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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

Zoom

Zoom Freezes the Release of Any New Feature as Its Security Is At Stake

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In 2011, Eric Yuan founded Zoom as a way out for professionals to conduct the meetings. When he created the app, it wasn’t meant for a very broad user interface. Though many people mostly professionals used it for business meetings and such, the recent demand grew unexpectedly.

Last year, Zoom witnessed around 10 million Zoom meetings daily. But, after the COVID-19 pandemic, Zoom now successfully holds 200 million meetings every day. The company didn’t expect a sudden rise in the number of users which led to some malfunctioning of the app. The chief executive of Zoom said that they weren’t ready for such a large number of users. This is the main reason why the security system has become vulnerable. But, the company is trying to repair all the glitches at the earliest.

Both parties are facing problems

Before the outbreak of novel coronavirus, Zoom worked fine. The company didn’t see it coming and now it has shaken the security system. After the coronavirus has caused lockdown in almost every part of the world, most people are using zoom. From attending the business meeting to attending college lectures, Zoom is now the platform for every social interaction.

The company needed time to absorb the sudden load. But, it seems to have fallen even though they worked around the clock and tried to keep things together. Eric said that he is extremely sorry and trying to resolve the glitch as soon as possible. And, till then there will be a 90 days freeze for any new features that Zoom planned to release.

Working with a weak security system is not easy. A user’s privacy is also getting compromised which has led to rising allegations against Zoom. Some of the issues that the users are raising are sending user data to Facebook, claiming that the app has end-to-end encryption, etc. The tension has increased even more when Patrick Waddle discovered a major flaw in the app. It has especially made Mac users vulnerable to webcams and microphones.

The introduction of the Automated Tool

Yesterday, security professional, Trent Lo and members of SecKC announced about inventing a program, zWarDial. The program is designed in such a way that it can guess Zoom IDs with a length of 9 to 11 digits. And, IDs of 100 such Zoom meeting can be found within an hour and 2,400 meetings in a single day. Once these IDs are scanned, any relevant information about the meetings will be easily available.

The data will provide information about the date, time, organizer, and topic of the meeting. And, the main reasons why the tool can easily discover these meetings are they aren’t password protected. The developers have put this scenario in front of Zoom asking them to look into the matter. Because there might be high chances that password-by-default is malfunctioning.

But, it is confirmed that zWarDial cannot seek information about the password-protected meetings. So, for the time being, Zoom is requesting every user to password-protect their meetings. Since last year, the company has enabled the feature of the default password unless the admin opts out. If the users want to use their passwords they can go to the Zoom app and do the needful. But, either way, the meetings should be password protected due to the sudden rise in zoombombing, leaking information, etc.

What is Zoombombing?

Zoombombing is referred to as the illegal practice of joining a Zoom meeting without the admin’s permission. The uninvited guests are not only joining the Zoom meetings but also abusing other members, promoting pornography, making racists comments, etc. It is easy for these people to find the links from social media or they just simply guess the 9-digit ID for the meeting. But, this problem doesn’t arise if the meeting is password protected.

Steps were taken to combat it

Eric has taken many steps responding to the rising privacy breach through Zoom meetings. The platform is working to improve its encryption practices and especially remove the code that can share information from the IOS app to Facebook. Eric is also giving priority to the concerning issue for the people using Mac. And, apart from freezing the release of any features for the next 90 days, other steps are taken as well. Such as the company will also prepare a transparency report on data requests and will provide security updates weekly.

BUICK MOTOR

BUICK MOTOR COMPANY- A DIVISION OF THE AUTOMOBILE COMPANY, GENERAL MOTORS

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The automobile industry has got ample of multinational companies to lure us with exquisite vehicles. For more than 100 years, companies like Daimler, Volkswagen, General Motors, and many more are ruling the automobile sector. Buick Motor Company is also one of them which now operates as a division of General Motors.

The history of this company dates back to Motor dates back to late 1800. And, General Motors was established a few years after that. David Dunbar Buick founded Buick Motor Company in 1902 but before that he conducted several experiments with combustion engines. The main markets of the company include China, the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

About the founder

Born in Scotland, David moved to Detroit at a very young age. He didn’t get an opportunity to complete his schooling and started working for a plumbing company. In 1882, David and a partner took over the company. And, this was his first stepping stone. David proved himself as a great inventor and was engrossed in experimenting. The partnership didn’t work out well and the company was dissolved.

Eventually, he went from just making engines to a whole car. In 1902, he founded this Manufacturing Company. But, soon he ran out of the company and he only had a single designed car to show. So, he decided to take a loan from one of his friends and finally help the company run.

The company faltered at the beginning

In 1904, the company moved from Detroit to Flint. In the meantime, David left the company in 1906 and sold his stock. There was a shortage in the capital when the company brought William C. Durant as a major investor. Durant made the company one of the leading automobile production companies during the next few years. And, in a single year, the company produced 37 Buick automobiles. The number kept increasing and reached to 8,800 in 1908.

Growth of Buick

The profit made from Buick rose exponentially which helped Durant to found the Mega Corporation, General Motors in 1908. Many new models of the company came up eventually. Some of them are Buick Model 10 Runabout (1910), Buick D-35 Roadster (1917), Buick Model 67 sedan (1932), etc. Since Durant was running both General Motors and Buick; he wanted to control the expenditure of resources. So, the company used a platform called GM A platform (a shared platform with four other companies).

By the 1920s, the company started selling 80% of its vehicles in China. Many new engines came up after World War II. The production of Buick’s vehicles resumed in 1945, after three years of contributing to the war. In 1947, the company launched a new model, Buick Super and next year it offered Dynaflow Automatic Transmission. Buick’s one of the most famous models, Buick Special received the award, Motor Trend Car of the Year in 1962. In 1966, the foundation of the Buick Club of America took place. It is a non-profit organization to preserve the vehicles of the Buick Motor Division. Both new models and sales kept escalating very fast. In 1978, the company broke its record by selling 795,316 vehicles. This number turned to 915,336 at the end of 1985. In 1988, the company became the official car of the U.S Olympic Team.

With the arrival of a new century, the production of many models discontinued. Some of them are Roadmaster sedan and wagon. In 1999, Buick was listed second among 37 international brands in the automobile industry.

A new century 

The arrival of 2000 witnessed a diversified model of Buick. The company noticed that the SUV models were getting popular in the market. This gave him the idea to redesign LeSabre and started building it on GM’s G platform. In 2009, Buick came into a joint partnership with Jaguar to increase growth in the United States. Recently, Buick has replaced the Regal sedan with a new model which was especially for the North American market. Many new models are going to launch this year which include the Encore GX compact crossover, the Enclave mid-size crossover, station wagon, and many more. The main market of Buick is currently in China and North America. In 2016, Buick sold around 1.1 million vehicles in China. The other markets are Mexico, South Korea, Israel, and New Zealand.

samsung galaxy

The Latest Galaxy Note Fold Is One Of The Largest Breakthrough In Samsung’s History

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The news of galaxy note fold has surely stunned most of its fan. While Samsung released the news yesterday, the team was researching this for the past few months. Previously, Samsung has come up with some flabbergasting series of handsets. But, it is considered the biggest innovation of the company till date.

The New Galaxy S20 Series

When it comes to smartphones, this new series will be the talk of the city for this year. This Galaxy S20 series will comprise of three models, namely, S20, S20+, and S20 Ultra. All three handsets will have a 5G network and a 120Hz AMOLED display. The display screen will have a resolution of 3200X1400 with HDR10+. The company also confirmed that the series will either use Samsung Exynos 990 or Qualcomm Snapdragon 865.

The storage will either be 12 or 16GB RAM given that current fold has 12GB RAM and 512GB internal storage. This increase in RAM will help the user multi-task more smoothly on the expansive screen. When the user unfolds the device, the multi-window becomes more prominent. The series will also have a triple camera system which will include wide, ultra-wide, and telephoto lens. This can be the dream handset of every mobile photographer out there.

Apart from these features, the S20+ and S20 Ultra will have an additional depth sensor.

The jaw-dropping display

Samsung has released the best display features in the history of the smartphone. The Galaxy S20 series comes with a 7.3-inch Infinity Flex Display. It has the concept of folding which adds extra compliments to its screen. The handset is made up of tissue-thin of such materials that will make it flexible and look elegant at the same time.

The AMOLED display will provide Dynamic Tone Mapping to make sure every color looks as prominent and life-like as possible. But, Samsung has also thought about the harmful glares coming from too much bright light. That’s why it has reduced the amount of blue light without the use of filters. This will provide less strain on the eyes. The materials that the company has used for colors of different models are highly polished glasses. It will give you an extraordinary experience.

A phone or a tablet

The Galaxy Fold will give you the experience of a mobile and a tablet in one handset. When folded, the note will be easy to grip as it is provided with an ergonomic design, comfortable to hold. Moreover, you can handle it using only one of your hands as it becomes compact when folded.

In normal handsets, the fingerprint scanner is present at the backside of the phone. This makes it difficult for some people to hold it and scan it at the same time. So, the Galaxy Fold has put its scanner along the side. Generally, our grip comes with the thumb and index finger holding the handset. So, you don’t need to make much effort for scanning.

When it is folded, the slim form factor helps in managing apps using one hand only. And, whenever you are planning to multi-task or simply watch a movie, unfold for a better experience. The handset also comes with an advanced vapor chamber and a clad metal cooling system. So, dive into the world of gaming without being concerned about your phone.

But, an invention always promises a better invention. Similarly, there is one minor drawback of the Galaxy Fold. It contains magnets and hence it should not be placed anywhere near objects like credit cards and implantable medical devices. So, people who are planning to buy one should make a thorough research.

Enhanced performance 

The RAM has been expanded from 12GB to 16GB which will make multitasking more efficient. It is somewhat AI-driven as the new Galaxy S20 series will observe your habits and preload the frequently used apps. This is a great time saver. The dual battery system of 4380mAh will power your handset throughout the day. It prevents overcharging and it will learn your usage pattern with Adaptive Power Saving Mode.

Not only it is functioned with the capabilities of wireless charging, but it can also act as a wireless charger. Samsung Galaxy Fold can share the battery with any Qi-certified devices and wearables. The features are truly stunning marking the beginning of a new era.

Daimler Ag

Daimler Ag – Another Top Notch Company In The Automotive Industry

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Many big companies in the automotive industry have a very rich history. Some of the companies are carrying out their legacy passing on to the next generation. And in other cases, major investors acquire the company’s stake by breaking it into fragments. This is due to the heavy loss or many other internal reasons. Daimler is a world-renowned company for commercial vehicles and automobiles. It has its history date back to the late 1890s.

The company’s name Daimler AG has seen other forms in the past 120 years of its reign. But, it started originally with the name, The Daimler Motor Company Limited. Henry John Lawson, mostly known as Harry Lawson formed this company in 1896. Since then Daimler has faced different phases of leadership and expansion. Currently, its headquarters is situated in Stuttgart, Germany.

About Harry Lawson Founder of Daimler Ag

Born to Thomas Lawson and Anne Lucy Kent on 23rd February 1852, Harry showed great interest in designing bicycles. He was born and raised in the City of London. In 1873, the entire family moved to Brighton. This is when Harry started designing various types of bicycles. Today, he is popular as one of the first inventors of modern bicycles.

From designing bicycles, Harry showed interest in opening a motor car company. He saw a very vast opportunity in this industry, especially in Britain. Harry moved to Coventry in the 1880s and along with Frederick Simms founded the Motor Car Club of Britain in 1895. This was when the British government was carrying out the Locomotive Acts.

So, on 14th November 1896, Harry arranged the first London to Brighton Car run to celebrate the elimination of the Red Flag Act. This gave Britain the right to develop its motor industry. In Harry’s attempts to monopolize the British automobile industry, he bought many foreign patents and founded a series of companies. Some of the companies include The British Motor Syndicate, British Motor Traction Company, Motor Manufacturing Company, The Daimler Motor Company Limited, etc.

But, out of all these companies, only Daimler hit a huge success. And, the reason behind this was Gottlieb Daimler. Later, he suffered a lot of legal acquisitions regarding patent rights. He died on 12th July 1925.

Early History

On 1st May 1924, the companies, Benz & Cie and Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft (DMG) signed a mutual agreement and continued their respective production. But, on 28th June 1926, both the companies merged and the company became Daimler-Benz AG. And, the company declared that Mercedes-Benz is going to be the brand name.

The word Mercedes came from the company’s most successful series, the Mercedes. After DMG passed away in 1900, companies like Daimler Motor Company and Austro-Daimler used the brand name, Daimler. So, Daimler-Benz used the name Mercedes for business.

Many companies formed before World War II is mostly known for producing military vehicles as well. Daimler-Benz was no exception and thus created engines for German aircraft, submarines, and tanks. During the war, the company used 60,000 prisoners from concentration camps for production. The early phase of Daimler-Benz came to an end with the acquisition of MTU Friedrichshafen in 1995.

The Second Merger

In 1998, Daimler-Benz AG and Chrysler Corporation merged to form DaimlerChrysler AG. In the 1990s, the merger valued $38 billion and it was one of the largest deals cross-border deals. But, the merger brought a lot of lawsuits in the house. Some were settled and rest was dismissed. But, this affected the company’s share price. Questions were raised if the two companies integrated successfully or not.

So, in 2002 DaimlerChrysler introduced products that used elements from both sides of the merged company. After a few years, the company decided to sell the Chrysler unit to Cerberus Capital Management. The company announced that it faced a $1.5 billion loss in 2006. And, confirmed the Chrysler unit acquisition in August 2007. Cerberus acquired an 80.1% stake of Chrysler Holding LLC and the rest was still under Daimler AG. But, Chrysler was still in a very bad condition and declared bankruptcy in 2009.

Present Day

In 2015, Daimler AG bought Nokia’s Here digital maps division along with BMW and Volkswagen Group. Daimler started making smart investments and acquired many car start-ups. It wants to expand from just being a production unit of automobiles. In 2017, the company came into a joint partnership with Via, a ride-sharing app. The company also showed an interest in automotive cars and electric vehicles.

Microsoft

MICROSOFT ANNOUNCED THAT IT WILL BE RELEASING THE MICROSOFT 365 PERSONAL AND FAMILY PLANS

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Keeping in mind the outbreak of novel coronavirus, we still have to keep up our pace. Almost every company has declared work from home and the educational institutions are also teaching through online classrooms. In this time of sheer need, we need proper resources to carry out our work smoothly. So, Microsoft declared the news of new plans for Microsoft 365 subscription yesterday. It will be of great benefit to access all features, especially for students, teachers, and employees. This will also attract many new subscribers as it will allow using Premium office apps, extra cloud storage, advanced security, and many more such features. Microsoft will make these plans active on 21st April.

What Microsoft is providing?

The Microsoft 365 plan is not new to consumers. But, now the company is releasing a more enhanced version of it along with many new features. The new Microsoft Personal and Family Plans will be charging $6.99 per month for Personal subscribers and $9.99 per month for the Family pack. The family pack allows a maximum of six people. Everything will be available from 21st April. The subscribers will have access to all the new and existing features, which the company has not revealed yet.

Microsoft through its powerful set of features and services will not help us create and organize. We can share our works and connect with family and friends as well. So, it is just trying to build a stronger community through the web and collaborate across the world. Any user with this subscription plan can access it from Windows, iOS, macOS, and Android. The applications like Office, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Skype, Outlook, OneNote, and OneDrive are also available in these plans.

Moreover, all the applications will be up-to-date. Every subscriber will get 1TB of OneDrive cloud storage. For a single person, it is more than enough to store all the important files. Apart from this, Microsoft 365 will provide 60 Skype minutes and not to mention constant technical support.

What are the new features of Microsoft 365 plans?

Microsoft is planning to add two new features to its subscription plans. The first feature is the Microsoft Family Safety app. It is very important for parents to track their children’s location. Moreover, every family member can get a notification when another family member leaves for work, etc. The app will generate notification along with a sharing location. The family members can also manage screen time across multiple devices.

The Safety app is not only limited to this feature. The company has also incorporated a driving report feature in it. This feature is especially to track a new driver in the family to keep updated about the driving habits. This is a not-so-good-news for the kids but it is beneficial for the parents. This safety app can be accessed through Windows PCs, Android devices, and Xbox consoles. The limit has to be set centrally. It will also add some new features to the Microsoft Team of Consumers.

Communication through Microsoft

Skype has always been the most important application for communication. But, Microsoft is adding some new home features for the Microsoft team which will help connect one’s friends and family. It can be via a group chat, video calls, and anything from one location. All these new features will be available as a preview in this summer and then will be launched as a completed package later this year.

Microsoft Editor

This feature is for anyone who loves writing to anyone for whom it’s a job. With the enhancement of 365 plans, Microsoft is making an expansion to its Editor. It is now available in twenty different languages and most importantly can be accessed through Word, Outlook.com, Microsoft Edge, and Google Chrome. The paid subscribers will be experiencing additional features like advanced grammar, style refinements, etc.

Other features 

PowerPoint is also getting a makeover with the advancement in Presenter Coach Feature. Another most important feature that Microsoft is adding is finance management. It will connect your bank and credit card details and Microsoft Money will act as your finance manager. It will help you track and analyze transactions in Excel and will also send alerts for monthly spending. This feature will be first available in the US and then other locations.

Currently, 38 million people are subscribers to Office 365 Personal and Home. Microsoft is currently trying to make existing things better rather than launching something completely new.

trivia

TRIVIA ANNOUNCES THAT IT IS BACK IN THE GAME ONCE AGAIN

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We are experiencing a situation of denial and despair and panic from the beginning of this month. The noble coronavirus outbreak has led to the shutting down of almost every business in the run. While we are spending this time locked up in our home, we are craving for entertainment. Though the situation is getting dangerous with every passing day, the human mind needs some peace as well. Trivia declared that it is back in business given that it announced its shut down a month ago. The shutdown of HQ Trivia took place all of a sudden in February. But, now the online quiz game is back again within a month. So, with an investor whose identity is not yet revealed, Trivia came back from the dead.

Trivia confirms the return

The return of the Trivia quiz was confirmed yesterday evening. After the struggle of one long month, Trivia announced its acquisition by a private investor. But, the name won’t be disclosed anytime soon. Trivia has also confirmed that it is not a one-off event. From now, Trivia will be hosting regular shows and new episodes will come along. But, since the company has just re-opened a day ago, it hasn’t released any schedule yet.

Rus Yusupov, co-founder and the CEO of HQ Trivia confirmed the company’s return with a tweet after the release of the big news. Trivia let their players know about this by releasing a push notification. It said about the online game that went live yesterday night at 9 PM. So, Trivia makes its comeback not only with a press release but it hosted an online day on the same day.

The rise before the fall

HQ Trivia became a big hit as soon as it was released in 2017 for the first time. Within two years it became one of the famous online quiz platforms. Rus Yusupov and Colin Kroll designed this game show and released it for the first time on 26th August 2017. This was available for both iOS and Android smartphones. Scott Rogowsky hosted the online quiz show of HQ Trivia. Matt Richards replaced him in 2019.

Within a couple of years, after this quiz app went viral, HQ Trivia witnessed participants ranging from 100,000 to 125,000. In March 2018, the app marked its highest record of concurrent players and it was 2.38 million. This year the company also saw more than 2 million monthly installs of the game. Eventually, it expanded around the globe with the exception of Russia and India. But, the company turned upside down due to many reasons and finally Rus was forced to shut it down.

Why Trivia was forced to shut down?

The technical crisis hit the companies very early, but the damages weren’t beyond repairable. After a year, HQ Trivia started facing major technical troubles and it was getting pretty hard to say on top. The co-founders tried its best to fight back and take its early position as one of the most popular apps. But, it, unfortunately, didn’t happen. Moreover, the company’s growth strategy backfired when Colin Kroll, former CEO of HQ Trivia, died of a drug overdose.

This had a very big negative impact on the status of the company. Running on loss or not able to stay in the competition is a different matter. But, this news led to losing the company’s reputation as well. Rus went through a pretty tough time and he took over the position of CEO in the company.

Rus tried his best to put Trivia back on track. He launched many new games, introduced a music-themed show, HQ tunes, and a live photo competition, changed some of the game formats, etc. He also brought the idea of a subscription plan to find a new source of revenue. But, all these efforts went in vain when Rus realized nothing brought back the craze for Trivia anymore.

From 2 million monthly downloads, the monthly installs dropped to 67,000 in 2020. This is when Rus let his employees know that the existing investors are not willing to invest anymore. And, they needed to shut down the company immediately.

The strategic return

HQ Trivia made its return just when the noble coronavirus is creating panic within us. So, the online game show hosted yesterday came with a message on the spread of coronavirus. And, the comeback also includes donating $100,000 to World Central Kitchen to feed those in need in this emergency.