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Google Revamps Its Android Auto Service with New Update

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Google is coming out with a new update for its Android Auto service for automobiles. The service allows cars to use several Google features, and smart functionalities, making the entire car system more efficient. The changes as per this update will include the reintroduction of the Google Calendar app. Such an upgrade will allow users to access information, including appointments, receive driving instructions, and even gain reminders regarding important dates. Here’s a look at what the update will bring back, and why this update was a long time coming.

Android
Image Source: Techcrunch.com

Update for Google Calendar on the Way

The inclusion of the Google Calendar came as a surprise to many as Google had removed the feature from Android Auto last year. After removing the app, Google replaced it with a button that readout appointments and other essential details. Such an addition increased the system’s dependence on Google Assistant as the screen did not display anything. However, with this new update, Google is adding several new shortcuts to the Calendar. For instance, users can now directly call a bakery or ask for directions to a bakery in case there is a birthday coming up in the future. Such useful, thoughtful and intuitive shortcuts will make life easier for users while driving. Just last year, Apple introduced such features in their CarPlay update, while rolling out the iOS version 13. 

Other Changes

Other than improving the smart features on the Calendar app, Google announced that it was working with other partners to create better applications for Android Auto. Some of the new categories they are working on include EV charging, parking, and navigation. However, the tech giant has remained mum regarding the distribution of those services and apps. But reports state that if the tests go well, Google will make the APIs public so that developers can build new apps for the software.

Long Time Coming

Ever since 2014, Google has been trying to get smart features from its phones into cars efficiently and seamlessly. Therefore, it was not a surprise that the tech giant has come out with a new update that aims to improve the user experience for drivers sincerely. Google announced that it was seeing strong momentum with regards to usage of Android Auto, and will keep developing software for the service. Google’s initial plans with Android Auto was to help users stay connected while traveling and on-the-go, helping them utilise smart features without taking attention away from the road. The feature is already a part of most cars, and the tech company is in the process of introducing it to 100 million more vehicles in the future. Several manufacturers, such as BMW, Kia, and GM have also voiced their support for wireless connectivity, making it evident that Google will continue developing the Android Auto service.

Expanding Android Auto

The new partnership with other firms will result in the development of a variety of new applications. Google says the aim is to create useful functions and services that users can access with minimal taps. Reports state that the early access partners will make their services available to beta testers by the end of 2020. After additional testing, and collection of feedback, these APIs will go public, helping with faster development and distribution.

Some of the partnerships include ones with companies like SpotHero, Sygic, and ChargePoint. Furthermore, Google is also pushing the development of its Android Automotive OS, which serves as an open-source, efficient, and highly powerful automobile infotainment platform. The OS allows users to utilise Google Maps, Play, and Assistant without syncing their mobile device with the vehicle. Polestar 2 will be the first car to have the system built into it and has hit the global market. Other manufacturers who will run the OS include Renault, GM, and Volvo.

After launching the Android Auto in 2014, Google came out with a significant refresh in 2019. The update brought with it a new layout, launcher, typeface, and dark mode, giving it a polished and refreshed look. The update also made the interface for Android Auto a lot like standard Android phones to the delight of fans. However, this update did not intuitively launch Google apps simultaneously, instead pulled up Google Assistant whenever users chose Google Calendar, Podcasts, or News.

Therefore, users had to finish their commands by voice to access such features. While this made sense as the service aims to reduce physicality while driving, the highlight was not very well-received by users. Seeing how this new update, just a year later removes the feature, it is safe to assume that Google got the message. It will be interesting to see how the public reacts to this change, and how quickly Google can release new updates as promised through their partnerships.

Comodo

Melih Abdulhayoglu- Turkish American entrepreneur who set up Comodo Group for internet security

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The USA based Cybersecurity firm known as Comodo Group is best known for protecting the network worldwide. It acquired the trust of clients and the personal user with enabling the ultimate platform for cybersecurity. As well, it enabled the single platform for endpoint security, network security, and managed detection and response. All credit goes to the person behind the establishment of Comodo. Mr. Melih Abdulhayoglu set up the firm in 1998. Obviously, it took years to establish the name of the Comodo Group in the market. But now it’s a well-known platform to secure network that uses a different approach to prevent breaches. Today, well-established organizations such as Samsung, eWinery Solutions, Scheurich, and many more trust Comodo to prevent breaches.

Melih Abdulhayoglu
Image source: Wikipedia

About Founder and CEO of Comodo Group

Melih Abdulhayoglu is a well-known entrepreneur in America, hailed from Turkey. The business venture of Melih known as Comodo Group has dealt with internet security. As well, he is known for establishing the CA/Browser Forum. This forum focuses on promoting new industry standards. Moreover, he has been honored as the 12th richest Turkey’s personality in the list of Forbes 100 richest Turks.  

Under the guidance of Melih, the firm has proved the presence and trust in the international market. However, he managed to use this success to build many other complementary businesses. Here is the life journey of Melih to marked the name in riches person in Turkey.

Early life

He is born on 10 March 1968 in Hatay in Turkey. Melih completed his high school studies at Hatay. To complete higher education he left Turkey at the age of 18. Thereafter, he shifted to the UK and attended the University of Bradford. Electronics Engineering was the subject of his graduation.

Career and Businesses

In 1998, just after completing the graduation, he set up the Comodo Group in the UK. However, he moved to the USA in 2004. Therefore, he shifted the business in the USA during the same year. Apart from that, he promotes new standards for industry throughout his career. For that, he organized the forum called CA/Browser in 2005. As well, he was the organizer of the Common Computing Security Standard Forum during 2009. That time, he worked to solve the problem associated with Faux Antivirus software.

Recently in 2017, Melih handover the 50% shares of the Comodo group to Fransico Partners. Also, Comodo Group is renamed as Sectigo. Presently, he is the CEO of Comodo Group.

The Backstory of foundation

After graduating in Electronic engineering, Melih decided to work for protecting the network. That time internet has just arrived. The popularity of the internet boomed as well as it introduced the cybercrime. During this time, many firms jumped into the field of Cyber Security. But very few can stand out and provided the platform for network security. Comodo Group is one of those firms, established in 1998. Today, it uses a different approach to protect the network and become popular all across the world.

About Comodo Group

The firm is focusing on internet security and related issues since its foundation. Basically, it is an organization that issues digital security certificates and develops IT security products. Comodo provides service and products for both personal and professional use.  Most of the people are unaware of other work done by the Comodo Group. Like it assisted in setting security standards by working to contribute IETF DNS Certification.

Main Companies of Comodo Group

Comodo CA Limited is an integrated part of the Comodo Group. It is known for issuing digital certificates such as SSL. In 2017, Melih sell 50% of the shares of this unit to Fransico Partners. Presently, this firm has been rebranded as Sectigo. However, it is based in Greater Manchester, United Kingdom.

Another integral part of the Comodo Group is Comodo Security Solution. This unit of Comodo Group deals with the development of security software. Both for personal users and industrial clients.

Other Products of Comodo Group

Comodo develops products such as Comodo System Utilities, Comodo Internet Security, Mobile Security. As well, it built the web browsers like Comodo ice Dragon and Comodo Dragon.

Bottom Line

Comodo Group is the perfect example of business exploration with standing out in the market. Since 1998 it is unstoppable and adapted the changes as per new security problems. The business also went through lots of up-down. But now it is one of the dominant IT security firms all over the world.

Cox

Cox communications- Journey to become third-largest digital cable TV provider in the USA

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Today, there are lots of entertainment mediums as well as devices are available. Some of the devices can be kept in a pocket. But still, television is the most loved entertainment medium among people all over the world. However, in the field of cable television service, Cox Communications is one of the popular names in the American market. As well, it is a leading cable television provider in the US ranked third in this field.

It is not only known for television service but also provides home automation and telecommunications services. Presently, it has acquired 6 million-plus customers.  Includes digital TV cable subscribers, telephone subscribers as well as internet subscribers. With such a huge number of subscribers, Cox Communications made it possible to become the seventh-largest telephone carrier in the USA. Let’s see how Cox Communications achieve success and become the third-largest cable television provider in America.

About Cox Communications

It is headquartered in Sandy Springs in Georgia, America. Basically, located in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The firm is a subsidiary of Cox Enterprises owned privately. Earlier, it was known as Cox Broadcasting Corp. Later on, it renamed as Dimension Cable Services. As well, it becomes Times mirror Cable before changing the name as Cox Communications. Apparently, the firm has gone through lots of evolution.

Presently, it offers the service in the field of digital cable television, telecom network as well as in Home Automation.

The backstory of foundation

As said earlier, Cox communications is one of the integral parts of Cox Enterprises started in mid of the 20th century. However, In 1962  the firm decided to jump into the cable television industry. That time it was public company later on acquired by Cox Enterprise in 1985. In order to explore the services, it acquired several cable systems in the USA. That’s how the birth of Cox Communications take place. Prior to the name Cox Communications, it was known as Cox Broadcasting till 1982.

Early Business

The firm started it’s business targeting the businesses that needed the telecom services. In fact, Cox Communications was the first multiple s/m cable operator that offered such services to the businesses. After that, it grew impeccably as a Cox business. Now it’s generating revenue of more than 1 billion dollars annually.

First multiple system cable operator

After the approval of the telecom act, Cox Communications stared offering phone services to its clients. It was during 1996-97. Thereafter, the firm acquired cable TV assets of several firms including Media General, Fredericksburg, etc. As well, it purchased Multimedia Cablevision.

Alternative Energy Project

The firm is known for doing various businesses. In 2011, it has completed the project of Alternative Energy. It was the step to minimize the use of electricity from the local power grid and to decrease the carbon footprint of the company. For that, the firm has installed two fuel cell at headquarters. So that the onsite power generation can be used to fulfill the electricity need of the firm.

Other products and services

The firm has gone through a loss of evolutions. Recently it started Cox home security that uses advanced technology. So, the clients can completely rely on the Cox Communications home security product for the ultimate security of home.

As well, it launched a platform called Contour in 2013. It is a television platform. Moreover, to support the integration of video streaming apps, it licensed Comcast’s Xfinity X1 platform in 2015. Awards and Recognition

For the diversity in business, DiversityInc Magazine named it at 25th place in the list of 50. As well, Cox Communications was in the sixth position on the same list in 2008. In the same year, it was the 8th firm for African Americans.

Cox Communications has offered many types of services in the field of telecommunications. It added one more service in the list, i.e., wireless communications in 2010. Presently, it is offering wireless services in Virginia, Nebraska, Orange City, California, etc…

Bottom Line

The firm has achieved huge respect in the American telecom market. However, it has been involved in a few disputes with Lin TV, Fox  News, Nexstar, etc.

Apart from that, the firm knows it’s CSR very well. It has the own charity helps to nonprofit serving youth. As well, focuses on well being of science and technology communications.

illumina

The success of Illumina, Inc. and how it helped fight COVID-19

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With our generation constantly marching towards the IT sector and playing safe by working for a multinational company is a common view these days. This doesn’t mean that working for the IT sector harms us rather the advent of AI and ML is making a great contribution to every field. But, how many of us consider working for a biotechnology company and contributing to mankind from a different perspective? Our world has been attacked by an infectious pathogen that can stop time and turn everything upside down. People dying, the economy at the edge, unemployment, and we do not know what else we will witness. And, in this crisis, we are looking up to companies like Illumina to make a breakthrough and save the world from drowning.

What is Illumina?

Illumina is an American-based biotechnology company that develops systems to analyze genetic variation and biological function. The company dragged down the price of human genome sequencing from $1 million to $1,000 in 2014. Research organizations around the world, the pharmaceutical companies, and also academic institutions buy the products of Illumina. The company was founded in 1998 by David Walt, Larry Bock, John Stuelpnagel, Anthony Czarnik, and Mark Chee. The company’s headquarters are currently based in San Diego, California.

About the founders

David Walt

David Walt went to the University of Michigan and acquired a bachelor’s degree in Chemistry. He later pursued his masters and Ph.D. in chemical biology. Currently, he is an Advisor at Illumina Ventures and a faculty member at the Harvard Medical School.

Larry Bock

Larry Bock was a famous American entrepreneur who died on 6th July 2016. He went to Bowdoin College and later to UCLA for his MBA. Apart from Illumina, Larry has also founded Nanosys, Caliper Life Sciences, and a few more companies.

John Stuelpnagel

John Stuelpnagel went to the University of California and has a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry. He was a venture capitalist at the CW group when he founded Illumina. Currently, he is the chairman of Fabric Genomics (also co-founder).

Anthony Czarnik

Anthony Czarnik is an American chemist who worked as an assistant professor at Ohio State University. Czarnik is the founder of RenoCares, a charity to support the drug addicts for rehab.

Mark Chee

Mark Chee went to the University of New South Wales followed by the University of Cambridge. He completed his Ph.D. in Molecular Biology. Currently, he is on the Board of Directors of Complete Genomics.

How Illumina was founded?

Back in 1998, the five founders established Illumina when Larry and John came to an understanding of what would be the BeadArray technology for Illumina. Shortly after founding the company, Illumina acquired Spyder Instruments which had the technology for high-throughput synthesis. In 2000, the company successfully filed its first IPO. The next year, the company started the new service, single nucleotide polymorphism genotyping.

Growth and Expansion

Eventually, the company started growing and designing solutions that can make our lives better. In 2007, Illumina acquired Solexa, a British company for approximately $600 million. Solexa was famous for commercializing genome sequencing technology who also bought the DNA colony sequencing technology in 2004. Illumina from the very beginning put immense effort to bring down the sky-high cost required for this kind of analysis and sequencing. In 2009, the company started its service for personal full genome sequencing for $48,000 which dropped to almost $19,000 by the next year.

Until 2010, Illumina sold systems and solutions only for research purposes but in 2010 it received approval for clinical tests as well. In 2011, the company acquired Epicentre Biotechnologies and next year launched HiSeq 2500, a very successful product of Illumina. This year the company also launched a cancer analysis service.

Famous people like Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos invested $100 million in Series A funding of the company. Since Illumina was working in the field of cancer testing as well, it partnered with Philips in 2017 to offer integrated genomic solutions for oncology. This year the company also opened its first commercial and customer training center.

How Illumina is fighting COVID-19?

Today, Illumina has provided solutions to more than 10,000 labs over 115 countries. And, due to the trust, they have built over time they are now connecting the local and global resources to fight against the pandemic. Next-generation sequencing or NGS is claimed to be very crucial for the study of patients during this pandemic. Illumina said that NGS can help gain information about patients and create a genetic tree that can show the path of transmission of this virus between two patients.

In response to this, the company designed Illumina COVIDSeq Test which is the first NGS test to receive emergency authorization use from the FDA. It can be only used in the US-based laboratories to perform tests at moderate and complex levels. The software toolkit of Illumina for COVID-19 has also been made free. The company is still working vehemently to help combat COVID-19 around the globe.

amdocs

Digital solutions of Amdocs is making communication smarter and faster

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Amdocs is a famous multinational software company providing the digital solution in the sector of communication, media, finance, and many giant digital enterprises. The history of the company dates back to 1982 when this Israeli business was founded by Morris Kahn and Boaz Dotan. Boaz became the first CEO and President of the company. Today, the company is based in Missouri, United States. It has more than 25,000 employees and last year its annual revenue summed up to $4.1 billion.

Let’s delve deeper into the history of Amdocs and have a look at why it is better than other software companies.

About Morris Kahn and Boaz Dotan – Amdocs Founders

Morris Kahn is one of the most famous Israeli entrepreneurs who is also a billionaire. Kahn stepped into the business world and explored different niches of business for a long time. When he was young he established a bicycle company followed by a cattle company. He is also a famous philanthropist who received Bonei Zion Prize Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018.

Boaz Dotan received his bachelor’s degree from Tel-Aviv University. Apart from founding the company, Boaz is currently a partner at AfterDox and a board member of Retalix Ltd.

Founding history of Amdocs

The foundation of the company took place as a part of Golden Pages which is the Israeli phone directory company. Morris Khan acquired Golden Pages hence the company which then came under the Aurec Group, a telecom company established by Morris in 1968. Boaz Dotan was the first president of Amdocs who along with Morris developed software for phone directory companies. This led both of them to open a new company, Aurec Information & Directory Systems.

In 1985, a 50% share of this new company was acquired by Southwestern Bell Corporation and the company was renamed as Amdocs. Within the next couple of years, the other assets of Aurec Group were sold to Amdocs as well for $1 billion. The company started gradually expanded to the area of the telecom sector followed by mobile communication. In 1998, the company went public and next year it acquired ITDS thus entering into the reign of management services.

2000-present

Stepping into a new century, the new acquisitions by Amdocs flooded the news headlines. In 2001, the company acquired a software firm, Clarify for $200 million. Amdocs acquired DST Innovis and Cramer Systems in two consecutive years and an Israeli start-up called SigValue in 2007. This was just the beginning and the following years witnessed the acquisition of many more communication and software companies from around the world. Last month, Amdocs acquired Openet Telecom Inc, a world-renowned 5G connection provider.

Why choose Amdocs?

The demand for every business is different depending on the sector of business and type of clients. Amdocs has connectivity solutions for any business and helps gain a faster pace to grow one’s business. Last year, Gartner named Amdocs as a leader for both IRCM and OSS and IT Services Magic Quadrants. Till now, the company has worked with more than 350 service providers in 80 countries. Amdocs also helps in accelerating the network and cutting cost at the same time. And, the most important and valuable service for a client is to received quality solutions cost-effectively. Amdocs is also excelling at providing fraud-management services based on ML and AI. A few months ago Amdocs launched Home Operating System powered by AI and Cloud-Native.

Amdocs’ AI-powered Home Operating System

This year, Amdocs’ revolutionizing home broadband has become a big hit in the market. The name of the product is Amdocs doxiO HomeOS providing better suggestions based on AI, enhanced cybersecurity, working more on basic commands thus adapting the “touch-free” notion and making it easier for everyone in the home to control and use the connected devices.

The consumers can change manually the Wi-Fi settings that getting an insight into how many devices are connected. This is specially designed for the benefit of parents as one receives notifications regarding the usage patterns, media, and gaming consumption. And, alerts and notifications are also sent to the users if anticipated a security breach.

Effect of COVID-19 on Amdocs

Putting forward the safety of employees and partners, Amdocs didn’t attend the MWC Barcelona 2020. The CEO of the company said they appreciate the preventive measures taken up by GSMA, but the health concern of Amdocs’ employees is the first priority for the company. This statement was given by Shuky Sheffer, current president and CEO of the company on 19th February 2020.

ChargePoint Logo

ChargePoint is a boon in the industry of electric vehicle infrastructure

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ChargePoint is one of the biggest companies around the world that operates an EV charging network in 14 countries. The growth of electric vehicle has been increasing every day and thus the demand for EV charging stations are also increasing. These charging stations are becoming as common as petrol pumps and will expand to other countries very soon.

Richard Lowenthal is the founder of the company and currently, Pasquale Romano, CEO of ChargePoint is the most important person in the company. His visions for the company are big and he thinks he doesn’t need to wait for the world to understand the charging network. So, the technology on which the EV charging networks run is built by the company itself.

About Richard Lowenthal

Richard acquired his bachelor’s degree from the University of California Berkeley. He was the CEO of ChargePoint from 2007 (the founding year) to 2011. Currently, he is the CTO of the company. Apart from ChargePoint, Richard is also the co-founder of Lighter Networks.

Richard Lowenthal
Image Source: entrepreneur.wiki

History of ChargePoint

Initially, when the company was founded, people didn’t have much idea about electric vehicles and how it can take over the world within the next few years. Founded in 2007, ChargePoint witnessed massive growth in profit within 10 years. By 2017, ChargePoint owned more than 35,000 EV stations in many countries. The company’s headquarters are based in Campbell, California. But, apart from that, the company has big markets in Mexico, Canada, Australia, and the United States.

The growth escalated highly in the past three years and in 2017 the company was planning for a listing. But, no one from the company mentioned a specific timeline. At the end of 2018, the company raised around $240 million, and the number of stations summed up to 57,000. At the end of 2021, the annual growth of the company is predicted to be around 55%.

Pasquale Romano- The man taking ChargePoint to newer levels

In 2011, Pasquale Romano became the CEO and the President of ChargePoint. Since then he has opened many new ideas and paths for the company to increase the revenue and expansion in foreign lands. He is highly inspired by Tesla and said Tesla didn’t wait for the rest of the world to catch up and thus designed Tesla’s Supercharger Network. Similarly, he won’t stop making significant changes and build out the biggest charging network only because the world isn’t fast enough to catch up with it.

Pasquale has a very rich experience in the business world. Before becoming the CEO of ChargePoint, he was the board member of many companies like CALSTART, AgilOne, Proterra Inc, and also the owner of Centonove and a few other companies. He went to Harvard and later to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for his maters.

The world is changing and irrespective of the pace people are buying electric vehicles and by 2025 the demand will be at its peak. Pasquale also said that he is not looking into the business from a single man’s perspective. He has laid put strategic plans for the company for both private vehicles and public transport as well. So, even in the next few years if the number of personal vehicles drops due to excess pollution level or oil demand, the company can benefit from the public transport sector.

Pasquale’s main vision is to make the lives of common people easier by bringing down the cost for vehicles and EV is the best way in this era to do it. He is a very optimistic person who mainly focuses on the driver’s perspective, his customers, and customers of EV in general. Thus, he dedicates all his work to make this technology easily viable and affordable.

ChargePoint and its growth in Europe

In 2018, the company planned to expand its business as the market for EV in Europe is increasing more rapidly. The firm of ChargePoint is now owned by Daimler and BMW and it started selling charging points in Europe in 2018. Quickly, electric cars will be outnumbering diesel cars as in many parts of Europe diesel cars have been banned. This is one of the reasons why ChargePoint thinks the market of Europe has a big potential for EV. The company has raised $125 million for expansion in the European market and soon it will compete with Engie and Innogy.