Gaming studio from India behind hits like Daily Themed Crossword, WordTrip, and Crossword Jam! Join the fun

PlaySimple Games

PlaySimple Games | 49,235 followers on LinkedIn. We are one of India’s most exciting &amp; fast-growing mobile gaming companies. Founded in 2014, and creating a global mobile gaming landscape in partnership with Modern Times Group (MTG), our vision is to create simple, impactful casual game ...

PlaySimple Games | LinkedIn

PlaySimple Games develops a wide variety of word games that are engaging and accessible to people of all ages.

PlaySimple Games - Crunchbase Company Profile & Funding

Glassdoor gives you an inside look at what it&#x27;s like to work at PlaySimple Games, including salaries, reviews, office photos, and more. This is the PlaySimple Games company profile. All content is posted anonymously by employees working at PlaySimple Games.

Working at PlaySimple Games | Glassdoor

Committed to creating simple, ... Powered by best-in-class technology and analytics infrastructure, PlaySimple takes a highly sophisticated data-driven approach that has been pivotal to the company’s success to date....

Get to know PlaySimple - MTG : MTG

Information on acquisition, funding, cap tables, investors, and executives for PlaySimple. Use the PitchBook Platform to explore the full profile.

PlaySimple Company Profile: Acquisition & Investors | PitchBook

Its Gaming Village continues to grow too, with companies under MTG’s umbrella including Ninja Kiwi, Innogames, Kongregate and, of course, PlaySimple. Importantly, the studios each preserve their own identities under MTG, from a fully remote working model at Kongregate to a &quot;Flexible Four ...

Modern Times Group takes 100% ownership of PlaySimple | Pocket ...

PlaySimple Games | 48.612 Follower:innen auf LinkedIn. We are one of India’s most exciting &amp; fast-growing mobile gaming companies. Founded in 2014, and creating a global mobile gaming landscape in partnership with Modern Times Group (MTG), our vision is to create simple, impactful casual ...

&quot;Founded in 2014 with a vision to create a network of social word games, PlaySimple Games has launched a network of products that have millions of daily users. Headquartered in Bengaluru, PlaySimple Games is the startup that has developed games like WordJam, WordTrek, WordTrip, and, ...

PlaySimple Company Profile, information, investors, valuation & ...

57 PlaySimple Games reviews. A free inside look at company reviews and salaries posted anonymously by employees.

PlaySimple Games Reviews | Glassdoor

NEW DELHI: Two top venture capital firms, SAIF Partners and IDG Ventures India have led a Rs 27 crore round of funding in Bengaluru-based mobile social gaming startup PlaySimple Games. Proceeds from the Series A round of financing, will be used by the two year-old Bengaluru-based company to expand ...

PlaySimple Games scoops up Rs 27 crore in Series A funding from ...

Company profile page for PlaySimple Games Pvt Ltd including stock price, company news, executives, board members, and contact information

PlaySimple Games Pvt Ltd - Company Profile and News - Bloomberg ...

Playsimple: MTG buys Indian mobile words game firm PlaySimple for SEK 3 bln plus earn-outs of over SEK 1 bln ... Discover new companies using five search parameters, including sector, location, public/private company status, employee count, and annual revenue.

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Improve your vocabulary with the best free word and puzzle games!

Android Apps by PlaySimple Games on Google Play

Word Trip is the perfect word game to relax your mind and become a word legend!

Word Trip - Apps on Google Play

We are one of India’s most exciting \u0026 fast-growing mobile gaming companies

PlaySimple

Part One: SOAP-based APIs Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) is a messaging protocol based on requests and responses using an XML format. Although some legacy systems still use SOAP over SMTP, the transport method typically used for SOAP requests is HTTP. As an API protocol, SOAP is platform- and language-agnostic, allowing for two applications running on completely different systems to communicate with one another. This post is part of a two-part series covering how to create custom API endpoints in Salesforce with APEX. In Part One, we’ll walk through how to create a SOAP-based API endpoint for other applications to use when communicating with your Salesforce org. A Brief Introduction to SOAP Each SOAP message is contained in an “envelope,” which has a header and a body. The header contains application-related information, such as the date when the message was generated or ids related to the message context. The body contains the actual message. Here is an example SOAP message with a format that would be used for authenticating to Salesforce: <soapenv:Envelope xmlns:soapenv="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/" xmlns:urn="urn:enterprise.soap.sforce.com">
 <soapenv:Header>
 <urn:LoginScopeHeader>
 <urn:organizationId>12345</urn:organizationId>
 <urn:portalId>abcde</urn:portalId>
 </urn:LoginScopeHeader>
 </soapenv:Header>
 <soapenv:Body>
 <urn:login>
 <urn:username>johndoe</urn:username>
 <urn:password>mypassword</urn:password>
 </urn:login>
 </soapenv:Body>
</soapenv:Envelope> Since each message has the same structure, SOAP is system agnostic. For example, an application running on a Windows 11 machine can send a message to another application running on a Unix-based web server. Though the message can be sent using SMTP or HTTP, SOAP messages should ideally be sent with HTTPS, with either simple or mutual authentication. SOAP is mostly used to create an or to exchange server-to-server information. Therefore, it is very important for the two systems to establish trust. Salesforce provides multiple ways to accomplish authentication. API web service The relationship between SOAP and WSDL Although all SOAP messages have the same structure, the SOAP specification doesn’t define other aspects, such as message format or transport protocol. The Web Services Description Language (WSDL) describes the message formats, transport details, and operations of the web service. The WSDL file can be considered a contract between the client and the service. How to Create a SOAP-based API in Salesforce Now that we have covered the fundamentals let’s begin implementing our SOAP API. Set up a Salesforce org First, you need a Salesforce org. Salesforce provides free Developer edition orgs, and signing up for one is straightforward. Go to the and provide your details. You should receive an invite link within a few minutes. sign-up page Creating a global class with Apex To create a SOAP web service in Salesforce, we will need to create a globally defined Apex custom class. In our class, we’ll use the keyword and definition modifier for every method we want to expose. Adding the keyword automatically gives global access to the method it is added to. webservice static webservice In order to create this class in our shiny, new org, we go to , and then find . In the table listing existing classes, we click . Setup Custom Code -> Apex Classes New To learn more about Apex and how to create classes, check out this and the . Trailhead page Apex documentation Below, we have a sample class that exposes a method used to create new Contact records in Salesforce. The method accepts a Contact’s details as parameters and inserts a new Contact record. ContactAPI createContact If successful, it returns the ID of the newly created Contact along with a message. In case of a failure, it returns an error message. Please copy the code and paste it into the newly created empty class. global class ContactAPI {
 webservice static String createContact (String firstName, String lastName, String contactEmail, String salutation) { 
 try {
 Contact newContact = new Contact();
 newContact.Salutation = salutation;
 newContact.FirstName = firstName;
 newContact.LastName = lastName;
 newContact.Email = contactEmail;

 insert newContact;
 return 'Successfully inserted new Contact! Id:' + String.valueOf(newContact.Id);
 } catch (Exception e) {
 return 'Error:' + e.getMessage();
 }
 }
} Next, we click . Save That’s it! Our web service is ready for operations. We have successfully created a SOAP API in Salesforce. Generate the WSDL We now need to generate a WSDL file and provide it to the external application or third-party developers who can then consume it to call our method. createContact Salesforce provides two out-of-the-box WSDL files to integrate client applications with Salesforce: The is optimized for a single Salesforce org. It’s strongly typed, meaning it contains objects and field definitions for this particular org. Whenever there is a change in the metadata (object and/or fields) in the Salesforce org, a new WSDL needs to be generated and provided to the client (to consume again). Enterprise WSDL The is optimized for use with many Salesforce orgs. It’s loosely typed, and it doesn’t change based on an org’s specific configuration. Partner WSDL In order to utilize our web service, we’ll use the WSDL for our Apex class (to actually call our web service), and we’ll use the Enterprise WSDL to authenticate to Salesforce. After creating our class, we see it show up in the list of Apex classes. In the row for ContactAPI, we click on the link to generate a WSDL. ContactAPI WSDL This will open a new tab with our WSDL, which will look similar to this: We save this file to our local machine, naming it . contactAPI-wsdl.xml To generate the Enterprise WSDL for our Salesforce org, we go to the Setup page, and then find . Then, we click on . Integrations -> API Generate Enterprise WSDL Your generated WSDL should look similar to this: We save this file to our local machine, naming it . enterprise_wsdl.xml To generate the WSDL for your Apex Class: Go to the Setup page. Type and select Apex Classes. Find your class. In our case, it’s ContactAPI. Click on the name. On the next screen, you will have the class page where you have the button. Generate WSDL Test and validate To ensure that the web service works, we’ll consume it by calling it from our web application and see if it responds correctly. We’ll also cover how to validate our API with unit testing. Consume the API For the purpose of this demo, we’ll use , which is an open-source tool to test SOAP (and other protocols) web services. With SoapUI installed and running, we create a new SOAP Project, providing a name and selecting our file as the initial WSDL. SoapUI enterprise_wsdl.xml We now have all available Salesforce SoapBindings listed on the left. First, we need to authenticate our web application to Salesforce. We do this by using the call and providing our login credentials. login Use a security token For added security, we also need to add a to our password to authenticate. We can get a security token by going to the page and selecting on the left. Then, press the button with the same name. We will then receive our security token by email. Security Token Settings Reset My Security Token Log in with the token and credentials With our token in hand, we select the SoapBinding in SoapUI. Ensure you have the correct URL depending on your org. If you just signed up for a developer account, the URL should be . If you are testing this in a Sandbox, then the URL should be . Ideally, the generated Enterprise WSDL will already have the correct URL. login https://login.salesforce.com https://test.salesforce.com For demo testing, we can comment out all other parameters except username and password. We press the green button on the top left of the window to send the request. We receive a response that looks like this: Play The critical pieces that we are looking for in the response are and . In order to call our web service, we need to provide the together with other parameters in our call. We copy down this , as we will need this later. sessionId serverUrl sessionId sessionId Call our SOAP API Let’s call our class and create a Contact in Salesforce. To do this, we need to add our ContactAPI WSDL file, , to our project. We right-click on the project folder and select . ContactAPI contactAPI-wsdl.xml Add WSDL After adding the WSDL, it also appears in the left menu like below. Double-click on to see the request. For this example, we can remove everything from the SOAP envelope header except for the with node. Request 1 SessionHeader sessionId After removing the unwanted nodes, we provide the that we copied from our login call earlier. Then, in the section of the envelope, we provide the details of the contact to be created. sessionId Body We press the green button on the top left. Vóila! We have successfully created a Contact in Salesforce and received its . Play Id Check Salesforce org for new contact Let’s look inside our Salesforce org to see if everything was created correctly. We go to our Salesforce org, click the waffle icon on the left and then type in the search bar to find and select . App Launcher Contact Contacts By default, we land on the Contacts page with the list view. Click the down arrow and select either or list view. Recently Viewed Contacts All Contacts My Contacts : If you are in a Developer org, you will see a bunch of dummy Contacts (and other records) that Salesforce creates for you to test the platform. Note We type the name of our newly created contact in the list search box on the right, and we see our new contact! When we click on the Contact name, we end up on the Details page for that Contact. Call our SOAP API with invalid data Lastly, in order to ensure that our API is working properly, let’s send a bad request to see what we get as a response. We’ll simply send another request to our SOAP web service, but this time replace the in the email address with a instead. . , This time, we receive an (as we programmed in the API). error message The entire error message reads like this: Error:Insert failed. First exception on row 0; first error: INVALID_EMAIL_ADDRESS, Email: invalid email address: sheila@gmail,com: [Email] This shows that our SOAP-based API is working as designed. With this foundation, we can build other SOAP-based APIs to create records for different objects. Unit Testing Besides consuming our SOAP-based API, another way to validate it works properly is through testing. Test Driven Development (TDD) is at the core of Salesforce development. To ensure the stability and reliability of the platform, Salesforce requires your custom code to have a minimum of 75% code coverage via unit tests in order to deploy it to a production environment. Let’s create some unit tests for our web service. @isTest
private class TestContactWebService {
 static testMethod void testInsertNewContact() {
 // Create test data for positive test
 String salutation = 'Mr.';
 String firstName = 'Max';
 String lastName = 'Bond';
 String emailAddress = 'm.bond@mi5.gov.uk';
 
 Test.startTest();
 //Call the method with parameters
 String result = ContactAPI.createContact(firstName, lastName, emailAddress, salutation);
 Test.stopTest();

 Contact newContact = [SELECT FirstName FROM Contact WHERE LastName = 'Bond'];
 System.assertEquals(newContact.FirstName, 'Max', 'Assert Error: Please check the ContactAPI class');
 }

 static testMethod void testInsertNewContactFail() {
 // Create test data for failing test
 String salutation = 'Mr.';
 String firstName = 'Max';
 String lastName = 'Bond';
 // The email address has , instead of .
 String badEmailAddress = 'm.bond@mi5,gov,uk';
 
 Test.startTest();
 
 //Call the method with parameters
 String result = ContactAPI.createContact(firstName, lastName, badEmailAddress, salutation);
 Test.stopTest();

 // This should contain the Error substring that we added to the catch block above.
 System.assert(result.contains('Error:'), 'Fail Assert Error: Please check the ContactAPI class');
 }
} In our unit test, we created two scenarios: a “happy path” that verifies valid inputs result in a newly created Contact record, and a “sad path” where we expect the API to return an error on invalid inputs. Salesforce also provides a . Trailhead on unit testing in Apex Conclusion In this post, we only scratched the surface in terms of the capabilities that Salesforce provides when it comes to SOAP. As we saw, the generated Enterprise WSDL makes a long list of SoapBindings available. In addition, we can create our own custom classes and SOAP-based web services. If you have a (legacy) application that uses SOAP to communicate with other systems, you now have the tools to connect that application to your Salesforce org. With enterprise-level security baked into the platform, you can be sure that your connection is safe and your data is protected. In Part Two of our series, we’ll cover REST APIs, demonstrating how to use Apex to create a custom REST API endpoint for our Salesforce org.

Creating Custom API Endpoints in Salesforce with Apex

The Multi Online Battle Arena (MOBA) is the . This genre can sometimes be referred to as Real Time Strategy (RTS), and the MOBA is technically a subcategory of the RTS. most successful genre in gaming history The primary difference is that you can’t build or construct units on MOBAs. You have to use pre-spawned units to destroy enemies or complete certain objectives in a specific map. You have to use your environment and strategy against your opponents. It takes a lot of skill to master and certain MOBAs have gigantic online followings, as well as active discussion forums. The History of MOBA Gaming Believe it or not, the MOBA gaming genre actually started out as a custom map on Starcraft. This map was called Aeon of Stripe and this is regarded by many as the origins of MOBA gaming. The next phase of MOBA gaming, and where it really took off, was Defense of the Ancients (DotA). This was the most defining MOBA of its era, and was yet another modification, but this time of World of Warcraft III. This was 5v5 gameplay in 2003. However, it was not until 2013 that Valve released a standalone version of the game, known as DotA 2. The first DotA rendition was one of the most popular MOBA modifications of all time. It features tens of millions of active players and invariably took part in the , which it helped to grow. multi-billion dollar eSports industry DotA2 is still largely regarded as the best and most popular standalone MOBA game of all time. It’s also considered one of the , breaking eSports records. Since DotA2, developers have been inspired to create many more MOBA games due to its massive popularity. best video games of all time Why the Popularity of MOBA Gaming? Any gaming genre that reaches tens of millions of people does so due to a confluence of factors. The best selling MOBA games will undoubtedly include: * A likable theme (sci-fi, classical, medieval, etc). * Group play. * Strategic elements. * An interactive and somewhat complex environment. * Complexity, growth, and variance. * Free to play. MOBA games are said to be simple to start, but hard to master. Developers are continually adding in new elements and if you stop, your skills quickly become obsolete. MOBA games are able to maintain their player base through a rewarding but significant skill gap. Players are able to see the improvement in their play and are rewarded for their talents. This provides an excellent platform for eSports as the abilities of the gamer are on full display. So MOBA games have low barriers of entry (free to play, simple to understand) but no limit to progress (eSports, additional elements, evolving gameplay). The team aspect is also hard to ignore, as it's simply more fun to play in teams than alone, in many instances. The Future of MOBA Is Even Better Than The Past The strange thing is that we might just be getting started with MOBAs, not finishing. With the rise of Web3 and the integration of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), the genre will become even more attractive. Web3 MOBA games will contain in-game NFT rewards. These NFT rewards will be traded for other NFTs and cryptocurrencies in cross-chain marketplaces. In other words, the integration of NFTs takes gamification to a whole new level. Gamers are continually rewarded with an exchangeable asset. As popular as eSports was, it was still reserved for elite gamers who took all the rewards. NFTs means that players of intermediate or high (or opposed to elite) skill levels will get just rewards for their participation. We saw this with P2E ecosystems such as Axie Infinity. Residents of the Philippines earned so much during this period that the governments decided that reverence from the platform constituted taxable income. Future MOBAs will also be created on blockchain databases. This means they will be faster with interoperability between NFT marketplaces and decentralized applications. These modern MOBAs will contain all of the classical positive features, being free to play, simple to start, and with increasing complexity and strategy to keep people interested and engaged for long time horizons. New Gaming Genres To Build on MOBAs? New Web3 development companies are taking core components of the popular MOBA genre,  while not fitting neatly into the same category. Take for example. It is combining education with enjoyment through a Roman-themed universe to target historical gamers. This is an underserved community in gaming, which tends to lean towards fantasy and sci-fi. CaesarVerse is an open world environment that will incorporate real time strategy elements. CaesarVerse CaesarVerse is taking a different avenue as compared to competition and rewards. It is educational in nature, allowing gamers to really immerse themselves in Roman culture to see what it was like. It aims to include a rank structure for the legionary combat where a high rank player can command other players. These players would get massive XP boosts for obeying orders. Not only do players get hands-on experience with immersive missions completed solo or collaboratively; classmates are also able to engage each other while struggling against challenges together. The project hopes to integrate VR components for a truly immersive experience in Roman culture. NFTs integration will also assist with rewards and education - the NFTs could be Roman armor, scrolls, amulets, coins, etc. Games like CaesarVerse indicate that there is still a lot of room for innovation in Web3, building on previous genres and tackling real-world problems. For instance, it could be used to ensure there are more women in Web3, which has always been an issue. Even in eSports, there are very few women involved, despite the rewards. An upcoming aims to facilitate an increase in female participation in technology. Web3 projects are unique in the sense of tackling multiple birds with one stone through creativity and innovation. Web3 event in Miami Moving Forward With MOBA MOBA games are fun, enjoyable, rewards-based, and potentially even educational. It’s entirely possible to make group games that people learn from, as well as providing games that people can make a living on. Regardless of the goal, the MOBA genre is going to take off even further through creative Web3 implementations. With the potential inclusion of VR components and in-game rewards, we will see a completely new era in MOBA gaming that will dwarf previous records.

What Makes MOBA Games So Successful?

Joshua Galloway has been a gamer since he was a child. His father worked at Litton Industries which made gyroscopes for missile defence systems in the US – which also made microwave ovens – but he brought home the latest PCs. As a result, Galloway and his twin brother spent a lot of time on the PC – as well as fighting off their other four siblings – and were the only kids on the block to have a PC in the home. Gaming and basic coding fascinated them with Galloway now heading up one of the fastest moving blockchain gaming platforms in Lepricon and his brother working in the game development industry. “Games have changed a lot since then,” he admits. “We played games like Olympics which basically consisted of two dots running around a track. Then we got an upgrade to a games console similar to an Atari." “But whatever we had, we often had a family games night. It was in our blood,” says Galloway. Galloway took a job at God Games, part of Rockstar Games and the maker of the popular Grand Theft Auto. He had a choice to go to New York or Hong Kong. “I came for one year and I’m still here 20 years later,”  says Galloway. Galloway was involved in publishing games across Asia and watched huge amounts crowdfunded for games, including Star Citizen which raised $300 million. Watching the AAA games doing so well Galloway was also aware that these games would eat into ordinary budgets. The internet and massively multiplayer online (MMO) gaming changed the gaming landscape overnight. Galloway became general manager of a launchpad in Hong Kong, looking for tech startups to launch new games and distribute them into Asia. His second startup was based in Malaysia and was a digital distribution platform. “This was in the ‘90s so we had to contend with very slow speed broadband.” But while they were distributing casual games, some of the technology was pretty revolutionary for its time. “It’s now standard fare – digital rights management, content delivery networks, billing and payment systems – but at the time we were cutting edge,” he says. Galloway then went into Brunei via a telecom deal offering value-added services to the billing system so that everyone had access to free games. “Before there was widespread piracy in gaming, but by giving them free games we were helping legitimize the game industry.” Galloway used a  process where the gaming platform only streamed the first 10 or 20% making it lighter on bandwidth, but they kept on bundling free or low-cost games. “We replaced things like the Encyclopedia Britannica which was been pushed out of popularity by software services like Google Search and Wikipedia. We persuaded the broadband providers to give us a tiny transaction fee per user which in turn allowed us to pay royalties to the games companies.” Previously, games developers were not earning any money with wholescale piracy, this was literally a game-changer. MMORPG or massively multiplayer online role-playing games, have always fascinated Galloway, not that he has much time to get involved. “Some games might take 40 people and hours just to get ready – then someone slips up and everyone has to start again – as a father and entrepreneur I just don’t have time. Actually, a friend of mine pays someone to play for him – that’s one solution I suppose." “When you are a founder you are wearing 50 hats – but it is important to spend some of your spare time in the gaming world – just to keep in touch.” The play-to-earn concept has also caught Galloway’s eye. It’s not enough to tempt him but a kid in the Philippines might make a decent living playing a couple of shifts a week. This is proven by the Axie Infinities game which topped more than 800,000 people on their server in July. “Blockchain and the gaming industry are colliding in a big way and play to earn can now be considered mature.” For Galloway, blockchain and Bitcoin only came to his attention in 2016 where he lives in a village in Northeast Hong Kong. A group of his neighbours, all of them international pilots, began buying Ethereum and comparing their wallets at the weekend. Galloway remembers: “It was getting hard to ignore and then in the same year, the Chinese Government stopped issuing licenses to both foreign and domestic content in the gaming industry. My business came to a complete halt.” As a result, Galloway began reading white papers – lots of them – on anything to do with digital assets, stickers in messaging apps, in fact, anything gaming-related. It made sense to him that gamers would want to own the items in the game and that non-fungible tokens were the answer. In-game assets last year accounted for $54 billion which is projected to grow to $77.4 billion by 2025 – that is making a difference. “There are two approaches - one is to use a Metaverse with multiple games engines, the other is that people are using NFT avatars in social media like Twitter. The two worlds are colliding. “People are getting their dot.eth name, getting an NFT and becoming part of online communities. Heck, we may even do our own 10,000 leprechaun NFTs.” Right now, Lepricon, perhaps named for an Irish little person, is more than just technology showcases. It’s leveraged for cross chain bridges in the future. “We are in uncharted territory. Where only one percent of the world owns a digital asset or a crypto wallet. Gaming is one of the ways we are going to grow this market and onboard new people.” Lepricon is expanding its game base. Shamrock Studios, its system company, is developing a game called Get the Cats which is an AR game where cats appear in front of your phone to be captured. “We are experimenting with games and blockchain, maybe bringing in an older title in a free-to-play format.” Many NFT projects have approached Lepricon with simple game sets, perhaps with card collections. “But I want to stress we are not just a technology showcase. We are going to offer quality gameplay, sometimes with blockchain but not always. We might ask that you onboard a wallet which may receive an NFT which can in turn be used in different games,” he says. The engine of the Lepricon platform will be a dynamic, self-sustaining community of users, gamers, and developers. And it is the native L3P token that will provide the fuel for these community-owned and community-governed platforms. In the future, users will be able to stake their L3P in our virtual pools and transact with the token in decentralised games built on the Lepricon infrastructure, where L3P serves as the in-game currency. “Currently, the closest thing gamers have to a universal currency that they can use during and out of play is fiat currency. Blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies will topple this system, and it will happen sooner than expected,” says Galloway. This article is part of The hosted by HackerNoon in partnership with Gaming Metaverse Writing Contest The Sandbox . Submit your today for your chance to win up to $2000. #gaming-metaverse story Also published on: https://lepricon.medium.com/l3p-the-lifeblood-of-the-lepricon-ecosystem-a4599d6974ec

Gaming - Not DeFi - will Provide Mass Crypto Adoption

Not long ago, came back for the fifth season, finally ending a long wait for binge watchers across the world who are interested in an American politician’s ruthless ascendance to presidency. For them, kicking off a marathon is as simple as reaching out for your device or remote, opening the Netflix app and hitting Play. Simple, fast and instantly gratifying. House of Cards What isn’t as simple is what goes into running Netflix, a service that streams around 250 million hours of video per day to around 98 million paying subscribers in 190 countries. At this scale, providing quality entertainment in a matter of to every user is no joke. And as much as it means building top-notch infrastructure at a scale no other Internet service has done before, it also means that a lot of participants in the experience have to be negotiated with and kept satiated — from production companies supplying the content, to internet providers dealing with the network traffic Netflix brings upon them. a few seconds This is, in short and in the most layman terms, how Netflix works. Dave Hahn, a senior engineer from Netflix’s Performance and Reliability Department, shows off the entire architecture of Netflix in one flow diagram. (Amazon Web Services/YouTube) Hundreds of microservices, one giant service Let us just try to understand how Netflix is structured on the technological side with a simple example. Let’s just assume that the Maps app on your phone tracks your location all the time and saves complex information about everywhere you go in a file, And you end up creating an app called LocoList, that, provided there’s a Maps app on your phone, looks for this file and shows all the places recorded in that file in a simple list. It works flawlessly. locations.txt. locations.txt Now, let’s just say that developers of the Maps app realise it’s a better idea to store all your location information somewhere else than in that file, and updates the app so that it no longer creates or stores that file on your phone. And now LocoList can’t seem to find that file it depended on for all its data, and there’s no other way it can extract that information from the Maps app either. LocoList no longer works now. You’re screwed. locations.txt locations.txt All your work on LocoList has gone into the trash because a change was made to Maps that broke your app. And while it might not seem a big deal here, on a huge service like Netflix the entire application going down because a change was made to one part of it can not only ruin the experience for users, it also means that all other parts of the application have to be rewritten to accommodate that one tiny change you made to one part of the app. Such a structure is what we call a . monolithic architecture Netflix literally ushered in a revolution around ten years ago by rewriting the applications that run the entire service to fit into a which means that each application, or code and resources are its very own. microservices architecture — microservice’s It will not share any of it with any other app by nature. And when two applications do need to talk to each other, they use an a tightly-controlled set of rules that both programs can handle. Developers can now make many changes, small or huge, to each application as long as they ensure that it plays well with the API. And since the one program knows the other’s API properly, no change will break the exchange of information. application programming interface (API) — Netflix estimates that it uses around 700 microservices to control each of the many parts of what makes up the entire Netflix service: one microservice stores what all shows you watched, one deducts the monthly fee from your credit card, one provides your device with the correct video files that it can play, one takes a look at your watching history and uses algorithms to guess a list of movies that you will like, and one will provide the names and images of these movies to be shown in a list on the main menu. And that’s the tip of the iceberg. Netflix engineers can make changes to any part of the application and can introduce new changes rapidly while ensuring that nothing else in the entire service breaks down. To conclude, why does a microservices architecture matter so much to Netflix? Well, this is what they achieved with just choosing that: Amazon Web Services/YouTubeA typical data center, this one in particular being located in Frankfurt, Germany. (Nils Juenemann/nilsjuenemann.de) Where do they run all of these microservices, though? To run all of this you need to have a massive network of computer servers, which Netflix once owned on their own, but they realised that the breakneck pace that they grew at — and needed to continue doing so — was difficult if they spent their time building computer systems that can support their software and keep fixing and modifying them to fit their needs. They made a courageous decision to and move all of their stuff to the cloud — i.e. run everything on the servers of someone else who dealt with maintaining the hardware while Netflix engineers wrote hundreds of programs and deployed it on the servers rapidly. The someone else they chose for their cloud-based infrastructure is Amazon Web Services (AWS). get rid of maintaining their own servers Wait. Amazon? The folks who also happen to run that Prime Video thingy? How can Netflix trust everything they have to an arch-rival? Well, a lot of businesses follow a gentleman’s agreement of sorts where they work for each other despite competing in the same categories — a good example being how Samsung competes with Apple in phones and at the same time the iPhone’s major parts are all manufactured by the Korean giant. Netflix was an AWS customer before Prime Video turned up, but this does not mean they will be hostile towards each other. Turns out that Netflix and Amazon’s partnership turned out to be a huge win-win situation for both companies. Netflix turned out to be AWS’s most advanced customers, pushing all of their capabilities to the maximum and constantly innovating upon how they can use the different servers AWS provided for various purposes — to run microservices, to store movies, to handle internet traffic — to their own leverage. AWS in turn improved their systems to allow Netflix to take massive loads on their servers, as well as make their use of different AWS products more flexible, and used the expertise gained to serve the needs of thousands of other corporate customers. AWS proudly touts Netflix as it’s top customer, and Netflix can rapidly improve their services and yet keep it stable because of AWS. Even if Netflix takes away Prime Video’s popularity, or vice versa. ScaleScale/scalescale.com From reel to screen — a long journey What good would be any TV/movie service without, of course, TV shows/movies to watch? For Netflix, getting them from the film producer to the customer is a long and arduous process: If it’s a show/movie Netflix doesn’t produce by itself, (i.e. not a Netflix Original) they have to negotiate for broadcast rights with the companies tasked with distributing films or TV shows. This means paying a large sum of money to get the legal right to broadcast a movie or TV show to customers in various regions around the world. And often it might be that the distribution company (or even Netflix itself) might have signed exclusive deals with other video services or TV channels for some regions, which means Netflix might not be able to provide some shows to customers there, or at a later date — for example, this led to House of Cards' season 5 premiere in the Middle East being horribly delayed to June 30, a full month later compared to the 150+ countries who got it on May 30. They even got Underwood’s Chief of Staff to explain this in a humorous (English) video:Netflix Middle East and North Africa / twitter.com/netflixmenaStore the original digital copy of the show or movie on to their AWS servers. The original copies are usually in high-quality cinema standards, and Netflix will have to process these before anybody can watch it.Netflix works on thousands of devices, and each of them play a different format of video and sound files. Another set of AWS servers take this original film file, and convert it into hundreds of files, each meant to play the entire show or film on a particular type of device and a particular screen size or video quality. One file will work exclusively on the iPad, one on a full HD Android phone, one on a Sony TV that can play 4K video and Dolby sound, one on a Windows computer, and so on. Even more of these files can be made with varying video qualities so that they are easier to load on a poor network connection. This is a process known as . A special piece of code is also added to these files to lock them with what is called a technological measure which prevents piracy of films.The Netflix app or website determines what particular device you are using to watch, and fetches the exact file for that show meant to specially play on your particular device, with a particular video quality based on how fast your internet is at that moment. transcoding digital rights management or DRM — The last part about fetching is the one that is most crucial for Netflix here, because after all, that is where the Internet network delivers the video from Netflix’s AWS servers to the customer’s device. If it’s poorly managed or ignored, it means a really slow or unusable Netflix and virtually the end for the company. The internet is the umbilical cord that connects Netflix to its customers, and it takes a lot for them to deliver the content a user wants, in the shortest time possible. On a really crowded network where millions of services compete for space. Racing against buffer time CDN in a nutshell (CDN Reviews/cdnreviews.com) The entire gamut of operations that build up the Netflix ecosystem — software, content, and technology — is rendered useless if the end user’s internet connection is too poor to handle the video quality. Here’s how basically everything on the internet works: when you do something that requires net access, a is sent to your internet service provider (ISP). The ISP forwards it to the dedicated servers that handle the website, and the servers provide a which is relayed back to your computer and forms the result. For Netflix and other top-tier sites, where millions of hours of video content is relayed across the internet between their servers and all the users, a much larger network of servers is needed to maintain performance. They do this by building something called a Content Delivery Network (CDN). request response What CDNs basically do is, they take the original website and the media content it contains, and copy it across hundreds of servers spread all over the world. So when, say, you log in from Budapest, instead of connecting to the main Netflix server in the United States it will load a ditto copy of it from a CDN server that is the closest to Budapest. This greatly reduces the latency — the time taken between a request and a response, and everything loads really fast. CDNs are the reason why websites with a huge number of users like Google, Facebook, or YouTube manage to load really fast irrespective of where you are or what the Internet speed is like. Netflix’s Open Connect boxes, supplied to internet providers. (NDTV Gadgets360/gadgets.ndtv.com) Netflix earlier used a variety of CDN networks — operated by giants such as Akamai, Level 3 and Limelight Networks to deliver their content. But a growing user base means they must deliver higher number of content at more locations while lowering costs — and this led them to build their own CDN, called . Open Connect Here, instead of relying on AWS servers, they install their very own around the world. But it has only one purpose — to store content smartly and deliver it to users. Netflix strikes deals with internet service providers and provides them the red box you saw above at no cost. ISPs install these along with their servers. These Open Connect boxes download the Netflix library for their region from the main servers in the US — if there are multiple of them, each will rather store content that is more popular with Netflix users in a region to prioritise speed. So a rarely watched film might take time to load more than a episode. Now, when you will connect to Netflix, the closest Open Connect box to you will deliver the content you need, thus videos load faster than if your Netflix app tried to load it from the main servers in the US. Stranger Things Think of it as hard drives around the world storing videos, and the closer they are, the faster you can get to them and load up the video. There is a lot more trickery that goes on behind the scenes: as explains, whenever you hit play on a show, Netflix will locate the 10 closest Open Connect boxes that have the show loaded on them. Your Netflix app/site will then try to detect which one of them is the closest or works fastest on your internet connection, and then load video from there. This is why videos start out blurry but then suddenly sharpen up — that is Netflix switching servers till it connects to the one that will give you the highest quality of video. this interview In a nutshell… This is what happens when you hit that Play button: Hundreds of microservices, or tiny independent programs, work together to make one large Netflix service. Content legally acquired or licensed is converted into a size that fits your screen, and protected from being copied. Servers across the world make a copy of it and store it so that the closest one to you delivers it at max quality and speed.When you select a show, your Netflix app cherry picks which of these servers will it load the video from.You are now gripped by Frank Underwood’s chilling tactics, given depression by BoJack Horseman’s rollercoaster life, tickled by Dev in and made phobic to the future of technology by the stories in And your lifespan decreases as your binge watching turns you into a couch potato. Master of None Black Mirror. It looked so simple before, right?

How Netflix works: the (Hugely Simplified) Complex Stuff that Happens Every Time You Hit Play

is the golden mantra in programming. While efficiency and performance are major factors, simplicity and maintenance cost wins over them in many use cases. These become a deciding factor while choosing a programming language, exploring features in a language or even deciding on standard coding practices within an organization. There are often debates on whether a specific programming language makes it easier to write simpler and maintainable code; quite often projects drift away from a more efficient and performant languages to other languages as the code base starts to grow and number of people working on code base starts to increase and so on. Simple is beautiful Many such decisions work really well for some teams, and many of them fail to change the ground realities. Let’s explore, what makes a code simple and what we can do in that regard. What makes the code simple Ironically, writing simple code is neither easy nor simple and, at times, it may actually be quite complex to simplify a logic or a piece of code. A few signs of simple and easy writing: Easy to read and comprehend Typically the code is written once and read hundreds of time over a period of time. So, it’s important that this should be easy to read and comprehend. Some simple tips that can help: : instead of saying Avoid double negations if(! not_present) use if(present). : Once we were working on a project which was related to Point of Sale. Since it was a bit longer, we shortened it to POS. To check whether a specific object belongs to POS or not, we added a method called isPOS that would take an object and return true or false accordingly. The object also has a notion of positive or negative(it was somewhat related to amount as well). A new developer who had recently joined the team, had to add some feature and was needed to check if the object has positive amount, he used this method isPOS(assuming its a shortcut for isPositive) and continued. Since most of the amount was supposed to be negative and also very few objects was supposed to be related to POS, majority of his tests passed correctly. No one caught this in code review as well and was caught very late in the cycle, after the code went to production. Avoid misleading abbreviations : If variable w is used for ResponseWriter, r would typically mean ResponseReader, don’t use it for Request. Go with natural flow for naming conventions When working on a legacy code, it’s too tempting to just add one more condition and get the feature done. While most of the time it works great, these extra conditions keeps on changing the business intent and after few iterations the business logic becomes completely unmanageable. So, it’s important whenever you are adding a new condition, make sure it is still relevant in the older context and if not then a little refactoring may be a better option. Avoid multiple complex conditions in a if blocks : : Efficiency at the cost of readability should be avoided. e.g. X << 3(left shift a number X by 3) instead of X * 8(multiplying X by 8) may be faster but may not have the same amount of readability. Avoiding such stuff typically helps in readability unless the intent is to the same. Avoid magical logic Easy to comprehend the code/implementation context Very often people move around and new folks have to look at the code and they may not have the same level of exposure and context of the problem being solved. So, the easier it’s to get the context from the code, the more productive new folks can be. Few things can help: : methods which are dependent on other methods for state or need to be called in a certain sequences make it harder to read and modify.We have to not only read and understand the current method but also need to understand the sequence of calls. Often this leads to calling a method where the current state is not properly updated, resulting into issues. . Less state and dependency among methods Do not use member variables in classes to store temporary state to avoid extra arguments in private methods : many times it’s easier to pass a larger generic data structure to a method, which makes it easier for a later modification, if method needs more input. But, this also typically leads to less reusability of methods. It, also, makes it harder to guess what might be happening on the other side by reading code at the caller side. This forces us to read more code to understand the logic. Similarly, returning a larger structure and filling only few of fields, forces us to read more code to understand what part of the structure could be used after the response, often resulting into accessing data that’s not populated and making code brittle. it’s better to pass only the required input and return a specific output. Specific input and output : Doing too many redirections forces us to read much larger code base. Prefer lesser redirections. E.g. in the below code(a bit exaggerated), Less redirections There are lot of stuffs which are most probably not going to change. This kind of unnecessary abstraction makes it harder to get the context. So it might be worthy to just replace all of these with one simple method Easy to get the intent and the problem context when it’s time to modify the existing code, the context of the problem and the intent help more than the implementation steps. So a meaningful abstraction is important. Meaningful abstractions We can write a very specific code that works perfectly fine for a context but may hide the intent. e.g. Lets say, we are building an e-commerce site and once the checkout is complete, we need to send an email to indicate checkout is complete and if there are errors we may need to send a different email. Assume there are 2 steps before checkout is considered completed and we can have scenarios where after 1st step, the system errors out. Also assume we record success of each step as a row in DB(in memory or actual DB). Here is one sample implementation. Although this may work perfectly fine for a given condition, this doesn’t tell the intend correctly and focuses more on lot of current assumptions. If later we add a new step, this code will break. Modifying this code for a new person will be super hard as the intent of the specific steps are missing. In these cases, an implementation with more code but with right intent may be better Simple is beautiful At the end what matters is to convey the right context and meaning. A code which is simple to read and scan through but not revealing the right intent may not be treated as simple. While languages and its feature may play an important role, if we take care of these basic things, chances are our code will still be beautiful, irrespective of what language, what paradigm or what features of a language we are using.

Code simplicity: A language independent perspective

“Papa . . . What do you do for a living?” It’s a question that comes out of nowhere and makes every parent proud. It’s one of the first signs that your child sees you as a person and not just a caretaker. “I’m a web developer.” “What’s that?” Let’s go back in time three years . . . My son was seven years old and the movement was . coding for kids gaining momentum I thought. “I’ll teach him how to code!” Parents like teaching their kids — it’s instinctual. We teach them language, values, skills, how to throw and kick a ball and many important life lessons as they grow up. What about computer programming? It’s not as glamorous as building a house. It’s not as instantly fun as assembling a LEGO car, opening a fresh pack of , or experimenting with a classic . However, it a form of creativity and expression — I use computer programming to make something that wasn’t there before, using a set of tools. Play-Doh Erector set is can Starting from Scratch He started with from MIT’s Lifelong Kindergarten group. For those unfamiliar, Scratch is a community for kids. It’s very fun and intuitive — like connecting LEGO bricks. Kids can quickly get started making games, stories, and animations then share their creations within the Scratch community (over 18 million projects have been shared on scratch.mit.edu). for providing such an excellent platform! He spent at least two years — and still does today. Scratch block-based, visual programming A big thank you to the Scratch Team “Scratching” I also hosted a at his school a few years ago, posted a for teachers and mentored at . Scratch coding club getting started lesson CoderDojo What about “real” coding? Ah . . . The big moment! Moving from the warm and cozy world of Scratch visual programming to the stark, cold and unforgiving world of typing plain text, the command line and cryptic error messages. Where, in the time it used to take to build a something interactive in Scratch , you can output to the console. (complete with fart sounds) “Hello World” Moving from Scratch to Text. It’s a big change! His first programming language: A “milestone” to remember I’ll never forget his first steps . . . or his first programming language. I read the and selected Python. recommendations I ordered from no starch press. I had no prior experience with Python (I work primarily with HTML/Javascript, PHP/Laravel, Node/Express), but it was great! Python is a very readable and elegant language. It’s a nice fit for kids — and a lot less typing compared to . Python for Kids C-family languages My first programming language was on an . I remember spending hours typing pages of code from magazines and books — and debugging all the typos — just to play simple dungeon games. The games weren’t even that fun and always seemed to crash with syntax errors, but it was the closest we had to actual computer games and that made it worth the effort! BASIC Apple IIe I re-purposed an old laptop and installed Python and Sublime. (I actually took his mother’s laptop and gave her the old one. She only uses the web browser and Office anyway.) His Scratch skills transferred well — control flow, variables, conditionals, loops and lists. It’s amazing how much he learned in Scratch, while having fun. All was going well — until he stopped. The Python slithered away . . . He just lost motivation. I guess command line output only motivates a kid so much these days. The games in Part II of the book just couldn’t compete with Scratch — let alone Xbox! Looking back, , since it was a great experience for both of us and I’m sure he will pick it up again in the future — Python has so many uses. I would still start with Python and the same book But I was determined . . . Javascript to the rescue! I remember showing him how to “View Source” on his favorite websites. He seemed most excited after learning how to change content on web pages with Chrome DevTools . Adding “poop” to the headings of actual web pages is very compelling for kids! I decided to give HTML and Javascript a try and ordered the book from no starch press. The book covers the basics of Javascript (ES5), HTML and basic jQuery (even if it’s ). Little by little, he worked through the book — an hour or so on weekends. There were plenty of gaps, but he made solid progress. JavaScript for Kids not cool anymore Great book! CodeSchool saves the day! After a few months, his momentum really slowed. Web development is a pretty broad topic and I needed some help. I signed up for and hoped for the best. It turns out their mix of original music/jingles, slow-paced video training and in-line exercises works really well for my son. Although, there are times when he just plays the jingles over and over again and searches the site for new ones — CodeSchool CodeSchool jingles are good! He worked through and then moved on to . Front-end Foundations Front-end Formations Javascript Road Trip Part 1 We’re currently up to and the exercises are very challenging — for both of us. I’m definitely learning a lot myself along the way — looking at you . JavaScript Road Trip Part 3 Closures Explaining programming concepts to kids Kids relate well to things in the real world. As we worked through the books and exercises, I found myself translating various abstract computer programming concepts into familiar scenarios. Below are some of the explanations that worked for my son — hopefully, I didn’t mess him up too much. Nothing too exciting here. The “variable is a container” analogy worked very well. Variables “Variables in Javascript are like boxes that hold things. You give them names, just like labeling a box of Pokémon cards, so you can find it quickly. Use good names, so you know exactly what’s inside — like ‘Ultimate Pokémon Deck’.” Arrays “A Javascript array is like your bookshelf (see header photo). It holds many different things in one place and makes them easy to access and find later. Your bookshelf has books, toys, drawings, photos, pencils, cards and more. If you ask me to find your Harry Potter book at the end of the bottom shelf, it would be easy.” Objects “Most things around you are objects — people, cars, planes, trains. Objects have certain things that define who/what they are and things they can do. In Javascript, the things that give an object its identity are called ‘properties’ and the things they can do are called ‘methods’. Think about your class made up of Student objects: some properties of a Student are: name, age, school, class. Some methods of a Student are: talk, run, and jump.” “Arrays can also hold objects. You can make an Array of your entire class that contains 30 Student objects then use a loop to print out all of the students in your class.” Functions “Functions are like cooking recipes or the instructions that come with a LEGO set. Running a function goes through each of the steps until it reaches the end or is told to stop — like when we call you down for dinner! A ‘bake-a-chocolate-chip-cookie()’ function includes all the steps required to bake a chocolate chip cookie — gathering and preparing ingredients, mixing, placing on baking tray, preheating oven and baking.” Parameters “Parameters are like bits of information you share with your functions — giving them extra powers. Instead of having to write a separate ‘bake’ function for every type of cookie, you can write one ‘bake()’ function and tell it which type of cookie to bake as a parameter — bake(‘chocolate_chip_cookie’).” *Don’t get too bogged down in the difference between parameters and arguments; it’s not worth it at this point. This was fun! CodeSchool did a great job in , but it just didn’t click for my son right away. Closures Javascript Road Trip Part 3 Closures still trip me up to this day. My first explanation attempt: “A closure is like a dinosaur fossil — a snapshot from a moment in time preserved for millions of years. You can get still get information about the dinosaur from the fossil, even though the dinosaur itself has been gone for millions of years.” Closures were starting to make sense, so I tried using again . . . cookies “Let’s say I go to the same bakery every day and ask the baker for a cookie. The first thing he/she asks is, ‘What kind of cookie do you want?’ After a few days, the baker might already know what cookie I like and simply ask, ‘The usual?’. By saving my cookie choice in memory, he/she is able to reuse the same function from the previous day to get me the proper cookie without having to ask again.” Eh… It was still a bit fuzzy, until my son asked me… “So, it’s like when we go to the barber and he just cuts our hair without asking what we want? He always asks new customers how they want him to cut, but never asks us anymore.” Ding, ding, ding! He got it!!! After finishing the remaining CodeSchool exercises, it all started coming together — for both of us. It’s a Long Journey Learning computer programming takes time — not something accomplished in an (BTW: the is a great initiative and Code.org is an amazing organization — if you can). hour of code Hour of Code help them Coding is a craft. Like any activity you sign your kid up for, it takes practice, patience and commitment—not always the easiest things for kids. We’re still at the beginning of the journey, but moving along. We attended an recently and he was inspired to make games. He starting watching some Unity videos, but that dropped off rather quickly. indie game event I try to not to limit his propensity to pivot and experiment with new things. I recently introduced him to , which is a great Javascript 2D game framework I’m also trying to learn myself — we’ll see how it goes. PhaserJS What Next? The next big step for him is to build a real application. His first shipped — another milestone! Who knows when or if that will ever happen or what it will be, but I’ll hope for the best and support him along the way. MVP Now it’s time to start the journey with his younger sisters!

How My 10-Year-Old Learned Javascript

Small businesses and startups are thriving on payment processing solutions. The range of companies using payment processing technology starts from traditional to modern fintech startups. And, with online transactions and shopping becoming the new normal, it's essential to integrate your business with a system that provides your customers with the best service. Plus, the digital age of and so the need for business owners to facilitate payment methods is growing. online shopping is flourishing According to stats from Statista, in 2018, more than 8 billion people purchased goods online. Additionally, most experts have predicted that retail sales by 2040 will only hold online transactions. Most small companies and merchants know about , but new trends have emerged due to rapidly multiplying payment methods like Google Wallet, Amazon Pay, Apple Pay, UPI, E-Wallets, Mobile payments, etc. credit card payment processing The payment options are great for customers, but small businesses have to wade through cost-effective payment processes to engage new customers. Moreover, as most Points of Sales services have gone digital now, choosing your online store's digital wallet may be tricky. Your brick-and-mortar store or small business needs an online payment processing system that integrates your business needs. A system should share and revenue data alike. customer information Integration with a Payment Processing Company When you make online payments through credit cards, debit cards, or other payment modes, the payment processing company handles the transactions on your company's behalf. It directs the information to the bank and the customer's bank. Following this, it verifies whether the transaction is valid or invalid. Most importantly, a payment company connects buyers, sellers, banks, and card network companies. It lets you experience a smooth flow of transactions with all the parties involved while making your online transaction more secure. There are many payment processing solutions you can choose for your business. 13 Payment Processing Solutions for Small Businesses 1. Square Square is the most popular payment processing solution that offers simple integrations. Thanks to its intuitive and innovative mobile card reader, it allows accepting payments from any part of the world, converting your mobile phone into the POS system when you make payments. Additionally, it provides deposits on-demand and a fraud protection system. Plus, you can build customized registers, track inventory, and view sales reports. It lets you manage the timesheet of the record payments. The best part - it charges only 2.75 percent per swipe on the credit card payments. Integrate with the platform without add-ons. Website: www.squareup.com 2. GETTRX GETTRX is a payment platform that suits all your business needs. It offers online and in-person payments with POS options that can be customized according to your requirement. The payment solution offers transparent billing features with competitive rates backed by the industry's best platforms. In addition, GETTRX uses integrations and tools to make payments faster, from flexible payment options to real-time onboarding. Plus, it provides flexible solutions that reduce your compliance requirements. The flexible options can help to enhance your customer experience. It also streamlines your non-profit solutions that track multiple campaigns and causes. GETTRX charges 2.79 percent plus 30 cents. Website: www.gettrx.com 3. Stripe Stripe lets you pay for the usage and supports more than 100 currencies, and supports bitcoins and ACH transactions at a starting fee of $0.8. Stripe has gained a lot of attention for its less complicated payment model. There are no setup or monthly fees, so it is an ideal payment processing solution for startups. Additionally, it comes with a data and reporting feature that lets you track information on a real-time basis. The company offers web and mobile payment solutions built for developers. With a set of APIs and business tools, you can enable your business to accept and manage online payments. Website: www.stripe.com 4. Bolt Bolt offers a simple click checkout feature to increase sales and convert 50% more customers. Plus, it comes with a 100 percent chargeback guarantee and access to millions of shoppers on its network. You can easily integrate with the solution, as it's flexible to implement. Moreover, it connects seamlessly with many E-commerce platforms like - Magento and Bigcommerce. You can use the single-click feature of Bolt upon integration and let shoppers check out in seconds. It makes online payments trustworthy for customers. If you are looking for a payment solution for an eCommerce platform, you can trust Bolt as it offers the best features. Bolt charges 2.9 % plus 30 cents. Website: www.bolt.com 5. Authroize.net Authroize.net is the best payment solution to accept credit card payments online, in person, or over the phone. It focuses on customized business solutions - letting you choose according to your business needs. The platform has a base of 430,000 merchants, which makes it the most trustworthy payment platform. In addition, it handles more than 1 billion transactions every year. There are many added features of the payment company like - security and fraud prevention tools, recurring billing, and the ability to sync with the QuickBooks. However, there is a setup fee and a monthly gateway fee for the transactions. It charges 2.9% plus 30 cents with no setup fees. Website: www.authorize.net 6. Dwolla Dwolla is a Fintech payment solution company that focuses on account-to-account payments. It comes with a standard code API and a robust platform that offers an ecosystem that simplifies the complex integration process with payment networks worldwide. Most importantly, it lets you create a single end-to-end solution that saves time. By integrating with Dwolla's technology, you can program your business to make real-time payments. Additionally, it lets you add payments to the debit cards 24/7. Startup companies and small companies with limited cash flow can gain from Dwolla integration. It's time you think out of the box. It charges 0.5% per transaction. Website: www.dwolla.com 7. BlueSnap BlueSnap is a payment solution that looks at your business differently. It offers an all-in-one payment management platform that helps small businesses to accept payments globally. Plus, the features are designed to reduce costs and increase revenue. BlueSnap provides complete backend solutions that simplify payments. In addition, it helps you manage the process from start to finish. Additionally, it supports multiple payment modes, including mobiles, eCommerce, subscriptions, and invoice payments through a virtual terminal. It supports more than 100 currencies and 100 global payment styles with chargeback management and a fraud protection system. Other features include - integration with popular e-wallets, accounts receivable, and a built-in solution for tax compliance. BlueSnap charges 2.9% plus 30 cents. Website: www.home.bluesnap.com/ 8. WePay WePay is a simple payment processing solution that integrates with the look of your business. In short, it makes a brand extension. With WePay, you will be able to customize confirmation emails, checkout forms, customer support emails, credit card statements, and access to mobile transactions. Moreover, it provides the on-the-go capability to access the mobile chip card reader and mobile SDKs, making it easier to embed payments into the mobile app. Also, WePay's integration with Apple Pay and Android Pay for the web ensures higher conversions. In addition, it offers a wide range of add-ons that supports the platform's specific needs. WePay charges a fee of 2.9% plus 30 cents per transaction. Website: https://go.wepay.com/ 9. 2checkout 2checkout is the best option for integrated and global payment solutions. Plus, it offers secure payment solutions and compliant gateways in more than 85 currencies. It provides mobile and online payment platforms with hosted checkout and recurring billing features. Additionally, 2checkout offers features like fraud protection and integration with eCommerce stores. With 2checkout, you can accept all the major credit cards, PayPal, and other modes of payment. It charges a transaction fee of 2.9% plus $0.30 per transaction, but it depends on the mode of payment. There is no monthly or setup fee with 2checkout. Website: www.2checkout.com/ 10. PaySimple As the name suggests, it lets you accept various modes of payment and streamlines the billing process. In addition, it provides bank-to-bank transfers via ACH with an acceptable credit card and cash flow reporting. Plus, it offers secure customer contact management and mobile payments through a credit card reader. Also, the PaySimple mobile solution lets you accept mobile payments through a mobile credit card reader. It allows customers to enter their bank account details securely and helps to sync mobile payments with customer profiles. Simply put, it reduces the need for reconciliation to save time while charging 2.49 per transaction with minimal monthly fees. Website: https://paysimple.com/ 11. Clover Clover offers customized point-of-sales payment tools. You can integrate the payment processing system into eCommerce platforms, Counter service restaurants, and retail service organizations. Additionally, the platform's technology stack can handle mobile app integrations and invoices. During the pandemic, Clover upgraded the services to suit the requirements of the digital age. Customers can accept payments from any part without the POS device with the virtual terminal feature of the platform. For the actual POS system integration, you can lease or buy clover Mini, Clover Mobile, or Clover Go. Moreover, you can also accept a multi-payment platform. As for online payments, it charges 3.5% plus 10 cents. Website: https://www.clover.com 12. Venmo Venmo is a PayPal-owned payment processing company that allows you to request, send, and receive money via the Venmo account. You will be able to send the money into the person's account and link your cards and bank account details. Also, a direct money transfer can be done from your Venmo account. Plus, it is available through Google Play and the Apple App Store. It is free when you make payments via bank accounts. However, for all the credit cards and some debit card transactions, it charges a 3% transaction fee. Website: https://venmo.com 13. Wave Wave is considered the best payment processing solution for small business needs. It can track income and expenses and create professional invoices. In addition, it lets you accept credit card payments at a flat 2.9% plus 30 cents. It is a known fact that how you accept payments can make or break your business, so you choose to fit your core business requirements. Once you decide on the features, choose a solution based on cost. Website: www.waveapps.com/payments Factors to consider while choosing a Payment Processing Company: 1. Payment types A payment processing company should provide your business with multiple ways customers can pay you. Look for all the options that are available in your location and country. Additionally, look for multi-currency options if you want to expand your business globally. Apart from debit cards and credit cards, the company should let you accept multiple payment ways, including mobile wallet payments: 2. Customer support: Customer support is essential if you are stuck with payment issues. It's always better to look for customer support that is reliable and trustworthy. The support team should be professional and knowledgeable. Also, it should offer you 24/7 customer support. 3. Contract: Most payment processing companies don't require a long-term contract, or they don't charge an early termination fee. Once you integrate with the company, they may allow you to pay monthly, which is a good deal for startup companies. However, bigger companies may require you to sign a long-term contract of 5 years. In this case, you will have to research properly and ask if you need to sign a multi-yearly contract. 4. Technology used A payment gateway that encrypts the financial data during transactions should be secure. Some payment processing companies develop their gateways, while some offer third-party integrations. For brick-and-mortar locations, you will need tools like - a credit card terminal, a mobile for on the go, and a point of sales system. 5. Costing Costing is the main factor to consider while choosing a payment processing company. The average fee may range from 1.5% to 3.5% - depending on the transaction. Besides, some companies may charge a flat monthly fee, not a transaction fee. Also, there can be added chargeback fees you will have to look into. Small business companies that intend to grow their customer base must focus on feasible payment processing solutions offering easy integration and flexibility. It's time to review the different options available to make a definite choice. Plus, if you are aware of all the options available, it will become easier for you to decide which one fits your business needs. This way, you can accept payments more affordably and efficiently. Also, look for new updates and technology in the payment processing solution. Expand your payment processing capabilities to suit your preferences. Finally, look for reviews and ratings before you choose a payment processing solution. Reviews can give you insight into the features of the company.

PLAYSIMPLE

playsimple.in

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Since n.d.

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PLAYSIMPLE

EVERGREEN INDEX #8777

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PLAYSIMPLE

playsimple.in

-- employees

Since n.d.

COMPANY RANKING

PLAYSIMPLE

EVERGREEN INDEX #8777

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