Tech Guru

NA body directs PTA for detailed presentation

2012-05-06T02:59:00.001-07:00

Islamabad: In an apparent attempt to prevent grey trafficking's losses in the country, a parliamentary panel directed Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) to come up with a detailed presentation in the next meeting.

Meeting of National Assembly sub-committee on Information technology held under Convenor Anusha Rehman to discuss issues to ensure transparency of 3 G/Instaphone auction in the country. During the meeting Chairman PTA Dr Muhammad Yaseen told the committee that 3 G technology would not be for the long time therefore 4G/LTE has been associated with the 3G. He said that 4G/LTE are launching globally and in this regard a policy directive has been issued by Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani.

The Chairman PTA said that on different time we received different directives from Prime Minister's Secretariat.

Convenor Anusha Rehman said that the process of auction should be competitive and auction should be done in an efficient way to generate more revenue for the country.

The Chairman PTA informed the committee that under the directions of prime Minister Expression of Interest of four companies have been received for consultancy over 3G auction. Convener directed ministry of Information technology to give details about dissent note of Dr Asim Federal Minister for Petroleum & Natural resources about hiring a international consultant for the auction.

Anusha Rehman directed chairman PTA to provide all the details of 3G auction process. She also directed to provide list of telecom companies which are not defaulter in any sense. Anusha Rehman said that there should be some mechanism about formulation of ASC and it should be ensure that its members should be experts in information technology.

Convener directed PTA that during Information memorandum infrastructure sharing among different telecom operators should be mandatory.

Committee directed him to share all the details regarding hiring of consultant with ASC and sub-committee.

During the meeting chairperson Competition commission of Pakistan Rahat Konain said that PTA has not provided her the complete date so committee directed Chairman PTA to provide her all the information.

In another meeting of Information technology and telecommunication convener Anusha Rehman directed Chairman PTA to give details about grey trafficking switches in the country and also to give volume of the grey trafficking in the country and how much it is providing loss to the national exchequer. Anusha Rehman directed officials of PTA to thoroughly discus the bills of Humayaun Saifullah and Khurram Jahangir Watto.

National Assembly standing committee on information technology which met under the chair of Chairman Muhammad Akhtar Kanju to investigate the allegations leveled against Zia Imran Ex-MD Pakistan Software export board and termination of Talib Baloch employee of PSEB.

Joint Secretary Information technology Rashid Bashir Mazari told the committee 2nd inquiry is under progress against Zia Imran while Talib baloch was terminated after absence of two months. Committee observed that Talib Baloch is an honest officer and have been victimized.

Standing committee agreed to send the case to the board of Governors of and asked the board to behave leniently with Talib Baloch.

Daughter of Pakistan: Aarifa Karim passes away

2012-01-14T10:30:00.000-08:00

Proud of Pakistan! Aarifa Karim Randhawa, the worlds youngest Microsoft certified professional lost the battle for her life after suffering from heart failure, hospital sources confirmed her death. (May ALLAH PAK Rest Her Soul in Peace & give patience to her parents and relatives)

On December 22, Aarifa was admitted to Lahore’s combined military hospital (CMH) after suffering cardiac arrest. On December 29, doctors said there was no hope for her survival, and that her life support could be switched off ‘at any time’.

However, she had then miraculously responded to certain stimuli, as recently as January 14. Aarifa’s father, Amjad Karim Randhawa had said that she had shown the Plantar Reflex when her foot was stimulated. “Her toes curved slightly downward when her foot was tickled,” he said, adding that earlier she had exhibited the Corneal Reflex, whereby her eyes blinked a few times.

Doctors had said that her brain had shown activity over the past four days, making minor improvements.

Earlier, Microsoft founder Bill Gates offered every facility for her treatment and organised a team of doctors in America, but she was not well enough to travel. Humanity wins but our so called politicians lost, as non-muslim hired a team of doctors for her but our own government failed.

Hazaron Saal Nargis Apni Benoori Pe Roti Hey

Bari Mushkil Se Hota Hey Chamman Main DeDaWar Peda!

Allah Arfa Karim Ko Jawar-e-Rehmat ma Rakhey aur Isko Jannat-ul-Firdos main aalaa Maqam Ataa Farmaey......Ameen Sum Ameen.

PTCL! Plans to invest Rs 100bn in five years

2012-01-11T03:39:00.000-08:00

Walid Irshaid, President & CEO-PTCL

Mr. Walid Irshaid has been the Chief Executive Officer and President of Pakistan Telecommunication Co. Ltd., since March 8, 2007. Mr. Irshaid served as the President of Middle East and Africa at Reliance Globalcom Ltd. since February 11, 2004. Mr. Irshaid has more than 30 years in the telecommunications and IT industries based in Dubai. He served as Director General of the Palestine Telecom Corporation (PALTEL) and worked as a Managing Director for the Investcom Group in Beirut developing data & business communication services in Lebanon. He spent 17 years with Emirates Telecom where he was responsible for the development of a number of major projects and key services. He has been Vice Chairman and Director of SAMENA Telecommunications Council since November 23, 2011. He served as a Director of Paltel Corporation. Mr. Irshaid holds a Bachelor of Engineering Degree (Electronics) from NED University of Engineering and Technology Karachi. Hereunder are excerpts from his conversation:

Q: PTCL has been transformed from a government-owned entity to a professional private company. How has this experience been thus far?

Walid Irshaid: One has to understand that before PTCL's privatisation, it was a state-run company and it was a monopoly operator in key telecom segments. Moreover, it was perceived as "the telephone company of Pakistan". This was the case for nearly 60 years until the year 2005-06 when PTCL was privatised and the Emirates Telecom Co. (Etisalat) bought the strategic share.

When Etisalat took over PTCL's management, we started a "transformation" within the organisation to make it "The telecom company of Pakistan", rather than managing the remaining "telephone company of Pakistan". The transformation process was very comprehensive, touching our people, our networks, our services and our revenues. There were serious challenges for us from the beginning.

One, PTCL was hugely over-staffed when it was privatised. And two, most of its services originated from the "Voice" business on fixed lines. We somehow solved the problem of over-staffing in an amicable, respectable and professional way. We were able to reduce our headcount from 64,000 people to just above 30,000. We imparted huge training into our employees and worked on changing the bureaucratic culture to become customer-centric. We said, look, we cannot just sit in offices and customer cannot line up for us. Now we have to go to their doors.

On the revenue side, we realised that we needed to diversify our revenue streams, and not become reliant on "Voice" alone.

We wanted to become an integrated telecom company. Towards that end, we have made efforts to make our customers aware that PTCL can offer them much more on the same fixed lines. We're offering double play (voice and broadband) services, and we have also started offering triple play (voice, broadband and TV) services. Besides this, we are becoming more focused towards enterprise solutions for our corporate customers. If the last five years were spent in "transformation", the coming five years are going to be the years of "consolidation".

Q: There is a sea change between the dynamics of the telecom market now and five years ago. How did that impact PTCL?

Walid: Interestingly, just before privatisation, two things happened: One, the government of Pakistan decided to liberalise the telecommunication sector in around 2004-05. This opened what I call the floodgates of competition, whereby more than 200 telecom licenses were issued between 2004 and 2006 in different telecom segments. Today there are some 40 active operators on the ground, all competing for the market.

Two, amid wire-line substitution to the wireless and declining voice tariffs; we were in a critical position as our revenues were predominantly voice-based. For instance, the overseas call terminating into Pakistan used to constitute roughly a quarter of PTCL's revenues, and we used to charge ten cents. Yet today, the tariff has reduced to one cent and foreign operators are now expecting us to terminate their calls for free here. This is the consequence of having 14 LDI operators making a mess of this business. So, it was a completely changed scenario for us.

Q: But "voice" still remains your major source of revenue. Within that, how has the competition from mobile network operators affected your share?

Walid: Competition has affected us in many ways. Voice tariffs have drastically fallen, even for domestic calls. You must know that voice tariffs in Pakistan are one of the lowest in the world. Although fixed line subscriptions have declined, the volume of minutes handled by PTCL today is much higher than it was five years ago. Without too many mobile network operators, our growth in volumes would perhaps have been ten times more.

The mobile text messaging service also took its toll on voice business. If Pakistanis are generating one billion minutes in a day, PTCL is not taking 90 percent of it like it once used to.

Q: What is the revenue mix at PTCL today?

Walid: Today, voice is just one of the eight revenue streams for PTCL, and contributes roughly over 40 percent to our revenues. This is in sharp contrast to five years ago when it used to be over 90 percent of total revenues. The second-largest revenue contributor is broadband, which provides for 20 percent of our revenues. The corporate enterprise solution unit is contributing roughly eight to ten percent and it is the fastest growing revenue stream today.

This unit is targeting businesses, like the banks in Pakistan who are relying on us for online banking, ATMs, connectivity, etc. We soon realised we needed "home-grown" revenues, and could no more rely on international incoming calls. Diversifying our revenue streams was essential, and we are making great progress in this regard.

Q: How is Ufone, PTCL's mobile telephony subsidiary, been doing lately?

Walid: Ufone has been in a relatively good shape. It has been around for many years. I always feel that they have done an excellent job. By not being in the rut, they have maintained their profitability. They have really managed to secure good position in what I call a "suicidal" market. One has to understand that providing service is something, and maintaining the quality of that service is something else.

FLARE: How does the Etisalat group view the Pakistani market?

Walid: As Group CEO in Pakistan, I want to tell you that the Etisalat group is here to create a profitable, world class telecom company. This is not a requirement or a slogan. This is a mandate from our investors and shareholders. The Etisalat group values this investment and they are very committed to this market. They are not here for the short-term gain or a hit and run operations. They are here for the long term, as the Pakistani market is of the highest priority for the group.

Q: But Etisalat paid a price twice as much as other bidders for buying the management stake in PTCL in 2006. What did Etisalat see in the company (or in the market) which others could not see?

Walid: The beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder, they say. The Etisalat group does not regret its decision. We're very committed to this market which we believe is still severely under-provided in terms of various ICT services. Pakistan is the sixth most populous country of the world with 180 million people and is in the middle of a youth bulge. Every year, at least 5 to 10 million become potential broadband users.

When we bought the strategic share in PTCL, we didn't look at yesterday, today or tomorrow. We looked at what would this market be like in 5 to 10 years.

Q: Regarding the privatisation deal, there are unresolved issues vis-à-vis the $800 million in outstanding payments owed by Etisalat to the GOP, for the over three years now. What is the update on that?

Walid: This has to do with fulfilling the commitment in the original contract between the GOP and Etisalat group. The issue is that of the transfer of real estate belonging to the PTCL Company. Once the transfer of the properties is concluded, this issue will be resolved.
The bilateral, brotherly, cordial relations between Pakistan and UAE are there, and nobody can undermine that. Yet Etisalat works on a commercial basis, and wants results. So things have to be viewed in the right perspective.

FLARE: It has been reported that more than 90 percent of the properties have been transferred in PTCL's name, so why not deduct the value of remaining properties and settle the outstanding dues?

Walid: This issue is not being contested by the PTCL Company. It's being discussed between GOP and Etisalat themselves. The issue, I personally believe, is not impossible to resolve. It's a contractual commitment which contains several milestones, and the last one has to be fulfilled. We're very close to it. Around 95 percent of the transfer has been made, but there are still some properties that need to be transferred.
However, we should keep in mind that the real estate transfer is not for Etisalat or for any other entity; it is for the PTCL Company. The value of the remaining properties is being discussed between the Ministry of Privatisation and Etisalat. They are actively engaging on this.

Q: Do you have plans to divest some of the properties and invest the funds in the core business?

Walid: Not really, no! But all options are open for us, and I don't rule out selling some of the real estate. However, first and foremost, the two parties have to settle the outstanding issue.

Q: The broadband penetration is still abysmally low in Pakistan. Any plans for the broadband segment?

Walid: Going forward, in the coming five years (including the running year, up till June 30, 2016), the PTCL group has made a commitment to invest a hundred billion rupees in this market. This is not a mere figure on the table; this represents a commitment for concise and focused investment of over one billion dollar.

Q: Where would the investment go?

Walid: We have a clear-cut business plan to provide the highest quality broadband for up to 5 million outlets, households, and businesses. Each one of those 5 million customers will be provided broadband service with a minimum, guaranteed 10MB speed. We are not contemplating and thinking about it.

Even as we speak, the wheels are already rolling! Today, the 1MB users want more speed and download. We have to bring a different value for our customers. We want to go to the households, be a part of their lifestyles, and make sure that we provide them the services they want and when they want: be it the TV channels or broadband or basic voice.

This is how I foresee the market. We'll provide a minimum, guaranteed 10MB bandwidth, reliable service and highest quality, so that our customers are satisfied. It'll be a plug and play solution.

Q: What will be the financing arrangement for this investment?

Walid: There is no worry about how to secure that investment. It is not something that we cannot arrange. It could be a debt to equity combination.

Q: How do you see your company margins in 2016?

Walid: Promising! Our bargain chips are placed on better revenue figures in the future. By FY16, I am optimistic that our revenues would be double the FY11 figures. Going forward, I foresee PTCL in a much better and sound financial position. Of course, we have to ensure that we deliver, as the investment will not come for free. We have to improve our revenues and bring them to a higher level.

It is only by trying to diversify more and ensuring that when we go to the customer, we deliver a reliable and high quality experience, consisting of all the triple play services, ie, video, internet and voice.

Q: There are already five active players in the mobile telephony market, and now there is a possibility of a potentially sixth active participant in this market. As group CEO, how long do you think such a competitive structure can sustain itself?

Walid: This is not conducive to the operators and the country to have another active MNO. There is no need for further bleeding. Since the auction is also open for existing MNOs, I think there is a chance that one of the existing operators may acquire this cellular license and get more frequency spectrum. The existing operators can also go and collectively buy this spectrum to prevent the sixth operator from entering the market.

No, I do not expect to see five mobile operators in the medium to long term. If these five can consolidate into three, it would be better for everyone.

Q: What do you think about the prospects of the 3G technology in Pakistan? Would Ufone participate in the auction?

Walid: The deployment of infrastructure for 3G operations is much more expensive as 3G technology is more about transporting data than voice. A lot of investment would be required from the sponsors of the 3G operators. It is going to be really difficult for the 2G "leftover" operators in the post-3G environment, because high revenue-generating subscribers would switch over to 3G networks. Voice services would have even lower ARPUs later on, so it will be difficult for the 2G operators to survive for long in a market like Pakistan. There will be a clear case for consolidation.

As group CEO, I am reasonably confident that Ufone would be one of the three 3G licensees. Ufone is going to be a strong contender for the 3G spectrum in Pakistan and will fight to win!

Q: There is a clear case for mergers and acquisitions in the local telecom sector. Would you be willing to shop for one?

Walid: I have told you that the five coming years would be the years of consolidation for us, following the last five years of transformation. We are going ahead with our plans, and our reliance would be on indigenous, home-grown revenues. So far, we have been focusing on organic growth. However, I don't rule out any inorganic growth if need be at any point in time.

Q: Other major MNOs are seriously looking at the market for “branchless banking”, why is there reluctance from Ufone?

Walid: I think that Ufone is not going to be left out. This area is being discussed at the group level at Etisalat, for bringing in more synergies between various group entities vis-à-vis mobile money transfer, mobile banking, and payment systems.

The remittance flow from UAE to Pakistan is the second-largest after KSA, so that is one huge opportunity among many. Who would be in a better position than Etisalat and Ufone to tap into this market? We must admit that we are late, but we are not out! The market is there. We're looking at both money transfers and payments.

Q: Telecommunication is among the most-heavily taxed sectors in Pakistan. How does such an exorbitant taxation regime impact your business model? Are you taking up this issue with the relevant authorities?

Walid: One has to keep the whole economic situation of Pakistan in mind: the country is going through a tough period of fiscal crunch. It is really up to the government to decide what ecosystem they want to provide to the investors and businesses.

I don't want to exaggerate the taxation issue. What bothers me the most is not taxation - it's the power outages that present the real challenge to PTCL more than anything else! Running our operations for eighteen hours a day on fuel oil is a logistical and security nightmare.

Not only that it has to be on a continuous basis, the equipment wares out, batteries have to be replaced every six months, and fire incidents happen in the diesel generators. It is extremely difficult to maintain the quality of service 99.9 out of 100 times in such an environment.

So, if the government keeps this taxation regime but provides a constant, certain supply of electricity, the business would be in far better position.

Q: Why not share the infrastructure to alleviate some of these costs?

Walid: The idea of a "Tower Holding Co." is still relevant. On the facility sharing, PTA does not stop the operators. I foresee there will be more sharing among MNOs in the future. It is just not feasible to have 5 towers within a small range of ten to twenty kilometres.

On a side note, as a telecom professional I find this really strange that MNOs in Pakistan have not allowed national roaming among themselves. Under these distressful conditions, they should do that. That can greatly reduce the running costs and environmental issues. The regulator should force national roaming as a regime.

Q: What’s your take on USF-funded projects, keeping in view their contributions to the funds?

Walid: USF has done a good job in Pakistan. It has slowed down a little bit over last one year. I am hoping that USF will be back on its feet as a new management has now taken charge.
PTCL has been an active participant in USF projects in various ICT areas and will continue its participation. (Courtesy BRR)

Facebook IPO: Entrepreneur's dream comes true

2012-01-05T11:29:00.000-08:00

Mark Zuckerberg with Facebook employees

Travelling to space or embarking on an expedition to excavate lost Mayan ruins is normally the stuff of adventure novels. But for employees of Facebook, these and other lavish dreams are moving closer to reality as the world's No. 1 online social network prepares for a blockbuster initial public offering that could create at least a thousand millionaires.

The most anticipated stock market debut of 2012 is expected to value Facebook at as much as $100 billion, which would top just about any of Silicon Valley's most celebrated coming-out parties, from Netscape to Google Inc.

While weak financial markets could postpone or downsize any IPO, even the most conservative market-watchers say Facebook seems destined to set a new benchmark in a region famous for minting fortunes, with even the rank-and-file employees reaping millions of dollars.

Facebook employees past and present are already hatching plans on how to spend their anticipated new wealth, even as securities regulations typically prevent employee stock options from being cashed in until after a six-month lock-up period.

"There's been discussions of sort of bucket list ideas that people are putting together of things they always wanted to do and now we'll be able to do it," said one former employee who had joined Facebook in 2005, shortly after it was founded.

He is looking into booking a trip to space that would cost $200,000 or more with Virgin Galactic or one of the other companies working on future space tourism. That's chump change when he expects his shares in Facebook to be worth some $50 million.

"If that IPO bell happens, then I will definitely put money down," said the person, who declined to be identified because he did not want to draw attention to his financial status, given the antiglitz ethos of many people in Silicon Valley. "It's been a childhood dream," he said of space travel.

Others are thinking less science fiction and more "Indiana Jones." A group of current and former Facebook workers has begun laying the groundwork for an expedition to Mexico that sounds more suited to characters from the Steven Spielberg film "Raiders of the Lost Ark" than to the computer geeks famously portrayed in the movie about Facebook, "The Social Network."

Founded in a Harvard dorm room in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg and his friends, Facebook has grown into the world's biggest social network with over 800 million members and revenue of $1.6 billion in the first half of 2011.

Zuckerberg, 27, is estimated to own a little over a fifth of the company, according to "The Facebook Effect" author David Kirkpatrick.

But the wealth will trickle down to engineers, salespeople and other staffers who later joined the company, since most employees receive salary plus some kind of equity-based compensation, such as restricted stock units or stock options.

Facebook's headcount has swelled from 700 employees in late 2008 to more than 3,000 today. Given its generous use of equity-based compensation in past years, people familiar with Facebook say that even by conservative estimates there are likely to be well over a thousand people looking at million-dollar-plus paydays after the company goes public. "There will be thousands of millionaires," said a former in-house recruiter at Facebook.

Lou Kerner, the head of private trading at Liquidnet, estimates that Facebook now has roughly 2.5 billion shares outstanding, which would translate to a per-share price of $40 at a $100 billion valuation.

Engineers are the most richly rewarded among the rank and file.

The company has also been stingier in handing out equity to noncore employees -- so there may not be as many of the dazzling rags-to-riches stories that were commonplace at the time of the Google IPO, when in-house chefs and at least one masseuse struck gold with options.

Facebook's IPO has been long anticipated, but veterans of other startups that have gone public say the period after could be fraught with new challenges. Some employees could grow jealous over colleagues with more stock, while others might look down on peers who are too quick to sell, questioning their loyalty to the company.

And there is always the risk that talented staff would leave with their newfound wealth to make their own mark in the technology world by becoming entrepreneurs or investing in other promising startups.

For many of Facebook's staffers, the IPO will provide the means to pay off school loans and buy a house or new car. Home prices in the San Francisco Bay Area have typically been lofty, but many homeowners and real-estate agents are eagerly anticipating a surge of new buyers flush with money from the IPOs of Facebook and other Web companies.

"A lot of them are going to be multimillionaires at 30 and live to be 100. That means creating a 70-year plan, which is unheard of," said John Valentine.

Valentine, whose firm manages about $600 million in assets, said he plans to break into the Facebook client base through connections with venture capital firms. "It's the hot ticket in Silicon Valley," he said of Facebook.

Good bye 2011! Say Hello to 2012

2011-12-31T05:34:00.000-08:00

Hello 2012

I have to say…Happy New Year

I don’t think there will be too many people who will be unhappy to bid farewell to 2011. Issues related to corruption took centre stage for much of the year, and it saw a tumbling of reputations of the high and mighty in both politics and business. Inflation, both overall as well as food inflation, remained out of control for much of the year. The Govt. solution was to hike rates, which dampened the sentiments of industry and customers. The stock markets reeled under wave after wave of bad news and kept dropping for much of the year. The power crisis seemed poised to put the world economy in greater trouble than even the war against terrorism.
The PPP led coalition government seemed particularly indecisive — and fumbled in almost every issue it tried to tackle. But, I let me give the incumbent government the credit for the ever-increasing corruption and scarcity of everything…lol.

The Parliament hardly functioned for much of the year and a whole host of important bills could not be debated, amended or passed. Many important policies and bills got held up because of Parliament being held ransom. In some cases they got succeeded but failed to implement the Parliament unanimous resolutions. The battle-field among Judiciary, Govt., Army and Media was on the high temperature throughout the year 2011.
To add to all the gloom and doom, there was a consumption slowdown — with manufacturers in a host of sectors ranging from automobiles to consumer electronics reporting sluggish sales. The telecom sector, (which known as cash cow for national kitty), also experience huge losses in its share to contribute in national treasury.
Will 2012 be better? I am optimistic that it will be. Though there are plenty of problems spilling over from 2011 that need resolution, there are also enough signs of hope. As the PPP led coalition government has given a beautiful New Year gift to the poor masses in shape of hike in Gas prices for both domestic and commercial consumers. Again discriminatory behavior shown, as the new CNG price rate for KPK, Balochistan and Islamabad is Rs 74.83 while in Sindh and Punjab it is Rs 69.37. this is why, people from KPK and Balochistan angry with Punjab and Sindh, Electricity generates in KPK and is the expensive most here as compare to other areas, while Gas is property of Balochistan and they paid the highest, why everything is expensive in the rest of Pakistan, while Punjab and Sindh people enjoying relief. The rulers have to answer this…if they fail…the day is not far…when we will see another Dec.16, 1971 like situation in the country.
Enjoy the high-rise Gas and here’s wishing you a Very Happy New Year…!

Apple to unveil two iPad3 models in January

2011-12-29T11:19:00.000-08:00

iPad3 expected picture

Let’s have one more! Another week, another fresh set of rumors about Apple's next rendition of the iPad. The latest wave stems once again, claim Apple is expected to unveil two versions of its next iPad in late January.

Perhaps the most important detail has backed off an earlier report that Apple was planning to launch a "mini" iPad with a 7.85-inch screen. According to the latest details, it appears Apple will release two new iPad models and price the iPad 2 to compete with Amazon's red-hot Kindle Fire tablet.

The new iPads will reportedly include 9.7-inch screens with retina displays, dual LED light bars to bolster brightness and quad-core A6 processors. The lone element setting these tablets apart are the cameras: one has a 5-megapixel camera while the other is 8-megapixels.

Rumors of the next iPad arrive as sales of Amazon's Kindle Fire continue to flourish. The online retailer says the $199 tablet remains the top-selling item on its site after 13 weeks. Also, Dave Limp, the vice president for Amazon's Kindle division, said earlier this month the Fire "is the most successful product we've ever launched."

Let’s wait and watch what to come, when to come with which alterations. I hope, Apple will try to sustains its quality after the sad demise of Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple.

PM approves USF projects in Balochistan, Sindh

2011-12-28T11:25:00.000-08:00

The meeting of the board of Universal Service Fund (USF) presided over by the Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani on Wednesday approved two projects to provide basic telephony and data services in Balochistan and broadband services in interior Sindh.

The meeting also decided to initiate more telecom related projects in Balochistan to improve the telecom services in the province. Prime Minister also laid emphasis on initiation of more developmental projects, especially in Balochistan using technologies like optic fiber, microwave, satellite and telecom excellence centers. Prime Minister also directed to conduct training for people living in un-served areas so that direct and indirect employment opportunities can be created for them and digital divide can be bridged.

He urged the Fund to enhance equitable services to all segments of the society and also ensure that funds are used economically as well as prudently.
The meeting was informed that the rural telecom project in Mastung Lot, basic telephony and data services will be provided to a population of 74,831 people which reside in 102 muzas. Mastung Lot consists of Mastung, Nushki and Ziarat districts. In the broadband project of Southern Telecom Region-V, the broadband services would be provided in 73 towns and cities in 10 districts namely Ghotki, Jacobabad, Kambar Shahdadkot, Kashmore, Khairpur, Larkana, Naushahro feroze, Shaheed Benazir Abad (Nawabshah), Shikarpur and Sukkur. The project aims at provision of 78,000 broadband connections in these districts. It was informed that in addition to this, 206 Educational Broadband Centers (EBCs) would be established in higher-secondary schools and colleges and 93 Community Broadband Centres (CBCs) for those who cannot afford to have their own personal computers.
The board noted that USF had made immense progress under the rural telecom programme as USF has provided basic telephony and data services in more than 3,500 muzas. Broadband services have been provided in 256 2nd and 3td tier cities and towns along with providing almost 334,000 broadband connections and establishing 943 EBCs and 291 CBCs. In the optic fiber programme, around 3,960 kms of optic fiber cable has been laid to connect 58 un-served tehsils and towns. To take broadband internet to the villages, USF has launched another Programme. The pilot project of that programme is also under implementation aiming to bring the most modern e-Services through broadband, down to the village level. With these achievements, USF has created a success story for the public-private partnership entities nationally and internationally, the meeting was told.
Secretary IT Saeed Ahmad Khan, Chairman-PTA Dr Muhammed Yaseen, Member-Telecom Dr. Ismail Shah, CEO-ISPAK Azfar Manzoor, Representative of Consumer Association of Pakistan Kaukab Iqbal and CEO-USF Riaz Asher Siddiqui attended the meeting.

Pakistan sustains top slot for adult content in Google search

2011-12-28T11:09:00.000-08:00

Once again Pakistan has came in news worldwide for the wrong reasons, as a Muslim country, it's the most shameful moment for us all. But, strangely, Islamabad the capital city, which has the maximum number of educated citizens ranked among the top 10 cities which have gone for the word 'sex' in the Google search optimization, if I say, our most educated people are more sex-savvy or sexually desperate, it would not be wrong. With over 20 million internet users and growing fast, Pakistan has managed to secure the number one slot for searching the term ‘sex’ globally for all years.

According to a 2010 Fox News report, Pakistan had outranked all countries in Google searches for pornographic terms last year. Narrowing the analytics for the search term to just 2011, Pakistan maintained the number one position, followed by India and Vietnam.

Islamabad featured in the top 10 cities worldwide to search the word ‘sex’ in September and December 2011. Provincial capital Lahore also featured in the top 10 cities for the months of January, March, April, May, June, July, September, October, November and December 2011.

The months of February and August (Ramazan) were the only two months in 2011 that did not feature any cities from Pakistan in the global ranking.

Google Trends analyzes a portion of Google web searches to compute how many searches have been done for the terms entered, relative to the total number of searches done on Google over time.

To rank the top regions, cities, or languages, Google Trends first looks at a sample of all Google searches to determine the areas or languages from which they received the most searches for the first term. Then, for those top cities, Google Trends calculates the ratio of searches for the term coming from each city divided by total Google searches coming from the same city.

The city ranking and the bar charts alongside each city name both represent this ratio.

Google Trends uses IP address information from server logs to make a best guess about where queries originated.

Italy fines Apple 900,000 euros

2011-12-28T10:39:00.000-08:00

Apple has been fined 900,000 euros by an Italian watchdog for misleading customers about warranties that each Apple product came with.

The Antitrust Authority in the country stated that the fine has been imposed as Apple did not take adequate measures to inform its consumers about their legal rights to have a 2 year long technical support. Apparently, the consumers in the country were all under the false assumption that their Apple products came along with just one year warranty period.

The watchodog also said that due to Apple's actions, the company's customers in Italy were paying extra for technical support service. Apple, as of now, has not reacted to the verdict.

The officials also clarified that the penalties will be applicable to Apple Sales International, Apple Italia as well as Apple Retail Italia.

"Sanctions of a total of 900,000 euros have been imposed on the Apple group after it was found responsible for bad commercial practices that harmed consumers," read a statement by the Antitrust Authority, according to an AFP report.

The iPhone maker Apple gave "unclear information on payments for additional assistance offered to consumers," it added.

Gender gap in virtual world too, says a report

2011-12-26T12:24:00.000-08:00

A virtual gender gap exists in social media in the region with fewer women online, according to a survey which does not throw up any major surprises. The third Arab Social Media Report says social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter continue to be primary mediums to raise awareness, spread news and mobilise the community where regimes have fallen in several countries.

The Dubai School of Government’s (DSG) Governance and Innovation Programme’s report was conducted with the Gender and Public Policy Programme.

Only one third of Facebook users in the Arab region are women in stark contrast to women being around half of the users globally, says the report. The study found that the number of Facebook users in the Arab world reached 36 million, registering an increase of 68 per cent since the beginning of 2011. While the percentage of female users increased from 32 per cent at the end of 2010 to 33.5 per cent at the end of 2011, it remained static throughout the past two quarters.

Fadi Salem, Director of the Governance and Innovation Programme at DSG and co-author of the report, said: “There are significantly fewer Arab women using social media. However, 70 per cent of the active social media users in the Arab world are young women and men, who point out that a critical mass of young Arabs, have embraced social media with the objective to effect change. The positive views shown in our survey coupled with the shift towards using social media in activism during the Arab popular movements, suggest that social media can also play an important role in better empowering Arab women in the near future.”

Racha Mourtada, Research Associate with the Governance and Innovation Programme at DSG and lead author of the report, said: “It is promising that a majority of male and female respondents perceive social media as an enabler for women’s empowerment. However, the prevailing gap in Arab women’s usage of social media compared to men and to the global average is primarily a result of perceived societal and cultural constraints Arab women continue to face in real life.”Even though social media is largely viewed as a tool for empowerment that will give women access to and enable them to participate in entrepreneurial opportunities, social change, as well as civic and political action, 40 per cent of the respondents asserted that it may also present new concerns for women’s civic participation.

On the positive side, the report indicates that social media itself could be seen as a ‘gender equaliser’ in the Arab world as responses of male and female social media users were primarily similar across the board.

Dr May Al Dabbagh, Director of the Gender and Public Policy Programme at DSG, said: “It is important to recognise and address the gender gap in access to opportunities and resources in the Arab world. Towards this end, the report marks an important contribution to our understanding of Arab women’s engagement with technological advances of our globalised world.”

According to the report, the Arab uprisings continue to be the primary discussions on Twitter. For example, Bahrain, Egyptand Syria were the top three most popular trending ‘hashtags’ on Twitter across the Arab region in September.

Nearly 652,333 active Twitter users in the Arab region are estimated to have generated close to 37 million tweets at the end of September 2011. Furthermore, the report revealed that Bahrain and Kuwait lead the way with around 3.5 per cent Twitter penetration in both countries, with Qatar, the UAE and Saudi Arabia taking the remaining top slots.

However, Egypt leads the way in the number of active Twitter users at 129,711, while Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the UAE and Bahrain generated 70 per cent of the tweets in September 2011.

Tech in 2012! Trends, patterns, useful insights and people's preferences

2011-12-26T05:14:00.000-08:00

Technology trends, patterns in 2012

The start of this year was marked by a tech industry obsession with where to put growing mountains of information gathered online and by sensors increasingly woven into modern lifestyles. As 2012 approaches, focus has turned to searching for trends, patterns and other useful insights about people's preferences and behaviors that might be buried in troves of data.

"Big analytics toward the end of the year became the big term and into next year it will be the big term," independent Silicon Valley analyst Rob Enderle told.

"Analytics is really the core of what will be happening in everything from medical research to advertising."
The theme for this year's Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco was unlocking the power of "big data," and the topic was dissected by top Internet company executives at an array of industry gatherings.

As the mobile app world continues to grow Gartner Inc. has identified what it believes will be the most important types of mobile applications in 2012. Focusing on high-end devices with an average selling price of more than $300, analysts have identified the top ten cutting edge technologies and trends for 2012.

LBS

Location is one of the main enablers that deliver services to users based on their context and analysts expects the total user base of consumer location-based services to reach 1.4 billion users by 2014.

Social networking

Mobile socialnetworking is the fastest-growing consumer mobile app category. Social network platforms are sucking in increasing amounts of network traffic. They are becoming portals, transit hubs and cloud storage for increasing amounts of messaging and e-mail traffic, videos, photos, games and commerce. As mainstream adoption progresses, global social sites will be driven toward providing services in partnership with third parties using open APIs, and are likely to evolve to a role as infrastructure providers acting as data warehouses and providing user data and access to the more-consumer-facing brands.

Mobile search

Visual search is usually related with product search to enable price comparisons or to check product information. To bring mobile search to the next level, the app would allow users to take actions based on the result, such as making a call or reservation, buying a ticket, placing an order, and so on.

Mobile commerce

Today, mobile commerce is more of an extension of e-commerce but in a smaller form factor and with a more-streamlined experience. However, over the next 24 months, Analysts expects the emergence of uniquely mobile functions, such as the ability to "check in" to a store to alert a retailer that you are there, or the ability to add items to a shopping cart simply by taking a photo of an item or bar code in the physical store.

Mobile payment

Although near field communication (NFC) payment will be included in high-end phones from 2011, Analysts do not believe that it will become mainstream before 2015. In order to get consumers on board, payment solution providers need to address ease-of-use for users and ease-of-implementation for customers without compromising security. They also need to increase user awareness, extend the service coverage and address ease-of-use to appeal to end users.

Context aware service

Context-aware applications provide improved user experiences by using the information about a person's interests, intentions, history, environment, activities, schedule, priorities, connections and preferences to anticipate their needs and proactively serve up the most appropriate content, product or service. Mobile carriers, along with handset manufacturers, should provide expanded location services to include, among others, directory assistance, mapping, advertising and privacy controls.

Object recognition

High-end devices have an increased sensor and processing capability that enable sophisticated applications to recognize the user's surroundings, including specific objects of interest. Because OR provides an easy-to-use interface, more apps will come to the market with enhanced capabilities by 2012.

Mobile instant messaging

Gartner expects MIM to attract consumers to new types of unified communication (UC) clients, provided by over the top (OTT) service providers such as Skype.

Mobile email

Smartphones have begun to drive the mainstream adoption of mobile e-mail through a series of technology enhancements enabling low-cost mobile extensions to existing e-mail service. Gartner expects mobile e-mail users worldwide to increase from 354million in 2009 to 713 million in 2014, to account for 10.6 percent of the global mobile user base.

Mobile video

Mobile phones with larger screens and media tablets offer the ideal platform for video consumption and with careful marketing and consumer education, Gartner believes that carriers and content providers would be able to drive mobile video usage in the coming years.

Smartphone applications are stirring up a lot of commotion. One of the many reasons… advertisers and brands recognize the power and effectiveness that comes from using mobile devices to connect with an audience. Smartphones are experiencing explosive growth in use and mobile ad utilization. At the same time, WiFi usage is driving more mobile app usage, which will continue to foster growth in the mobile and tablet segment.

England's East Midlands-New Technologies

2011-12-25T10:59:00.000-08:00

In the East Midlands, they are constantly working hard to support visionary thinking. Through the encouragement of collaborative work and innovative networks that result in a surge of creativity.

With a history steeped in advanced engineering and manufacturing technologies, pioneering developments are the quite regular in this region and this sector enjoys considerable investment and support.

Advanced materials capability in England's East Midlands has evolved from the motorsports industry to become a unique and increasingly important cluster of companies involved along the whole composite product lifecycle.

Fast growing and supported by the UK government, nanotechnology in the region is supported through innovation networks designed to encourage close collaboration between business and universities.England’s East Midlands is a big player in this with over 40 companies that are involved in micro and nanotechnology. It is a multimillion pound industry and employees around 105,000 people. They have established a series of sector-focused innovation support networks, called iNets, which are designed to support relationships between businesses and universities.

The East Midlands also leads the way in space applications, with a number of exciting initiatives set up to support the sector as well as being the home of England's National Space Centre. Specific opportunities focus on Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) and, to a lesser extent, Earth Observation (EO), with the market for these in the UK currently around £350 million per year - a figure that is predicted to grow to £16 billion by 2015.

RIM in trouble! Faces trademark fight over messenger name

2011-12-23T11:26:00.000-08:00

Things are running opposite these to RIM as a United States court barred Research In Motion (RIM) from calling its new operating system “BBX” because of a trademark dispute. The company renamed it “BlackBerry 10.”

But next month, the Waterloo, Ont. smartphone giant faces a much more important trademark battle in a Toronto courtroom. It will try to defend its ability to use a trademarked three-letter term that, unlike BBX, is out in the marketplace and has immense global value to the company: BBM, short for BlackBerry Messenger, a popular service with about 50million users around the world.

Executives at Toronto-based BBM Canada, a broadcast industry group, who say they launched a court proceeding against RIM after attempts to negotiate failed, are pointing to the BBX ruling as they prepare for their Jan. 11 hearing.

“We want our name back,” said Jim MacLeod, president and chief executive officer of BBM Canada. “I find it kind of amazing that this wouldn’t have been thought about before they decided to use the name. The same thing goes for BBX.”

The lawsuit has the potential to endanger the branding around one of RIM’s most valuable products – the instant messaging service is popular with text-crazy teenagers, adults and millions of consumers in emerging markets who use it to circumnavigate costly texting fees charged by wireless carriers. The service has been a core piece of RIM’s brand, and is a linchpin of the company’s global expansion. In 2010, it began an aggressive advertising campaign that referred to BlackBerry Messenger only as BBM.

In 2010, when RIM began the BBM-focused advertising campaign, the company applied for a “BBM” trademark, but was advised by the Canadian Intellectual Property Office, in a letter dated Feb. 24, 2010, that the trademark “was not registerable,” according to court documents.

Mr. MacLeod said he first saw the BBM advertisements when he threw back hotel curtains in New York City and saw a building-sized ad gleaming across Times Square. Soon after, BBM Canada said its own employees started being mistaken for RIM employees, and that people began phoning its subsidiary company – BBM Analytics Inc. – for client support related to RIM’s messenger service.

The executive said he is well aware that RIM is massive compared to his own relatively unknown organization, and that it would be easier for BBM Canada to rebrand itself than for RIM to rebrand a fast-growing service with tens of millions of users. Mr. MacLeod said he offered to rebrand BBM Canada, if RIM covered the costs, but says he received no answer. A request for a meeting with one of RIM’s chief executives was similarly unsuccessful.

After reaching out to RIM and getting nowhere, Mr. MacLeod said BBM Canada was forced to file a lawsuit alleging trademark infringement, which it did on Aug. 12, 2010. The industry group is seeking an injunction stopping RIM and its employees from using the term BBM, as well as damages for infringement and punitive damages.

A RIM spokesperson said the company doesn’t comment on pending litigation.

The BBX and BBM cases are not related, but one source close to RIM said the company’s legal department advised top executives that BBX was trademarked and that the company should pursue a different name. The decision to disregard that advice, the source added, would almost certainly have had to come from one of RIM’s top executives.

“We don’t want to pile on the troubles of RIM – this predates RIM’s troubles – but from our point of view, this is a very serious situation,” Mr. MacLeod said. “If the big guy who can throw the most money at it can take your trademark, why do you even have trademark law?”

3G get approval! Finally to land in March 2012

2011-12-23T03:38:00.000-08:00

Here comes the exciting news! Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has finally received the directive from Ministry of Information Technology (MoIT) to make preparation for auction of third generation (3G) cellular licenses, said a statement issued by PTA.

According to the statement PTA is now planning to auction frequency spectrum for cellular mobile Broadband Services and license will be technology neutral and the licensees are able to deploy any technology including 3G / 4G / LTE / any other upcoming technologies.
The auction process will be overseen by a joint professional group (Auction Supervisory Committee) comprising of public sector stakeholders, including representatives of Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Information Technology, PTA and FAB etc.

PTA has constituted a special committee for making preparations to conduct the auction in the most possible transparent manner. For the awareness and information of potential investors, PTA is also planning to hold Investors Conferences in Karachi and Islamabad. International Road Shows will also be organized. The exact schedule for this auction would be made available soon, said PTA.

The good news finally for the mobile consumers and broadband lovers, let us know how you feel now. Now, our reverend cellular and broadband consumers can use the services well explained through the following infographic presentation.

Infographic presentation of 3G/4G services

Microsoft launches CIE in Karachi

2011-12-22T01:18:00.000-08:00

Microsoft is empowering local firms with a host of business productivity solutions through its launched Customer Immersion Experience (CIE) programme. Kamal Ahmed, Country General Manager, Microsoft Pakistan said, “Microsoft businesses need the right platform and tools to optimise productivity and attain maximum output from their workforce.” The programme offers the opportunity for users to experience first-hand of how Microsoft technologies can help them communicate, collaborate, create and manage information more efficiently within their organisations.

Microsoft Pakistan has more than 7,000 registered partners who are well connected with thousands of customers and hundreds of companies in Pakistan. This CIE set up will provide them opportunity to have real time experience of advance technologies beside this platform will be opened for students as well.

Microsoft feels Pakistan has great potential in education sector as 1.2 million people are acquiring higher education in different disciplines, therefore, the company will be starting its different activities in 73 multiple universities of the country.

CIE Labs has been established in the Karachi for its importance as an economic hub where scores of multinational, private and public limited companies are functioning throughout the country.

The world’s most valuable toilet

2011-12-21T03:34:00.000-08:00

It seems funny but exciting as well, a Japanese toilet manufacturer has created the world’s most valuable loo to please the ‘god of lavatories’. Toilet maker INAX teamed up with an Austrian jeweller to create the toilet - studded with more than 72,000 Swarovski crystals. It is on display in a showroom in Tokyo’s posh Ginza shopping district until the end of December.

Kazuo Sumimiya, director of the showroom for the Lixil interior fixture company, said it was created to please the “god of lavatories”.

“In Japan, we believe a deity exists in the lavatory. That’s why keeping lavatories clean and taking good care of it have been a Japanese custom since long ago,” he said.

“If we were to sell it, it would probably be worth around 10 million yen (£82,000).” Visitors admired the dazzling fixture, with one woman saying she’d like to invite her friends to hold a party around it. But Chikako Kawanami, 22, said: “It’d be hard. I don’t think I’d feel comfortable enough to use it even if I had this at home.”

Can you imagine a toilet like this, herein, our part, we don't have Gas, electricity, while with every passing day the incumbent government kept on increasing the power and gas prices. Now another high price bomb to drop on poor citizens, as the Federal Minister for Oil & Gas has said, from the 1st January 2012, the tariffs would be increased. (for the betterment of Pakistan people-lol)

Draft Bill on misuse of emails, SMS tabled

2011-12-20T07:55:00.000-08:00

Bill tabled to block obnoxious SMS, MMS, Emails

The government is examining draft bill regarding misuse of Emails, Short Message Service (SMS) and Multimedia Message Service (MMS) in anti-state activities which are detrimental to the national security.In this regard, a Committee, headed by Secretary Interior, has been constituted which would present report within one week regarding the proposed legislation.Minister for Interior, Rehman Malik in a meeting took serious notice on misuse of electronic equipments, i.e. internet, email, SMS/MMS and directed the concerned authorities to take remedial measures to curb the menace of such illegal activities with iron hands.

It has been detected that anti-state messages have been emanated from various email addresses and telephones and serious threats have been given to the journalists, business community and families, causing commotion and harassment.
It was also observed that the criminals are still using unauthorized mobile Subscriber Identity Modules (SIMs) for their criminal activities and terrorists acts, bank robbery, target killings and other heinous crimes.
Rehman Malik asked Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) to revisit the whole system and ensure that all those illegal SIMs which are being used on stolen identity should be blocked.
Anybody misusing, sending threatening emails or tampering with email address, mobile phone via SMS, MMS etc should be dealt with under ATA and other relevant sections of law.
Malik asked Chairman PTA and Secretary IT to immediately hold a meeting with service providers and convey the concerns of the government and ensure that their services are not misused by anti-slate and anti-social elements, putting the security of the country in danger.
It was also decided that the service providers should have to have their own monitoring system to block such detrimental communication as mentioned above in coordination with the PTA.
Rehman Malik said the government has given top priority to national security and hence such acts against the national security would not be tolerated.
The other decision was to identify “obscene words” or anti state wordings, being used by anti-social elements and these should be entered in the system to be blocked.
The service providers would ensure that they will not advertise anything against social norms and customs and they will not support any media programme with content that brings government into disrepute, scandalizes it or is against the national honour and security.
The Minister said that while taking such remedial measures, it would be ensured that general public may not face any problem and no site would be blocked.

How teens use mobiles

2011-12-19T03:32:00.000-08:00

Infographic presentation

Here is an infographic illustrating cellphone use among teenagers. A recent study released by Pew InternetResearch has shed light on average mobile phone use among teens. Cell-phone texting has become the preferred channel of basic communication between teens and their friends, with cell calling a close second. This study includes not only information regarding how much teens use their mobile phones, but what they are using them for as well, such as: to go online, text and access social media sites. Perhaps not surprisingly, average mobile use varies greatly by age, and sexting seems to becoming more of an issue.

At this point, 75% of teens have cellphones, up from 45% back in 2004. Thirty-three percent of teens send more than 100texts per day. Teenage boys send an average of 30 text messages per day and girls send an average of 80.

What do you think of the infographic and the stats it shows off? Does any of the data surprise you? Let us know!

Samsung rocks with 300m smartphones sale

2011-12-18T01:33:00.000-08:00

Samsung- Galaxy S

Phone makers flooded the market place with high-tech smartphones, leading players trying to make some record sales and bag the top spot. Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd, a leading mobile handset provider, announced that this year it has achieved annual mobile handset sales of 300million units for the first time in Samsung’s history. The Managing Director of Samsung Pakistan, Mr. Hee Chang Yee said; “We are incredibly proud of this record-breaking sales milestone and have exceeded the annual target announced early this year. "Our performance in the global mobile phones industry remains unrivalled, across a broad range of models including Android, Windows Phone and Samsung’s own bada platform."

The company’s flagship range of Galaxy S products – Galaxy S and Galaxy S II – contributed significantly to the success, gaining rapid popularity as the most recognized mobile brands in the world. The Galaxy S II, launched in 2011, set a new sales record for Samsung, generating a historical 10 million sales.

Samsung’s portfolio of bada smartphones is also gaining sales momentum globally, with the upgraded bada 2.0. New features were added to the bada-powered Wave smartphone portfolio, led by the Wave 3.

Moment of jubilations! Aisam gets married to Faha

2011-12-18T01:11:00.000-08:00

Happiest moment: Aisam & Faha give a smiley pose for photograph

Pakistani Tennis star Aisam ul Haq Qureshi finally tied the knot with his fiancé Faha Akmal Makhoom, here at Garrison Country Club Lahore on Saturday.

The newly wedded couple was engaged in July this year. On the wedding day Aisam Ul Haq dressed in a golden sherwani with a golden rose in the front pocket, Aisam arrived in decorated silver Mercedes with “Just Married” and “Congratulations” written on it.

Various personalities from all walks were present at the wedding ceremony.

It is pertinent to mention that Aisam’s former doubles partner, Rohan Bopanna, has also flown in from India to attend the wedding.
Akmal, a British citizen, wore a red dress with golden encrustations. She had recently acquired a masters degree in psychotherapy from the University of Greenwich, UK. Akmal’s father, Dr Muhammad Akmal Makhdum is the son of renowned educationist of Pakistan, Professor Muhammad Ajmal, former secretary education, principal of Government College Lahore and vice chancellor Punjab University.

Talking to media just before he tied knot, Aisam has said, it was the biggest match of his life, he requested the whole nation, loved ones and followers to pray for his successful new life.

As being a tennis lover, I really want him to get the World No.1 spot, I wish him many many best wishes and good luck in his future endeavours.

Pak-Indo cyber war heats up

2011-12-17T11:47:00.000-08:00

Pak-Indo cyber rivalry

There was time, when India and Pakistan kept each other engaged confronting on the borders with the help of armies, but this rivalry shapes into new horizons. The current tech-savvy crowd created a new list called 'cyber war'.

Every few months, we hear about some independent and talented group of hackers boasting colourful names like Pakistan Cyber Army, Indian Cyber Army, Pakistan Hackers Club, Pakhaxors, Predators PK, Hindustan Hackers Organisation and so on are busy in defacing each others websites. Mostly, the homepage is littered with poorly-worded patriotic statements and taunts that often provoke the other nation’s hacking groups to retaliate.

Although these attacks have been occurring intermittently since the late 90s, they seem to have escalated since the Mumbai terrorist attacks in 2008. While previously these hacks targeted popular but harmless websites, the trend has gradually moved to defacing major government and law enforcement websites.

In this context, a cyber attack is usually triggered by some act of violence or aggression from the rival country. Within a span of hours, these groups of hackers locate a high-value website that doesn’t have adequate cyber security in place, and gains root access to the Web server by hacking into it.

The homepage is defaced and replaced with juvenile comments. Often, these hackers block visitors’ access to important information. Such acts, of course, lead to more cyber defacements, with the most “coveted” targets being government websites.

The attacks are countless, but they all point to the fact that government websites are now in the cross-hairs of hackers – local and international. It is no secret that government entities are on an entirely different level from private organisations, with numerous bureaucratic hurdles in place for even the most trivial tasks.

However, cyber attacks occur in real-time and slow response to such attacks is unacceptable for any nation. Similarly, even a superfluous survey of government organisations will reveal that there is little awareness of information security among the employees, with security audits rarely being conducted.

Government institutions need to allocate proper budgets for the hiring and training of Computer Emergency Response Teams, and raise the level of security awareness among their staff. This is certainly no small feat, given the nature of government organisations and how the average government employee thinks!

Although Pakistan is far behind in the concept of e-governance, this cannot last for long. Inevitably, as a nation, Pakistan must and will join the list of countries that have moved most governance-related activities to the Web, in order to facilitate its citizens.

Various initiatives like branchless banking for poverty-stricken people, Virtual University, and e-balloting are already becoming available. Needless to say, these require strong cyber security measures to succeed.

The immensely talented individuals in these hacker groups should come together and help secure their respective country’s digital assets, and start other, more productive projects to truly serve the nation.

But this won’t be possible until the Government of Pakistan realises that this enormous talent should be channelled into helping secure our own cyber infrastructure against future attacks.

Nokia Continues to Dominate Indian Mobile Market As Shipments Rise

2011-12-16T12:43:00.000-08:00

The Indian mobile phone market grew 12% in units shipped, over the previous quarter, to clock 47.07 million units, according to IDC's Q3 2011 Mobile Phone Tracker. Year-on-year too, there was a shipment growth of 13.8%.

"Notwithstanding a sharp decline in the mobile service subscription adds during July-Sept 2011, the mobile phone shipments witnessed a spurt, as vendors built channel inventories ahead of a long festival season. Dual-SIM handset shipments were notable with a sequential growth of 25.2% over the previous quarter". Deepak Kumar, Research Director at IDC, India said.

Interestingly, the quarter gave both the Top 2 players something to cheer about. While Nokia grew its share of overall mobile phone shipments during July-Sept by 6.8% over the previous quarter, Samsung succeeded in increasing its smartphone shipment share by 5% over the same period.

For the quarter of July-Sept 2011, Nokia had 31.8% of the mobile phones shipment share, followed by Samsung at 17.5%. In the smartphone segment, Nokia still led with a shipment share of 35.3%, but Samsung came closer at 26%.

"The slowdown of Nokia's smartphones shipment is in line with the expectations, that it would be prepping to transition some of its market share from Symbian to Windows," Deepak added.

"Overall, smartphones shipment for the India market showed an impressive growth of 21.4% over the previous quarter and 51.5% year-on-year. This helped the segment grow its contribution to the mobile phone shipment to 6.5% in Q3 from 5.6% in Q2," G. Rajeev, Lead Analyst, Mobile Phones, noted.

"From an operating system (OS) perspective, Android overtook Symbian to emerge as the top platform in India for the first time, with a share of 42.4% of the smartphone market," Rajeev added.

The platform (Android) saw a growth of 90% over the previous quarter. The Apple iOS consolidated further, with a 3.09% share of the smartphone market, compared to a share of 2.6% in Q2 2011.

Several of the Indian and Chinese brands registered varying declines in shipments. Spice and MAXX were notable exceptions and saw shipment growths of 34.1% and 10.5%, respectively, over the previous quarter of April-June 2011.

Outlook

2011 is expected to close with mobile phone shipments of around 184.4 million units. Also, IDC forecasts the market to clock 301 million by 2015, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 13.03 during the period of 2011-2015. The smartphone segment is forecast to see a much higher CAGR of 63.4% during the same period and to achieve a shipment of 77.5 million by 2015.

Techie things that are done in 60 seconds

2011-12-15T13:59:00.000-08:00

60 seconds only ? The time limit seems very short in real life, but not when it is accounted for all the techie operations that are being done ONLINE in each passing moment. You take 20 deep breaths and tonnes of things are being uploaded, downloaded, shared, converted, encrypted, decrypted, written and read in increasingly virtually & socially dependent World Online.

It would be interesting for most of you to know that following are the things that are being done in 60 secondsas of year 2011.

690,000+ Google Searches
170+ Million emails being sent out.
60+ New Blogs being setup
2000+ Blog posts being posted each minute
700,000+ Million Facebook Status updates…
80,000+ Wall Posts
500,000+ Facebook comments…
50+ WordPress Downloads
7,000+ Flickr image uploads…
100,000+ Tweets
400,000+ minutes of Skype calls in 60 seconds
600+ Hours of Youtube videos being uploaded in each minute / 25 Hours playtime videos being uploaded in 60 seconds.
20,000+ Applications being downloaded from iOS App Store.
100+ new LinkedIN accounts

Plus numerous other things being done which could take hours writing here… In short, the life in digital world is moving pretty fast, atleast 1000 times faster than one’s own Offline Life. The trend has just started, and will keep growing with at least 10-15% boost each year on year.

Facebook provides suicide prevention tool

2011-12-14T12:44:00.000-08:00

A very positive initiative taken by leading social site, I hope this service would be extended to other regions as well. Facebook is providing a new way for US and Canadian members of the leading online social network to summon help for friends who may be thinking of ending their lives. A tool rolled out by Facebook lets people report suicidal comments posted by friends, who will immediately be sent email messages urging them to call a hotline or click on a link to start a chat session with a crisis counselor.

Lifeline, a National Suicide Prevention, will provide free, confidential counseling at any time of day. "We're proud to expand our partnership with Lifeline, and to provide those in crisis with even more options to seek help," Facebook chief security officer Joe Sullivan said in a release.

"The Lifeline's commitment to suicide prevention has enabled people on Facebook to get fast, meaningful help when they need it most, and we look forward to continuing our work with them to help save lives," he added.

"Although the Lifeline on average handles 70,000 calls per month, we have heard from our Facebook fans and others that there are many people in crisis who don't feel comfortable picking up the phone. This new service provides a way for them to get the help they need in the way they want it," he added.

Nearly 100 people in the US die daily from suicide, with the annual tally topping 36,000, according to US Surgeon General Regina Benjamin.

"For every person who is murdered, two die by suicide," Benjamin said in a statement. "Facebook and the Lifeline are to be commended for addressing one of this nation's most tragic public health problems."

I hope, you will do comment on this.

The Rise of the “Creative” Class

2011-12-14T06:18:00.000-08:00

Top overused words worldywide

LinkedIn has put out its annual list of top buzzwords (over)used on members’ professional profiles. The top word people in the use to describe themselves on LinkedIn? “Creative.” That word did not even make the top ten words list last year, when “Extensive Experience” topped the list.

And it’s not just the U.S. If you look at the country breakdown, this was the most used word in economies such as the U.S., UK, Canada, Netherlands, and Germany. (People in Spain like to think of themselves as more “Managerial;” India, “Effective;” Brazil, “Multinational;” France, “Dynamic”).

I think it’s telling that so many professionals are trying to identify themselves as part of the creative class. In a time of high unemployment when traditional skills can be outsourced or automated, creative skills remain highly sought after and highly valuable. We all want to be part of the creative class of programmers, designers, and information workers. The term used to mean artists and writers. Today, it means job stability.

Top ten overused buzzwords

Top ten words which topped the list in Linkedin profiles

With the New Year right around the corner, the LinkedIn team thought it would be a great time to refresh one of our most popular analyses from last year - overused professional buzzwords! Maybe during the last year some of our members scrubbed their profiles of buzzwords and more uniquely described themselves? Or maybe there has been a huge growth in the number of ‘innovative, motivated, entrepreneurial team players who are results-oriented and thrive in fast-paced environments’. To the data!