the first time, that's a big deal.
"We're all in this troubling time together, and even though I'm working remotely, I'm still on a mission to develop my skills and train people on how they can use technology to do more," Carl Richardson, a New York Microsoft Store employee, said in the blog post.
In all, Microsoft says that nearly 80 percent of eligible Microsoft Store associates have taken part in the program.
Pet of the Day
As always, we've got a cute ball of fluff to round things out. Today, we've got Penny, who is clearly glad it's Friday. Sweet dreams, Penny!
