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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.

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Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origins Asking Employees to Work on Test Launch During COVID-19

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The COVID-19 scare has led most nations to propose a nation-wide lockdown. As a part of this health pandemic, most schools, colleges, offices and industries around the world have been shut. With most governments asking their citizens to shut everything except essential industries, most industries and shops have closed. However, in certain parts of the world, the word critical means different things, leading to various companies staying open even during the crisis. Such instances have led to widespread criticism, with several employees coming out saying that what is happening is unfair. One such example has been noticed in the US, where Jeff Bezos’ aerospace-related company Blue Origins continues to be working as if nothing is wrong. Here’s a look at Blue Origins and why it is angering people around the world.

Unusual Demands

Not only is the company, up and running, it is also pushing employees to get ready for a test launch. Blue Origins, is allegedly asking their employees to test their New Shepard rocket, which will be put to use to take tourists to outer space. Even with the COVID-19 crisis devastating the US, Bezos seems adamant on getting this done. The company, to test the rocket, is taking employees from Kent, a town with several COVID-19 cases, to Van Horn. This small town in Texas has a population of around 2,000 and houses Blue Origin’s test facility for the New Shepard rocket.

Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin Asking Employees to Work on Test Launch During COVID-19
Image Source: Google Images

Dangerous Conditions

Most employees believe that going all the way to Van Horn puts them at risk of exposing themselves to COVID-19, and then spreading it over there. Since the rural town has minimal medical infrastructure, the town would be in big trouble, were the pandemic to spread there. More than 4 employees spoke to The Verge regarding the operation, choosing to remain silent in fear of retaliation. Not only were they frustrated by the company, but they also could not understand why this was so important at such a difficult time. All four felt that the company seemed to be prioritizing business goals over health concerns for the employees.

On April 1st, senior management briefed employees on the way they would be transported to Van Horn and even told them to keep a low profile there to prevent being noticed. While several employees raised safety concerns when they heard the plan, the management was quick to point out that noncompliance would have severe repercussions. Senior Director, Jeff Ashby apparently asked the employees to think about whether they want to help the leadership or act as a toxin to the company.

Allowed to Work

Furthermore, it is surprising why Blue Origin is even allowed to stay open during such trying times. The company is one of the few still operating in Washington, wherein the Governor had called for a stay-at-home order on March 23rd. After this order came out, all nonessential businesses in Washington closed, with Blue Origin staying open, due to its ties with the Defence Department making it an essential undertaking. However, right not the company is not focusing on the rocker New Glenn, which the US Air Force has asked for, to help in launching security satellites. Instead, it is working on New Shepard, a tool they will use to promote space tourism, through an 11-minute flight.

The company hopes to test the rocket on April 10th. However, it is not clear whether the date has been extended due to the difficulties caused by the pandemic. On March 29th, Greg Abbott, who serves as the Governor of Texas, announced a two-week quarantine for travelers from states such as Washington. This could have forced Blue Origin to put their flight testing on hold. However, senior management learned that they could exempt themselves from the quarantine and hence, are planning to go ahead with their initial plan. Even though they might be able to go ahead with its test launch, the company has not announced a new launch date as of now.

Angry, Confused Employees

Employees at Blue Origin cannot understand how the New Shepard classifies as an essential or critical vehicle that needs to launch now. Most of them believe that this launch is not crucial to the US in any way. While the rocket might carry research payloads, its primary goal is to ferry wealthy explorers to space to experience weightlessness. When asked to comment on employee dissatisfaction, Blue Origins said that it has nothing to say about its internal meetings. Furthermore, they said that senior management is monitoring the situation and that they would take the most appropriate step.

Employees are uncertain regarding whether they will be able to follow proper social distancing protocol while traveling. While most of them have to stay in hotels in Texas, they will be huddled together in conference rooms and mission control rooms during the launch. As a response, the company said that they would modify their launch procedure to ensure only a small crew need to be present. Yet, employees are skeptical regarding whether the company will be able to keep people safe, and whether this launch must even be done at this time. Employees feel that Blue Origin’s unhealthy competition with Virgin Galactic, who also plans on taking tourists to space, is making it take rash and unsafe decisions. With Bezos having stated earlier that now is the time to focus on the COVID-19, Blue Origin employees seem incredibly dissatisfied with the ground reality.  

Covid-19

COVID-19 Hits the Art Scene: Color Factory and Museum of Ice Cream Initiate Massive Lay Offs

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The COVID-19 continues to spread and kill across the world, with global causalities having hit 34,000. Almost every sphere of our lives has been hit, and most of us are conformed to our houses. With schools shut, offices closed and public transport partially banned, most people are whiling away time at home. Such a global lockdown makes things difficult for businesses around the world. IMF has already stated that following the COVID-19, the world will spiral into an economic recession. Many major companies have also been reeling in the after-effect of this deadly pandemic. Here’s a look at how Color Factory, backed by Instagram, is handling the issues.

Shut-Down Imminent

Jeff Lind, who serves as the CEO of Color Factory, knew his business would shut down when the NBA canceled its season in the US. Jeff was watching a Utah Jazz game when the announcements came out, and he knew that soon enough the entire city would be on lockdown. As predicted, within a few days, the whole of New York went into a total shut-down, with the government closing all restaurants, hotels and non-essential stores. The entertainment industry, consisting of rodeos, sports complexes, museums and art galleries had the world change underneath their own feet, as the COVID-19 spread ferociously. Two of the world’s most popular photogenic experiences, the Color Factory and Museum of Ice Cream have both felt the after-effects of this deadly virus. Both of them have had to shut shop, in a bid to stop the aggressive spread of the pandemic. As a result, both have had to lay off employees, with almost no revenue coming in recently.

Making Things Difficult

Color Factory closed both its installments, in New York and Houston by March 18th, and followed up by temporarily laying off their employees. CEO Lind says that almost 90% of Color Factory’s employees have been let go, in a bid to cut costs. Everyone including hourly employees, part-time workers and corporate employees were dismissed, with them maintaining only critical positions. However, the company still provides health care benefits to eligible employees for 12 weeks.

Furthermore, all the employees who were laid off received severance pay associated with their experience. Also, to further cut costs, all the remaining employees have taken salary cuts. The company also had to ask people who had bought tickets before-hand to reschedule their visits. However, Color Factory is still handing out refunds if the customers insist on it. Unfortunately for them, the COVID-19 hit at peak time, with the Houston establishment having been sold out.

Others Follow Suit

Color Factory hasn’t been the only Instagram pop-up to suffer, with fellow art space, Museum of Ice Cream also sharing their fate. As more and more people stay confined to their houses, almost no one has the time for entertainment nowadays. People are not allowed to take their kids out to play, go on dates, or even enjoy an artistically inclined evening outdoors. Pop-up museums depend on such crowds, and hence, this industry has suffered much due to the COVID-19. These museums use the marketing power gained by people posting photos on Instagram, to attract crowds, and that doesn’t seem to be happening in today’s atmosphere. Unlike other streams of art, such as music and dance, these museums cannot recreate their space on a virtual platform. Therefore, the Museum of Ice Cream too laid off almost 90% of its employees, as per CEO Maryellis Bunn. However, just like the Color Factory, they also will provide employees with health care benefits, and severance pays.

Controversies and Bad Reputation

However, the Museum of Ice Cream was not able to pay some of their contractors on time, and this led to an Instagram smear campaign against them. Most of the comments under their posts feature people asking them to pay their workers on time. Some of the contractors have also stated that they have not been paid since last month. They went on to say that they received their money, only after calling out the company on Instagram and shaming them online.

Similarly, three other contractors also received their payment only after the social media storm hit the company. However, CEO Bunn had a different opinion, stating that all their employees had been paid on time. To cut costs even further, Bunn and all the employees who have been retained have taken massive salary reductions. The CEO has apparently given up her entire salary for the month to keep the company afloat. While New York City entered the shut-down recently, Bunn feels that revenue has been receding since February. A significant amount of their footfall comes from foreign tourists, who have been walloped by the COVID-19.

Another black mark in their reputation came in the form of claims that the company had not refunded money to clients who had canceled their tour. Several email chains came out in the open, stating that ShowClix, which sells tickets for the Museum of Ice Cream, was refusing to refund clients. Until March 19th, customers were being asked to reschedule their trip, rather than cancel it. In this case, as well, Bunn has said that refunds will be available as of last week. Other prominent closures around the US include Meow Wolf and Rosé Mansion, while Candytopia has stayed quiet regarding their locations. Since all of these are in-person experiences, they do not translate well on Zoom calls, making it difficult for them to work through the social distancing norm. These companies are hoping to put this episode behind them, and start again as soon as the COVID-19 scare passes.

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The Leading Fitness Tracking Wearable Company Fitbit Charge 4 Tracker Is Available For Sale – New Features Are Stunning

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Highlights

1.  Charge 4 fitness tracker is a new wearable tracker for fitness lovers.

2. It looks similar to an earlier Charge 3 version. But it is loaded with new updates that make it a more powerful upgraded version.

3. As well, the 90-day trial of Fitbit Premium is available.

Fitbit Charge 4 Tracker
Image Source: Google Images

The world is changing and now people are more concerned about their health. Physical activity, good sleep, and a healthy lifestyle are important to maintain health. However, tracking those activities is as important as doing it. Fitbit is helping many to live a balanced and healthy life by tracking physical activity, exercise, heart rate monitoring, weight and also sleep. Now with the Fitbit Charge 4, tracking will be more advanced. Today, the leading fitness tracking wearable company Fitbit, launched its brand new Fitbit Charge 4 tracker in the market for $149. Yet, it comes with new features like Fitbit Pay, GPS (built-in), and allowed to control Spotify. It’s available for sale in three colors in blue, black, and mauve.

What makes Fitbit Charge 4 Tracker a better version?

The look of a new fitness tracker is similar to the earlier version, i.e., Charge 3 Fitbit tracker. But the new features made it more powerful than the old version. If you have used a smartwatch of Fitbit then you may feel familiar with these new features. New features are built-in GPS, Spotify control, and Fitbit pay. As well, the battery life is powerful as compared to the older versions. It can be used for up to five hours with continuous GPS monitoring. However, without continuous GPS use, the battery life of the product is almost a week.

Features in details

1. Built-in GPS- To track actual physical activity like walking or running, users have to take their phones with them. So, they can record the activity precisely. Now with a new Charge 4 tracker having built-in GPS, users no need to carry cell with them.

2. Extended battery life- It can be used for up to five hours with continuous GPS monitoring. However, without continuous GPS use, the battery life of the product is up to seven days.

3. Spotify control and Fitbit pay

All features now come standard with the Charge 4 and no need to have a splurge for a special edition.  Charge 4 tracker’s dimensions are the same as the Charge 3 dimensions. Thus, the earlier model’s band is perfect fits on the new tracker.

What else is new?

One more good news to the Fitbit users. This brand new fitness tracker comes with a newer fitness metric, Active Zone Minutes. With this, the Charge 4 tracker can automatically recognize that the heart rate is sustainable or not, counts the minutes when the fitness wearer is active. Also, it will automatically detect the heightened level. Basically, Active Zone Minutes is based on heart rate. However, the score is calculated differently based on the height, weight, and fitness levels of each person.

Fitbit Tracker 4 to promote people to be active in Lockdown

As per the Fitbit officials, all new features are to promote the people all around the world to be active in this tough period. Due to the coronavirus outbreak, the whole world is in lockdown mode. In this period, it is somewhat difficult to be active. While the Tracker 4 will promote people to be active for at least 30 minutes a day, said Fitbit. Its features follow a series of other Fitbit metrics including sleep score and 10,000 daily steps. Fitbit uses it as basic guidelines for encouraging wellness.

The new Charge 4 Tracker also comes with an extended 90-day trial of Fitbit Premium, offering many other packages to help you achieve your fitness target. Includes, fitness programs, classes, and personalized challenges.

The Charge 4 on sale

Today, Fitbit Charge 4 tracker goes on sale for 149$. It will be available in blue, black, and mauve color. However, Charge 3 is not available to buy on Fitbit’s website from now. Though, one can purchase it through other retailers. It means, Fitbit is not selling Charge 3s anymore. So, the price of the older version can fluctuate.

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As Microsoft’s Skype Falters, Zoom Rises to the Occasion

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With two weeks still left to go to end the nation-wide lockdown, people all around the country are relying on video-calling apps to communicate. As the novel coronavirus continues its dominant surge across North America and Europe, most of the world’s countries have gone into a nation-wide shutdown. With curfews in place, bans on gatherings and public transport, most people are confined to their homes. Since a majority of the world’s population is now sitting idly in their houses, applications that help in communicating are seeing a surge in demand. As we cannot go out to meet and socialize, apps that allow us to do so digitally are being used round the clock to beat boredom. Whether it is to play a game of UNO or have a group video-call, these apps are slowly taking over our smartphones. Skype and Zoom are the two most popular video-calling options available right now, and here’s a look at how one has faltered, while the other has surged.

Skype Vs Zoom

If this pandemic had occurred in 2011, the entire world would have been on Skype, calling, chatting and talking to their loved ones. Unfortunately, though, for Microsoft, in the year 2020, they aren’t able to replicate that level of success. With thousands of people looking for Skype alternatives, competitors such as Zoom and Houseparty are making the most of this departure. The recent weeks have seen people use Zoom to hold yoga classes, school lectures and even socialize with friends. Microsoft took over Skype in 2011, thanks to a deal that cost them $8.5 billion.

The same year saw the founding of both Zoom and Snapchat. Back then, Skype had over 100 million active users with 8 million of them choosing to voice calls over the application. Hence, it is safe to say, that back in 2011, Skype was the leading market player, being everyone’s first choice for video calling. It was so popular that the Onion released a statement that the word Skype would soon find a place in the dictionary.

Furthermore, three years later, the prophecy came true, and it was added as a verb to the Oxford English Dictionary. However, at the same time, Microsoft was struggling with turning Skype into a profitable and relevant business.

End of an Era

Microsoft’s acquisition of Skype happened during the same time applications such as WhatsApp, Messenger, and WeChat were gaining momentum with youngsters. In a bid to lessen competition, Microsoft even got rid of its own Live Messenger, which was also quite popular at the time.

One of the biggest problems Microsoft had was that Skype worked on Peer-to-Peer technology, making it difficult to adapt to mobile devices. In 2013, Microsoft shifted Skype from a P2P network onto cloud-powered servers, in a move to make it more efficient on mobile devices. The same year, Skype began the default messenger for Windows 8.1, and also a part of the Xbox One console and Outlook.com.

However, the transition was messy, resulting in repeating notifications on multiple devices. This led to the app becoming less reliable, while all of its competitors kept growing from strength to strength. Rather than fixing the underlying issues which led to this unreliability, Microsoft kept trying to redesign the interface for years.

Change in Direction

Instead of fixing Skype, Microsoft kept adding new supplementary features such as emoji’s and shutting down the Qik app. Then, in 2017, Microsoft redesigned Skype and made it eerily similar to Snapchat. However, this did not sit well with fans, and soon enough, Microsoft had to get rid of these features. Then, the tech giant pushed Skype as a replacement for Lync, an enterprise messaging application. However, with the arrival of Microsoft Teams in 2016, this plan too was dropped mid-way. With the success of Teams, Microsoft has been pushing it aggressively, taking all the spotlight off Skype. While Skype might not disappear soon, it no longer seems to be the company’s main focus. In 2015, Skype boasted of over 300 million active users, and Microsoft hasn’t bothered to update those numbers since.

Coronavirus-related Surge

The coronavirus pandemic has led to a 70% surge in usage, with over 40 million people using Skype daily. This means that before the Coronavirus pandemic, over 23 million people used Skype daily. However, at the same time, rivals such as Zoom, Hangouts and Houseparty also seem to be doing quite well for themselves. Both Zoom and Houseparty have exploded with Zoom topping the American App Store and coming in second in the UK App Store list. Houseparty has topped the UK and comes in at third place in the US. By comparison, Skype comes in at 75 in the US and 15 in the UK.

However, Microsoft Teams is doing much better, being 7th in the US, and 6th in the UK. However, Zoom refuses to share their numbers regarding usage, and hence we do not know the actual number of users. The biggest reason for people turning to Zoom and Houseparty is due to their ease of use. However, both these apps are now facing privacy concerns with Zoombombing and Houseparty hacking has become popular.

While there are several reasons for people migrating to Zoom and Houseparty, Microsoft’s inefficiency when it comes to dealing with Skype’s issues is definitely a major reason. With Skype all set to migrate to an Electron-powered app, making it more like a traditional desktop app, the future looks uncertain for Skype. Reports even state that it might face the same verdict that Live Messenger did a few years ago.

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A lodging offering platform, Airbnb has extended its full cancellation policy due to COVID-19

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Coronavirus has become a worldwide crisis. Due to this pandemic, many mega-events are either canceled or postponed, visits are negated, and people are canceling their pre-booked tickets and travels. In the beginning, most of the people were panicked because of the refund complications on their ticket bookings and lodging but now they are relived as the terms are relaxed. Many companies have changed their policies amid coronavirus breakdown. Every sector, every industry, and every human is worried due to coronavirus pandemic. In this situation, Airbnb gave relief to the customers. A lodging offering platform, Airbnb has extended its full cancellation policy keeping this corona pandemic in mind. They have also kept $250 million aside for the hosts who are affected because of these canceled bookings.

Airbnb company’s old policy

Airbnb’s old policy allowed guests to get a full refund if they void their booking within 48 hours of booking their trip, or a 50% refund if they do within seven days. This policy is canceled on Saturday and it is replaced by extenuating circumstances policy.

Who can get a full refund? – New extenuating circumstances policy 

The guests who have booked their stays on Airbnb with the check-in between 14-31st March will get a full refund. This is under Airbnb’s extenuating circumstances policy. With the money that is set aside, Airbnb will ensure that hosts get some of the lost money.

Before this announcement was done, Airbnb expanded its extenuating circumstances policy to refund bookings between the fixed period of 14th March to 31st May. The policy does not talk about the refund terms for hosts though. Some of the Airbnb are upset because the company did not provide any fix financial net to them. As the cancellations are allowed and no new booking is being made, hosts have their calenderer empty. The change in policy has affected the hosts in California, Florida, Kansas, Utah, Michigan and the state of Washington. They have lost thousands of dollars.

Some hosts said that they empathize with the guests as the current situation is not under anyone’s control, but their business and livelihood are at risk. Whereas, some of the hosts are extremely angry and have put the entire blame on Airbnb for the loss of business.

The change is policy is a relief for guests, but the hosts are upset with the company. Airbnb is taking further steps to strengthen the relationship between hosts and them to ensure the unchanged partnership in the future.

Airbnb’s action on hosts’ disappointment

Airbnb is ready to extend help for hosts and the CEO Brian Chesky asks for forgiveness for the chaotic messaging around the policy changes in recent times. He said, “I deeply regret the way we communicated this decision, and I am sorry that we did not consult you — as partners should. We have heard from you and we know we have let you down. You deserve better from us.”

The company has donated $10 million to help its “super hosts” and the ones who’ve been contributing to Airbnb’s tour guide-style practices. Other hosts can apply for $5,000 help from the fund starting from April. The CEO of Airbnb has requested hosts to trust into the company as the trust is the foundation of a partnership.

Airbnb at loss because of travel restrictions

As the entire business of Airbnb depends on travel and tourism, the past few months have been difficult for the company. Because of the restrictions on overall global travel, many small and big companies like Airbnb facing problems with their business, as the countless countries have advised people to stay home and follow the lockdown.

In the US, the guidelines for social distancing have extended until April 30th as the COVID-19 cases are increasing rapidly. As per recent reports, the US has crossed 160000 cases so far and has the highest number in the world. Major population countries like India are under complete lockdown to prevent from getting into community transmission phase.

Bottom line

Not only travel and hotel businesses at risk but also other businesses are facing the impact of coronavirus spread all over the world. In some countries, the situation is gone out of control and some are in the stage of community transmission. Let’s hope this shall pass soon and everything comes back to normal.

Meanwhile, for any information head to WHO’s site to avoid the spread of misinformation.