iWorld
Gone too soon: IndianTelevision’s Ravi Soni is no more
Mumbai: It is with a heavy heart and profound grief that the Indian Television Dot Com team shares the news of the untimely demise of our colleague Ravi Soni on 10 April. He was all of 28 years old.
“Like a rainbow, fading in the twinkling of an eye, gone too soon…
Like a comet, blazing ‘cross the evening sky, gone too soon…,” go the lyrics of a song “Gone Too Soon” by Michael Jackson.
The words seem fitting to describe the passing away of a young, promising, liked-by-all colleague.
Having joined ITV as production executive while still fresh out of college, Ravi would have completed exactly seven years in the organisation on this 13 April. Just three days short of his tragic, premature death.
“To work with diligence and commitment, to provide possible solutions for issues that arise,” Ravi’s LinkedIn bio read.
And providing solutions he did. To every single production challenge or technical snag that arose, he had a single-word, swift response: “Done”
And the issue was sorted, just like that – without any pressures mounting, temperatures rising or war-of-words in the heat of deadlines to be met in an online news organisation. It was all in a day’s work for Soni.
Ravi’s responsibilities included managing archived content for the website, migrating content to the server, preparing newsletters, editing images and maintaining an image library for the site. He was also involved in the building, maintaining and updating of web-based applications. He worked closely with the creative and editorial teams at ITV and could always be counted upon to save the day when it came to any glitches or last-minute changes while publishing content on the website.
Associated with the publication’s web production and day-to-day running, he was known to be a self-motivated, industrious, and proactive worker who ensured news was uploaded, updated and brought to readers instantaneously.
To his colleagues, he was a gentle, cheerful, ever-helpful, and noble soul who loved cricket passionately. Tragically, it is also on the cricket field that he met his end, during a match on Sunday.
All of us at IndianTelevision and everyone who has known him will miss him deeply and pray that his soul rest in peace. In this sorrowful time, we also extend our heartfelt condolences to his family and loved ones.
Gone too soon…
iWorld
X launches XChat messaging app on iOS with calls and encryption
Standalone app marks shift from “everything app” vision, adds E2E messaging.
MUMBAI: From one big app to many small chats, X seems to be splitting its ambitions. X has rolled out its standalone messaging app, XChat, to iOS users, opening up a new front in its evolving product strategy. The app allows users to connect with existing X contacts through private and group messages, file sharing, as well as audio and video calls. The launch follows a limited beta phase, where the platform tested the product with a smaller user base to refine the experience. Now available publicly, XChat marks a notable pivot from earlier ambitions championed by Elon Musk to turn X into a single “everything app” combining messaging, payments, commerce and more.
Instead, the company under xAI ownership and backed by SpaceX appears to be building a suite of standalone applications, each targeting specific use cases while expanding its broader ecosystem.
At launch, XChat includes end-to-end encrypted messaging, PIN-based access, disappearing messages, and features such as message editing, deletion for all participants, and screenshot blocking. The company has also said the app is free from advertisements and tracking mechanisms, positioning it as a privacy-first alternative in a crowded messaging space.
However, security claims around the platform are likely to face scrutiny. Earlier iterations of XChat drew criticism from experts who argued it fell short of established encrypted platforms like Signal. With the wider rollout, the app is expected to undergo fresh evaluation to assess whether those concerns have been addressed.
Beyond messaging, XChat will also house X’s Communities feature, which is being discontinued on the main platform due to low usage and spam concerns. Migrating these users could provide an early boost to adoption, effectively turning XChat into both a communication and community hub.
The move underscores a broader recalibration at X less about cramming everything into one app, and more about spreading bets across multiple touchpoints, one message at a time.
