With the rapid rise in its usage amid the forced work-from-home setup due to the Coronavirus pandemic, Zoom has found itself having to apologize over legitimate concerns about the app’s privacy and security.

Zoom CEO Eric Yuan admitted his team made missteps with his company’s video-conferencing platform. “We recognize that we have fallen short of the community’s — and our own — privacy and security expectations,” Eric Yuan said in a blog post. “For that, I am deeply sorry.”

The company shall focus on addressing these privacy issues first, and all new feature updates will be paused for the coming 90 days. The company will also periodically release transparency reports to build confidence. The practice is followed by giants like Google, Facebook, and Twitter to show how they’ve complied with local enforcement with regard to user data.

However, Zoom came under attack after a man alleged the company illegally sold user data to Facebook and filed a lawsuit. It opened Pandora’s box. The FBI (Federal Burea of Investigation), as well as independent cybersecurity experts, raised questions over its level of encryption.

Over the past week, “Zoombombing” was trending on Twitter, as unauthorized people have been able to access meetings and share hate-speech or pornographic images.

Moreover, the company clarified that its target audience was large institutions that had full IT support. Since the outbreak of Coronavirus, the platform has seen a humungous rise in users, reaching 200 million active users from just 10 million within a month.

The pandemic has forced people to stay indoors and companies are trying their best to adopt the “work from home” model. Zoom became the most preferred platform for everyone. Keeping that in mind, most users are new to the platform and range from schools to even remote house parties.

Yuan has also assured that all chat messages are safe, their password authentication protocols haven’t been compromised, and they’ll continue to ensure these loopholes are fixed on priority.

Today, New York City banned the use of Zoom in schools and universities. In the past few weeks, the city trained its teachers and employees in using the platform to maintain some sort of semblance amidst the pandemic. However, after numerous reports about Zoom’s security, the world is quickly changing its perspective on easily accessible teleconferencing software.

Naturally, with Zoom’s quick exit as the world’s most reliable platform, everyone is looking for an alternative. In Japan, a company tried a meeting in the cutest possible place today, Animal Crossing: New Horizons.

Over the weeks since its debut, Animal Crossing: New Horizons took the world by storm. In short order, the adorable simulation game invited friends to virtual desert island paradises from all over the world. It replaced a sense of community lost in today’s pandemic.

Reported by Livedoor, a Japanese publication, the Japanese company tried the game as a platform to work from home. According to the report, an employee invited its editorial staff to a single desert island. Besides meeting, the staff even went on a fishing trip together.

Image source: Livedoor

Though fun, the experiment was less than stellar. After concluding the meeting, the writer listed down the few but critical disadvantages at working in Animal Crossing’s island paradises.

For example, the game can’t facilitate file transfers or private person-to-person chats. Also, usernames are almost impossible to recognize. Adding contacts on the island involves alphanumeric codes assigned to each Nintendo Switch user. And, of course, it’s hard to focus on actual work with island chores always lurking in the background.

As an adorable game, Animal Crossing: New Horizons fails as a productivity pusher. That said, the game is one of the most relaxing gaming experiences on this side of the pandemic era.

SEE ALSO: Nintendo announces Switch ports for Borderlands, Bioshock, and more

Apple, considered to be one of the most valuable brands in the world, is taking the lead in fighting the global Coronavirus pandemic. The company has already donated 20 million face masks across the globe. CEO Tim Cook says they’ve also started manufacturing face shields with the capacity of churning out 1 million every week.

The announcement comes amid reports of massive equipment shortage for healthcare staff. Most countries were not prepared to tackle the virus-backed pandemic and essential resources like masks, gloves, protection suites, and more. To bridge this gap, the company said its working with governments to distribute supplies where they are most needed.

Cook further explained that each box has 100 face shields that are fully adjustable and can be assembled in a couple of minutes. Currently, their looking at a target of shipping 1 million face shields, and will slowly ramp up production in the near future. These shall be distributed within the U.S. Cook confirmed that the first batch of face shields was delivered last week to a few hospitals in Silicon Valley.

Apple is dedicated to supporting the worldwide response to COVID-19. We’ve now sourced over 20M masks through our supply chain. Our design, engineering, operations and packaging teams are also working with suppliers to design, produce and ship face shields for medical workers. pic.twitter.com/3xRqNgMThX

— Tim Cook (@tim_cook) April 5, 2020

With an ongoing company-wide effort, product designers, engineers, and suppliers are working together to ensure a seamless flow of equipment.

Apple is also joining hands with 3D printing based startups and companies to leverage the technology and utilize it in a constructive way for the crisis. These companies have also succeeded in 3D printing face shields and backing of a giant like Apple could help them massively as far as management and distribution chain is concerned.

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As general rules, the CDC or The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention listed these to help with preventing the spread of COVID-19:

• Stay home when sick
• Cover coughs and sneezes
• Frequently wash hands with soap and water
• Clean frequently touched surfaces