Pakistan Leading Telecom& IT News Magazine Flare June+July

June 15, July 15, 2011
CONTENT
Page
Editor's Note
Editorial
CONTENT
Reader's Response
Letters to the Editor
Telepedia
Global mobile phone users! Pakistan jumps in top 10 Pakistan mobile international traffic jumps to 3.4 billion Tower sharing ensures quality with low cost Telenor conducts study on mobile financial services Ufone the youth brand! Edges on technology Warid celebrates 6th birthday Warid Telecom makes rural areas to commune Telecom body calls WHO report biased India lags behind Pakistan in telecom The future of voice Exciting iphone apps Outsmart your smartphone
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Cover Story
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Cover Story InsighT
Telecom, IT get disappointment as Rs 2.767 trillion budget tabled 34
Govt considers IT progress backbone of economy USF Builds information highways to unserved areas Dell struggles huge decline in sales, revenue The next trends for SMEs How tech company logos evolved? Staying focused at work Using social media for investing Exploring web design trends Past, present and future of microprocessor Bangladesh teenagers drive outsourcing growth Sensor networks, cloud-based computing Select telecom product that best meets your needs Everyone at risk to digital fraud Best iphone, Android and BlackBerry car apps Global debate on Internet-What's next? Wi-tribe celebrates 2 years of success
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Warid celebrates 6th birthday
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Events
Mobilink introduces Dell Streak 5 Warid supports World No Tobacco Day 2011 World IT Show 2011-3D, robots looted audience Shaping the future Tablets, 3D rock Taiwan IT show
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Tech Tools
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Mobile Review Current Mobiles Upcoming Mobiles High Range Mobiles Low Range Mobiles Computers Laptops Accessories Gaming Zone
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Global mobile phone users! World IT Show 2011-3D, Pakistan jumps in top 10 robots looted audience
Mosaic
National Mosaic International Mosaic
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Synopsis
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USF Builds information highways to unserved areas
National News International News
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Telenor conducts study on mobile financial services
Editor s No te
Budget Tabled
Telecom taxes unchanged
Today, Pakistani telecom sector is on its way to boom, the present circumstances and situations of the sector and future prospects of this segment is crystal clear to all-for judgment, our cellular market has achieved the hallmark of 107 million subscribers with 64.8 per cent teledensity, while contributed Rs 109.05 billion to national exchequer through taxes, duties, regulatory charges during the fiscal year 200910. In spite of the non-healthy circumstances for investment, this sector has not only attracted foreign investment but contributing a heavy amount to the national treasury. The new businesses that are now running in Pakistan due to the rapid growth of Telecom sector, the impact of telecom boom on the existing businesses is tremendous and these businesses are being benefited due to easy access of telecom services to a common person. Federal Minister for Finance has presented Rs 2.767 trillion Budget for the fiscal year 2011-12, which brought nothing for this sector except disappointment, it provide information about how Government institutes and policies are playing their role for the growth of the telecom sector in Pakistan? Both Telecom & Information Technology get only Rs 793.108 million, in which a meagre amount of Rs. 283.666 million has been allocated for the Telecom sector, while Rs. 509.442 million has been allocated for IT in the fiscal year 2011-12 for its ongoing and new projects, under Public Sector Development Program (PSDP).Its an unfortunate and harsh reality that a poor nation has landlord rulers, the budget of the most important sectors like, Telecommunications, IT, Education, Health etc needed to be increase but despite tall claims by the government that it would freeze its expenditures, the expenses of the President House have been increased by 12.88 per cent, while, the Prime Ministers House gets Rs1.37 billion, the budget for the year 2011-2012 treats the president and prime minister like kings of a large kingdom. But we need to see the government going beyond rhetoric emphasising its commitment to poor people, there is a need to treat people as the real assets of the country, to do far more to rescue them from a grim situation and to develop holistic policies that can look at issues that range from militancy and underdevelopment to economic policy as a whole. Until this happens we cannot expect any real change, regardless of budget documents and their contents which too often veer away from reality, hiding more than what they reveal. If the incumbent government focuses on the telecom & IT growth, the real winners will be Pakistani consumers and businesses, which will result in booming our national economy. We expect taxes to come down and let the service providers to ensure quality, the competition will heat up proportionally. The changes may also give the broader economy a much-needed boost. Pakistan telecom will be firmly rooted in the 21st century and the ultimate beneficiaries will eat the fruit of innovation & advancement.
June 15 - July 15, 2011
Zubair Ahmed Kasuri Irfan Khan Usman Yaqoob Director Marketing (Lhr) M. Farooq Malik Manager Marketing (Lhr) Rashid Hussain Mughal Marketing Executive (Khi) Zafar Khan Afridi Senior Graphic Designer M. Naeem Mughal Graphic Designer Azhar Javed General Manager Muhammad Saeed Chief Photographer Mobile: 0321 - 8404389
Editor Assistant Editor
Lahore Office 46J-Gulberg III, Lahore-Pakistan. Ph: +92-42-38350195, 042-35880183 Fax: +92-42-35880183 Islamabad Office Phone: +92-51-5892027 +92-51-2254548 Kasur Office Phone: +92-492-770820-763250 Karachi Office Phone: + 92-21-34602620 Registration No PCPB/105 (Vol. 7 Issue:10) Price Rs: 300 URL: www.flare.pk Email: flare.mag@gmail.com Colour Sepration: Fotoscan Process, 25-C Lower Mall, Lahore. Ph: 042-37111906, 37234042.
Zubair Ahmed Kasuri, (Editor-in-Chief) publisher of FLARE leading telecom magazine, printed it from Qasim Naeem Art Press, Near Bank Road, Main Bund Road, Lahore and published from 46J, Gulberg III, Lahore.
InsighT
Flare Report
Free download | flare.pk
Govt considers IT progress backbone of economy

The ability to communicate and to derive the benefits of information driven era is no more a privilege of the elite but a basic right of all segments of society
rime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani has said that the present government considers development in information technology and telecommunication sectors to be of paramount importance for the overall progress of the country. He said that the promise of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) enabled by wide access of the cellular medium and broadband has made the ICT sector a top strategic priority for the democratic government for overall development of Pakistan. The Prime Minister expressed these views while chairing 24th Board meeting of Universal Service Fund (USF) as Chairman of the BoD here at the Prime Minister House recently. The potential of these sectors, he added, cannot be over-emphasised in delivering value to the economy through socioeconomic benefits to the masses and creation of job opportunities. The government for these precise reasons, he said, has taken steps to enable further expansion of the programmes of mass importance undertaken by the Universal Service Fund and the R&D Funds of the GoP. The Prime Minister said that the ability to communicate and to derive the benefits of information driven era is no more a privilege of the elite but a basic right of all segments of society. He said that it is heartening to know that the government has, over the past three years, undertaken a well structured and successful programme for universal access for unserved and underserved areas through transparent targeted subsidy mechanism. Similarly, an industry funded programme, he maintained, for promotion of Research and Development with emphasis on industry academia linkages and technical human resource development has been another success story. He said the dream of cross country connectivity for all is about to be realised and "we are on road to establishing a sustainable R&D platform and there is
a now need to look at further innovative and diverse ICT resource development uses of these funds to gear up for the future". He assured of his government's support in this regard and vowed to provide opportunities to the people of Pakistan, which modern day technologies envisage. The Board accorded approval for awarding contract for the Optic Fibre Cable (OFC) project in Balochistan. Through the optic fibre project in Northern Balochistan, optic fiber connectivity will be provided to 12 tehsil headquarters and 8 other towns and a population of around 2.1 million people will benefit
40 percent of the total USF subsidy for all USF projects is being provided for projects in Balochistan, in Northern Balochistan, optic fiber connectivity will be provided to 12 tehsils and 8 towns
from this project. It is worth mentioning here that 40 percent of the total USF subsidy for all USF projects is being provided for projects in Balochistan. The board decided that the company which was awarded the project would essentially be required to clear its outstanding payments towards USF (Universal Service Fund). As regards the USF Malakand Lot Project, which could not be completed due to security reasons and military operations in the districts of Swat, Shangla, Buner Dir etc., the Board opined that the issue be resolved with the concerned company by terminating the agreement and the Malakand Lot Project be re-auctioned. In this context, the Board decided that although the management has taken a legal opinion from a renowned legal firm, another
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legal opinion from the Ministry of Law and Justice should also be sought prior to resolution of the matter. The Board was also apprised of upcoming plans for telecom facilities in un-served areas which have been distributed into 26 lots. "However, it was mentioned that issues being faced by telecom operators as we go into more remote and difficult areas, in addition to the security situation, are high operational expenses, low revenues and expensive back haul. Apart from the projects, the administrative and human resource related issues of utilization of funds were also deliberated upon. The Board gave principle approval to the proposal of providing subsidy on operational expenses in these areas for a limited time period of 3 years following a declining trend model. The Board also appreciated the initiative of establishing Community Tele Centres throughout the country particularly in the under-developed areas for which a pilot project is being launched in the near future. Another project involving setting up of Tele Medicine Network at three hubs (Holy Family Hospital, Rawalpindi, Nishtar Medical Hospital, Multan and Jinnah Post Graduate Medical College, Karachi) and 12 remote sites was also approved. The Prime Minister directed the Board to identify other areas as well, wherein USF Funds could be utilised for the betterment of the masses, like increasing telecom and IT based knowledge among the youth. At the end, the Prime Minister appreciated the achievements made by USF so far and hoped that it will continue to meet its targets in future also. The Prime Minister assured the board that in future there will be a board meeting held every six weeks. Secretary IT, Chairman PTA, Nominees of Fixed Telephone Line Operators (CEO PTCL), nominee of Internet Service Providers Association of Pakistan and Representative of Consumers Association of Pakistan also attended the meeting as Directors of USF Board. n
Azhar Javed
Telepedia
akistan faces many challenges due to wrong policies and strategies of the present government. The government has failed to tackle terrorism, law and order situation, inflation and even loadshedding. Besides these challenges, Pakistan is number nine in top 10 mobile users out of 60 countries of worldwide. Pakistan's telecom sector is one of the world's fastest growing industries. The telecom sector is at a pace of 170 per cent yearly. Pakistan has a population of more than 170 million and the number of mobile phone subscribers crossed 107 million. Cellular users in Pakistan have crossed 105 million mark in February 2011 to reach a total of 107,886,440 mobile subscription, according to the data released by Pakistan Telecommunication Authority. PTA said that cellular teledensity in February 2011 reached 64.8 percent showing 1.2 percent growth rate in March-April 2011 alone. Statistics said that all five cellular companies showed consistency in adding 1,145,103 mobile phone users in February 2011, as compared to 1,229,381 cell users in January 2011. During January and February 2011 Mobilink remained at top in terms of subscribers with 32,964,307 all subscriptions, followed by Zong , which managed to add 703,322 mobile phone users to its network to surpass 9 million subscribers mark. Telenor added 696,060 users in reported two months. Warid could add 176,150 new users while Ufone added only 93,750 users due to clean-up of records. China had more than 900 million mobile phone subscribers at the end of April 2011 with
China No. 1 with more than 900 million mobile phone subscribers, Indian subscribers has reached 806.13 million; USA has crossed 315 million, Russian mobile phone subscriptions rose to 220 million and Brazil ended with over 207.5 million mobile phone subscribers
nearly two-thirds of the world's most populous nation using cellular technology. The nation's army of mobile phone users grew by over 41 million in the first quarter of 2011, bringing the total number of cell phone subscribers to 900.39 million, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said. According to government figures, China had 565 million mobile phone subscribers in February 2009. In the first quarter of 2011, China's telecommunication industry reported a 9.4 percent growth year-on-year on business revenue valued at 308.36 billion yuan ($47.44 billion), the ministry said. As of the end of April, third generation (3G) mobile telecommunication users in China reached 67.57 million, nearly 21 million more than at the end of 2010. The Indian telecom subscriber count has reached 806.13 million by end of January 2011, thanks to unabated growth in mobile subscribers. India added 18.99 Million new Mobile subscribers in January to take the total mobile subscriber count to 806.13 million. According to the latest report released by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), India has 538.38 million urban subscribers while 267.74 million rural subscribers. With this, the overall Tele-density in India reaches 67.67 percent. According to the latest figures, the USA telecom subscribers has crossed 315 million as 68.1 percent of US mobile subscribers used text messaging on their mobile device, while browsers were used by 37 percent of subscribers (up 0.8 percentage points). Subscribers who used downloaded applications comprised 35.3 percent of the mobile audience, representing an increase of 1.6 percentage points. Accessing of social networking sites or blogs increased 1.1 percentage points, representing 25.3 percent of mobile subscribers. Playing games represented 11.7 million year-on-year. In Ukraine, the number of valid SIM cards in January was 53.7 million, equal to 117.3 percent of the population and down from 54.1 million, or 118.1 percent, a month earlier. Brazil ended February 2011 with over 207.5 million mobile phone subscribers, according to data released by Anatel. Prepaid phones accounted for 82.23 percent (170.7 million), while the remaining 17.77 percent were postpaid (36.9 million). Total Indonesia cell phone subscribers have reached 178 millions, according to the latest statistics released by Indonesian telecom authority. The number of subscriptions for mobile phone services exceeded the 110 million mark in Japan. The mobile phone user in Germany has crossed 107 million. The German mobile market is the largest in Europe in terms of subscribers and revenue. Mobile penetration reached more than 135 percent by early 2011. In common with most markets the main area of growth is in the 3G sector. The Nigerian Communications Commission reported that the number of mobile telephone users in Nigeria crossed the 80 million mark, but added that it had major concerns over the quality of services in the country. It said that it would act swiftly and decisively on operators who fall below set levels for the quality of services, leading a number of observers to say that the regulator would implement a Number Portability scheme that would force operators to raise their delivery standards. n
Mobilink remained at top in terms of new sales with 705,203 new subscriptions, followed by Zong , which managed to add 703,322 users to its network, Telenor added 696,060 users, Warid added 176,150 new users while Ufone added 93,750 cellular users
23.7 percent of the mobile audience, while listening to music represented 16.5 percent (up 1.1 percentage points). Russian mobile phone subscriptions rose to 220 million in January, equal to 151.5 percent of Russia's population and up from 219.2 million in December, market research group AC&M said. The total number of mobile phone users increased 0.8 million from December and was up
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Telepedia
Maira Akhtar
Pakistan mobile international traffic jumps to 3.4 billion minutes

All cellular companies generated approximately 100 billion SMS and this shows a 16 percent increase in the SMS traffic
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here is good news that the cellular international traffic of Pakistan has reached a record high with 3.4 billion minutes registered during first six months of current fiscal year, showing 22 percent increase as compared to previous year. It is easiest and cheapest source of communication is mobile phones. They are portable and make you connect with the whole world every time and anytime without any hindrance. It will not be wrong if we say that cell phones have made us global creatures and anyone can access us from around the world. The last two quarters of previous financial year recorded with 2.8 billion minutes which shows increasing trend, thereby establishing the fact that mobile usage is increasingly becoming the preferred medium of communication for inbound and outbound calls to Pakistan. As per an overview given in Pakistan Telecommunication Communication (PTA)'s quarterly report, total outgoing traffic trend as depicted by figure revealed the steadily growing trend of making calls from Pakistan to other destinations around the world as 0.96 billion international outgoing minutes have been recorded during the first two quarters of 2010-11 as compared to 0.93 billion minutes in the last two quarters of previous year. Similarly, international incoming traffic has also been growing continuously for the last two quarters and reached 2.5 billion minutes as compared to 1.9 billion minutes during previous two quarters. With regard to Short Messaging Service (SMS), which is one of the important features of cellular mobile services and a vital source of revenue for cellular companies, the report said all cellular companies generated approximately 100 billion SMS during Jul-Dec 2010-11 as compared to 86 billion during the preceding two quarters. This shows a 16 percent increase in the SMS traffic in just two quarters. Ufone leads the SMS traffic parameters by a clear margin followed by Telenor and Mobilink. Warid and Zong have significantly low SMS traffic as compared to their competitors. A telecom expert attributed the increase in traffic to the low international tariffs and bundled international packages being offered by cellular mobile companies while huge rise in the SMS traffic owes largely to the attractive and wide range of bundle packages being offered by all the operators. He said daily, weekly, fortnightly, monthly even unlimited packages are being
offered at very low rates to cap the true potential of this value added service. Man is a social being and after meeting his basic requirements which are meal, clothing and residence, he needs to communicate with others. From ancient times, he tried to develop various mean of communication in which time to time he got success. In the modern time telephones are invented and now we have mobile phones in hand, which are the latest forms of telephones and the modern means of communication.
Pakistan to other destinations around the world as 0.96 billion international outgoing minutes have been recorded as compared to 0.93 billion minutes
This development did not stop here and the handsets have evolved themselves into multifunctional devices. Now the gizmos are not mere communication gadgets, but with the help of these lightweight devices, we are able to cage our memorable moments with camera, get entertainment through media player and FM radio, extract every type of information with the help of Internet and many more. Camera features are very prominent in the present day handsets.
The journey of camera phones started with VGA or 1.3 MP camera. Today also, there are a plenty of handsets in the market with the aforementioned resolutions. But, when handset manufacturers felt these cameras insufficient then we got high resolution camera. We got 2 MP camera, then 3.2 MP camera, 5 MP camera and 8 MP camera respectively in mobile phones. The matter of delight is that now there are a few handsets which are available with 12 MP snapper (e.g. Sony Ericsson Satio). It will not be wrong to say that now handsets are giving tough competition to digital cameras. Entertainment is necessary for everyone for getting relaxation and now most of the handsets, especially multimedia devices come embedded with entertainment features. As mentioned in the second paragraph, media player and FM radio are the major entertainment features of the mobile devices. Moreover, several interesting games are also found preloaded even in nonmultimedia handsets. A plenty of handsets provide you the facility to download more games if you are not satisfied with the preloaded ones. Internet is supposed to be necessary in the present day handsets. It was supposed be the attribute of computer in the recent past, but now it has become an integral part of mobile phones. GPRS is a very common feature in the gadgets, with the help of which we can get connected with World Wide Web, taking the support of network service providers. On the other hand, Wi-Fi is another brilliant feature, which allows the users to access the Internet up to unlimited hours in the Wi-Fi covered areas. Moreover, several additional Internet features have also been included in present day gadget, such as RSS reader, YouTube and Facebook application, Gmail application, twitter integration etc. Moreover, QWERTY keyboard in some devices facilitate us to type the text at the fast speed as we do on computer. Coming back to the main function of mobile phones, the handsets are accomplishing this task of communication brilliantly. Apart from calling, we can send text messages, multimedia messages, emails etc., to our loved ones. Moreover, data transfer features like Bluetooth and USB port allow us to transfer the data to other compatible devices totally free of cost. After seeing all the above things, it can be guessed that some more innovations will be witnessed in the arena of mobile phones in the coming time. n
Fr e e d o w nl oad | f l ar e.p k
Farooq Malik
Telepedia
Tower sharing ensures quality with low cost

Network infrastructure sharing and outsourcing is finding strong acceptance with mobile operators around the world as an effective way to cut down coverage costs, while reducing the time-to-market
he Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) signed a three-year Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the five mobile operators in August 2010 with the aim of increasing the rate of sharing for mobile infrastructure. In this regard, Mobilink signed accord with Ufone and Telenor. The agreement were signed to collaborative effort in line with the initiatives taken by the Pakistan Telecom Authority and the Federal Government to encourage cellular providers to drive greater efficiencies while reducing the carbon foot print and go green. Most of the network installation and maintenance of towers is done by contractors on a turnkey basis: the contractors, and not the cell phone companies, are responsible for maintaining the towers from site acquisition to tower maintenance. Since the contractors usually work for most or all of the mobile operators, a possible move towards a shared infrastructure model could also reduce some of the contractors own costs. While the large operators in Western Europe have instigated advanced active infrastructure sharing and outsourcing, telecom operators in developing markets are now beginning to look into alliances that would help relieve them of heavy costs and speed their expansion into rural areas. Network infrastructure sharing and outsourcing is finding strong acceptance with mobile operators around the world as an effective way to cut down coverage costs, while reducing the time-to-market. These initiatives have already seen significant traction in India, and are poised to make their impact felt in the Middle East and Africa (MEA). Operators across the world, especially those in developing markets, face challenges in sustaining margins with declining ARPU. Population distribution patterns in developing markets complicate the situation since access to telecom services varies significantly between urban and rural areas leaving operators in these countries to balance the cost of operations in congested and saturated urban setups with the costs of new network rollouts in other areas. In this context, tower sharing offers a compelling proposition. In a whitepaper
entitled Mobile Tower Sharing and Outsourcing: Benefits and Challenges for Developing Market Operators, Romain Delavenne, director of Capgeminis telecoms, media and entertainment consulting practice in the Middle East, reveals that towers constitute almost 50 per cent of the total capital expenditure (CAPEX) for an operator. Yet while many operators in developed markets have moved on to sharing both active and passive network elements to save costs, in emerging markets with low penetration levels, operators are faced with the dual challenge of maintaining margins, while ensuring rapid rollout to keep pace with the growth in subscriber numbers. Tower sharing has largely been an operatorled initiative in most developing markets; however regulators have also played a significant part in ensuring uptake of tower sharing initiatives. Tower sharing prevents the proliferation of masts thereby reducing the environmental and visual impact of operator networks especially in urban and ecologically sensitive areas. Tower sharing also helps in spurring competition due to a reduction of entry barrier for new operators. More importantly, from a regulatory perspective the pooling of tower infrastructure helps operators expand into rural markets achieving the objectives of universal coverage, while ensuring that operators do not incur significant CAPEX in doing so.
Operating costs associated with the running and maintenance of tower infrastructure, like diesel generators, air-conditioning equipment, and security and site rentals, form a significant portion (nearly 60 per cent) of operator OPEX. These costs are compounded in rural areas due to limited infrastructure facilities such as roads and a steady supply of electricity. For instance, in India the operational costs per tower have been estimated by analysts to increase by up to 20 per cent in remote inaccessible terrain. In most developing markets, incumbents continue to expand their networks to reach out to rural areas and improve coverage in dense urban pockets. Tower sharing benefits operators in achieving cost effective market coverage by helping reduce cost duplication. Establishing a separate tower company helps incumbents to unlock the inherent value of their physical infrastructure. Forming independent tower companies that attract additional tenants can aid operators to generate
Mobilink signed accords with Ufone and Telenor. The agreement were signed to collaborative effort in line with the initiatives taken by PTA to encourage cellular providers to drive greater efficiencies while reducing the carbon foot print and go green
additional revenues, thereby creating value from an otherwise depreciating asset. For new entrants the installation of cell sites is an expensive, complicated and labour-intensive process as there are a number of municipal clearances and government approvals required. For a mobile operator, more than 60 per cent of the total network rollout cost is accounted for by towers and accompanying infrastructure. For a new entrant, this translates into a significant financial burden which tower sharing and outsourcing helps to alleviate. According to analyst estimates, tower sharing can reduce overall cost of ownership after accounting for the tower lease costs, by 16 to 23 per cent. Capgemini concludes that tower sharing and outsourcing have a significant role to play in developing markets in order to promote universal telecommunication access and especially so, given the background of the global economic turmoil which has affected investment pipelines. For incumbents, new entrants and regulators in developing markets, tower sharing and outsourcing models offer growth paths to service expansion and enhanced subscriber penetration. However, tower sharing brings in its wake numerous challenges. Operators and independent tower companies need to clearly identify the path most suitable to their needs to avoid the pitfalls and realize the potential benefits. n
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Telepedia
Flare Report
Telenor conducts study
How to create jobs via mobile services, raise GDP
Wider access to mobile financial services in Pakistan could lead to the creation of 1 million new jobs by 2020. An estimated $2 billion could be added annually to government revenues, helping raise Pakistans GDP growth by 3 percent
ccording to a recent study conducted by Telenor Group and Boston Consulting Group, wider access to mobile financial services in Pakistan could lead to the creation of 1 million new jobs by 2020. An estimated $2 billion could be added annually to government revenues, helping raise Pakistans GDP growth by 3 percent. To discuss these prospects, a seminar titled Shaping our financial future - Socio-Economic Impact of Mobile Financial Services was arranged under the aegis of easypaisa. Participants included representatives from the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), Telenor Pakistan, Tameer Microfinance Bank, senior government officials, development specialists and the media. Christian Albech, CEO, Telenor Pakistan, spoke about the benefits of mobile financial services on individuals and society in Pakistan. The study shows that mobile financial services can help families and businesses to respond in a better way to expense shocks, and can have positive effects on entrepreneurship. They can help improve children's chances of completing primary school. Women's access to funds can be bettered, with positive effects on child education and health. Mobile financial services can prove invaluable in supporting Pakistan's social development goals. Nadeem Hussain, President & CEO Tameer Microfinance Bank, in his comments spoke about the positive impact of mobile financial services on the economy. He said: The study shows that mobile financial services can help create new jobs and boost government revenues. GDP growth can be stimulated by increased access to credit, which prompts new business creation, and by formal remittances and increased savings. Mobile financial services can facilitate public services by providing e-government options and help reduce costs of financial transactions such as the disbursement of aid. According to the study, given a supportive environment, the percentage of Pakistans adult population using mobile financial services could go up from the current 2 percent to
35 percent by 2020 resulting in higher savings, creation of formal credit channels, and improved insurance usage. Socio-Economic Impact of Mobile Financial Services the Telenor Group, in a bid to explore the impact of mobile-based financial services in emerging economies, looked at how having bank accounts and access to credit can change the way people live, work and develop over the next decade. To conduct the study, Telenor commissioned the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) to look at financial services overall impact as well as the specific effects in Telenors Asian markets (Pakistan, Bangladesh, Malaysia, India and Serbia) all markets in which Telenor Group has mobile operations.
Christian Albech, CEO, Telenor Pakistan, spoke about the benefits of mobile financial services: Women's access to funds can be bettered, with positive effects on child education and health. Mobile financial services can prove invaluable in supporting Pakistan's social development goals
On the other hand, for years, India has been seen as lagging behind, with Kenya pointed to as the poster boy of mobile money and financial inclusion, even though India had all the components of a conducive environment large unbanked population, stable banking system, growing tele-density with a competitive mobile landscape, and significant technological capabilities. The several regulatory roadblocks here have recently been eased at a sizzling pace the push on business correspondents, the first step away from the branch model of expansion, has increased with progressive relaxation in
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guidelines, and last September corporates were allowed to act as BCs for banks, a big breakthrough in providing a comprehensive eco-system for financial inclusion. While large multi-player telecom and banking sectors augur well for competition, the flip side is the need for inter-operability to allow payments and settlements seamlessly across service providers. This link is in place now with the Inter Bank Mobile Payment Service (IMPS), provided by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), a service that is set to revolutionise the way payments are made across the country. The speed with which the service has picked up is remarkable from a pilot project involving four banks last August, to 20 banks and 10 million members now. Since May, merchant payments have been allowed. While this opens possibilities of mobile payments for grocery and vegetables, to begin with, customers will limit these payments to known vendors, such as utility bills. One of the critical elements in expanding this service is the need to keep the IMPS interchange fees low so that there are no disincentives for low-value transfers an environment conducive to low-value transactions is the one that will move faster across the population. For customers, individual banks are allowed to set their own charges and currently, there are no fees as the market is nascent; despite fast growth, there are just 10 million registrations out of the 350 million bank account holders. More significantly, this service is open only to those who have bank accounts. So for optimal outreach, banks need to roll out into the unbanked segments across the country and take full advantage of the relaxed BC requirements. Here the UID is expected to play a crucial role for segments like migrants who have stayed out of the system so far. Banks also have to raise awareness amongst their own customer base. Axis Bank and ICICI Bank lead with the number of registered customers for IMPS, but all banks need to get into the fast track mode to allow maximum use across sectors and people. n
Flare Report
Event
obilink, Pakistan's largest cellular services provider, recently held a bloggers event at which they introduced the newly launched Dell Streak 5 tab phone to a host of bloggers. During the bloggers meet up, which was held in Karachi, an interactive contest was held through which
blogs like Geek word, BuzZz and Live Tech Pro. During the event each blogger was given the chance at a first hand personalized experience to handle the Dell Streak 5 tab phone and marvel at its superb features for individuals who want to live a wirelessly tethered life style. The participants were extremely intrigued by the five
Android, it also supports Adobe Flash 10.1. The participants were also amazed at the tab phones ability to snap pictures or movies through the rear facing 5MP or the front facing 1.3MP camera's and the devices ability to connect to popular chat services like Qik(r) and ooVoo. Dell Streak is now available at selected
bloggers were shortlisted and awarded various prizes which included the 'Dell Streak 5' tab phone. The cities top bloggers attended the event
helped to create jubilant atmosphere making the event exciting. Present among the bloggers were representatives from some notable and leading
inch screen size of this mobility device and were happy to acknowledge that it had all the features of the bigger sized tablets but in the size of a hand held phone. They highlighted the scratchresistant Corning(r) Gorilla(r) Glass screen as being the perfect personal size to watch movies, stream videos from YouTube and surf the web. As they handled the small tablet phone they were particularly fascinated by the fast and rich experience provided by the Android 2.2 (Froyo) OS. The in-built user interface for Dell's 'Stage' which is a one stop hub for entertainment and helps users download movies, listen to music on the device and through streaming radio, play games and help you connect with your online life through your favorite social networking apps and sites. Because its operating system is
Mobilink Customer Care centres in selected cities at a retail price of Rs. 49,999 with 3 months of free Mobile Internet. Mobilink
customers will also get a free leather case and an extra battery with purchase of Dell Streak 5. n
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InsighT
Irfan Khan
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new era has been dawn. An era where communication is not just transmitting and receiving voices but videos and texts. Better communication provides better access to social benefits such as education, healthcare, public safety and above all economic opportunities. Telecom creates the ability to communicate, to connect and to go beyond boundaries. But unfortunately, the benefits are not for all. The harsh reality is that there are numerous areas in Pakistan, where the population is deprived of even the basic facility of distance communication. With an aim to connect the unconnected to bridge the digital divide, Universal Service Fund was established by the government of Pakistan, there was no government funding involved. The fund consists of 1.5 percent of adjusted revenues contributed by the telecom operators of Pakistan and utilized by following a corporate model by formation of a company under Company Ordinance 1984, as a public-private partnership entity. Parvez Iftikhar, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Universal Service Fund (USF) has said, personally, I feel very proud to see how USF programmes have sustained over the last couple of years ever since, we started from a scratch, despite the security situation challenges that we face and especially in those areas, where we operate.
By increasing the level of telecom penetration in the rural areas, broadband penetration in unserved urban areas and countrywide enhancement of e-services USF is spreading the benefits of telecom revolution to all corners of Pakistan.
USF broadband covers more than 400 towns & cities by connecting hospitals, schools & colleges, vocational training institutions, distance learning centres, banks, government offices, libraries, courts, post offices, small & medium enterprises, railway stations and various other institutions
Rural Telecom Programme
Parvez Iftikhar has said, we started our endeavours with the USF in rural areas Rural Telecom Project with the belief that living in remote rural areas doesnt mean living in isolation. We endeavour to create opportunities for people, so that they all have that equal access to IT and communication technologies.
No populated area in Pakistan must remain unserved as for the basic telephony is concerned. Mohammad Ruksh, resident of Cholistan has said, we live in a very poor area. No telecom company was willing to come and install their towers here, but now thank God, a tower has been installed here. We are given the facility to call and contact in case of emergency. Universal Service Fund is helping telecom operators to provide services in remote areas creating opportunities for rural population. Resident of Bahawalpur, Mohammad Aslam said, We used to travel hundreds of miles, had no facility. Now we can call before going to market or Bahawalpur and ask for the supplies like cotton or wheat seeds or other things of need. Its a great convenience for us. In a little over 20 years of time, USF has provided basic telephony and data services to more than 3000 unserved villages in the country. The impact of this technology aggregating sustainable educational, cultural, social and economic development can easily been seen in the changing lifestyle of the people. Mr. Tariq SHO (Station House Officer), Cholistan has said, I have been appointed to Derawar Fort in the capacity of SHO for a long time. This area in Cholistan desert consists of 200 villages. There wasnt any tele-system before. Ever since the mobile companies started functioning here, we get information on time, Police mobile
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InsighT
gets alert right away and approximately within an hour or 2 we reach the place. In Universal Service Fund its mandatory to power infrastructure through solar energy sources.
Optic Fibre Cable Programme

CEO USF, Parvez Iftikhar said, Our maxims appears in materiel form, when we see the fact that out of 400 Tehsils in the country, 30 percent Tehsils were unconnected to the information highways and we are providing optic fibre connectivity to those. Through our optic fibre connectivity programme, we are building information highways to those Tehsils, so that all kinds of telecom and e-services can be extended to those areas by the telecom and other services provides in the country. The purpose of our endeavours doesnt end by connecting people living within the boundaries of an area but to expand the link to the rest of the world. To achieve the purpose and to increase the penetration of telecom and IT in far flung areas. The target to expand the optic fibre connectivity to 125 unserved Tehsils. Straight and trotted efforts results in increasing graphic success and that is how we represent our success.
concerned. We are endeavouring to take broadband to each & every urban area and each & every town and city in the country. Through our broadband programme, we are progressing very rapidly on that and Inshallah very soon each & every town in Pakistan will have broadband. USF is providing broadband programme which aimes at improving penetration and high speed internet in the second-third urban area. It covers more than 400 towns & cities by connecting hospitals, schools & colleges, vocational training institutions, distance learning centres, banks, government offices, libraries, courts, post offices, small & medium enterprises,
provision of internet broadband connectivity to all the high schools and colleges of the unserved areas and establishment of community broadband centres for those who cant afford to have their own computer & internet. A student Bilal Ahmed, community broadband centre user in Sargodha has said, The most important feature of this centre is that here fast speed internet is available. Now we who live in this small city and cant afford to have personal computer & internet are also a part of this world. I think that the internet facility must reach every customer.
Special Projects
Most of the special projects of USF involve setting up of tele-centres, which aim in introducing & promoting e-services in the country, especially where availability of PCs, high speed connections and computers literacy are the main issues. One of the on-going projects is convergence of computer centres into multipurpose community tele-centres. It involves provide broadband connectivity to the existing computer centres in the country. Saima Noureen a student & resident of Meera Bhagwal said, This centre has entirely changed my life. High speed internet connection has made this easy for me to download files, brows sites or send & receive data on time. The project enabling persons with disabilities to use telecom services with organisations like Al Shafa Eye Trust and Pakistan Foundation Fighting Blindness are just the beginning of our endeavours in this direction. CEO said, finally, I fell very proud to say that our programme success is because of the absolute transparent manner that we are operating in, all the evoluation summaries, all the bidding documents, the agreements that the operators have to sign, everything is available on the website. USF is operating as transparent in manner as it can get.n
Broadband Programme
Broadband revolution has created a variety of ways to spread high speed internet all over the world, in some cases bringing remote regions online more rapidly than expected. A student Shafiullah from Battagram, KPK, said, The best thing of this centre is the availability of fast speed internet. We who live in this small city and cannot afford our own computer and internet connection are now a part of internet world. Broadband is improving lives by bringing better healthcare and enhance economic opportunities for the users. Parvez Iftikhar said, it is an unfortunate fact that in a country like Pakistan even a lot of urban areas are deprived or unserved as broadband is
It is unfortunate fact that in a country like Pakistan even a lot of urban areas are deprived or unserved as broadband is concerned. We are endeavouring to take broadband to each & every urban area and each & every town and city in the country: Parvez Iftikhar
railway stations and various other institutions. USF is making it possible for every citizen of Pakistan to get better economic opportunities regardless of age, gender or geographical boundaries believing that by economically empowering women making empower nation. Shumaila Tabbasum student & resident of Faisalabad, said, I can get assignment and submit it online, this is very convenient for me. Now I can work while sitting at home and can earn a living. The highlight of this project is the
Intellectual property rights law is inevitable

The government is moving to restore an intellectual property law that industry thinks could help its efforts. The government plans to ban import, sale of copied and smuggled mobile phones. Telecom sector is hopeful this will result in increased demand for genuine ones. The proliferation of copied and smuggled cell phones in the country, with little intellectual property rights enforcement, had resulted in a decrease in their sales volumes, industry representatives said. The state machinery began mulling mobile phone action when national law enforcement agencies announced their inability to track criminals and terrorists using mobile phones without IMEI numbers for their communications. This unique 15digit code helps law enforcers identify suspicious callers even if they change their SIMs after making the calls. Representatives of branded mobile phones welcomed the move and termed it beneficial for legitimate businesses and the country's economy. Nokia Communications Manager for Pakistan & Afghanistan Adeel Hashmi told that Pakistan has a monthly demand of around 1.6 million handsets, of which Nokia's share is between 150,000 to 200,000 handsets per month. IMEI numbers are like fingerprints in case of humans: no two handsets can have same IMEI numbers. There's a need to stop the influx of such handsets at Customs level, said Hashmi, who said it is known that people bring copied sets into the country in their suitcases from all over. These cheap handsets have a ready demand as people think they bring down cost of ownership. He attributes breakthrough on this front to the effort launched by legal cell phone dealers and brand representatives, who stressed the point in meetings with government officials. "Their Information Technology, Telecommunications & Interior for not charting out rules in advance. Now, after millions of handsets have been imported to the country, they have realized the threat. Importers believe the government followed a lax policy just to show exponential growth in telecom sector to the world and attract more investment. Importers think PTA, which was only interested in increasing numbers of subscribers, allowed mobile phone imports without type approval. PTA Chairman Muhammad Yasin is hopeful a strategy will be in place soon. He said there are plans to ban IMEIless handsets at Customs stage and impose a ban on their sale in the country, if someone succeeds in smuggling them into the country. The absence of functional intellectual property law is also a major reason for proliferation of unauthorized or pirated products in the country. Hamid Javaid, deputy director at IPO Pakistan, told Intellectual Property Watch that a draft bill on IP law is in its final stage. The draft will be presented in the Parliament for discussion. He said all stakeholders have been taken on board and asked to give their input to make the legislation effective and error-free. Pakistan is working on high priority to pass an IP law and get it enforced in its true spirit, Javaid said. n
A recent drive against the use of mobile phones without valid International Mobile Equipment Identity IMEI numbers in terrorism-struck Pakistan has given respite to established brands and authorized dealers
action can curb terrorism and increase tax revenues through Customs duties, both at the same time." Pakistan Telecommunication Authority PTA has asked all mobile phone subscribers and mobile phone companies to verify SIMs and block all those without credible antecedents. Mobile phone importers, meanwhile, blame PTA, Ministeries of
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n line with its efforts to bring positive change in the society, Warid Telecom in collaboration with Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre marks World No Tobacco Day 2011 by driving a massive Anti-Tobacco awareness campaign which highlighted the adverse effects of using Tobacco.
Shaukat Khanum Hospital I would like to extend my sincerest gratitude to Warid and its dedicated team for their support during Anti-Tobacco Campaign 2011. Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research
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Warid also supported Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre in collecting donations for treatment of poor lung cancer patients. While appreciating the voluntary role of Warid and its team members Mr. Nadeem Hashmi, Product Development Manager, Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre said On behalf of
Centre is a unique institution, which aims to treat cancer patients irrespective of their ability to pay. It would be impossible to provide this service to the deserving patients without the generous contribution by Warid, which is a socially aware and responsible organization, doing its part earnestly for the wellbeing of the people of Pakistan. n
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Fr e e d o w n l o a d | f la re .p k
With the introduction of Uth Future; Ufone has proven to be a pioneer in presenting the latest technology to the Pakistani market. Ufone has presented a plethora of online opportunities for customers in partnership with PTCL
day free trial for users to familiarize themselves with the Live TV facility. The handset also supports applications such as Snaptu &Nimbuzz to facilitate the users to have their presence felt on social media. Upon activation of the service subscribers will be given 10 free bonus hours of high speed 3G EVO internet which can be utilized on the service centers along with a distribution network of 150,000 outlets nationwide. The PAS was formed to promote the value of advertising and to ensure that the recipients realize the importance advertising has in economic development and to spread how imperative it is for the consumer to have options to choose from. The societys existence strives for excellence in advertising. Over the last few years advertisers have taken
fone, the leader in innovation, recently launched a mobile handset by the name of Uth Futura. Once again Ufone has proven to be a pioneer in presenting the latest technology to the Pakistani market. Till date there had been no gadget in the market professing to give the customers high speed 3G internet. With the introduction of uth futura, Ufone has presented a plethora of online opportunities for customers in partnership with PTCL. This unique handset has the ability to replace cutting edge technology with its unique features and high speed internet. Uth Futura is a dual mode GSM+EVDO handset which gives the user lightning fast 3G internet speed of up to 3.1Mbps and the ability to make calls, socialize and stream online videos. The high speed internet is in collaboration with PTCL EVO, the handset has inbuilt data services which will use the same network as any PTCL
Picture shows Mr. Akbar Khan, Chief Marketing Officer Ufone receiving Best Advertising Campaign Award 2010-2011 from Ms. Reema Khan at recently held Pakistan Advertising Society Awards. Also seen in the picture Mr. Masood Hashmi.
Ufone, the leader in innovation and the best telecom brand in Pakistan was bestowed the best advertising campaign award 2010-2011 by the Pakistan Advertising Society. Ufone has given humor as a platform a whole new meaning, the unique yet highly amusing advertising with concepts never before seen have taken over the hearts of the nation
EVO user in the country. Hence voice calls will be made via the Ufone network and data will be accessed via the PTCL network. Futura has a built in UMobile TV application which gives users the freedom to watch TV anytime, anywhere. This ultimate device makes watching Live TV possible on the go. Ufone is offering its valued customers a 15
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phone as well as consumed while using the phone as a modem with your computer. At the launch Mr. Abdul Aziz, CEO Ufone, proclaimed that Futura is the gadget of tomorrow which will completely change the techlifestyle of Pakistani mobile users. He stressed upon the necessity for frequent and affordable innovations in technology, claiming that Futura, being a reasonably priced mobile phone, will completely revamp the mind-set of the internet and tech savvy users exposing them to high speed internet facility at low costs.
Ufone, the leader in innovation and the best telecom brand in Pakistan was bestowed the best advertising campaign award 2010-2011 by the Pakistan Advertising Society (PAS). Ufone is an Etisalat Group Company with its presence in all the major cities of Pakistan along with a comprehensive coverage across all major towns, villages and tehsil headquarters of the country. The company employs more than 3,850 people and operates with a network of more than 375 franchises and 26 company-owned customer
Ufone gets best advertising award
a number of steps in order to stand out in the hope that consumers will choose their brands over those being offered by competition, but one brand that has stood out no matter what industry is Ufone. Ufone has given humor as a platform a whole new meaning, the unique yet highly amusing advertising with concepts never before seen have taken over the hearts of the nation. It is due to the element of excitement and humor that today Ufones ads are loved by all no matter where they reside around the country. Most importantly a number of these adverts are true to life hence viewers can relate to instances in their own lives. The team of actors/comedians in their advertising has become household names which has played an important role in the likeability towards the brand itself. Mr. Akbar Khan Chief Marketing Officer Ufone said that this is indeed a milestone for Ufone. Pakistan is a country with a growing and diverse advertising sector and we get to experience a number of challenging and unique advertising practices on a daily basis. The team at Ufone strives to be the best at what we do and this award is recognition of our hard work. Ufone always has and always will bring a smile to the people of Pakistan. n
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ell is reporting some success in its struggle to retool itself as a cloud and enterprise services provider, even as the company's consumer business continues to decline. The company reported modest 5 percent revenue growth in its Dell Services and Enterprise solutions and services businesses, but it said consumer product sales, which include laptops and PCs, were down 7 percent in its first quarter. Overall revenue wasn't much improved: $15 billion for the quarter, up 1 percent year over year. When measured according to GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles), Dell's operating income was $1.2 billion for the quarter. Dell doesnt have any franchise centre or whole sale unit in Pakistan to gratify the needs of our growing IT market and ever-increasing demands. The major cause of decline in sales and revenue was ignorance of interest in our market and lack of cuttingedge technology as its rivals are introducing, which attracting a majority of buyers while bagging maximum share in the market. With the global PC market shrinking, Dell has been betting its future on new services and data-centre technologies, moving away from low-margin products such as inexpensive PCs and laptops. That strategy is now starting to pay off, company executives said in a press release. Dell's server and networkingproducts revenue was up 11percent for the quarter, as were sales of Dell-developed storage technology. But Dell's push into homegrown storage has cost the company revenue, as its close relationship with storage vendor EMC has unravelled over the past few years. Largely due to a decline in sales of EMC-built storage servers, Dell's overall storage revenue was down 13 percent. Once upon a time Dell was the top dog among the makers of personal computers and laptops. Then some new companies began an aggressive strategy of acquisitions that not only moved it into the top positions but also built new strength for the companies in services, storage and smart phones. According to Notebook Review, Lenovo products are the most favourite worldwide. There are some details of the top 10 notebooks: The Lenovo ThinkPad X201 is still holding onto its grip to the top position since October 2010. The Lenovo ThinkPad T410 now holds the 2nd spot; a bump up from its previous 3rd position.
Dell struggles
Huge decline in sales, revenue
U41JF-A1 is a well-equipped multimedia notebook with a 14-inch screen. The thin-and-light design houses an Intel Core i3 dual-core processor (2.53GHz) it since the U41JF delivers more than 7 hours of battery life. (12,667 unique views) Sony VAIO EC (New to the top 10) - The 17.3-inch Sony VAIO EC multimedia and light-gaming laptop with Windows 7 Home Premium or Professional (64bit) comes with up to 8 GB of DDR3 SDRAM and provides up to 3 hours of battery life in power-saving mode. There is up to 1TB of hard drive storage available at 5400rpm. Processor is an Intel Core i3-370M, and an ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5650 graphics card is available. (11,469 unique views) 9. Alienware m11x (Previously at the last place in top 10) - The Alienware m11x notebook is an 11.6-inch portable gaming notebook with an Intel Core 2 Duo processor and Nvidia dedicated graphics. The Alienware m11x is the most portable gaming laptop on the planet, or universe for that matter! (11,466 unique views) Lenovo G550 (New to the top 10) - The Lenovo G550 is an update to the Value Line G530 with the primary difference being the shift from a 16:10 to a 16:9 screen. Configurations include either Intel Pentium or Core 2 Duo processor and up to 4GB DDR3 installed memory. n
Dell doesnt have any franchise centre or whole sale unit in Pakistan to gratify the needs of our growing IT market and ever-increasing demands. The major cause of decline in sales and revenue was ignorance of interest in our market and lack of cutting-edge technology as its rivals are introducing
HP Probook 4520s (Previously at 4th position) The HP ProBook 4520s is a small and medium business notebook that replaces the older 4510s from last year. The new model bumps the configuration from the older Intel Core 2 Duo family of processors to the newer Intel Core line, including the Core i3, i5 and i7 processors. The 4520s features a more durable metal exterior cladding, improved performance, and a very nice keyboard. (16,670 unique views) Dell XPS 15 (Previously at 5th) - The Dell XPS 15 with Windows Ultimate, Professional or Home Premium comes with the choice of four different-powered Intel Core i7 or i5 processors, ranging from 840QM to 460M. Also choose from 4, 6 or 8GB shared dual-channel DDR3 memory. The highestpowered battery is 9-cell, offering 9 hours and 9 minutes of battery life. (16,050 unique views) Asus G73JH (Previously was at 7th position in the world market) - This 17.3-inch monster has a Core i7 processor, 8GB of RAM, and the most powerful mobile video card available, the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5870. (13,542 unique views) Asus U41JF-A1 (New to the top 10) - The ASUS
Dell's push into homegrown storage has cost the company revenue, as its close relationship with storage vendor EMC has unravelled over the past few years. Largely due to a decline in sales of EMC-built storage servers, Dell's overall storage revenue was down 13 percent
and generous gaming capability thanks to Nvidia GeForce GT 425M dedicated graphics with 1GB DDR3 graphics memory. Add to that 4GB of system memory and a 500GB hard drive and you've got plenty of power for a family laptop. Build quality is less than impressive, but you might be willing to live with
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bu Dhabi and Singtel (Singapore Telecommunications) groups company, Warid Telecom Pakistan marked its sixth years of business excellence in Pakistan. The mobile operator entered the market on May 23, 2005. It has a name in the market that indicates quality and reliability. Warid is known for its high quality coverage and famous for its youth flagship as the youth brand of Pakistan. Warid is a capacity building Organisation that has become centre of excellence over the past six years. In our culture we strongly believe in making people do their best and that is how we strive for Excellence. We have the team of most brilliant professionals who made the brand promises a reality and stood with the roll call of quality, consistency and unwavering integrity. This success would have never become possible without those who we serve, our valuable customers. I believe our centricity towards customer service mentality as an Organisation is our greatest strength. said Muneer Farooqui, Chief Executive Officer, Warid Telecom. He further added: I am grateful to each of our customer who has made our brand a great
success. I am also thankful to our stakeholders for their trust, to our honourable Chairman His Highness Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Board of Directors, BEC Members, all our associates and everyone involved in making Warid a success.
I believe our centricity towards customer service mentality as an Organisation is our greatest strength. said Muneer Farooqui, CEO, Warid
In all these years, the company has shown solid results with vast expansion in each area. Company secured over 17.70 million subscribers while providing quality network coverage at over 6,300 destinations, 550 cities including Azad Kashmir and Northern areas of Pakistan. Warid has one of the
largest customer reach network with 116,000 retail outlets, 327 franchises and 19 business centers across Pakistan. Being versatile and innovative, there are over 60 Mobile VAS (Value Added Services) it offers. Covering wide International Roaming destinations, its IR services are now available in over 148 countries with GPRS roaming in 102 countries and prepaid roaming in 28 countries. Based on its great brand repute and corporate image, the company has secured the second largest postpaid subscriber base in Pakistan. The regulator Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) reports Warid Telecom as the only operator with lowest consumer complaints amongst all the operators which clearly portrays the class of service it offers. As a responsible enterprise, Company is actively involved in honouring its Corporate Social Responsibility part. Amongst the numerous awards it won, Warid Pakistan recently received the highest FDI (foreign direct investment) Excellence Award, also twice nominated for Brand of the Year Award and the award of Mobile Operator with Best Consumer Pull in Pakistan. n
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arid Telecom, the most trusted cellular service of Pakistan, with the passion to best serve the communication needs of mobile phone users in Pakistan, especially in the rural areas, Warid expands the industry verticals by creating a balance of its services for both rural and urban mobile phone users in Pakistan. Aiming to enhance life through communication in rural communities the company once again brings the most economical offers for users located in and around the regions of Multan, Faisalabad, Gujranwala, and Azad Jammu & Kashmir. It offers a refreshing new Warid low priced SIM at Rs. 60 with Rs. 25 pre loaded balance, 1000 free on-net minutes and a call rate as low as 10 paisa per minute. With this offer all new subscribers will also be automatically entered into the Warid Bol Anmol Reward Programme. Being reputed for its quality and reliability
Warid Telecom reaches out to the rural communities, understands their communication needs and respond with amazing tailored offers to contribute to a better future for our rural populations. Warid is a joint venture between Abu Dhabi group and Singapore Telecom. Abu Dhabi Group is one of the largest business groups in the Middle East and the single largest foreign investor in Pakistan. Abu Dhabi Group is led by His
Highness Sheikh Nahayan Mabarak Al Nahayan. The partnership of Abu Dhabi Group and Singtel is the part of strategy to support Warid Telecoms continued growth and to enhance its market position. With the end of 2011 Warid Telecom completed its six years of successful business operations in Pakistan. Warid Telecom simultaneously launched its services in 28 major cities of Pakistan on May, 23rd 2005 as fourth largest telecom operator.Warid brought some of the most innovative value added services which were introduced in Pakistan for the very first time. Warid became so popular that it gained its firstmillion subscribers in just 80 days of launch while in just 300 days the subscriber base reached to 3 million. Warids mission is to maintain and deliver unmatched high quality network experience to every nook and corner of the country. Warid is determined in catering all the segments of society through careful attention. n
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Telecom body calls WHO report biased

Limited evidence from statistical studies can be found even through biased and other data flaws may be the basis for the results
are "possibly carcinogenic to humans." The radio frequency electromagnetic fields generated by such devices were deemed as potential cancer agents "based on an increased risk for glioma, a malignant type of brain cancer," the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) said in a statement. A group of experts meeting in the French city of Lyon "reached this classification based on its review of the human evidence coming from epidemiological studies," said Jonathan Samet, president of the work group. The wireless association said the IARC working group "did not conduct any new research, but rather reviewed published studies." It also noted that the US Federal Communications Commission "has concluded that 'there's no scientific evidence that proves that wireless phone usage can lead to cancer'" and that the US Food and Drug Administration has also stated that "'the weight of scientific evidence has not linked cell phones with any health problems.'"It also noted that the US Federal Communications Commission has concluded that there is no scientific evidence that proves that wireless phone usage can lead to cancer and that the US Food and Drug Administration has also stated that the weight of scientific evidence has not linked cell phones with any health problems. Meanwhile, an AT&T official called the health risk of cellphones a serious issue meriting more research but downplayed new studies warning of a link to a type of brain cancer. Two days after World Health Organisation cancer experts warned that electromagnetic fields generated by cellphones are "possibly carcinogenic to humans," the US telecoms giant's Ralph de la Vega said the data was not especially new. "This is a serious issue," said De la Vega, chief executive of AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets. But "the WHO didn't do any new study," he added, saying their study was one year old. "The industry should not have too much to worry about; nevertheless, we should continue to study" the issue, he said at the All Things Digital D9 conference in California. Experts of the WHO's International Agency for Research on Cancer presented their evidence at a conference
global wireless industry group disputed the significance of a report released by a UN health organisation citing a potential cancer link from use of mobile phones. CTIA-The Wireless Association said the UN agency "conducts numerous reviews and in the past has given the same score to, for example, pickled vegetables and coffee." This classification "does not mean cellphones cause cancer," the industry association said in a statement, noting that "limited evidence from statistical studies can be found even though bias and other data flaws may be the basis for the results." The reaction came after the World Health Organisation's cancer research agency said the use of cell phones and other wireless communication devices
hands-free devices to reduce exposure to the dangerous fields. "There is some evidence of increased risk of glioma" and another form of non-malignant tumor called acoustic neuroma, said IARC scientist Kurt Straif. A World Health Organization panel says cell phones are possible cancer-causing agents, but a physics professor at the University of Washington says the idea is absurd. "The WHO's verdict means there is some evidence linking mobile phones to cancer but it is too weak to draw strong conclusions from," said Ed Yong, head of health information at Cancer Research U.K. "If such a link exists, it is unlikely to be a large one." It is pertaining to mention, the latest conclusion was a significant departure from the WHO's
WHO's verdict means there is some evidence linking mobile phones to cancer but it is too weak to draw strong conclusions from," said Ed Yong, head of health information at Cancer Research UK
in Lyon, France suggested mobile phone users may be at increased risk of glioma, a malignant type of brain cancer. Although they cautioned that the scientific evidence showed only a possible link, not a proven one, they recommended the most intense phone users make use of texting and
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previous position, which was that there were no risks from cellphone use. Nonetheless, more health-conscious consumers still hold doubts and have adopted the use of headsets as a precautionary step. Safety information provided in manuals from cellphone suppliers also recommend that instruments be held at least 5/8ths of an inch from the body in the normal use position. Now, the new assessment by the panel of 31 scientists from 14 countries will be submitted to the WHO and national health agencies for possible guidance on cellphone use, which might include further precautionary steps that phone users could take. So far, no quantification of the possible risks from cellphone use has been made, but groups like Cancer Research UK have recommended that children under 16, whose brains and central nervous systems are still developing, only use cellphones for essential calls. For Jamaicans, this would be a tough call, given the popularity of cellphones among the very young, from as early as primaryschool age, and teenagers. Statistics on cellphones show a dramatic increase in the number of subscribers since the year 2000, after introduction on a restrictive basis for most of the 1990s. At the end of the 1990s, the cellphone was still a luxury item, and the number of subscribers had reached only 118,000 on the system of then monopoly provider TOJ/Cable & Wireless, which had concentrated on a massive expansion of landlines during that decade. n
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The aim of the show was to alert the global stage to South Koreas contribution to the world of technology, there showcasing 1313 booths with 440 exhibitors including Samsung, LG Electronics, Qualcomm etc
he World IT Show was scheduled in Seoul, South Korea. The show was an exhibit of the latest innovation in technology from around Asia and the world, and this years show was no exception, showcasing 1313 booths with 440 exhibitors including Samsung, LG Electronics and Qualcomm.
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The aim of the show was to alert the global stage to South Koreas contribution to the world of technology. Big names, such as Samsung and LG, dominating a sizeable amount of the exhibition stage did not deter the hundreds of other companies present. Most of the companies exhibiting products were mostly Korean-based companies, although a few of them had partnerships with European or American investors.
Previously Korea had seven different IT shows in, which was too much. So we decided to combine all of them into one, says Troy Choi, team leader at Korea Association of ICT promotion (KAIT) the group responsible for the World IT Show. Korea has a lot offer in terms of ICT and we will like to make this a bigger and more global event in the years to come, he said. The showcase rage at the show included 3D technology, and Samsung and LG were intensely competitive over who had the best 3D product. The LG booth, for example, required the audience to wear 3D glasses as they made their way through the booth. The pride and joy of LGs exhibition was the LG Optimus 3D, the first full 3D smartphone that doesnt require 3D glasses, according to LG this new smartphone will revolutionise the mobile experience. Samsungs display also included a 3D tour of its latest SmartTV which combines the television experience with social media. LG also introduced its SmartTV which the Samsung rep predictably referred to as good but not as good as Samsungs. Samsung dedicated a booth to the Galaxy S II, boosting Googles Android OS Gingerbread, which the company has dubbed the future of smartphones. Many companies also exhibited products designed around Apples iPad, iPhone and Macbook products ranged from covers, screen guards and applications for Apple products. There were also some clone products, such as tablets, that shared the same design and features as the iPad and the Galaxy Tab. The most fascinating booth was that of the Future Robot. Future Robot is an intelligent
service robot company that specialises in building smart-service robots. According to the companies President, Se-Kyung Song, the company is busy supplying robots to restaurants and hospitals. The robot is fully loaded with a variety of digital content and can easily be customised to the consumers needs.
According to Song, the robot is an advanced version of a smartphone. It is loaded with responses for various situations. The robot also likes to dance. She enjoys dancing, especially doing the robot, says Song. Only in its fourth year running, the show organisers hopes to have more companies from all over the world exhibiting products in years to come. n
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Event
Shaping the future

he question of how to get 3D technology into every living room and a tablet computer into every hand was dominated at Asia's largest IT fair in Taiwan. Around 1,800 exhibitors from across the world descended on Taipei for the Computex fair, which generated an estimated $23 billion of sales from 36,000 buyers, organisers said. Under the slogan "Shaping the future!" the fair showcased a cascade of new products designed to stir the interest of tech-savvy consumers. 3D taken centre stage, as the technology becomes cheaper and migrates from multiplex cinemas to ordinary homes. "In the past, the resolution of the TV displays was low, and people could only watch 3D movies in the theatre, where they also had to wear goggles," said Stephen Jeng, secretary-general of the 3D Interaction and Display Alliance. "But now, equipped with Blu-ray 3D players, people can see movies at home on their own TVs." Most exhibitors were tight-lipped over what new gadgets they will unveil at the show, the element of surprise added to the impact among potential customers. But among technologies confirmed on display was one developed by the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), a semi-official research body in Taiwan, allowing 2D and 3D showed alongside each other on displays. Another example of what's in store is The HoloAD, a box-like device developed by Taiwan-based Company Innovision, which
Tablets, 3D rock Taiwan IT show

Around 1,800 exhibitors from across the world descended on Taipei for the Computex fair, which generated an estimated $23 billion of sales from 36,000 buyers
allowed a three-dimensional display for advertisements. The development of 3D content remains slow due to high production costs, but forecasts for the sector are bullish. In 2011 up to 12.9 million TV sets with built-in 3D may be sold worldwide, up from 3.5 million last year, according to a forecast from ITRI. Last year's global sales of 3D TV panels accounted for 2.1 percent of the total number of panels sold worldwide, according to the institute which expects the figure to treble this year before soaring to over 50 percent by 2015. Technology giants such as Samsung of South Korea and Japan's Sony have already released 3D televisions sets, and Taiwan players are expected to follow later this year. Taiwanese manufacturers BenQ and Chimei both plan to launch 3D televisions in 2011. The other hot new sector showcased at Computex was the tablet computer, which has seen a proliferation of brands hit the market since Apple's groundbreaking iPad was released in April last year. This trend is spawning whole new industries, such as a solar powergenerating cover for iPad-type devices and e-books, developed by Portable Solar Power, based in the Taipei area. Competitors have rushed to cash in on soaring demand for tablets, a trend that has eaten into PC sales. Samsung's Galaxy Tab is the best-selling rival to the iPad and Research in Motion is the latest to join the fray, with the release in April of its Blackberry PlayBook. n
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Flare Report
The next trends for SMEs

SMEs constitute nearly 90 percent of all the enterprises in Pakistan; employ 80 percent of the non-agricultural labor force; and their share in the annual GDP is 40 percent. However, unlike large enterprises in the formal sector, a small and medium enterprise is constrained by financial and other resources
consumers are transacting online via high-speed wired and wireless networks, technology could provide many businesses with the edge they need to compete in an increasingly globalised market. Many of the bigger businesses they compete with have also been slow to take their businesses online, but that doesn't afford SMEs the luxury of sitting back. It is becoming increasingly clear that in a web-enabled society competition does not come just from domestic companies, but from technologically-advanced international players as well. The internet of things: According to the communications technology giant Ericsson the number of internet-connected devices in the world will swell from five billion in 2010 to 50 billion in 2020. That massive leap will be accounted for by rapid growth in machine-to-machine communication, as everything from cars to vending machines become connected to the internet and capable of receiving information and sending real-time updates. This has ramifications for everything from managing better traffic flow to ensuring that ATMs and vending machines are never out of stock. Instant gratification: Online consumers expect things to happen immediately be it downloading music, buying an airline ticket or transferring money. The internet has swept away many of the time-consuming barriers to commerce. Customer service is increasingly being measured in terms of a business's ability to quickly complete a transaction and then deliver. Weightlessness: The music industry has been the victim of piracy for decades. But it wasn't until the physical component of the product was discarded by consumers, ie, the CD and its casing, that piracy became rampant. Suddenly everyone multimillion dollar business for companies. While a debate rages about the ethics of anonymously tracking consumer behaviour, today it is the added spice that enables content creators to maintain ad yields, and is keeping much of the Internet free to view. Collaboration: The web provides a host of tools that enable small businesses to link together with partners, suppliers and each other to increase their size. Online collaboration tools are letting SMEs put together virtual teams that are not restricted by each member's location, giving them access to skills and resources they might not otherwise have been able to find. These same tools are also enabling businesses to cut back on their travel budgets, particularly new high-definition videoconferencing systems that are starting to reduce the credibility gap between a screen-based conference and actually being in the same room together. Economies of scale: Not so much a tech trend, but an overriding factor in online market economics. Put simply, as more people transact more services online, the cost of providing those services diminishes. Two seemingly immutable trends are that there will be more people transacting online tomorrow than there are today, and the cost of technology is becoming more affordable. For those SMEs that use the internet to expand their footprint globally, their customer base subsequently scales exponentially. n
n the industrial development of a country the importance of the SME sector cannot be overemphasized. Microfinance in Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) constitute nearly 90 percent of all the enterprises in Pakistan; employ 80 percent of the nonagricultural labor force; and their share in the annual GDP is 40 percent, approximately. However, unlike large enterprises in the formal sector, a small and medium enterprise is constrained by financial and other resources. This inherent characteristic of an SME makes it imperative that there should be a mechanism through which it may get support in different functions of business including technical upgradation, marketing, financial and human resource training & development. Many of Pakistani small businesses do not have a website; it is natural to assume that many are wary of webbased technology. But as we move to an era where more
incorporating video into your website, you should be. Businesses around the world are realising that consumers are willing to pay more attention to a 30 second video than to a page of text. Product demonstrations and how-to videos are popping up across the web. YouTube and other services make it easy to host large libraries of video online content, while the cost of the equipment for making them has plummeted. Beyond the mouse and keyboard: Get ready for a new generation of computer interfaces that are more about gesture and touch rather than point and click. Touchscreen smartphones and devices will lead to a whole new language of interaction that may be much more natural than banging out words onto a tiny keyboard. Data is everything: Almost every time you look at a commercial webpage, someone knows about it, and someone else wants to profit from it. The anonymous gathering of user browsing habits has become a
It is becoming increasingly clear that in a web-enabled society competition does not come just from domestic companies, but from technologically-advanced international players as well
could be a pirate or acquire pirated goods without leaving their desk. Throughout the last decade the same phenomenon also hit the film and television industry. Others are now bracing for the same impact. As the cost of manufacturing around the world decreases, many organisations are realising that their true assets are not their products, but the information that resides within them particularly their brands and their relationships with their customers. Video everywhere: If you are not already
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InsighT
How tech company logos evolved?

company's corporate logo is something that becomes a symbol of the company and the company starts getting identified by that logo. It is this power of identity that makes us instantly recognize a brand by just glimpsing at its logo. Corporate logos of almost every technology company have changed over the course of years. The Korean company we know today as LG had its humble beginnings as a merger of two different companies owned by Koo In-Hwoi - Lucky (LakHui), which was a chemical cosmetic company, and Goldstar, which was a radio manufacturing plant. Known as Lucky Goldstar since then, the company was renamed as LG Electronics in 1995. The LG logo in use today is of symbolic importance to the company. According to LG, the letters "L" and "G" in a circle symbolize the world, future, youth, humanity and technology. The red colour represents friendliness along
paper, which was a major means of communication back then. Finnish Rubber Works was founded in 1898, which would eventually become part of Nokia and along with Nokia Ab and the Finish Cable works, would form Nokia Corporation in 1967. At its inception in 1906, the company Xerox Corporation was known as The Haloid Photographic Company, which manufactured photographic paper and equipment. In 1938, Chester Carlson invented a technique called xerography, now known as the photocopy technique. Despite his persistent efforts, he could not find a financer for his invention. Being turned down by the big giants such as IBM, GE and RCA, Carlson turned to The Haloid Photographic Company, which decided to back his invention. The company made the first photocopying machine named Haloid Xerox 14. You will notice in the
According to LG, the letters "L" and "G" in a circle symbolize the world, future, youth, humanity and technology. The circle symbolizes the globe, the stylized image of a smiling face conveys friendliness and approachability, while the one eye conveys goal-oriented, focused and confident
with a strong impression of the company's commitment to the best. The circle symbolizes the globe, the stylized image of a smiling face conveys friendliness and approachability, while the one eye conveys goal-oriented, focused and confident. The LG Grey represents technology and reliability. The logo is asymmetrical and it has been deliberately created thus to represent the creativity and adaptability to changes of this company. When Microsoft was founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, the first product of this company was the computer language BASIC. Being a software company and since the software runs on hardware based on a microprocessor, they named this company taking the first few letters of the word microprocessor and software to create Micro-Soft. The company logo was also designed to reflect the name of the company at that time. They decided to drop the hyphen in the same year and rename the company Microsoft, and in the process also changed the logo accordingly. The new green Microsoft logo with an artistic O was used till 1987 as the company logo. Microsoft decided to introduce a new corporate logo in 1987 and did away with the "Blibbet". Nevertheless, the company had made up its mind to get a new logo designed by Scott Baker using Hevletica italic typeface. The slant was an indicator of motion and speed. This came to be known as the "Pacman logo" because the O in this logo looked like the video game character Pacman, with a distinctive cut, to subtly differentiates between the Micro and Soft part. In Finnish, the word "Nokia" means a dark and furry animal called the Pine Marten weasel. The name of the company Nokia came company logos, that the original word Haloid, which used to be prominent in earlier logos, was gradually replaced in prominence by the word Xerox in the 1948 logo and in the 1949 logo. Haloid Xerox made a brief appearance in the logo in 1958, but was dropped three years later when it was completely replaced by Xerox in 1961. This was due to the unprecedented success enjoyed by the photocopying machines named thus. When Dave Hyatt and Blake Ross first created the open source browser in 2001, they named it Phoenix and this is visible in its first logo. But there were some trademark issues which forced them to change the name of their browser to Firebird, when it was later found out that even the name Firebird was already trademarked, they had to quickly find an alternative name. They decided to name it Firefox in 2003 and that name was the final name of this browser. Accordingly, they got the logo changed by professional interface designer John Hicks to a Firefox engulfing the blue globe representing the world. Nevertheless, this has remained the logo of the Firefox browser since then and has changed very little, save for some colours of the continents using a lighter blue colour to be able to differentiate the oceans from the land mass. n
When Microsoft was founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, being a software company and since the software runs on hardware based on a microprocessor, they named this company taking the first few letters of the word microprocessor and software to create Micro-Soft
from the company set up on the banks of the river Nokiavirta in the town of Nokia in 1868 by Knut Fredrik Idestam as a second groundwood pulp mill in his new business established in 1865. Nokia has therefore been in the communication business right from the start as this company manufactured
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Cover Story
Zubair Ahmed Kasuri
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inance Minister Abdul Hafeez Shaikh announced the budget with an outlay of Rs2.767 trillion for 2011-12, with a fiscal deficit of 4 per cent of the GDP. The Federal Budget 2011-12 neglected the telecom industry's special demands. Telcos were looking at a rationalisation of GST, the abolishment of activation tax, the reduction of withholding tax and the removal duties on mobile handsets. Telecom gets one per cent relief in GST but others taxes remain unchanged. Asif Ali Zardari The new President of Pakistan schemes introduced in the budget are 'Strengthening of Pakistan IT Industry on CMMI Phase II, Establishment of Pakistan Urdu Internet Registry (ccTCL), Center of Excellence in Advanced Software Technologies and Open Source (COEASTOS), Islamabad, Campus Management System and Installation of Server Infrastructure for National Defence University, Islamabad, Professional Excellence of Pakistan Computer Bureau and IT Human Resource Support to Ministries/Department (Phase II) Islamabad. A very little amount of Rs. 283.666 million has been allocated for on-going and new schemes of the Telecom sector in the Public Sector Development Program (PSDP) for the fiscal year 2011-12. Some Rs. 268.666 million have been allocated for ongoing projects and Rs. 15 million allocated for two new schemes introduced in the Telecom sector. Under new
Cover Story
fiscal year 2011-12 for its ongoing and new projects. Under Public Sector Development Program (PSDP) released, the estimated cost of 53 ongoing projects is Rs. 3830.763 million. The expenditure of the projects upto June 2011 is Rs. 2348.688 million while the total allocation for these projects is Rs. 464.192 million. In his blowing speech to National Assembly and to the nation, Federal Finance Minister Mr. Abdul Hafiz Sheikh has said that, We have laid an ambitious program of reform before you. This reform program is essential for delivering the vision of a poverty-free and a prosperous Pakistan entrusted to us by Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto and Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. We must prove ourselves worthy of their legacy. I hope that all of us will put aside our minor differences to bring progress and prosperity to the government that it would freeze its expenditures, the expenses of the President House have been increased by 12.88 per cent, while, the Prime Ministers House gets Rs1.37 billion, the budget for the year 2011-2012 treats the president and prime minister like kings of a large kingdom. Despite tall claims by the government that it would freeze its expenditures, the president has evidently decided that austerity does not begin at home. The expenses of Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani the staff Prime Minister of Pakistan household and the allowances of the president exceeded the allocation by 8.31 per cent in the outgoing fiscal year. As a result, the expenses of the President House have been increased by 12.88 per cent for the upcoming fiscal year. The budget of the Presidents House was set at Rs427.25 million at the time budget 2010-11 was approved but the actual expenditures of the President house ended up at Rs462.81 million. So for the upcoming fiscal year the expenditures have been earmarked at Rs482.63 million. It is noteworthy that the major chunk of the increase will go to pay for the increase in the salaries of the staff. However, the annual salary of the president remains at Rs1 million for the upcoming fiscal year too; he has a budget of Rs3.5 million for presents and charities and Rs15.8 million for entertainments and gifts. The president has kept his discretionary grant at Rs1 million for the next fiscal year.
A meager amount of Rs. 509.442 million has been allocated for Information Technology in the fiscal year 2011-12 for its ongoing and new projects. A very little amount of Rs. 283.666 million has been allocated for on-going and new schemes of the Telecom sector in the PSDP. The Federal Budget 2011-12 neglected the telecom industry's special demands. Telecom gets one per cent relief in GST but others taxes remain unchanged
our people who are beset with security challenges, economic hardships and unrealized dreams. With the help of a united Parliament we can be assured of a strong implementation of the
schemes Rs. 5 million were earmarked for relocation of SCOs Telecom Assets due to upgradation of Karakoram Highway and Rs. 10 million allocated for the construction of CrossBorder Optical Fibre Cable (OFC) System between China and Pakistan for international connectivity of voice / data Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh traffic. Federal Minister for Finance A meagre amount of Rs. 509.442 million has been allocated for Information Technology in the
program and policies that we have presented to you today. It is this quality of unity that is required to accelerate us out of a current recession into a high growth trajectory of over 7per cent per annum to employ our youth, he added. He also said, Let us all feel the resolve of our forefathers who created this nation and take on the challenge to carry it into the 21st century. We must all recall the golden rule of the Quaid-iAzam. I quote: "there would be ample revenues from equitable taxation levied in a manner consistent with social justice to finance good governance and allow us to have a state as good as any in the world and better than many sovereign countries on the map of the world today. Its an unfortunate and harsh reality that a poor nation has landlord rulers, the budget of the most important sectors like, Telecommunications, IT, Education, Health etc need to be increased but despite tall claims by
The overall budget of the Prime Ministers House is Rs1.37 billion for 2011-12 against Rs1.18 billion in 2010-11. An amount of Rs2.8 million will be spent on Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilanis foreign tours in 2011-12 as against Rs2.6 million in the outgoing fiscal year. Dr. Mohammed Yaseen The budget of Chairman PTA Prime Ministers Estate Gardens is Rs14.33 million, with an increase of Rs2.78 million from last year budget of Rs11.55 million. Salaries of more than
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70 gardeners will eat away Rs13.31 million; while more than Rs1 million have been allocated for the maintenance of Prime Ministers House gardens. The Prime Ministers House has 180 servants whose salaries and expenditures stood at Rs45.41 million. The budget for the conveyance and motor cars of the Prime Ministers Secretariat is Rs24.63 million, which has increased by less than Rs1 million, mainly owing to higher fuel prices. The budget of the prime minister and the president are under the head of charged expenditure which are merely presented to the parliament but the legislators cannot amend the allocations under the law. The budget allocates Rs1.57 billion for the foreign tours of the prime minister whereas this particular allocation in the case of president is Rs310 million. But in practice, the president is always away from the country at official expense. It will only become clear over the coming days just how friendly this budget is to the people badly hit by rising prices and facing growing unemployment as a result of a failure to promote economic growth. There is naturally also reluctance on the part of many to invest in a country beset by terrorism and facing increased chaos. While it must be acknowledged that this budget announced at a time like this offers people at least some hope of a better future, much will depend on how effectively schemes such as those to collect new taxes of Rs3 billion from some 71,000 people during the first phase are implemented. It also seems likely that the taxation gridlock will be increased during the current year, as has happened in the past with mini-budgets announced at various stages. The less pleasant aspects of the budget are often revealed later in bits and pieces, dribs and drabs that indicate to people just how grave a crisis they face. For instance the finance minister focused on a 15-percent increase in government salaries, a cut in GST to 16 percent from 17 percent and a 15-percent increase in pensions. He also made a courageous promise to deal with the energy crisis. He, however, avoided reading his entire budgetary proposals but said that 2.3 million people were to be brought into the tax net, utility stores would be used to offer relief to people and inflation would be brought to a single-digit mark. The federal government has also stated that Rs40 billion have been allocated to health and education, even though these are now provincial subjects under the 18th Amendment. As had been expected, the defence budget has risen by 12 percent. The fact is that today Pakistans political, social and economic health is in a critical state. Mere tinkering with the medication will not work. Radical surgery is needed to revive the patient and inject new blood into an ailing body. Exports need to rise as a key source of revenue, and the resources on nonresident Pakistanis should be exploited by persuading them to bring home more money, which should be productively used. Some effort has been made in this budget to reduce taxes on the individual investor but more such measures are needed. More planning is also needed to improve and rationalise the use of natural resources, including assets such as Thar coal, which can be effectively used to generate much needed energy. Information technology (IT) sector in Pakistan is still nascent and needs to be patronised for a reasonable time period therefore the government failed to introduce drastic reforms and curtail tax rates on computer hardware equipments and accessories in the budget. Pakistan Computer Association (PCA) and Telecom Recorder in budget proposal suggested the government to reduce tax on computer screens and value-added products in

available software can be operated on these machines fulfilling business and education needs at a very low cost. Thus, resale of used/refurbished PCs is not only popular in developing countries like Pakistanbut developed nations like USA, England, Europe, Canada and Australia are widely using these computers. According to a conservative estimate, Pakistan can save a huge foreign exchange by encouraging used computers and IT equipment as used computer costs less than $40 as compared to the new one, which ranges from $300 to $600. Currently, there is no indigenous production of IT equipment and its parts in the country. Therefore, import of such equipment by no means is a threat to any local industry. As said earlier there are only assemblers, some are working on a small scale having one shop and some have big installation, but both are assemblers and nothing is produced in our country. Computer usage: Most of the people belong to middle class and lower strata of the society who cannot afford a new computer at a price of Rs 25,000 to Rs 45,000 and they opt for a used desktop PC at an average price of Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000. The laptops market presents similar picture where average price of a Dual Core new laptop in HP/Dell/Acer is around Rs 45,000 to Rs 55,000 whereas the same in use is available at a price of Rs 27,000 to Rs 30,000 and in Centrino technology, it is even cheaper up to Rs 22,000. We simply cannot ignore the fact that Pakistan is a third world country and majority of the people are living below the poverty line and it is not possible for them to afford a new PC. It has been observed that a great number of students and professionals are using used computers and laptops. The initial users and beginners dont need a hi-fi computer as a normal low-end PC works fine for this purpose. However, the sitting government ought to consider that any such ill-advised step would result in a large public outcry and loss of precious foreign exchange. While announcing the Economic Survey for 2010-11, Dr Hafeez Shaikh had conceded that the economy had grown by only 2.4 percent against a target of 4.5 percent. This marks the lowest rate of growth in over 25 years. The finance minister attributed this to last years destructive floods, the cost of the war on terror and a surge in international oil prices. This is not inaccurate, but the real task of the government is to find a way to tackle the crisis. We needed some degree of innovation to achieve this. It was disappointing to see no mention of a cut in government administration, or measures to ensure that parliamentarians pay their taxes. Nor did the issue of a tax on agriculture come up. Some of the richest people in the land are to remain immune from taxation. But we need to see the government going beyond rhetoric emphasising its commitment to poor people as Dr Shaikh did in his speech while he spoke of recognition of peoples needs. Instead, there is a need to treat people as the real assets of the country, to do far more to rescue them from a grim situation and as the opposition emphasised soon after the budget speech ended to develop holistic policies that can look at issues that range from militancy and underdevelopment to economic policy as a whole. Until this happens we cannot expect any real change, regardless of budget documents and their contents which too often veer away from reality, hiding more than what they reveal. n
order to increase penetration of IT education in small cities of the country. But the government ignored it as a sector not concerned with the government. The government should waive GST on computer screens coupled with FED and import duties on different equipments, the body had demanded. Import of used IT equipments has played a vital role in the nations development. The imported used and low cost computers are used by IT educational institutions, middle class and
While announcing the Economic Survey for 2010-11, Dr Hafeez Shaikh had conceded that the economy had grown by only 2.4 percent against a target of 4.5 percent. This marks the lowest rate of growth in over 25 years, there is a need to treat people as the real assets of the country, to develop holistic policies that can look at issues that range from militancy and underdevelopment to economic policy as a whole
lower middle class students and families. Likewise, hospitals, clinics, departmental stores and all types of small and medium size business enterprises, even all types of schools, even madrisas depend on used computers due to affordability for the middle and lower middle class. Used computer system imports: The industry is aware of the fact that the used IT equipment is not more than three years old and it still has a functional life of 5+ years and all
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Flare Report
InsighT
Staying focused at work

If you are serious about your career and wish to achieve a high level of success at each and every job you have, it is important to know how to avoid distractions to increase your output and perform at your level best
sages and calls. You can always check your messages at the end of the day and call back to the people whose calls you missed. It is very important to apply all the necessary filters to
hen we arrive at our work station in the morning, there are many things which distract us from performing the tasks at hand. We often start checking emails, visiting social networking site etc and end up wasting a lot of time. Distractions and lack of focus contribute towards lower performance level and the quality of work also goes down. Many employees are not even aware of the fact that they often waste hours in chatting with coworkers, checking emails and news websites, sending messages on the phone, arranging folders in the computer etc. All these distractions reduce the efficiency of the employee as he or she ends up working to a maximum of 5 hours whereas they stay at work for at least 8 hours or more. If you are serious about your career and wish to achieve a high level of success at each and every job you have, it is important to know how to avoid distractions to increase your output and perform at your level best. By following some of the golden rules mentioned below, you can make sure that you give your best performance at work and climb the success ladder without any distractions.
assignments at hand without any delay. When you are creating a list of tasks that need to be finished within a
given time frame, make sure that you do it in the order of priority so that you can get the tasks done without having to choose the one with higher priority from a random task list. It is best to allocate time slots to given assignments so that you do not end up spending a lot of time on the same task. If you are unable to complete a task within a given time period, leave it and go to the next time which has been listed in the given time slot. You can
It is an acknowledged fact that no one can work for 8 hours straight and needs to take regular breaks. If you schedule 2 to 4 short breaks of 5 to 10 minutes each day and walk away from your desk, it can boost your productivity level to a great extent
In order to be successful at working continuously without any distractions, you need to have a plan in place to make sure that all the tasks within each day go smoothly. The best way to do this is to create a list of all the tasks you have to complete the next day, before you leave work. This way you will have a task list on your desk when you arrive at work and can get to the come back to the left over assignments at the end of the day. One of the most distracting things can be the use of mobile phones when at work. You can often get engrossed in reading and replying to text messages and taking personal calls. It is best to put your phone on silent mode so that you do not get distracted with unnecessary mes-
make sure that you get only the important email in your inbox. Employees often waste a lot of precious time sifting through the email and deleting junk messages. There are many options available which can help you in making sure that you get the email you want to see in your inbox and the rest is filtered out to different folders under specific labels. Having a messy desk means you cannot find the important documents when you need them and have to waste a lot of time in the process. You can easily get distracted if you start studying some other document which has been on your desk for a long time and you forgot about it. This can throw you off the schedule completely and hence reduce your efficiency level to a great extent. It is an acknowledged fact that no one can work for 8 hours straight and needs to take regular breaks. If you schedule 2 to 4 short breaks of 5 to 10 minutes each day and walk away from your desk, it can boost your productivity level to a great extent. One of the most common reasons why people waste time at work is that they start interacting at popular social networking websites. You might only be signing in for a minute or two but you can get addicted to using the websites for hours which affects your productivity negatively. So when you are at work it is important to make sure that you do not sign in at any social networking website. These activities should be restricted for free time at home only. It is very easy to get distracted at work and the over all productivity of each person suffers a lot owing to these distractions. You can make sure that there are no distractions at work by following the useful tips that have been mentioned in the article and increase your productivity to a great level. n
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elecom creates the ability to communicate, to connect and to go beyond boundaries. But unfortunately, the benefits are not for all. The harsh reality is that there are numerous areas in both Pakistan and India, where the population is deprived of even the basic facility of distance communication. A new era has been dawn. An era where communication is not just transmitting and receiving voices but videos and texts. Better communication provides better access to social benefits such as education, healthcare, public safety and above all economic opportunities. So far, India has crowned the status in the region with its faster growth in number of telephony services subscriptions but also in technology and investment inflow. While, Pakistan couldnt make it to maintain its status of a country with highest teledensity among South Asian nations as India has superseded a top position in the region with overwhelming adoption of technology and telephony services by it masses. Though the country has been witnessing constant growth in number of subscribers particularly in cellular sector, it could not retain its top position in South Asia as a country with the highest tele-density. There are few features of the two countries and telecom sectors remain similar. The tele-density remained high in the heavily populated 20 cities of both countries mainly with high economic activities and income power. The rest of the cities have been witnessed slow penetration despite number of telecommunication operators are more than of countrys demand, analysts said. The actual figures of phone users are not accurate and less than reported by the authorities because millions connections are inactive in many parts of the country. Pakistan total tele-density has been reached 67.8 percent with overall 116.5 million users including mobile phone, landline, and wireless whereas Indian tele-density reached 68.4 percent with number total users stood at 826.25 million. Pakistan cellular phone subscription witnessed constant growth in the country amid stiff price war and services by operators, crossing 108 million mark with the tele-density reached 64.8 percent. Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) lat-
India lags behind Pakistan in telecom
India is ahead of Pakistan for launching an advanced cellular phone services, that is, 3G with nearly one million of customers in nine cities having high per capita income. On the other hand, Pakistan has yet to be introduced this technology in the country
est update statistics showed the subscription of mobile operators in the current fiscal year registered tremendous growth on the networks of different operators. The total number of cellular phone SIMs has increased to 107.886 million on the networks of five operators. Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) announced that it has crossed 600,000 mark for broadband internet customers in over 1,000 cities. Some 200 cities and around 200,000 customers additional customers came through USF provided subsidy. PTCL in its statement said that since the launch of its broadband DSL services in May 2007, company has made the broadband technology affordable by offering low-cost packages and by geographically bringing the service within the reach of a common user of Pakistan. In terms of population and number of users Pakistan has been retained the highest of country in the highest teledensity till 2011. The tele-density is calculated as number of telephone connections per 100 people. The tele-density of Pakistan is evaluated with 160 million mark whereas India is with 1.25 billion. Now, the number of telephone subscribers in India increased to 846.32 million at the end of March 2011 as compared with 826.25 million, thereby registering a growth rate of 2.43 percent. The overall tele-density in India reached 70.89 by March. Wireless subscriber base increased from 791.38 million to 811.59 million registering a growth of 2.55 percent. Wireless tele-density stands at 67.98. India is ahead of Pakistan for launching an advanced cellular phone vestment. Pakistan is leading in the cellular users who migrated through a service called Mobile Number Portability (MNP) launched in 2004. India introduced MNP services in January 2011 with 6.4 million network migrated users so far. Despite all these, the number of subscription in different telecom services are forecast to be increasing with emerging technology and growth in rural areas of both countries with huge land and populated areas. In Pakistan, analysts said, the users subscribers base is likely to contract significantly after unverified and unregistered SIMs are blocked in millions. The campaign of PTA initiated on the direction of interior ministry will cut the huge subscription and overall tele-density in the country. The cellular users will be held responsible under law if the SIM under his or her name is used in punishable offence therefore users are liable to block the SIM within 24 hours to the concerned operators if it is loss or theft. PTA stated this in its recently issued Subscribers Antecedents Verification Regulations for cellular subscribers and operators that explained the registration and maintenance of accurate data of their users through proper documentation and complete verification by National Database Registration Authority (NADRA). n
The tele-density remained high in the heavily populated 20 cities of both countries mainly with high economic activities and income power. The rest of the cities have been witnessed slow penetration despite number of telecommunication operators are more than of countrys demand,
services, that is, 3G with nearly one million of customers in nine cities having high per capita income. On the other hand, Pakistan has yet to be introduced this technology in the country because of telecom operators unwillingness and reluctance on the grounds of low purchasing power of users and lack of earning opportunities against heavy in-
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earning how to invest in stocks can prove to be an overwhelming task when you consider the wealth of information available. This information overload can stall your efforts in making timely investment decisions so that you miss potentially lucrative opportunities. Social media sites can help you wade through the thicket of data to make wise investment decisions. Twitter is a micro-blogging platform. Users compose short blog postings ("tweets") on nearly any topic. The benefit for investors is that many market experts use Twitter to track potential investment opportunities. According to a study conducted by Indiana University, Twitter can be used as a barometer of public mood and, as such, helps predict the direction of the stock market. The researchers at Indiana University reviewed over 10 million tweets composed over a 10 month period and found that the changes in public opinion accurately reflect changes in the performance of the stock market with an amazing 87.6 percent accuracy! The study made use of two mood tracking tools that searched for keywords and analyzed them using specially designed algorithms. The first tool analyzed tweets to determine whether they were positive or negative, while the second tool classified those tweets on six dimensions: happy, alert, sad, ("calm, alert, sure, vital, happy and kind"). The conclusion to be made from this study is that public mood should be factored- in when predicting stock market performance. There is a second tool that investors may use to also gage stock market performance.
Using social media for investing

Indiana University reviewed over 10 million tweets composed over a 10 month period and found that the changes in public opinion accurately reflect changes in the performance of the stock market with an amazing 87.6 percent accuracy
StockTwits, an online service that provides real-time status reports from investors posting to Twitter, introduced a new tool, named Stock Following, that allows users of Twitter to track their preferred stocks by the same method they follow their friends, family, and colleagues While social media can prove to be a valuable tool in helping you make investment decisions, it is best to use this tool in tandem with some research about the company. Information can be obtained via the company Web site, or simply by performing a Google search on the company name or ticker symbol. Below is a list of seven additional social media sites where you may find daily news on certain stocks. Over the years, Social Media experts attempted to redefine social media strategy for a new era of influence. While some introduced alternative philosophies for measuring the nuances tied to social media, others wondered aloud whether ROI simply wasnt necessary as the tools and methodologies for analyzing yields didnt yet exist. And furthermore, by focusing on justification and metrics, we were distracted from the primary objective of building relationships and cultivating dialogue. Business leaders simply need clarity in a time of abundant options and scarcity of experience and answers. As many of us can attest, we report to executives who have no desire to measure intangible credos rooted in transparency and authenticity. In the end, they simply want to calculate the return on investment and associate Social Media programs with real world business performance metrics. Over the years, we explored ideas, driven by a passionate desire to find new meaning and vindication in uncharted domains. These discussions and the innovation they sparked, redefined the framework for traditional metrics, creating hybrids that would and will prove critical to modernizing business practices, improving products and services, and effectively competing for the future. Where the I in ROI represents return on through conversations or the creation of, social objects. Return on involvement similar to participation, marketers explored touchpoints for documenting states of interaction and tying metrics and potential return of each. Return on attention In the attention economy, we assess the means to seize attention, hold it and as such measure the responses activities that we engender. Return on trust A variant on measuring customer loyalty and the likelihood for referrals, a trust barometer establishes the state of trust earned in social media engagement and the prospect of generating advocacy and how it impacts future business. But as we learn through experience, our views and techniques mature into more sophisticated strategies as we progress through the Ten Stages of Social Media Evolution. To be quite honest, it is not as simple as counting an increase of subscribers, followers, fans, conversation volume, reach, and traffic. While the size of the corporate social graph is a reflection of our participation behavior, it is not symbolic of brand stature, resonance, loyalty, advocacy, nor is it an indicator for business performance. Social Media endeavors are still funded as pilot programs to steer the brand towards perceived relevance in the hopes that they demonstrate momentum and as such, rewards materialize. Budgets are for the most part, borrowed from other divisions to fund the teams and programs lead by the internal champions who effectively make the case for experimentation. n
But as we learn through experience, our views and techniques mature into more sophisticated strategies as we progress through the Ten Stages of Social Media Evolution
investment, marketers have also explored ancillary elements to address the socialization of media, marketing, and the resulting dynamics of engagement. Return on engagement the duration of time spent either in conversation or interacting with social objects, and in turn, what transpired thats worthy of measurement. Return on participation the metric tied to measuring and valuing the time spent participating in social media
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Exploring web design trends

here is a thin line between design and development, and as we move into a new decade, this line is becoming extremely blurry. Is it enough to draw beautiful mock ups in Photoshop? Maybe 5 years ago. These days, the average internet user requires more. All beauty, with no substance, gets boring after a while. If your only goal is to impress a community of fellow designers with your flashy designs, youll find yourself quickly beneath the tide. 2011 is not about beauty, its about function. The trends for this new year and emerging decade are responsive design, constant connection and virtual reality. The ultimate goal of a designer is not to dazzle but to entangle. Any designer can get oohs and ahhs that are easily forgotten. The supreme designer is able to create an environment which charms and captivates the user to the point where he does not want to find the Back button. Several elements come together to forge such a wonderland: harmonious color scheme, intuitive design, easily accessible information and fast response. Additionally, one can never under-estimate the power of simplicity. Now, your design must contend with smart phones, netbooks, tablets and the like.
integral part of your navigation may prove frustrating for your site visitor.
Designing for touch screens

Technology has become much more tactile. Usability is shifting from abstract to tangible. This means that instead of navigating your mouse to remotely connect, your destination is literally at your fingertips. Tablets, most smartphones and some desktops use touchscreens. As designers, we worship mice. Our links light up when the mouse hovers over. However, theres no hovering in touchscreen. As controversial as it may be for standard web browsing, horizontal scrolling may be more appropriate for touchscreens. Fitting nicely into this niche is a magazine-like layout where visitors virtually flip through your site.
All beauty, with no substance, gets boring after a while. If your only goal is to impress a community of fellow designers with your flashy designs, youll find yourself quickly beneath the tide
a mobile ready website is not simply removing the bells and whistles from your design. This can create a vacant and impersonal design. Although not impossible, distilling the magic from your original design into a pure representation of your brand is tough! Fortunately, technology is quickly removing
Depth perception
More CSS3 + HTML5

CSS3 and HTML5 have been on the distant horizon of web design for the past couple of years, but now, in 2011, we see an explosion of it. Designers are finally starting to let go of Flash. However you may feel about Flash, you do know that it does not play well with some of the hot, new technology available to your current and potential visitors.
No, we are not dealing with the aerial I can see your coffee cup and keyboard on your website. Depth perception is about creating dimension in your web design, so that parts of your site look nearer than others. It conjures a faux 3D effect when done masterfully. Remember what it felt like watching the blockbuster 3D movie. The elements jumped off of the screen, quite literally.
Simple colour schemes

Simplicity, theres nothing quite as impacting as an honest message on a quiet backdrop. Quiet can be interpreted several different ways. Forget black and white or shades of gray. Think of green, yellow or even red as your primary color. However, limit your palette to two or three colors. Work within the shades of each color for variety. It can be truly remarkable what a few colors can do for your message. Observe:
The supreme designer is able to create an environment which charms and captivates the user to the point where he does not want to find the Back button
this burden. Forecasters predict that smartphones will outsell personal computers this year. Bulletproof your design to meet this demand.
Large photographic backgrounds

Large scale backdrops are surging in 2011. These images will be high resolution, and covering the entire site. Large photos are an instant way to grab your audience they cannot help but to see it and have an opinion about it. The background photo must be contentappropriate. Simply having a pretty image in the background without any context will disrupt your users experience.
Adventurous domain names & integration

Although not in the strictest sense a web design issue, look forward to seeing more creative domain names. 2011 is experiencing a more wide-spread venture away from .com and into more whimsical domains like .me or .us. Think of the possibilities and scoop it up before its gone. As the average internet user becomes more surfing-savvy in 2011, expect to see more people navigating by these means. It is just too great of a temptation not to judge a site by its thumbnail. n
Parallax scrolling
Parallax scrolling: not just for old school video games. As aforementioned, the hot web design trend for 2011 is creating a sense of depth. The parallax effect uses layers to present the illusion of a 3 dimensional space. It can be accomplished with some simple CSS tricks or the help of jQuery plugins like Spritely. Parallax scrolling can be most effective as a secondary element on your design. Making it an
Mobile ready
Smartphones, iPads, netbooks! Theres a dizzying amount of mobile products available to the consumer in 2011. This means your web design must be responsive to multiple viewports. Creating
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Globally, over 70 percent of wireless operators revenues still come from voice services and SMS, so this is an existential threat one which threatens profound change to business models and even extinction of some operators as we know them today
s Telco voice innovation dead? Or will smartphones and LTE deliver a much wider breadth of voice applications? Dean Bubley is the founder of research company Disruptive Analysis, argues that voice is about to experience several discontinuities as it goes beyond our limited notion of telephony. Telecom operators are facing a huge problem: in developed markets, we are close to the point of Peak Telephony or maybe even past it already. Peak Telephony inspired by the notion of reaching Peak Oil production refers to the point after which voice revenues will face terminal decline. Already the traditional fixed and mobile telecoms industry is potentially facing a bleak outlook as call volumes stagnate and prices are eroded. While fixed operators have long recognised the threat to their core telephony business, mobile networks are now also facing the inevitable as well. Globally, over 70 percent of wireless operators revenues still come from voice services and SMS, so this is an existential threat one which threatens profound change to business models and even extinction of some operators as we know them today. To an extent, many older telcos had a ten-year extension granted to them by the rise of mass-market mobile services. These appeared at exactly the right point, just as fixed voice prices (especially longdistance) started suffering the competitive onslaught from early VoIP players. But at a group level, declines in fixed-line profits were offset by the rise in mobile. The inherent value of mobility, and the convenience of handsets loaded with easy contact-lists and callregisters, postponed the onset of saturation and substitution.But now, finally, a combination of Moores Law, devices and the Internet are catching up mobile voice is about to experience several discontinuities and radical change in coming years. For the past 100 years, we have pretty much only had three ways to communicate over long distance between people: letters, telegraph and telephone (from the Greek words for distant sound). The traditional phone call has been wonderfully transformative and yet, at the same time, very limiting even in mobile guise. It has enabled revolutions in both commerce and society greater than virtually any other invention since the wheel and printing press.
But phone calls do not correspond to the way humans really communicate with each other. We dont generally think of conversations as sessions, or measure their value in terms of their length. In essence, we have surrendered our natural modes of communication to the restrictions of telephony. We have boiled down distant voice interactions into Person A calling Person B for X minutes, via numbered identifiers. Compare that to the more normal style of close voice of dropping in and out of conversation, with interruptions, breaks in the flow, background tasks, simultaneous interactions with other people and so forth using our names.
The traditional phone call has been wonderfully transformative and yet, at the same time, very limiting even in mobile guise. It has enabled revolutions in both commerce and society greater than virtually any other invention since the wheel and printing press
Normal in-person conversation is enhanced by non-verbal communications, physical context and a multiplicity of other factors. We use a broad range of volume levels, tonal frequencies and gesticulation. Some conversations are synchronous, some asynchronous people talking over each other, or speaking in turn, perhaps based on relative authority or another social construct. Some are unique to the specific two people or particular cultures, others are generally accepted universally. In a crowded room, we might hear snippets of other conversations, by chance or deliberately, through eavesdropping. The phone call has been an excellent lowestcommon denominator baseline for distant voice. Telecom operators have profited immensely from its enablement, especially with the enhancements of mobility and the wrapper of a cellphone and its
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user interface. But in doing so, they have provided us with a single speech product that is intended to span myriad use cases and social/business needs. Only a few other distant-voice technologies have emerged to address niches: push-to-talk, voice messaging, walkie-talkies, CB radio and private radio systems addressing fringe-cases such as taxi dispatch or public safety services.But now, the landscape is shifting. The combination of smartphone platforms, thriving developer ecosystems, smartphones, PCs and the Internet have enabled new communications formats to evolve. These formats can map much better onto natural human communications preferences. We no longer need to constrain our innate ways of interacting, because of the constraints of a piece of wire (or air) and a switch. We can politely interrupt with a soft alert or IM before escalating to a call, locate team-mates in virtual worlds with stereo cues, or interact directly with a voicemail for simple tasks, rather than calling back. We already have in-game voice chat between players, remote baby monitors, always-on voice telepresence, audio surveillance and all sorts of other voice applications which really are not calls, as such. Numerous other voice communication modes are evolving, especially those linked to social and messaging applications. In a nutshell, we no longer need to shoehorn all of our distant voice communications needs into the unnatural format of a phone call. We are able to visualise, contextualise, obfuscate, interrupt, lie, drop in and out, waffle, multi-task, spy, listen, store, mumble, overhear, translate, declaim, announce and recall speech over a network in many, many different ways. One thing is certain however; making a clear and careful distinction between voice and telephony is a critical starting point for understanding the landscape. Telephony is what telcos do today. Its a closely-defined service, subject to rules and regulations, and billed in a structured way. But increasingly, general voice applications will go beyond homogeneous calls for example, chat between players of an online game. This will require new business models, new platforms, and new forms of user interaction. How the traditional telephony industry deals with these new voice innovations will be fascinating to watch. n
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Tahir Mobeen
microprocessor is chip in a computer. The microprocessor coordinates all the function of a computer. It sends and receives data to and from every peripheral used inside or outside the computer. The microprocessor referred as CPU, like every genuine engineering marvel, the microprocessor too has evolved to a series of improvements throughout the 20th century. It divides its functions in two categories, logical function and processing functions. The arithmetic and logical unit and the control unit handle these functions respectively. The information is communicated through bunch of wires called busses. The address bus carries the address of the location with which communication is desired while the data bus carries the data that is being exchanged. Processors were originally developed with only one core. The core is the part of processor that actually performs the reading and the executing of the instructions. A multi-core processor is a single component with two or more independent actual processors (Called Cores) manufactures typically integrate the cores onto a single integrated circuit die (known as chip multiprocessor or CMP), or onto multiple dies in a single chip package. Pentium I: Is Intel's fifth-generation and first superscalar x86 microarchitecture. It included dual integer pipelines, a faster FPU, wider data bus, separate code and data caches and features for further reduced address calculation latency Pentium II: This is Intel's sixth-generation microarchitecture ("P6") and x86-compatible microprocessors Containing 7.5 million transistors, the Pentium II featured an improved version of the first P6-generation core of the Pentium Pro, which contained 5.5 million transistors. However, its L2
Past, present and future of microprocessor
Considering the dramatic progress made in microprocessor design and architecture since 1965, its difficult to predict what new technologies could become available in ten to fifteen years
cache subsystem was a downgrade when compared to Pentium Pros Pentium III: This is Intel's 32-bit x86 desktop and mobile microprocessors based on the sixth-generation P6 microarchitecture the brand's initial processors were very similar to the earlier Pentium II-branded microprocessors. The most notable difference was the addition of the SSE instruction set (to accelerate floating point and parallel calculations), and the introduction of a controversial serial number embedded in the chip during the manufacturing process. The Pentium 4: 2.66 GHz runs at 2.66 gigahertz and offers a single core and single thread -- that is, it handles one instruction at a time, as opposed to dual core, multithreaded chips. The chip features a level 2 cache of 512 KB, meaning it has built-in memory to increase performance. Pentium Dual-Core: The brand was used for mainstream x86-architecture microprocessors from Intel Pentium Dual-Core processors were positioned above Celeron but below Core and Core 2 microprocessors in Intel's product range. The Pentium Dual-Core was also a very popular choice for overclocking, as it can deliver optimal performance (when over clocked) at a low price. Core 2 Dual: Is a brand encompassing a range of Intel's consumer 64-bit x86-64 single-, dual-, and quad-core microprocessors based on the Core microarchitecture. The single- and dual-core models are single-die, whereas the quad-core models comprise two dies, each containing two cores, packaged in a multi-chip module.
Core i3: The Intel i3 series consists of five processors with speeds ranging from 2.26GHz to 3.06GHz. The i3 family of processors features a host of Intel-created technologies that allow for multitasking, better power management and an overall improved experience for PC users. Core i5: The Intel Core i5 processor series is a high-end processor line that offers speeds ranging from 1.06 to 3.46 GHz. The line also offers various Smart Cache speeds, ultra-low-voltage processor options and up to four processing cores with four threads and Intel's Turbo Boost, Hyper-Threading and HD Graphics technologies.
also featured on all i7 models. Sandy Bridge: Intel's Sandy Bridge processors include dual-core, quadcore, six-core and eight-core chips for desktops and laptops Another distinguishing feature for the Sandy Bridge chips is that they've been designed from the ground up to have integrated graphics.
Future predicted processors: Haswell/Broadwell: Haswell is the

codename for processor microarchitecture to be developed by Intel as the successor to Sandy Bridge. Haswell uses the 22 nm process (the tock after Ivy Bridge) and will implement fused multiply-add (FMA3) instructions. Like Nehalem, Haswell is to be developed by Intel's Oregon team. CPUs based on the Haswell microarchitecture are expected to be released as soon as early 2013. There are currently no details regarding this microarchitecture's development. Skylake / Skymont: Skylake is the codename for a processor microarchitecture to be developed by Intel as the successor to Haswell. Skylake uses a 14 nm process (the tock after Broadwell). This microarchitecture has not been confirmed by Intel to be in development. Considering the dramatic progress made in microprocessor design and architecture since 1965, its difficult to predict what new technologies could become available in ten to fifteen years. And yet, a group of progressive-minded researchers are quite optimistic about the potential of tiny Nano electronic components, organic molecules, carbon nanotubes and individual electrons that could serve as the underlying technology for new generation of microprocessors emerging around 2015. n
Processors were originally developed with only one core. The core is the part of processor that actually performs the reading and the executing of the instructions
Core i7: Intel i7 processors offer quad-core abilities with Intel's most touted technologies, which include Intel Hyper-Threading, Turbo Boost, Virtualization Technology, Intel 64 and eight processing threads with Intel HT technology. Intel Virtualization Technology and Intel 64 are offered on all Intel i7 processors, while Trusted Execution Technology is offered on all i7-800 series processors. Turbo Boost and Hyper-Threading technologies are
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Bangladesh teenagers
for cheap garment exports for top Western brands, may be able to cash in. "New companies are approaching with new orders now and that's what we need to boost the industry as global IT spending is expected to rise over the next few years," BASIS president Mahboob Zaman told news agency. "We are just getting entry into the global industry but we have real potential," he said, adding that Bangladesh's low cost labour pool was a key competitive advantage. The average wage of an outsourced IT sector developing an outsourcing sector in 2004 and it is now worth around $120 million. The country exported some $36 million worth of IT services last year, according to BASIS figures. The government has declared developing the IT outsourcing industry to be a key priority, which fits with their ongoing campaign to create a "Digital Bangladesh" by 2020. But there are major challenges which must be addressed before the industry can flourish: Gartner gave Bangladesh a "poor" rating in three vital areas -- infrastructure, language skills and data, and intellectual property security. Poor infrastructure, including frequent power crises and slow and unreliable Internet connections are the most immediate problems for Ahmadul Hoq, president of the Bangladesh Association of Call Centre and Outsourcing (BACCO). "We have told the government that we need an uninterrupted power supply and a second connection with high bandwidth," Hoq told news agency, adding that progress on these issues was slow. Bangladesh's businesses have long suffered from an acute power crisis, as plants generate only around 5,000 megawatts of electricity a day, but demand is over 6,000 megawatts and growing at a rate of 500 megawatts a year. The country has only one submarine Internet cable and desperately needs a second line to prevent frequent disruptions, Hoq said. "We are connected to submarine cable network SEA-ME-WE-4, which provides an Internet bandwidth of 24 gigabytes, but more speed needed and an alternative connection is essential to woo overseas clients.The government should also set up IT software parks in the capital Dhaka and at universities across the country to at-
ike many teenagers, Abdullah Al Zahid spends most of his time holed up in his bedroom in his family's modest Dhaka apartment glued to his computer. But Zahid, 16, is not checking Facebook or chatting to friends -- he's working as a freelance web developer, part of a new wave of young, tech-savvy Bangladeshis who are transforming their country's nascent outsourcing sector. "There is so much demand for outsourcing, I am struggling to cope. I have to turn down many, many job offers," said Zahid, who earns around $1,000 a month from several outsourcing contracts and is his family's main breadwinner. "Many of my friends are interested in this work. I hope to set up my own office one day and hire other people like me to do more outsourcing," said Zahid, who is still at school and wants to go on to university. The Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS) estimates there are some 15,000 freelancers like Zahid in Bangladesh doing outsourced work for technology companies from across the globe. The country also has some 500 registered IT outsourcing companies which collectively employ an additional 20,000 workers. Compared to neighbouring India, which accounts for around 55 percent of the $3.4 trillion global market and employs 2.54 million people directly in the sector, Bangladesh is an outsourcing minnow. But as outsourcing costs rise in other countries like India, China and the Philippines, impoverished Bangladesh, currently better known
drive outsourcing growth

The country also has some 500 registered IT outsourcing companies which collectively employ an additional 20,000 workers
tract more graduates to the sector and ensure the right skills training is available, Hoq said. For BASIS president Zaman, Bangladesh should aim for its outsourcing service industry to export $500 million worth of services by 2014, a goal he said was within reach. "Two decades ago, many people could not imagine Bangladesh's garment industry would become the country's highest export earner -- but it
The average wage of an outsourced IT sector employee is around $8 per hour in Bangladesh compared to $20 per hour in India and $10 to $15 an hour in the Philippines
employee is around $8 per hour in Bangladesh compared to $20 per hour in India and $10 to $15 an hour in the Philippines. Moreover, Bangladesh has one of the largest and youngest populations in Asia, with 150 million people of whom some 65 percent are under 25, Zaman said. Last December, leading technology research company Gartner ranked Bangladesh for the first time in its annual list as one of its top 30 countries for IT services outsourcing in 2010 thanks to its low costs and huge labour pool. Bangladesh began
did. I believe the outsourcing industry has the same potential," Zaman said. Bangladesh's garment industry accounts for 80 percent of the country's $16-billion-plus of export earnings and employs over three million workers, mostly women. The country's biggest advantage in terms of outsourcing, Zaman said, is its people -- particularly the younger tech-savvy generation who are already helping the sector to take off without any government support. "Young men like Zahid (the freelance web developer) adapt to new technologies quickly and it is going to be them who will drive the outsourcing industry forward," he said. n
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A healthy majority of iOS app users discover new applications directly from their device as opposed to using iTunes. Some got well-deserved exposure, while others were lost in the shuffle
he iTunes App Store is huge. I have watched this monster start from nothing and turn into a billion-dollar industry in only a few short years. A healthy majority of iOS app users discover new applications directly from their device as opposed to using iTunes. If you look specifically at the iPhone, the amount of real estate for discovery is only available to a very small percentage of the total apps. The expectation is that the market will dictate an apps worth, but it doesnt always work out that way. If you look at the top lists, they are littered with clones, cheap knockoffs and impulse grabs. Ninety-nine cent buys are just too tempting. Without proper exposure (and potentially more appropriate pricing schemes), many truly great apps never see the light of day. With that said, Ive compiled what I believe to be the best apps that have come out this year. Some got well-deserved exposure, while others were lost in the shuffle. Instagram: Take a photo or select one from your library, apply a visual effect to it and then post it to Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Tumblr, or Foursquare. While there are plenty of photo filter applications out there, Instagram stands apart because of how easy it is to get a unique and professional result. Chase mobile: While I dont use Chase for banking, this app deserves some serious recognition. For an industry that isnt known for pushing the technology envelope, Chase did something pretty cool here. Instead of going to a banking centre or ATM, you can simply take a picture of the front and back of a check and the amount is deposited into your account. Price check: Sure, there are several barscanning apps out there. Some work better than others, but Price Check is just about flawless. Considering I buy nearly everything from Amazon (from vitamins to electronics), I may be a bit biased. But regardless, this app offers an easy, effective way to check the price of physical
goods in a store to see if you can get it cheaper online. Find my iPhone: This was a great move by Apple to release the Find My iPhone feature without requiring a paid MobileMe account. With this, you can see where your phone is on a map, display a message, lock the phone or completely wipe it. Google Voice: I thought it would never see the light of day but to m o s t peoples surprise, it was approved. With Google Voice, you can replace your calling plan with a unique number that includes dialing, texting, voicemail, and message transcription. Twitter: After acquiring Tweetie, Twitter relaunched this as the official Twitter app for the iPhone. It remains the standard bearer. Dropbox: Im a big proponent of the digital nomad lifestyle, so I always stay backed up on the cloud. I want to be able to access, view, retrieve and share any of my files whether I have my computer with me or not, and the Dropbox app helps me do that. SpringPad: While the Evernote app is great, SpringPad really steps up mobile notetaking. You can write a quick memo, take a snapshot, scan a barcode of an item to remember, or have the app search nearby shops and restaurants to add. Foursquare: Okay, this one didnt come out this year, but any Best iPhone Apps list
would be incomplete without it. Checking in, which seemed so quirky a year ago, is now an obsession with millions of people, and they can thank Foursquare. Skyfire: I havent met anyone yet who doesnt hate the fact that the iPhone lacks Flash support. While Skyfire is by no means a perfect solution, it offers us a way to w a t c h F l a s h videos f r o m the web
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on our iPhone. Kindle: Im one of those people who prefers reading off an e-ink Kindle to an LCD iPad. For the millions like me, the Kindle app makes a perfect companion. Just boot up the app and you can continue reading from where you last left off. Word Lens: Word Lens is one of the few apps that really show the potential of the iPhone. Aim your phone at anything with standard printed writing on it in another language and Word Lens will replace it with translated copy. The amazing thing is that it will do it in real time. Netflix: This app is a great way to watch streamed content right on your iPhone. I was expecting movie streaming to be slow over 3G but was surprised to see that after a short loading period, it was extremely smooth. Quality settings are reduced depending on the connection, but all in all, it works great. Hulu: This app requires you to subscribe to the Hulu Plus service, which is the same price as a Netflix streaming account. However, Hulu contains a lot of great TV content that will fill in many of the holes left by Netflix. The app itself feels solid and the streaming quality seems to be on par with Netflix in terms of looks and speed. TuneIn radio: The problem with Internet radio has been that despite being awesome, it hasnt allowed access to local radio. TuneIn Radio lets you listen in on thousands of real radio stations across the country. With a bunch of features like the ability to pause and rewind live radio. n
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Sensor networks,cloud-based computing
very day, technology is evolving towards a common goalto improve human experience. It is in this effort that we seek to connect everything around us and integrate technology into everyday objects, making the human-computer interaction easier. Imagine a world where your house adjusts the temperature and lighting according to your preferences, your car informs the service centre that it needs servicing, your favourite stores recognize you and recommend clothes based on your style preferences and a restaurant recommends recipes keeping in mind your taste and allergies when you sit down for a meal. This might sound like a futuristic movie, but it isnt as distant in the future as one may think. In simple terms, this is what pervasive computing or ubiquitous computing is all aboutan environment which provides the power of computing anywhere, at any time and on any device, through a network of sensors and smart devices. Today, we use smartphones, interactive white boards, RFID (radio frequency identification) tags and similar devices to improve our productivity, to connect with each other and to improve the quality of our lives. Going forward, there will be an explosion in the number and types of devices one would use. These interconnected devices will help bridge the gap between the real and the virtual world. The three key areas which, I believe, will drive the
Consider the leading gaming consoles of todaybe it the Sony PlayStation, the Nintendo Wii or the Microsoft Xboxthey all offer a version which can create an immersive, interactive and responsive user experience by allowing users to play using gestures and voice commands
evolution of pervasive computing are: sensor networks, cloud-based computing and intelligence. The easiest way to understand these concepts is to look at the evolution of computer gaming. From single-player desktop games that were controlled by the keyboard, gaming has come a long way. We can now play multiplayer games with users across the world. Even game controls have changed considerably. Consider the leading gaming consoles of todaybe it the Sony PlayStation, the Nintendo Wii or the Microsoft Xboxthey all offer a version which can create an immersive, interactive and responsive user experience by allowing users to play using gestures and voice commands. This creates a natural interface for users, completely changing the dynamics of human-computer interaction. Going forward, our interactions with everyday objects like refrigerators or home-lighting systems or room-heating systems will be driven by sensor networks. Such a network of sensors and the possibility of connecting every object on the planet are already being explored by various organizations in their pursuit to shape the future of technology. Some of these developments have already found commercial usage. An outcome of such pervasive technology is the ability to gather large amounts of information from sources like social networking sites and online shopping portals. This information, and the wealth of insight which it provides, is enabling enterprises to become intelligent by leveraging them to become participative, responsive and relevant to the specific needs of their end-users. Enterprises are also analysing this data to deduct patterns and make decisions based on it to better understand their competitors and the market. The online retail space has been an early adopter of these benefits. Key players like Amazon are leading the way with their strong analytics usage, which is enabling them to create a personalized experience for each customer. Recognizing and remembering regular choices, making suggestions based on previous buys and alerts on discounted prices are some of their unique offerings. capabilities, better known as cloud computing. Today, we have access to computing power anywhere, at any time, and on almost any computing device. It offers enterprises immense potential to reinvent their business models.Moving towards a cloud-based concept of computing also overcomes the need for physical storage devices. Cloud computing is, therefore, helping organizations optimize their capex investments to be more nimble in their operations, and to be responsive to their fluctuating business needs. Cloud computing is evolving not just at the organizational level, but at the individual user level as well. The cloud computing space is still evolving, but it will certainly play an integral role in business strategies across industries going forward. This unprecedented transition of computing powerfrom a confined room (mainframes) to our offices (desktops), to our homes (laptops) and, finally, to our hands (mobiles, tablets, etc.)has opened up new, unprecedented opportunities. Never before in the history of mankind have so many individuals from so many countries across the world been connected and networked. Also, never before have so many diverse physical objects, ranging from mobile phones to microwave ovens, been a part of this networked environment. We are now faced with a unique opportunity to imagine and create a future that truly leverages the endless possibilities of this computing power for personal, social and economic progress. We are indeed living in exciting times. n
We are now faced with a unique opportunity to imagine and create a future that truly leverages the endless possibilities of this computing power for personal, social and economic progress. Cloud computing is evolving not just at the organizational level, but at the individual user level as well
Finally, the third and one of the fastest growing trends that will play a key role in enabling a pervasive world is the availability of online computing
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The wonderful and the terrible thing about technology is that it is constantly changing. We all like the improvements, but staying up to date on the differences between the vast array of products offered by telecommunications providers today can be a daunting task
product characteristics to your internal design specifications. Comparing voice solutions can be equally confusing. One carrier may give great perminute rates but charge high mandatory fees, while another carrier waives these same fees entirely. Some carriers even charge account fees just for the privilege of having an account with them, while others
elecommunications technology just keeps hurtling forward, and while we may love the added conveniences and fresh, new features, staying current requires more time and effort than wed like. Many companies have decided to skip the headache and work with a trusted adviser: someone who knows the industry and stays up to date with the swiftly evolving world of telecommunications. Proven telecom specialists will have knowledge of whats available from the carriers, including detailed information regarding feature, product and pricing differences, says Ginger Smith, business market manager with Simplify Inc. From there, they know what questions to ask the business to determine what their real needs are so that they can make the right match. Smith spoke about how companies can sort out the differences between telecom products and services. The wonderful and the terrible thing about technology is that it is constantly changing. We all like the improvements, but staying up to date o n the
do everything well. Most companies have abandoned the old private line or frame relay networks for fully meshed data networks using MPLS or some other form of IP VPN. However, even among these products, there is diversity. How do you know which you need? If you need MPLS, do you need Class of Service support and, if so, how much bandwidth per class? If you need IP VPN, should it be IP-Sec based or SSL based? What are the advantages and disadvantages of each technology? What are the security implications? Is one carriers MPLS really different from anothers?
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differences between the vast arrays of products offered by telecommunications providers today can be a daunting task. There are so many providers today global, domestic and regional, and each carrier has multiple products, most that come with their own special marketing name and slew of associated acronyms. Carriers will try to do everything for everyone, but no single carrier can
Voice over IP, dynamic bandwidth allocation, SIP trunking, concurrent call paths, etc. Every carrier has a different twist on their offer. Comparing the features of these different products across the carriers is time-consuming, but absolutely necessary to determine what carrier/product best suits your needs
The carriers would love to answer these questions for you, but each one has its own obvious bias. While most IT departments have a preference regarding the type of technology they employ, many do not have a full understanding of the difference between, for example, the various flavors of MPLS in the market and the carriers capable of providing it. A knowledgeable, carrier-neutral adviser is invaluable in these situations someone that can explain that Carrier A charges a hefty fee for Class of Service, while Carrier B includes it for free or that Carrier X rides the Internet while Carrier Y has a fully private backbone. Understanding the distinctions between each carriers approach to WAN products results in an ability to choose the right product fit for your companys needs by matching the
have t h e audacity to charge a sub-account fee for every location in your enterprise. Those really do add up, and frequently dont even appear on the proposal provided by the carrier. An experienced telecom specialist knows to look for these things. Getting an accurate bottom line cost comparison of multiple providers will make the true cost of services much easier to assess. Seeing the cost for all of the services you need plus any associated fees is much more valuable than just looking at a line rate or usage rate. This can get even cloudier when you get to integrated solutions: Voice over IP, dynamic bandwidth allocation, SIP trunking, concurrent call paths, etc. Every carrier has a different twist on their offer. Comparing the features of these different products across the carriers is time-consuming, but absolutely necessary to determine what carrier/product best suits your needs. Partnering with a telecom specialist introduces an adviser who is able to study your existing system and analyze your present and future needs, and then say, Here are the products that fit your needs, here are the ones that are better or worse and the pricing associated with those. Its a huge advantage to do that as part of a single process with one point of contact and one set of pricing comparisons, as opposed to your company doing the research on its own. You must meet with multiple carriers, get multiple quotes for pricing, and its probably still not an apples to apples comparison. When you have a single person handling that for you, getting pricing from everyone and putting it into a format that is apples to apples, you have a real basis for comparison on the carrier, the product and the price. Then, you have a better, fuller understanding of how products work and how they are priced before you make a decision. n
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Everyone at risk to digital fraud
Pakistan is currently in the take-off technology level whereby every business is using internet to reach out to the international market, this shows how the use of digital advancement has taken our homeland by storm especially in the telecom, insurance and banking sectors
akistan, like many other countries is riding on the wave of technological advancement. People are paying bills, sending and receiving money and reviewing bank transactions over the internet and also via mobile phones. Although such innovations are intended to make life comfortable, crime and fraud has scared away many would be beneficiaries. Experts say digital fraud is one of the biggest emerging risks in our country as people embrace technology and its advancement. Pakistan is currently in the take-off technology level whereby every business is using internet to reach out to the international market, this shows how the use of digital advancement has taken our homeland by storm especially in the telecom, insurance and banking sectors and this means that we are at a higher risk of digital fraud. Information technology gurus opined that online fraud has a tremendous impact on all aspects of business. Manufacturers experience reduced revenue and loss of goods; merchants suffer lost revenue, higher costs, and damaged reputations; financial institutions must charge higher fees for authorisation services and consumers experience higher prices and a loss of faith in a convenient, exciting way to shop. Users are often victims of digital fraud because they are too trusting, or, with all the new
technological advances, they are unaware of new methods of fraud. There are lots of ways people can digitally defraud you. Black hat hackers can put their wireless cards into modems so they can sniff all internet traffic. There are web pages that look like web pages you go to but they are really resubmitted to the real page after the man in the middle has your information.
Information technology gurus opined that online fraud has a tremendous impact on all aspects of business. Users are often victims of digital fraud because they are too trusting, or, with all the new technological advances, they are unaware of new methods of fraud
Key loggers and password sniffers are a really good way to get your information stolen. Most of the time you get the virus or Trojan from a pirated programme, the use of family names has made digital fraud flourish since these passwords are easy to break. People should learn how to use more complex but simple passwords, other forms of internet fraud include: Online investment
newsletters. Fraudulent promoters may claim to offer independent, unbiased recommendations in newsletters when they stand to profit from convincing others to buy or sell certain stocks. They may spread false information to promote worthless stocks. Other fraudsters are using spam. And this apparently is the commonest. Fraudsters use junk email to promote sham investment schemes or to spread false information about a company. Spammers can send personalised messages to millions of people at once. Many scams, including advance fee frauds, use spam to reach potential victims. However, in most cases, fraud is directly or indirectly aided by internal staff following lack of training and sensitisation on how to protect company information from social engineers. It is high time companies invested in digital security defence measures and ensure that its integrated and adequately up to-date to respond to the ever-changing and increasingly sophisticated technologies being utilised in such crime. Some people are connected to the internet but have not implemented security measures to block hackers. With the introduction of wireless Internet, a lot of people now prefer working at the nearby cyber cafe not knowing that they are at greater risk of revealing confidential information because the person controlling that network can access their profiles. Experts recommend that its high time the government, through regulatory bodies like Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), stepped in to regulate products like mobile money services to reduce identity theft, fraud and embezzlement from companies. They say that those running internet based shops are required to take steps to assure their customers that Internet sales transactions are safe, convenient, and private. It is the merchants responsibility to ensure that every online transaction can be completely secured when using a credit card or any other form of Internet currency. They recommend that one does research before sending out to any online company their debit card or credit card number. With a little research, you can identify a scam website and a legitimate e-commerce website. It may be difficult to pinpoint a scam company, but a quick search on Google can help you find scams as opposed to a legitimate website. However, banking institutions are also devising ways of dealing with the problem. They have formulated brochures with user information guiding customers on how to avoid fraud. We are cognisant that the fight against fraud is a partnership between ourselves and our customers. As such, customers have free access to information on how to curb identity theft by keeping their cards secure at all times and of course ensuring that they do not share their PINs with others. Fraud in the digital world is not likely to end any time soon because the more the technology becomes sophisticated the higher the risk involved. n
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Outsmart your smartphone

A technological fix to combat distracted driving is the goal of several applications and cellphone service providers, but figuring out a way to keep people from texting while driving or otherwise operating their smartphones may prove difficult
it, the most effective antitexting product we've tried. With an even more on-the-nose name, TeenSafer performs similarly to tXtBlocker but costs $3 a month and has fewer features. For instance, it does not have zone-based blocking and GPS tracking. One major flaw may be that it requires Bluetooth connectivity to automatically activate, so if an even mildly intrepid teen doesnt connect the BlackBerry, well, he or she can have a text fiesta. The same company has a nearly identical product called MobileSafer for the same monthly fee. SafeCellApp costs a whopping $11.99 at the iPhone app store also available for Android and effectively locks out your cellphone while driving. It allows emergency calls, but the big feature is that you get reward points for safe driving that can be redeemed for Visa gift cards. Each time you run the app it records your trip and driving behavior and rewards you points. Is there a catch? Some reviews say that if you lose your Internet connection the trip information is lost, and you have to leave the app running during the entire drive, draining battery life. But financial rewards may be the only way to break drivers of their smartphone addictions. Adroid-based phones contain support for adding tons of applications that can be used while driving and in this post youll find the best of them. All these Android apps will help you reach destinations fast and easy, as I will present you with maps and navigations apps, apps that can find the nearest gas stations, remember where youve parked app and others more. These applications are included in Android phones, since the day Android 2.0 has been released. The Maps application allows users to set Star destinations and place from your PC and after that you can port them to your Androidbased devices. Navigation is a turn-by-turn GPS navigational utility. The Car Mode helps drivers greatly as they dont have to hold the phone as it has voice guidance incorporated. For Android phones running the 2.2 edition, you will to upgrade the Voice Search to the Googles Voice Actions app. The Voice Actions app has support for speech recognition and so you will be able to write text and compose email with your own voice. It has support for Google searching, Navigation and other, all these actions can be performed with a single touch of the screen. If youre using an older Android version, you will need to use the Vlingo app. The Vlingo app does almost all the tasks that Googles Voice Actions is capable of performing. Vlingo contains the SafeReader tool, which is great because it transforms voice into text and it can do it for free.n
he goal of every automaker is to better integrate your smartphone with your car. The goal of the department of transportation is to stop you from using all those features while driving. A technological fix to combat distracted driving is the goal of several applications and cellphone service providers, but figuring out a way to keep people from texting while driving or otherwise operating their smartphones may prove difficult. Fundamentally, these phoneblocking mechanisms ask that you pay to deny yourself use of your smartphone. It seems as though people who would pay for a phone-blocking service would also be the ones who would not answer their phones, text or surf the web while driving in the first place. Additionally, its not clear how the apps will know when youre in the drivers seat rather than a passenger (or on a bus or train, for that matter). Phone blockers are targeted specifically to the parents of teenage drivers, but this may have its flaws, as well. Here is a roundup of the new distracted driving apps available for purchase. Sprint announced the Drive First app for Android phones at a cost of $2 per month. The app redirects calls to voice mail, automatically responds to texts with an alert that the recipient is driving, and gives parents and employers the ability to set Drive Firsts terms through web portal access. It does allow three key contacts in case of emergency as well as GPS navigation. The idea being that a parent would program him or her50 self, a spouse, as the contacts in case their teen
driver runs into trouble on the road. The distracted driving app business presupposes that teens are the major problem, but with 16,000 people dying between 2001 and 2007 due to distracted driving, according to the American Journal of Health, it seems unlikely that teens are the only ones making poor decisions behind the wheel. TXtBlocker follows the control-your-teenager model by allowing parents to set limits on where and when texts can be sent and received. It also allows them to track the phones location via the Internet
The app redirects calls to voice mail, automatically responds to texts with an alert that the recipient is driving, and gives parents and employers the ability to set Drive Firsts terms through web portal access. It does allow three key contacts in case of emergency as well as GPS navigation.
(when I was a teenager, I know Id rather have skipped a cell phone than allow my parents to follow me on Google Maps). The tXtBlocker app costs $7 a month and works with BlackBerry and Android phones. Consumer Reports called
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You can check tire pressure, see the fuel or charge level, lock and unlock the doors, and request roadside assistance. When you park, you can set a timer and get an alert when your time at a parking meter is about to expire
hether you have an iPhone, Android or BlackBerry phone there's a car app for you. Lock your doors, view your fuel level, evaluate your gas mileage and more with our picks for best car apps. Ask anyone with an iPhone or Android device about their favourite apps and youll likely hear about Angry Birds, the Evernote journaling app, and maybe a tool for tracking your next flight. Yet, some of the most innovative apps are for your car. Surprisingly, many car owners could use these apps if they knew how to find them (just search Apple iTunes or the Android Market) and make the connection. In most cases, once you download the app, you just follow the prompts, add your VIN, and off you go.
alarm if some hooded criminal approaches. From Google Maps, you can find a location and then send the navigation route to the car. With the app, you can also quickly find your vehicle on a map say, locate the exact parking spot at an airport. Yet, mbrace is actually more than just an app. Its more like OnStar in that the cars 3G connection can report a collision, stolen vehicle, or some other emergency.
MyFord
The upcoming Ford Focus Electric, which should come out later this year, will include a fantastic app that we tested in Detroit recently. The app adds a few extra features beyond the basic fuel level check. Instead, you can see your EV profile for the car and get a measure of how far you can drive according to your particular driving habits. For example, if you access the car to check the charge for yourself, you might see it will drive for 50 miles, since you tend to use hypermiler techniques and rarely brake. The app will also connect to the Microsoft Hohm service so you can see how the EV energy draw ties into home usage. You can check to see when the car will start charging based on peak usage rules or press a button to just start charging now, in case you know youll need the EV right away. Like the Nissan Leaf app, you can also pre-heat or precool the car during the charge cycle. That means you wont use the climate controls as much when you start driving and need all the power you can get.
MyLink
The theory behind the OnStar MyLink app, available for iPhone and Android, is that you can use the app with many different GM models including the GMC Sierra. One of the primary uses, and the one we used most often, is just to check the fuel level. Like the Ford Focus Electric
MyChevrolet
Many recent Chevy models including the new Volt electric range extended car and the GMC Sierra Denali truck can use the MyChevrolet iPhone app. Its a free download and works through the OnStar MyLink service. Once installed, you can check tire pressure, see the fuel or charge level, lock and unlock the doors, and request roadside assistance. MyChevrolet adds a few extra perks, though. If you check tire pressure and find you have a flat tire, you can report the problem and request help. When you park, you can set a timer and get an alert when your time at a parking meter is about to expire. The app is available for iPhone and Android models. Theres a helpful tutorial in the app that shows you how to use hard-to-find features on the dashboard, including the right switch for fog lights.
You can also pre-heat or pre-cool the car during the charge cycle. That means you wont use the climate controls as much when you start driving and need all the power you can get
app, youll see an easy-to-read fuel level graphic that shows you how many miles you can drive before going empty. You can also check the remaining oil life. You can lock and unlock the car, trigger a remote start, and flash the horn and lights in an emergency. The app also lets you find your car on a map. It is an advanced tool, but wed like to see a better connection to the OnStar service itself say, asking a question so an advisor can help you find a pizza place.
Nissan leaf
Mbrace
Mercedes-Benz was an early innovator with smartphone apps. The mbrace app, available for iPhone and BlackBerry devices, has the typical lock and unlock features, and a way to trigger an
The most graphically appealing app of the bunch, this iPhone-only tool provides a graphical view of charge state (such as being near empty or fully charged), time estimates for charge, and checks the total range. The Ford app goes a bit further by estimating based on actual driving patterns. However, Nissan includes a timer you can use to pre-heat or pre-cool the car as it charges right before your drive. You can also press a button to start charging now. Wed like to see a few extra options with this app maybe a way to send a music playlist to the stereo or some options for finding the car when you use a public charger at the mall. n
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ecently, I had the opportunity to participate in the eG8 Forum with world technology leaders and France's President Nicolas Sarkozy to examine policies that foster technology innovation and economic growth. It was truly a privilege to join in discussions with some of the brightest minds in technology. But there was a glaring omission -- voices from the developing world that make up more than 80 percent of the world's population. Representatives of emerging markets were scant: Sunil Bharti Mittal, the chairman and managing director of the India telecom company, Bharti Airtel Ltd., was in attendance. I also saw HTC's CEO, Peter Chou, from Taiwan, and several leaders of big Chinese tech players, including President and CEO Charles Chao of SINA, and Chairperson Sun Yafang of Huawei. But overall, the panelists and audience were overwhelmingly American and European. It's no surprise then that the discussion focused on the needs of developed countries. While panelists observed the potential of the Internet to transform societies, little time was committed to the developing world. A lone voice from the crowd posed a question to President Sarkozy about how developed countries might help African governments to develop the needed infrastructure to bring Internet tools and opportunity to this region. This is the exact question we should be asking: What is the fastest, most-efficient way to bring technology to the developing world, and who should lead this effort? It's in these countries that technology holds the greatest promise to modernize communications, drive growth, and lift people out of poverty. McKinsey & Company presented the results of a breakthrough study on the impact of the Internet that illustrates its power to transform societies. The report found, "statistically that the Internet correlates positively with net per capita
GDP growth and therefore to increasing standards of living in the countries we examined." And more importantly, it finds that infrastructure is a crucial starting point. Infrastructure, the backbone of the entire Internet ecosystem, is an irreplaceable prerequisite. It creates the platforms upon which users, and organizations experience the Internet, and upon which entrepreneurs and businesses innovate. It's clear that much of the world lacks this basic access point. Wireless technologies have helped fill an important gap -- reaching 90 percent of the world's
Infrastructure, the backbone of the entire Internet ecosystem, is an irreplaceable prerequisite It creates the platforms upon which users, and organizations experience the Internet, and upon which entrepreneurs and businesses innovate
population, according to the International Telecommunication Union, the UN agency on IT and communications. Mobile phones provide lowcost Internet access, but are insufficient to helping countries realize the full potential of Internet technologies. With only 21 percent of the population in emerging countries online, the need to develop this infrastructure is clear. I applaud President Sarkozy for beginning this important discussion, and now I call on the participants to continue the conversation and open it up to governments, business leaders and entrepreneurs in the developing world. Too often conferences produce interesting ideas, but who is charged with taking action? The scale of
this global need calls for a comprehensive, coordinated approach with contributions from both the public and private sectors. Google CEO Eric Schmidt was right when he said that private companies "move a lot more quickly than one of the governments, let alone all of the governments." Business can move faster and bring technical expertise, but governments bring the scale and resources to channel aid and investment in emerging countries into this vital infrastructure. I propose that we expand the eG8 to the eG20. Like the G20, it will include more countries in the developing world and will focus on technical needs and opportunities. The eG8 was incredible in that it brought together all the right people from the private sector in one room. Let's not let it end here. Drawing on a number of forward-looking studies carried out by IDATE teams, this report provides readers with a portrait of the market in 2020 along with a comprehensive analysis of key telecom market trends, and of telcos' strategic responses to the profound changes taking place in their competitive environment. Key questions are: What are the key longterm consumption patterns for telecom services? What are the potential take-up levels and revenue generated by the different fixed (broadband, voice, VoD, IPTV, VoIP) and mobile (voice, data, VoD, IPTV, VAS) services? How will market forces play out for telcos, between pressure from Internet services and changing patterns in calling markets? What are telcos' main strategic options for tackling changing consumption patterns and shifting competitive balances? Market data for 2010-2020 for each of the countries examined - France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the UK, the United States Subscribers - Penetration rates - Revenue Key Topics Covered: - Executive SummaryMethodology- Long term developments in consumers' telecom habits and in the industry as a whole. n
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With a new look and feel, wi-tribe is all set to transform the lives of its customers, witribe aims to follow a more personalized, community-oriented and warmer approach to attract greater customer affinity
elebrating its second year of successful operations in Pakistan, witribe unveiled the re-launch of its brand with a new identity and a refreshed brand concept. The re-branding initiative moves away from wi-tribes previous tagline online with no line to create your own world, promising a deeper, more profound consumer relationship by providing a more exciting experience from Pakistans no.1 broadband company. With a new look and feel, wi-tribe reaffirms its commitment to transform the lives of its customers by offering not just a product but a novel combination of converged products and services. Established in June 2009, wi-tribe Pakistan quickly gained consumer trust and became the fastest growing broadband service provider in the country. wi-tribe is synonymous with fun and innovation by making internet surfing more enjoyable. Taking its vision forward, wi-tribe aims to follow a more personalized, communityoriented and warmer approach to attract greater customer affinity.
Mustafa Peracha - CEO witribe
leaders, and live streaming facilities, ensuring consumers can continue to expect a host of amazing surprises from wi-tribe. As a celebratory token for its second year of operations, wi-tribe is offering double volume to all new and existing customers throughout the month of June, absolutely free. n
Speaking on the occasion, CEO, wi-tribe Pakistan, Mustafa Peracha said, wi-tribe believes in exceeding customer expectations. Our focus is on continuous progress. Following this thought, we have come up with a fresh brand identity to better reflect the expanding set of services that we aim to bring to Pakistani customers. In doing so, wi-tribe will add the kind of zest in their lives, empowering them to enjoy greater value and satisfaction. We hope to enrich our customers internet experience; giving them the freedom to create their own world and explore endless possibilities. In line with its brand re-invention, wi-tribe continues venturing into new initiatives such as products and services for consumers and enterprises, addons for all kinds of users, software-as-a-service, partnerships with industry
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Chairman, PTA, Muhammad Yaseen is briefed by CEO Mobilink Rashid Khan, Vice President Customer Care, Mobilink, Irfan Ikram during his visit to Mobilink customer care centre in Lahore.
CEO Ufone Abdul Aziz handing over the Man of the Match award to Muhammad Nabi of the Afghan national cricket team.
Amer Khan, Country Manager, Etihad Airways Pakistan, Mr Taimor, Head of Cards and Mr Hamid Mirza, Head of Marketing, Bank Alfalah giving aways pirze to Mrs Sohail Qureshi in Lahore.
Islamabad: President Asif Ali Zardari and PM Yusuf Raza Gilani in a group photo with children who performed during celebrations at the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Pakistan and China.
Chairman PTA visiting Telenor customer service centre in Rawalpindi.
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Mr.Zulqarnain Chaudhry Asst.Director Sales & Marketing Savoey Hotel Lahore photographed with GTZ group stayed in Hotel. Mr. Zeeshan Manager Sales & Marketing also present in the picture.
Vice President FPCCI Khalid Tawab and Chairman Coordination, FPCCI Raza Khan discussing on economic issues in Islamabad.
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USF awards 12 contracts with Rs.6.3b subsidy

Islamabad: Universal Service Fund (USF) has so far awarded 12 contracts with subsidy of Rs. 6.3 billion to provide modern broadband services in the unserved areas of the country. Under the programme, launched to ensure 0.44 million broadband connections, around 0.2 million connections have been provided to improving its penetration in the areas which are un-served from the broadband perspective. A senior official at USF informed that an amount of Rs. 1.06 billion has so far been disbursed as subsidy, saying special emphasis is being paid to educational institutions, whereby the subsidy winners are required to setup Computer Labs (Educational Broadband Centres) with Broadband in ultimately 2,000 higher secondary schools and colleges. Contracts have been awarded for 1,173 such centres out of which around 800 centres have been established in their respective areas. Similarly, the official said of the contracted 345 Community Broadband Centers, USF has also successfully established around 227 such centres for people who cannot afford computers. The broadband programme is also giving boost to provision of other eservices like e-health, e-government, e-commerce etc, he said, adding that through these projects broadband services have started in around 240 cities and towns. n
Wateen Telecom gets Cisco Gold Certification

Islamabad: Wateen Telecom announced that it has successfully recertified for Cisco Gold Certification. To earn Gold Certification, Wateen Telecom had to meet rigorous standards set forth by Cisco in networking competency, service, support and customer satisfaction. Mr. Naeem Zamindar, CEO Wateen Telecom, has said, Pakistans growing IT industry has evolving needs for tackling day-to-day operational issues of data processing, logistics, availabilities etc. Wateens partnership with Cisco enables organizations to benefit from a team of certified professionals who help them develop the right technology solutions for their organizations ICT needs. Our partnership model with Cisco focuses on optimising availability and ease of transacting business.
Pakistani cellular market reach 107.9 million

Islamabad: According to Pakistan Telecommunication Authoritys latest statistics, the cellular subscribers reached to the mark of 107,886,440 in Pakistan at the end of April 2011, PTA recently released. This increment proportionally increases the teledensity up to 64.8 percent in the country. Zong topped the charts in previous two months by adding more than 1.2 million subscribers in March and April 2011. With this Zong crossed a milestone of 10 million cellular subscribers in the country, followed by Telenor, which added 309,592 new subscribers. Warid captured the 3rd place by adding 280,850 new users. In terms of total number of subscribers, Mobilink had maintained a significant lead with almost 32,964,307 subscribers, while Telenor maintained the 2nd spot with 26,062,892 subscribers by the end of April 2011. Ufone with 20,434, 159, Warid with 18,087,072 and Zong with 10,338,010 cellular users maintained their 3rd, 4th and 5th place respectively. n
PTA deposits Rs 13.56bn in national exchequer

Islamabad: Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has deposited Rs. 13.56 billion in the FY 2009-10 to the national exchequer while telecom sector contributed Rs. 109.05 billion in the form of taxes. According to the Quarterly Report 2011 issued by PTA, the contribution of telecom sector to national exchequer through taxes, duties and regulatory charges kept growing. At the end of FY2010, the total contribution was over Rs. 109 billion of which almost 50percent came from GST. In the first half of the FY2011, the total contribution to national exchequer was Rs. 56.3 billion which was almost Rs. 49 billion in the first half of FY2010 showing growth of 15 percent since last year. Only in the 1st half of FY 2010-11, total GST collection is Rs. 23 billion which was Rs. 21 billion in the same period of FY 2010. The Activation Tax contribution to national exchequer stands at Rs. 3 billion at the end of 1st half of FY2010-11 which was Rs. 4 billion in the same period last year. The total teledensity growth kept oscillating between highs and lows till the end of year. Total teledensity including mobile, fixed and WLL services stood at 65.2 percent. Total teledensity of the country grew by more than 2.67 percent in the last one year. Telecom regulator continued to facilitate the sector in regulatory issues and maintaining competition in the sector. In this regard, PTA has taken many initiatives and launches National Rabta Information Portal, survey to check power level of mobile Towers, billing verification of Mobile Operators, Curbing the menace of illegal Traffic, introduced online complaint Management System, and other Consumer friendly initiatives taken by PTA. n
PTCL offers Volumetric with IP Bandwidth

Islamabad: Pakistan Telecommunication Company Ltd (PTCL) Carrier Services & Wholesale wing has announced for its carrier and whole sale customers the most flexible Volumetric IP Bandwidth Service. PTCL Volumetric IP Bandwidth service on volumetric usage billing offers flexibility to carriers to manage and control their service requirements and billing with prioritized IP bandwidth provisioning. IP Bandwidth available on Ethernet interfaces, flexibility to control the IP bandwidth utilization by the customer, improved quality of service carrier, transparency with 24/7 on-line access of usage data for carrier customers are some of the features of this service. EVP Jamshed Masood, Wholesale & Carrier Serivce PTCL has said, Understanding the pressing needs of technology oriented era, PTCL has introduced a number of initiatives that are beneficial to our carrier serv-
As a Cisco Gold Certified Partner Wateen Telecom has met the requirements for attaining the broadest range of expertise across multiple technologies by achieving Cisco advanced specializations in unified communications, routing and switching, security, and wireless LAN. In addition, Wateen Telecom has integrated Cisco Lifecycle Services into its offerings and is required to maintain high levels of customer satisfaction. Cisco Gold Certification provides Wateen Telecom with access to comprehensive sales, technical, and lifecycle services training and support available from Cisco. n
Pakistani software engineer joins hands with Google

Islamabad: Pakistan won another feather in her cap when a young Internet marketing professional from federal metropolis Mudassar Saeed Khan became the first certified Google Advertising partner in Pakistan. The distinction has been earned in the field of Information Technology and E-Commerce by Mudasser S a e e d Khan as Googles first certified advertising partner in Pakistan. This specialized status gives an individual or company international recognition and demonstrates in-depth knowledge and command over using Googles advertising platform Adwords. Mudassar further revealed that local online advertising spending will serve both the companies, consumer and advertising. The online business especially on search engines will definitely get a boom and local companies will also divert their attention on this genre of advertising. n
Etihad to fly to Seychelles

Lahore: Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, has announced it will commence operations to Mahe in the Republic of Seychelles on November 1, subject to government approval. Etihad will operate four return services per week from Abu Dhabi to Seychelles International Airport in Mahe, operating Airbus A320 aircraft on the route. James Hogan, Etihad Airways Chief Executive Officer, said: The Seychelles has strong and growing appeal as a premium leisure destination, with increasing numbers of global travellers holidaying there. n
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ices and wholesale partnerships. SEVP Business Development Hamid Farooq while introducing the Volumetric IP Bandwidth service stated that Carrier Services &Wholesale wing is a one window facility in PTCL that addresses carrier and wholesale customers infrastructure and service requirements. He further stated that, for the inter-operator segment PTCLs endeavor has been to improve customer satisfaction by faster fulfillment and implementation of the services and offering innovative solutions. n
Fr e e d o w nl oad | fl ar e. pk
National
Synopsis
PTA is constantly monitoring SIM issue

Islamabad : Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has said that in view to facilitate mobile phone users PTA is continuously monitoring re-verification process of mobile phone users data. It has directed mobile operators to ensure facilitation of consumers at their Customer Service Centres (CSCs) who are approaching for correction of their connection details. For the convenience of mobile phone consumers CSCs are making all efforts to facilitate the consumers. It may be added that in a comprehensive effort to register the SIMs against CNICs of the actual users, PTA has initiated intelligent blocking from May 18th 2011 where 0.875 million left over targeted mobile connections has been blocked as a first batch. During the intelligent blocking a particular SIM/connection shall only be allowed to call 789 for re-verification of users antecedents. The 789 system is an automated real time verification system where a customer has to approach Call Center of the concerned mobile company by dialing short code 789 and re-register & verify his antecedents through NADRAs database by answering mandatory secret questions i.e. mothers name and place of birth so as to activate non-active SIM. The call making facility of these SIMs has been stopped and they can only dial helpline 789. n
Qubee offers additional 2 GBs

Islamabad: Qubee is offering its customers 2 GB of extra volume, if they pay their bills before the due date, which is usually the 10th of every month. This is a good incentive to push your customers to pay their bills, before the time. How it works, all bills are to be paid by the due date which is 10th of every month as mentioned on the bill. Any volume consumed more than 2 GB of the limit granted will be charged as out of bundle at the end of the month. The extra volume offer is not valid on unlimited packages. This offer is not valid with any other promotions. n for last 7-8 years and I am extremely happy that Mobilink is re-
Samsung launches Dharak Dharak Dual SIM phone

Lahore: Samsung has introduced the low-end dual SIM phone Dharak Dharak Dual SIM Phone. Samsungs this Dharak Dharak Dual SIM is actually Samsung E2232, that comes with dual SIM support (obviously), a VGA camera, flash light and of course the bluetooth.
Jazz customers win gold coins

Islamabad: Mobilink has always followed the tradition of providing fabulous reward offers and innovative value added services to its customers. Recently, Jazz launched an attractive and rewarding Chota Bundle Offer for Jazz customers. The Chota Bundle offers 7 minutes of talk time and 30 SMS per day to all Jazz customers. The exciting part is that all those Jazz customers who subscribe to this offer could get a chance to win 10 grams of gold. Mobilink Jazz announced as many as 30 lucky Jazz customers across Pakistan who won 10 grams of gold each. Special prize distribution ceremonies conducted in
Samsung made a very dancing TVC for Dharak Dharak Phone, starring Noor and Babrik Shah, apparently to target the youth. n
PIA re-launches Air Safari service to Himalayas

Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad to present all these winners with 10 grams of gold each. At the prize distribution ceremony held in Islamabad, one of the lucky winner Mrs. Abid Rana expressed:I have been using Jazz warding its loyal customers with such amazing prizes. When I found out that I have won the gold coin, I was ecstatic! I am definitely going to continue participating in Mobilink campaigns in future too. n LAHORE: Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) successfully re-launched its Air Safari Flight after a period of more than six years. The Air Safari flight to the Himalayas provides an awesome opportunity to visit the Roof of the World, where majestic peaks of K2, Nanga Parbat, and the world famous Concordia and Baltoro glacier can be viewed from the comfort of B737 Aircraft. The flight originates from Islamabad and returns back to Islamabad after 0140 minutes. Air Safari to the roof of the world offers great opportunities to the tourists to have a bird eye view of Pakistans northern paradise and is an ideal platform for the promotion of tourism in Pakistan. On this occasion, Managing Director PIA, Nadeem Khan Yousafzai said and hoped that this safari service will attract tourists from abroad which will promote tourism in the country. It will be pertinent to mention here that PIA is the first airline in the world to start Air Safari with jet aircraft. The Air Safari flight was fully booked by the members of the diplomatic community based in Islamabad, who were extremely excited on the re-launch on Charter basis of the Air Safari flight. The joy of the passengers was beyond words on completion of the flight concluded PIA spokesperson. n
Ufone offers 3000 free Telecom import declines Rs283.666 mn allocated by 3.2 pc for Telecom sector SMS, 3000 mints
Islamabad: Ufone is offering its customers with thousands of free minutes and free SMS, who have not used their Ufone SIMs since May 1st, 2011. How to get free minutes and SMS, just put your Ufone SIM back if you have not used it since May 1st 2011. To check your free SMS send free to 234 get thousands of SMS by recharge with just Rs. 50 worth of balance and you will get thousands of free minutes and SMS absolutely free. Islamabad: Telecom imports of country are showing negative trend and declined about 3.2 percent in quarter ending Dec 2010, mainly due to decline in cellular mobile handsets. However, the other equipments imports increased in the same quarter by about 11.3 percent, according to Pakistan Telecom Authority (PTA). Total imports of $ 388 million were recorded in first half of the FY 2010-11, as compared to $ 329 million in the same period of FY 200910. Official figures revealed that first two quarters of FY 2010-11 in comparison with previous two quarters revealed that the industry imported other telecom apparatus worth of $ 300 million during July-Dec 10 of the FY 2010-11 whereas it was $ 259 million in the same period of FY 200910. n Islamabad: An amount of Rs. 283.666 million has been allocated for on-going and new schemes of the
Thats it. You will then get 1,000 free minutes from Ufone to Ufone and 1,000 Free SMS to any network for one whole month. To top that, for the next 2 months, upon usage of Rs. 100 balance you will further get up to 2,000 minutes from Ufone to Ufone and up to 2,000 SMS to any network.n
Telecom sector in the Public Sector Development Program (PSDP) for the fiscal year 2011-12. Some Rs268.666 million have been allocated for ongoing projects and Rs15million allocated for two new schemes introduced in the Telecom sector. Under new schemes Rs5million were earmarked for relocation of SCOs Telecom Assets due to up-gradation of Karakoram Highway and Rs10 million allocated for the construction of Cross-Border Optical Fiber Cable (OFC) System between China and Pakistan for international connectivity of voice / data traffic. n
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Synopsis
National
Chairman PTA inspects call centres

Islamabad: Chairman Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) Dr. Mohammed Yaseen visited Ufone Call Centre located at Sector I-9 Islamabad and Telenor Customer Service Centre, Maal Road Rawalpindi to check the various services offered to the consumers by the operators. the procedure of new SIM activation and verification. On this occasion, Chairman interacted with mobile users present at the Telenor CSC for the correction of their SIMs data and other services. He also enquired about the electronic re-verification process from the customers. It is also important to mention here that for the best interest of consumers, PTA has made the service of 668 free of charge where consumer can know the count of SIMs of each mobile company registered against his CNIC by sending his CNIC number to 668 through SMS. Purpose of initiating blocking that too in phased manner is to assist mobile users with one more chance to correct the antecedents of their mobile connections. A web-link on PTA website is also available for the assistance of customers in this regard. n
PTCL to invest Rs 16 billion in five years

Islamabad: Pakistan Telecommunications Company (PTCL), would invest about Rs. 16 billion in telecommunications sector in next five years in Pakistan, this was stated by the President and CEO PTCL Walid Irshad. Addressing a luncheon meeting at Korangi Association of Trade and Industry (KATI), Irshad said that PTCL is going to introduce super-speed internet very soon in Pakistan and it would be started from Korangi Industrial Area. The era of conventional telephone exchanges is now over and most modern exchanges would now be installed in Pakistan. PTCL is not being run just as Phone Company but as an investment-oriented company which is striving hard to introduce most modern telecommunications services, he said. He said that first ever new generation telephone exchange would be introduced in Karachi. He said that PTCL has already minimized the subscribers complaints and with the introduction of new services and new generation telephone exchanges, the complaints would become nil. n
Ufone selects for Asia Communications Awards 2011

Islamabad: Ufones Priority Service Initiative has been shortlisted for the CSI-Customer Service Initiative at the Asia Communication Awards 2011. It is a moment of great pride and honour that only five telecom companies across Asia have been shortlisted to receive this award, Ufone being the only operator from Pakistan is a great achievement for the Nation. This prestige follows the nomination of Ufones CEO Mr. Abdul Aziz who has been nominated for the Best CEO Award by the Asia Communications Award committee of 2011. With all the hardships being faced by Pakistanis nowadays, such news provides a bit of fresh reprieve and gives people a reason to believe in a better and progressive future. The entire concept of priority services grew by challenging the traditional customer service approach where customers approach the organization. The aim of priority services at Ufone is to approach customers and provide services at their preferred time, place and mode. Commenting on this auspicious occasion, Mr. Abdul Aziz, CEO Ufone said, At Ufone its all about our valued customers and our team strives to provide the best services in the country. We are very proud of the fact that a telecom company from Pakistan has been shortlisted for this auspicious award and we should all be supremely proud of this achievement. It is our aim and promise to the customer that Ufone will continue to provide the most innovative and customer friendly services in the country. n
Islamabad: Chairman PTA, Dr Mohammad Yaseen visits Ufone call center CEO, Ufone Abdul Aziz also present.
During the visit, he enquired about electronic re-verification 668 system functioning and about the consumers satisfaction level during
CIIT to start engineering classes

Islamabad: Comsats Institute of Information Technology (CIIT) hasdecided to launch Electrical Engineering classes, following the formal approval of Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC). A new academic block, for this purpose, is under construction which would have state of the art laboratories, a sports complex and all the other required facilities, said Director of CIIT Air Commodore (R) Sherzada Khan while talking to journalists. Sherzada said the new academic block would have well-equipped laboratories, a library and common rooms. He said it was an honor for CIIT that PEC team in its first visit gave approval for starting engineering classes. Talking about the faculty of the CIIT Sherzada said recently eight PhD scholars had been inducted while soon more Phd scholars would join the institute. He said quality of education would never be compromised at any cost and maximum facilities would be provided to the students who were the future of the country. He said CIIT Attock was number 6 in the ranking of HEC which was anhonor for the university. Apprising about the facilities being provided to the intelligent and deserving students by the institute the director said fee concession from 25 per cent to 100 per cent was being given as per rules. The director said separate hostels were available for girls and boys students where all basic facilities werebeing provided to the students. n
PTCL offers video phone service

Islamabad: Pakistan Telecommunication Company Ltd (PTCL) has introduced another exciting and futuristic product, Video Con, the first of its kind video phone, for both its existing and potential customers. PTCL Video Phone is an efficient communication tool and in quality it is far beyond web cam or other similar communication technologies. Video Con heralds a new era of communication that offers the enhanced experience of video calls, improved lifestyle and enhance security. Naveed Saeed SEVP Commercial PTCL at the occasion of the launch said, PTCL always tries to provide best services and products for its customers and this launch will be a high value add in the lives of our customers. He added that PTCL has always introduced technologies that provide our customers with the best and most affordable services. Aasif Inam EVP Wire line, PTCL said, This new video phone service will reinforce PTCL image as the customer oriented organization and it is
PEMRA issues notices to 4 TV channels

Islamabad: Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) issued notices to Dawn News, News One and Dunya News for being irresponsible and provoking anti-national sentiments among viewers by sensitizing events unnecessarily. According to a PEMRA press release, some of the talk shows and programmes of these channels were observed in violation of Section 20 of PEMRA Ordinance 2002 read with Rule 15 of PEMRA Rules 2009 and clause (1) (d) (g) (h) of Code of Conduct set out in the Schedule-B of PEMRA Rules 2009. After the PNS Mehran tragedy, it was being observed that some news channels were not realizing their journalistic responsibility and ethics towards society, institutions and country. Some news channels even went overboard in maligning role of security agencies, armed forces and state institutions. No responsible media anywhere in the world undermines the repute, respect sovereignty or integrity of its nation, institutions or its forces or pass aspersions against them. Instead, media in the world safeguard their national and strategic interests. Media in Pakistan has been given enormous freedom of expression and speech but there must be some line drawn between desirable and undesirable by media at their own. n
PEMRA raids cable operators in Gilgit

Gilgit: A joint team of Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) Islamabad and GilgitBaltistan has confiscated equipments, including receivers and modulators, from offices of cable operators in Ghizar and Gilgit district. The raid was reportedly conducted on complaints of citizens who blamed the cable operators of spreading antiIslam and anti-society propaganda through regional cable networks. A PEMRA official alleged that the cable operators were following a foreign agenda of creating anarchy in the region, by spreading hatred towards a specific ethnic group. We had warned them in writing more than three times in the past not to run banned channels but they opted to ignore us, said a PEMRA official in Gilgit. n
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our top priority to facilitate our customers to the maximum. Keeping in mind the needs of customers PTCL plans to continue introducing new products and services that enhance the quality of life of our customers.n
Fr e e d o w nl oad | fl ar e. pk
National
Synopsis
Pakistan to strengthen ties with Argentina

Islamabad: Argentine Ambassador Rodolfo J Martin Saravia called on Federal Minister for Science and Technology Mir Changez Khan Jamali. They discussed various agreements and proposals agreed upon during federal ministers visit to Argentina from May 16-18, 2011 to attend the second meeting of the Pakistan-Argentina Joint Committee on Science and Technology (JCST) which was held under the framework of Pakistan Argentina Agreement on Scientific and Technological Cooperation (1983). During the visit an executive protocol on cooperation between the ministries of science and technology of Pakistan and Argentina was also signed. During the course of the meeting, Jamali highlighted the developments taking place in Pakistan in the sector of science and technology and areas where Pakistan was interested in joint ventures with Argentina. The two sides emphasised on the importance of areas of mutual interests for the benefit of the people of the two countries and on following the decisions already taken. Ministry of Science and Technology Secretary Irfan Nadeem was also present on the occasion. n
PTCL launches IPv6 following the Global trends

Islamabad: Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (LTD) has successfully deployed Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) to provide large address space to its valued broadband customers. Internet Protocol Version 6, deals with the IPv4 address exhaustion as IPv6 uses 128-bit addresses, and supports 2128 (340,282,366,920,938,463,463,374,6 07,431,768,211,456) addresses. It can be installed as a normal software upgrade in internet devices and is interoperable having backward compatibility with IP4 applications and devices.IPv6 deployment strategy is designed not to have any flag days or other dependencies and to run well on high performance networks.Having a probability of affecting only a few portals that too for a few hours with out having any kind of outrage over all and at the same time still be efficient for low bandwidth networks. In addition, it provides a platform for new internet functionality that will be required in the near future. This new globally launched service and PTCL adaption to it will reinforce PTCL image as the customer oriented organization and secure networks will be easier to build and deploy in an IPv6 world along with Quality of Service. n
Samsung puts smart TV in the palm of your hand

Lahore: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., a market leader and awardwinning innovator in consumer electronics has introduced their latest convenience for their customers, the Samsung Smart View application. This new application enables users to view images from a Samsung Smart TV or other input device right on their mobile devices. Available now for the Samsung Galaxy S2 Android smart phone, the free Smart View application displays Smart TV images right onto mobile devices via wireless Ethernet whether consumers are enjoying cable broadcast programs or content from a Blu-ray player, camcorder, set-top box or other input device. In addition, users can browse any currently installed Smart TV applications from their mobile devices, bringing even more functionality and convenience to the Samsung Apps experience. The company has once again strengthened convergence between Smart TV and mobile devices through this latest Smart View app offering. Samsung Smart TV is leading the smart revolution not only with the features of Smart TV itselfsuch as rich content, 2D and 3D picture quality, smart functions and designbut also with input devices using our Qwerty smart remote control, the Samsung Remote app, and now with Smart View, said Hee Chang Yee, MD Samsung Electronics Pakistan. The distinctive functionality of Samsung Smart TVs will continue to deliver the most convenient TV watching experience to consumersenabling them to truly enjoy a smarter life.
PM inspects educational broadband centre established by PTCL

Multan: Prime Minister Pakistan Syed yousaf Raza Gillani in his recent visit to Multan visited and inspected the educational Broadband centre established by Pakistan telecommunication company Limited (PTCL) in partnership with universal service Fund (USF) at jalalpur Pirwala. Federal secretary Information and technology Saeed Ahmad khan, Additional secretary IT Nadeem Ashraf, General Manager USF Asif Kamal, Regional general manager PTCL Multan Shakeel Ahmad were also present at the occasion. PTCL in partnership with USF has taken initiatives for the establishment of 206 educational Broadband centers for facilitation of DSL service to the Educational institutes and 61 community Broad band centers to facilitate the Public of rural areas in Multan telecom region. With the establishment of Educational broadband centers and community Broad Band centers not only the awareness regarding information technology will rise in the rural areas of southern Punjab but along with it; it's going to be a new developmental start for the whole area. n
Djuice presents to create apps to win Pads & Smartphones

Lahore: Djuice will help publish your submitted apps on Nokia OVi, Apple AppStore, Android Marketplace, etc. This will promote your app globally via App stores, if published. And depending on the maximum number of downloads, developers will be given following prizes: All Nokia, Apple, Samsung and Android developers have got this opportunity to show their talent and win prizes. If you are a mobile phone application developer and are looking forward to win an iPad or smartphone, here is your chance. n
ISPR warns masses for illegal use of SIMs

Rawalpindi: Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) holds an important position in army and it is working very hard for making good and sincere relationship of army with common public. ISPRs work is not just to analyze the situation and inform army about various happenings but it also works for public and for countrys interest. ISPR has warned the public not to use illegal SIMs and now the terrorists can use certain mobile codes or can send SMS that may cause certain explosions. ISPR said that if you receive any SMS that forces you to dial *90 or *09, you should avoid and delete the SMS. Dont let any other person to dial these codes from your cell phone. For you these might be the codes but for terrorists these codes can be very helpful in doing any terrorist activity like explosion of bomb. Apart from this, the terrorists can take control of SIMs from where the following codes are being dialed. Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) especially warned ladies to please dont involve in any kind of mobile phone related acts that are from an anonymous source. It might get you in major trouble. n
Zong introduces Accidental Life Insurance

Islamabad: Zong has introduced Pakistans first Accidental Life Insurance via mobile phone in collaboration of Adamjee Life Insurance Company. Easy to subscribe for Zong Insurance and no documentation involved in it. Zong is a trend-setter telecom company and Adamjee Life is a leading insurance company in Pakistan with over 35 percent market share. Three different insurance plans are available. There is no need to make any insurance premium deposits as the daily deduction will be automatically made from your mobile phone balance according to the Insurance
FBR monitors citizens data

Islamabad: Federal Board of Revenues online NTN verification system is alarmingly offering an open opportunity to spammers, marketing agents, advertising agencies and general public to grab personal and sensitive information of any taxpayer. All you need to have is just the CNIC number of any individual to get the sensitive information about his business, home address, business address, bank accounts, attorneys, business managers/directors and much more. FBRs this privacy nightmare is exposing all taxpayers to those who can easily misuse this extremely private information for their illicit acts. n
plan. Any Zong customer of age 18-59 years with a valid CNIC can subscribe for this offer. Zong connection should be registered with the name and ID card of the beneficiary. n
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Synopsis
National
Fr e e d o w n l o a d | fl a re. pk
ZONG gets 10 million subscribers

Islamabad: According to Pakistan Telecommunication Authoritys statistics ZONG has enormously widened its subscriber base during the period of Jan April 2011, taking 36 percent of the new subscribers of telecom users in Pakistan. Zong has achieved the milestone of 10 million subscribers, while adding highest number of subscribers to its network in ongoing fiscal year and year-todate intervals. ZONG, the fastest growing network of Pakistan, has successfully added 3.1 million subscribers in its base during first three quarter of fiscal year 2010 2011 and has shown highest growth in users number among all telecom operators. ZONGs reach now stretches from the mountain tops of Ishkoman in Gilgit-Baltistan to the rocky plains of Buleda in Balochistan covering more than 10,000 cities, towns and villages across Pakistan. ZONG has shown tremendous growth in the telecom sector. The telecom company has acquired 2.26 million subscribers till May 2011 taking the lead in overall percentage of the year-to-date net additions. We are really pleased with the response that we have received from our subscribers especially from the youth. Our network has proven to be reliable for our subscribers and the most popular one especially when it comes to data and internet connectivity. said Salman Wassay, Head of Marketing, ZONG. Among all the Chinese investments in Pakistan, China Mobile is the biggest investor in Pakistan. The telecom giant has invested $ 1.72 billion in Pakistan so far and is also planning to expand its operations further in near future. n
Progress in science PAC concerned over ensures prosperity PTA's performance Islamabad: Science and technology may facilitate the achievement of Millennium Development Goals through sustained and enhanced economic growth; provide employment opportunities; enhance market efficiency; tackle population growth issues; climate change and environmental degradation. These views were expressed by Prof Dr Atta-ur-Rahman, UNESCO Science Laureate/Coordinator General, COMSTECH/President, Pakistan Academy of Sciences, during the inaugural session of the First Marketing and Branding Summit held in Karachi. The moot was organised by Memon Professional Forum and Nutshell Forum in collaboration with Marketing Association of Pakistan and Pakistan Software Houses Association, titled 'Driving growth in the digital age-challenges and opportunities'. Dr Atta-ur-Rahman said: "Effective science and technology policies are crucial and central to the development prospects of Pakistan in two distinct yet interconnected ways. First, science and technology can provide tools that help alleviate the specific problems that afflict our nation and impede their development prospects, such as disease, lack of infrastructure (energy, information, transport, etc.), and degradation of the environment. Second, science and technology are central to the dynamics of economic development itself." Taher A Khan, Chairman, Interflow Group presented his views on 'Driving growth in the digital age challenges & opportunities', while Syed Veqar-ul-Islam, Head of SubRegion-Middle East Africa East, Nokia Siemens Networks, shared his thoughts on 'Emerging opportunities in the era of social media & global competition'. n Islamabad: Expressing concern over the performance of PTA, the Monitoring and Implementation Committee of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) ordered special audit of the authority. The PAC body, which met recently with convener of the committee MNA Yasmeen Rehman in the chair, was briefed about the PTA Board by Chairman of Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) Muhammad Yasin. The Committee was informed that the Member Technical and Finance, who was the chairman of PTA Board, was under suspension because of an inquiry underway against him. On this the Committee opined that since the board's constitution was incomplete, the decisions taken by it would be null and void. Yasmin Rehman said that if the board issue was resolved, the Committee may recommend its restructuring. The audit officials informed the Committee that the PTA had not issued any notice to the defaulters from 2005 till last year. It issued all notices for recovery in 2010. They further also informed the Committee that Rs. 44 billion were payable to the PTA by the telecom companies. The PTA Chairman told the Committee that Insta Phone owed Rs 21 billion to authority but the audit officials said that the PTA filed recovery petition after 10 months even the decision of Supreme Court was in its favour. n
LHC seeks report from govt on plea to ban "Facebook"

Lahore: The Lahore High Court sought a report and parawise comments from the federal government and the ministry of Information Technology within three weeks on petition seeking permanent ban on access to social networking website Facebook. Justice Sh. Azmat Saeed directed Deputy Attorney General Zia-ulQamar Bhatti to do the needful before next date of hearing. The court passed the order on the petition filed by Mohammad and Ahmad, a public interest litigation firm, through its chairman Mohammad Azhar Siddique requesting permanent ban on access to social networking website Facebook, for its plans to holding a fresh blasphemous contest on May 20. The petitioner-counsel pleaded the court in his petition that due to holding of fresh competition, SHO Civil Lines Police Station be directed to register a criminal case under Section 295-C and other relevant provisions of Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) against the perpetrators. n
Ufone introduces Bay-Hisaab offer
PTCL boots its VSAT link

Islamabad: Pakistan Telecommunication Company limited is on the forefront whenever there is something innovative and new in the telecom industry. PTCL take cares of its consumers and provide them with the services that gives ease to their lives with satisfaction. Recently PTCL has enhanced its VSAT Skyline Satellite communication service that is a very small setup of satellite communication and this service can be used for domestic and international communication applications. The Skylink satellite communication really provides the great services for the applications connectivity domestically and internationally (TDMA/DVB-S2). It provides solution to various enterprises. The satellite service is point to point or you can it is point to multipoint. The bandwidths of the service are from 64kbs or lower to 2Mbps or higher. Naveed Saeed, SEVP commercial, PTCL said that this service will really help consumers around all over Pakistan it will boost the communication process and simultaneously the improvements in businesses will also be seen. He also said that the enhancement in satellite service will build good relationship with customers. n
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Islamabad: Ufone the youth brand of Pakistan and one the most innovative operator is offering a daily bundle of 20 on-net minutes with 500 SMS per day. Ufone gave the youth of Islamabad: Qubee offers its cusPakistan only at flat daily subscription tomers 2 GB of extra volume, if they charges of Rs. 15.99 plus tax. pay their bills before the due date, which is usually the 10th of every month. This is a good incentive to push your customers to pay their bills, before the time. All bills are to be paid by the due date which is 10th of every month as mentioned on the bill. Any volume consumed more than 2 GB of the limit By activating this offer users will granted will be charged as out of bunget 20 on-net minutes daily. While dle at the end of the month. The extra 500 SMS to all networks per day. For volume offer is not valid on unlimited subscription write Sub and send it packages. This offer is not valid with to 704 Or dial 710 for more deany other promotions. n tails. n
Qubee offers extra 2 GBs
Fr e e d o w nload | f l ar e. pk
National
Synopsis
Pakistans First International Social Media Summit

Karachi: The Pakistans first international social media summit has been held in Karachi in which various people from country and also from abroad took part in and discussed the emerging role of social media in ones life. The summit was organized by the US Consulate in Karachi. There are several people who specially came from abroad just for participating in this summit the names of these people are Mohamed El Dahshan (Egypt), Hanny Kusumawati and Anandita Puspitasari (Indonesia), Rebecca Chiao (Egypt), Ong Hock Chuan (Malaysia), Claire Diaz Ortiz (US) and Karim Osman (Netherlands) few bloggers virtually attended this summit through Skype. US Consul General in Karachi William Martin said, There are over even at the most conservative estimates roughly 20 million Pakistanis are online equivalent to the population of 4 Singapores. Pakistan has a lively, active blogging community, where over 3 million citizen-journalists can freely report on and discuss any topic. During the last years floods, I saw the social media network shining the light on this situation and many others. The social media really does create a global village and it is an honor to be here with so many distinguished citizens. I am struck by the talent, the imagination and the commitment I see. You all validate, you all energize my enthusiasm, my optimism for this great nation Pakistan. From where I stand, the future looks bright. I see leaders and visionaries that will help realize the vast potential of the Pakistani people.
AAG brings Prodea solutions to telecommunication market

Islamabad: Akbar Associates Group announced that it has entered into a definitive distribution agreement with Plano, TX based Prodea Systems, Inc. to deploy Prodeas market leading broadband valueadded services platform in the Pakistan marketplace. Akbar Associates Group is extremely excited about the opportunity to bring Prodeas solution to the Pakistan telecommunications market, commented Jamal Akbar Ansari, Group Chief Executive of Akbar Associates Group. Prodeas is the first solution we have found to be uniquely designed for service providers focused on making the broadband connected home a reality for the mass market. Our service provider clients and their subscribers will soon benefit from an unparalleled suite of entertainment, communications, and lifestyle services, all delivered over a basic internet connection. We are honored to work with Akbar Associates Group in bringing our connected home solution to the Pakistan market, said Anousheh Ansari, CEO of Prodea Systems. AAGs strong reputation and history with telecommunications providers make them the ideal partner for us as we jointly deliver a turnkey service and technology offering through service providers in Pakistan. Akbar Associates Groups associated company KHL has extensive experience in providing the turnkey infrastructure, which brings high speed Internet to the people of Pakistan, as with the recently announced PTCL Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) Project. Mr. Ansari of Akbar Associates added, By combining our existing core competencies in building highspeed broadband networks with Prodeas digital lifestyle service offerings, we now are able to not only provide increased access to high quality Internet connections, but also bring the compelling content and applications that make these Internet connections entertaining, productive and relevant in peoples lives. n
Qubee join hands with Telenor, easypaisa

Islamabad: Qubee has introduced nationwide bill payment solution for its customers through 12,000 easypaisa outlets in country. Chief Marketing Officer of Qubee, Mr. Hashim Sheikh said, Customer convenience has been the prime focus of Qubee and we would continue to enhance the realm of services for our cus4 million Facebook users here while the US Consulate Karachis Facebook page has over 30,000 fans. The per capita internet-access rate in Pakistan is between 10 percent and 15 percent of the total population more than double that of India and The summit was well organized and it has really boosted the social media journalists and in future these kinds of summits will boost the youth of Pakistan. The people who Peshawar: The Khyber Pakcame from abroad have also shared thunkhwa Government has decided their views. n to set up leather industry in Charsadda to encourage local artisans and shoe manufacturers to enhance their income level. Charsadda is famous for shoemaking as a large them is customer care practice. number of local artisans are associPresident and CEO of Mobilink, ated with leather industry that needs Rashid Khan said, as a company that to be encouraged on modern lines to has always put the consumer first, we take full advantage of their potenunderstand the importance of facili- tial, an official of Industry Departtating the customer at every point of ment said. contact. We support PTAs initiative He said interest free loans would and have taken all necessary steps to also be given to shoemakers to boost ensure the facilitation of the cusup leather industry in the province. tomers in the process. He said that common facility centres During the process of verification would be set up in Charsadda for edof SIMs till now about 16.2 million unverified SIMs got blocked. Apart ucation and technical training to artifrom this, around 0.544 million were sans to promote leather industry. The reactivated by calling 789. The cam- official said Sarhad Development Aupaign of SIMs data verification is very thority (SDA) would setup new ineffective and it will greatly reduce the dustrial estates and economic zones illegal use of SIMs, the crime rate will and will complete granite zonein Manshera district for revival of inalso be reduced through it. n tomers besides providing them best internet services. He said Qubees new payment solution is yet another step to provide more ease to customers for their bill payments. It will save consumers time by paying their bills at any of the 12,000 easypaisa merchants or Telenor franchises nationwide. n
Govt to set up leather industry in Charsadda

dustries affected by militancy and terrorism. The land would be acquired for establishment of new industrial estates and economic zones besides completing granite zone in Manshera in line of peoples demand. Under a mega project, he said, existing industrial estates would be rehabilitated and modernized in Peshawar Pakthunkhwa. The new industrial estates would be established in Peshawar, Abbottabad, Hattar and Malakand and common facility centre for promotion of leather industry in Charsadda. The government will launch a new project on economic revitalization to rehabilitate and support small and medium enterprises under the new development plan. The official said there are immense opportunities and market access for various goods to be exported to new markets especially in the Central Asian Republics.n
Telecom makes customer care a separate industry

Islamabad: Chairman PTA Dr. Mohammad Yasin visited mobile customer care centres and expressed his views and said, telecom sector is really working hard and the mobile customer care practices are going with international standards and it is becoming an industry in Pakistan. Dr. Mohammad Yasin also said that the mobile company has implemented and took part in 668 programs launched by PTA. The biggest and emerging industry in Pakistan is telecom that has boosted from few years. The advent of latest advancements in the field of information technology and communication has also boosted many other industries in Pakistan and one of
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Mosaic
International
A model poses with the new HTC Android-based smartphone Sensation during a news conference for the launch of the product in Taipei.
Japanese computer giant Fujitsu employee displays the world's smallest Windows 7 computer "FMV Loox F-07C", equipped with Intel's Atom processor on its CPU and 4-inch LCD display in Tokyo.
Sony employee Yo Kikuchi displays the world's smallest and lightest interchangeable lens digital camera, utilizing a APS-C size sensor "NEX-C3", and equipped with a 16.2-mega pixel CMOS image sensor in Tokyo.
Paris Hilton takes a picture with her mobile phone by the paddock during the Catalunya MotoGP Grand Prix in Montmelo, near Barcelona.
An Iranian-Kurd woman talks on her mobile phone as she walks at a bazaar while shopping in Marivan in Kordistan province.
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An Indian saleswoman speaks on a cellular telephone as she makes a recharge to a prepaid telephone at a shop in Hyderabad.
A model showcases a portable hard-disk developed by Hitachi in Taipei.
International
Synopsis
Solar cell-embroidered handbag Foreign spies launched over 1,000 cyber attacks
Copenhagen: With a mobile phone now an essential item in any ladies handbag, its surprising that most of the solar powered bags have been either backpacks or messenger bags. Thats fine for men who generally see bags as a purely functional piece of equipment designed to make it easier to carry things. But from what is much different for women, for whom the handbag is an extension of their personality and needs to be fashionable as well as practical - and the practicality is probably optional. Danish design studio DIFFUS has done its best to combine the two with its Solar Handbag. Instead of placing a single flexible thin film solar module onto the side of a bag, the designers of the DIFFUS Solar Handbag have distributed 100 smaller monocrystalline silicon solar cells over the surface of the bag to resemble oversized sequins. The surface of the bag is also embroidered with a combination of normal embroidery and conductive embroidery that transfers the energy harvested by the solar sequins to a lithiumion battery hidden away within a small compartment, with nine percent conversion efficiency and the ability to generate two Watts. n London: Criminals and foreign spy agencies launched more than 1,000 cyber attacks on the Ministry of Defence last year in an effort to steal secrets and disrupt services, Liam Fox has revealed. The defence secretary laid out the growing threat to the country from cyberspace, saying that government departments were now under sustained attack. He underlined the problem by saying that "across the core defence networks there were an average of over a million security alerts every day". These comprise mainly of spam emails that are blocked before entering government computer systems. But many turn out to be deliberate attempts to infiltrate and steal from the MoD's computer systems. n
Sony unveils Vita, 3D games

Los Angeles: Sony introduced its new-generation "PlayStation Vita" gaming handset and blockbuster 3D console titles as it sought to shake off the stigma of cyberattacks on its system. Jack Tretton, Sony Computer Entertainment of America chief executive apologized to people who use the PlayStation Network (PSN) to connect to games, films, and music online through PlayStation 3 (PS3) videogame consoles. "Our commitment to 3D is unwavering," Tretton said, noting that Sony would soon boast more than 100 titles in the format including a collector edition of "God of War" titles. Sony's Kazuo Hirai introduced the "PlayStation Vita" successor to the PlayStation Portable handheld device. "Vita" was chosen because it is Latin for "life," Hirai said, explaining the gadgets are designed to "blur the line" between game life and real life with augmented reality and other features. n
Washington: Facebook, Microsoft, Oracle, Yahoo! and other technology leaders have come out in support of AT&T's proposed $39 billion acquisition of T-Mobile saying it could help meet rising demand for wireless broadband. "Today, consumers are increasingly using smartphones, tablets, laptops and other mobile devices to wirelessly connect to the Internet and to each other," the companies said in a letter to Federal Communications Commission chairman Julius Genachowski. "As a result, consumer demand for wireless broadband is dramatically increasing and our wireless networks are struggling to keep pace with the demand," the letter said..
Tech giants back AT&T's TMobile deal
"AT&T's acquisition of TMobile represents a near term means of addressing the rising consumer demand," they said. "For example, the merged company will be able
Apple announces the 'iCloud'

San Francisco: Apple chief executive Steve Jobs interrupted his medical leave to unveil a free service called iCloud that stores music, photos and other content on the Web and shares it across multiple devices. "We're going to move the digital hub to the cloud. Keeping these devices in sync is driving us crazy," Jobs said. "iCloud stores your content in the cloud and automatically pushes it to all your devices," he said. Apple said iCloud wirelessly synchronizes mail, contacts, calendars, photos, applications, e-books, music and other files across devices. Apple's "iTunes in the Cloud" shares music bought through iTunes across Apple devices while a Photo Stream service does the same with pictures. Michael Gartenberg, an analyst said iCloud represents a "pretty big shift for Jobs." "Where 10 years ago he talked about the Mac as the hub for your digital life today he said the cloud is now the hub for your digital life," Gartenberg said. "Apple's talking about an entire ecosystem," he said. "What they presented today was from a software platform perspective an entire vision of the future of the digital consumer all tied together by cloud service offerings." n
Skype in login trouble again

Skype is down yet again. Just two weeks after the first round of problems, users the world over have reported trouble logging into the VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) service. Skype has acknowledged this issue, tweeting, "A small number of you may have problems signing in to Skype. We're investigating the cause, and hope to have more details to share soon," On it's blog, Skype says, "A configuration problem has meant that some of you have been disconnected from Skype. We've identified the cause of the problem, and have begun to address it. This is the second time the online chat service provider has been hit since May 2011. Round 2 comes just days after Microsoft announced it would be buying Skype for a whopping $8.5 billion. Two strikes in two weeks.
to leverage a larger network of cell sites allowing greater reuse of spectrum and increasing the wireless broadband capacity of the network." "The FCC must seriously weigh the benefits of this merger and approve it," the companies said. n
Electric car makes speed record

Two brothers are celebrating after setting a world speed record in an electric car - made from a Beetle and a milk float. Sam and Olly Young, who are sponsored by their local pub in Hungerford, Berkshire, set out to prove you can have zero emissions and the thrill of super-fast travel too. They built a green mean machine out of a milk float and a 1965 Volkswagen Beetle, which they have named Black Current. Now it has set the world record for being the first electric-powered car to go a quarter of a mile in under ten seconds, managing 0-60mph in just 1.6 seconds. One of the complaints about electric cars is that, while theyre obviously good for the environment with their minimal carbon footprint, theyre not exactly the fastest thing on four wheels. But Sam, 30, the driver, and Olly, 34, the designer, have just won the Zero Emissions category at the annual Alternative Energy Racing tournament at Santa Pod with their home-made electric dragster, hitting nearly 133mph in the process.
We are announcing schema.org, a new initiative from Google, Bing and Yahoo to create and support a common vocabulary for structured data markup on web pages, Google said in a statement. Now applications, especially search engines, would benefit greatly from direct access to this structured data. Schema.org contains over 100 different HTML tags for structured data categories such as events, places, peouse to mark up structured ple, organisations, products, music, movies and TV shows. data on their sites. New York: Internet search provider Google has joined hands with rivals Microsoft and Yahoo for a project that will improve web search results. These firms have launched a site called Schema.org, which consists of a common set of HTML tags that webmasters would
Google, Bing, Yahoo partner for search
The car is powered by sixty 12-volt motorcycle batteries, but the brothers believe the car can be made faster still, by using a lithium gel battery pack. n
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Synopsis
International
Beirut: H.E Mohammed Omran, Etisalat Chairman has addressed the opening session of the 10th Arab Telecom and Internet Forum, which is held in Beirut. In his address Omran reviewed the different business models pursued by "Etisalat" in the face of the challenges ahead for the sector, such as the advanced networking provided by "Etisalat" in the UAE.
Etisalat participates in Arab Telecom, Internet Forum
Watchdog to bring telecoms companies to heel

Sydney: Telephone and internet companies will have to give customers more control, simplify contract information and avoid advertising phrases like ''cap'' and ''unlimited'' as the industry moves to improve customer service under close scrutiny by the communications watchdog. And companies not registered with the industry ombudsman scheme could be banned from operating, under proposals released by the Australian Communications and Media Authority. ACMA chairman Chris Chapman chastised the industry for failing consumers through a ''confuseopoly'' and writing self-governing codes that allowed low standards. ''The way in which the telecommunications industry in Australia deals with its customers must change, and change immediately,'' the ACMA report said. The industry body Communications Alliance recently submitted a draft of a new consumer protection code to the ACMA, but Mr Chapman appeared unimpressed with the latest attempt at self-governance.n
Omran said "access to the internet, which was reached today, set a new standard in sector regulations and public Wellington: Alcatel-Lucent staffer James McInroe fills a time capsule at the company's new Wellington headquarters in Manners Street with his own technology prediction; that personal commerce will be completely transacted online when the capsule is opened in 10 years' time. "The storefront will be a
perceptions. The Internet today is a basic need for everyone which must be available for each individual with a fast access to the networks to save time and efforts. The forum attendees praised the readiness of the "Etisalat" network, which qualified customers in the UAE and the countries they operate in to access the Internet at a very high speeds, whether it was through the fibre optic network or mobile phone. They also commended on the development the UAE is witnessing through the adoption of latest techniques and technology that has become comparable to what is offered and competes in more developed countries.n
France Telecom to partner with web giants

Paris: France Telecom sees opportunities for working with Google and other internet players and thinks they will be open to discussing new ways to generate and share revenue, its chief executive said. Stephane Richard had told that announcements Alcatel-Lucent Asia-Pacific president Rajeev SinghMolares said New Zealand's UFB scheme and Australia's National Broadband Network were unique for countries of their type and among the most ambitious of 24 government-backed schemes to encourage fibre-to-thepremises, but he believed the UFB network could be built on schedule by 2019. n could be made concerning tie-ups with Silicon Valley companies in the coming weeks. He told that he had talked to Google about a stronger segmentation of access to telecoms networks, making users who want a better service, a more stable or faster connection, pay more. France Telecom, like its competitors, has been faced with an explosion in traffic in recent years on its mobile network, linked to the rise in smartphones and the growing popularity video and internet on mobile phones.n
Alcatel-Lucent looks into future
window-shopping experience where we will touch and see the products," he explains. "However, we will transact the purchase from the comfort of the couch over the internet yes, the internet will still be there more than likely via an e-bidding process to get the lowest price."
New Delhi: India, reeling from a telecom graft scandal that has forced the resignation of one minister, is conducting an investigation into the actions of his predecessor in the job, police said. India's top federal police agency said it was conducting a "preliminary investigation" into the activities of
India opens new telecom probe
former telecom minister Dayanidhi Maran, who currently serves as textile minister in the embattled Congress government. The inquiry was launched to "see if there is any evidence of any conspiracy, any rules flouted," Dharini Mishra, a spokeswoman for the Central Bureau of Investigation, told. n
New York: Yahoo Mail and Hotmail are being subjected to hacking attacks similar to which were being reported by Google this week for their GMail. Trend Micro is reporting that Yahoo Mail cookies were attempting to be hijacked and Hotmail suffered a phishing attack. It ap-
Yahoo, Hot mail under phishing attacks
they have found from Tawain. While Homail had the same phishing attack, the Yahoo Mail efforts were different in that the hackers attempted to get the cookies associated with Yahoo Mail. It appears that this hacking effort on Yahoo Mail was to
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pears that the Hotmail attacks were the same email phishing attack as reported by Google. Both the Yahoo Mail and Hotmail attacks relied on a user clicking on a link in the phishing email. Trend Micro has notified both Yahoo and Microsoft of the attempted hacking that
identify the programs on the users computer, if the cookie hack was successful. With that information, they could then attempt to emulate the local programs. With that information, the hackers would then be able to launch a very specific attack at a later date to compromise the system. n
New York: Microsoft is making a major push to outgun Apple and Android in the smartphone market, launching an operating system that departs from the traditional desktop screen with a slew of icons. The Windows Phone 7 is made up of a series of hubs, which alleviate the need for lots of different applications. Instead of clicking on an icon, users view information on the home screen, organized through a series of live tiles that contain up-to-date information on friends, phone calls and tasks. All the major wireless carriers and dozens overseas now offer phones running the Windows Phone 7 platform, such as the HTC Trophy on Verizon, Microsoft plans to push out a major software update for phones already in use, called Mango, that will have over 500 new features. n
Microsoft connects with smartphone
New Delhi: Amid concerns over likely health hazards due to radiations emitting from mobile phones and towers, the government assured that India would adhere to best global and scientific benchmarks while drafting the final guidelines in the telecom sector.
India to get cellphone radiation norms
huge success story in India, we have to ensure that any possible health related effects of radiation emitted by mobile phones and towers are reflected in the guidelines." "The final guidelines would take into account the best global benchmarks and
The government's reaction comes in the backdrop of a latest WHO report which says cellphone use can possibly cause brain cancer. "While telecom is a
scientific evidence on the subject," Minister of State for Communications and Information Technology Sachin Pilot said. n
International
Synopsis
Fitch cuts Nokia credit ratings

Helsinki: Fitch ratings agency downgraded the short- and long-term credit ratings of world number-one mobile maker Nokia in light of the company's dismal outlook for 2011. Fitch downgraded Nokia's long-term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) and senior unsecured rating to BBB- from BBB+ with a Negative outlook, while the short-term IDR was also downgraded to F3. "The downgrade and Negative Outlook reflect the serious concerns Fitch has about the accelerating pace of the market share erosion for Nokia's Symbian handset business," Fitch senior director Stuart Reid said.He said customers appeared to be "deserting" Nokia models for Apple's iPhone and smartphones running Google's Android operating system. While it remains the world leader, Nokia has seen its global market share dwindle due to intense competition in the high-end smartphone sector. n San Francisco: With the launch of iCloud and iOS 5, Apple presented a number of innovations that will again erode the value added of, among others, the mobile operators. Given the current discussion about mobile data, DPI, business models and net neutrality, its to be expected that operators were watching with above-average interest the keynote address at Apples conference in San
HTC's fivemonth sales more than double

Taipei: Taiwan's leading smartphone maker HTC said that its revenues more than doubled in the five months to May. Its sales during the fivemonth period came in at $6.42 billion, a rise of 144.95 percent over a year ago, the company said.
Ecobank, Airtel ink deal for m-banking

African banking group Ecobank and Bharti Airtel signed a memorandum of understanding to promote mobile banking services across Africa. Ecobank and Airtel plan to explore the development of innovative mobile financial services focused both on serving the unbanked and under-banked and contributing to the economic development of the 14 African countries in which they jointly operate. Both entities have agreed to launch a wide range of mobile financial services offerings, including Person to Person (P2P), Business to Business (B2B) and mobile savings products under the brand names Ecobank Mobile and Airtel Money, subject to legal and regulatory requirements. n
eBay builds internet commerce presence

Still driving home the importance of m-commerce, online giant eBay has agreed to acquire the 51 percent stake in e-commerce platform Magento that it does not already own. Ebay snapped up 49 percent of Magento last year in a bid to increase its offerings to online merchants. Ebay is building a global, open commerce platform that leverages the worldwide developer community and Magento will be at the core of this open commerce platform, called X.Commerce. All eyes are now on the next battleground, which will see online giants like eBay and Google, face off against operators in the mobile wallet space. n
Google offers live updates for public transit

New York: Google announced that Google Maps for mobile and desktop will provide live transit updates for users in major cities around the world. If youve ever had to rely on public transportation to get to and from work or school, you know what an unbelievable pain in the ass it can be. If one bus is late and you have a connection to catch, youre screwed. If theres unannounced construction going on, on one train track, you can expect to be at least an hour late to wherever youre trying to go. While it would be nice if Google could release a product that would ensure that all of your buses and trains arrive on time, the company cant work miracles. It can, however, give you real-time updates on your bus or train so you can make quick decisions on whether or not to take an alternate route. n
In May, its revenues rose 115.82 percent year-on-year to Tw$40.62 billion. Analysts expected it to gain momentum in June, backed up by the launch of new phones and its first tablet computer. n
Apple offers its own Ping with iMessage

Francisco. It gives the mobile operators a choice moment to make consumers aware of the different kinds of mobile data traffic. With iOS 5 and iCloud Apple has taken a step towards replacing the Mac computer with the cloud as the end-users central access point. Lucky for the mobile operators the synchronization of the various iCloud services takes
place over a Wi-Fi connection. iMessage is Apples variation on BlackBerry Ping. It has the same icon as Messages. The difference is that Messages uses the SMS-MMS service delivery at the operator and iMessage goes over the top. The mobile operator sees nothing of the traffic, other than an increase in the number of KB or MB used. n
Cape Town: Eight in 10 countries are using mobile phone technology to improve health services, from free emergency calls to appointment reminders, the World Health Organisation said. The global health body found that only 19 of 114 countries surveyed had no mobile health initiative, known as mHealth. "Eighty three percent are actually
Eight out of 10 countries using mobile health: WHO
saying, yes we are involved with a minimum of one mHealth project," said Misha Kay, who studies cell phone technology for the WHO. But most of those countries have several projects running, he added. "So what we're seeing is a fairly healthy groundswell of activity, also considering that we believe that a lot of the reports were understated," he said. n
New Delhi: LG Electronics India announced its entry into the business solutions segment, providing highly integrated technology solutions for various business verticals. The company is targeting revenues worth over Rs.1,000 crore by 2014 from various business-to-business
LG enters business solutions market
Rs.2,500 crore, which was growing at 20-25 percent annually, under its new business segment, LG would offer digital devices and solutions for quick service restaurants, education, retails, hotel, office and banking businesses. The Union and State governments besides big
MD LG Electronics, Soon Kwon (C), LG group marketing head, D P Kim (L) and LG business head, Hemendu Singh display new products
(B2B) deals in government and private sectors. LG Electronics India Managing Director Soon Kwon told journalists that the total size of B2B solutions for integrated display market was around
state-owned enterprises and corporations will form an important client base for us as the government sector is increasingly using digital and business solutions while dealing with people, he added. n
Dubai: Qatar Telecom (Qtel) will close its Virgin Mobile Services following an order from the country's regulator, a decision which marks a victory for its rival operator Vodafone Qatar. Vodafone Qatar had long argued Qtel's launch of Virginbranded pre-paid services constituted a third service provider in Qatar and so violated the terms of Vodafone's licence. "Vodafone Qatar welcomes the news of ictQATAR's decision," said a Vodafone Qatar spokeswoman. ictQATAR "has instructed Qtel to close all Qtel Virgin Mobile-branded services in Qatar," the regulator, also known as The Supreme Council of Information and Communication Technology, said in a statement. In a separate statement, Qtel said it would comply with the ruling and will transfer its existing Virgin Mobile customers to Qtel-branded services. These customers will retain their existing balances and phone numbers, but will require a new Qtel SIM card. n
Qtel orders to end Virgin Mobile services
Los Angeles: Microsoft added YouTube, voice commands, television shows and more to its Xbox 360 with
Xbox 360 with Kinect shows off new tricks
our business leveraging technologies that see us, hear us and connect us all together," said Microsoft president of the
Kinect as the hot-selling videogame console matures into an entertainment centre for all. Studios joined Microsoft on the eve of a premier Electronics Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles to unveil blockbusters such as "Mass Effect 3" that let players use body motion or voice to execute tactics once the exclusive duty of toggles or buttons in controllers. "This is an incredible time of growth and innovation for
Interactive Entertainment Business Don Mattrick. "This year by bringing together the power of Kinect for Xbox 360 and the intelligence of Bing, we are transforming how people enjoy entertainment." Microsoft has sold more than 10 million of the gesturesensing Kinect accessories for the Xbox 360 consoles worldwide since they hit the market in November of last year. n
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Synopsis
International
Web traffic to quadruple by 2015

San Francisco: Cisco has released its fifth annual Visual Network Index Forecast, predicting a rapid growth in Internet traffic and connected devices in the coming years. By 2015, the company believes global Web traffic will quadruple, reaching 966 exabytes per year. Cisco estimates that global Internet traffic between 2014 and 2015 will increase by 200 exabytes, which is said to be greater than the total amount of traffic generated in 2010. Mobile broadband will increase 26 times to 75 exabytes a year. PC traffic will fall to 87 percent, while Web-enabled TVs will represent 10 percent of all Internet traffic and 18 percent of video traffic. Network-connected devices will outnumber the world's population two to one in less than four years. More devices equals more users and Cisco estimates that there will be some three billion Web-goers by 2015, or 40 percent of the world's population. The company also predicts that the average fixed broadband speed will increase four-fold from 7Mb/s to 28Mb/s. If that sounds hard to believe, Cisco noted that the average broadband speed has actually doubled from 3.5Mb/s to 7Mb/s in the last year. Armed with mediafriendly companion devices and speedier connections, Cisco projects that people will consume more Webbased videos. By 2015, the Internet video community will receive 500 million new users and over 1.5 billion people will stream one million video minutes (674 days) every second. Traffic associated with "advanced videos" such as those that offer high-definition or 3D visuals will increase 14 times. Interestingly, filesharing traffic is expected to decline by a whopping 40 percent. n
Nokia warns of poor performance, withdraws financial targets broadband network

Helsinki: Troubled Finnish handset vendor Nokia has said that it will not hit its sales or margin targets for the second quarter of 2011 due to a range of factors impacting negatively on its business. The firm said its difficulties are such that it was no longer appropriate to provide annual targets for 2011. Nokia attributed its problems to competitive dynamics and market trends across multiple price categories, particularly in China and Europe, as well as a shift towards lower margin devices and pricing tactics from itself and its competitors. Nokia is being undercut in the low end, high volume segment of the market by increasingly powerful Chinese manufacturers with far lower cost bases. Meanwhile it is still anonymous in the lucrative smartphone segment, where its partnership with Microsoft has yet to bear fruit. CEO Stephen Elop came close to promising that this situation would change before the year is out, saying: We have increased confidence that we will ship our first Nokia product with Windows Phone in the fourth quarter 2011. It remains to be seen whether this confidence is well placed, but it is certainly out of kilter with Nokias wider take on the future. The firm had predicted net sales of devices to be in the range of 6.1bn 6.6bn for the second quarter of 2011, but said that the reality will be substantially below this target. Nokia also said that its operating margin would likely fall from six to nine per cent, with breakeven now the best case scenario. n
Apple's iPhone 4 finally comes to India

New Delhi: Apple's iPhone 4 made its debut in India, nearly a year after the updated model of the handset was launched in the United States, amid growing demand for smartphones. Two Indian mobile firms launched the iPhone 4 using a pricing scheme that permits customers to recover the cost of the smartphone in monthly credits over a two-year period. Indian mobile phone company Aircel is charging 34,500 rupees ($764) for the iPhone 4 with a 16 GB capacity and 40,900 rupees for the 32 GB version. Market leader Bharti Airtel, which already sells earlier models of the iPhone, has a similar scheme for the iPhone 4, which boasts a better quality screen and greater battery life than earlier versions. India, which has the fastest-growing mobile market, has more than 800 million cellular subscribers in the country where high-
Such incredible growth is attributed to four primary factors -- though none are particularly shocking, with the most obvious contributor being the proliferation of handsets, tablets and other consumer electronics. While full-fledged PCs accounted for 97 percent of consumer Internet traffic in 2010, users will gradually rely more on mobile devices and Webenabled appliances. By 2015,
Airtel gives its customers free access to Facebook

New Delhi: The many fans of Facebook now have good reason to rejoice, especially if they are Airtel phone subscribers they can access the networking site on all types of handsets, without spending money on internet usage. Bharti Airtel launched the new application from Singapore-based software applications developer U2opia Mobile. The technology involved is Unstructured Supplementary Data (USSD), the same that is used by telecom companies to send alerts to their users, such as for missed calls. This will now enable users to send and view updates on their friends' Facebook walls. "We are using USSD technology, which will enable users to access Facebook without having a GPRS connection on their phones," said Sumesh Menon, the co-founder and chief executive of U2Opia Mobile, at the launch of the service in New Delhi. n
Bharti Airtel launches mobile wallet service

Mumbai: Bharti Airtel, India's largest telecom by revenues and subscribers, launched its mobile wallet service Airtel Money in Delhi. The service allows Airtel customers to make cashless payments from Rs 10 to Rs 5,000 a day for various services such as utility bills and movie tickets. The telco plans to raise the upper threshold to Rs 50,000 within two months, Airtel's mcommerce services chief operating officer Sriram Jagannathan told ET. The service would be available to more than 8 million customers in Delhi, Noida, Ghaziabad and Faridabad and will be rolled out in the country in a phased manner. The telco has tied up with more than 3,000 merchants so far including local chemists, grocery stores and utility providers like BSES Yamuna and Indraprastha Gas . Earlier this year, the service was launched in Gurgaon and Chennai on a pilot basis. Customers can fill their mobile wallet by going to the nearest Airtel retail outlet. n
speed third-generation (3G) mobile networks, offering high speed data transfer capabilities, now are being rolled out. But smartphones represent only five percent of Indian handset sales. Mobile firms making smartphones see India as a market with vast potential with the new 3G services increasing consumer demand for the devices. n
Acer releasing Ultrabook, aims for sales rebound

Taipei: Acer will launch its own Ultrabook in the fourth quarter, in the hopes of overcoming foundering laptop sales and increasing competition from tablets and smartphones. Acer has been struggling with declining profits, and the company cut its first-quarter PC revenue outlook this year. Acer's rival, Asus, displayed its UX21, the first Ultrabook announced, at the Computex trade show on Tuesday. Asus chairman Jonney Shih said in the Intel press release for the Ultrabook: "Customers are demanding an uncompromised computing experience in a lightweight, highly portable design that responds to their needs quickly. Transforming the PC into an ultra-thin, ultraresponsive device will change the way people interact with their PC." Acer president Jim Wong said he believes "the Ultrabook can help to revive the notebook market." And Intel is optimistic of Ultrabooks in general, predicting that 40 percent of laptops sold by the end of next year will be Ultrabooks. There's no word yet on Acer's Ultrabook specs, but if it follows Intel's design suggestions, the planned laptop will be 20 millimeters or thinner and start at under $1,000. A long-life battery and "instant on" functionality are other common features we may expect. n
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Synopsis
Microsoft unveils Windows Phone update 'Mango'

New York: Microsoft unveiled the latest version of its mobile phone software as it seeks to claw back market share from Apple and Google. The Redmond, Washington-based software powerhouse said the latest version of its Windows Phone operating system, code-named "Mango," offers more than 500 new features. Mango will be available for free to existing Windows Phone 7 customers and will ship on new phones this fall from Samsung, LG and HTC and new partners Acer, Fujitsu and ZTE. which were well received by analysts but failed to catch on with the public. "Seven months ago we started our mission to make smartphones smarter and easier for people to do more," said Andy Lees, president of Microsoft's Mobile Communications, who presented Mango to reporters at an event in New York. "With 'Mango,' Windows Phone takes a major step forward in redefining how people communicate and use apps and the Internet, giving you better results with less effort," Lees said. Mango uses Internet Explorer 9 as the phone's Web browser and attempts to simplify the smartphone experience. Microsoft said Mango organizes information "around the person or group people want to interact with, not the app they have to use." It allows users to switch between text, Facebook chat and Windows Live Messenger and integrates Twitter and LinkedIn feeds. Mango also includes "built-in Facebook check-ins and new face detection software that makes it easier to quickly tag photos and post to the Web," Microsoft said. n
Nook gets lean, adds touch screen

New York: Barnes & Noble unveiled a lean new version of its Nook electronic book reader boasting a touch screen, months-long battery life and a price on par with Amazon.com's mid-line Kindle. The Simple Touch Reader featuring a six-inch, blackand-white touch screen was available for order online at nook.com for $139 and was to begin shipping on June 10. "Touch makes it simple to use, and the beautifully compact design makes it the most portable eReader in its class," Barnes & Noble chief executive William Lynch said in a release. "Add to that an unmatched battery life, the most advanced paper-like touch display on the market and wireless access to the world's largest digital bookstore." The Nook was billed as tailored for readers and not touted as a challenge to tablet computers such as iPads, which are platforms for Web browsing, games, videos and more as well as electronic books. Barnes & Noble claimed to have captured 25 percent of the digital book market since launching the first Nook model about 18 months ago. Simple Touch Reader weighed in at 7.48 ounces (212 grams), lighter than a typical paperback novel, and was described as easy to fit in a jacket pocket or handbag while being able to hold as many as 1,000 digital books. The new Nook's debut came five days after the struggling US bookseller said that Liberty Media had offered to buy the company for $17 a share in cash, valuing the retailer at around $1 billion. The bid would give the media conglomerate controlled by tycoon John Malone a new business to go with its Starz film channel, QVC shopping network and stakes in the Expedia travel website and other media assets. Barnes & Noble calls itself the world's largest bookseller, with 705 bookstores in 50 states. But the book business has been hammered by a shift to electronic books as well as Internet sales.n
Microsoft said it is also working on Mango handsets with new partner Nokia, the Finnish mobile phone titan which announced in February that it would begin using Microsoft's software as its smartphone operating system. Mango comes seven months after the release of the first smartphones running Windows Phone 7,
German scientists beat data transfer record
Telecom investments up 20 pc
Tehran: Following the privatization of the telecommunication sector, investments increased by 20 percent, announced managing director of Telecommunication Company of Iran (TCI). Speaking in a ceremony to inaugurate 61 telecommunication projects, Saber Feyzi said investment to the tune of over 110,000 billion rials (approximately $1.1 billion) had been made in various fields of the sector in 19 months. A 50-percent block plus a single share of the Telecommunication Company of Iran valued at over 78 trillion rials (approximately $7.8 billion) was offered on the stock market in September 2009 as Iran's biggest-ever transaction. The share was bought by Etemad-e Mobin, a consortium of three Iranian firms. Feyzi noted that privatization of the telecommunication industry, which is being carried out in accordance with Article 44 of the Constitution, can serve as a model for other sectors. n
Greece to sell telecoms

Athens: Greece said it would "immediately" sell stakes in telecoms giant OTE, the main ports of Piraeus and Thessaloniki and stateowned Hellenic Postbank to help reduce its huge debt. "The cabinet decided to immediately proceed with the sale of stakes in OTE, the Postbank, the Athens and Thessaloniki ports and the Thessaloniki water company in order to frontload its ambitious privatisation programme," Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou said in a statement. "To accelerate the process, the creation of a sovereign wealth fund composed of privatisation and real estate assets was also decided," he said. The Greek government has been forced to constantly
Berlin: Computer users who despair over slow Internet connections should take heart. German scientists have broken a speed record, sending data contained on 700 DVDs over a single laser beam, in one second. The scientists at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) Monday said they had broken the world record by sending data redraft its privatisation at a speed of 26 terabits per strategy as the country's second. economic impasse became increasingly apparent. It had originally aimed to raise just seven billion euros by 2013 and some of the sales, like that involving Hellenic Postbank, had been slated for later. But Athens is now under The data, sent over 50 pressure from its EU and kilometers (31 miles) on a IMF creditors, who rescued single laser beam, was coded the country with a massive loan last year, to deliver thanks to a system known as frequencyresults on pledged reforms orthogonal division multiplexing in order to secure funds worth 12 billion euros ($17 (OFDM) in which the laser beam is divided into separate billion). n colour streams. "With 26 terabits per second, you can simultaneously transmit up to 400 million telephone calls per second," said Professor Juerg Leuthold of the institute in a statement. n
2G scam: CBI opposes Siddhartha Behura's bail plea

New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Thursday opposed the bail plea of former telecom secretary Siddhartha Behura, an accused in the 2G spectrum allocation scam along with former communications minister Andimuthu Raja, before a special Delhi court. CBI prosecutor A.K. Singh opposed Behura's plea saying that instead of following the government's policy, he had followed the "policy of Raja". Behura was working on Raja`s direction. He never opposed his ideas even though he knew that it was a wrong policy, the CBI submitted before CBI Special Judge O.P. Saini. "Behura did not put any checks and balances (to prevent) Raja's 'misdeeds' during the grant of (telecom) licences despite having the highest executive power in the department of telecommunications," CBI counsel said. "Behura played an active role in giving licences to Swan Telecom, promoted by Shahid Usman Balwa, despite objections," the CBI said. The court reserved till May 30 its order on the bail plea of Cineyug Films' founder Karim Morani, named as a co-conspirator in the 2G scam. n
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Synopsis
International
Fr e e d o w n l o a d | f l ar e.p k
Beijing: Chinas military has established a 30-person strong Internet security task force to protect China from cyber attacks. State media reported that the Blue Army was not intended to create a hacker force and would be used solely for defensive purposes. Media reports that the Peoples Liberation Army has invested tens of millions of Yuan in the cyber warfare project. "Cyber attacks have become an international problem affecting both civilian and military areas," China's defence ministry spokesman Geng Yansheng has said.
China sets up cyber warfare division
Google vows to fight suit over mobile 'Wallet'

San Francisco: Google rejected a charge that it swiped PayPal trade secrets to build its new mobile application that turns a smartphone into an electronic wallet. Within hours of the unveiling of Google Wallet, eBay and PayPal filed a lawsuit charging the Internet giant tapped into the online financial transaction service's knowhow for the mobile payments project. PayPal spent three years trying to work out a deal in which it would handle payments for Android smartphones, only to see Google scuttle the talks and hire PayPal lead negotiator Osama Bedier, according to court documents. "Silicon Valley was built on the ability of individuals to use their knowledge and expertise to seek better employment opportunities, an idea recognized by both California law and public policy," a Google spokesman told. "We respect trade secrets, and will defend ourselves against these claims." Bedier worked at the eBay-owned online financial services unit as a vice president of platform, mobile, and new ventures until being hired in January by Google. He played a central role at Google's official unveiling of Google Wallet with financial partners Citibank, MasterCard and First Data and telecom ally Sprint. "Bedier had an intimate knowledge of PayPal's capabilities, strategies, plans, and market intelligence regarding mobile payment and related technologies," the lawsuit said. "He is now leading Google's efforts to bring point of sale technologies and services to retailers on its behalf." Google Wallet will initially work with Google's Nexus S 4G smartphone from Sprint, the third-largest US wireless provider, and will eventually be expanded to other phones equipped with near field advantage of Google Offers, the Mountain View, California-based company's online discount coupon program. The company said Google Wallet will be accepted at more than 124,000 US merchants at launch and more than 311,000 around the world. Stephanie Tilenius, Google's vice president for commerce and payments, described Google Wallet as the "next generation of mobile commerce." The PayPal lawsuit contends that Tilenius helped Google poach Bedier and named both executives and the Internet company as defendants in a civil case alleging misappropriation of trade secrets. Mobile payments are being tested or used in a number of countries already, notably France and Japan, but Google Wallet will be among the first to bring NFC technology to stores in the United States. NFC technology uses short-range, high frequency wireless to enable the encrypted exchange of information between devices at a short distance. Google said it has built security systems into Google Wallet including the need for a PIN number and credit card encryption. If lost, the payment system can be disabled with a phone call. n
"China is relatively weak in cyber-security and has often been targeted. This temporary programme is aimed at improving our defenses against such attacks, Yansheng said. The Cyber Blue Team falls under the Guangdong military command in southern China, and will
carry out cyber-warfare drills. The establishment of the cyber warfare unit has caused concern in many Western countries, such as the United States, Australia and Germany, which accuse China of being behind high profile hacking events. In February US cyber firm McAfee, which markets antivirus products, said that Chinese hackers had infiltrated the networks of oil companies around the world, stealing financial documents and other sensitive information. Meanwhile, WikiLeaks has published US diplomatic cables that reveal the United States belief that China was behind hacking against search giant Google and Western governments. One cable says the US embassy in Beijing learnt from a Chinese contact that the government was behind hacks into the computers of the United States, its allies and the Dalai Lama. China's capability is often exaggerated. Without substantiated evidence, it is often depicted by overseas media as the culprit for cyberattacks on the US and Europe. China needs to develop its strong cyber defence strength. Otherwise, it would remain at the mercy of others. n
communication (NFC) technology. An NFC chip in a phone allows a user who has entered his or her credit card details to "tap-and-pay" for purchases at a checkout register equipped with the PayPass system from CitiMasterCard. Customers can also use Google Prepaid cards to pay for purchases and take munications services in all countries of its operations it was the first to introduce new and advanced communications technologies in the UAE in addition to introducing the first third and fourth generation mobile networks in the Middle East and Africa. Etisalat has also extended its fiber-optic network to cover all of Abu Dhabi making it the first capital city in the world that is fully connected by fiber. It is expected that Etisalat will complete the deployment nationwide in 2011 which will make the UAE the first country that is entirely covered with the fiber. Etisalat has also successfully exported its expertise to all other countries in which it operates. n
Etisalat crowns "The Telecommunications Leader" of Arab World

Dubai: Etisalat was crowned the Arab worlds Telecommunications Leader at the Arab Achievement Awards, which took place alongside the Arab Investment Summit, which was held in Abu Dhabi. Ahmed Bin Ali, Group Senior Vice President Corporate Communications received the award on behalf of Etisalat from H.E. Juma Mohammad Al Kait, Assistant Undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Trade. H.E. Juma Mohammad Al Kait, Assistant Undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Trade said: Etisalat offers the very latest telecommunication technologies and services and thanks to its efforts the UAE enjoys a prominent place among the worlds most innovative and technology ready countries." Commenting on this event, Mr. Ibrahim Moosa Jamel, Director of Operations Education Cluster at Dubai Knowledge Village and the host of the Arab Achievement Awards 2011 said: Etisalat is one of the leading providers of telecom services and the award is a positive reflection of its achievements. Its work over the years in developing the communications infrastructure has contributed to enhancing UAEs attractiveness as a business destination. Etisalat continues to provide the best in class com-
Mobinil looks for international license

As Egypts leading mobile operator Mobinil deals with the restructuring of its parent company Orascom Telecom, it was reported by local press that the top mobile company in the country is looking to cut its international telecom gateway. Owned by Telecom Egypt, the gateway provides competitive services on an international level, but Mobinil believes that by reducing the prices it would be able to increase development and infrastructure in the mobile industry. Egyptian newspaper Youm7.com reported that the company has asked the National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority to cut those costs. n
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Synopsis
San Francisco: Apple took on Google and Amazon in the consumer cloud space with the launch of iCloud, a range of new Web-based services that will allow users to store and access their data and content including iTunes music via any Apple device.
Apple takes on Google, Amazon with iCloud
Greek port chairman opposes sale plans

Athens: The chairman of the main Greek port of Piraeus publicly opposed the government's plans to privatise the harbour as part of a broader asset sale to reduce the country's crushing debt. The government has announced plans to sell up to its entire 75 percent stake in the Piraeus port authority (OLP) by the end of the year. Greece is under pressure to raise as much money as it can from its assets to secure continued support for its troubled economy from the European Union, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank. Three organisations last year helped rescue Greece from bankruptcy with a 110billion-euro ($161 billion) loan, but Athens is likely to need additional funds to maintain repayments on a debt that has exploded to 350 billion euros. n
Addressing the audience at Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference in San Francisco, chief executive Steve
Jobs said that iCloud will launch immediately as a beta version for developers, and will not cost anything for end users. "iCloud stores your content in the cloud and wirelessly pushes it to all your devices," said Jobs, in a report by Engadget. "It automatically uploads it, stores it, and pushes it. On iTunes, Jobs commented that "now, when I buy a song on one of my devices it automatically downloads to all of my devices without having to sync or do anything at all. We're making it free, and we're very excited about it," he added. n
Sony unveils PlayStation Vita

Los Angeles: Sony introduced its new-generation "PlayStation Vita" gaming handset and blockbuster 3D console titles as it sought to shake off the stigma of a cyberattacks on its system. The Japanese entertainment giant turned the Los Angeles sports arena into a music and videogame Mecca starring exciting new game play and hardware on the eve of the opening of a premier Electronic Entertainment Expo. "This is not the first time I've come onto the stage at E3 with an elephant in the room," Sony Computer Entertainment of America chief executive Jack Tretton told the 6,000 people packed into the arena. He apologized to people who use the PlayStation Network (PSN) to connect to games, films, and music online through Play Station 3 (PS3) videogame consoles. Sony executives got apologies out of the way quickly and focused on a lineup of videogames packed with vivid 3D titles such as the installment of in the beloved "Drake's Fortune: Uncharted" franchise to be released in November. n
Etisalat bets big on 4G for broadband services

New Delhi: Unfazed by the ongoing investigations into alleged 2G spectrum scam, global telecommunications major Etisalat is committed towards its Indian operations. Besides expanding its network and building infrastructure in India, the UAE-based company, currently present in 18 countries with almost 14-crore subscribers, is planning to build 4G mobile broadband network using LTE (Long-Term Evolution) technology to tap fast-growing data market in the country. We are planning deployment of 4G mobile network using LTE technology to become a major broadband service provider in the country. We have already started
Singapore: US aerospace giant Boeing is under "continuous" cyber attack but there has been no breach of its databases, a senior executive said.
Boeing under continuous cyber attack
The admission by Dennis Muilenburg, the chief execu-
giving this service in the Gulf nations, while testing is on Companies use efor our Africa operations. In learning tech to India too we will deploy it to retain talent deliver highly efficient broadLondon: With attrition beband data services, Etisalat's Group Chief Technology Of- coming a critical issue, many multi-nationals are now ficer Amaru Chavez told. using social networks, blogs, online communities, gaming and other collaborative learning technologies to create a learning and comfortable work atmosphere and retain talent. Companies now encourConsumer demand for broadband services and ca- age their workforce to share create knowledge pacity continues to accelerate and through social media, which and only technologies which are scalable will be able to results in better productivity support the future demand and a positive mood in the for online content such as work place. Social media like video, social media, gaming tablets, smartphones, wikis, and business services, he blogs, performance support, online communities and added. n gaming are adopted as learning and development tools by many organisations. E-learning also explores tive of Boeing Defense, Space building knowledge bases and Security, comes as Japan- and connecting people to onese electronics giant Sony re- demand, real-time expertise covers from a series of online or information, which helps incursions while Google also in capturing, tagging and said it has been hit. promoting knowledge shared "We, as are other global in each learning activity. enterprises, are under a con- Companies also use gaming tinuous state of cyber attack to experiment with diverse and cyber probing," Muilen- and competing models to see burg said. "We recognise the what works best for the orreality of global business ganisation. Gaming is a fun today, is that cyber attacks way and engaging method are part of business and that helps organisations exwe've been prepared for that periment with various methso this is not a surprising en- ods to reach their desired vironment to us," he told a goal before even starting a media briefing in Singapore.n project. n
Software giant and game developer Microsoft has started its E3 campaign this year with a glimpse of the much-awaited Halo 4 which will be the first of a new trilogy of the Halo series. The game, which is set for a holiday season of 2012 release, is the second wave of Microsofts Kinect games and a new boundary for the Xbox 360 platform. The companys pres-
Microsoft kicks off Halo 4
entation at the Expo hovered mainly around the new Kinect and other games which enable the player to control the gameplay using voice commands and body movement. The developers also said all the four new sports games like FIFA 12, Madden Football, Tiger Woods Golf and an unnamed venture will use the Kinect. n
rity systems and the two western officials deliberately avoided singling out Beijing. Gates said "we take the cyber threat very seriously and we see it from a variety of sources, not just one or another country." Fox said London will host an international conference on the "war of the invisible enemy" later this year. "The effect on the economies of this region of a well-planned and well-resourced cyber attack on transnational commercial networks and institutions would be catastrophic, and would impact on us all," he said. "Cyber attacks are already happening in large numbers and on a regular basis ... which is why we want to convene a proper international China denies being the conference to see how we can 69 source of attacks on US secu- deal with it." n Singapore: The United States and Britain called for international cooperation against threats to cyber security following a fresh spate of attacks on government and corporate targets. US Defense Secretary Robert Gates and British Defence Secretary Liam Fox underscored the urgency of the problem at an Asia-Pacific security forum in Singapore also attended by their Chinese counterpart Liang Guanglie.
US, Britain urge cooperation on cyber threats
Tech Tool
Mobile Reviews
Fr e e d o w n l o a d | f l a re . p k
Samsung Exhibit 4G: The crew over at Wirefly recently got their hands on the Samsung Exhibit
4G, one of T-Mobiles upcoming budget phones, and, in typical Wirefly fashion, gave it a brief review along with a couple of benchmarks. Bob Kovacs seems to really like the phone, stating that it "has all the power of the Galaxy S line, but in a smaller, more affordable package," which makes this sound like a solid offering, especially when you consider the T-Mo price of $79.99 with a two-year agreement. At this point, Wirefly hasnt announced what its price will be for this device, but were pretty certain its going to be more affordable than what Magenta is offering. Before we drop the video on you, here is a quick rundown of the specs: 3.5-inch 480800 LCD display, 1GHz Hummingbird processor, 512MB RAM, 4GB microSD Card included, 3.2MP rear camera, VGA front camera, Android 2.3 with TouchWiz As you can see, this device has pretty solid specs for a mid-range device (aside from the lackluster camera, that is), but I think the most notable thing is the inclusion of Gingerbread. It looks like manufacturers may finally be getting a clue.
Club Marathon M1: Specifications

Number of SIM Call Blacklist (Call Blocking) SMS Black List Display Camera Bluetooth Personal Data Lock Frequency Language Supported FM/stereo radio Flash Torch Light Games Ringer Audio Jack Battery USB
Features Talking hands-free Yes Calling functions waiting\forDual SIM &Dual standby ward\barring Yes Yes SMS Yes 2.0 TFT LCD SCREEN Log of calls Missed\Incoming\Dialed 1.3MP Camera Multimedia MP3\3GP\WAV\AMR Yes Calendar/ Schedule Yes Phonebook/CallHistory Phonebook Up to 500 contacts GSM 900/1800 Mhz English + Urdu External memory T-Flash Micro SD Yes Open Fm Radio card Yes Standby Time Up to 25 Days ( Extra Long Yes Battery Time) Mp3+ MIDI+AMR User profiles Yes 2.5mm mini jack 1800mAh File manager Yes Internet access Yes Yes
BlackBerry Bold Touch 9900:
After long time BlackBerry announced new mobile phone
BlackBerry Bold Touch 9900 which is also known as BlackBerry Dakota and BlackBerry Magnum. This Tri-band JSDPA cell phone will be released in second quarter of 2011. With its trademark BB style and improved features this device is set to rock the market. First thing first, 5MP camera of BlackBerry Bold Touch 9900 is the most impressive features in this cell phone. Normally BB phones come with fewer entertainment features and more business features but this one is an exception because BlackBerry Dakota is full of entertainment features like music player and camera. BlackBerry maps, NFS support, office and pocket PDF viewer are some prominent applications of this handset. There is Standard 1230 mAh battery in it which is also a plus point of this cell phone. Lightening fast processing speed (1.2 GHz) of this mobile phone provides speed and reliability. Overall there is no major problem or drawback associated with this cell phone but we will be in better position to evaluate the real performance of BlackBerry Bold Touch 9900 after its release.
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Fr e e d o w n l o a d | f l a r e. p k
Tech Tool
LG Optimus Black P970:
The LG Optimus Black (also known as the LG B) has the
specs to be called the "thinnest and brighest" smartphone measuring 9.2mm and offering a 4 inch NOVA display which is said to offer 700 nits of brightness. The device is running Android 2.2 with Optimus UI 2.0 on top of it. LG Optimus Black P970 - Specification and details for Lg Optimus Black P970. All specifications are categorizes as General and multimedia. Lg Optimus Black P970 reviews and mobile phone rates are available. Lg Optimus Black P970 price and details. You can also sale out your Lg Optimus Black P970 in used condition. Further more, it is combine 3 Mobile phone customer service, get mobile offers, new mobile phone specification and mobile phone free stuff. This is a plate form working as a cell phone shop for popular brands like Nokia, Vodafone, Samsung, Sony Ericsson Apple iphones, 02 mobile phones, three mobile phones that is famous as 3 mobile phones.
Nokia Oro:
In selected markets, were launching a new smartphone today, the Nokia Oro. Its a
premium brand product that incorporates 18-carat gold plating, a sapphire crystal and leather from one of Scotlands finest Caledonian herds. Inside, it reaches the same high grade as Nokias other recent smartphones. Its Symbian-based, with the latest Symbian Anna update. Theres pentaband radio connectivity, up-to HSDPA 3G and WiFi. Theres a 3.5-inch AMOLED display, an 8-megapixel camera with 720p video recording and all the rest. Functionally, its not so different from other recent smartphones from Nokia. But thats quite a rarity in the premium phone business. Normally, youd have to choose between something that looked posh or offered the latest specs: Nokia Oro offers both. But clearly, someone who chooses the Nokia Oro wont be making a hard spec vs. price comparison. Theyll be more concerned about the build quality and materials. The Nokia Oro is a device thats clearly intended for someone who doesnt want their mobile device to look the same as other peoples. The main markets for this sort of device are the Middle East and Russia, where they have been best-sellers for some time.
HTC Sensation 4G:
The era of the dual-core handset is in full swing, especially now more than
ever seeing that an abundant amount of devices have come out to showcase their stuff, but the offerings will continue to only build up momentum at this point. Call them reserved or relaxed, but HTC is officially in the game within the US market where smartphones like the Motorola ATRIX 4G and T-Mobile G2x have stood atop the ladder. Inexplicably being unveiled almost out of nowhere, the HTC Sensation is already being adorned overseas as it showcases the strength, ingenuity, and innovative qualities established by the Taiwanese company. Thankfully though, the HTC Sensation 4G is aiming to arrive stateside through T-Mobile starting June 15th, where it plans to usher in the next generation of HTC devices this year with a banging start. Naturally, there is a lot to like about this sensational handset, even more when it features things like a 1.2GHz dual-core Qualcomm processor, 4.3 qHD Super LCD display, 1080p video capture, and the latest version of Sense running on top of Android 2.3 Gingerbread, but will it execute admirably in all aspects to keep it in contention amongst the alternative offerings out there.
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Tech Tool
Current Mobiles
Free download | flare.com.pk
Rs. 5,200
Rs. 5,350
Nokia 2690
Grow together The Nokia 2690 helps you stay entertained, informed, and connected. with Nokia 2690 store more of your photos & music on external MMC memory cards & take your collection with you. Nokia 2690 lets you Tune in to your local FM radio stations for news & entertainment. Nokia 2690 also have internet connection, Nokia Messaging, and Nokia Life Tools
Samsung C3053
Looks, infotainment and value built in Samsung C3053 - Enjoy the subtle look of sleek sophistication offered by the slim and stylish slider. The compact size of Samsung C3053 offers an ergonomic grip that makes the mobile feel good in your hand as it does in your pocket. Enjoy snapping photos on Samsung C3053 whenever you feel like it. The display previews photos in grand form, filling the entire screen with the image. with Samsung C3053 you can even take photos of landscapes, and stitch them together to create a panorama view.
Rs. 6,700
Rs. 6,800
LG GM200
Experience The Wonder Of Pulsating Sound. Listen to music with a difference, The powerful subwoofer of LG GM200 generates amazing bass that enhances the sound quality, Immerse yourself in rich music with LG GM200 because Dolby Mobile provides clear & crisp sound on your mobile phone, Now record and edit music from the radio directly and use your music piece as your personal ringtones by using LG GM200, The Smart profiling feature of LG GM200 recommends the perfect ring tone volume adjustment setting based on the surrounding noise.
Sony Ericsson W200i

The W200i is a candy bar form factor mobile phone that measures in at 101mm by 44mm by 18mm with a carrying weight of 85 grams. The W200i is available in two colour schemes -- Sony Ericsson amusingly calls them "Rhythm Black" and "Pulse White", otherwise known outside the marketing fraternity as black or white. Our review sample was of the white variety, with bright orange highlights. Just as many other phone manufacturers do, the W200i looks an awful lot like the rest of its phone line, which means if you're familiar with Sony Ericsson's usual design outlines, the W200i will be either a familiar and comfortable phone.
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Above prices are subject to change as per market
Current Mobiles
Tech Tool
Rs. 10,600
Rs. 11,800
Nokia 5250
One-Touch Music Access Nokia 5250 - Fast access to music, games, apps and social networks on the sleek Nokia 5250 touchscreen phone. An affordable touchscreen with multi-purpose features, Nokia 5250 has a large 2.8-inch touchscreen display without 3G, WiFi,or GPS. Nokia 5250 is a touchscreen music phone with your social networks a touch away on the customisable home screen.
Samsung M3710 Corby Beat

Samsung M3710 Corby Beat is the latest touchscreen addition to the Corby family of Samsung. Samsung M3710 Corby Beat has a large 2.8 inch display, dedicated music keys, TouchWiz interface, WiFi & Bluetooth. the integration of social networking is a special of Samsung M3710 Corby Beat, Other features include 3MP camera, 50MB of internal memory and a 3.5 mm headphone jack. The Samsung M3710 Corby Beat also comes with a Game store application so that you can download games directly to your mobile
Rs. 12,700
Rs. 10,800
Sony Ericsson C510

Beautifully simple Cyber-shot Autofocus and 3.2 megapixels Sony Ericsson C510 Cybershot makes taking great photos a piece of cake. Just slide the smooth lens cover open and snap away. Sony Ericsson C510 is Strictly personal, Its Face detection helps you focus on people. And with Smile Shutter, your Sony Ericsson C510 automatically snaps the shot when your subject beams that broad grin. Watch your favourite Youtube clips. made a funny video? upload it for all to see. Sony Ericsson C510 is fully YouTube compatible.
LG GD510
Everything You Need, Nothing You Don't. Big enough to see beyond the unwanted, The LG GD510 is virtually frame less, Its Full Touch Screen helps you get a wider screen experience that extends right to the edges, The LG GD510 comes with a multifunctional Home Key that doubles up as the Menu/Call/End buttons, Share what's latest with your friends Simply press the SNS widget on your LG GD510 home screen and get immediate access to Facebook, My Space and Twitter, With LG GD510 you can access all your contacts in a jiffy with the unique 3 Way Fun User Interface.
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Current Mobiles
Rs. 15,900
Rs. 16,800
Samsung S5570 Galaxy Nokia E5 Mini The smart way

Show off Your Smart Style. The Samsung S5570 Galaxy Mini embodies great productivity and performance in a compact design that is full of personality, Samsung S5570 Galaxy Mini keeps you connected to all that matters in your life, The Samsung S5570 Galaxy Mini is perfectly-sized for easy mobility and ergonomic comfort, With Samsung S5770 Galaxy Mini you can write messages faster and more conveniently with a continuous motion of the finger by connecting the dots to write text instead of pushing of nobby buttons one at a time.
to stay in
contact With Nokia E5 connect seamlessly to the people in your professional & personal lives through instant messaging, email and your favourite online social networks. coz Nokia E5 provides you more ways to keep in touch. Nokia E5 lets you add your favourite contacts to your home screen, see call & SMS history for each one. Nokia E5 - Access a world of information
Rs. 15,750 Sony Ericsson K660i

Online everywhere With your Sony Ericsson K660i Get online and let the news and entertainment you want come to you. One-press Web shortcuts to favourite Web sites, fast access - the Sony Ericsson K660i has it all. A lightweight 3G phone with a classic design and a broad range of features, including a 2 megapixel camera, a music player, an FM radio, and a memory card slot. The fiddly keypad isn't the easiest to use however, and battery life isn't great either.
Rs. 18,325 Samsung S5660 Galaxy Gio

Step Out In Style. Express your personal style with the Samsung S5660 Galaxy Gio Smartphone, The Samsung S5660 Galaxy Gio packs in a huge mobile performance, featuring the amazing new Android operating system, Everything from navigation to downloading and web browsing is faster and easier on Samsung S5660 Galaxy Gio, The Samsung S5660 Galaxy Gio is all about enjoying life while on the go.
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Current Mobiles
Tech Tool
Rs. 28,200
Rs. 22,900 Nokia C6

Brings Everyone Together. The Nokia C6 is a sleek & compact phone featuring a customisable home screen, highly responsive touch display and full QWERTY keyboard, Nokia C6 brings everyone together with fast & easy access to your email, contacts and favourite social networks, The Nokia C6 is a Symbian Smartphone and its also possible to configure this phone according to personal preference, The back of the Nokia C6 cell phone is set up for the mobile photography & has a maximum resolution of 5MP .
Samsung S8300 Tocco Ultra

Touch of Brilliance Ultimate Design that lasts, Touch and feel the Superb Display of Samsung S8300 Tocco Ultra Edition with New AMOLED screen & Anti-Refelction coating. Samsung S8300 Tocco Ultra Edition provides ultimate Camera and Video Experience with 8MP Camera, AF and Dual Power LD. Samsung S8300 Tocco Ultra Edition has Interactive User Interface with 3D effects.
Rs. 19,800
Rs. 26,000
HTC Wildfire Nokia E52

Email with ease Nokia E52 lets you email with ease & packs businessfriendly features into a convenient design. Take advantage of the exceptionally long talk time of Nokia E52 with great talk quality, & work remotely whenever you need to. Accomplish more with the Nokia E52. The exceptional battery life means you can stay connected whether you are. Nokia E52 gives you up to 8 hours talk time with noise cancellation for excellent talk quality. Nokia E52 - Be Productive, Stay Organised & Keep connected. Bring Your Friends To You. It feels good when your friends are always close to you & with HTC Wildfire they are just a touch away, With Friend Stream on HTC Wildfire you can see all your friends Facebook updates, Tweets & Flickr photos on the same screen, When someone calls you on HTC Wildfire your Caller ID doesn't just tell you their name and number, it tells you useful stuff like their Facebook status & birthday date too, If you really want to tell somebody that you have a smart phone than you need to grab HTC Wildfire.
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Tech Tool
Upcoming Mobiles
Fr e e d o w n l o a d | f l a r e .p k
Nokia X1-01
Size Dimensions 112.2x47.3x, Weight 91.1 g Display Type TFT, 56K colors, Size 128 x 160 pixels, 1.8 inches, Dedicated music keys Sound Alert types, Vibration, Polyphonic(32), MP3 ringtones, Loudspeaker Yes, 3.5mm jack Yes Memory Phonebook 500 entries, Call records Yes Card slot microSD, up to 16GB Features Messaging SMS, Radio Stereo FM radio Games Yes, Colors Red, Dark Grey, Ocean Blue, Orange, White, Dual SIM Flashlight, MP3 player, Organizer, Speaking clock, Predictive text input, Battery Stand-by Up to 1032 h, Talk time Up to 13 h, Music play Up to 36 h
Nokia Oro
Size Dimensions117.3x57.5x12.2 mm, Weight 132 g Display Type AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors, Size 360 x 640 pixels, 3.5 inches Proximity sensor for auto turn-off, Multi-touch input method, Accelerometer sensor for UI auto-rotate, Memory Phonebook Practically unlimited entries and fields, Photocall Call records Detailed, max 30 days, Internal 8 GB storage, 256 MB RAM, 512 MB ROM, Card slot microSD, up to 32GB Data GPRS Class 33, EDGE Class 33, 3G HSDPA, 10.2 Mbps; HSUPA, 2 Mbps, WLAN Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth Yes, v3.0 with A2DP USB Yes, Camera Primary, 8 MP, 3264x2448 pixels, fixed focus, dual-LED flash Features OS Symbian Anna OS, CPU 680 MHz ARM 11 processor, Broadcom BCM2727 GPU Messaging SMS(threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Email, IM, Browser WAP 2.0/xHTML, HTML, RSS feeds, Radio Stereo FM radio with RDS, FM transmitter, Games Yes + downloadable, Colors Nokia Oro Light, Nokia Oro Dark, GPS Yes, with A-GPS support; Ovi Maps 3.0, Java Yes, MIDP 2.1, Battery Stand-by Up to 555 h (2G) / Up to 656 h (3G) Talk time Up to 9 h 36 min (2G) / Up to 5 h
Samsung Exhibit 4G
Size Dimensions 119x58x13mm, Weight 125 g Display Type AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors, Size 480 x 800 pixels, 3.7 inches Multi-touch input method, Accelerometer sensor for UI auto-rotate, Touch-sensitive controls, Proximity sensor for auto turn-off, Sound Alert types, Vibration; MP3, WAV ringtones, Loudspeaker Yes, 3.5mm jack Yes Memory Phonebook Practically unlimited entries and fields, Photocall, Call records Practically unlimited, Card slot microSD, up to 32GB Data GPRS Yes, EDGE Yes, 3G HSDPA, 21 Mbps; HSUPA, 5.76 Mbps, WLAN Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Wi-Fi hotspot, Bluetooth Yes, v3.0 with A2DP, USB Yes, v2.0 microUSB, Camera Primary, 3.15 MP, 2048x1536 pixels, LED flash, Video Yes Features OS Android OS, v2.3 (Gingerbread), CPU 1 GHz ARM Cortex-A8 processor, Hummingbird chipset, Messaging SMS(threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Mail, IM, RSS Browser HTML, Games Yes, Colors Black, GPS, Yes, with A-GPS support, Java Yes, via Java MIDP emulator, Social networking integration, Digital compass, MP4/WMV/H.264/H.263 player, MP3/WAV/eAAC+/AC3/FLAC player, Organizer, Image/video editor, Document Predictive text input (Swype) Battery Stand-by Up to 360 h, Talk time Up to 9 h
Samsung Gravity SMART

Display Type Capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors, Size 3.2 inches, QWERTY keyboard, Multitouch input method, Accelerometer sensor for UI auto-rotate, Touch-sensitive controls, Proximity sensor for auto turn-off, Sound Alert types, Vibration; MP3, WAV ringtones, Loudspeaker Yes, 3.5mm jack, Yes, Memory Phonebook Practically unlimited entries and fields, Photocall, Call records Practically unlimited, Card slot microSD, up to 32GB Data GPRS Yes, EDGE Yes, 3G HSDPA, 3.6 Mbps WLAN Yes, Bluetooth Yes, USB Yes, Camera Primary, 3.15 MP, 2048x1536 pixels, LED flash, Video Yes Features OS Android OS, v2.2 (Froyo), CPU 800 MHz processor, Messaging SMS(threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Mail, IM, RSS, Browser HTML Games Yes, Colors Black/Red, Black/Green, GPS Yes, with A-GPS support Java Yes, via Java MIDP emulator, Social networking integration, MP4/H.264/H.263 player MP3/WAV/AAC+ player, Organizer, Image/video editor, Document viewer, Google Search, Maps, Gmail, YouTube, Calendar, Google Talk, Picasa integration, Voice memo Predictive text input
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Fr e e d o w n l o a d | f l a r e .p k
Upcoming Mobiles
Tech Tool
Motorola GLEAM
Size Dimensions 106x53x13.9mm, Weight 105 g Display Type TFT, 256K colors, Size 240 x 320 pixels, 2.4 inches, Secondary external display with icons, Sound Alert types, Vibration; MP3, WAV ringtones, Loudspeaker Yes, 3.5mm jack Yes Memory Phonebook 800 entries, Photocall, Call records Yes, Internal 5 MB, Card slot microSD, up to 16GB, buy memory Data GPRS Class 12 (4+1/3+2/2+3/1+4 slots), 32 48 kbps, Bluetooth Yes, v2.1 with A2DP, EDR, USB Yes, microUSB v2.0, Camera Primary 2 MP, 1600x1200 pixels, Video Yes Features Messaging SMS, MMS, Email, Browser HTML Radio Stereo FM radio, Games Yes Colors Black, Red, Java, MP3/WAV/AAC+ player, MP4/H.263 player, Organizer, Voice memo, Predictive text input Battery Stand-by Up to 500 h, Talk time Up to 6 h 20 min
Motorola Photon 4G
Size Dimensions 126.9x66.9x12.2mm, Weight 158 g Display Type TFT capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors, Size 540 x 960 pixels, 4.3 inches, Multi-touch input method Accelerometer sensor for UI auto-rotate, Proximity sensor for auto turn-off, Touch-sensitive controls, Sound Alert types, Vibration; MP3, WAV ringtones, Loudspeaker Yes, 3.5mm jack Yes Memory Phonebook Practically unlimited entries and fields, Photo call, Call records Practically unlimited, Internal 16 GB storage, 1 GB RAM, 2 GB ROM, Card slot microSD, up to 32GB Data 3G Rev. A, up to 3.1 Mbps, LTE, WLAN Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, DLNA, Wi-Fi hotspot; WiMAX 802.16 e, Bluetooth Yes, v2.1 with A2DP, EDR, USB Yes, microUSB v2.0 Camera Primary, 8 MP, 3264x2448 pixels, autofocus, dual-LED flash, Features Geo-tagging, face detection, image stabilization, Video Yes, 720p@30fps, Secondary Yes, VGA Features OS Android OS, CPU 1GHz NVIDIA Tegra 2 AP20H Dual Core processor, Messaging, SMS (threaded view), MMS, Email, IM, Push Email, Browser HTML, Games Yes + downloadable, Colors Black, GPS Yes, with AGPS support, Java Yes, via Java MIDP emulator, SNS integration, Digital compass, HDMI port, Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic, MP3/WAV/WMA/AAC+ player, MP4/WMV/H.263/H.264 player, Google Search, Maps, Gmail, YouTube, Google Talk, Built-in kickstand Document viewer, Photo viewer/editor, Organizer Adobe Flash 10.1, Battery Talk time Up to 10 hours (2G) / Up to 9 hours (3G)
Sony Ericsson Xperia mini

Size Dimensions 88x52x16 mm, Weight 99 g Display Type LED-backlit LCD, capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors, Size 320 x 480 pixels, 3.0 inches, Scratch-resistant surface, Accelerometer sensor for auto-rotate, Multitouch input method, Sony Mobile BRAVIA Engine, Proximity sensor for auto turn-off Memory Phonebook Practically unlimited entries and fields, Photocall, Call records Practically unlimited, Internal 512 MB RAM, 320MB storage, Card slot, microSD, up to 32GB, 2GB included, Data GPRS Up to 86 kbps, EDGE Up to 237 kbps, 3G HSDPA 7.2Mbps, HSUPA 5.76Mbps, WLAN Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, DLNA, Wi-Fi hotspot, Bluetooth Yes, v2.1 with A2DP, USB Yes, v2.0 microUSB, Camera Primary, 5 MP, 2592x1944 pixels, autofocus, Features OS Android OS, v2.3 (Gingerbread), CPU 1GHz Scorpion processor, Adreno 205 GPU, Qualcomm QSD8255 Snapdragon, Messaging SMS (threaded view), MMS, Email, Push email, IM, Browser HTML Radio Stereo FM radio with RDS, Games Yes, Colors Black, White, Blue, Dark pink, GPS Yes, with A-GPS support, Java Yes, via Java MIDP emulator Battery Up to 340 h (2G) / Up to 320 h (3G), Talk time Up to 4 h 30 min (2G) / Up to 4 h 30 min (3G),
HTC DROID Incredible 2

Size Dimensions 120.7x64x12.2mm, Weight 135 g Display Type S-LCD capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors, Size 480 x 800 pixels, 4.0 inches, Gorilla Glass display, Multi-touch input method, Accelerometer sensor for UI auto-rotate, Proximity sensor for auto turn-off, HTC Sense UI, Touch-sensitive controls with rotating icons Sound Alert types, Vibration, MP3, WAV ringtones, Loudspeaker Yes, 3.5mm jack Yes SRS WOWHD surround sound enhancement Memory Phonebook Practically unlimited entries and fields, Photocall, Call records Practically unlimited, Internal 1.1 GB ROM, 768 MB RAM, Card slot, microSD, up to 32GB, buy memory, Data 3G Rev. A, up to 3.1 Mbps; HSPA, WLAN Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, DLNA, Wi-Fi hotspot, Bluetooth Yes, v2.1 with A2DP, EDR, USB Yes, microUSB v2.0, Camera Primary, 8 MP, 3264x2448 pixels, autofocus, dualLED flash, Features OS Android OS, v2.2 (Froyo), CPU 1 GHz Scorpion processor, Adreno 205 GPU, Qualcomm MSM8255 Snapdragon, Messaging SMS(threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Email, IM, Browser HTML, Radio Stereo FM radio with RDS, Games Yes, Colors Black, Red, GPS Yes, with AGPS support,Java Yes, memo/dial/commands, Predictive text input Battery Up to 361 h, Talk time Up to 6 h 30 min
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Tech Tool
High Range Mobiles
Rs. 45,850
Rs. 37,500
Nokia E7
Your Mobile Office. With new Nokia E7 you have easy access to your work and private email accounts from the same view, You can Create, edit and share office docs and view PDF files with Adobe Reader in your Nokia E7, By using Nokia E7 you can update your status across all your social networks at the same time, You can Keep your important data protected in Nokia E7 with F-Secure Anti-Theft for Mobile, With Nokia E7 you can enjoy National Geographic, CNN and many more channels with on-demand Web TV.
HTC Aria
You Want It All, You Want It Small. The HTC Aria comes with Compact and elegant design, From the refined construction on the exterior to the brightly colored interior HTC Aria is like a nice gripped phone in your hand, HTC Aria has been added with Polite ringer so as soon as you lift it up to see who is calling, the ringer volume drops, The HTC Aria has enhanced support for Exchange such as password protection and remote data wipe which means security on the go.
Rs. 38,500
Rs. 60,000 Apple iphone 4 16GB FU

This changes everything. Again In both hardware and software, Apple iphone 4 is a major leap over its already-excellent predecessor, the iPhone 3GS. The combination of gorgeous new hardware, amazing display, upgraded cameras, and major improvements to the operating system make Apple iphone 4 an extremely formidable package. Apple iphone 4 is a GSM cell phone with a high-resolution display, FaceTime video calling, HD video recording, a 5-megapixel camera, and more.
LG GD880
Small But Mighty. LG GD880 allow you to access information easily with the built-in Widget like Apple Daily, OpenRice and Google, The built-in Phantom browser feature of LG GD880 minimizes waiting time with high-speed webpage loading, With LG GD880 you can access to your favorite social networking sites via the Widget Home Screen. LG KG880 is a new dimension in entertainment.
Rs. 40,600
Rs. 33,800
Samsung M8910 Pixon12

The worlds first 12 megapixel camera phone Samsung M8910 Pixon12, Capture the most detail with the highest resolution in a camera phone coz Samsung M8910 Pixon12 has a 12 Megapixel Camera. You don't have to worry about the light conditions anymore coz Samsung M8910 Pixon12 also has a Xenon flash ensuring well-lit photos even in dark surroundings. Now view your photos & images through a clear and vivid colour display with Samsung M8910 Pixon12's 16 million colour AMOLED screen.
Samsung Galaxy SL I9003

Turn On Smart Life. Immerse yourself in your rich media content like never before with Samsung Galaxy SL I9003, With Samsung Galaxy SL I9003 you can watch your favourite content in broad daylight and enjoy a crisp & clear picture, 1Ghz processor, 4GB internal memory & Wireless Tethering of Samsung Galaxy SL I9003 you have the speed, space & access you need to stay connected wherever you roam, You can enjoy the best viewing experience with Samsung Galaxy SL I9003.
78
Low Range Mobile
Tech Tool
Rs. 2,250
Rs. 2,300
Qmobile E125
Sense The Music. If you are a music lover then Qmobile E125 is the cell phone you need to look at, With a strong MP3 player Qmobile E125 is a treat for all, Like E150 Qmobile E125 Also has a strong torch light, With FM Recording feature Qmobile E125 is good than nothing.
Nokia 1208
Colorful connections are easy on the Nokia 1208 User-friendly & dependable with instant access to key phone functions, unique cost-management features. The 1208 comes in a stylish classic bar handset which is mainly black in colour & enhanced with a coloured section in a choice of either black or red. The handset measures 102mm in height, 44.1mm in width & 17.5mm in depth which gives the mobile phone a solid & durable feel. The Nokia 1208 is a solid handset which is easy to carry everywhere the user goes & only weighs 77 grams including the battery.
Rs. 2,875
Rs. 4,199
Samsung E1225
Your Mobile Style. From incredibly loud sound to the universal earphone connection Samsung E1225 features enhance the sound experience from the mobile, With Samsung E1225 you will be able to listen to FM radio using any earphone they have so that you can enjoy entertainment on the go, Samsung E1225 is powered to do more because you wont need to switch out SIM cards between uses, Samsung E1225 comes with two SIM card slots.
Samsung E2232 Nari

Candybar Phone. If you want a basic candybar phone you need to go for Samsung E2232 Nari, Samsung E2232 Nari is an affordable price Dual SIM GSM mobile phone, With music centric features, external speakers, quick access music button Samsung E2232 Nari is awesome cell phone in this price range, Samsung E2232 Nari also supports a basic VGA camera which means you can capture your memorable moments as well.
Rs 2,290
Rs. 5,100
LG GS108
Video Recorder No FM Radio Yes MP3 Player No MMS Yes Web Browser No 3G No GPRS No EDGE No Handsfree Speaker Yes Internal Memory 1 MB Expandable Memory No WLAN/ Wi-Fi No GPS No Full Keyboard No USB No Infrared No Talk Time Up to 10 h Standby Time Up to 800 h Dimension 103.9 x 43.5 x 12.9 mm Weight 70 g
Sony Ericsson K330

For an active daily life With Sony Ericsson K330 Capture video, send messages and listen to the FM radio. Nice to hold and easy to use, the Sony Ericsson K330 is a solid phone for an active life. Capture and store up to 250 photos or 12 minutes of video. Each video clip can be up to 2 minutes long. Share via Sony Ericsson K330 Bluetooth or a picture message.
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Tech Tool
Latest LapTop
Dell Latitude E6520

Rs 1,23,990
HP Pavilion G6-1026se
Rs 56,490
Enjoy business-rugged performance with the redesigned Dell Latitude E6520. This laptop is built for the new mobile business class with the durability, security and convenient manageability youve come to expect from the Latitude E-Family laptops. Series Latitude Operating System Windows 7 Professional Processor Type Intel Core i7 Processor Speed (2.7GHz Turbo Up To 3.4GHz) Processor L2 Cache 4 MB Processor Model i7-2620M RAM Capacity 2 GB RAM Type DDR3 RAM Slots 2 Hard Disk Capacity 500 GB HDD RPM 7200 HDD Interface SATA Screen Size 15.6 inch Screen Type LED Screen Resolution 1366 x 768 Graphics Built In Video Memory Shared Optical Drive DVD Super Multi
With an attractive design and reliable performance, our affordable Pavilion g6 series with 15.6 inch diagonal high-definition LED display is ideal for your everyday needs. Series HP Pavilion g6 Operating System Windows 7 Home Basic Edition Processor Type Intel Core i3 Processor Speed 2.10 GHz Processor L2 Cache 3 MB Processor Model i3-2310M RAM Capacity 3 GB RAM Type DDR3 RAM Slots 2 Hard Disk Capacity 320 GB HDD RPM 5400 HDD Interface SATA Screen Size 15.6 inch Screen Type LED Screen Resolution 1366 x 768 Graphics Built In Video Memory Shared Optical Drive DVD Super Multi
HP Pavilion dv6-3200t
Rs 63,490
Sony Vaio VPCF131FM/B

Rs 89,490
Strike the right balance between mobility, size, and visual performance with our Pavilion dv6t Series Entertainment Notebook PC. This 15.6 inch (diagonal) notebook with high-definition1 screen is ready to rock your entertainment world. Series Pavilion Operating System Windows 7 Home Premium Edition Processor Type Intel Core i3 Processor Speed 2.40 GHz Processor L2 Cache 3 MB Processor Model i3-370M RAM Capacity 4 GB RAM Type DDR3 RAM Slots 2 Hard Disk Capacity 500 GB HDD RPM 5400 HDD Interface SATA Screen Size 15.6 inch Screen Type LED Screen Resolution 1366 x 768 Graphics Built In Video Memory Shared Optical Drive Blue Ray Dual-Layer DVD/CD Burner
Rediscover your favorite music, photos and more with Media Gallery. Developed with design in mind, Media Gallery includes a stunning UI with easy-to-use features and technology that takes the work out of enjoying your media. Series F Series Operating System Windows 7 Home Premium Edition Processor Type Intel Core i5 Processor Speed (2.66GHz Turbo Up To 2.93GHz) Processor L2 Cache 3 MB Processor Model i5-480M RAM Capacity 4 GB RAM Type DDR3 RAM Slots 2 Hard Disk Capacity 750 GB HDD RPM 5400 HDD Interface SATA Screen Size 16.4 inch Screen Type LED Screen Resolution 1600 x 900 Graphics Nvidia GeForce 310M Video Memory 512 MB Optical Drive DVD Super Multi
Acer Aspire Aspire 4750G-2414G64

Rs 63,990
Apple MacBook Pro 17 MC725LL/A

Rs 2,41,990
Acers Aspire Series offers a diverse range of notebooks with the performance, graphics and communication tools to maximize your digital entertainment, complete your daily tasks, and keep you in touch with friends and family, whether youre at home or on the go. Series Aspire Operating System Linux Processor Type Intel Core i5 Processor Speed (2.30GHz Turbo Up To 2.90GHz) Processor L2 Cache 3 MB Processor Model i5-2410M RAM Capacity 4 GB RAM Type DDR3 RAM Slots 2 Hard Disk Capacity 640 GB HDD RPM 5400 HDD Interface SATA Screen Size 14 inch Screen Type LED Screen Resolution 1366 x 768 Graphics Nvidia GeForce Video Memory 1 GB Optical Drive DVD Super Multi
The New MacBook Pro State of the art processor . All new graphics breakthrough high speed I/O. Three Very Big leaps forward Series MacBook Pro Operating System Mac OS X Snow Leopard Processor Type Intel Core i7 Processor Speed 2.2 GHz Processor L2 Cache 6 MB Processor Model Info n/a RAM Capacity 4 GB RAM Type DDR3 RAM Slots 2 Hard Disk Capacity 750 GB HDD RPM 5400 HDD Interface SATA Screen Size 17 inch Screen Type LED Screen Resolution 1900 x 1200 Graphics AMD Radeon HD 6750M Video Memory 1 GB Optical Drive DVD Super Multi
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Latest Computers
Tech Tool
HP Pro 2000 Microtower PC

Rs 38,990
Acer Veriton M490G

Rs 48,990
Everyday Essentials. Let the HP Pro 2000 Business PC take your business to new places with stylish efficiency at a price that won`t break your bank. Stimulate your work day with essential technology and expandability designed to suit your needs. Monitor No Operating System Dos Processor Type Intel Core 2 Duo Processor Model Processor Speed 2.7 GHz Processor L2 Cache 2 MB RAM Type DDR II / 2 RAM 1 GB Hard Disk Capacity 250 GB RPM 7200 Chipset Intel G41 Express Chipset Graphics Built In Video Memory Shared Optical Drive DVD Super Multi
Fuelled by top-notch components and technologies, the Veriton M Series gives you the resources to handle challenging office tasks and oversee company assets. In addition, innovative Acer engineering enables modular and toolless accessibility to your machine, while energy-efficient certifications mean cost savings as well as care for the environment. Monitor No Operating System Dos Processor Type Intel Core i5 Processor Model E5400 Processor Speed 3.2 GHz Processor L2 Cache 4 MB RAM Type DDR3 RAM 2 GB Hard Disk Capacity 320 GB RPM 5400 Chipset Built In Graphics Built In Video Memory Shared Optical Drive DVD Super Multi
Dell OptiPlex D380

Rs 37,990
Dell Vostro 230MT

Rs 34,490
Reliable, Expandable Solution for Small Business From its scalable design to its ability to integrate with the latest Dell business hardware and services, the Vostro 230 Mini Tower provides a strong foundation for your small business to grow on. Monitor No Operating System Dos Processor Type Intel Pentium Dual Core Processor Model E5400 Processor Speed 2.70 GHz Processor L2 Cache 3 MB RAM Type DDR3 RAM 1 GB Hard Disk Capacity 250 GB RPM 7200 Chipset Intel G41 Express Chipset Graphics Built In Video Memory Shared Optical Drive DVD Super Multi
With features and form factors that extend well beyond "the basics", the OptiPlex 380 provides a flexible, cost-efficient solution for basic IT infrastructures. Monitor No Operating System Dos Processor Type Intel Pentium Dual Core Processor Model E5500 Processor Speed 2.8 GHz Processor L2 Cache 2 MB RAM Type DDR3 RAM 2 GB Hard Disk Capacity 320 GB RPM 5400 Chipset Intel G41 Express Chipset Graphics Built In Video Memory Shared Optical Drive DVD Super Multi
HP Compaq dx2390MT
Rs 42,990
Apple iMac 21.5-inch

Rs 1,19,990
Practical and stylish: Newly designed with real metal surfaces and glossy finishes, the HP Compaq dx2390 desktop PC is meant to be shown off, not hidden. Out-of-the-box productivity: Easy to use HP desktops allow for out-of-the-box productivity so you can get started quickly. HP Back-up and Recovery Manager also come pre-loaded on your PC to help keep you up and running. Monitor No Operating System Dos Processor Type Intel Core 2 Duo Processor Model E5400 Processor Speed 2.93 GHz Processor L2 Cache 3 MB RAM Type DDR II / 2 RAM 1 GB Hard Disk Capacity 320 GB RPM 7200 Chipset Intel G31 Graphics Built In Video Memory Shared Optical Drive DVD Super Multi
Apple introduced the first iMac more than a decade ago. And the design philosophy remains the same: an all-inone computer thats as powerful as it is beautiful. Monitor 21.5 Inch Operating System Mac OS X Leopard Processor Type Intel Core i3 Processor Speed 3.06 GHz Processor L2 Cache 4 MB RAM Type DDR3 RAM 4 GB Hard Disk Capacity 500GB RPM 7200 Chipset Built In Graphics ATI Radeon HD 4670 Video Memory 256 MB Optical Drive DVD Super Multi
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Tech Tool
Accessories
PhoneSuit Elite iPhone 4 Battery Case

With the Apple iPhone being popular, many accessories usually are made in different forms for it. For those who wish an external battery accessory for their iPhone, their choices are usually limited to the bulky and outsized types. It is a good thing that the PhoneSuit Elite iPhone 4 Battery Case is not. The PhoneSuit Elite Case for the iPhone 4 is probably the thinnest casing out there that offers additional battery power for your iPhone 4. it is only 17mm thick and yet it also features a built-in rechargeable battery that can double the battery life of your iPhone 4. It is also quick charging, which takes only two hours to become fully charged. The PhoneSuit Elite iPhone 4 Battery Case is currently available for pre-order. With powerful chosen buying all, tha
Gigabyte Booktop M2432 Notebook

notebooks becoming even more and more in terms of performance, it may soon just be by consumers as a viable option to a full desktop PC. Notebooks after have the advantage in mobility t desktop PC's do not offer. The new Gigabyte Booktop M2432 Notebook may just be the a good example.
The new Gigabyte Booktop M243 2 Notebook features an Intel Core i5 processor, Intel HD 3000 graphics, and full I/O ports which includes USB 3.0 support for a complete desktop PC experience. It comes with a 14 inch LED backlight display. The notebook comes at 27.6 mm thick and weighs around 1.8kg. This notebook also comes with an innovative docking station that allows it to offer full level desktop experience.
Thanko Puts HD Video Recording on Sunglasses

We've seen this in one or two cop shows where informants would wear sunglasses that are attached with hidden cameras. They look cool, but we have yet to see something like that being sold for consumers, until now. Thanko, famous for making spy gadgets, comes up with HD Video Camera Sunglasses. This devices lets users record video files in AVI format with 1,280 x 720 resolutions at 30 frames per second, all while wearing it. The glasses can also take JPEG photos with 4,032 x 3,024 resolution. The files are stored in microSD cards of up to 32GB capacity and can be transferred to a computer by USB 2.0 connection. Thanko claims that 1.4GB of storage is all a user needs to record up to 10 minutes of HD video. Whether it would look good on you is still debatable.
Toshiba Thrive Tablet

Toshiba has now entered into tablet territory by offering its new Toshiba Thrive Tablet. While other tablet makers have been making noises in the market with their own new models, it seems that Toshiba has been silently developing their own device. And it might just take those other makers by surprise. Well, Toshiba hasn't really been silent about it. But its previous ads surely was a tad bit mysterious, offering as little specifications of the tablet that those expecting it would want to know about. But now, here it is. The Toshiba Thrive Tablet features a Tegra 2 processor and comes with a 10-inch touchscreen display with 1200 x 800 resolution. It also comes with a 5MP rear camera, a 2MP front camera, a USB, HDMI and an SD Card slot.
Is Nokia Making a Tablet? Sounds Like It!

While every major electronics company have already ridden the tablet bandwagon, we have yet to hear whether or not Nokia would develop their very own tablet computer. In a conference at D9, Nokia's CEO Stephen Elop gave this somewhat cryptic response to a question about tablets: I'm not going to announce a tablet here today. But as a high-level point, there's a connected digital experience will increasingly define what consumers are looking for. It's important for us to play across that space. We have to address that whole space. If Nokia will not make a tablet, he simply would have said no or, as CrunchGear puts it, right now we're focused on the mobile sector. Do you think Nokia will be making a tablet device? Leave us a response!
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ViewSonic ViewPad 7x Tablet

With many new devices and gadgets being offered at the recently held Computex 2011 in Taiwan, it seems that the new tablets being offered have stood out on their own. It has become a battle between the new Android tablets, with the rapidly increasing market presence of those Windows tablets. As for the former, ViewSonic has introduced what is said to be the very first 7 inch tablet running on Android 3.0, the ViewPad 7x tablet. The ViewSonic ViewPad 7x is built on top the current ViewPad 7 tablets. But this time the ViewPad 7x tablets run on the Honeycomb or the Android 3.0 tablet OS. As introduced, the new ViewPad 7x tablet is powered by a Tegra 2 Dual Core CPU,a 7 inch 1024600 touchscreen, a pair of cameras and HDMI output.
Tech Tool
Magnet Powered Spinning Top

If you are into some unique and mind boggling toys, you truly come from a limited group of people. But that doesn't make you different from normal. It just so happens that you like to perplex others in one way or another. Well, you can silently perplex your friends or even strangers with this unique Magnet Powered Spinning Top. The Magnet Powered Spinning Top looks like a small metal top that spins on a normal looking black base. But that is not all it does. You see, the top seems to spin perpetually and comes with a radially oriented magnetic field and the base houses a conductive coils inside. As the top spins towards the center of the base, the changing magnetic field causes the electromagnet to switch on and deliver enough torque to speed up the top's spin as well as make it spin away from the center, switching off the electromagnet.
Fredflare USB HubDog

USB devices are quite common nowadays that they tend to outnumber the available slots on your PC or laptop. That is why most people make use of USB hubs to add slots for connecting their various USB devices. A cool and unique take on USB hubs come in this Fredflare USB HubDog. The Fredflare USB HubDog takes a design of a dog with four available USB slots for legs. A cute take for an otherwise ordinary looking peripheral to give it some added appeal. The USB HubDog comes with a green indicator light that lights up when the USB hub is connected. The Fredflare USB HubDog is available at Fredflare for US$18.
Crux Loaded Clamshell Case For iPad

Tablets like the ever popular Apple iPad are usually being used for what they are, tablets. But there have been some enterprising companies that have designed and developed different accessories to further add up to the may ways the iPad can be used. A good example would be this new Crux Loaded iPad Casing. What makes the Crux Loaded casing unique apart from the usual iPad casings out there is that it can conver t the Apple tablet into a notebook in a convenient manner. It is a clamshell case for the Apple iPad that comes complete with its own Bluetooth keyboard and trackpad. The casing also comes with a built-in battery that can also put an additional 7.8 hours of battery life to your iPad.
Creative Live inPerson HD Webcam Gets Skype's

Skype has become very popular as of late because of its HD video calling service. To experience the full extent of this service, members would have to install HD webcams. Logitech and Microsoft released theirs last year, but Skype refused to certify them for use with its service. Although these HD webcams would work just fine on Skype HD, the messenger service would not guarantee they will work well. The reason behind this refusal is because Skype is only interested in certifying HD webcams that come with onboard video processing, so that Skype HD would even work in old computers. Creative has heeded this call and introduced the inPerson HD webcam with built-in H.264 encoder and CPU for flawless video conferencing. It even has an autofocus and quad mic system, so users can sit as far as 10 feet away and still be seen and heard clearly.
Microsoft Windows Unveils Windows 8 OS

Microsoft Windows has just unveiled its latest OS, codenamed Windows 8, by no less than its president Steven Sinofsky during the D9 trade event. The appearance is pretty much like Windows Phone 7's Metro UI and is designed for devices with touchscreens. The Windows 8 will come in two applications: One will run in traditional desktop computers, while the other features pseudo-mobile apps based on HTML5 and Javascript. The new OS will also support keyboard and mouse for touchscreen-deprived devices, as well as a set of virtual keys for different form factors. It has multitasking, which is achieved by simply swiping running apps into the center of the screen and pulling windows partway to snap them alongside other windows. This function would allow traditional desktop programs to mix and matching with web apps, using them simultaneously (such as Twitter and spreadsheet).
Apple Reveals New Cloud Service Called iCloud

Apple has announced its upcoming software, but what really got our attention is its cloud service, appropriately called iCloud. The service is speculated to become the replacement of Apple's MobileMe, revamping it with upgrades to improve performance and stability, as well as added services like calendar and e-mail syncing. There are also talks about a potential music service that will be included in iCloud, although this has yet to be confirmed. What is known so far is that Apple is said to have signed with partner for what appears to be a mirrored version of an iTunes database, which will put in competition with Amazon's and Google's music services, as well as other cloud-based sharing services like Spotify and Rdio. Apart from the iCloud, Apple is also set to unveil on June 6 its latest Mac OS X version called Lion and the iOS 5 advanced mobile operating system.
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Tech Tool
Game Review
A game's success or failure often rests on the little things. An otherwise ordinary game can soar to great heights by nailing the details; conversely, a smattering of small flaws might cause fine ideas to flounder. Hunted: The Demon's Forge is the latter type of game: conceptually sound, yet clumsy as delivered. As a result, this cooperative action game feels like an ancient relic, in spite of its attempts to use modern gameplay elements popularized by Gears of War and co-opted by countless games since. It's a shame that a game with such promise feels so unfinished. Imagine this scenario: you take up your bow, and a buddy grabs his mace and shield. Together, you cut through swaths of maniacal monsters, seeking the most effective ways of ridding your fantasy kingdom of a rising menace. When Hunted comes together, it captures the essence of such a rambunctious adventure. But sloppy locomotion, technical glitches galore, and all sorts of basic flaws rise up to smite you. PC players also get a special problem to call their own: barely functioning online play. And that's a damning issue in a game designed to be played with another. Don't dismiss Hunted as a complete disaster. Smashing an enemy frozen temporarily in ice? Frigid fun. Finding an elemental weapon in a secret hiding place? Satisfying. Zapping a roaring beast with lightning? Electric. But for every moment of fun, there's something ridiculous to add to the list of oddities. Rubble that rises three inches off the ground and generates a cover prompt when you near it. Invisible walls in bizarre places, keeping your arrows from finding their marks. Overused contextual prompts that might have you performing a finisher when you have only a few crucial moments to toss your fallen comrade a revival elixir. How much fun you have with Hunted: The Demon's Forge depends on how willing you are to overlook those oddities in favor of the bigger picture.
If you're familiar with the Red Faction series, then you know Mars as a dangerous place where the regimes are oppressive and the building codes are lax. In Red Faction: Armageddon, alien infestation replaces armed uprising as the series takes on a new tone. This third-person shooter may tell an unremarkable tale and lack the freedom of its open-world predecessor, Red Faction: Guerrilla, but Armageddon serves up a fresh new batch of creative mayhem with extensive destructibility and a devastating array of weapons and powers. Blasting your way through hordes of aliens and wreaking merry havoc on the overrun human infrastructure is an entertaining endeavor, but it's the ingenious and versatile magnet gun that takes the thrills of destruction to new heights. Whether you're soldiering solo in the single-player campaign or staving off an enemy onslaught with friends online, Red Faction: Armageddon provides a lot of great ways to indulge your destructive desires. Red Faction: Armageddon returns to the linear roots of the series with great success. Thanks to an enjoyably powerful arsenal and remarkably thorough destructibility, tearing your way through this alienannihilating adventure is a blast. The campaign and Infestation mode offer a good amount of content, and the arrival of the magnet gun should be celebrated by anyone with a hankering for havoc. It's one of the most powerful, inspiring, and downright hilarious gameplay mechanics to come along in a while, and it makes Red Faction: Armageddon immensely appealing.
The Beast draws ever closer. The prophesied monster from the end of Infamous marches toward its inevitable confrontation with Cole McGrath. Toppling your colossal foe is the impetus for your latest adventure, but there is something far more sinister stalking you: an unshakable feeling of deja vu. The superpowered thirdperson action that was once novel and exciting has turned predictable. New problems arise as well. An overactive camera is a mild irritant, but the biggest issues stem from aimless pacing and suffocating enemy encounters. Infamous 2 is a disappointing sequel, but a solid foundation ensures there are still plenty of thrilling moments. There's no denying the inherent fun in sliding along an electrical wire while shooting bolts of lightning from your fingertips. And a few notable improvements, such as revamped visuals and a robust mission editor, add to the experience. Infamous 2 struggles to reach the lofty heights of its superb predecessor, but wanton destruction and carefree exploration provide good reasons to see how Cole's journey plays out. If only the rest of Infamous 2 were as imaginative as the creation tools. In many ways, this follows the predictable formula for a sequel. Better visual design and more variety build on the original's foundation, and the core mechanics are still fun to mess around with. But bigger is not always better. Pacing issues sap away much of your motivation to see what happens next, and poorly balanced combat encounters turn explosive action sequences into frustrating drags. Although there are still plenty of enjoyable moments that conjure blissful memories of the original game, a number of small flaws make for an uneven experience. Infamous 2 proves just how difficult it is to
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Pakistan Leading Telecom& IT News Magazine Flare June+July

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June 15, July 15, 2011

Cover Story InsighT

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