Sandhya Gupta

Max Levchin: A Visionary Tech Founder of Affirm

Max Levchin is a Ukrainian-American software engineer and entrepreneur. He co-founded the business that later became PayPal in 1998. Levchin contributed to PayPal’s attempts to combat fraud and co-developed the Gausebeck-Levchin test, one of the initial commercial applications of a CAPTCHA challenge response human test. Max also co-founded Affirm along with Nathan Gettings, Jeffrey Kaditz, and Alex Rampell.

Early Life

Max Levchin, who was born into a Jewish family in the USSR, immigrated to the US with his parents as refugees when he was very young. Levchin talked about overcoming obstacles as a child in interaction with Bloomberg’s Emily Chang. Doctors questioned his prospects for survival because of his respiratory issues.

To increase his lung capacity, he started playing the clarinet with advice from his parents and grandmother. He decided to earn his degree in computer sciences from the University of Illinois. Soon after receiving his degree, Max partnered with Peter Thiel to establish what they referred to as “the digital wallets” through their company, Confinity. Later on, the pair transformed this into Paypal. Hugely successful PayPal was quickly acquired by eBay.

Success Story

Since the late 1990s, Levchin has started or co-founded a number of technology businesses. His first business, Confinity, merged with Elon Musk’s X.com to form PayPal, adding Levchin to the group of popular investors and businessmen known as the “PayPal Mafia” who previously held executive positions at PayPal. He also created Slide.

The slide was an app that allowed users to post photos on Facebook and Myspace. It was later acquired by Google, which shut it down after a while. Levchin also served as the CEO and Chairman of HVF, a startup lab centered on extracting insights through recordable information,” according to Crunchbase.

The man behind the success of Intel Corporation

In 2011, he established HVF, which represents “Hard, Valuable, and Fun”. Levchin co-founded Glow, a data-driven fertility startup, which is owned by HVF. The business provides a female fertility tracking iPhone app. As a part of the inaugural portfolio of startup studio HVF, Max Levchin, Nathan Gettings, Jeffrey Kaditz, and Alex Rampell established Affirm.

Affirm is a publicly listed financial technology firm with its headquarters in San Francisco, USA. The business, which was established in 2012, provides installment loans to customers at the time of sale to help them fund purchases. He also made investments in numerous other companies, including Yelp and Evernote.

He still makes consistent investments in new businesses through SciFi VC.SciFi VC is a venture capital firm founded by Levchin. The firm was started through HVF Labs. It makes investments in early-stage organizations whose viability is based on challenging technical achievements, network effects, and intricate, highly regulated sectors.

From 2012 until 2015, Levchin served as a member of Yahoo’s board of directors. Levchin became the first executive from Silicon Valley to be selected for the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) advisory board in 2015. From 2006-2016, he also served on the board of Evernote. Levchin’s projected net worth in 2021 was just over $3 billion.

Sandhya Gupta

I am a law graduate from NLU Lucknow. I have a flair for creative writing and hence in my free time work as a freelance content writer.

COD gamers sue Microsoft to stop the Activision merger

A lawsuit was filed by gamers to prevent Microsoft from Activision Merger, claiming that doing so would decrease consumer choice and impede competition.

A private consumer lawsuit was filed against Microsoft Corp. on Tuesday in a U.S. court, alleging that the technology corporation’s $69 billion offer to buy Activision Blizzard Inc., the company behind the video game “Call of Duty,” will unjustly stifle competition in the sector.

About two weeks ago, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission filed a lawsuit with an administrative law judge to prevent Microsoft, the company that owns the Xbox system, from completing the biggest-ever acquisition in the video-gaming industry.

The gamers want to exert pressure on Microsoft in order to stop it from completing “the largest tech deal ever in the video gaming market and absorbing its main rival in the sector, which is similar to many of the FTC’s worries. Prior to filing suit, the FTC stated that it did so to prevent Microsoft from controlling a leading independent game studio.

The organization said that the Activision Merger would hurt competition between competing gaming platforms from Sony Group Corp. and Nintendo Co Ltd.

Ten video game gamers from California, New Mexico, and New Jersey filed the lawsuit. The plaintiffs identify Activision Blizzard as a significant rival that promotes industry-wide innovation and pricing competition in their lawsuit.

Consumers can object to acquisitions like this through the Clayton Antitrust Act, which gives courts the opportunity to consider the anti-competitive harms argued by consumers. The gamers who are suing Microsoft for potentially breaking antitrust laws are extremely concerned that the pricing of their favorite games may soon rise while the quality of those games may decline.

They claim that if the Activision Merger is approved, Microsoft would be in a position to monopolize the greatest talent and the most well-liked games in order to perhaps obtain “far-outsized market power.”

Microsoft to Offer Call of Duty on Nintendo Devices if Activision Deal Closes

In a statement on Tuesday, a Microsoft spokesman justified the agreement and said that it would boost competition and generate more options for gamers and game creators. Microsoft President Brad Smith stated, “We have complete confidence in our case and welcome the opportunity to present our case in court,” following the FTC’s lawsuit.

Plaintiffs’ attorney Joseph Saveri in San Francisco stated in a statement, “as the video game industry continues to grow and evolve, it’s critical that we protect the market from monopolistic mergers that will harm consumers in the long run.”

The lawsuits offer a distinctive viewpoint to the discussion around Microsoft’s proposed acquisition of Activision, which Microsoft intends to conclude in 2023. They claim in their case that because Microsoft is aware that gamers are unlikely to switch to other games in place of their favorites, they are especially susceptible to price increases.

This means that Microsoft might block access to platforms or services outside of its gaming ecosystem and take popular games—like Call of Duty games, which are played by all plaintiffs.

Sandhya Gupta

I am a law graduate from NLU Lucknow. I have a flair for creative writing and hence in my free time work as a freelance content writer.

The OnePlus 11 launch date has been finalized

Leave a Comment / News, Tech News / By Sandhya Gupta

OnePlus has made the launch date public for its upcoming high-end smartphone. On February 7, the OnePlus 11 will be unveiled alongside a slew of other new products, including the OnePlus Buds Pro 2.

OnePlus 11 is on its way. OnePlus has officially revealed its plan for the launch of the OnePlus 11, its next-generation flagship phone, following a slew of teasers and rumors. A teaser video showcasing the camera block and Hasselblad branding was posted by OnePlus. OnePlus 11 will be released on February 7. The OnePlus 11 5G and OnePlus Buds Pro 2 will be unveiled at an event called Dubbed Cloud 11 in New Delhi.

The teaser image that accompanied Monday’s revelation is consistent with earlier leaks of renders and depicts a revised camera bump. Separately, company spokeswoman Spenser Blank stated that two features absent from the OnePlus 10T—a Hasselblad-branded camera system and the adored alert slider—will be included on the OnePlus 11.

There aren’t many specifics available at this time. “Witness the Shape of Power” is the headline for the event teaser, which is undoubtedly related to quick charging, one of OnePlus’ key selling points. According to leaks so far, the device will also have a 6.7-inch screen with a 120Hz refresh rate, a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 CPU, and rapid wired charging up to 100W.

The OnePlus 11 will supersede the OnePlus 10 Pro. It will likely have a premium glass sandwich layout with a metal frame as far as appearance is concerned. The primary camera bump will be the main distinction between the OnePlus 10 Pro and its successor.

It will feature a circular camera bump at the rear with Hasselblad branding in contrast to the OnePlus 10 Pro’s square-like camera configuration. The display is probably going to be more accurate in terms of color and peak brightness than the OnePlus 10 Pro. The smartphone will probably come with a brand-new, enhanced in-display fingerprint sensor as well.

This display is most likely 3D curved, and Corning’s most recent Gorilla glass is anticipated to be used for enhanced protection. The OnePlus 11 should be a wonderful gaming device because the display probably has a better touch reaction rate.

The phone will reportedly have a 5,000 mAh battery and support wired charging up to 100W and wireless charging up to 50W. By limiting the fast charging capabilities to 100W, it appears that the company has discovered the ideal balance between protecting battery health and quick charging.

In order to leverage the market success of its midrange devices in 2022, the company is holding its event in India. As per Counterpoint Research, OnePlus was in 3rd spot in India’s premium smartphone market share, after Apple and Samsung (respectively), thus there is still plenty of space for growth.

The OnePlus 11 is probably going to be sold on Amazon, and it might also be the priciest OnePlus phone ever introduced. The base model of the phone is expected to cost more than Rs 65,000, whereas the top-of-the-line OnePlus 11 with 16GB RAM and 512GB of internal storage may cost more than Rs 80,000.

Sandhya Gupta

I am a law graduate from NLU Lucknow. I have a flair for creative writing and hence in my free time work as a freelance content writer.

Google announced end-to-end encryption for Gmail web

Leave a Comment / News, Tech News / By Sandhya Gupta

To render its emails more difficult to hack, Google is deploying a new update. According to a Google announcement, Gmail will soon support end-to-end encryption in web browsers. The capability, which is presently in beta, enables customers to send and get encrypted emails both inside and outside of their domain, according to a blog post from the company.

The new technology, which Google describes as client-side encryption, will make sure that important information in the body of the email and attachments is unreadable by Google servers. Additionally, it will provide customers access to the encryption keys while allowing the identity service to access them.

Google noted, “Google Workspace already uses the latest cryptographic standards to encrypt all data at rest and in transit between our facilities Client-side encryption helps strengthen the confidentiality of your data while helping to address a broad range of data sovereignty and compliance needs.”

Client-side encryption (CSE) in Google Workspace enables the processing of data encryption in the client’s browser prior to data transmission or cloud-based storage in Drive. The company emphasized will not be able to access users’ encryption keys. It noted, “You can use your own encryption keys to encrypt your organization’s data, in addition to using the default encryption that Google Workspace provides.

With Google Workspace Client-side encryption (CSE), content encryption is handled in the client’s browser before any data is transmitted or stored in Drive’s cloud-based storage. That way, Google servers can’t access your encryption keys and decrypt your data. After you set up CSE, you can choose which users can create client-side encrypted content and share it internally or externally.”

Gmail’s end-to-end encryption will make sure that all email communications sent by users are encrypted by the sender and can only be decoded on the device of the intended receiver.

The emails and attachments transmitted with them cannot be decrypted or read by any organization or third party, including Google’s own email server. The fact that Google already offers client-side encryption on Google Drive, Sheets, Docs, Google Meet, Slides, Google Calendar and Google is noteworthy.

According to Google, customers with Google Workspace Enterprise Plus, Education Plus, or Education Standard are eligible to sign up for the Gmail client-side encryption (CSE) beta program. The beta program is accepting applications through January 2023. Users must submit a Gmail CSE Beta Test Application, which must include details like their email id, test group domain, and Project ID.

Users of Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Education Fundamentals, Frontline, and Nonprofits, as well as older G Suite Basic and Business customers, will not be able to use the new feature as of now. According to Google, the public release will be made available at a later time in 2023.

Google has made it clear that the new functionality would encrypt both the email content and all attachments, including embedded photos. Google, however, will not encrypt the email’s header, which contains the topic, timestamps, and recipient lists.

Additionally, Google has stated that “in an upcoming release” it will add client-side encryption to its Gmail application for iOS and Android devices.

Sandhya Gupta

I am a law graduate from NLU Lucknow. I have a flair for creative writing and hence in my free time work as a freelance content writer.

Fortnite maker Epic Games to pay $520M in FTC settlement

Leave a Comment / News, Tech News / By Sandhya Gupta

According to The Wall Street Journal, Epic Games Inc., the company that created the video game Fortnite, has consented to pay $520 million to resolve claims made by the Federal Trade Commission that it intentionally violated children’s online privacy laws and tricked users into making unintended purchases.

The creator of the popular video game “Fortnite,” Epic Games, has agreed to pay the US government a total of $520 million to resolve claims that it deceived millions of players, which include kids and teenagers, into making unplanned purchases and that it broke a key federal law protecting the privacy of children.

In order to settle allegations that it violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) by collecting the personal information of children under the age of 13 without first obtaining their parent’s verifiable consent, Epic has agreed to pay the US government $275 million.

According to the FTC, it is the biggest fine it has ever assessed for breaking a rule it has enforced. In a second, different settlement, Epic will fork out $245 million in payments to customers who the FTC claims were injured by user-interface design decisions that were misleading.

According to the FTC, this accord is the biggest administrative order in the agency’s history.

TC commissioner Christine Wilson emphasized the risks of ignoring children’s privacy concerns when it comes to online gaming. She gave three instances of actual underage users involving sexual abuse and child pornography with the intention that it would serve as “a wake-up call to skeptics who believe that invasion of privacy lead merely to targeted advertising.”

The settlement, according to FTC Chair Lina Khan, demonstrates the agency’s increased attention to privacy and so-called “dark patterns,” which are design cues meant to steer users in the direction of a company’s favored outcome.

The FTC and Epic have reached a tentative agreement that restricts Epic from charging customers without their permission or utilizing dark patterns. It also bans Epic from locking users out of their accounts in reaction to users’ refund requests with credit card providers disputing erroneous charges. The agreement will be in effect for 20 years after it is implemented.

Along with paying a fine, Epic will be prohibited from allowing text and voice communication for kids and teenagers without parental approval. Additionally, the company will be required to remove any personal data it earlier connected via Fortnite in contravention of COPPA laws unless it receives permission from parents to keep it.

On its website, Epic wrote a lengthy article describing the accusations and settlement. It noted, “No developer creates a game with the intention of ending up here. The video game industry is a place of fast-moving innovation, where player expectations are high and new ideas are paramount. Statutes written decades ago don’t specify how gaming ecosystems should operate.

The laws have not changed, but their application has evolved and long-standing industry practices are no longer enough. We accepted this agreement because we want Epic to be at the forefront of consumer protection and provide the best experience for our players.”

Sandhya Gupta

I am a law graduate from NLU Lucknow. I have a flair for creative writing and hence in my free time work as a freelance content writer.

Microsoft bans cryptocurrency mining on cloud services

Leave a Comment / News, Tech News / By Sandhya Gupta

According to media sources, Microsoft has prohibited cryptocurrency mining from using its internet services in order to protect all of its cloud users.

Microsoft has amended the Universal License Terms for Online Services, which went into effect on December 1. Microsoft has restricted the use of online services for crypto-mining. It is implemented to safeguard its consumers and cloud services. The IT behemoth announced the latest changes earlier this month.

The update stated, “Neither Customer nor those that access an Online Service through Customer, may use an Online Service … to mine cryptocurrency without Microsoft’s prior written approval.”

Microsoft’s Summary of Changes to the license mentioned, “Updated Acceptable Use Policy to clarify that mining cryptocurrency is prohibited without prior Microsoft approval.”

Microsoft suggested requesting pre-approval authorization to use any of its online services for cryptocurrency mining in the ‘Acceptable Use Policy’ section of its website, which comes amid rising worries about cyberfraud and threats.

The company noted, “Cryptocurrency mining can disrupt or even impair Online Services and its users, and is often associated with unauthorized access to and use of customer accounts.

We made this change to further protect our customers and mitigate the risk of disrupting or impairing services in the Microsoft Cloud. Permission to mine crypto may be considered for Testing and Research for security detections.”

Cryptocurrency cloud mining enables users to mine without the need for additional hardware or equipment. According to statistics from the blockchain research firm, Blockchain Council, this aspect of no cost associated has piqued clients’ interest in cloud mining. Microsoft Online Services, a part of the company’s SaaS strategy, is its hosted software product.

One of these services is the Microsoft Azure cloud computing network, which offers cryptocurrency mining for several subscription kinds. As was reported earlier, Microsoft also tested out blockchain services on Azure, but in September of last year, the project abruptly ended.

According to sources, Microsoft cloud computing systems have experienced storage issues in recent years as a result of constraints in the ongoing supply chain. Microsoft issued a warning to users about a new cryptocurrency mining malware last year that has the ability to steal credentials, disable security measures, proliferate via emails, and eventually drop additional tools for human-operated operations.

The cryptocurrency mining malware known as “LemonDuck” is propagated by phishing emails, vulnerabilities, USB devices, and brute force assaults in a number of nations, including India. It targeted Linux and Windows systems. This is not the first time that a major IT company has prohibited cryptocurrency mining on its website.

Similar rules apply at Google, which forbids mining without explicit written consent from the company. A mining malware threat detection solution for hacked accounts in Google’s cloud service was added earlier in 2022. Google stated last year that the majority of “malicious actors” had utilized compromised cloud accounts to mine cryptocurrency.

Crypto mining is likewise not permitted during the 12-month free trial of Amazon’s AWS. If users decide to mine on AWS, they can be charged a fee and risk having their accounts suspended.

Sandhya Gupta

I am a law graduate from NLU Lucknow. I have a flair for creative writing and hence in my free time work as a freelance content writer.

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