On the day of and the days immediately following 9/11 in New York City, the only communication device that functioned in Lower Manhattan was the Blackberry. Another apocalypse, a new device: Zoom.
Zoom is a tele-conferencing application that allows you, your family and friends, or your workmates to join up online and see each other as you chat. You can download the app for free from the Internet but may want to install virus-protection on your device before you do. (I use McAfee. It’s just one of many such available.)
Here’s how it works: An initiator – call him or her the administrator – invites other Zoomers to participate. He/she provides participants with a meeting ID that allows them to join. Here’s the catch: The administrator must adjust the privacy settings on his/her installed app to ensure the meeting remains private. If not, the meeting may get Zoombombed.
A Zoombomber is like a photobomber, someone who sticks their face into the frame and spoils the shot. In recent cases of Zoombombing, unwanted visits to public Zoom sessions have been a lot less innocent: hardcore pornography, racist or right-wing rants, even flashers. Zoom on, but change those privacy settings, administrators, and set strong passwords.
In a classic example of herd mentality – brought to you by the makers of ‘herd immunity’ – amateur investors have been snapping up shares in Zoom. Or thought they were. On stock exchanges everywhere, listed publicly-traded companies are assigned a ticker symbol. Apple’s is AAPL. It stands to reason that Zoom’s would be ZOOM. It isn’t.
ZOOM is the ticker symbol for Zoom Technologies, a US-registered holding company with assets in China. Business in ZOOM was so brisk last Thursday that the US Securities and Exchange Commission suspended trading.
Meantime, over at Apple’s App store, the third most popular paid app being purchased was Zoom. Sticker price? £3.99. Buyers may have been disappointed to find they had just laid out four quid for a magnifying glass app. Caveat emptor, or for us less Latin-ate lot, what you see is what you gets.
Zoom Video Communications, ticker symbol ZM, offers tips on using its app at: https://blog.zoom.us/wordpress/2020/03/20/keep-the-party-crashers-from-crashing-your-zoom-event/
Image Credits: Zoom Video Communications, Inc .