All Meta-owned apps have recently seen a major jump in the number of updates they are getting. It seems like the company makes notes of what problems might come up with their product or what more should they add to make the user experience better.
Now, it’s being reported that Instagram is testing out a new ‘notes’ feature for the app. These notes are most likely going to be disappearing after 24 hours. This feature will also enable users to post short notes on their stories which can be seen by their followers or people in their ‘close friends’ circle. This will come in handy if you want to make a small announcement and don’t want to get lost in someone’s DMs.
This feature was first brought into the spotlight by marketer Ahmed Ghanem. His tweet about the feature also showed viewers that the notes feature will potentially be displayed a row above the app’s direct message service. You can add a new note by tapping on the plus button(+) which will be in front of you.
Image Credits: Ahmed Ghanem
According to the report, Instagram’s note feature will allow users to write about 60 characters. Instagram’s goal with this feature will not be what Twitter wants to achieve with its notes feature, that is posting long-form content. The users will not get a separate notification for the notes on Instagram.
Currently, the company has confirmed that they are testing this feature and there is no fixed date as to when it will be released. The access to test this feature is available to a select few users as of now. It makes sense to introduce this feature, as Instagram is an app that has a lot of things going on and it can be very easy for a friend or someone important to miss a message. With notes, the topic of concern will be crystal clear to the person concerned.
Image Credits: Ahmed Ghanem
Instagram also came up with a way of creating your digital avatar on the app which can be shared on stories and DMs. Besides that, you can now pin your posts on your profile as well as look back on the very first picture you liked. The company is taking some good and interesting steps to make its product reach greater heights than it’s already at.
If you have tried working in the media industry as a director, cinematographer, editor, etc. then you surely know that the industry is very unorganized. It is very hard to find a job that suits your profile. Similarly, when you work are looking for a professional to cover these jobs, it is difficult to find someone that can match your description.
Team Sociobits connected with the Founder of Crewbella, Mr. Chirag Balani, who has created a platform that aims to solve this major problem faced in the media industry. Chirag Balani is a storyteller and CEO of Crewbella who has worked in the media industry for 4-5 years. He practices his skills in the fields of Direction, Editing, Cinematography, and Writing and has worked with Dubai Expo, the Government of India, Netflix, Prime Video, Hotstar, etc. Here’s what Chirag Balani told us about his startup, Crewbella:
Team Sociobits:Could you tell us a little about Crewbella?
Mr. Chirag Balani: Crewbella is a platform where anyone in this country can hire a crew for their media-related projects. For example, if a production house in Bombay wants to shoot in Assam but it’s difficult for them to hire a crew from Mumbai and take them to Assam. Then, they can directly hire from Assam. This goes similarly for TV, radio, video, films, and the events industry.
Team Sociobits: Why did you choose Crewbella to be focused on the media industry?
Founder: I am from the media industry. I have worked in the industry for the last five years and this and a problem that I was witnessing every day. So, the production house that I was working at required a different kind of crew almost on a daily basis, and every day we had hundreds of people waiting outside our offices for work. Most of them were actors but some of them were media crew and hence, my production house couldn’t connect with the crew. So, I thought that there should be a platform where people could see the profiles of every kind of crew they want to hire; They can see their skills, they can see their profession, and experience, and then they can hire. This is why I thought that the media industry will be the best because no one here is doing so.
I thought that there should be a platform where people could see the profiles of every kind of crew they want to hire; They can see their skills, they can see their profession and experience, and then they can hire.
– Mr. Chirag Balani
Team Sociobits: How did you come up with the name Crewbella?
Founder: Actually, there is no logic behind it. As you see, my name is Chirag Balani and the company’s name is “CrewBella”. So, the initials are the same. Also, ‘Bala’ in ‘Balani’ means beauty, quality, or purity, and ‘Bella’ in ‘Crewbella’ has a similar meaning. So, Crew means crew, and Bella means quality; Hence, Crewbella.
Team Sociobits: How has your journey with Crewbella been?
Founder: When I first started the platform, I saw that there were already Facebook Groups doing a similar job but it was failing because Facebook Groups had thousands of people and the reach of the post was not even twenty. Let’s consider if someone wanted to hire a cinematographer in Jaipur, Rajasthan, and they post it in their group, then the probability of that post reaching a person in Rajasthan in 10,000 is less than one percent.
At Crewbella, I designed a system where, in this case, we will directly send a notification for the requirement to the cinematographers in Rajasthan. They would know that someone from Bombay wants to hire us. This is how I thought that there should be a system and we cannot rely on social media.
Team Sociobits: Can you point out any major challenge that you face and how are you tackling it?
Founder: There are specifically two challenges that I faced. One is in the technological aspect because the platform is based on a blockchain contract. Everything is made on blockchain technology which is comparatively still a new concept in India because very few developers have been able to make services and products based on it.
I saw that there were already Facebook Groups doing a similar job but it was failing because Facebook Groups had thousands of people and the reach of the post was not even twenty.
What we do is, hire a crew using a digital contract and this has to be the safest option on the internet. And if anyone is able to hack into that contract, it means the platform is not working. So, finding developers to build this technology has been really difficult and another thing is that the media industry is still corrupt when it comes to a crew. Clients do not trust the crew with their money and the crew does not trust clients with the work. The crew is afraid that the client will eat up the money and the client is afraid that if I give him the money, they will mess up the work.
Now, when someone hires through Crewbella, they get two options. First, their money is secure and their work is secure. And another thing is that you will only meet genuine clients and genuine crew because we do a background check and if either of them has been involved in some malicious activity in the past, then it will be represented on the profile. You can also see the Google Reviews of the clients and the crew. So, these are the two challenges that I am tackling.
Team Sociobits:How do you ensure monetary security to both clients and the crew?
Founder: So, let’s say you hired me to shoot this interview and I charge you Rs. 15,000 for the entire shoot. So, before hiring me, you will pay that money to Crewbella which will be shown as credits on my profile. That you have hired me for work and the amount she has paid. Then, I’ll come here and I’ll do my job, after the interview has been shot, you will have to tap ‘yes’ when the shoot is completed and I will also tap ‘yes’. Then, Crewbella will transfer that money to me. Hence, I as a crew, need not worry whether I’ll get money, and you as a client won’t be afraid because you’ll see me working.
Let’s also consider that I come here and I don’t work the way you wanted me to or I do not deliver the quality of work that I assured in my profile or in my resume. So, you can report that digital contract on Crewbella. You can upload video and photographic proofs. The platform will then analyze this and if they find out that I have not worked up to the mark, they will be returning all or a portion of the money that is required to be submitted to you.
Similarly, if I come here and I see that I am ready to work but your equipment is not up to the mark like, your camera is not working, your lights are working, etc. And you have also taken a lot of time for the shoot to begin, then I can report you on Crewbella, in turn terminating the contract. I’ll also get reimbursed for the amount of work that I have done.
Team Sociobits: What are your revenue sources?
Founder: I started Crewbella, not as a means of earning money. So, it is free for everyone to use and it is free for everyone to find crew. Only, when you make a digital contract, I charge a minimal amount. So, if you hire someone for Rs. 30,000, then I’ll only charge around Rs. 1,000 from it because maintaining, organizing, and creating a digital contract is a robust process; it requires money and that’s how I earn. So, digital contracts are my first medium of earning money and the second would be, later on, I can run ads on the platform so that I can reduce the amount that I earn from the crew and client as a commission for the digital contract.
What I have observed is that Fiverr and Upwork only help you in getting remote jobs or jobs that you can do on a computer. They do not provide on-field creators. You can find a good graphic designer, video editor, web developer, and poster designer on these platforms.
Team Sociobits: Can you also explain how are you different from other freelancing platforms like Upwork or Fiverr?
Founder: See, what I have observed is that Fiverr and Upwork only help you in getting remote jobs or jobs that you can do on a computer. They do not provide on-field creators. You can find a good graphic designer, video editor, web developer, and poster designer on these platforms, but you won’t find a cinematographer, photographer, art director, production designer, or storyboard artist. These are the professions that require you to come to the field and work. They don’t have such systems.
Another thing is that the work is limited. So, if you type video editors for work, you will see profiles that say, ‘I will edit a one-minute video and my charge is Rs. 5,000.’ It is already fixed by the platforms. At Crewbella, the price is not fixed because we know that several projects have several other demands. So, what happens is, that a client can post, ‘I want someone to edit a video of three minutes and my budget is Rs. 15,000. The video editors can then analyze whether they are interested in doing something like this or not and apply accordingly. This way, you can find a crew based on your budget, your requirement, and your skills. It works for the crew in a similar way.
Team Sociobits: Since you were ideating Crewbella in 2017, did COVID-19 have an impact on your startup?
Founder: The pandemic is the only reason that I was able to create this platform. In 2017, I only had an idea that I need to build a community where every artist can come and share work or sell work. In 2019, when I was graduating from college, I worked for two years in Bombay in different production houses. So, I knew exactly what the problem was and what the solution was. Thanks to COVID-19 that I got two years to work on, 2020 and 2021. In those two years, I did research, and development, I made my team, I made the base, I promoted the brand, and finally, in 2022, I am ready for my app to launch for everyone to use. We have an active running website but it’s a prototype of what we do. Our final technology, the one that will be used by people effortlessly and will be free is set to launch on 15th July and all of its work was done during the pandemic only.
Team Sociobits: Currently, how many users do you have on your website?
Founder: In the last year, we have more than 6,500 registered users, out of which almost all of them have found work on Crewbella or given work through Crewbella. The website has been coordinated with our social media pages and we are posting requirements every day. Almost every day we post requirements and every day we are helping people to find the right crew. In a month, we hire 40-50 crews throughout the country.
I want my startup to fail only when the product is not good but not because of valuation or some silly investor that has huge pockets. So, I am looking for someone who can invest 5-7 years with an adequate amount of money. I do not want a billion-dollar investment.
Team Sociobits: What are your future plans? Are you looking for investments?
Founder: When I started Crewbella, it was not intended to be a profit-making startup. It was just to help the community but now when I see the market and the possibilities, I will be looking for investors that are here for the long term, for at least 5-7 years because I want to build a brand and I don’t want to create a bubble. Almost every startup today is creating a bubble, picking up valuations, burning them out, and eventually, I am afraid that it will lead to the crash of my startup. I want my startup to fail only when the product is not good but not because of valuation or some silly investor that has huge pockets. So, I am looking for someone who can invest 5-7 years with an adequate amount of money. I do not want a billion-dollar investment, I only want something that can help to gain profit for 2-3 years. And if I don’t see a profit, I don’t want to onboard investments and that is what my motive is right now.
If the app launch is successful by 15th July, I aim to cater to at least 50,000 users in the media industry by this year, while also maintaining my current crew acquisition. For example, if we manage to gather 50 crews in a month, I would want this number to stay stable. It’s good if the number grows, but I don’t want to go below this number. I don’t want to see a hike and then a low, I want to stabilize first. If I see that 100 people want to get hired but only 20 are getting hired, I would be focusing that those twenty people get an adequate amount of services from my platform and while focusing on stability, eventually I’ll grow into numbers. So, this year I am focusing on onboarding 50 crews every day or a week.
Team Sociobits: Are you looking to expand out of India?
Founder: Yes, I am looking to go out of India but the major problem is that a system is already there. They always work with contracts be it Hollywood, London, anywhere big film industry always make contracts and everyone is habitual to it. India is the only country that works with mouth publicity or on liaisoning and that is why it is needed the most in India. Of course, when I have built the technology where I can reduce the paperwork and burning of foreign film productions, I will expand it to Hollywood.
The founder of Crewbella is striving to transform to make the media industry more organized. On the other hand, this will offer many media professionals more job opportunities and offer convenience to clients.
The most recent cutting-edge alternatives to the back-end systems used by conventional banking firms are fintech companies. Fintech encompasses a wide range of sectors and industries, including retail banking, instruction, investment management, fundraising for nonprofit organizations, etc.
In the fintech sector, software and algorithms are utilized to manage financial operations and procedures. Fintech is expanding in many fields, although it is primarily concerned with the traditional banking industry. Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin are developed and used by the fintech industry. It has brought about a significant transformation in India.
Let us admire the list of Fintech companies in India for landing. Fintech lenders employ cutting-edge technology to enhance antiquated and inefficient loan procedures. It enables lenders to streamline their procedures and quicken the processing of payments.
Many Indian Fintech businesses today enable lenders to offer individualized services based on the wants and needs of each borrower.
What are India’s Fintech Companies?
Let’s first study the fundamentals of fintech before learning about the best Fintech businesses in India. Insurtech is the application of technology to better the insurance industry.
Policybazaar, one of India’s most well-known Fintech insurance providers, provides a range of products on a user-friendly platform. For instance, term life insurance offers greater insurance coverage at a cheaper premium cost.
Another fintech business in India that provides a range of financial solutions is Kaleidofin. With the use of its specialized suitability engines, it can give its clients customized financial solutions. Partners include IRCTC, PVR, MakeMyTrip, and others. The business also provides a credit limit with a 14-day grace period without interest.
Because inventory times are shortened, its services also assist businesses in providing better services and increasing revenue. In India, two well-known Fintech firms are Neobanks and Milaap. Both businesses provide cloud-based payment services that power more than 350,000 PoS terminals across more than 3,000 cities. One of India’s fastest-growing Fintech startups, Slice, provides payment gateway services as well as a cashback program that offers up to 2% of each transaction. Cashfree Payments is another well-known B2B Fintech firm in India that offers banking and payment processing. India’s low cost of payment gateways and high success rate make it a distinct offering.
The Top Indian Fintech Companies for Payment
The success of Fintech payment companies has contributed significantly to the quick expansion of digital payments in India. When attempting to grow into new markets, these companies don’t have many advantages over other financial institutions. To counter the challenge posed by Fintech, major Indian banks have increased their efforts to enhance their digital product offerings. Here are a few examples.
Mintoak
Mintoak is one of the top Fintech businesses in India. Mintoak is a white-label merchant payment platform that enables businesses to take all types of digital payments, including cards and cash, and creates a single transaction report. The retailers are now free to concentrate on their businesses. In collaboration with the State Bank of India and HDFC Bank Ltd., Mintoak generates revenue via subscription fees and a percentage of the proceeds from the sale of the banks’ goods. The company is 5.2% owned by HDFC Bank.
While traditional banks resisted accepting payments made using smartphones, Fintech firms in India seized the opportunity to target the deposit-taking business of traditional financial institutions.
BharatPe
Leading mobile wallet BharatPe, which is partially owned by a bank, is trying to get retailers to use its payment service rather than current accounts. The second-most used consumer wallet in India, Google Pay, owned by Alphabet Inc., is promoting fixed deposits at the same time.
The Indian government has made initiatives to encourage international investment in the Fintech sector in addition to these new financial services. The International Direct Investment (FDI) framework in financial services has been liberalized by the Reserve Bank of India since 2016, making it simpler for businesses to entice foreign investors.
The new regulations also permit businesses offering financial services to draw funds from abroad. Agritech businesses are an excellent illustration of the latter. Farmers that use their services see greater sales and quicker inventory cycles.
Indian Agri Fintech Companies
In India, there is little use of technology improvements in the agriculture sector. In the end, India’s agriculture sector provides barely 17–18% of the GDP of the nation. In recent years, India has seen a growth in the number of AgriTech firms that support farmers in improving their lives and expanding access to technology.
Agdhi
AI-powered vision-based technology has been introduced to agriculture by a Bengaluru-based Agritech startup. Agdhi is introducing techniques based on computer vision and machine learning to find flaws in crops and seeds, enabling farmers to buy high-quality seeds and plants. Within minutes, the results will be made available. The objective is to disrupt seed testing, seed sampling, and yield technology, which is now necessary. The business is developing digital technology and coming up with substitutes to support sustainable agricultural practices.
AgroStar
Sitanshu Sheth and Shardul Sheth, twins, launched the business in 2013. AgroStar is an online marketplace where farmers may buy agriculture inputs. The AgriTech business also provides farmers with in-the-moment professional guidance on how to improve crop quality and productivity.
Indian Fintech Companies for Wealth Management
A wide range of features are available in the digital realm for wealth management, such as access to free research reports, backtesting, Algo trading, curated investing options, and investment advisers. For urban Indians, this makes wealth management and investing simple. Due to the rise in Fintech services, several entrepreneurs are seizing this opportunity.
Cube Wealth
With 17 investment alternatives available on a single screen, including equities, P2P loans, gold, liquid funds, and other assets, Mumbai-based Cube Wealth is a wealth technology platform.
A dedicated “wealth coach” who offers individualized advice on every investment works for wealth management systems. One of the site’s distinguishing characteristics is that it offers users the choice of a free personalized investment portfolio depending on a range of factors, such as spending and goals, monthly savings and goals, etc.
Groww
The company was set up in 2017. The founders are Harsh Jain, Lalit Keshre, Ishan Bansal, and Neeraj Singh, all former workers of Flipkart. Groww’s web platform and mobile applications are designed to make it simple and easy for people to make their first mutual fund investment.
Groww seeks to educate investors about the numerous risks associated with each portfolio through Groww Assist in addition to offering investors an unbiased analysis of all mutual funds accessible on the market. The SmartSave service from Groww is an investment tool that functions like a bank account and lets users take money out of their investments.
According to analysts, fintech businesses in India will expand both horizontally and vertically. Technology’s increased accessibility is the key to achieving vertical growth. As people acquire new instruments for saving, investing, and trading money as well as changing their economic structures, new financial innovations will emerge in vertical development.
Through these sorts of growth, India is likely to achieve financial maturity and be able to unleash a significant amount of economic growth. This list of the best fintech companies in India has given you clear guidance.
Everyone who is pretty active on the internet must have come across the viral memes being made on DALL-E Mini also known as Craiyon, a viral text-to-image tool that can make most of your imaginations come true.
For the past month, people have used this AI model to create hysterical memes ranging from controversial topics to a baby from the Victorian era hitting a vape, the possibilities are endless. You must simply go to the website, type anything you can think of, and press enter. But what happens if we just press enter without typing anything?
— ? Random Craiyon Generations (@RandomCraiyon) June 21, 2022
The Rest of World also had the same question as us. They became fascinated with this thought and hit the search button again and again without typing anything. In a bizarre chain of events, DALL-E Mini (Craiyon) was throwing pictures of women in sari’s at them. They continued to try as they thought it was a glitch and this kept on happening every time.
For the unversed, Sari is a piece of clothing that women from South Asia wear. A sari symbolizes a traditional woman in many cultures, including our own.
Right now we don’t have any concrete answers to explain why this phenomenon happens. According to a few AI model researchers, the reason behind this might be incomplete data sets and tagging. This is a guess that people are making as no one is really sure. According to a report from the Rest of World, even the developer of DALL-E Mini, Boris Dayma, seems to be scratching his head in confusion.
It’s pretty interesting and I’m not sure why it happens. One possibility is the potential high representation of this picture in the datasets, maybe with small captions.
Boris Dayma, AI developer of DALL-E Mini
DALL-E 2 can be called the elder brother of this new software. DALL-E 2 can also have its fair share of controversies, most importantly the fact that how easy it would be for people to create scandalous images and circulate them as being real. Keeping this in mind, OpenAI tackled this by providing exclusive access to the app, only for 400 AI researchers.
Taking heavy inspiration from this, Dayma felt like creating an AI platform that is not restricted to a select few people. He envisioned an open-source platform, which can be used and improved by people. Recently, DALL-E Mini got rebranded as Craiyon. Comparatively, DALL-E 2 produces far better quality pictures but the accessibility to Mini has created an entire sub-culture of memes and wacky pictures on social media.
The computer science community which is active on the Hugging Face Forum, a popular place for discussions on machine learning, also gave their two cents on this issue. They believe that the reason for this occurrence might be because the AI could have been trained on multiple pictures of South and Southeast Asian people. These pictures lie in the ‘unlabeled’ section in the data they collect and show up for the same reason when a blank space is being searched on the AI tool.
Artificial intelligence promises to revolutionize the way we work and live. Its integration in different types of industries is happening rapidly, and we can expect to see it transform the global economy. As time goes by, more and more companies will be using artificial intelligence to improve their products and services. In this article, we’ll take a look at how AI has transformed the global economy by looking at the different industries that are benefiting from its use.
Information Technology
The information technology (IT) industry has been one of the first industries to adopt artificial intelligence. Almost every company uses computers to store and process data. With the help of AI, these companies have been able to analyze large amounts of data in real-time. This helps them make better decisions about customers and employees.
For instance, businesses like Amazon use machine learning algorithms to build recommendations for their users. Google also uses AI to power Gmail’s spam filters and translate text between languages. AI also helps developers in the IT industry enhance coding productivity. Coding requires an intensive amount of time and human interaction. However, AI can speed up the software development process by helping developers detect errors and bugs faster.
Finance
Financial services firms can take advantage of AI to improve stock trading, investment management, and banking activities. Some banks use AI to monitor financial transactions, while others use it to analyze big data sets to better understand market dynamics. AI can also help finance professionals identify fraud and other suspicious activity.
For businesses with dedicated finance teams, automated spend management solutions can help managers track spending across different departments. These platforms can also help in budgeting and forecasting, thus reducing the risk of overspending.
Marketing
AI is known to collect and classify vast amounts of data, and that data can then be used to create models that predict customer behavior. As such, you can use AI in marketing to help you target your audience based on their interests, location, and demographic characteristics. It can also help you create personalized content for each user.
For example, Facebook lets advertisers tag people with certain interests so they can show relevant ads to them. Also, if you want to sell something to someone who already likes a particular product, you could send them targeted advertisements or offers. This helps marketing agencies save money as well because they don’t have to pay for expensive advertising campaigns that don’t work. Moreover, you can do things like automating social media posts, which would otherwise require a lot of manual labor.
Healthcare
In healthcare, AI can help doctors diagnose patients’ conditions in real-time. Machine learning algorithms can scan through medical records to find patterns and similarities among various diseases. By doing so, they can develop accurate diagnoses using a patient’s symptoms. AI can also help doctors with their jobs by automating administrative tasks. For example, it can automatically generate reports, schedule appointments, and notify patients when test results arrive.
Another area where AI is impacting healthcare is personal care. AI systems can now perform tasks such as detecting skin cancer, analyzing blood samples, and diagnosing neurological disorders. In the long run, it may even provide high-quality health care without the need for a physician in person.
Beauty and Fashion
Fashion and beauty companies can use AI to help consumers discover new trends. They can also recommend items that suit their needs. For example, retailers use AI to suggest clothes to customers based on their preferences. The technology can also help stylists get more creative by suggesting outfits that complement a client’s body shape.
AI in the beauty industry has also made it easier for consumers to determine what products are best for them. You can use AI to discover the perfect match for your skin tone, hair color, and eye color. These help customers make informed decisions about which products they should buy.
Travel and Transportation
AI can also help improve the travel and transportation industries. It can help airlines optimize routes, increase flight efficiency, and cut down on delays. Similarly, self-driving cars can reduce traffic accidents and fuel consumption while increasing safety. This is a great way to save time and money for travelers.
In addition, AI can determine the best routes when it comes to navigation in the shipping industry. For instance, it can analyze factors such as weather, road conditions, and traffic patterns to determine the most efficient route for delivery trucks. Shipping companies can then use this information to plan better deliveries and avoid congestion. It’s also a great way to reduce carbon emissions from freight shipments.
Business Operations
Companies today rely heavily on software platforms for business operations. The most common examples include ERP (enterprise resource planning) solutions, CRM (customer relationship management), SCM (supply chain management), and others. AI is being used to support these platforms so that businesses can run efficiently.
AI can also gauge cultural diversity for employee engagement. If an organization wants to retain its workforce, it must understand how different groups of people think. This will enable managers to create a diverse environment that fosters innovation. With AI, organizations can easily measure diversity metrics that reveal differences between demographics.
Education
Another area where AI has found traction is education. Schools and teachers can leverage AI to create personalized lessons and assessments. They can also use AI to provide more personalized feedback. On the other hand, students can use AI to learn in ways that interest them. This helps boost student engagement and performance since students find the content interesting.
In addition, since AI learns over time, it can predict whether a child is going to fall behind. For instance, if a student does badly on a test, the AI system can inform the teacher. Teachers can then intervene and guide the student through remedial measures so that they don’t lose ground. Parents can also gain valuable insights into their children’s progress using AI.
As we move forward with AI, there will be many opportunities to use it across various sectors. In fact, you may have already seen some of these benefits at work. However, the key takeaway here is that the possibilities are endless. In the long run, AI promises to transform our world by improving productivity, saving lives, enhancing the human experience, and helping us achieve our goals.
The value of the metaverse might increase to $5 trillion by 2030, according to recent research from McKinsey & Co. This demonstrates the potential effects the metaverse will have over time on various important industries and businesses.
The paper, Value creation in the metaverse, according to McKinsey, suggests that the metaverse might be too large to ignore. Since the metaverse is an interconnected realm of virtual realities, like in books like Ready Player One and Snow Crash, many of us consider this to be science fiction. But as a spatial equivalent of the internet, it has evolved into a concept for the next stage of computing. (Neal Stephenson, who wrote the 1992 novel Snow Crash, has lately launched an open metaverse project called Lamina1).
According to a preliminary McKinsey prediction, the value of the metaverse might increase to $5 trillion by 2030. Prior industries like virtual learning ($270 billion), advertising ($206 billion), and gaming ($125 billion), reveal that eCommerce ($2.6 trillion) is the world’s largest economic power.
the value of the metaverse might increase to $5 trillion by 2030. Prior industries like virtual learning ($270 billion), advertising ($206 billion), and gaming ($125 billion), reveal that eCommerce ($2.6 trillion) is the world’s largest economic power.
This research offers a clear picture of what the metaverse is and is not, what the early adopters are doing, what’s driving the investment, and the possibilities for consumer and business-to-business (B2B) enterprises as businesses of all kinds and shapes aspire to enter the metaverse.
The research is based on a number of in-depth analyses and insights that are exclusively ours, including a survey of more than 3,400 executives and consumers about the adoption of the metaverse, its potential, and its expected influence on behavior. Researchers also spoke with industry leaders and creators of the metaverse.
What is generating investment in the metaverse?
Over $120 billion has already been spent in the metaverse by businesses, venture capitalists, and private equity firms this year, more than double the $57 billion invested overall in 2016.
This investor enthusiasm is influenced by a variety of factors:
The metaverse is benefiting from ongoing technological developments throughout the required infrastructure.
Marketing and brand interaction are becoming more consumer-focused.
Users explore the metaverse as it exists today, which is primarily driven by gaming while apps for socializing, staying fit, commerce, virtual learning, and other purposes arise. This increases market awareness.
Currently, the metaverse is accessible to more than three billion gamers worldwide.
Customers are already using the metaverse
Customers have already arrived. According to a McKinsey study, 59% of customers prefer at least one metaverse encounter to its physical counterpart, demonstrating that consumers are enthusiastic about moving their lives into the metaverse.
Among these customers, the following activities stand out as being the most favored in the immersive world:
Shopping is when you buy physical or digital goods (79%).
Participating in online social events or social games (78%).
Using virtual reality to help you work out (76%).
Senior officials think their sector will be significantly impacted by the metaverse
Business executives recognize the metaverse’s potential to increase impact and margins. Within five to ten years, 95% of leaders predict the metaverse will have a positive impact on their sector, with 31% predicting it will fundamentally alter how their sector functions. More significantly, a quarter of CEOs predict that over 15% of their organization’s total margin expansion in the following five years will be driven by metaverse technology.
This article is only meant for educational purposes. We strictly suggest to stay away from hacking online accounts. We hope to spread basic awareness on the truth about the Facebook Hacking Trend.
At least once, you would have wished if you could hack a Facebook account for free. Trust me, you’re not alone, all of us have done, including me.
But the end result might have probably been a disappointing one. Right? 90% of the people who wish and then put effort to hack online accounts don’t really succeed. And yes, the other 10% does.
If you’re reading this right now, it means that you belong to the 90% of people who fail to hack the password of the accounts they wish to.
The Irony about Facebook Hacking Trend
I’m the Go-To-Guy at my college when it comes to the technical stuff. And last week, some of my friends came to me. They looked tensed and angry about something (Well, not to me).
They said that they doubt if one of their’s friend’s girlfriend is cheating on him. And they wanted me to hack her Facebook account so that they can check her Facebook conversations with the guy whom they doubt.
Crap, what do they think of me? A 100% Guaranteed Hacker? Hell no! I do know some of the methods used for hacking Facebook accounts the fail-proof way. But, I’m not a Mercenary Hacker or something.
Enough of the story, right? So, this is what happens in the world right now.
They think Hacking Facebook accounts is easy as a piece of cake.
They think they can download Facebook hacking software for free.
They even think there are online tools that could generate JavaScripts that can hack online Facebook accounts.
They think if they can complete some online surveys, they can do it.
They think they can easily learn hacking tricks.
Plus, they think it’s not against the law.
The Truth is that, you have been Fooled
And, What’s the Truth?
The exact opposite of the list above. Hacking is not easy and there are no such JavaScripts or codes that could hack Facebook accounts. Think about it. Do you think the big Giant – Facebook’s security team is not strong enough?
Millions and Billions of money roll through the social media websites like Facebook. And they put everything they have to make their security structure strong.
Do you think the big Giant – Facebook’s security team is not strong enough?
And, Hacking is really illegal, and this law comes under Cyber Crime. This could leave you fining enough money to make you go bankrupt, and even spend the rest of your lives behind the bars.
And, there are no such software, programs, tools, or applications that can hack Facebook accounts just with some clicks. Those are all pure nonsense.
You might have heard of some popular online hacking tools with crazy names and all. Here are the reasons why people build such software.
One: They drive in a lot of fools like you, thus making money from their websites via Advertisements.
Two: Some of the applications are even Paid, with which they make a hell lot of money. But you will end up being the clown.
Three: These tools and applications could contain Trojan Viruses and bots that could steal your private information.
Here are some of the most popular so-called Facebook hacking tools which fool a lot of people, thus making a lot of money.
007 Facebook Hack.
Pro Facebook Password Stealer.
Ultimate Facebook Hack Tool.
These are some of the top scams on the internet I’ve seen. They make a hell lot of money luring in people who aren’t aware of the truth. If you happen to see any of these software on the way ahead of you, please don’t use them.
But right now, you might be ready to argue with me that there are people who hack Facebook accounts. Well, you got a point. Yes, there are. You, me, and everyone can do it just with some effort. But, please don’t. I’m again reminding you that it’s highly against the law.
So, how do they do it, if not with these crazy software?
The Real Facebook Hacking Methods
Even though those software and tools I talked about don’t work. There are some other ways to hack online accounts. In fact, there are more than 10 to 20 methods. But, here are two of the Facebook hacking techniques that I’m aware of.
1. Keylogging:
Does the name suggest anything to you? Keylogging is basically the process of recording every keystroke you make to a log file, usually encrypted. It is used to record instant messages, e-mail, and any information you type at any time using your keyboard.
Using Keylogging, the hacker can access the victim’s password, along with the other things she/he types into the computer through the keyboard.
So, here is how the process works :
The Hacker creates the keylogger application. This software is built in such a way that, if someone opens it, it will infect their computer. So, the hacker then sends the keylogger or plants it on the victim’s computer.
And when the victim opens it – Boom. The system will be affected and will be ready for action. It is mandatory that the computer system should have an internet connection in it so that the saved keystrokes will be sent to the hacker’s Email or FTP account later. And boom. The hacker gets the golden information, along with the password of the Facebook account.
[I do not wish to talk about how to use keyloggers. But, there are some trust-worthy spying software out there. The Free Keylogger Pro on Cnet by Download.com is something worth the shot.]
2. Phishing
Phishing can be alternatively labeled as a “Fraudulent Technique“. I call it the Fooling Method.
This is the process where the Hacker creates a fake log-in page and sends the link out to the victim. And the victim gets fooled and tries to log into the fake page. The information typed in on the fake page is then sent to the hacker, thus retrieving the Email ID and Password of the Facebook account – just like that.
It can be also done by sending out a Fake Email to the victim, fooling them with your authority, and asking for your Email ID and Password. Again, just like that.
This was one of the methods I used to do to hack my friends’ accounts while I was in high school, though I later told them that I did. It was a friendly kinda hacking after all.
Keep Calm and Be Wise
Summing it Up
So, now that you know the truth about Facebook hacking, don’t act like a fool again. Know that, there are no free Facebook hacking tools or easy ways around it. And, it really is a Criminal Act to hack other people’s Facebook accounts. Watch out and avoid all those crazy fake applications, it will get yourself hacker or into problems.
Stay Green, Stay Alive.
Facebook’s founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, changed the company’s name to Meta in October 2021 and pledged to invest billions in the metaverse. The magnificent virtual world known as the metaverse has given rise to grave safety issues.
Online harassment, assaults, bullying, and hate crimes are already commonplace, and there aren’t many channels for reporting this behavior. According to the Centre for Countering Digital Hate, a violent incident happens once every seven minutes in the well-known virtual reality game VRChat. Because virtual reality immerses users in an all-encompassing digital universe where everything is made to feel more real and sensory sensations are enhanced, this type of unwanted behavior can be more severe than typical internet harassment and bullying. Because occurrences happen in real-time and frequently go unrecorded, misbehavior in virtual reality is typically harder to monitor.
Simply expressed, the purpose of the Metaverse is to construct a new universe, or Metaverse, within our own. It can be made with the aid of several apps or video games. Social media will undergo several changes as a result of the Metaverse system. Numerous negatives will result from these adjustments.
The main drawback of the metaverse is how disconnected it makes people feel from reality. People will become isolated from the actual world and dependent on the metaverse. This will significantly disturb daily life for most individuals, and they will continue to contrast the actual world with the virtual one while also experiencing despair there. Here are some of the negative effects of the metaverse:
Internet harassment and Dehumanization
With Metaverse, users report that everything seems more authentic. When using it, a Metaverse user is totally submerged in it. In this instance, it becomes even more distressing when a user is a target of cyberbullying.
There is no way to stop the harassment of cyberbullying through participation in any political or social activities. A Metaverse user might become emotionally distressed if he experiences cyberbullying in this situation.
Because metaverses are starting to resemble real-world environments more and more, bullying, insults, and harassment there could become almost as close, uncomfortable, and mentally damaging as in the actual world.
The perceived remoteness, anonymity, and division brought on by the internet can bring out the worst in people. Humans treat one another inhumanely on the internet and social media as if they were communicating with robots whose purpose was to psychologically devastate people. The intensity of this kind of activity might be amplified by the metaverse.
Because metaverses are starting to resemble real-world environments more and more, bullying, insults, and harassment there could become almost as close, uncomfortable, and mentally damaging as in the actual world.
The metaverse will still be accessible online at the same time. Due to the intrinsic anonymity, perceived distance, and absence of repercussions that have any actual relevance to the internet, the metaverse is likely to remain to be a place that produces trolls in excess.
The worst of all worlds is delivered by harassment in the metaverse, which may be as prevalent as it is on the regular internet while also appearing to be just as real as harassment that takes place in real life.
Possibility of Addiction
The reason why people are becoming more and more addicted to the Internet is that businesses have built their algorithms in such a way that consumers will return frequently and spend more time on it. A media platform will make more money from displaying people’s adverts if they stay on the platform longer.
It is simple to presume that Metaverse will use the same economic structure.
We can predict the impact this tactic will have on a user through the Metaverse with a little consideration. The actual world will seem very faint to you while you are in a virtual environment where you can do whatever you want.
Companies in control of the metaverse will have complete knowledge of you
Today’s gold is data. Currently, the big data sector is worth approximately $200 billion annually. Companies will want a piece of that data goldmine if users start using the metaverse even half as frequently as they do the conventional internet today. They will pounce on creating the metaverse and gaining control of it like ravenous wolves. The battle to control the upcoming large data store, which may be the biggest ever, may perhaps be more important than the race to construct the metaverse that we are currently witnessing. We’ve given internet corporations knowledge of our personal information over the past few years, whether consciously or unknowingly.
The organizations in charge of governing, policing, and censoring the metaverse will be able to learn every single detail about you if you spend the majority of your time there. They will be able to see up close and personal whatever you do during the day. Even worse, they might learn more about you than you do about yourself.
Your eye and facial emotions will be tracked by technology in Meta’s next revolutionary VR headset, “Project Cambria”. It’s very likely that someone will gather this important information, just as they already do with information on where you click and hover your mouse on a website and how long you pause when scrolling through your newsfeed.
Your genuine feelings about many issues will be understood by the owners of your metaverse data. They will be able to hear everything you say, as well as the tone and expression of your voice. As you speak or hear things, they will be able to watch your facial expressions and eye movements. They may eventually be able to observe your physiological responses to various visual and aural stimuli (dilated pupils, flushed face, etc.).
The organizations in charge of governing, policing, and censoring the metaverse will be able to learn every single detail about you. They will be able to see up close and personal whatever you do during the day. Even worse, they might learn more about you than you do about yourself.
It is possible for them to learn your true passions and fears through voice and biometric analysis. For media outlets, powerful businesses, and governments that frequently employ strategies for widespread public opinion manipulation, this kind of data would be especially valuable. Companies might then produce media content that arouses the greatest degree of fervor or terror, as this is the kind of content that typically receives the highest level of participation. They’ll be able to manipulate and persuade you after they know everything there is to know about you.
Most likely, advanced AIs capable of simultaneously gathering, classifying, organizing, storing, and possibly selling data from hundreds of millions of users will carry out all of the intricate data collection and categorization in the metaverse through lightning-quick algorithmic procedures. Naturally, businesses will also be able to pinpoint the specific goods and services you are most likely to purchase thanks to data collection.
The Distinction Between Your Metaverse “Reality” and Actual Reality Is Growing
People can now search for and consume just content online that they agree with, ignoring content to the contrary. To take this a step further, social media companies frequently employ algorithms to try and only present you with information that you find appealing, as this is what produces the highest levels of content interaction. One of the main reasons for today’s societal divisions is this component of the internet.
In the metaverse, you will only be exposed to complete realities that you agree with, as opposed to only posts, articles, and videos that you agree with.
In your virtual environment, you might eliminate everything with which you disagree. Perhaps the hard realities of life don’t appeal to you; you could prefer to live in a world where nothing makes you consider anything that gives you the willies. The metaverse will make sure that your “perfect reality” is protected from reminders of social concerns and opinions that you don’t want to think about in order to elicit the most involvement from you.
There might be nothing and nobody to contradict your perception of reality in your uniquely crafted version of the metaverse. There won’t be any opportunities for you to evaluate other viewpoints or empathize with others. You have the power to make anything in your reality go away forever if it doesn’t accord with your mental schemas. Consider the psychological impact that prolonged existence in a “perfect reality” created only for you might have.
What if, after living for a while in your “ideal world,” you finally decide to venture out into the real world? How on earth would you be able to mix and converse with so many different kinds of people?
What if, after living for a while in your “ideal world,” you finally decide to venture out into the real world? How on earth would you be able to mix and converse with so many different kinds of people? How would you survive in a world where people don’t always act the way you would expect them to?
It will probably be a rather rude surprise when you finally remove your VR headset and interact with the outside world. You will find real-life more challenging the longer you spend building and residing in your custom-tailored metaverse “world.”
People will eventually desire to spend an increasing amount of time in their customized metaverse “realities” in order to avoid the progressively more unpleasant experience of adjusting to actual reality. It might start to seem uncannily like a drug addiction cycle. Many people could develop a reluctance to wake up from happy dreams, similar to drug addicts.
The hazards of the metaverse are likely to be overshadowed by the huge number of individuals who are fixated on how it might affect the future as the buzz surrounding it grows. After reading this article, we hope you are aware of some of the potential risks the metaverse poses.
Sitting in our homes and having bottled water is easy. A lot of us have been so privileged that we often overlook the problems that the world is facing. For us, getting clean drinking water is not a task but it is in many parts of this world.
Dr. Suphiya Khan is a scientist, innovator, and entrepreneur. Among many achievements and awards, she has also received a Chevening Fellowship from the University of Oxford. She is the founder of Drumlins Water Technologies, a spin-off company that is striving to solve the fluoride issue in water. A few years down the line, she wants to see India as a fluoride-free country.
Team Sociobits connected with Dr. Suphiya Khan to know more about her and Drumlins.
Team Sociobits: Could you tell us about how was Drumlins Water Technologies founded?
Dr. Suphiya Khan: Drumlins Water Technologies was established at my research center, Centre of Excellence on Water and Energy in 2015 when we had a novel discovery in this area. I come from a place that is situated in the fluoride anemic zone. We have strived for several years to solve the problem of fluoride in water and since around 2010, I noticed that the water technology that was being used didn’t tackle the problem of fluoride contamination or dental and skeletal fluorosis that still persists especially in the young population.
We took this research problem and found a novel solution in 2015 and for the commercialization of this technology, we found this company. Not only solving the fluoride problem, but I also want to empower women through my company because women are still not considered for higher positions in the research sector. And our company has the potential to not only create opportunities for them but also create a huge social impact. This could be transformative for our society.
I am the Founder of this company and have seventeen years of research and teaching experience mainly in the water and biotechnology sector. I was already a part of the MHRD Centre of Excellence for Water and Energy and currently, also run the Water Innovation sector. I come from a very technical background in nanotechnology and water. Our co-founder is Dr. Samina Khan, she is one of my students and has twelve years of business strategy experience. She had a good idea about how can we commercialize this technology. Finally, we founded the company in 2019 to put this idea into action. Our team members are diverse consisting of students with them I have worked in the last 10-12 years and also recruit people for sales and marketing.
Team Sociobits: Can you explain the solution that Drumlins is providing to tackle these problems?
Suphiya Khan: We are in the drinking water sector similar to RO systems. RO systems release brine after purification but our solution doesn’t release that, making it sustainable and affordable. So, it seems like the right solution for community water tanks.
“The unique part is that our solution doesn’t require excess water or electricity for its operation and we have formulated a scalable, patented, and smart defluoridation technology”
-Dr. Suphiya Khan, Co-Founder of Drumlins
The unique part is that our solution doesn’t require excess water or electricity for its operation and we have formulated a scalable, patented, and smart defluoridation technology. Now, we are at a stage where our solution not only removes fluoride but it also removes other contaminants from water such as heavy metals, odor, microbes, etc.
Team Sociobits: How does reducing the fluoride level of water help society?
Suphiya Khan: Around 45 lakh people are still getting affected by the problem of dental and skeletal fluorosis. 66 million people in India and 200 million people around the globe are troubled by fluorosis. In fluorosis, the bones in our body get weak very fast, and you start aging in your 40s. Some people even have to get knee replacement surgeries at an early age. In dental fluorosis, your teeth start turning yellow. It also impacts the productivity of an individual.
The government has also put in a lot of effort in tackling the problem in spite of that, this problem exists. After researching a lot about the quantity of fluoride in water, we found that our body requires a certain amount of fluoride. If our bodies will be deficient in fluoride, even then we will need dental care and if there is an excess amount of fluoride in our body, then it becomes toxic for us.
So, there is no technology in this world that can maintain the level of fluoride in our bodies. Also, the fluoride content in the land or water keeps changing almost every 100 meters, it is not the same throughout.
No matter, what kind of technology you develop, in comparison to the input water quality; the output water quality will always have some fluoride left. All the technologies available have not been able to remove ionic fluoride from water and ionic fluorides are highly reactive. It can be harmful to our bodies. Due to all these above reasons, Drumlins provides a very specialized approach to cleaning our drinking water in a very affordable and sustainable manner.
No matter, what kind of technology you develop, in comparison to the input water quality; the output water quality will always have some fluoride left.
Team Sociobits: Is there anyone else who provides a similar approach that Drumlins provides?
Suphiya Khan: There are many competitors of Drumlins. Some are working on, filters, and RO systems, and claim that their technology can remove fluoride, but not all of them remove fluoride successfully. The novelty and uniqueness of our technology are that our product has a high fluoride removal capacity. And the most important thing is that our technology is a single-point solution. Meaning, that if someone from a village opens their tap, they will get purified water. It removes not only fluorides but also other contaminants. Our technologies are patented and for the purpose of commercialization, we are currently on a market fit model of water tanks. The testing and trial for the same are in process.
Team Sociobits: Since 2019, how will you describe your journey with Drumlins? And what have you learnt in your journey?
Suphiya Khan: It was very exciting and also brutal at the same time. It was definitely not easy but it gave me a purpose to live. Although I am working as a professor, I knew that this was my calling. In 2013, I got the drive to get up and do something to change the world.
It was my dream to see an impact on people by using whatever I studied in the field of science. I think that it wouldn’t make sense to practice my science in a lab that was not fruitful for people. At that time it was vague how will our journey be because being a scientist and an entrepreneur is like a roller coaster ride. The scientific mindset and business mindset are very different. So, I learned a lot. I also observed how other professors were commercializing their innovations especially when I went to Oxford.
After this, the next ten years were very clear in my head. What I have learned from my journey is that you have to keep doing your job. You are definitely going to face a lot of problems, there will be issues in the tech, you will face difficulty to find the right team, and funding will also be a challenge. In spite of all these problems, you have to keep going. When you continuously solve these problems, you become more tolerant and you are also appreciated by receiving awards and accolades.
Team Sociobits: What are some of the challenges that you have faced with Drumlins?
Suphiya Khan: In deep tech startups, it is very important to have highly knowledgeable and qualified professionals. So, affording such professionals becomes a little tough initially. In fact, it is very difficult to innovate a product that is market fit in deep tech. Retaining the team was also a tough job.
Working in a startup, it is also important to manage people efficiently. I feel that someone who knows how to manage people can do anything in this world. Even if you are the smartest person alive, if you don’t have people skills, you are bound to fail. It is the era of smart work.
Team Sociobits: Since you have been striving for this cause for a long time now, is there anything that you would like to share with budding startups?
Suphiya Khan: I would only like to say that you will face a lot of challenges, but make sure that you don’t give up. Sometimes your team members will part ways with you, you should remember that leaders are alone at the top. Until your startup starts earning revenue, it will be very difficult but after that, it does get better. I feel that if you are passionate enough and have that drive, there is nothing in this world that can stop you from reaching the top.
Remember that there is light at the end of the tunnel. You cannot be an entrepreneur in one day.
Failure is not an option for me because if I fail, my team also fails and everyone around me will fail. That’s why you should have strong leadership qualities and networking qualities. The journey is very exciting and as a scientist, I have personally learned a lot of things. The journey is quite long but you should be ready to pay the price to see the results.
When you are at the top, there will be a lot of people ready to pull you down but you should not be bothered by it. Remember that there is light at the end of the tunnel. You cannot be an entrepreneur in one day.
Dr. Suphiya Khan is not only headstrong about solving the issue of skeletal fluorosis over the world through Drumlins Water Technologies, but also feels that being an entrepreneur teaches you a lot of things.
Netflix Co-CEO, Ted Sarandos gave confirmation on the matter of ads coming to the service. Ted confirmed this in an interview at the Cannes Lions advertising festival. Although we are not given an official date on which we can expect this shift, a report suggests that the company is planning to roll out the feature by the end of 2022.
This step from them seems to be a well-thought-out one as the company faced a huge loss of subscribers globally in Q1 of 2022. This was also reportedly the first time that they had lost these many subscribers in a decade. Still, they managed to hold on to the title of the largest streaming service with a user base of around 222 million subscribers.
The Netflix Co-CEO talked about how the company is already in talks with multiple potential advertisers.
“We’ve left a big target segment off the table, people who say ‘Netflix is expensive for me so I don’t mind the occasion advertisements.’
-Netflix Co-CEO, Ted Sarandos.
Ted adds,” We are planning to include an ad tier as a different subscription plan for people who are willing to watch the ads at a lower price. We are not adding to the Netflix plans you know today.”
The streaming giant has currently declined quite a lot, as compared to the numbers they previously used to see. The company on its part has taken a considerable amount of effort into staying relevant and interactive. A month ago, there was also news about Netflix planning to bring live streaming to the platform in some capacity. The product is said to be in very early development stages right now and it will air live content such as during a standup show or some other unscripted shows.
Back in April, the company even rolled out a ‘Two Thumbs Up’ button for audiences to use this whenever they like a type of content a lot and would want to see more of it. Ultimately, as the company is observing a decline in its share prices, Ted Sarandos says that Netflix being acquired is also a reality that we might have to accept. If this goes through or not, only time will tell.
