GitHub introduces ‘Hey, GitHub!’ experiment
Top on the news this week is good news for GitHub users – you can now interact with your tool!
The GitHub Next team announced a new experiment among Copilot users: “Hey, GitHub!” This will bring a set of new features to GitHub Copilot that will allow voice interaction with the tool.
How does this play out for GitHub users? We’re curious too.
According to a blog post announcement, GitHub stated that
“with the power of your voice, we’re excited about the potential to bring the benefits of GitHub Copilot to even more developers, including developers who have difficulty typing using their hands.”
Hey, GitHub! can be expected to be the developer version of “Hey Alexa” that not only reduces the need for a keyboard when coding within VS Code for now, but with the hope to do more with further research and testing.
A signup waitlist is now available for those who want to try Hey, GitHub! preview. Joining the experiment will enable a bunch of voice commands to Copilot for you, allowing you to code without using a keyboard. According to GitHub, Hey, GitHub! can recognize “natural language,” making Copilot a more user-friendly tool among programmers.
An interesting part we’re looking forward to aside from writing and editing codes is that Hey, GitHub! will also allow programmers to do code navigation by simply indicating the line where they want to view. For instance, “Hey, GitHub! go to line 56,” or “Hey, GitHub! go to the next block.”
Exciting times for developers!
Salesforce follows tech trend with round of job cuts
On a rather sad note, Salesforce has joined ranks with technology peers Twitter and Meta as it starts laying off hundreds of employees this week.
In a statement confirming the layoffs, Salesforce said,
“our sales performance process drives accountability. Unfortunately, that can lead to some leaving the business, and we support them through their transition.”
Salesforce has experienced a relatively successful year financially, with the company’s second-quarter revenue rising 22 percent year-on-year. This success is driven by the rapid adoption of its cloud-based CRM and other sales management tools. However, the vendor is facing pressure to cut costs since last month when activist hedge fund, Starboard Value, took a stake in the company and immediately called for Salesforce to increase its margins.
Although Starboard didn’t explicitly call for a workforce reduction, they have decided to go this route. It was initially alleged that the layoffs could affect as many as 2,500 employees of their previous 73,000+ employees; the company has countered this statement.
Microsoft starts rolling out iCloud Photos integration on Windows 11
Moving on from the not-so-exciting news, Microsoft and Apple have collaborated on the iCloud Photos integration, even among other beneficial collaborations.
According to a The Verge report, the new update offers the ability to link an iCloud Photos library directly into the built-in Windows Photos app. Dave Grochocki, Principal Product Manager Lead at Microsoft Windows stated that the company
“knows that many Windows customers have photo and video collections on their iPhones that they would like to be able to view on their PC.”
As a result, this iCloud Photos integration will make it easier for those with iPhones to have direct access to all their memories in one organized place. The update includes a new gallery view, which provides an alternative method of browsing through the photos.
Agorapulse partners with Hubspot on 2022 Instagram for Business kit
Check out!
Is Hubspot the right software for your business? Find it out by reading our complete Hubspot review.
Agorapulse, a leader in social media management software, has teamed with HubSpot, the world’s leading inbound marketing and sales platform, to release a free Instagram for Business Kit.
The guide provides businesses with everything they need to get started with Instagram and see real results. Features include free Instagram post and story templates, how to post for best results, how Instagram algorithm works, the right use of hashtags, best practices for developing Reels strategy, and goal setting features.
The guide that Agorapulse and Hubspot collaborated on covers everything from building an Instagram strategy to putting the strategy to use with templates and measuring the success of an Instagram account.
AWS launches Infrastructure Region in Switzerland
Amazon Web Services is also on the news this week, as they announced the launch of the AWS Europe (Zurich) Region.
Starting this week, developers, startups, entrepreneurs, and enterprises, as well as government, education, and nonprofit organizations will be able to run their applications and serve end users from data centers located in Switzerland with advanced AWS technologies to drive innovation.
The AWS Europe (Zurich) Region is estimated to add $16.3 billion (16.3 billion Swiss francs) to Switzerland’s gross domestic product (GDP) during the next 15 years.
AWS also received a warm welcome from customers and several Switzerland-based Partners.
Affinity Version 2 arrives to rival existing alternatives
On a rather interesting note, Software developer, Serif has launched V2 of its Affinity creative suite.
The new version brings on new features and enhancements to its trio of graphic design and content creation applications. What is particularly interesting about this is that Affinity is proving to be a great alternative to the Adobe Creative Suite.
First, it undercuts Adobe on price. The software is available as a one-off payment of $59.99 (compared to Adobe’s $19.99 monthly subscription) while still providing similar features. Also, Affinity features are very similar to those of the Adobe Creative Suite. Affinity Photo and Affinity Publisher are similarly comparable to Adobe Photoshop and Adobe InDesign, respectively.
Users who don’t require all three applications can still purchase Affinity Photo 2, Affinity Designer 2, or Affinity Publisher 2 individually for Mac, PC, or iPad and get 40 percent off the standard price.
Wix and Semrush partner to bring online visibility value to users
Collaborations between SaaS Platforms is one category of news that we’re excited to bring to you, and this week, Wix and Semrush have given us something to talk about.
The two SaaS platforms announced an integration that provides Wix users access to Semrush’s SEO keyword data directly through the Wix Platform. This integration provides users with valuable insights that can help them identify the right keywords for their website and improve their ranking in search results.
The integration is available to all Wix users in English. The usage quota available to users will depend on the Semrush account connected to their website, starting at a daily limit of 10 words for free Semrush accounts.
Recommendation
Want complete details about the user-friendly website builder? Then head to our Wix review.
Shopify uses target tactic to pull comeback
Lastly this week, Shopify is introducing a new tactic to its targeting strategy. However, it looks like something we’ve seen before.
The digital retail platform has turned to the Kardashians and some other big names to help it in its battle to win market share from Amazon.
Shopify has been struggling for the past year or so as the high cost of developing infrastructure has become clear. The company saw its loss increase to $345.4 million, or 25% of revenue, versus a loss of $4.1 million, or 0.4% of revenue, for the comparable period a year ago, according to the company’s earnings release.
Now, as it works to build toward profitability, Shopify President Harley Finkelstein, made it clear that celebrity names are going to be a major part of the digital sales platform’s strategy during the company’s second-quarter earnings call.
See you next week with more SaaS Digest news!