iWorld
This Mother’s Day, Great Learning helps women reboot their career
New Delhi: In a bid to encourage mothers to re-start their careers and return to work, ed-tech company Great Learning has rolled out the second edition of the #HerFreshStart campaign, this Mother’s Day.
As a part of this initiative, the company will offer a scholarship of up to 50 per cent to selected mothers who can enroll in the choice of career-critical programs like data science, business analytics, machine learning, artificial intelligence, cloud computing, software engineering for data science, blockchain, IoT, management and digital marketing.
According to a report by KPMG, 58 per cent women feel less confident about returning to work post-pregnancy. The initiative aims to help such mothers on a career break by enabling them to regain confidence in their professional abilities through upskilling, said the company in a statement.
Great Learning is inviting people to nominate mothers in their circle to comment on their posts on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram with #HerFreshStart and tag Great Learning. The nominees can submit their form with a Statement of Purpose (SOP) with a brief introduction of their background and why they believe they deserve the scholarship. The nominations can be sent between 6 May and 10 May by visiting Great Learning’s social media channels – Linkedin, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Mothers can also self-nominate themselves.
“As a working mother myself, I am well versed with the challenges and responsibilities of wearing two hats. While motherhood is a journey, so is one’s career. At Great Learning, one of our many endeavors is to enable new moms to take charge of their career and continue to achieve greater heights professionally,” said Great Learning chief marketing officer Aparna Mahesh. “Through this campaign, we aim to do just that by providing an opportunity for mothers to resume their career by helping them hone their skills. Upskilling will enable mothers who are looking at re-starting their career as opportunities continue to open up in various fields.”
The first edition of the #HerFreshStart campaign was launched last year amidst the onset of the pandemic and received applications from over 200 mothers out of which five mothers were provided scholarships.
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.
