A Collection of Prayers

[angelburst29]

Zoom is fairly easy to get used to and we help anyone new to learn how it works.

I just came across this report - in case anyone was experiencing problems with Zoom:

Zoom users suffer outages in Europe, Middle East and US

The use of Zoom surged in recent months as people adapted to life under lockdown. (Shutterstock)

Sunday May 17, 2020 - LONDON: Users of the video conferencing service Zoom reported outages and problems with the technology on Sunday.

The website DownDetector said thousands of people were struggling with the service that has become widely used during the coronavirus pandemic.

The outages were mostly affecting the UK, parts of Europe, the east coast of the US, Israel and Singapore.

However, Arab News staff in London and Dubai were able to communicate clearly using the app.

"Have just had to abandon our weekly youth theatre online meeting and rehearsal because Zoom is not working," one user wrote in the comments on DownDetector. "Ridiculous that there is no obvious support or recognition on the Zoom website of the quite obvious widespread issues people are experiencing."

Last month, Zoom said the number of daily meeting participants had grown to 300 million. The company's share price has surged since the virus started to spread rapidly from January.

Zoom boosts encryption to quell safety concerns as users top 300 million
April 23, 2020 - Zoom now has over 300 million daily users after adding 100 million in the last 22 days, the company said, even as it faces a barrage of criticism from cybersecurity experts and users alike over bugs in its codes and the lack of end-to-end encryption of its chat sessions.

The app’s issues, including “Zoombombing” incidents where uninvited guests crash meetings, led to several companies, schools and governments to stop using the platform.

In response, the company said it would be rolling out a new version of the app, Zoom 5.0 within the week.

The company, which competes with Microsoft Teams and Cisco’s Webex has also launched a 90-day plan to improve the app and appointed former Facebook security chief Alex Stamos as an adviser.

Zoom said it had made several changes to its user interface, including offering password protection and giving more controls to meeting hosts to check unruly participants.

To account for criticism that the company had routed some data through Chinese servers, Zoom said an account admin can now choose data center regions for their meetings.

Zoom shares closed up nearly 5 percent at $150.25 on Wednesday.

Google makes Meet video conferencing free to all users, challenging Zoom

Meet, which has 100 million daily users, had previously required a Google business or education account to set up calls. (Screengrab)

April 30, 2020 - OAKLAND, California: Alphabet Inc’s Google on Wednesday said any user will soon be able to host free video conferences on Meet, turning its previously business-only tool into a bigger rival to Zoom and others battling for users during the coronavirus outbreak.

Zoom Video Communications Inc, Microsoft Corp’s Skype and Facebook Inc’s Messenger introduced features this month to attract users as people barred from going out to socialize seek free options to connect with friends and family by online video.
But Meet, which has 100 million daily users, had required a Google business or education account to set up calls. While Google has long offered free versions of business tools including Gmail and Google Docs, there has been no equivalent for Meet, a service launched three years ago.

The company gradually will open Meet in the coming weeks, and users can sign up https://landing.google.com/googlemeet to know when their account gains access.

Zoom shares were down about 7% on Wednesday after Google’s announcement.

Alphabet shares were up 9% and rivals Microsoft and Facebook up about 7%, all buoyed by Alphabet on Tuesday reporting first-quarter revenue that was better than investors had expected given the virus-hammered economy.

Google has provided free video conferencing for nearly 12 years through its Hangouts service, but it features outdated security and technology and its popularity has waned. The company also maintains Duo, a video calling service accessible on smartphones and other devices.

Smita Hashim, a director of product management at Google, said in an interview that the company recommends consumers use Meet over Hangouts.

“As COVID has impacted everyone’s lives, we felt there was a reason to bring something built for businesses first to everyone,” she said, referring to COVID-19, the illness caused by the novel coronavirus. “It’s a more secure, reliable, modern product.”
Meet calls pass through Google’s servers, enabling it to provide automatic captioning, troubleshoot issues and comply with legal orders to share users’ data. But consumers’ calls will not be stored. Businesses and schools will have exclusive access to recording meetings and other options.

Google generates revenue from many of its free services by placing ads within them or collecting data on users’ behavior to personalize ads. That will not be true for Meet, Hashim said.

Google’s cloud services unit, which developed Meet, does not use customer data for advertising and that will apply to free users, too, she said.

But Meet will cut free calls after an hour starting in October, compared with no time limit on Messenger and Skype and a 40-minute restriction on consumer Zoom accounts. Free Meet calls also will be limited to no more than a single host and 100 participants — the same as Zoom’s free version but above the 50 on Messenger and Skype.

Google aims to deter bad behavior by requiring all participants of the consumer version of Meet to sign in with a Google account. Participants’ names and profile pictures will be visible on calls, but their email addressees will not be shared, Hashim said.

 

[Jacques]

Just a conjugation correction (in French) concerning my prayer above. It should have read:
"Mais qui m'était cachée".

It has been corrected.

 

[sebbe]

Thank you Gandalf !

 

[goyacobol]

April 23, 2020 - Zoom now has over 300 million daily users after adding 100 million in the last 22 days, the company said, even as it faces a barrage of criticism from cybersecurity experts and users alike over bugs in its codes and the lack of end-to-end encryption of its chat sessions.

The app’s issues, including “Zoombombing” incidents where uninvited guests crash meetings, led to several companies, schools and governments to stop using the platform.

Thanks, @angelburst29. We have been using Zoom for several meet-up groups for a while now and have not noticed this being a problem but we are using precautionary measures for any public room meetings.

So far no "Zoombombing" problems have happened for our meetings.

"300 million daily users after adding 100 million in the last 22 days" is kind of understandable that you would have some problems maybe.

Locked down people need to have some way to communicate with each other and this really shows how that can make a big impact on social communication platforms.

My grandson has attended Zoom meetings for his kindergarten classes with no problems as an example. As the Cs said in the last session "Be calm".