June Product Updates

[Rose_K]

Hello Airtable Community!

We wanted to gather all of June’s product updates in one place, to make sure we keep you in the loop.

Here is a list of changes, big and small, that we introduced in June!

General Product Updates:

• The “Create View” section is now collapsible, so you can regain screen real estate whenever you aren’t actively creating views.
• Users can now add details to their invoices, allowing you to add important information like tax codes, addresses, and any additional notes to future invoices.
• The “add record” button’s design has changed, and is now a persistent button on the bottom left hand side of the screen.
• The Google Drive external source sync feature is now in beta. Pro and Enterprise plan users can sign up to join the beta here.
• The Salesforce external source sync is now open to all users on the Enterprise plan.

Automations updates:

• We are so excited to announce our newest automation trigger: “When a form is submitted”! The “When a form is submitted” trigger can be used to trigger an action when a response is submitted to the specified Airtable form
• When rendering records found from a view using “Find Records”, then rendering those records as an HTML list or grid in an email, the records will now be rendered in the same order as the view.
• The “At scheduled time” trigger has gotten a big update! Besides a refreshed UI, the trigger now supports:
  • selecting a start date/time for when the trigger should start firing
  • when the specified time interval is weekly, you can now specify the number of weeks between automation runs (from 1-11 weeks).
• You can now easily navigate to specific automations in your base by using the new “Copy automation URL” option to create a link that opens a specified automation directly.
• The “Send MS Teams message” now clearly shows an error message when meeting the 28KB size limit.
• The “Send Email” action no longer truncates ratings’ fields rendered in an HTML grid.
• The “Run a Script” action now clearly returns an error message when the custom script output exceeds the 6MB limit.
• Creating and updating automations is now easier than ever with the ability to change an automation’s step’s action type.

Mobile updates:

iOS

• Editing filters is now presented in a bottom sheet, so you can see more of your data while you edit those filters.

Android

• Android Pro plan users can now view their record’s colors in Grid, Gallery, and Kanban views.
• Having trouble scanning barcodes in the dark? We have now added a flashlight button to the barcode scanner so you can easily turn on your mobile device’s flashlight!

[kuovonne]

Bill.French:

but our AI stuff that counts HOV lane passengers with fully blackened windows won the deal

Whoa. That’s cool. Now can it tell if there is a baby in a rear-facing car seat in that vehicle?

[Paul_Warren1]

An incredible month! My work stopped using Airtable almost a year ago now (the problem Airtable solved for us stopped being a problem) and I miss working with it every day! Can’t wait to hop in again someday with all these new features!!

[Bill_French]

kuovonne:

can it tell if there is a baby in a rear-facing car seat in that vehicle?

This is a big challenge and while it’s not in the scope of our contract, it’s a technicality that all HOV enforcement agencies would love to solve. We do have some research underway testing an approach that measures heat signatures on auto glass based on infrared sensors. Still inconclusive but that’s the most likely approach we’ll implement over time.

Some agencies are considering a beacon that lets our system know there’s a baby on board. This is not unlike the current FAST systems that broadcast subscription identity. Lastly, we also tap into modern vehicle systems that also broadcast the number of passengers on board. Not many people are aware that their vehicles are sharing data wirelessly much the way cell phones share presence and identity. Our real-time network can map the data from sources such as this one making it possible to embellish our data with additional demographics and operational data.

Bottom line - tough problem, but not unsolvable.

[Ash_Henderson]

When are hidden fields going to stay hidden in the mobile app? When I expand a record on the computer I get an option to drop down hidden fields, this would be great for the mobile app, alternative just stay hidden. After all they are hidden for a reason.

[Rebecca_Elam]

…well thats terrifying. awesome. but terrifying lol

[Bill_French]

Rebecca_Elam:

…well thats terrifying.

If cameras looking inside your car is terrifying, you are leading a very sheltered life. :winking_face:

Every human (pretty much on this planet) may be entitled to privacy in a public space, but they cannot expect it. Roads happen to be public and in the interest of public safety, privacy is of little concern. Soon, all automobiles will be required to share data about the occupants and even relay signals from their connected devices. On any given day you are recorded about 80 times.

Machine vision, however, is an entirely new world. Imagine compressing 10,000 IoT devices into the video feed from a single camera. This post explains the concept.

But, the bigger invasion is happening right in front of you - your computer that is located in your private home. As you read this, a system somewhere has recorded your interaction, assimilated every mouse move and pause, and captured the key terms and the amount of time you gave thought to this post. Even my ElasticSearch system has indexed your comment, your name, and is able to map all of your data in this community to see your entire body of activity.

[Rebecca_Elam]

oh, I more so mean that your car is telling people about you whether you like it or not and all people have to do is (for lack of a better way to put it) ASK for it. personally, I’ve never held the belief that anything I’ve ever done is ‘private’ I was born in 1996 so I know my entire life is on the internet and will be from birth to death. I’m always concerned, though, that as soon as these technologies come about people start to misuse them for nefarious purposes they were not originally intended for. Look at ring camera systems and all the talk about the vulnerabilities in these smart cars. All terrifying lol.

[Bill_French]

Rebecca_Elam:

as soon as these technologies come about people start to misuse them for nefarious purposes they were not originally intended for.

Yep - there’s no shortage of evil-doers who exploit technology for gain. But, with reasonable effort, we can make it pretty hard to do serious harm.

Globally, many people have been harmed by social media. But the same can be said for social betterment. Vastly the good outweighs the bad. But if you happen to be the person that is on the bad end of the outcome, it’s 100% bad.

Rebecca_Elam:

your car is telling people about you whether you like it or not and all people have to do is (for lack of a better way to put it) ASK for it

And that’s the rub -

Does anyone need to ask you about your behavior in a public area or facility paid for by public funds and used by the general public?

This is at the crux of privacy and permissions when it comes to systems designed for societal benefit. So far, the courts have said - no - no permission is required to gather information about you or the devices you drag into public spaces.

As far as the vehicles divulging such data about that which the vehicle knows, this is a matter of compliance regulations placed on auto and truck manufacturers. This is a little fuzzier and it’s why Rand Paul is always trying to steer government away such prying. So let’s frame that question and see what we all think.

It it were possible to avoid a massive pileup on a frozen highway overpass ahead of you, would you allow the government to access the data in your vehicle and send messages back to you - even braking for you - to help you and many others avoid such a catastrophic accident?

Love to know the answer. :winking_face:

[Jack_P]

Bill.French:

It it were possible to avoid a massive pileup on a frozen highway overpass ahead of you, would you allow the government to access the data in your vehicle and send messages back to you - even braking for you - to help you and many others avoid such a catastrophic accident?

Only if they try to sell me the new Apple phone before braking.

[Databaser]

This thread is going off topic quick :grinning_face_with_sweat: