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trello

Joel Spolsky- How he made it possible from a blog ‘Joel on Software’ to setting up Trello

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Trello is an online collaboration tool launched in 2001 to help in managing and organizing projects. A software engineer and technical writer Joel Spolsky is the founder of this amazing platform. He introduced feasible and flexible project management or task organization in an easy manner with the help of Trello. However, Joel is also known for his blog Joel on Software where he used to teach how to develop software.

Apart from this, he has a great contribution to the establishment of several hit companies like Fog Creek Software. Most importantly, he assists in launching the Stack Overflow programmer for his question/answer sites. For this, he used Stack Exchange software products. This method powers the stack overflow and many followed the steps of Joel. Presently, more than 170 Questions and answers are hosts with this programmer.

Person behind Trello- Joel Spolsky

He is a software engineer, developer, blogger, and author. Joel wrote five books among which few are related to interface design. In fact, his books are very useful for the newly enter programmer and the software developer. If you are from the software development field, you may have heard about The Joel Test. Well, it is also created by Joel Spolsky. As well, he is the first person to talk about fixing it twice for the process improvement method. Let’s see the personal and professional life journey of Joel Spolsky.

Early life

He was born in 1965 in a Jewish family. However, he spent the childhood days in Albuquerque in New Mexico, but then the family moved and set up in Israel. Thus, Spolsky completed his basic education as well as the military service in Israel.

To complete the graduation, Joel chose to return to the USA and in 1987, he did it so. Thereafter, he attended the University of Pennsylvania and shortly transferred to Yale University. In 1991, Joel graduated in Computer science.

Career

After graduation, Joel became part of the Microsoft team and started working as a Program Manager. Many people don’t know that Joel helped to design the Excel Basic during his early career. As well, he worked for Microsoft’s visual basic for application strategy. In 1995, he switched the location as well as switched the job. He started working for Viacom and Juno online services.

Towards the own business

It will be nothing wrong to say that Joel became a master in his field in a very short time. One after one, he was showing his excellence in software development. This excellence continued with his very own Software firm Fog Creek Software, established in 2000. Shortly after that, he started the blog known worldwide as Joel of Software. Spolsky became one of the first bloggers who also run the business.

Stack overflow

Later on, he changed the history of question and answers sites by co-founding Stack Overflow. In fact, this site turned out useful for software developers who are in the learning phase. Also, the large software developer community has been shaped by this initiative. Till 2019, Joel served as the CEO of stack overflow. Last year, he expressed about chairmanship of HASH, an open-source simulation start-up.

Also Read: Stack Overflow : A Programming Hotspot Created for the Coding Enthusiasts

The backstory of founding Trello

During 2010, Fog Creek software started using for potential products and some basic regular creek weeks. But for high-level management, there were few limitations that could not be ignored. For that, a prototype called Trellis is developed. Soon, to convert the prototype in the real product, J. Spolsky launched Trello back in 2011. While developing the tool, Joel also considered the Kanban methodology.

New experiments of Trello

In 2011, it launched the web and iPhone apps for consumers. Year a later, Joel’s dog name Taco introduced as official Trello spokes-husky. More than 50 lakhs customers showed faith in Trello, and the firm shortly launches Android app for the users.

Later success

Trello preferred to handle their own business from 2014, and separated from Fog Creek. Shortly, Trello raised the investment in A-series and continue exploring the business. In 2015, the firm entered in international competition. Now it has more than 5 million users. However, to explore the region more and to mark the new beginning, Trello preferred to become part of the leading firm Atlassian. From 2017, Trello is an integral part of Atlassian.

bitdefender

Florin Talpes- Founder of Bitdefender- A person behind worldwide accepted IT Security solutions

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A Romanian entrepreneur Florin Talpes, recognized for his contribution to add value to the national product. He also managed to take the trade outside the country and shortly firm acquired the trust in the international market. It’s not easy to acquire the trust of people when it comes to security. Yet, Bitdefender’s digital guarding software has been exported on a large scale for its excellent digital security. With this, it set the record and became the most exported Romanian product. 400 million-plus population rely on Bitdefender antivirus solutions in the present situation.

Also Read: Cloud-Troopers- How Cloudflare Keeps the Internet and Your Data Safe

Not only personal users but also leading firms prefer Bitdefender to protect their digital data. All credit goes to Florin Talpes for his business venture started in 2001. In just 7-10 years, the company flourished its business all across the continents. It is surely the finest example of strategic and visionary leadership to excelling in the enterprise. Today, Bitdefender is globally known as one of the finest IT solutions. Talpes helped to set the name of Romania in the list of top IT security solution providing countries.

Glimpse to the life of mastermind behind Bitdefender

He is among the list of pioneers in the digital security industry as well, he managed to trade it outside the country. Talpes was in the founding body of the National Association of Software Services Industry/ASSI, Romania. As well, he served as a president in there and guide to set the national Strategy for software services in the country. In 2001, he set up Bitdefender and changed the history of the Romanian software industry.

Education and early business ventures

He attended the “Avram Iancu” National College Brad for his graduation. Later on, he attended the University of Bucharest and study mathematics. The area of his specialization is operator theory.

During 1990, he co-founded a software services firm, Softwin along with his wife. It became one of the 1st Romanian(post-communist) IT start-ups.

Backstory of Foundation

In the era of 90s, computer development was at a peak. But that time one more problem arises i.e. a rise in computer viruses. On this background, Softwin developed AVX, the antivirus expert.

Later on, in 2001, this antivirus software development unit is known as AVX solutions, renamed and rebranded as Bitdefender.

Achievements

No doubt, Talpes played an important role in shaping the future of the IT industry. For his contribution, he honored with several titles and awards. In 2018, CRN named Florin Talpes in its list of Top 100 Executives. Also, he was on the list of most admired CEOs in 2016. Talpes also set his name in Top 100 Most Admired CEOs in Romania in 2015’s list. All and all, F. Talpes always will be one of the top pioneers in the IT security field.

About Bitdefender

It is an antivirus software solution provider that acquired domestic market share and global market share of 30 and 2 percent respectively. Being one of the most trustworthy IT security service firms, more than 400 billion customers rely on its service.

Initially, it was Romania based start-up headquartered in silicon valley. Later on, the firm explored the business outside the country. Presently, it has offices in several regions of Romania, the US, the UK, and Germany. In 2007, Bitdefender became a separate firm entity.

The firm updates its strategy and the solutions from time to time as per the present market situation. B2B segment security products launched in 2012 are one of the parts of this strategy. In fact, it turned out as super successful for the business of the company.

Also Read: Eugene Kaspersky : Russian Entrepreneur & Cybersecurity Expert

Transformations in the Bitdefender

The foundation of the firm is based on strong strategies and optimistic views. Bitdefender managed to find the security solutions as per the changing IT Industry, and obviously the needs of personal users.

From launching B2B offer to the Forrester WAVE Evaluation for Endpoint Security Suites, Bitdefender shows the excellence. As well, the firm used an acquisition strategy for the technological development of the company. Recently, it acquired network guard analytics company RedSocks.

Innovative approach

The firm held 100 patents for core technology as well, more than 230 parents are filed for examination. It will be no wrong to say that about 10% of the patents related to malware section, online threats, and other online security-related issues are named by Bitdefender.

Bottomline

Since the establishment, Bitdefender provides miscellaneous service and the innovative approach of the firm adds value to its products. The best part, it’s a vast range of IT security solutions that cover businesses as well as personal users. Today, more than 1300 employees are part of the group, and many wish to join it. It is one of the most innovative firms in the world, dominating the IT security software industry.

Also Read: Avast : Largest Security Company in the World, Fighting the Cyber Attacks

inscripts

CEO of Inscripts is the 16-year-old who developed his own company along with his twin brother

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The digital era has spread its arm to warmly welcome the web developers, software developers, web designers, data scientists, etc. There are many roles for people in this digital world to participate and contribute to the technology sector. Gaining knowledge in fields like IoT, competitive programming, data analysis, web designing increases the chances of landing a job in this constantly upgrading world. We have come across many legendary scientists and programmers who started coding from a very young age. They built their website, established their business, etc from scratch. Anuj Garg is one such persona in today’s world who created his own company Inscripts at the age of sixteen. With the support of his twin brother, Anant Garg, their business has achieved great success in a less interval of time.

Also Read: INDIA’S OWN VIDEO CONFERENCING TOOL SAY NAMASTE GIVES A STRONG COMPETITION TO ZOOM

The tale of two brothers behind Inscripts

From a very young age, both Anuj and his brother were interested in running and exploring the world of technology. At the age of four, their uncle bought them their first computer and this is when it all began. He started exploring the internet which led him to develop various products before launching Inscripts. They began their entrepreneurial journey by creating an alumni programme at school. One thing led to another and they ended up creating Inscripts in 2001.  

Founding a company at the age of 16

After developing the alumni programme which was sheer out of interest and need, they had an understanding of market demand. So, when they were in Standard X, Anuj and his brother developed their company, Inscripts. They set up the company from their home and it was based on web development.

Initially, they created different products and put it online. When they tried to sell it, they were surprised that people were showing interest. So, eventually, their market expanded and they started hiring full-time employees. Anuj said that people buying their products were a great encouragement for them.

Struggle and Success of Inscripts

Anuj worked with a bunch of freelancers. Many people don’t tend to work for small companies or start-ups. So, they faced difficulties at the beginning especially because they were just school students back then. One year after launching Inscripts they received a big proposal from an oil company. So, they fled to Delhi to confirm the project but were unfortunately turned down because they were seventeen back then.

But, with years of struggles, they reached at a better position by 2007. At the beginning of 2008, Inscripts dealt with clients across 30 countries. They mainly sold their products to small and medium enterprises. Anuj’s main target was to sell the company’s products to those businesses that cannot afford expensive solutions. At a cheap price, the quality is compromised but Anuj took it as a challenge and developed quality products at an affordable rate.

Anuj also faced many challenges tackling foreign clients. They already had a negative impression of Indian companies that the product will be cheap and of unsatisfying quality. Anuj said that cheap product doesn’t necessarily mean degraded quality. Because it is a real breakthrough to produce high demanding quality products at a cheaper rate. So, it shouldn’t always be the judging criteria.

Launching Say Namaste

Recently, the COVID-19 pandemic has increased the user base for the video conferencing apps. With Zoom becoming vulnerable to the security breach and privacy leakage, Inscripts launched Say Namaste to replace Zoom. The Indian government announced a challenge a month ago. It announced that whoever will be able to come up with a secure video conferencing platform will be awarded prize money.

Also Read: Eric S. Yuan : CEO & Founder of Zoom Video Communications, ‘A Service That Connects People

And, that is how Inscripts released the beta version of Say Namaste last month. Within 48 hours of the launch, Say Namaste hosted 25,000 successful meetings. The platform’s main priority is to secure privacy with high-end encryption. Currently, it is working on releasing an iOS app and expanding the strength of one meeting from 25 to 100 people.

CometChat

After co-founding Inscripts, Anuj created a chat platform, CometChat in 2009. It is a Chat API and In-App Messaging SDK that has served foreign clients as well. Apart from India, CometChat also has an office in Colorado. Last year, it became the first Indian start-up ever to get selected into the Techstars Boulder Accelerator. It also received a seed funding of $120,000 from Techstars in 2019.

MediaTek

MediaTek- How the company explores its business under Tsai Ming-kai’s policies

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A wireless communication firm, MediaTek is best known for introducing several new technologies in this field. The best digital multimedia solution of the firm changing smartphones, tabs, and many other communication devices. With many years of excellence, MediaTek is one of the dominating firms in the wireless communication industry. In fact, it is obvious to achieve this level, because one of the finest entrepreneurs of Taiwan forms the strong foundation of the company.

Tsai Ming-kai, Taiwan’s most famous businessman increased the business of the company at the time of economic downturn in the world. His optimistic views about the market and the strategic moves for development, took MediaTek at the top level. MediaTek grew along with Telecom based market.

Also Read: Randall L. Stephenson – A Dazzling Star In The World Of Telecommunication

Glimpse to founder’s life-Tsai Ming-kai

He was born on April 6, 1950, in Taiwan. T. Ming-kai is an electrical engineer. In fact, he studied electrical engineering for two times, once in Taiwan and secondly in America. Not only in Taiwan but also in the world, he is a well-known businessman. Moreover, he served as CEO of MediaTek.

Awards and recognitions

The year 2014 was the best year for MediaTek as well as for Tsai. Forbes includes his name in the list of rich people, he was at 20th position(specifically in Taiwan) having a net worth of 1.80 billion dollars. As per the Harvard Business Review, he was at the 21st position in Best-Performing CEOs in the World in 2014. Also, he had a great contribution to growing the semiconductor industry in Taiwan. For that, he honored with Morris Chang Exemplary Leadership Award in 2016.

Also Read: Mediatek to Bring a Premium 5G Chip to Empower the Cheaper Next-gen Smartphones

About MediaTek

As said earlier, it is one of the significant semiconductor firms that develop chips for many other wireless communication devices. Includes, handheld smartphones, HD-Televisions, GPS systems, optical drives, and many more.

Also Read: Garmin: The Global Leader & Supplier of Innovative GPS Technology Across Distinct Markets

The firm started a unit to design products for mobile devices in 2004. Till the end of 2011, it grabs 500 million-plus orders for mobile system-on-chip units per year. In 2016, it named as the third largest IC design firm on the earth. Presently, it has around 25 offices across the continents and headquartered in Taiwan(Hsinchu).

The backstory of Foundation

MediaTek raised as a separate unit in 1997. Before that, it was one of the units of UMC(United Microelectronics Corporation), primarily working as a chipset designing unit for home-based entertainment goods. However, it was listed in Taiwan stock exchange in 2001, and since then providing miscellaneous services in the wireless communication industry.

The initial phase of Mediatek

After establishment, the firm focused on designing chipset for optical drives and then shifted its focus on designing basic entertainment devices such as DVD players, mobile phones, Tv, tabs, etc. It gained the market since the very beginning of the company. Also, it stands out differently among other competitors.

Also Read: Redbox- Expanding The Source Of Entertainment Since 2002

Promoting small businesses

MediaTek also promotes several small-size companies by assisting those firms in the system engineering field. As well, encourages newbies to enter the telecom market. Through this, the firm target to grab mobile chip market and make it as the main source to flourish own business.

Everyday Genius brand

It is one of the famous brands of the company launched in 2014 during MWC. The mobile brand was launched in the market to make smartphones affordable and accessible to all.

The innovative approach of MediaTek

To stand strong in any business, changes in policies and adopting new technology is very important. In the case of the wireless communication industry, a firm needs to have an innovative approach. However, since the beginning, MediaTek adopted the innovative approach and focused on developing new technologies. It brought technologies like MT8135 system-on-chip, LITTLE technology, MT6592 SoC, etc.

In 2014, the firm made a big announcement to develop the first “multimode receiver” for wireless charging. Recently in 2019, MediaTek made an announcement to build 5G SoC Dimensity 1000 which will be the first-ever mobile SoC in the world.

Exploring the business

To explore the business, MediaTek either formed partnerships or used acquisition strategy.  Recently, it announced a partnership with Intel in 2019. The main aim of this partnership is to bring 5G technology to personal computers tills 2021.

At starting, the firm acquired several firms including Inprocomm, Ralink Technology Corporation, Analog Devices cellular radio and baseband chipset divisions, MStar Semiconductor Inc, etc.

Bottom line

In 2016, it named as the third largest IC design firm on the earth. Before that in 2014, MediaTek had been in profit and generated big revenue in its history. As well, due to its industry-first policy and innovative approach, it stands out differently from competitors.

Say Namaste

INDIA’S OWN VIDEO CONFERENCING TOOL SAY NAMASTE GIVES A STRONG COMPETITION TO ZOOM

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With the lockdown now existing for months, work from home has become a ritual rather than a trend. We are loaded with plenty of projects, presentation and not to mention the everyday conference call. When you are collaborating with other people for work, video conferencing is necessary. Moreover, it is not only for attending professional meetings but also connecting with friends and family. But, with Zoom’s security breach and the threat of personal data leak, an alternative is the need of the hour. Here comes India’s very own video conferencing tool, Say Namaste that gained massive popularity within a few days.

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

What is Say Namaste?

Say Namaste is an Indian web-based video conferencing platform. There is no app released officially yet for mass use. Many people are suggesting our Indian government has launched this platform. But, a Mumbai-based software development company, Inscripts has designed the program and launched its beta version. Till now the application has received hugely positive feedback from the people of India. But, the company hasn’t declared any date yet for the official release of Say Namaste.

Let’s see the full story of Say Namaste.

How Say Namaste emerged out of a government initiative?

First of all, everybody should steer away from the rumor that the Indian government launched Say Namaste. The Indian government in response to the security breach of Zoom wanted to alert the citizens of the country. So, the government took an initiative to launch an app development challenge to replace Zoom in India.

So, the Indian government declared the “Innovation Challenge for Development of Video Conferencing Solution” to give India a chance to develop an application. The winner is promised prize money of one crore. It is through this challenge the Mumbai-based company Inscripts came up with Say Namaste which got famous overnight. Though the result of this challenge will be declared on 29th July, Say Namaste has already become successful in drawing the attention of lakhs of people.

How the application of Say Namaste works?

The procedure of carrying out a video conference on the platform of Say Namaste is similar to the Zoom app. One is supposed to join a meeting by using the meeting link and code. And, if you are creating the meeting you can share the same with other Say Namaste users who you want to join. The features of the platform are almost the same as Zoom. You can mute the audio or the video whenever you want, swipe the screen to check other active participants, etc. The application also has the feature for chatting.

How to use Say Namaste?

The company hasn’t released an app for both iOS and Android yet. It is a video conferencing tool that can be accessed on your PC or laptop. But, the company is planning to launch an app for iOS users. But, Inscripts haven’t given any information about Android application for Say Namaste.

For creating a new meeting, you will find creating a new meeting option. You can easily create a meeting ID that can be shared with other people. And, to join a meeting you need to enter your name, the meeting ID, and the meeting code. Go ahead and enjoy the experience of India’s latest video conferencing app.

Why is it better than Zoom?

With the recent case of Zoombombing, people don’t find it safe anymore to attend video conferences via the Zoom application. The users have witnessed the recent and many flaws of the app which still needs fixing. But, people cannot just wait around for the company to modify the app. Say Namaste came as a blessed replacement for the Indians. The main motto of the platform is to provide extremely strong security.

This is the main reason why Inscripts has extensively focused on the level of encryption that is required for Say Namaste. The features, number of callers on one meeting, etc can be expanded gradually. But, the company has made security its primary goal and that is why it is better than Zoom on many folds.

The popularity of Say Namaste

Once the users feel secure, they will keep coming around. With Zoom witnessing its downfall, a better security model has played the ace for Say Namaste. After the launch of 48 hours, the company tweeted that Say Namaste crossed 100,000 users creating and joining 25,000 in less than a couple of days.

Anuj Garg, CEO of Inscripts said that they are delighted with the huge number of users and happy about being the talk of the city currently. Though the company has independently created the platform, Anuj showed his interest to work closely with the government. Anuj also says that the platform was built within two days by a team consisting of more than 50 developers.

Conclusion

Though the platform is only supporting 25 people on a video call, developers are working to expand the figure to 100. Since it is very new, it lacks some of the Zoom features. But, very soon the users of Say Namaste will enjoy features like screen sharing, file sharing, etc.

Li-Fi

Harald Hass- German Professor who coined the new Li-Fi technology

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Generally, we all know wired and wireless communication technologies because we all use it. For example, the telephones(the cable ones) as a wired communication device, and of course mobile as a wireless communication device. But like all fields, communication technology is also improvising day by day, many new inventions are there like Li-fi technology. It is introduced by Harald Hass for the first time in the world. Well, it is a form of wireless communication known as light fidelity technology.

In 2011, at TED global talk, Hass made the reference of visible light communication, and based on this he introduced the advanced Li-fi communication technology for the first time. After this, it became the center of attraction for many researchers and scientists. As well, Time Magazine listed the Li-fi technology in the list of Top 50 inventions of the year 2011.

About Li-Fi

Li-fi stands for Light Fidelity. It is the Optical Wireless communication’s derivative. In common language, we can say it as an advanced form of optical wireless communication. Light-emitting diodes are the center of this technology. The light emitted from these LEDs is used as a medium to deliver the network to mobile phones and enables high-speed communication. Similar to Wi-Fi, but Li-fi uses light as a medium.

A person who introduced Li-Fi for the first time- Harlad Hass

He is a German professor who is best known for many scientific types of research, Li-Fi is one of them. In fact, he has been credited for introducing li-fi for the first time. Presently, he is working at the University of Edinburgh as a professor in the field of mobile communication. However, he has a Ph.D. degree from the same University. As well, Hass is the Royal Society of Edinburgh’s fellow since 2017.

Career and Notable researches

He is a professor at the University of Edinburgh and director of life research center at the same university. Also, he contributed to establishing pureLiFi ltd where he is serving as a director and chief scientific officer.

Coming to his research field, Hass’s special area of research is wireless communications. Specifically in Hybrid optical wireless/RF communication, spatial modulation, optical wireless communication, and interference coordination in wireless networks. However, he coined Li-fi and spatial modulation, and among these researches, Li-fi became most popular.

In 2011, Li-fi was in the Time Magazine’s list of Top 50 inventions. As a matter of fact, Hass introduced the world about Li-fi in TED Global talk in 2011.

Contribution to promote Li-fi

In his TED talk, he represented Visible light communication, whose references found in history(Particularly 1880s duration). Base on this, he introduced Light fidelity, attributed to Li-Fi. He not only coined the term but also try to market it with setting up a company known as PureLiFi. Today, this firm is working to commercializing Li-fi products.

Awards and recognition

Harald Hass received many awards for his contribution to wireless communications. In 2015, for his Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking, Hass received EURASIP Best Paper Award(Co-recipient). Also, he became co-recipient of the Jack Neubauer Memorial Award of the IEEE Vehicular Technology Society in the same year. EPSRC offered him Career Fellowship in the UK in 2012, it is one of the prestigious fellowships. Moreover, the University of Edinburgh honored him with Tam Dalyell Prize in 2013 for his contribution to engaging common people with science. Recently, EPSRC selected him as one of the RISE Leaders in the UK in 2014(RISE- Recognising Inspirational Scientists and Engineers).

Future of Li-fi technology

As of 2018, the Li-fi market had projected to deliver the 6 billion dollars per year. But till now the market is not developed as wi-fi. Because there are few limitations. Like as of now, it is not ideal for mobile communication purposes. However, Li-fi technology offers many advantages especially in electromagnetic sensitive areas. Like hospitals, nuclear power plants, aircraft cabins. Therefore, it can be turn out useful in the future.

Bottom Line

Harald is working on commercializing the product that uses Li-fi technology with his PureLiFi firm. As well, many scientists are working on this. It is just the beginning of Li-Fi, in the future it may get more advanced and scientists can find the solution to its restrictions. Also, we know that whenever any technology is new, there are some limitations and people take some time to accept it. But once it is accepted it becomes part of daily life. Hopefully, it will turn out useful for humans in the future.