***

From the Developer's Dictionary:

A is for acquiesce: to accept something reluctantly but without protest.

Did you know that our last entry of the "edible emojis" themed release cycle - "Zoo" - isn't really something edible and doesn't really have a relevant emoji? So, I'm going to work my "tenuous connection" magic and suggest that "Zoo" is just shorthand for...Zoodles!

And, really, it's an almost perfect reference. Similar to Alpha-Ghetti, this canned, animal-shaped pasta was pretty much marketed to kids of the '80s as a way for them to enjoyably eat a zoo's worth of exotic creatures.

Sure, Zoodles may also have been providing a gateway to big-game hunting, with its catchy little jingle asking kids "have you ever gone hunting with a bowl and spoon because you can, with Libby's Zoodles!", followed by kids expressing the bliss that comes with just having had a hippopotamus for lunch, but you know...simpler times.

In response to the current situation that has seen a large number of our customers switch to a remote working model, we are rolling out two new collaboration features ahead of our regular release schedule.

Released on 2020 Mar 13 (also includes all Xylitol fixes and features)

What's New

• Info icons added to Links
  

  When accessing a Personal or Org-wide link, an icon will now be displayed next to those links that will open up in a new browser tab. Those with no icon indication will open up in-platform.

Did you know that the reason there's Yarg cheese today is because of a couple who discovered it's old-timey recipe in their attic?

In 1980s Britain, Allan and Jenny Gray found a recipe from the 1600s for a semi-hard cheese in their attic. Possibly not wanting to pursue a career in the production of a creamy-to-crumbly cheese that requires being wrapped in stinging nettle leaves to create an edible mouldy rind, they sold the recipe to some nearby farmers in Cornwall (where, to this day, is still the only place where Cornish Yarg is produced). And, while competent cheese-makers, these farmers were obviously not the most creative type. You see, they didn't christen the cheese "Yarg" because it's some old-style Cornish word...or even because they have an affinity for pirate-speak. They just took the last name of the people who sold them the recipe ("Gray"), reversed its spelling, and called it a day.

Xyltiol will not be getting an individual release. Its features will be rolled out with the upcoming Yarg release. 

What’s new

• Improvements to the News UI
  The "Add New" menu and Category selector have been given some tweaks to provide a better user experience when creating News items.

Who can do this: News Administrators

• "Yearly" added to recurring Events options.
  For orgs that would like to create recurring Events for occasions like holidays and anniversaries, a "yearly" option is now available.

Who can do this: Events Administrators

Did you know that xylitol is actually a colorless chemical compound (sounds yummy already) that's used as a food additive and sugar substitute? Xylitol is becoming a popular ingredient in products like chewing gum and toothpaste because it can lower the likelihood of cavities. However, it comes with one big caveat. High doses of xylitol can cause an "adverse laxative effect". And that means exactly what you think it does.

So, be sure never to overdo it on the xylitol, kids! I mean, what’s the point of having a great smile if no one can see it because you’re constantly dashing off to the bathroom?

Released on 2020 Feb 13

What’s new

• Special Release
  
  Water is a special release, rolling out just a week after Vino, in order to isolate an architectural feature that will be applied to an upcoming login server update.
  
  Our regular format and release cadence will resume with the next release (Xylitol).

Released on 2020 Feb 09 

What’s new

• Custom Categories for News
  Users can look forward to an improved News view with the arrival of Categories. These custom, colored tags will be displayed at the top of each News tile, providing quick, at-a-glance info on the content it contains. They'll also appear as the newest sorting option in the Filter Drawer (under "Category", of course).
  
  

  
  For News Admins: To accommodate Categories, any Custom Article types currently used by your News creators will be automatically migrated to your org's initial Category List (located under Options > Category when creating any News item).

  Also, this change will not affect any previously-published Custom Articles, as they will be automatically updated with their Custom Article type now becoming their Category. For more information on Categories, please see this article.

Who can do this: All users (sorting)/News Reporters & Editors

• Grouped notifications for Mobile (iOS)
  For iOS users of the Jostle mobile app, notifications that originate from the same source in your intranet (for example, from a particular Discussion) will now be stacked together in a group with the most recent one on top—creating less notification clutter on your touch screens.

Who can do this: All iOS mobile app users 

Did you know that the reason 750ml bottles became the wine bottle standard was most likely due to glass blowers? Turns out that back in ye olde days of wine production, the lung capacity of the average glass blower was just enough that they could create a 750ml bottle in one “blow”, so in the name of efficiency, it became the standard.

It’s a good thing that box wine came along when it did, then! I’d hate to think of all those traditional glass blowers suddenly sustaining catastrophic respiratory issues had their required daily output been upped to include 4-litre bottles as well.

Released on 2020 Jan 29

What’s new

• Tasks improvements
  Minor updates have been made to Tasks to provide more clarity about its features and improve the overall user experience.

Who can do this: Orgs with Tasks enabled

Did you know that Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry enforces a strict specification on udon noodles? Both the diameter of a round udon noodle and the width of a flat udon noodle can measure no less than 1.7mm.

I wonder if there's an upper measurement limit as well? There surely must be, or else restaurants would probably have to offer both "regular udon" and "mega-udon" noodle dishes...and then someone like me would come along, think that "Mega-Udon" was one of Godzilla's old sparring partners, and then confusingly wonder if kaiju cuisine had suddenly become a thing.

Released on 2020 Jan 12

What’s new

• Org Units
  It's now a whole lot easier to find information about the Org Units in your organization!
  
  When viewing any Chart in the Teams view, just look for a thin green bar that appears above a Role Card. That indicates it's the top (or parent node) of an Org Unit.
  
  

  
  Just hover/click on that card to see the Org Unit info or select "View Org Unit in Teams" from its menu to see the full Org Unit roster. System Admins can also manage Org Units directly from the menu as well.

Who can do this: All users

• Library Search
  Search results now show the breadcrumb navigation info for Library items (for example: Marketing > Promotional Materials), allowing users to easily see the Volume and Category location of each matching item.

Who can do this: All users 

• Links improvements
  Some minor updates have been made to Links to improve its navigation, usability, and overall look. Most notably, if you only have a single Links Category, it will now be automatically opened for you whenever you arrive in Links.

Who can do this: All users

Did you know that Taco Bell serves an average of 46 million customers a week?

With numbers like that, it's no surprise that the fast food giant has made a couple of lofty goals for 2020: 

• Have 9,000 restaurants globally 
• Have a revenue of $15 billion in sales

And after finding this out, it left me feeling like my list of 2020 goals (which kicks off with "make some significant progress on my video game backlog" and only goes down from there) to be a little...lacking. So, I made some Taco Bell-inspired changes:

• Make some significant progress on my video game backlog while eating Taco Bell.

Perfect.

Released on 2019 Dec 29

What’s new

• Red dot notifications in Tasks
  Whenever you're assigned a task or there's been new activity or comments on one of your existing tasks, you'll now see a red dot next to "Tasks" in the Main Navigation, as well next to the individual task(s) on the Tasks list.
  
  

  
  And if you have a task on your list that you don't need to be notified about every time it's updated, you can use a new option in the action menu to mute the task, so you don't receive any red dots for it at all.

Who can do this: All users with Tasks

• Video support for Tasks
  The steady roll-out of our new platform-wide viewer continues, with it now supporting videos that have been posted to tasks.

Who can do this: All users with Tasks

• Access the latest product update info from your intranet
  The What's New blog (aka this very blog you're reading right now) is now accessible from your intranet. Just go to Help > Product Updates to see what's new and what's coming up next for your intranet.

Who can do this: All users

Did you know that I'm not a fan of sushi?  But when I was going out for dinner with some friends I hadn't seen in a while and they wanted to have sushi, I thought to myself, "Well, who knows - maybe my palate has matured in the 20+ years since I last had it, let's give it go!"

So our food arrives and I take a deep breath, select some mackerel sushi and pop it in my mouth. 45 chews later, the mackerel is still in my mouth, turning into a sushi slurry and my friends are starting to look a little concerned. At 60 chews my body was still refusing to let me swallow, so out of desperation, I grabbed my glass of water, took a big gulp and force-washed the whole thing down. And then, well…let me just say that I learned a lesson that day:

Swishing slushy sushi slurry surely signals a shaky swallowing situation.