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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

Payoneer_logo

YUVAL TAL’S PAYONEER IS HELPING GROW FREELANCERS AROUND THE GLOBE

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Many companies have made our lives easier through digital payments. The online transaction has become a very common practice as it consumes less time and transfers money with few clicks. Today, some companies that are not primarily based in this sector are starting their money transfer platform as well. The biggest example of this is Flipkart and Amazon. But, amongst all the companies proving financial services, the service of providing working capital is very unique. Payoneer, an American-based company is a famous platform for digital payments which also provides working capital. Yuval Tal founded the company in 2005 and after a few years, it started rising making it a part of the unicorn club. The company’s headquarters are situated in New York. And, it currently has around 1400 employees.

About the founder

Yuval is a citizen of Israel born in 1965. He completed his schooling from Ramat HaSharon. Before he went to pursue his bachelor’s degree, Yuval served in the Israel military as a special operation commander. He completed his bachelor’s in mechanical engineering followed by his master’s in biomedical engineering from Tel Aviv University.

He graduated in the year 1995. But, while pursuing his bachelor’s he worked at cubital as an Engineer. He was also the Project Manager of Scitex America. In 1998, Yuval joined RADWARE RDWR: NASDAQ as the VP of Business Development. He worked there for one year and co-founded E4X. Yuval served as the CEO of the company for five years and then he co-founded Payoneer. Currently, Yuval is the President of the company.

The beginning of Payoneer

Yuval established Payoneer with $2 million seed funding. Yuval himself contributed a part of this money along with some investors. Another round of funding took place in 2007 and the company raised $4 million. Some of the investors of Payoneer include Carmel Ventures, Crossbar Capital, Wellington Management, Nyca Partners, etc.

Payoneer, from the first day, focuses on digital payment services which include e-wallet and prepaid MasterCard Debit Card. The company also facilitates cross-border B2B payments across 200 countries.

Growth

In 2011, Payoneer launched Local Money Transfers and within a year it was processing more than $500 million a year. One of the biggest advantages of the users of Payoneer was they all owned the MasterCard Debit Card. So, they easily bought traffic using this card without the chaos of back and forth money transfers. In 2012, many companies started using the platform of Payoneer like Neverblue and uShip. This year, Payoneer also ranked 34th among the 500 fastest-growing companies in North America. In December 2012, ClickBank partnered with Payoneer to expand in Latin America.

The company also showed interest in strengthening the community of freelancers. In 2013, the company led to the development of Freelancer Payments in South America. The same year, the company came into a joint partnership with Fiverr, a famous platform for freelancers. In September 2013, i-payout joined hands with Payoneer.

In 2014, the company raised $25 million in a funding round led by Susquehanna Growth Equity, LLC. In April 2014, Lazaro Campos, ex-CEO of Swift joined the Advisory Board of Pioneer.

Success of Payoneer

From 2015, the company gradually started expanding its business to the Asian market. It tied up with Bank Asia to help the freelancers of Bangladesh receive payment swiftly. Payoneer did a case study where it found that the female freelancers in India receive 11% less money than males. So, the company focused more on the well-being of women freelancers to improve the work culture.

Payoneer partnered with PeoplePerHour and Teespring to expand globally. The company raised $50 million from another round of funding in August 2015. In March 2016, the company acquires Armor Payments to improve the cross-border trade. Later this year, Payoneer raised $180 million in a funding round led by TCV. BY this time, some of the biggest companies started using the platform of Payoneer for money transfer. Its biggest customers are Airbnb, Amazon, Google, and Upwork.

In 2017, Payoneer for the first time invested in the U.K. market thus opening a London office. Payoneer for the sixth consecutive year appeared in Deloitte’s Technology Fast 500.

Present Day

In 2019, Payoneer entered into a joint partnership with Toptal to allow more efficient cross-border payments. It also acquired Optile, a German open payment orchestration company. In August 2019, a Payoneer’s report revealed that Pakistan is the best Asian market for revenue growth. In 2020, Payoneer made it to the list of Fintech 50 2020.

WhatsApp

Whatsapp Says Only One Forwarding At A Time

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A coin has two faces. While one side enlightens us, the other remains in dark. But, is it always the scenario? Every invention has both pros and cons and it doesn’t take much time for mankind to exploit those cons. While some people try to make the world a better place, others using the same power try to destroy it. Our world is going through a very big crisis right now. Every nation is fighting against the deadly coronavirus. These are vulnerable times when we expect everyone to be sensible. Everyone has a right to know the true facts about this pandemic. Similarly, it is our duty to spread the right message and not initiate violence by circulating rumors. And, no one by common people spread this news via social media. Whatsapp, one of the most popular social media platforms has reported that rumors related to coronavirus are spreading exponentially. When a person is receiving such a message they are forwarding it to as many contacts as possible. So, this leads to extreme misunderstandings molding misconceptions.

What will Whatsapp do?

Seeing the rumors spread like a wildfire, Whatsapp needed to land on a conclusion at the earliest. Whatsapp declared that from now on a person can forward one message to only one contact at a time. Previously, the number was five but to the urgent crisis, it has been dragged down to one. Because the wrong information has a very big potential to start some other form of violence. And, welcoming another war is the last thing our world needs right now.

The company has explained that bringing the number down to one will not completely stop this chain. But, due to the increase in friction lesser people will get the wrong information. It also said that the company has witnessed violence in previous years due to the spread of rumors. One of the biggest examples is the false news of child kidnappers in India in April 2018. Many people were killed due to these shady and false messages. So, the company is trying its best to not repeat its history.

We share other news too

We share almost every kind of content through the platform of Whatsapp. It includes long messages, GIFs, pictures, audio, and video. Apart from the platform serving as a personal way of communicating, it is also a huge source of entertainment. We keep sharing memes, funny videos, helpful information, etc all the time. But, we stop the misuse of Whatsapp on spreading false information, sharing of harmless documents has been compromised as well.

If Whatsapp identifies any message as “highly forwarded”, that is messages sent through more than five chains will be forwarded only to one. The users have also said that the rate at which wrong information is spreading can be very overwhelming. So, it’s better to take a step at the earliest. The problem is when a person is forwarding a message, there is a high chance he isn’t aware of its transparency. And, many of them don’t bother to verify if it’s wrong or right. This increases the chance of spreading rumors.

Whatsapp took precautions before this

It’s not only the rumors of COVID-19 that is spreading like wildfire through Whatsapp. Previously, when Whatsapp noticed for the first time that such misuse of the app is taking place, they took a step. They reduced the number of forwarding contacts from 256 to directly 5. This took place only in India whereas globally it was reduced to 20. But, it helped in reducing the potential degree of harm significantly. But, the outbreak has led to a decrease in that number to one.

It’s for our own good

Whatsapp also said that it is not like you can forward one message to a single person only. It is just hindering the process of sending it to 5 people at a single time. This way it will help reduce the number of forwarded messages. Since, Whatsapp first experimented with it in 2018, after one year the rate has reduced by 25%. It means the strategy is working to slow down the pace of misleading information.

Last month, much false news related to the “cure” of COVID-19 was forwarded along with the connection of military to it. So, apart from the company taking steps, it is a request to the people to think more logically and sensibly.

map

GOOGLE MAP LAUNCHES NEW SHORTCUTS FOR FINDING TAKEAWAYS

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The phase of quarantine is becoming very challenging with every passing day. But, the ones who are at home should consider themselves lucky because that’s all it takes to be safe. We should be grateful to all the police officers and medical professionals who are risking their lives to save the world. But, amongst all this chaos, our heart still longs for something extra. The memory of your last pizza bite might have just started fading. Yes, craving for good food has become a real struggle these days. But, at any cost, we shouldn’t step out of the house. Many online food delivery companies are primarily keeping their services close. Because let’s admit it the emergency services are what we need in this hour. But, it seems like Google has paid heed to the Monday blues or in this case quarantine blues. So, Google Map launched new shortcuts in its app to help people find takeouts from where food delivery service is available. Google’s new announcement has turned out to be a lifesaver for millions of people. Especially for those who weren’t able to come home due to the lockdown.

The perfect timing

It will remain questionable if Google was already planning to release this new feature. But, even if it wasn’t, there could not be any perfect timing. People are locked up in their houses, especially the hostellers and young employees. No one but them used to be dependent on the service of online food delivery. So, they will be highly benefited by this. And, the common people would also like the taste of something different during this monotonous life.

What is the new feature?

The Indian government has done a very appreciable job by collaborating with Google. This new feature has highlighted the shortcut button on the main user interface of the app. Previously Google Map already had the feature of showing the nearest restaurants, coffee shops, gas stations, etc. But, the highlighted option for takeout and delivery is what recently been added.

The COVID-19 pandemic followed by the lockdown has pushed Google to do it. Because when many people casually use the app, they may skip out this small button at the corner. But, now it will be of utter advantage to the people of India. The new feature will show all the takeouts near your location that can provide delivery. Apart from India, this new feature is also available in the United States and some other countries.

The support from the Indian government 

This new feature is not only for relishing good restaurant foods at home. It will also help deliver food at your doorsteps during the time of emergency. The Indian government in collaboration with Google India and Smart Cities has decided to launch this new feature. In the beginning, 31 cities all over the nation will get access to this feature.

The Google Map app will show Public Food shelters and Public Night shelters. This will improve the condition of feeding the nation’s people. The options of “Food shelter near me” and “Night shelter around me” will pop up on the screen. From here one can proceed to order food.

How this will work? 

Well, you should know one thing that Google Map already had the option of takeaways. But, what is new is the highlighted shortcuts. Some people might have the confusion which Google has cleared. The process of ordering is pretty simple. You go to the app and select the area where you want to check the service of takeaway and delivery. It’s up to you which service you are going to take.

But, it’s better to not step out of your house. So, delivery will be a safe option for everyone. After the area is selected, the particular shortcut will display the entire list of restaurants near the selected area. It will only show the locations that can provide either takeouts or delivery. In the case of foreign countries, clicking a particular restaurant can send you to the website of GrubHub. From there you can order food and enjoy your meal.

But, in India order can be directly accepted in most restaurants from Google Maps. The shortcuts are made available on iOS, iPad, and Android.

Youtube %G network

YOUTUBE DECLARES IT WILL REMOVE EVERY CONTENT CONNECTING 5G TO CORONAVIRUS CONSPIRACY THEORIES

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The pandemic of coronavirus has already shaken up the entire world from its core. People are trying hard to keep themselves sane while being at home. But, this quarantine has indeed allowed us to binge-watch every series we were planning to. Netflix and Youtube have truly become our friends in need. But, while people are so much engrossed in these platforms, some of them are spreading terrifying contents. This is a very vulnerable phase for the entire world. And, we expect to spend some quality time in our home doing anything that keeps us calm. We do not want to grow extra terror within us by watching absurd coronavirus conspiracy theories via the 5G network.

Youtube decided to suppress such contents

Youtube declared on 5th April 2020 that it will suppress content that links the conspiracy theories of coronavirus to the 5G network. The company will remove all such contents and they won’t show them in the search result as well. People are already too scared due to this global crisis. So, promoting such fake content will just escalate violence around the globe. The news of false theories having a connection to the coronavirus outbreak has already caused some major destruction.

What has happened due to this disturbing content?

Once this kind of irrational things pops up in our screen, it spreads like wildfire. From Youtube to What Sapp, people start sharing it everywhere thus pulling the trigger. Many people have shared videos of mobile phone masts on fire. This has occurred in Birmingham, Liverpool, and Melling in Merseyside.

The violent act has not been limited to this. In the U.K. people have set at least seven cell phone towers on fire. It is reported that within the last 24 hours, the common people of the U.K has burnt down four towers due to rage, anger, and terror as well. And, when these videos will be shared on social media, citizens of our nations will be traumatized as well. It is also shocking that one of the towers that were burnt down wasn’t even a 5G mast. People targeted two of Vodafone’s masts and two shared masts.

It is unbelievable how one wrong claim or message can take the world to the edge of destruction. In this modern age, we tend to follow and praise our ideals via social platforms. This is another main reason why such disasters increased within 24 hours. When reputed and verified accounts on Instagram share such obscure videos, followers will believe it anyway. And, imagine the degree of destruction when there are millions and thousands of followers for each verified accounts.

What are the scientists saying?

Scientists have responded at the earliest and didn’t take it lightly. There is no sugarcoating to this or subtly calming the audience. The scientists have directly made the statement that the so-called imaginary connection between COVID-19 and 5G network is “rubbish”. There is no such phenomenon in this universe that can prove it otherwise and it is not possible biologically.

Stephen Powis, NHS England Medical Director said that these theories are the worst kind of fake news that can ever exist. Youtube has also declared that any other 5G conspiracy theory will be entertained except for linking it to coronavirus. The platform has also started reducing the amount of “borderline content” that can spread even tiny fake news to the people.

The kind of fake news reaching people 

The misleading videos are popping up on the platform of Facebook from late January. When the pandemic initially started spreading in the U.S., people started making up many such theories. A group of people believed that the 5G network can suppress the immune system. Thus, it will make us very vulnerable to catching COVID-19. And, some people tend to believe that the virus will directly transmit in our bodies if we use the 5G network.

One video in the U.K also showed a man saying the healthcare units conducted tests actually to spread coronavirus. And, this pandemic was just a showcase, a distraction made to diverge people from the deaths that occurred due to 5G. These are just a few examples from the lot. The only message scientists want to spread now is we should turn s deaf ear to this fake news. And, burning down masts won’t help the situation. Because they are only providing us emergency phone services in this time of need.

Durant

How william c. Durant company had owned the market for selling trucks and utility vehicles

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The name, William C. Durant is attached not only with General Motors but also with companies like Buick and Chevrolet. The automobile industry has seen the growth of many large companies from scratch. And, General Motors Company is famous all over the world for the production of upscale cars, trucks, and most heavy commercial vehicles. William C. Durant co-founded General Motors with Frederic L. Smith. He is also the founder of Chevrolet and Frigidaire. In his career life, he created a series of automobile lines which now has become some of the largest business conglomerates. He also took control of the company Buick Motor which eventually came under General Motors.

William founded the company in 1911, but its history trails back to 1902.

About the founder

William was a very successful businessman. He was born in Boston to William Clark Durant and Rebecca Folger Crapo. He belonged to a very wealthy family but he didn’t complete his schooling. He started working at his grandfather’s lumberyard from a very young age. William started his carrier as a cigar salesman and eventually moved to sell carriages.

In 1886, William co-founded Flint Road Car Company with Josiah Dallas Dort. Within four years, the valuation of the company became $2 million. During the 1900s, a huge revolution started over horseless gasoline-powered carriages. William saw it as an opportunity to open a new automobile company that could change the entire future of this industry.

For the starters, he bought Buick and another small company with large debts. Durant already had money from Durant-Dort Carriage Company and his profit escalated after he bought Buick. So, this games him a strong base for founding General Motors. Durant dreamt about building a company that would produce independent marques and holds subsidiaries.

In the 1920s, Durant showed interest in buying stocks with the advice of one of his friends. He wanted to play the Wall Street market but the idea backfired and he went bankrupt by 1936. William also went through many family turmoils and the mysterious disappearance of his wife. He died at the age of 85 in New York City.

Early History of General Motors Company 

The history of General Motors started when the founding of the Rapid Motor Vehicle Company took place in 1902. After William founded GM he gradually took Rapid Motor under its control as well. In 1908, William also acquired Reliance Motor Car Company which helped in expanding GM. In 1909, General Motors Holding acquired Cartercar Company which William bought going against everyone’s decision. He also planned on buying Ford but the board members dismissed the decision.

He founded General Motors Truck Company in 1911. So, this new division along with Rapid and Reliance merged into one and started its production at Rapid Motor Plant 1 in Michigan. When the company started growing it had three main production units at Michigan, California, and Missouri respectively.

During World War II

GM’s truck division proved to be of immense benefit during the war. The trucks were so efficient that a 2-ton GMC truck drove from New York to San Francisco in 5 days and 30 minutes. The demand rose and GMC had to produce 600,000 trucks for the military.

Growth and Acquisitions 

In 1925, GM acquired Yellow Coach, a Chicago-based bus and taxicab manufacturer. GM changed its name to Yellow Truck & Coach Manufacturing Company. The company also announced that all manufacturing will now take place under YT & CMC. This company remained as an affiliated subsidiary of GM until GM bought the remaining parts of the company in 1943. The company was then renamed as GMC Truck and Coach Division.

By this time, GM was successfully manufacturing vehicles in two plants. The bus production of GM came to an end in 1987. The reason why GM took leave from bus manufacturing was the rising competition between 1970 and 1980. GMC hopped into the next century after changing its branding name to GM from GMC.

GM raised a toast to 100 years of its founding celebration by releasing a book called The First 100 Years. By 2009, General Motors stopped the production of medium-duty commercial trucks. The company currently makes SUVs, vans, light-duty trucks, and pickup trucks. Some of the GM models that are still producing in the market are Sierra, Canyon, Savana, Yukon, Acadia, Terrain, etc.

Opel logo

THE RISE OF OPEL IN AUTOMOBILE INDUSTRY

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The history of Opel dates back to the mid-1800s. For more than 150 years, it has served its customers throughout the entire world, except North America, UK, and Oceania. Adam Opel, a German businessman founded the company, Opel Automobile GmbH. Opel operated under the leadership of General Motors till 2017. In 2017, Groupe PSA, a French multinational company acquired Opel.

About Adam Opel 

Born into a family in Russelsheim in 1837, Adam was the son of Wilhelm. Adam’s father was a locksmith and he studied to become the same until he turned twenty. He received a travel pass in 1857 which permitted him to work as a locksmith. But, something else caught his interest when he moved to Paris. He started learning the new technology of the sewing machine and asked his brother to do the same.

In 1862, Adam returned to his hometown with a business idea to make his sewing machines. His uncle helped him set the business and eventually, his younger brother gave him an extra hand. In 1867, Adam decided to build a factory for the production but unfortunately, his father passed away. In the meantime, Adam married Sophie and he set up the Opel plant with the dowry he received.

The production increased rapidly and by 1899 more than half a million machines were produced. In 1911, a devastating fire destroyed the major portion of the plant. This is when Adam decided to drop the sewing machine production and move to bicycles and automobiles. Adam, Sophia, and their five sons devoted themselves wholeheartedly to the new business. They made way more profit than from selling sewing machines.

At the end of 1887, Opel becomes the best company for innovative designs of cycles in Germany. Adam died in 1895 much before his industry started producing automobiles. Sophie and her sons took over the business but experienced a lot of ups and downs. They sold the company to General Motors Corporation in 1929.

Before the first acquisition 

After Adam died, Sophie and her sons struggled very much to keep the company stable. They started making cars for the first time in 1898 with the help of Friedrich Lutzmann, a locksmith. He was in this industry for some time and the partnership led to the production of Opel’s first car in 1899. But, the designs of the car weren’t good enough to attract either investors or customers. So, Opel dissolved the partnership after a couple of years.

In 1901, the company came to a joint partnership with Automobiles Darracq France. The company started producing vehicles under the brand name Opel Darracq but the production ceased in 1907. After the fire, a new company was established. And, by 1920s Opel became German’s first company to pull out mass production in automobiles. In 1924, a new model, Laubfrosch was released and became a big hit. The company caught the sight of General Motors and by 1929 it acquired 80% of Opel which turned to 100% in 1931.

Post-acquisition and World War II

After the acquisition, a new plant was built in 1935 in Brandenburg. This year the company becomes the first German Company to produce 100,000 units in a single year. The first plant of Opel ranked seventh worldwide in terms of mass production. The automobile production came to a halt in 1940. And, within a couple of years, Opel was busy manufacturing aircraft parts and tanks.

During the post-war years, the second plant was transported to the Soviet Union. So, they built their first Opel Blitz Truck in the Russelsheim plant.

Present-day

Other than Opel, GM’s Vauxhall gave a very tough competition in the market as well. But, in the 1990s, it was Opel that brought major profit in the house. With this profit, GM started expanding its Asian market. But, the profits declined and the company almost sold out during the global financial crisis. To cut-off price and lay low, Opel closed its Belgium plant in 2010. In 2012, Opel announced a major partnership with PSA Peugeot Citroen where GM took 7% of the company’s share. This alliance was made to save around $2 billion in costs per year. But, the company was still running in loss, losing around $257 million in a year. In March 2017, PSA acquired Opel and Vauxhall for $2.2 billion. Next year, Opel made an income of €859 million. This was a big success for the company after a long time.