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Annasha

Annasha Dey is an NIT student, who apart from studying engineering is also a content writer. She has a great interest in photography, writing, reading novels, and travelling as well. She is a foodie who loves socializing and hanging out with her friends. She is also a trained Kathak dancer and a big fashion enthusiast. Dey also loves watching TV series, which includes F.R.I.E.N.D.S. and Big Bang Theory. To be a better writer she prefers to read more

Medium

Medium’s Content On COVID-19 Becomes Questionable Because What Can Be Right Today Can Go Wrong Tomorrow

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Every citizen of every nation has become the prisoner of the novel coronavirus. Due to this outbreak, people have started losing their minds and much likely fall prey to misinformation. When every person is suffering due to this pandemic, misinformation is the last thing we wish for. But, how can normal people differentiate between the fact-checked, professionally-curated, verified information and random conspiracy theories? Had it been that simple, the spread of wrong information would have stayed in control. And, the hype for entertaining misleading information accelerates when reputed platforms like Medium publish them. Medium is one of the leading blogging platforms that witnesses both facts verified from experts and welcomes new ideas as well.

What has gone wrong?

Currently, the media is covering the statistics of COVID-19 as well as spreading awareness among people. Many experts have also published articles based on data gathered. But, when it comes to analyzing the seriousness of the coronavirus, a growth hacker and an epidemiologist are not the same. And, it all started getting worse when a Silicon Valley growth hacker, Aaron Ginn analyzed the situation in his way.

Aaron Ginn wrote an article based on his assessment of the coronavirus data. Medium posted the article and it spread like a wildfire. The article had certain hints of treating the deadly pandemic as an overhyped situation until Carl T. Bergstrom debunked it. Carl is an expert on infectious disease and criticized the article by a series of tweets thread.

He tried clarifying most of the misinformation by explaining it point by point. The article tried to dilute the gravity of the situation by explaining that it is following the bell curve. But, Carl said it doesn’t necessarily mean viruses will follow the bell curve unlike most things in nature. The coronavirus outbreak didn’t spread in every nation at the same time. And, speaking of less number of cases, the number of tests conducted varies for every nation and so is the population density. So, Medium removed the article immediately to stop the spread of misinformation.

Spot the correct information

But, amongst the misinformation spreading, Tomas Pueyo, another growth hacker posted a meaningful article on the coronavirus outbreak. The article was posted on Medium. This is one of the most famous articles on coronavirus with over 40 million views. Tomas set that the number of cases is growing exponentially and that it can take bigger shape in the future.

But, Tomas is no medical expert. Whatever he concluded in his article was a result of analyzing data and understanding research papers. A famous psychologist, Steven Pinker also shared his article. But, what is media without critics? Many people raised the question that he isn’t an epidemiologist so why should they support the idea. Tomas was delighted to hear it and said the article needs verification because he isn’t a medical expert. And, this rise in concern about what is right or wrong is what we need at this hour from common people.

Misleading information was taken down

An essayist, A. J. Kay who lives in Arizona started learning about the coronavirus situation. According to her, the experts were calling it highly transmissible which was not the scenario. But, what she failed to understand it testing started lately in the U.S. This means if anybody who was suffering from this disease was reported lately. By then it has already been spread to so many other people.

Without understanding any of this, she dropped an article, “The Curve is Already Flat”. The articles received 275,000 within the first 48 hours. But after a couple of days, she received a mail from Medium that her article was removed from the site. Medium informed her that the contents could have risked the lives of people so the Medium’s Trust and Safety team has reached the decision.

The conclusion

There are two categories of articles that are published on Medium. First, the ones that are fact-checked and written by professional journalists. The experts verify these articles and on the other hand, there are user-generated pieces. Due to the crisis, Medium now marks these user-generated articles is not fact-checked. Because it has the potential to put people’s health at risk. Moreover, the platform has amended “COVID-19 Content Policy”. Any article violating this set of the rule will be taken down without further explanation. Moreover, the figures are jumping exponentially every day. So, what theory might be valid today cannot be valid tomorrow.

Payza

The award-winning online platform of Payza has made money transfer much easier

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The economy of every nation is trying to make most transactions online. This way the digital payment companies have grown so much in the past decade. Everyone aims towards a cashless economy, even for the smallest of transactions. The digitalization in the payment system helps it make it more transparent as well. Many online payment companies have come up in the last 20 years. The American and European markets acquire most of them. But, this does not necessarily mean that only the citizens of that particular nation can use for transactions. Many online payment platforms are spread worldwide and support international money transactions. Firoz Patel founded Payza, a digital payment service in 2012. His main goal was to target those groups of people who weren’t satisfied with the services of big payment companies. When a customer is already facing problems, then it is easy to lure them towards a different company. Payza offered its service in more than 190 countries and 21 currencies until the higher authorities ceased operations in 2018.

About the founder of Payza

Firoz went to Champlain Saint-Lambert and acquired his degree in Business Administration. He graduated in the year 1994. Firoz started his career by working in the sales department for a software company. In April 1999, he joined OnX Enterprise Solution where he worked for business development and consulting.

In 2004, Firoz founded AlertPay, an online platform for payments. He was the CEO of the company and left in 2012 to found Payza. Firoz was also a member of the Board of Directors of Ceptum AB. Currently, he is the CEO of Payza and Fintech Specialist at FP Consulting.

What is Payza?

To expand the economy of every nation and to tie everyone with the same thread of digitalization, Firoz came up with Payza. And, everyone should be a part of this global marketplace. People build different kinds of businesses and carry out a variety of trades. So, every customer doesn’t have the same need. And, Payza has grasped this idea and used it to its advantage.

To empower the local communities they should be connected to the biggest and the only marketplace. Exposing oneself internationally means more profit and more advantages. So, Payza provides local tools for the communities that can be used to carry out international payments. It helps out both the local customers as well as the cross-border merchants.

Who are the customers?

From a person with no business portfolio to a big cross-border trader, everyone is the customer of Payza. Payza provides its services to anyone willing to make an online transaction through its platform. The company provides a variety of options for accepting and making payments, transferring money internationally, and also exchange of funds. Many businesses use the platform of Payza for making payments. So, they can pay through credit cards, e-wallet, and cryptocurrencies as well.

The payment option by bitcoin and cryptocurrencies are especially for those locations where there is a shallow trend of credit cards. Because it becomes a problem for the cross-border transactions. Payza is trying its best to find other alternative methods as well. The customers of Payza also have Payza Card that enables to carry out transaction both online and offline.

A set of disadvantages 

But, there always lies both pros and cons to everything. Apart from the fact, that Payza is a very fast and efficient platform, it has certain disadvantages. The main flaw of the platform is the transfer fee is way too high. Before Payza came into the market, there already existed many gigantic companies. So, if Payza started demanding high charges, its survival will come at stake.

Payza also needs to take care of customer care and support. Because many people claim that their problems were not solved by the company. And, one fact about Payza that affects its reputation is false claims. When you visit the website, you can find the company providing free accounts, free invoicing, etc. But, when you reach the bottom of the page, it is mentioned that you have to pay fees for it.

Firoz Patel’s money laundering

The downfall of the company took place in March 2018. The DOJ claimed that the founder and his brother laundered a minimum of $250 million from the company. They used money in child pornography and many other illegal aspects. Police also accused him of committing tax fraud. Firoz was taken a fugitive in 2018 and next year he turned himself in. The company since then has remained inactive.

2checkout

2CHECKOUT IS HELPING BUSINESSES GROW AND INCREASE THEIR REVENUE SINCE 2006

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After the internet became affordable, many software companies came up. But, with the increase in competition, every company needed some help to stay in the game. Companies with very little idea of how to drive traffic towards their website or about digital marketing faced many problems. Because, with the digital revolution, everything became more meaningful and prominent on the screen. A company to help other software companies grow their businesses was very important. Someone who can guide them and help them expand in the international market. Some members of GECAD Group decided to build a company to sell products that can help the other companies expand. In 2006, Alan Homewood founded 2Checkout in Ohio. The company has grown vastly over the years.

About Alan Homewood

Alan went to the Ohio State University Fisher College of Business. He graduated in 1994. While he was pursuing his degree, he worked at LCI International for five years. In 1995, Alan started working as Oracle and other DB Consultants. He started working on the project of 2Checkout since 2000 and finally released it in 2006.

In 2013, Alan became the President of Entrepreneurs’ Organization who now serves as the Area Director of the same. Apart from being the Chairman of 2Checkout, he is currently the CEO of Yogi Surprise and Founding Board Member of Autism Living.

The founding story of 2Checkout

Before founding 2Checkout, Alan and other co-founders worked for a company called GECAD Group. The company built RAV Antivirus which came under the acquisition of Microsoft in 2003. GECAD Group was an international company that sold software products on a global level. But, the founders realized that it is very hard for a company to sell its products internationally on its own. This gave them the idea to establish a company that would help other software companies like GECAD to grow.

So, they started the company, Avangate in 2006. In 2013, Francisco Partners acquired Avangate which in turn acquired 2Checkout in 2017. 2Checkout has become an integral part of the company as it helps in a flexible payment system and broadens the market research. After the acquisition, the entire company was reintroduced under the brand name of 2Checkout. Through this platform, the company helps the clients grow in any market of any model.

The idea behind 2Checkout

Avangate which is now known as 2Checkout serves a good purpose for online businesses. When the founders were working to sell their products in GECAD, they faced many problems. But, they also noticed that there is a vast opportunity to sell their products outside their nation. Keeping this in mind, they created Avangate as a way to help communicate the merchant with the world.

What the company faces on a daily basis?

Currently, 2Checkout is the only digital platform that gives its customers the opportunity to outsource the entire business process. They are free to pick up the services they want and change it with the course of time. The company, today, serves more than 17,000 merchants meeting everyone’s needs. 2Checkout serves both small companies to large business tycoons as well. The company has expanded its service to more than 180 countries and territories.

Achievements 

The first biggest achievement of the company was in 2007 when it opened the first North American Sales office. 2Checkout reached out to the Russian market in 2008. In 2011, 2Checkout received funding from 3TS Cisco Growth Fund. After Francisco Partners acquired Avangate in 2013, the company received the CODIE’s Best eCommerce and Billing Solution Award.

In 2014, the company received many awards which include Deloitte Tech Fast500, The Golden Bridge, European Business Award, etc. Next year, the company opened another office in Atlanta thus expanding its reach. Recently, the company has launched the 2Checkout 2.0 Digital Commerce Platform.

Future goals

The new CEO of 2Checkout, Alex Hart has big plans for the company in the near future. Currently, the most challenging part of the business is thinking about what to pursue next. 2Checkout has a lot of innovative ideas for the future. But, it is tough to decide what ideas they are going to implement now and what can wait for the future. This is the reason, Alex thinks it is better to listen to its customers. Because, if the customers aren’t ready to adopt a change, then there is no point in making a change at all.

Chat

Google Decided To Rename Hangouts Chat As Google Chat

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We have used the platform Hangouts at least once in our lifetime. While Google’s other products such as Google Map, Google Drive, Google Music, etc has the brand name at the beginning. The company also decided to change the name of Hangouts chat to Google chat. Google declared it yesterday that it is a simple rebranding from Hangouts to Google. The company has officially removed the name, Hangouts Chat from its enterprise G Suite. Google was planning to do it for a while. It has been noticed that an updated G Suite support document has the mention of Google Meets. And, along with the change of this name of Google’s messaging platform, the company rebranded Hangouts Meet as Google Meet.

The misunderstandings

Similar news might tend to confuse customers at times. Is Hangouts vanishing forever? The answer is no. It will remain as the name of the customer chat app of Google+. Google spun it off in 2013 and since then it has become a standalone product. Since then it has been struggling a lot to compete with other messaging apps and improve reputation. So, all that has changed is the name of Google’s own online instant messaging platform.

Some predicted reasons

The sudden change in the name might not be for any reason. It may look very simple. But, a renowned company like Google wouldn’t make some random decisions. Though many products of Google are used by billions of people around the world, Hangouts didn’t catch much attention. A messaging app like Whatsapp is preferred over Hangouts. Many people don’t even know how to use it because of certain complications like Allo and related services.

But, it seems like this chat service has failed to gain popularity even after many attempts. So, the strategy of rebranding it and appending the word “Google” might drive some topic. One more important thing that is the reason behind every news today is the coronavirus outbreak. The pandemic has caused every employee of the tertiary sector to work from home. And, in this situation, millions of video meetings are taking place via Zoom today.

Those people are using other Google products, Hangouts Meet is certainly cornered. It may be because the name itself doesn’t radiate the vibe of professionalism. This can be another prominent reason for the sudden change in name. But, the company didn’t confirm any of these reasons. They are just a few predictions made by experts.

Few Updates on rebranding

Long before the company released the G Suite document, they planned on changing the brand name. As, both the CEO of Google Cloud and CEO of Google referred to the product as “Meet”. They claimed it to be a shorthand reference until now when it got transferred to Google Meet. Google first released the news of rebranding Google Meet. Then after a few minutes, Google Chat was on the radar as well.

Hangouts Meet to Google Meet

It seems like the company wants its name on every single product it launches. This has led to even renaming Google’s videoconferencing app, Hangouts Meet. Google declared yesterday that from now on it will be known as Google Meet.

New features added to Google Meet

After getting trademarked by the company, Google Meet has included some new features. What could be more perfect timing to give competition to Zoom? The company says that almost 120 million students and teachers use the G Suite for education purposes. So, with the lockdown continuing, Google Meet has tried to make it better for the world.

Whoever is using G Suite for Education and G Suite Enterprise for Education will get premium features for free. And, this offer continues till 30th September 2020. Some of the features include conducting a meeting that can accommodate 250 participants, live streaming for 100,000 viewers (within your domain), and recording meetings followed by saving it in the Google Drive.

Google also claims that all data is encrypted in transit between the customers and the company. This might trigger the audience to use the platform of Google Meet. It is because of the recent compromise in Zoom’s security a few weeks ago. People care about their privacy and they are going to look for the best option.

Google Stadia

Stadia Starts Its Two-Month Free Trial Effective Immediately

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Google just made this quarantine period less miserable for the gamers. Most of the game developers or anyone who loves gaming doesn’t prefer getting away from that laptop screen. Yesterday Google Stadia announced that it will be launching a two-month free trial for Pro tier. And, this so far might be the best news for game developers this year.

Google Stadia’s free trail

Google Stadia has announced yesterday that it will be launching a free two-month trial pack. The users can use the Pro tier of it for free starting from this moment. The recipients of this free two-month service need to have a Gmail account to sign up. The pre-requisite is negligible as everyone has a Gmail account these days.

What do you need?

If you are a game lover or a developer, you surely have a compatible device and a controller. So, apart from signing into a Gmail account and having a device, all you need is good internet. And, you are ready to make the fullest of this trial pack. Since Google has announced the news yesterday; you can have access to the Pro edition by signing up now.

This Pro edition also comes with many in-built games including GRID, Destiny 2: The Collection, The Thumper, etc. And, they are all free for the users. Apart from this users can buy new games if he or she wishes to and play them. And, once you buy these games you can continue playing them even after the cancellation of Stadia Pro subscription.

Who can use it?

It is not for new users only. The existing customers can also use the new trail by signing up. Many users might think that they will have to pay as they are old subscribers. Google has made it free for everyone including new and existing users. So, who is using it already doesn’t need to pay the price they usually pay.

But, Google Stadia has made this available only in fourteen countries now. They are the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Finland.

The existing pack

Before this free trial, the users could only have access to Stadia through a $129 “Premiere Subscription”. The package came with a controller but a free base was also promised. Now, the dream of the free base has come true for the users. Though the users are very delighted, it’s pretty clear that the company didn’t have plans to release it now. But, the recent pandemic followed by the lockdown has made the situation intense.

VP and GM of Stadia have told that the world is going through a very tough time. In spite of this tough situation, people should find some way to socialize and spent time with their family and friends. And, video games are a good way to socialize with our friends while being at home. So, they did what was necessary for this situation.

Change in features

Google Stadia didn’t mention anything about the free base after the two-month trial is over. But, one of the Google representatives has mentioned that it exists. A permanent free base tier is available for the users who are signing up. The players can switch to that free base from the Pro after the free trial is over. But, the users have to play on 1080p, 60 frames per second and stereo sound. Everything comes with a limitation.

Once this trial pack is active, there will be a huge influx of new users. So, Stadia will make everyone’s streaming to 1080p from the default screen resolution of 4k. But, if you want you can change your preferences. Most of the players either prefer playing on PC, TV, or Laptop. But streaming to the phones and tablets is also an option now. But, this is not so good news for the iOS users as this feature is not available on iOS.

Apart from the iOS users, those who are planning to play from the phone can simply download the app and use it. For the PC or laptop users, Chrome is the pre=requisite. And, for those who are playing on television need a Chromecast Ultra. If you are not using your own keyboard and mouse, provide your own controller for playing. This will be a very big hit in the gaming market and for all players out there.

LINCOLN

LINCOLN COMPANY’S LUXURIOUS VEHICLES SPEAK FOR ITS ROYALTY

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When the automobile industry started expanding, most of the companies aimed at making low-cost car designs. This was a revolution that started to make sure every people of the nation can afford one of them. For example, we know that Volkswagen started manufacturing Volkswagen Beetle which became famous as The People’s Car. But, many companies were also inclined towards producing luxury vehicles. Back in the early 1900s, the demand for personal luxury vehicles also existed. Some people loved the tinge of royalty that led to its mass production. Lincoln Motor Company, a division of the American automobile company, Ford specializes only on luxury vehicles. Henry M. Leland founded the company in August 1917 which gradually came under the acquisition of Ford.

Henry M. Leland

Henry is one of the most famous American automotive entrepreneurs who founded two major companies, Lincoln and Cadillac. He was born in 1843 and was the youngest among his eight siblings. Born into Vermont, Henry grew up in Barton. Later, he went to Brown & Sharpe Plant where he learned engineering and precision machining. His growing knowledge landed him a job in the firearms industry.

In the upcoming years, he served in many companies and also invented the electric barber clippers. In 1902, Henry started working for Ford. And, under his guidance, many changes were made in the engineering of its vehicles. Five years after founding Lincoln Motor Company, Henry was struggling to keep the company altogether and thus sold it to Ford. He sold Cadillac to General Motors.

Henry also took a very active part in politics to set his country free from corrupt politicians. He died on 26th March 1932.

What led to the founding of a new company?

Henry already founded Cadillac went to established Lincoln Motor Company. He came into a heated argument with William C. Durant, President of General Motors. So, he left the company in 1917 and planned to build a new company. He decided to name the company after Abraham Lincoln, as Henry cast his first-ever vote for him.

Henry founded the company with a capital investment of $10 million. He was focused on making Liberty V12 aircraft engines and he bought many parts from companies like Buick, Cadillac, and Packard. Due to World War I the production came to a halt. But, before it took place, the company produced 6,500 units of such engines.

After the acquisition by Ford Motor Company

Ford acquired the Lincoln Motor Company on 4th February 1922 for $8 million. Ford noticed that after General Motors bought Cadillac, they made an entire division for luxury cars. So, they did the same thing with Lincoln Motor Company and gave a tough competition to GM. Lincoln witnessed many changes after the acquisition.

In 1933, Lincoln became the first company to manufacture luxury vehicles with an exclusive V12 engine. The company introduced many models during this time. Some of them are Lincoln Model K (1931), Lincoln Zephyr (1940), Lincoln Continental (1948), etc. The company ended the production of Continental after producing 5,322 units. In the 1950s, Lincoln launched Continental Mark II as its model line. During this time, this model became the most expensive car in the automobile market in America.

The recession economy                     

Due to the global recession in the 1950s, Lincoln was forced to consolidate its model lineup to a single model line. Moreover, the model cycle of Lincoln witnessed an extension of nine years from three years. But, in the next decade, Ford decided to come up with a new model as the successor of Continental Mark II. So, in the last 1960s, Continental Mark III was released in the market.

During the 1980s, the company redesigned and launched the new Continental thus making it the lightest model in its history after World War II.

A new century

After entering the 21st century, the company ended the production of Mark series and started producing Navigator SUV. In 2006, the company released the redesigned Lincoln Zephyr which became the smallest sedan Lincoln ever produced. 2020 will witness a series of new models which includes Lincoln Aviator Black Label, Lincoln Corsair, Lincoln MKZ, and many more. The company has a very huge market in South Korea apart from introducing the Lincoln Navigator model. The company has stopped importing in Japan since 2016. Other markets where the company is available are Oman, Saudi Arabia, Canada, Mexico, United States, etc.