Thursday, December 26

Tag: chat app

China ban Clubhouse app, used for political discussion
CHINA

China ban Clubhouse app, used for political discussion

BEIJING (AP), 11th Feb 2021— Zeng Jiajun, a former tech worker, fell in love with social media app Clubhouse, a window through the ruling Communist Party’s pervasive censorship, after listening to a freewheeling discussion between members of China’s Uighur minority and Han majority that wound up lasting 12 hours. Thousands of Chinese flocked to the app, which allowed unfettered discussion with people abroad about democracy, Taiwan and other sensitive topics at a time when President Xi Jinping’s government is increasingly hostile to independent voices. “This kind of communication is rare,” Zeng said. “Hearing someone’s voice can make both sides realize we’re all human.” On Monday, that window slammed shut when Chinese users lost access to Clubhouse, adding it to thousands of websit...
Salesforce acquires workplace app Slack for $27.7 billion
ACQUISITION

Salesforce acquires workplace app Slack for $27.7 billion

SAN FRANCISCO, 3rd Dec. 2020-- Salesforce (NYSE: CRM), the global leader in CRM acquire ost innovative enterprise communications platform Slack Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: WORK) for $27.7 billion. Combining Slack with Salesforce Customer 360 will be transformative for customers and the industry. The combination will create the operating system for the new way to work, uniquely enabling companies to grow and succeed in the all-digital world. "Stewart and his team have built one of the most beloved platforms in enterprise software history, with an incredible ecosystem around it,” said Marc Benioff, Chair and CEO, Salesforce. “This is a match made in heaven. Together, Salesforce and Slack will shape the future of enterprise software and transform the way everyone works in the all-digital,...
This Indian Startup Has Made a Zoom Alternative, in Just 20 Days
Story

This Indian Startup Has Made a Zoom Alternative, in Just 20 Days

Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India: More than a third of world population is under lockdown and India with its 1.3 billion people tops the list. The government is controlling the movement of its citizens to avoid the spread of the coronavirus. Socializing, consulting, training, operations, and governance have become a virtual experience predominantly with no movement or interaction outside the home. Non-native and fishy apps are handy to use for official and personal communication. Blue Jeans, Google Duo, Google Hangouts, Microsoft Teams, Zoom, WhatsApp, FaceTime, and Skype are the only recourse in current unprecedented times. Some of these apps suffer from the restriction on the number of participants to partake in a video or voice communication. Other applications have their share o...
Facebook Launched Messenger Kids With Parental Control
News

Facebook Launched Messenger Kids With Parental Control

Facebook rolled out its Messenger Kids application to 70 new countries, saying it can help children deal with the challenges of distance learning and isolation during the virus lockdowns. The app, which is aimed at children under 13, will also be adding a "supervised friending" feature enabling parents to approve new connections, starting in the United States and gradually rolling out to other countries. "With schools closed and people physically distancing, parents are turning to technology more than ever to help their kids connect with friends and family," Facebook's global head of safety Antigone Davis said in a blog post. "Messenger Kids is a video chat and messaging app that helps kids connect with friends and family in a fun, parent-controlled space. Today, we're starting to...
Hike Launches Web Version of its Chat Application
Tech

Hike Launches Web Version of its Chat Application

Indian home-grown tech start-up Hike launched the web version of its app Hike Sticker Chat, which will enable its users to chat over their personal computers as well. "Hike Sticker Chat has crossed 1 million weekly active users. We are now unbundling our app. Instead of focussing on just app, we are also going to multiple (platforms). This week, we have started rolling out Hike on the web. It can be used even if the user's phone is switch off," founder and Chief Executive Officer Kavin Bharti Mittal said. He said that while working on desktop or laptop, people do not want to keep looking at their phone. "With web application, we are making it convenient for them to engage with their friends.". The company has also started rolling out auto-backup of users' data. "People change t...
Indian Messenger App Hike Expects 4x growth in 2019
BUSINESS

Indian Messenger App Hike Expects 4x growth in 2019

India's leading messaging app Hike expects four-fold growth in per day customer acquisition rate by the end of 2019 with the launch of its new sticker-based chat app. "There is so much happening in the company that Hike Sticker chat will become one of the two or three products that we have. Today we are adding 50,000 users per day. My goal is to get to a place where we are adding 3-4 times of that (by end of 2019)," Hike founder and CEO Kavin Bharti Mittal said. As part of its strategy to launch multiple apps, Hike on Tuesday unveiled new mobile messaging platform that will be majorly based on chat in the form of stickers. "We have 30,000 stickers. Challenge was to give right stickers to users at right time. We have integrated machine learning in the core of the app which will giv...
Zuckerberg to integrate WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook Messenger
News

Zuckerberg to integrate WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook Messenger

As per the report, Facebook Inc Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg is planning to unify the underlying messaging infrastructure of the WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook Messenger services and incorporate end-to-end encryption into these apps. The three services will, however, continue as stand-alone apps, the report said, citing four people involved in the effort. Facebook said it is working on adding end-to-end encryption, which protects messages from being viewed by anyone except the participants in a conversation, to more of its messaging products, and considering ways to make it easier for users to connect across networks. "There is a lot of discussion and debate as we begin the long process of figuring out all the details of how this will work," a spokesperson said. After the ...
WhatsApp Business crosses 5 million users mark
News

WhatsApp Business crosses 5 million users mark

WhatsApp said over five million enterprises globally are using its 'Business' app to connect with their customers within a year of launch. "In January of last year, we launched the WhatsApp Business app, and now there are more than five million businesses using it to support customers, grow their businesses and serve their communities all over the world," WhatsApp said in a blogpost. It cited the example of Bengaluru-based eyewear brand Glassic which has seen 30 per cent of its new sales being generated through WhatsApp Business. India is home to over 200 million WhatsApp users. It has about 1.5 billion users globally. Using the business app, SMEs can help customers with useful information such as business description, e-mail, store addresses and website. легкий займ иркутскза...
After India, WhatsApp Now Introduce forward 5 chats for users Globally to combat fake news
News

After India, WhatsApp Now Introduce forward 5 chats for users Globally to combat fake news

WhatsApp will now globally limit message 'forwards' to five chats at a time, a practice it had introduced in India in July last year to crack down on spread of rumours and fake news through its platform. In an update to its blog Monday, the Facebook-owned company said the move will help keep "WhatsApp focused on private messaging with close contacts". "WhatsApp carefully evaluated this test and listened to user feedback over a six-month period. The forward limit significantly reduced forwarded messages around the world," it said. It added that "starting today, all users on the latest versions of WhatsApp can now forward to only five chats at once...". The messaging platform which has about 1.5 billion users globally and counts India, Brazil and Indonesia among its major markets...
Second Time WhatsApp blocked in Brazil, Affecting 100 million Users
News

Second Time WhatsApp blocked in Brazil, Affecting 100 million Users

A Brazilian judge ordered wireless phone carriers to block access to Facebook Inc's WhatsApp for 72 hours throughout Latin America's largest country on Monday, the second such move against the popular messaging application in five months. The decision by the judge in the northeastern state of Sergipe applies to the five main wireless operators in Brazil and affects WhatsApp's more than 100 million users in the country. The reason for the order is not known due to legal secrecy in an ongoing case in the Sergipe state court. In a statement, WhatsApp said the company is "disappointed at the decision" after doing the utmost to cooperate with Brazilian tribunals. The decision "punishes more than 100 million users who depend upon us to communicate themselves, run their business and more, ...