Montreal - While the “Tinder” app recently made headlines for its Coronavirus prevention message to its users, another, more discreet company had already created through Wordpress, an original global support movement by spreading a message of hope through the collaboration of its thousands of users.

In early March, a Canadian company, "PAGUP", specializing in the design of Wordpress (CMS) Plugins (programs to execute specific functionalities on a website), deployed a small feature through one of them, "Better-Robots.txt", allowing its users to display a message of support in their respective robots.txt (monsiteweb.com/robots.txt) for all people directly affected by this virus.

Upon approval of its users, the plugin in question, whose main function is to create a robots.txt (a file essentially containing instructions intended for search engines - Google, Bing, Yahoo,… - and crawlers), adding, with no consequences whatsoever for the targeted website, a message consisting of both a warning (geek humor) against the Virus “TO CORONAVIRUS / COVID-19, DO NOT CRAWL & INDEX HUMANITY” (compared here to a traditional robot / crawler)  but also health advice for everyone (washing hands, wearing a mask, etc.).

The message ends with a note of hope: “Never give up! We will come out of this stronger ”. See here: https://better-robots.com/robots.txt

# TO CORONAVIRUS / COVID-19, DO NOT CRAWL & INDEX HUMANITY.

User-agent: Coronavirus/Covid-19

Disallow: /

# To you, who will maybe read this message: WASH your hands frequently, AVOID touching eyes, nose and mouth, PRACTICE respiratory hygiene and NEVER GIVE UP!

# We will come out of this stronger.

This message (available in 5 languages), which looks more like a bottle in the sea, was voluntarily deployed by several tens of thousands of users and website owners from around the world (USA, France, Canada, England, Spain, Sweden, …) as a sign of support, and continues its spread on a regular basis.

An initiative that has been welcomed by many Internet users and which is becoming more and more popular.

For more information:

Want to try this plugin and be part of this Movement? https://wordpress.org/plugins/better-robots-txt/

https://pagup.com/  (the company making these plugins)

https://pagup.com/robots.txt  (their robots.txt used by thousands of websites)

For the first time, Alexa users can now hear ALL their messages and email read aloud.

Amazon’s Alexa has become a household name. The world’s most popular virtual assistant is getting smarter every day, and now with Amazon Echo Auto, it’s in your car too. 

“In today’s highly connected world, messaging in the form of emails, texts, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp and work channels like Slack, are integral to our daily routine.” says Barrie Arnold, Co-Founder & CRO at ping. 

“Distracted driving is responsible for more than 25% of car crashes and thousands of preventable fatalities every year.” 

Wouldn’t it be amazing if you could ask Alexa to read your messages when checking your phone is dangerous and illegal – like driving, or simply inconvenient – like cooking or working with your hands. Now you can. 

ping, a specialist in voice technology, has developed a powerful new Alexa skill as a companion to its patented smartphone app, that enables the reading aloud of any message type. Designed for safety, productivity and convenience, “pingloud” is the first skill of its kind for keeping users connected when they need a hand or an extra pair of eyes.

“The ping Alexa skill is specifically designed to help drivers stay off their phones while giving them exactly what they want – access to their messages.” says Garin Toren, ping’s Founder & CEO. 

Opening up Alexa to developers has resulted in an explosion of new skills available either for free or for a fee that unlocks premium services or features. These powerful tools magnify the usefulness of your Alexa device beyond the common tasks like asking for the weather, playing a favorite music artist or requesting help on a homework assignment. According to App Annie the most downloaded apps in 2019 were Facebook Messenger, Facebook’s main app and WhatsApp, highlighting the importance of messaging. 

Once you’ve signed up for ping, it takes a few seconds to link with Alexa, enabling all your messages and emails to be read aloud by your smart speaker or Echo Auto device. Simply say, “Hey Alexa, open pingloud.” ping links your account to your voice profile so unauthorized users with access to your Alexa cannot ask for your messages.“The ping Android app is available worldwide from the Google Pay Store, reading all messages out loud in 30 languages. The iOS version is in global beta testing with the US launch coming very soon,” according to Toren.

All major message types are supported including Texts/SMS, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, WeChat, Snapchat, Slack, Telegram, Twitter DM’s, Instagram and all email types. Promotional and social emails are not read by default.

About ping: “The future is voice.”

ping is patented, cross platform voice technology that allows users to hear all their messages and email read aloud, when touching their device is dangerous, illegal (driving) or inconvenient. Optional software-only telematics provides drivers, parents, fleets and auto insurers with extensive driving behavior analysis and reporting. The platform is also available as a white label app and SDK. www.pingloud.com

Press enquiries: +1 917 622 9900

Vembu, one of the leading Backup and Disaster Recovery Solution vendor, has announced a partnership with MBUZZ technologies, a trusted Value-Added Reseller in the Middle East, Africa, and Europe region. 

This partnership agreement allows MBUZZ to distribute Vembu’s comprehensive backup and DR product, Vembu BDR Suite across the Middle East and Africa, thereby expanding Vembu’s global presence in the region. SMBs and Enterprise businesses across the Middle East and Africa can now take advantage of a comprehensive, affordable and straightforward mechanism of Vembu BDR Suite to provide data protection for their data centers.

“We are extremely delighted to have the innovative Backup & Replication vendor- Vembu in our Distribution portfolio. In the context of Data Explosion happening across the region, our Customers are demanding the most cost-efficient and robust Backup & Disaster recovery solutions. We are sure, the new partnership with Vembu would cater to our customer requirements,” said Fawwaz Al Shammari, CEO MBUZZ.

“With the MBUZZ's expertise of data center, telecom, cybersecurity working in conjunction with the Vembu's complete backup & DR solution for diverse IT infrastructure deployed in virtual, physical and cloud, we intend to provide affordable and enterprise-level functionalities to businesses that have tighter budget and do not want to compromise on critical Backup & DR features,” said Nagarajan Chandrasekaran, Vice President of Product Management, Vembu. 

About Vembu Technologies

Vembu is a leading player in the Backup and Disaster Recovery market for small and medium businesses. Our flagship offering – Vembu BDR Suite – is a comprehensive backup and disaster recovery solution designed to protect the data across diverse IT environments that include virtual (VMware, Hyper-V), physical (Windows, Linux, Mac), Cloud workloads (AWS, Azure) and SaaS applications (Office 365, G Suite). Our solutions are extremely affordable and are ideal for businesses of any size, with a tight budget.

To learn more about Vembu BDR Suite, visit: www.vembu.com

About MBUZZ  Technologies

MBUZZ Technologies is a subsidiary of MBUZZ Group – established in 2007. With headquarters in KSA, MBUZZ has a geographical presence in UAE, Africa, Asia, and Europe. Over the years, MBUZZ Technologies has evolved as a trusted Value-Added Distributor in category-leading Data Center, Security and Networking Solutions in the Middle East and North Africa with highly efficient logistics facilities. Our group is committed to continually adding new strategic vendors to our distribution portfolio to deliver the best products and services to partners and clients.

To learn more about MBUZZ Technologies, visit: www.mbuzztech.com

Soft Xpansion, a company that offers PDF developer tools, standard software and DMS & ECM solutions, celebrates its 25th anniversary.

Bochum, Germany., March 6, 2020 -- This year, soft Xpansion celebrates its 25th anniversary. The company was founded as Maus Software in 1995 in Bochum, Germany. It is still lead by its founders Dr. Juri Stern (Managing Partner) and Michael Kobets (Technical Director). More than 60 permanent employees plus additional freelancers create software for the global market - a PDF SDK for developers, standard applications for end users and individual DMS and ECM solutions for companies. The soft Xpansion group has locations in Bochum, Prague and Vinnitsa (Ukraine).

The PDF Xpansion SDK offers a wide range of modules that allow software developers to implement functionality to create, display and edit PDFs or other digital files directly in their own applications. This also includes features for electronic invoicing (formats ZUGFeRD, FACTUR-X, XRechnung), which gets more and more widespread these days. The SDK is sold through direct sales and by partners like componentsource.com and zoschke.com. The Perfect PDF product family of standard applications, created with that SDK, is distributed by partners through retail chain outlets, online shops and in the Microsoft Store. All individual software projects are tailored to the specific clientsŽ requirements and wishes. soft Xpansion develops them on the platforms OpenText Documentum, Office 365, SharePoint, K2 and Alfresco.

SUCCESS STORIES SDK, STANDARD SOFTWARE AND INDIVIDUAL SOLUTIONS Companies like Amadeus IT Group, DocuWare, HUK Coburg Insurance Group, IQDoQ, Opentext Corporation, STAPRO, ThyssenKrupp and XOS Digital are among the clients of the PDF Xpansion SDK. Individual DMS and ECM solutions have been implemented successfully in more than 100 projects for example for ArcelorMittal, E.ON, Ford, ING Bank, ProCredit Bank Georgian Republic, and a large number of government agencies in the Ukraine. The Perfect PDF standard software, currently available as version 10, is sold globally as well.

SOFT XPANSION GROUP OF COMPANIES IN BOCHUM, PRAGUE & VINNITSA Executive management, the director of the development department and Central European marketing are still situated in Bochum. A few years ago, additional specialized developer teams were merged in a second company (soft Xpansion Ukraine LLC). This company was originally established in Donezk (a Bochum partner city), but had to move west to Vinnitsa in 1994 in order to be safe from the Ukrainian war. The year 2017 then saw the creation of a third company, soft Xpansion Professional Services s.r.o. in Prague. This company is focused on the development and marketing of DMS and ECM solutions for East European markets.

DIVERSIFICATION AND SPECIALIZATION AS SUCCESS FACTORS NO CONTRADICTION Dr. Juri Stern: The IT sector is highly competitive and fast moving, thus a company has to be different in a positive way to be successful. For soft Xpansion, the strategic difference lies in the decision to base its business model on three solid pillars: firstly the PDF tools for software developers, secondly the PDF standard software, and thirdly the DMS and ECM solutions tailored to the customersŽ needs. These solutions benefit from the PDF expertise we acquire in the two other segments: for example, our know-how enables us to use own proven modules in individual features for long-term archiving and for electronic invoicing. Moreover, for digital/digitized documents in general or for eGovernment projects more particularly, we offer a wide range of solutions as well.

About soft Xpansion:
Since its foundation in 1995, soft Xpansion is a specialized software manufacturer with global activities. The product range includes solutions (powerful standard desktop software and apps, innovative software development kits, and flexible, individual programming) in the core areas PDF technology, content/document management and tools. The company looks back on more than 20 years of experience in the IT sector. The software development expertise covers all steps for standard applications and for individual projects - market and requirement analysis, conceptual design, development, implementation, support and advancements. The clients come from all over the world. soft Xpansion is headquartered in Bochum, Germany.

Contact:
Frank Dueckers
soft Xpansion GmbH & Co. KG
Koenigsallee 45
D-44789 Bochum, Germany
+49 234 298 41 73
Fax: +49 234 298 41 72
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https://www.soft-xpansion.com