8 Powerful Conference Call Platforms Worth Considering

Conference calling technology has developed dramatically since the days of sitting around a long board meeting table, hoping that the suit on the other end did not hear your little outburst, commenting in a manner that should be saved for happy hour or for your last day.  Technology has people connecting in new, vibrant ways across all  of platforms: social media, email, mobile apps, group video, global teaming and other such innovative ways.  Sort of makes you think for a second, why bother having an office building?

“Hello? Hello!  Can you hear me?  It’s me, your teammate! Can you repeat that?”

Skype’s first appearance in 2003 rang in a new era of doers.  Currently, there are hundreds of ways for teams to communicate, now it is a matter of finding the perfect balance.  Technology is constantly upgraded, allowing us to get fancy; employing new web-based technologies as well as appealing aesthetics, and there is now a modern spin on conference calling services. Here are eight powerful alternatives worth checking out.

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Bitcoin fraud: How investors lost Rs 22,000 crore

It was too good a deal — earn 1% daily interest and double your money in 100 days. Too good to be true, hordes of rich investors in Gujarat realised a year later when the BitConnect platform folded up after pocketing roughly Rs 22,000 crore of their money in Bitcoin.
For many, it was a double whammy after the jolt of demonetisation. In fact, the Bitcoin craze had started in the state as people looked for safe ways to launder their piles of black money after November 2016.
“The transactions were anonymous, it did not require any proof, and best of all, it could be operated from anywhere in the world. A cryptocurrency boom started overnight,” Sunny Vaghela, CTO of an Ahmedabad-based IT firm, told TOI. Surat became the trade’s hub with numerous ‘equity brokers’, who juggled different cryptocurrencies for maximum profit.

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Flipkart Plus to launch on August 15: Features, subscription fee and more

Flipkart is all set to launch Amazon Prime rival in India. Called Flipkart Plus, the loyalty programme will go live this Independence Day (August 15). "On Independence Day, reward yourself with a slew of benefits as Flipkart launches Flipkart Plus, a one-of-a-kind no-fee customer benefits program with a wide range of benefits and rewards. And absolutely no strings attached," says the company on its website. This is Flipkart's second attempt at loyalty programme.
The Flipkart Plus loyalty programme will reportedly offer Flipkart customers a range of benefits and rewards. Here are all the details about Flipkart Plus: features benefits it will offer to customers and more.

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Facebook launches Digital Literacy Library to help young people use the internet responsibly

There are more young people online than ever in our current age of misinformation, and Facebook is developing resources to help youths better navigate the internet in a positive, responsible way. Facebook has launched a Digital Literacy Library in partnership with the Youth and Media team at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University. The interactive lessons and videos can be downloaded for free, and they’re meant to be used in the classroom, in after-school programs, or at home.

Created from more than 10 years of academic research and “built in consultation with teens,” the curriculum is divided into five themes: Privacy and Reputation, Identity Exploration, Positive Behavior, Security, and Community Engagement. There are 18 lessons in total, available in English; there are plans to add 45 more languages. Lessons can be divided into three different age groups between 11 and 18, and they cover everything from having healthy relationships online (group activities include discussing scenarios like “over-texting”) to recognizing phishing scams.



The Digital Literacy Library is part of Facebook’s Safety Center as well as a larger effort to provide digital literacy skills to nonprofits, small businesses, and community colleges. Though it feels like a step in the right direction, curiously missing from the lesson plans are any mentions of “fake news.” Facebook has worked on a news literacy campaign with the aim of reducing the spread of false news before. But given the company’s recent announcements admitting to the discovery of “inauthentic” social media campaigns ahead of the midterm elections, it’s strange that the literacy library doesn’t call attention to spotting potential problems on its own platform.

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Google admits to putting old UIDAI helpline number on your phone contact list

Google has admitted that it is to blame for the mysterious appearance of an outdated Aadhaar helpline number in the contact lists of phones, and clarified that it wasn’t an unauthorised breach of the Android devices. The US Internet major added that the issue would be fixed over the next few weeks.

The tech titan said it will "work towards fixing this in an upcoming release of SetUp wizard which will be made available to OEMs over the next few weeks". 

“Our internal review has revealed that in 2014, the then UIDAI helpline number and the 112 distress helpline number were inadvertently coded into the SetUp wizard of the Android release given to OEMs for use in India and has remained there since. Since the numbers get listed on a user’s contact list these get transferred accordingly to the contacts on any new device,” a Google spokesperson said in a statement late Friday.
“We are sorry for any concern that this might have caused, and would like to assure everyone that this is not a situation of an unauthorised access of their Android devices,” the company added.
It said that users can manually delete the number from their devices. “We will work towards fixing this in an upcoming release of SetUp wizard which will be made available to OEMs over the next few weeks,” Google said.

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Facebook has started internal testing of its dating app

Two months after announcing the product at its F8 developer conference, Facebook is testing its dating product internally with employees. Independent app researcher Jane Manchun Wong, who regularly uncovers new Facebook features by scouring the source code, found evidence of the product Friday and posted it on Twitter. The company confirmed to The Verge that the product is in testing within the Facebook app but declined to comment further.

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