So far, we have discussed EVSE, Battery Capacity Segmentation, and Battery Swapping when we reviewed NITI Aayog’s Policy Document on Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure. If you missed all of these sections, along with concrete recommendations made by Exhibit, you could read all of them here. Let’s move on and go further with this document to assess what all things are here for you.
Public Charging Points
Not so important section, but you cannot ignore it. Well, it becomes important for stakeholders to think about bringing establishments and distance between such closest points. NITI Aayog has given the example of the EU and how they have kept different charging points or stations for several categories of vehicles. However, one should only see the good practices present in the EU countries and not adopt them as the conditions in India will be pretty different. In addition to this, Exhibit will also suggest you check how electricity for charging is getting produced. Even, Government and private players who will get involved in this domain need to ponder about green production of electricity. One such example is of setting up a Solar-powered electric vehicle charging station in Karnal (midpoint of Delhi and Chandigarh in the Delhi Chandigarh highway by BHEL).
Setting Targets
Don’t worry; you are not playing a cricket match where one of us has set a target for another. The Indian team had proved its mettle on Lord’s again a few days back when they defeated the England team by 151 runs. Since the core discussion is on electric vehicle charging infrastructure, we will stick to it. The Government of India, through different ministries, has set a target of where to install a charging station, be it in a public place, semi-public place, or private place. But, the issue is that again all this is going through different branches. Rather, the focus should be brought to a special-purpose vehicle or working group that will formulate everything in this sector. No doubt NITI Aayog has talked about nodal agencies and working groups. However, NITI Aayog has assigned different niches to them.
Assessing Demands
Trust me, but this section is very confined on which the policy formulation team has worked properly. Under this, NITI Aayog has laid out the assessment plan with which you as a stakeholder can understand the demand. NITI Aayog is right in its place to record data of how many vehicles are coming, along with the charging time it takes to refuel the batteries installed in EVs. Also, you have to examine the timeline to understand how this demand is increasing.
Leveraging Streets & Electricity Grids
NITI Aayog has also provided information on how a Germany-based startup has utilized the street poles to upgrade them and build mini charging points. Hence, there is optimum space for leveraging the street and its essential points where one recharges their EV batteries. And, to tap such poles for electricity, it becomes important to ponder electricity grid and street poles connection. But, if one thinks of such connections, one has to consider electricity tariff rates. For this purpose, all the state governments have to come up with a consolidated strategy. Consolidated strategy means instructing DISCOMS to establish a parallel framework or bring a new connection for such electricity supply.
Final Remarks on NITI Aayog Policy’s on Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure
No doubt, NITI Aayog has laid down a vibrant framework to ensure a country like India can create a conducive ecosystem. But, it also becomes necessary to work upon eliminating loopholes. For other Auto-Tech section articles, click here.
The COVID-19 pandemic has changed society by disrupting our day-to-day life and triggered a massive economic slowdown throughout the world. The forced lockdown leads to the inability for companies to run normally, which eventually results in the highest percentage of unemployment and dramatic shutdowns of some of the well-known companies.
Some of the companies survived the situation by filing for bankruptcy, but going down the route doesn’t help them bounce back fully as the financial fallout from Covod-19 continues with the second wave. While the term bankruptcy doesn’t remarkably suggest that these companies are shut permanently, they only shrink some of their wings, which causes them a massive amount of loss. Here’s the list of companies that have gone bankrupt during the COVID-19 phase.
Hertz
The Estero, Florida-based Hertz Corporation is a popular American car rental company that operates about 12,000 franchises worldwide and has served people for more than 100 years in the car rental business. The novel coronavirus pandemic that has crippled the global travel scenario made Hertz sink drastically in the business and forced them to ask for support from its lenders.
Unfortunately, it failed to convince the lenders and did not reach an agreement with top lenders, which resulted in filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Along with zero business, Hertz has also been plagued by management outbursts and changed its CEO, its fourth in six years.
Hertz financed itself mostly by taking out loans secured by its fleet of cars, but it decreased the value and sales of used cars along with most of its customers. After a year full of struggle, on 1st July 2021, Hertz emerged from Chapter 11 Bankruptcy with backing by new investors to eliminate the debt.
Aldo
Aldo Bensadoun founded the Canadian shoe retailer Aldo in Montreal, Quebec, in 1972, which operates nearly 3,000 stores and employs 8000 people across 100 countries. The company was already struggling with the business for the last few years, and then the COVID-19 pandemic arrived, forcing them to shut down the stores and make the situation worse than ever.
The Canadian company has asked for protection using the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act and is looking forward to stabilising business that has suffered due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The company has moved its base to a nearby location in Saint-Laurent, Montreal, and more than half of the employees at its headquarters have been furloughed.
Gold’s Gym
If you’ve ever considered joining a gym to get back in shape, you must have penned down a list of nearby gyms and being one of the oldest ones in the gym business, Gold’s Gym would’ve topped the list. Former American bodybuilder Joe Gold founded Gold’s Gym at Venice Beach, California, in 1965, with weight-lifting equipment he built himself.
The American chain of international co-ed fitness centres has various franchise based gyms across the six continents. The company has been in the business for the last 50 years, and during all of these years, the founder would have never imagined in his wildest dreams that something like the COVID-19 pandemic will destroy his business, but unfortunately, it happened.
The fitness centre saw its business drop during the COVID-19 pandemic, and in April 2020, the company said that it would permanently close 30 of its locations. On 4th May 2020, Gold’s Gym and its 14 affiliated debtors filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Later on, in August 2020, Gold’s Gym was bought out of bankruptcy by European fitness giant RSG Group GmbH, which also owns the McFit fitness brand. Luckily, the bankruptcy doesn’t impact its centres in most countries, including India.
Avianca
Humans have been flying since the Wright Brothers invented the world’s first successful motor-operated aeroplane, but the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic locked us inside our beloved homes, which harshly impacted the airline business. Avianca, the oldest airline in the Western Hemisphere and the second-oldest extant airline in the world after KLM grounded their aeroplanes and filed for Chapter 11 protection bankruptcy for the second time in its history as the aviation industry suffered a heavy blow due to COVID-19.
The Columbian airline company was founded in 1919 and certified as a 3-Star Airline for the quality of its airport, onboard product and staff service. The 101 years old airline company was already in massive debt when COVID-19 struck the world, forcing the airline to stop scheduled flights for 2 months. The situation made 20,000 employees suffer without pay scale throughout the crisis. The company was expected to emerge from the Chapter 11 bankruptcy process during 2021, but wistfully it starts 2021 with a $311 million net loss.
Digicel
The Caribbean mobile phone network and home entertainment providing company were founded in 2001 by Irish billionaire Denis O’Brien. Digicel is a sponsor of Caribbean, Central American and Asia-Pacific sports teams, including The West Indies cricket team, which collaborated with Digicel for 13 long years from 2005-2018. The Caribbean region’s top network providing company suffered severely during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic and filed for bankruptcy with $7.4 Billion in unsustainable debts.
Later on, in May 2020, the company announced plans to restructure its debt. The restructuring plan was approved by Digicel’s bondholders and concluded in June 2020. As part of the exchange, the founder of the company contributed $50 million in assets to Digicel, consisting of the company’s Jamaican headquarters and $25 million in cash, but all of these attempts couldn’t help the company to get back in the business as its earnings proceeded to drop deep in the black hole.
Intelsat
Intelsat Corporation is the world’s largest satellite service provider, which was founded in 1964. The Virginia headquartered company provides services to the BBC, 21st Century Fox, Warner Media, and the Walt Disney Company. On the verge of the new 5G spectrum auctions, the company filed for a voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy in US courts during the mid of May 2020, with over US$15 billion in total debt.
The company has been delisted from the New York stock exchange after filing for bankruptcy. According to a few reports, the company is anticipating restructuring to raise requisite capital to launch new satellite technology in 2022/2023, at the cost of some US$1.6 billion. Now, it’s been a year since the company is in bankruptcy, struggling to gain the support of a group of creditors to seize control of restructuring.
Brooks Brothers
Brooks Brothers have defined the American way of dressing for success since its foundation in 1818. It is the oldest clothing retailer in the United States, producing clothing for men, women and children, and home furnishings. The company faced a dramatic low in the business during the COVID-19 pandemic as people dressed down executive/formal wear and preferred athleisure clothes with the rising of work from home culture.
The COVID-19 pandemic prompted a disturbing economic impact on the oldest ready-to-wear clothing retailer of the United States, and due to declining sales, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in July 2020 and planned to close 51 of its 250 locations in North America. A brand development firm Authentic Brands Group and SPARC Group LLC won court approval to acquire Brooks Brothers for $325 million and agreed to continue operating at least 125 Brooks Brothers retail locations in the US and worldwide.
Ultra Petroleum
Ultra Petroleum Corporation is an independent oil and gas company founded in 1979. The Centennial-based natural gas producer focuses on developing its natural gas reserves in the Green River Basin of southwestern Wyoming, Utah, Pennsylvania and Bohai Bay, China.
Ultra reached an influential turning point in 1996 when it bought 130,000 acres in the Rocky Mountains, and the company never looked back until 2016. Ultra Petroleum became a major victim of depressed oil and gas prices, which forced the company to file petitions in the United States Bankruptcy Court.
The Oil and natural gas drilling corporation emerged from chapter 11 in 2017 but shifted its headquarters from Houston in 2018. The company moved on from the bankruptcy chapter and generated $742 million in revenue from its natural gas operations in 2019, and soon it faced business disruption from the Covid-19 pandemic.
The oil and gas company filed for bankruptcy for the second time in 4 years on 14th May 2020, when the Natural gas prices had been at historic lows. Though the Covid-19 pandemic didn’t stop the company from bouncing back, Ultra Petroleum completed its financial restructuring by eliminating approximately $2.0 billion of indebtedness from its balance sheet, which helped the company emerge from bankruptcy.
LG
The last company that knocked our list of bankrupt companies is LG. However, LG didn’t file for any bankruptcy; it still created big news when the South Korean electronics giant withdrew itself from the market of smartphone makers. The company has been producing mobile devices since the 90s, rolled out the first capacitive touch screen phone in the market and introduced us to slow-motion video recording, failed to impress the fast-fashioned millenials and couldn’t keep up with the current pace of the technology revolution.
LG phones faced stiff competition from rival Samsung and Chinese budget brands such as Oppo and Xiaomi, resulting in occupying only 2% of sales share over the past year. The company has been figuring losses over the sale of smartphones since 2015, and in 2020, it recorded almost 4.5 billion losses, forcing them to shut down the mobile manufacturing division. The company will release its last smartphone on 31st July 2021 and continue to provide service support for already sold devices and regular software updates.
The list of bankrupt companies doesn’t end here as many other well-known companies filed for bankruptcy during the Covid-19 pandemic creating stress for their owners and leaving behind their workers jobless.
A few days ago, our Chief Editor, Ramesh Somani, came with a quote – Future is Electric. Yes, it is. As if Ramesh Somani has some sort of telepathy with one of the largest think tanks of this country – NITI Aayog. Why? Check out their website, and you will know why. Recently NITI Aayog has come up with their new handbook on Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure. Now, terracotta environmentalists can differ from me that EV policy is not going to help. The 6th IPCC Report also showcases that human effort towards a better future in terms of climate change is not helping a lot. But, EVs can turn around things and reduce the penetration of pollutants in your vicinity. Let’s know what this handbook is all about from this Exhibit blog.
Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment (EVSE)
If you don’t know what terminology I have just thrown towards you, let me make you understand it easily. Well, this EVSE is nothing but the core component of charging infrastructure. It’s like finding a charging station for your EV, like when you seek electric sockets to charge your smartphones. However, an EVSE has more niche than your smartphone charging point. It is because your EVSE is a public point and will not be present at your home. Hence, you must add more functionality, including user authorization, authentication process for charging, privacy, security, information storage, and network management for better regulations.
Segmentation based on Battery Capacity
Trust me; it’s an important section. Wherever you go to fill the tanks of your car in a pumping station, you get several choices – petrol, diesel, power, CNG, etc. A similar sort of consideration should come in the charging infrastructure prospect of an EV. Why? Now, your two-wheeler EV will not have the same battery capacity that your four-wheeler will hold. Even when the Government of India will think about EV trucks, situations will become more different. So, if anyone thinks to install a charging infrastructure on any land, one must also ponder battery capacity segmentation.
Battery Charging or Battery Swapping
EV battery charging methods will have different methods, consisting of AC or DC. Apart from this, the charging infrastructure must have a battery swapping facility if the lifespan of a battery finishes. But, it can be in a normal car repairing centre. No, it should not be there. You will like to know the reason for sure. See, many of these repairing centres will have the capital to go for such battery replacement. But batteries are a bit costly, and it won’t be possible for small repair centres. Thinking about the population of this country who will purchase EVs after the Vehicle Scrappage Policy, the demands for batteries will increase for sure. To meet such needs, charging infrastructure must add such facilities there.
Final Remarks & Lacunae in Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure
The Exhibit team has discussed hardly anything in the handbook that NITI Aayog has brought. So, I will get more editions for you by examining every aspect of this so-called future document, just like we did yesterday for thesearticles. However, before we wrap, this document can add some more facilities. Governments must think about installing computer vision cameras that can track the vehicle number of your car and integrate the same with the VAHAN portal to know its car details and accordingly give directions to a particular place where they can charge their batteries (due to different battery capacities). It is an age of automation, and charging infrastructure should have such arrangements. It will surely avoid a fuss even in an electric vehicle charging infrastructure.
The independence of India co-existed with its partition. It brought several pains for those who witnessed it. But, technology has come as a solace for them. How? Follow the BBC. Well, some of you will say I am talking about a ridiculous point. How can a journalist platform provide technology? Don’t worry. This story has a different perspective, different edge, and different caricatures. This Exhibit blog brings this news on how some people moved to another side of the border where they didn’t belong since their birth. Let’s know how Virtual Reality is helping out partition survivors.
What is the news about technology and partition?
BBC telecasted news where they presented the story of Iqbaluddin Ahmed and Hari Kishan Anand, who is wearing a VR headset through which they see their place where they have lived in India and Pakistan. These two display their happiness and remember the old golden times with the BBC team. This entire incident is a part of Project Dastaan. Through Project Dastaan, efforts are made for the people to showcase their place where they earlier used to before the partition hit them. The technology used during this project is Virtual Reality. Project Dastaan has this sole motto of connecting partition refugees with their childhood homes.
Modus Operandi of Project Dastaan
Project Dastaan firstly interviews the Partition survivors, during which they come to know about the exact location where these people have lived. Accordingly, it sends a team to that location. This team creates a complete film of that location by capturing some of the finest shots. After doing some editing on the footage, they add this entire film in the 360 VR headset. Then, they take it to the witnesses and showcase the current times to help them find their childhood. This step will somewhere help survivors to revisit the fading moments and memories of their time. There’s no doubt how Virtual Reality can create an impact on these people due to which they feel like they are at the spot of what they are viewing.
Project Dastaan – The Birth
The concept of Project Dastaan got consolidated after two graduates of Oxford University, Sparsh Ahuja and Ameena Malik, exchanged their history that they had heard from their grandparents. After listening to a similar sort of story from Sam Dalrymple and Saadia Gardezi, the idea of this project took birth. The basic aim was to take back partition refugees to old times.
Final Remarks
Project Dastaan is one of the fundamentalist ways that can bring two countries together. And, see what acumen used to do it? Virtual Reality technology. It is like a gift for those who had deep down their heart accepted that they wouldn’t be able to go back and see their native places. In case, you want to know the basic working of Virtual Reality, here’s an article for you.
I follow the Science Monitor show that telecasts every Saturday at 2 PM. Now, some of you may not know, or some of you know who are preparing for some government exams. But, a tech nerd will ask me why am I talking about something out of the tech domain. If you want to know on which channel it comes, let me tell you a clear cut answer – RSTV (Rajya Sabha TV). Once, there came about a research that an IIT did on music’s impact on the human brain. I guess the Apple team took inspiration from it. According to Apple, their flagship product – AirPod, will help to monitor breathing rate. Now, that may look strange, but hey, why worry when Exhibit is there to unveil the mystery behind this research. Let’s know more about this new development.
I CAN BREATHE
George Floyd was not just a phenomenon. He came like that ignition engine that promoted the consolidation of human rights all around the world. And, “I can’t breathe” became the war-cry of that social movement that started last year. But, here, I want to talk about the “I can breathe” moment. The Apple research team has claimed that there’s a possibility through which they can measure your and mine respiration rate. How? Through the sound produced during the music beats or vocals during which we all breathe. Apple has come up with such results after testing it on 21 individuals by their “microphone-enabled, near-field headphones” technique.
How did they test?
During this research, the individuals got the instruction to record four one-minute audio clips. Now, to record audio clips, participants had to do them before, during, and immediately after the workout gets over. Individuals also had to go for some sort of workout for exactly nine minutes every time. This workout helped to induce huge palpitation and heavy breathing among the participants during the research. Once recorded, the pattern in the difference of sound was observed through the in-built versatile non-contact sensors (present also in Apple AirPod series). These sensors act as a breathing measurement instrument. After eliminating the acoustic distortion, researchers were able to come to a concrete conclusion.
Potential of this Apple AirPod Research
The Apple research team has clearly said that these trials were not for devising any clinical mechanism. However, the research paper can help out many in medical applications, one of which is working on cardiovascular therapy and other breathing tracking applications. But, through this Apple AirPod can create a complete revolution.
Facebook likes to be in the news. As if Zuckerberg has given instruction that there should be some development coming out the company’s front every day when he wakes up. Why? See the frequency of news related to Facebook that Exhibit has covered in the last few days. A few days back, news came out associated with Metaverse and Smart Glass, on which the R&D and development team is working. But this time, it is about Facebook’s Transfer Your Information feature. Facebook has updated this feature by adding more traits. Let’s find out more about this Facebook updating its data transfer tool news from this edition of Exhibit blog.
Facebook Data Transfer Tool
Facebook has announced that they have expanded data portability in the Transfer Your Information feature. According to the organization, this update will widen the choice of users like you to add events at other places. This update will also help users understand what sort of data gets support from the Facebook social media platform to store information on other applications, e.g., Google Calendar. In addition to this, Facebook will empower you to add filters on which data you want to transfer. And, for data transferring, Facebook has selected two new destinations, Google Calendar and Photobucket.
What is the use of adding different data transfer destinations?
Let me help you understand this entire thing with an example. Today, it’s the 11th of August. You opened your Facebook application and found that your friend’s birthday is on the 20th of August. Now, you know that Facebook will surely send a notification. But sending a birthday wish that too through a call or message from other platforms can create a huge impact. It will look to your friend that you remembered their special dates. But, how to do that? Well, here’s what Facebook has helped you. Now, you can directly store these events to Google Calendar. You know that Google Calendar has the habit of sending alarm messages regarding events. So, it may happen that on the 20th of August, you will wake directly with that alarm message.
Final Word
No doubt that Facebook updating its data transfer tool will enhance its functionality for sure. However, it also becomes important that one must note what steps Facebook has taken to transfer them securely. If Facebook allows transferring data with Google Calendar, will such information get shared with Google by default? Facebook has said that their development team will come forward to contribute to the open-source projects that deal in data transfer.
Sometimes I feel like getting fed up with offensive ads provided by Spotify. As if they let you like you are somewhere deprived of so many cool things that Spotify has kept as a treasure. In the end, I felt like paying INR 1348/- for the whole year as a premium subscription. But with this announcement that Microsoft is integrating your Spotify account into it, it is like reaching the zenith of peace. Considering the workload that one faces every day, music is the only option that doesn’t allow me to get into the lethargic mode. But people like me and you will surely welcome this step by Microsoft. Let’s get more ideas related to Spotify’s integration with Windows 11 through this Exhibit blog.
How did this news come out?
Microsoft has added a feature. You can call it a Focus Session. In this Focus Session, you can find a Pomodoro-style timer. The news related to this came out through a tweet by a Microsoft hype man Panos Panay. Panos laid out some of Microsoft’s interesting features to its new flagship product – Windows 11. Some of you may feel like you have not a single clue about this Pomodoro-style timer. But you don’t need to worry as you are on a platform that tries to make the perfect blend of lifestyle and technology. Let’s understand it with some examples later in this article.
About Pomodoro Timer
A Pomodoro timer can help you in making yourself more productive. How? Consider that you can concentrate on your laptop for 1 hour and then you need to stretch your legs and relax your eyes. So what? Well, you will take a short break in relaxing, say about 10 minutes. But what in these 10 minutes? Well, here’s the catch. If you add a keyword like a paradise with this timer and application, it may open Spotify and let you listen to Mylo Xyloto’s album’s Paradise song. Now, that should get a big Wow! isn’t it? Well, I leave such expressions to your wisdom. But it is cool that once you take a break, Windows 11 can directly open this song for you without taking any action, not even with your voice. Well, Windows 11 has also eased the work of Cortana.
How does this Spotify’s integration work with Windows 11?
Well, I guess the Microsoft development team has requested an API from Spotify to get access to the user’s account. Now, if you start working, a program will run in the background that will measure your work in real-time, along with the current time. Now, before running this program, Windows 11 has stored some essential keywords and activities that it has to perform in case the user, like you, takes a break or needs a distraction (if the keyword is Spotify, music, or any relevant word, it will open Spotify).
Final Word
Microsoft! You are simply amazing. But I will like what more applications Windows 11 will integrate into it. However, as of now, there’s a thumbs up from my side for Spotify’s integration with Windows 11.
I don’t surf anything on Facebook as I can’t see the frequency of poison these platforms are penetrating into Indian society. However, I have never left LinkedIn, and it has become a habit of following it like Facebook. Yesterday, I found one post where Google’s CEO, Sundar Pichai, shows how their new tool, LaMDA, will work. Considering what I have seen in Google I/O editions, I feel amazed with whichever product they bring every time. This Exhibit blog is for you to give you more details on this Google LaMDA tool.
Pluto Conversing With Human
Through the video, Pichai shared the information that LaMDA is currently in the research and development stage. But, the Google team created a snippet to show this tool is working. LaMDA was acting like a dwarf planet, Pluto, where it was talking about itself. The concerned individual who was interacting with Pluto asked about the information of whether came to visit it. In reply, Pluto answered that it was New Horizon that came a few days back. This conversation can simply give some an awestruck mode. I remembered how their voice module booked a haircut with one shop.
Working Principle of Google LaMDA tool
Many may like this part or section as it contains the granular detail of anything the Exhibit discusses. First of all, it is clear that this tool has added some essential libraries like NLP, speech recognition, apart from machine learning models. The machine learning model and the dataset help this tool grab information on any domain, in this case, Pluto. When it recognizes the words that the user has told, it stores the essential keywords and accordingly sends a reply. This process continues unless the tool gets any hint that the individual is going to stop the conversation.
Cons of Google LaMDA tool
Well, no one will tell, but I think I got one. You will say that even Google or any Tech review firm has not come up with it. But, yes, I got one. How? Here’s it. If you watch the video, you will see that this tool, when acting like Pluto, said that New Horizon had visited it a few days back. It means this tool has no information if any extraterrestrial object went to the dwarf planet. Hence, the information on the basis of which this tool will interact can be limited if the Google team has not provided it. Therefore, it may also happen that if you are talking to the coral reefs of Thailand about the sun cream ban, it may not be able to tell anything on the issue.
Potential of Google LaMDA tool
I see one can use it anywhere and everywhere, wherever one wants to use it. Consider that the Indian railway reservation system integrates this tool. Then, you can book a ticket merely using it and without tapping on any button or options. You will only have to use your hand when you have to book your tickets. Take another instance, you are VP of sales of your organization, and your ERP cum CRM software application has Google LaMDA as one of its features. You can easily check out the potential sales and actual revenue by comparing the leads generated in any stipulated timeline.
Quest is the key. Microsoft is consistently working on building better applications for users like you. Firstly Microsoft Windows 11 Update and now OneNote. And, now the time has come for OneNote. As per the current news Microsoft will integrate its OneNote application with Windows. To know more about this update, check out this Exhibit blog.
OneNote Getting Engaged With Windows
Ohh No! There’s nothing like any social alliance about which the talk is going around. As per the latest reports and announcements that are coming out, people like you will have one OneNote application for usage and not a separate one. As per Microsoft, this integrated application will be there within the next 12 months. Hence, by 2022, you will find something more sophisticated with their Windows-loaded OneNote application.
What is OneNote? What features does it have?
Wait, wait, don’t throw so many bombshells of queries in one shot. Many of you who use their smartphones like EverNote as their note writing app may not know about OneNote. But, OneNote has more edges than EverNote in terms of its functionality and features. It’s for sure that this is also a note storing and writing application. However, this information gathering allows you to go for multi-user collaboration. OneNote is a component of Microsoft Office Suite. Just like EverNote, you can also share data over the network. You don’t need to save documents by clicking on the Save option or pressing the shortcut key – CTRL + S. The documents you store here at OneNote come with file extension – .one. If you have a Microsoft account, Microsoft gives the leverage to you to store data upto 5 GB through the OneDrive platform.
What does this merger mean to you?
It means you don’t need to call upon the Competition Commission of India to investigate whether this merger is proper or not. Bad joke, isn’t it? Microsoft wanted to bring an integrated Windows-OneNote platform after it released Windows 10. But then, they dropped the plan and revived it again now. Microsoft has been upgrading its note-taking application for a very long time by enhancing its features and functionality. Microsoft has also announced that it will allow OneNote to get access to the latest Microsoft pen apart from this merger. In addition to this, the development team at Microsoft will work towards better UI layout options. With all this, there is an assurance that now users like you do not have to maintain segregated accounts and have more comfort.
Google won’t let you sign in on Android phones running on version 2.3.7 (Gingerbread) or lower from 27th September onwards. So, if you’re holding onto one of these phones, then it’s time to say goodbye as the company’s closing the Google account support on that device.
After 27th September, when users try to sign in to Google apps like Gmail or YouTube or Google Maps, they’ll receive a username or password errors. Along with this, if users attempt to add their other Google accounts or create a new Google Account or perform a factory reset and try to sign in once again, they’ll receive an error message.
Android 2.3.7, the final version of Gingerbread, was released about ten years ago, and this is one of the rare instances where Google is completely cutting off the support. Though, users still are able to use some of the Google services if they sign in through the phone’s web browser.
Unfortunately or on purpose, if you’re still holding on to an android device with the 2.3.7 version, then to use it in the future, you must have to check whether your device has the ability to update to a newer Android version 3.0 Honeycomb or Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich to avoid extreme nuisances while controlling Google apps like Gmail, Google maps and others.
The Google account cut-off service news is not going to affect many users, but it’ll still affect some of the old Android users. Google has said the reason behind cutting off the services is that these devices are very old and lags in the world of modern security and can not be updated with the latest security patches.
