Tech:NYC Digest: August 1

Tech:NYC Digest: August 1

August 01, 2022 • Estimated Reading Time: 7 minutes

Monday, August 1, 2022 

Welcome back, and suddenly it’s August. In today’s digest, NYC declares monkeypox a public health emergency, NYC speed cameras return around the clock, and the caveats your manager has for a poolside workday. 

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By the numbers:  

  • New positive cases statewide: 4,034   

    • New positive cases, NYC: 2,037

  • NYC Positivity Rate (Daily): 8.9%

    • NYC Positivity Rate (7-Day Average): 8.1%

In today’s latest: 

  • Officials in NYC declared a public health emergency due to the spread of the monkeypox virus Saturday, calling the city "the epicenter" of the outbreak. (NPR)

    • In NYC, the total number of confirmed cases has risen to 1,472 today up from 1,289 on Friday, an increase of 14% over the weekend.

    • The city’s Dept. of Health released a new dashboard that shows the latest data about monkeypox cases, including demographic information such as age, gender, borough, and more.

  • Moderna and Pfizer booster shots updated to target Omicron coronavirus subvariants could be available in early fall, pending sign-off by federal health agencies. (CNN)

  • Starting today, speed cameras throughout NYC will begin operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Previously, the cameras were only active from 6am to 10pm on weekdays. If one of the cameras catches you speeding, expect a $50 fine in the mail. (Gothamist)

  • One voting reminder: We’re two weeks away from the start of early voting for the August 23 primary, and August 8 is the last day to request an absentee ballot online or by mail.

In other reading:

  • Why It’s So Hard to Find an Affordable Apartment in New York (New York Times)

  • Composting in NYC is hard. Cyclists and a pug named Rocky are helping. (Washington Post)

  • Never Look at Someone While They’re Locking Their Bike (Curbed)

We’ve reached that month where remote work, summer Fridays, and vacation all jumble into a bit of a blur. Perhaps more than any other time of year, workers will take advantage of “work from anywhere” policies to, say, tackle their inbox by the pool.

Most managers say that’s fine — as long as you use common sense and your performance doesn’t take a hit. (Protocol)

  • Zoë Harte, Upwork’s chief people officer, said, “As long as the leadership is clear about any parameters they do have about [a] certain time that you need to be available — to be camera on or synchronously able to collaborate — then you can create a ton more flexibility.”

  • Harte asks her team members to let her know when they’re traveling or working from a different location, so she can account for time zone or scheduling changes: “Is there a chance your Wi-Fi is not as reliable as it is in your home office? Or do you need to take a two-hour lunch break because surf's up? We want to encourage workers to have flexibility,” she said.

But we’re far from consensus on the degree of flexibility that’s sustainable — especially in midsize and smaller cities, where more workers consider the “remote work debate” setted. (New York Times)

  • Outside of San Francisco and midtown Manhattan, workers have returned in considerably greater numbers. While NYC’s RTO rate hovers at 41%, Austin is at nearly 60%. Downtown Columbus has grown to 85%.

Some officials are hoping the contrast narrows, and a pickup in office use will also spur more relief for the industries that rely on the foot traffic of office workers. But in competitive labor markets like New York where workers are still calling the shots, the push-and pull of hybrid work seems poised to continue.

In other reading:

  • Gen Z Knows What It Wants From Employers. And Employers Want Them. (New York Times)

  • 3 tech-savvy ways to find more balance between your life and job (Fast Company)

  • Experts weigh in: How tech policy changes in a recession (Protocol)

  • Ping, a NYC-based voice platform for commercial drivers, raised $5 million in seed funding. Participating investors include Valor Siren Ventures and Ash Creek Capital Advisors. (Newswire)

  • Players’ Lounge, a Brooklyn-based online social gaming platform, raised $10.5 million in Series A funding. Griffin Gaming Partners and Comcast Ventures co-led the round and were joined by Samsung Next, Vice Ventures, WndrCo, Sharp Alpha Partners, True Capital, and a group of individuals. (VentureBeat)

  • Underdog, a Brooklyn-based paid fantasy sports company, raised $35 million in Series B funding. The round was co-led by BlackRock and Acies Investment, as well as insiders Eilers & Krejcik, Liontree Partners, SV Angel, and a group of individual athletes and celebrities. (FinSMEs)

  • August 3: Virtual: Using Tech to Make Investing More Accessible, with Fundrise CEO Ben Miller. Hosted by Savills. Register here.

  • August 9: Virtual: Silicon Valley Bank Fundraising Workshop: Enterprise SaaS Edition, with Work-Bench co-founder and general partner Jonathan Lehr and Silicon Valley Bank managing director Andrew Oddo. Register here.

  • August 11: In-person: Climate and NY: What’s Next in Politics, Policy, and Tech, at the Brooklyn Grange. Hosted by the New York Climate Tech Meetup and the Spring Street Climate Fund. Register here.

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