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The recent blanket ban on YouTube in Pakistan has caused a lot of trouble for Internet users.

On one hand we have the issue of blasphemous content being hosted on the website but what the naive authorities fail to realize is that YouTube offers so much more than that. Especially in 2012, the site is now used by over a couple of million users from around Pakistan every month.

From music, to TV shows, online lectures, online Quran, open courseware, every other form of online media has been affected by this blanket ban. The biggest collateral damage has been to Virtual University of Pakistan which the top visited YouTube channel from the country and offered distant-learnings courses and lectures to thousands of students.

Unfortunately there has been no statement on when the ban will be lifted. Below, you will find some methods that will help you get temporary access to YouTube.

1. Tor Client

Tor is free software and an open network that helps you defend against a form of network surveillance that threatens personal freedom and privacy, confidential business activities. In short, it keeps your activity anonymous and lets you browse and access websites which might be blocked in your area. [download]

2. JonDo

JonDo, formerly JAP, is the ip changer proxy tool you have to install on your computer. It acts as a proxy and will forward the traffic of your internet applications multible encrypted to the mix cascades and so it will hide your ip address. It is a Java application, open source and you can download it for free. [download]

3. TunnelBear

TunnelBear is the world’s easiest to use consumer VPN software that securely "tunnels" your internet connection to locations around the world. TunnelBear can be used to protect your privacy, to bypass internet censorship and to experience the internet as people in other countries experience it. In simple words, it is an incredibly simple app to experience the internet as if you were living in another country. [download]

4. HotSpot Shield

HotSpot Shield make a virtual private network (VPN) across your Internet thus allowing you to bypass any filters and watch YouTube video. [download]

5. Ultrasurf

Ultrasurf is a free proxy-based tool for internet privacy and security that allows you to bypass firewalls and protect your identity online. [download]

Also, I think it is about time that people should explore other YouTube alternatives like Vimeo, DailyMotion and MetaCafe to host their content or even view videos.

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It seems that the days of having four predictable weather seasons are gone, at least in some parts of the world. Inclement weather conditions can have a huge impact on our lives and can dramatically alter our plans and daily activities, which is why it’s a good idea to have at least one premium weather app installed on our devices that allow us to keep track of the changing conditions in specific localities. Plenty of weather apps exist on iOS, with Weather 2x being one that has been recently updated and enhanced for the new iPhone 5.

The Weather 2x app has been designed for the Retina display of the iPhone and iPad, and although the same should be said about any app these days, unfortunately we still see a lot of apps that haven’t been updated to include Retina assets, let alone offering iPhone 5 support. The latest 1.7 release of Weather 2x brings full support for the larger display of the iPhone 5, making it one of only a few elite apps that support the new hardware.

The bar for weather apps has been raised recently with an influx of beautiful apps landing on the App Store that offer gorgeous visuals built into a minimalist interface. Weather 2x doesn’t disappoint in this area, with great visuals and a host of animations that don’t detract from the user-experience. Users can also expect to see a fairly comprehensive set of weather related features such as track and manage an unlimited amount of weather data from varying locations around the globe, as well as generating current weather conditions in the local area and a five-day weather forecast.

For those who prefer accessing the more intricate details of the environmental conditions, then Weather 2x doesn’t shy sway. Wind speed and direction of the wind are available within the app, as well as extended weather information like precipitation levels, humidity and pressure. The developers have also built in specific interface gestures that invoke certain features, such as swiping in from the left of the display to view a city overview or swiping from the right to display an hourly forecast of the weather.

The Weather 2x app is available as a $0.99 download, works on the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad and requires iOS 5.0 or above.

(Source: Weather 2x for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad on the App Store).

Be sure to check out our iPhone Apps Gallery and iPad Apps Gallery to explore more apps for your iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.

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Crowned as the fastest performing smartphone, Apple has sold over 5 million iPhone 5 over the launch weekend. The launch took place in 9 countries (US, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and the UK) on September 21 and demand was so strong that immediate pre-orders were closed in just an hour after opening and users were getting at least 2 weeks of shipping time afterwards. 

It seems like Apple might be having a touch time meeting consumer demand since many stores ran out of stock early. Initial reviews of the device have been very good although critics have been pointing out the hardware as just evolutionary and iOS 6 as a mere refinement instead of a major upgrade. Compared to its major rival, the Galaxy S3, Apple has sold a lot more units in 3 days than the 20 days it took for Samsung to sell 20 million units. That’s approximately 200,000 units per day for Samsung compared to around 1.6 million iPhones per day for Apple. Not to forget, Galaxy S3 was launched in 28 countries and 100 carriers, compared to just 9 countries for iPhone 5.

iPhone 5 ships with a larger 4 inch display with a better colour reproduction than iPhone 4S along with an improved 8 megapixel camera, LTE wireless technology, superb performance thanks to a blazing fast A6 processor and 1GB of RAM and iOS 6. Apple is selling the phones way faster than it’s able to make them so delays in shipping time are expected.

The next wave of iPhone 5 launch will be on September 28 in the following 22 countries: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. Further countries will be added to the list in December.

 

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We are invited to a number of launch events and we have almost attended all of them, and being in Pakistan we have always been part of launch events for devices that are about to be launched in Pakistan.

Thanks to Nokia Pakistan, for the first time ever, a new Nokia phone announcement was made from Pakistan at a global launch event held at Marriott Hotel, Karachi last week.

This was a media event held just for the traditional media, newspapers/magazines and online media (this is where we come in!). Sizzled Core, along with a bunch of other bloggers around Pakistan were invited to be a part of this grand event.

Nokia’s decision to choose Pakistan for the global launch of their upcoming devices was a clear sign of how important Pakistani market is for Nokia. Nokia envisions to connect the next billion people with the newly launched Nokia 110 and Nokia 112. Great presentations, and overview of how strong the telecommunications industry is in Pakistan, dance, music, fireworks… This was all part of the Nokia event.

Nokia has the biggest app store in Pakistan which includes 2,000,000+ weekly downloads on average! Almost all of media fro mPakistan is accessible on the Nokia Store â€" apps include: Geo, Aaj TV, Dawn News, Express Tribune, ARY News, Radio Pakistan etc.

Some really cool local applications are also available, such as Cricket, Ludo, Toffee TV etc. Islamic apps on the App store have millions of downloads. There are over 400 local apps, with 200+ Pakistan developers contributing to the Nokia App store which bring the download count of the Pakistani content to over 17 million!

These statistics and figures were shared by the three key speakers of the main event â€" Imran Khalid Mahmood, Saulo Passos and Calin Turcanu. The event had global and regional spokesperson from Nokia to share their thoughts on emerging markets and the new devices. Let’s take a brief intro to each of these speakers.

Imran Khalid Mahmood

Imran Khalid Mahmood is the VP, Near East, Nokia Corporation. In his line of duty he is responsible for heading the sales strategy for Nokia in this region. He is the frontrunner of all measurable KPIs and maintains a strict vigilance over them which are the main reason for Nokia’s success and popularity in this region.

Saulo Passos

Saulo Passos is the Global Director Mobile Phone Communications at Nokia, based in London, England. As part of the global Mobile Phones leadership team, his main focus targets the Next Billion strategy, a Nokia effort to connect more people to the internet, using a mobile device as the leading path.

Calin Turcanu

Starting from August, 2011, Calin Turcanu is the Head of Mobile Phones Business Unit, Nokia India, Middle East & Africa and overseessales, marketing and business development of Nokia devices in the region. Calin is actively involved in developing business strategies to ensure market success of key Nokia devices and strengthen Nokia’s brand presence in the region at the same time.

Remember the dance and music I mentioned earlier? Check out the photo below.

We’ll try to get a full video coverage for you to watch it as well. This performance was just before the Nokia team unveiled their new Nokia 110 and Nokia 112.

These new devices will be available in Pakistan and soon after into rest of the world, starting from the end of May. Prices of these new Nokia phones were one of them ain concerns by the attendees there. Nokia 110 is priced at Rs. 3800 and Nokia 112 will be available for Rs. 4000. Very affordable, isn’t it?

Nokia is continuously working on making the value rich features affordable to all price points â€" Nokia 110 and Nokia 112 are great examples of how even the entry-level Nokia devices don’t just offer optimized and affordable internet but at the same time flaunt a stylish design that will cater to a variety of lifestyles.

These devices will prove to be a true enabler in providing the people of Pakistan and the consumers from other growing economies with their first internet experience on mobile phone. Having internet on mobile phone opens up doors for new opportunities for the masses and helps them follow their dreams.

Now, we expect Nokia to make a bigger global launch announcement from Pakistan next time!

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(For PCWorld Pakistan)

Iran Blocks Google

Iran will introduce its own domestic internet network to improve the cyber security in the country. This was stated by Government’s Deputy Minister who announced on State Television that Google and its email Services would be blocked ‘within a few hours’. The official identified as Mr. Khoramabadi said, “Google and Gmail will be filtered throughout the country until further notice.”

According to the Iranian Students’ News Agency (ISNA), Google ban was linked to the anti-Islamic film posted on its video sharing site YouTube which has led to worldwide protests in the Muslim world. But there is no official statement regarding the ban.

The citizens fear it will further lessen their access to internet who believe the ban is imposed to prevent anti-government views on the internet. The country has one of the biggest internet filters of any country in the world, blocking the access of Iranians to countless sites which are deemed to be offensive or criminal according to officials.

The national Internet System would be isolated from the World Wide Web. Iran’s Deputy Communications and Technology Minister Ali Hakim-Javadi said, “In recent days, all governmental agencies and offices … have been connected to the national information network.”

He also added that the second phase will include adding common citizens to the network. The domestic Internet system is expected to be fully implemented by March 2013.

PTCL Introduces EVO Nitro Boost

Pakistan Telecommunication Limited has introduced EVO Nitro Boost offer. The offer will provide Nitro customers 9.3Mbps speed with unlimited downloads for Rs.2100 per month. Besides, it will provide incentive to the new Nitro customers to save Rs.900 per month on every new purchase. But the incentive will be valid till the promotion of the offer.

Facebook Removes Photo Tag Tool in Europe

Facebook Photo tag is one of the most popular activities on the social network but has come under investigation owing to growing concerns of privacy threats. In a response to this, Facebook will switch off its facial-recognition tool that enables photo tagging. The features will be removed in Europe by October 15.

Billy Hawkes, Ireland’s Data Protection Commissioner (DPC), who launched the investigation, said he was happy that the site had agreed to remove the tool in Europe. “I am satisfied that the review has demonstrated a clear and ongoing commitment on the part of FB-I to comply with its data protection responsibilities: By doing so it is sending a clear signal of its wish to demonstrate its commitment to best practice in data protection compliance.”

In a statement, Facebook commented on the decision as, “In light of discussions with our regulator in Ireland, we have agreed to suspend the Tag Suggest feature in Europe.” The social network also said it is working with the Irish authorities ‘on the appropriate way to obtain user content for this kind of technology under European rules.’

Commenting on the decision, Europe-versus-Facebook which is an Austrian Campaign group fighting for clearer privacy policies on the site called it ‘a very surprising decision of the Irish authority’ and it ‘sounds like a big victory for users.’ The group also said on its website, “It looks like we might soon be able to drop our first complaint.”

New Victims of Hacking: KSE and Pak Army

Adding to the on-going cyber war between India and Pakistan, an Indian Hacker has recently claimed hacking of the official website of Karachi Stock Exchange and Pakistan Army. The claim is still to be verified by the officials.

The hacker claimed that he accessed the website and made a copy of the databases and downloaded them on his local machine. Identified as Godzilla a.k.a G.O.D as he calls himself, he has published the information of both the websites.

Some of the private email addresses of handlers at KSE are feared to be comprised. For the time being, the KSE website is working fine while the Pak Army website is reporting an application error message.

Though the hacking is still to be confirmed, there is less of concern for Pak Army website penetration compared to KSE which is believed to have stored critical users and company information.

 

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Zionist Led Anti-Islam Campaigns and How Best to React

By Guest Author · Tuesday, Sep 25, 2012 0 Comments

By Sohail Ahmed

They have done it again and they will most certainly keep propagating such anti-Islamic campaigns in future. Muslims are mostly unsure on how best to react to such incidents.

From blocking YouTube and Facebook to demanding the removal of anti-Islamic content, we have tried it all and quite frankly nobody listened.

Boycott and Ban is Not a Long-Term Solution

Muslims need to use internet and technology in much the same way as everyone else and this is one thing that enemies of Islam are well aware of. There is a pattern of use of new media in recent anti-Islamic campaigns (remember Facebook and Twitter support of draw Muhammad day). They are hitting only where it hurts most.

Unlike using traditional media (as they did in 2005) now they are using internet to provoke Muslims, which they will keep following until they get a better tool than internet to spread their anti-Islam agenda.

The dual standard and bias western media allows anti-Islamic content under the umbrella of “freedom of speech” and this has been discussed many times.

I have always supported the ban on social media websites in past, as many of you did, when they refused to respect the sentiments of Muslims, but I think this is not a long-term solutions.

The use of these services is now more of a necessity than a choice. You can’t live in a world without using these technologies or you will be left further behind. Simply assume a life without Gmail, Google, Android or iOS â€" what else you will be left with? Isolation only.

The social networks are reality of new world order and Jewish lobby is influencing and controlling the new media as they always controlled the traditional media. If you don’t know only 6 Jewish companies control 96% of world media.

And they are using this control to shape up our habits, trends, thinking, culture and to provoke us.

Before you decide to criticize me of blaming Jews for all our problems, know some facts about the movers and shakers of new media by clicking this link.

Here let me ask you one question:

With such kind of power and mission, do you still think that Google, Facebook and YouTube will listen to Muslim concerns and will take action against anti-Islam content?

Long Term Solution

The only long-term solution for Muslims is to play a vital role in new media by competing with the today’s technology giants. Muslim entrepreneurs have to work smart to tip the new media scale in favor of Muslims. Why we have not seen a single web 2.0 success story from Muslim world? You may ask. In my opinion, we lack at two fronts.

“Remarkable” Ideas

The most important ingredient for the site that will be the next face of web 2.0 is a unique idea that is remarkable (worth talking about). People move from one service to another every now and then (remember friendster, orkut, myspace, Bebo etc) so new “remarkable” ideas will eventually replace Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. These new social media and network platforms will keep replacing the old ones. The future of content distribution will remain online for many years to come.

Raising Venture Capital

Building a site of epic magnitude will come at a cost. That is the reason why venture capital firms exist. You will need to hire great engineers and designers in industry to launch your idea, meet scaling up challenges and need money to rent office space and other regular expenditures of company.

In short, you need the seed capital from angel investors for your startup. Raising capital is not easy unless you are in Silicon Valley, have connections with VCs beside a great idea to pitch. Things can change if Muslim billionaires consider investing in local startups instead of buying luxury private jets.

The Immediate Response:

Convey the Message of Islam using Available Resources

 

While sharing Quranic verses and Hadiths on Facebook or YouTube is good, we should concentrate on spreading the message of Islam to non-Muslims. Getting more ‘Likes’ or ‘Shares’ does not do justice to Islam. Here a few ideas on how we can use internet against the evil that is being spread in the name of ‘freedom of speech’.

• Provide resources for people who want to know about Islam (Hint: research what people want to know about Islam using Google trends/Google insights for search etc and build sites around those topics).
• Reply to the questions that people are raising about Islam on forums, YouTube and other social media websites. Do not let people spread evil against Islam and get away with it, reply with logic.
• Share inspirational stories of newly converted Muslims (there are hundreds of them online).
• Share the Islamic stance and views on issues of modern world including terrorism, justice, equality and human rights.

Internet is double-edged sword. If Zionists are using new media to propagate anti-Islam campaigns, we can use their weapons to show the world the real message of Islam and reach to the masses.

At the same time, we have to work smart to play our role in new media. It is not a matter of choice anymore and censorship is not a permanent solution.

Conclusion:

Boycotting them isn’t the solution. Learn, regroup, unify and then compete with them.

Writer tweets at @Pakblogger when he is not managing itdunya.com

Image By Saminaz Creation

Related Stories

• CJ Orders PTA to Block Anti-Islamic Videos on YouTube
• ImHalal, A search engine specially designed for the Muslims
• Pakistan Demands Removal of Anti Islam Film from YouTube
• Government to Block Anti-Islamic Websites, SMS
• Now Facebook is Used to Spread Prophet Mohammad’s Drawings
• Google Doodle for Eid-ul-Adha
• Islam and Graphic Designing

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The recent blanket ban on YouTube in Pakistan has caused a lot of trouble for Internet users.

On one hand we have the issue of blasphemous content being hosted on the website but what the naive authorities fail to realize is that YouTube offers so much more than that. Especially in 2012, the site is now used by over a couple of million users from around Pakistan every month.

From music, to TV shows, online lectures, online Quran, open courseware, every other form of online media has been affected by this blanket ban. The biggest collateral damage has been to Virtual University of Pakistan which the top visited YouTube channel from the country and offered distant-learnings courses and lectures to thousands of students.

Unfortunately there has been no statement on when the ban will be lifted. Below, you will find some methods that will help you get temporary access to YouTube.

1. Tor Client

Tor is free software and an open network that helps you defend against a form of network surveillance that threatens personal freedom and privacy, confidential business activities. In short, it keeps your activity anonymous and lets you browse and access websites which might be blocked in your area. [download]

2. JonDo

JonDo, formerly JAP, is the ip changer proxy tool you have to install on your computer. It acts as a proxy and will forward the traffic of your internet applications multible encrypted to the mix cascades and so it will hide your ip address. It is a Java application, open source and you can download it for free. [download]

3. TunnelBear

TunnelBear is the world’s easiest to use consumer VPN software that securely "tunnels" your internet connection to locations around the world. TunnelBear can be used to protect your privacy, to bypass internet censorship and to experience the internet as people in other countries experience it. In simple words, it is an incredibly simple app to experience the internet as if you were living in another country. [download]

4. HotSpot Shield

HotSpot Shield make a virtual private network (VPN) across your Internet thus allowing you to bypass any filters and watch YouTube video. [download]

5. Ultrasurf

Ultrasurf is a free proxy-based tool for internet privacy and security that allows you to bypass firewalls and protect your identity online. [download]

Also, I think it is about time that people should explore other YouTube alternatives like Vimeo, DailyMotion and MetaCafe to host their content or even view videos.

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Apple made a song and dance of the new iPhone 5′s camera improvements, and although the resolution remained at 8-megapixels (translating to "unchanged" among the overwhelming majority), Apple not only improved its build quality by incorporating a Sapphire lens, but also claim it performs much better in low lighting conditions.

Of course, Apple said its new Maps app was the real deal, but we all know how that has transpired, so of course, the only way to properly gauge its performance is to test it in the real world. What better cameras to compare with than those of the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S, the two predecessors to the iPhone 5 having released in 2010 and 2011 respectively?

In the following video, Redmond Pie’s Steven Chi recorded various settings using the three Apple smartphones, and although there is little separating the three solid snappers, the iPhone 5′s is noticeably sharper and more vibrant than the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S.

When all is said and done, the camera is certainly one of the lower-key improvements in a device boasting a brand new processor, 1GB of RAM, and 4G LTE. That said, with the likes of Instagram and its parent company, Facebook, popular among mobile users for uploading photos on a daily basis, it was important that Apple delivered some enhancements to the main, rear-facing camera â€" if only small â€" and that definitely looks to have been the case.

It does look as though Apple â€" along with most other mobile vendors â€" are close to hitting a plateau in terms of what can be offered to consumers. Sure, the processor, GPU, and camera can always be bumped up a notch or two â€" as has been the case here â€" but when a smartphone performs seamlessly, delivers sharp graphics and offers very high quality image and video recording, it’s hard for Apple et al to deliver that "wow" factor every time.

The device â€" in the eyes of many â€" certainly does have that, but I think you’ll agree the improvements to the camera are negligible at best. Amateur photographers will continue to take snaps of their lunch, the aficionados will still use their Canon or Nikon DSLRs, and everybody will remain happy.

What do you make of the new snapper? Leave your thoughts via the usual mediums below!

You may also like to check out:

• Unboxing And Hands-On Overview Of Black & Slate, White & Silver iPhone 5 [VIDEO]
• iPhone 5 Camera Untouched Samples [PHOTOS]
• First iPhone 5 Vs iPhone 4S Camera Comparison [PHOTOS]

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Sep 12, 2012

The guys over at 9to5Mac have been on fire recently and have uncovered Apple website’s search as a loophole to uncover the private URLs for new products. So far they’ve uncovered the iPhone 5 name showing in the search results (so it’ll be iPhone 5 after all!), an LTE page for iPhone, new iPod Touch and Nano pages as well as iTunes update.

The iTunes update seems to be a minor one, 10.7, with a major update, version 11, scheduled for October.  All products, including the new iPhone 5, iPod Touch and Nano are to be announced in an hour during the Apple event. An iPad Mini has been rumoured for ages as well so we did a search for that as well.

But no signs of an iPad Mini so far.

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We are invited to a number of launch events and we have almost attended all of them, and being in Pakistan we have always been part of launch events for devices that are about to be launched in Pakistan.

Thanks to Nokia Pakistan, for the first time ever, a new Nokia phone announcement was made from Pakistan at a global launch event held at Marriott Hotel, Karachi last week.

This was a media event held just for the traditional media, newspapers/magazines and online media (this is where we come in!). Sizzled Core, along with a bunch of other bloggers around Pakistan were invited to be a part of this grand event.

Nokia’s decision to choose Pakistan for the global launch of their upcoming devices was a clear sign of how important Pakistani market is for Nokia. Nokia envisions to connect the next billion people with the newly launched Nokia 110 and Nokia 112. Great presentations, and overview of how strong the telecommunications industry is in Pakistan, dance, music, fireworks… This was all part of the Nokia event.

Nokia has the biggest app store in Pakistan which includes 2,000,000+ weekly downloads on average! Almost all of media fro mPakistan is accessible on the Nokia Store â€" apps include: Geo, Aaj TV, Dawn News, Express Tribune, ARY News, Radio Pakistan etc.

Some really cool local applications are also available, such as Cricket, Ludo, Toffee TV etc. Islamic apps on the App store have millions of downloads. There are over 400 local apps, with 200+ Pakistan developers contributing to the Nokia App store which bring the download count of the Pakistani content to over 17 million!

These statistics and figures were shared by the three key speakers of the main event â€" Imran Khalid Mahmood, Saulo Passos and Calin Turcanu. The event had global and regional spokesperson from Nokia to share their thoughts on emerging markets and the new devices. Let’s take a brief intro to each of these speakers.

Imran Khalid Mahmood

Imran Khalid Mahmood is the VP, Near East, Nokia Corporation. In his line of duty he is responsible for heading the sales strategy for Nokia in this region. He is the frontrunner of all measurable KPIs and maintains a strict vigilance over them which are the main reason for Nokia’s success and popularity in this region.

Saulo Passos

Saulo Passos is the Global Director Mobile Phone Communications at Nokia, based in London, England. As part of the global Mobile Phones leadership team, his main focus targets the Next Billion strategy, a Nokia effort to connect more people to the internet, using a mobile device as the leading path.

Calin Turcanu

Starting from August, 2011, Calin Turcanu is the Head of Mobile Phones Business Unit, Nokia India, Middle East & Africa and overseessales, marketing and business development of Nokia devices in the region. Calin is actively involved in developing business strategies to ensure market success of key Nokia devices and strengthen Nokia’s brand presence in the region at the same time.

Remember the dance and music I mentioned earlier? Check out the photo below.

We’ll try to get a full video coverage for you to watch it as well. This performance was just before the Nokia team unveiled their new Nokia 110 and Nokia 112.

These new devices will be available in Pakistan and soon after into rest of the world, starting from the end of May. Prices of these new Nokia phones were one of them ain concerns by the attendees there. Nokia 110 is priced at Rs. 3800 and Nokia 112 will be available for Rs. 4000. Very affordable, isn’t it?

Nokia is continuously working on making the value rich features affordable to all price points â€" Nokia 110 and Nokia 112 are great examples of how even the entry-level Nokia devices don’t just offer optimized and affordable internet but at the same time flaunt a stylish design that will cater to a variety of lifestyles.

These devices will prove to be a true enabler in providing the people of Pakistan and the consumers from other growing economies with their first internet experience on mobile phone. Having internet on mobile phone opens up doors for new opportunities for the masses and helps them follow their dreams.

Now, we expect Nokia to make a bigger global launch announcement from Pakistan next time!

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It happens rarely when local meets the global. There only few players in the world that do it every year to enhance and expand technology learning; to help the companies to launch and introduce their products and services; and to foster ties between the local organizations with international organizations. Like previous years, this year too ITCN Asia held an event at Karachi Expo Centre with the aim to celebrate the innovations that have taken place in the IT sector. Nevertheless, like last year’s event that suffered the lack of support from the city, this year as well, similar circumstance seemed to have affected the event.

The ITCN Asia 2012, held from September 19-21st had given a golden opportunity once again to professionals, IT experts, businesses, CEOs and user community to join and meet each other at one platform. Grand stalls could be seen displaying what developments have taken place in the IT sector within a year, but unfortunately they went unnoticed â€" not because they weren’t attractive, but because the percentage of the guests was not overwhelming.  The hard work often doesn’t payoff! ITCN always does something extravagant for the organizations, partners, user community, and this time too it expected a huge response, but the on going riots and violence in the city hampered the response which would have been great otherwise. Anyway, the event was an exhibition and conference at the same time, which included foreign and local exhibitors both. Different stalls had been set that were displaying different products, devices, and gadgets. The event was a bit different from other events as it displayed and demonstrated products for all age groups. The ITCN Asia 2012 displayed ICT products and services, multimedia device, digital products, telecommunications equipments, networking, systems, office automation, IT solution and software.

An interesting feature of the event was the presence of Robotic Slams, which does not cater to businesses, but to 5 year-old-kids. Mr.Emad Qureshi, Manager Operations, Robotic Slams, discussed how this company provides a learning centre for kids to get to know about iPad game development, Android game development, and modeling to name a few. ITCN has provided a great opportunity to families and kids as well learn and become part of technology world just at the age of 5. However, the circumstances had not let the show to go as it was expected.

CIO Pakistan, a Media Partner, managed to talk to the esteemed guests that had showed up to grace the event despite the tense situation in the city.  Amongst the many interviewed, CEOs of the many startups stalled at the ITCN Asia 2012 introduced themselves, their companies, their products and services and how ITCN is being helpful in giving them an exposure. Appreciating ITCN’s agenda, Mr. Riaz, CEO of Enterprise Team, commented that “it has been a great experience with ITCN as it enabled building contact with local companies as well as global companies.” Mr M. Azam, Chief Consultant and CEO Secure Beans, also appreciated ITCN’s efforts by saying that “ITCN allows B2B as well B2C opportunities.”

Cloud computing once again became one of the highlights of the event as its impacts were being discussed on the occasion. The advertising consultants also shared their views on how technology has positively influenced the way of advertising.

The events like these are not only events, but are opportunities in disguise. These events provide the chances to grow, to learn, to innovate, and to interact with different local and global organizations. The lack of support, response and participation, from an often disturbed city situation, can impair such efforts.

 

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Ufone Releases Cricket Junoon Video

By Aamir Attaa · Saturday, Sep 22, 2012 11 Comments

“Go Pakistan” is the theme of the first ever music video by Ufone, which we have managed to grab before it is going to get aired on media later in the evening today.

With expectations soaring from participating nations from all across the world for the cricket extravaganza in Sri Lanka, Ufone has come up with a music video expressing the passion and fervor of the every cricket loving Pakistani, supporting not only the Pakistan team but also the cricket hungry fans.

Waseem Akram takes center stage with his first ever singing experience and appearance in a music video alongside the infamous and upcoming singing sensation Ali Gul Peer.

Pakistan has been victorious in the 2009 T20 world cup in England and this time around we look forward to see our men in green take the top slot once again.

Let us all welcome this warm and thrilling video and sing along while watching Team Pakistan bowl teams over.

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Saad Hamid on August 2, 2012

I just made a fresh upgrade to Mountain Lion on my Macbook Air and the first thing that I noticed was the Macintosh HD drive appearing on my desktop.

Although I admit that when it comes to usability, shortcuts are useful. But for some reason I believe the Macintosh HD icon appearing on the desktop just interferes with the clean design and decided to get rid of it, here are the steps.

Click on Finder and open Finder's preferences pane.

There in General tab, uncheck "Hard disks" under "Show these items on the desktop" to clear away the icon.

That's it. The same can be done to remove icons of external disks, connected servers or any CDs, DVDs and iPods connected to your Mac.

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With the iPhone 5 stocks running dry within an hour of pre-orders going live a couple of days ago, Apple today has issued a press release stating that their latest smartphone has been pre-ordered a staggering 2 million times in just 24 hours.

The press release goes further in claiming that the iPhone 5 has been pre-ordered twice as much as the iPhone 4S did when it was launched in October last year.

To give you a clear perspective how popular the iPhone 5 is over the previous iPhones; the iPhone 4 was pre-ordered 600,000 times in the first 24 hours, the iPhone 4S was pre-ordered a million times, and the iPhone 5 went up a notch and broke all previous records which the company held.

Although, the iPhone 5 is considered as a ‘disappointing’ upgrade over the previous-gen â€" the iPhone 4S â€" by analysts the world over, all thanks to its partially similar design to the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S, but if these official numbers are anything to go by, then I’m guessing that the taller 4-inch Retina display was more than enough to lure a bunch of people onto the iPhone bandwagon.

It is also worth noting that these numbers only represent devices that have been pre-ordered via the Apple online store, or via different mobile carriers on contract. The numbers will get interesting when Apple reveals a new set of data which would include the number of devices which have been purchased directly from brick and mortar stores around the globe, in other words, not ordered via online or Apple retail outlets.

If recent benchmark results are anything to go by, the iPhone 5 is indeed a powerhouse which we were hoping it to be. Powered by a mighty new A6 processor clocked at 1.02GHz, it renders the iPhone 5 as the most powerful mobile device around in terms of performance, even more powerful than the Galaxy S III, the Nexus 7 and the iPad 3!

The iPhone 5 is set to hit retail shelves on 21st September, the same day when the first pre-order wave of devices start to ship to their individual owners. We at Redmond Pie, will of course, feature an unboxing and a hands-on with the shiny new Apple-branded smartphone, so stay tuned.

And oh, are you one of those 2 million lucky customers who were able to pre-order the iPhone 5?

(source Apple)

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Sep 12, 2012

The guys over at 9to5Mac have been on fire recently and have uncovered Apple website’s search as a loophole to uncover the private URLs for new products. So far they’ve uncovered the iPhone 5 name showing in the search results (so it’ll be iPhone 5 after all!), an LTE page for iPhone, new iPod Touch and Nano pages as well as iTunes update.

The iTunes update seems to be a minor one, 10.7, with a major update, version 11, scheduled for October.  All products, including the new iPhone 5, iPod Touch and Nano are to be announced in an hour during the Apple event. An iPad Mini has been rumoured for ages as well so we did a search for that as well.

But no signs of an iPad Mini so far.

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We are invited to a number of launch events and we have almost attended all of them, and being in Pakistan we have always been part of launch events for devices that are about to be launched in Pakistan.

Thanks to Nokia Pakistan, for the first time ever, a new Nokia phone announcement was made from Pakistan at a global launch event held at Marriott Hotel, Karachi last week.

This was a media event held just for the traditional media, newspapers/magazines and online media (this is where we come in!). Sizzled Core, along with a bunch of other bloggers around Pakistan were invited to be a part of this grand event.

Nokia’s decision to choose Pakistan for the global launch of their upcoming devices was a clear sign of how important Pakistani market is for Nokia. Nokia envisions to connect the next billion people with the newly launched Nokia 110 and Nokia 112. Great presentations, and overview of how strong the telecommunications industry is in Pakistan, dance, music, fireworks… This was all part of the Nokia event.

Nokia has the biggest app store in Pakistan which includes 2,000,000+ weekly downloads on average! Almost all of media fro mPakistan is accessible on the Nokia Store â€" apps include: Geo, Aaj TV, Dawn News, Express Tribune, ARY News, Radio Pakistan etc.

Some really cool local applications are also available, such as Cricket, Ludo, Toffee TV etc. Islamic apps on the App store have millions of downloads. There are over 400 local apps, with 200+ Pakistan developers contributing to the Nokia App store which bring the download count of the Pakistani content to over 17 million!

These statistics and figures were shared by the three key speakers of the main event â€" Imran Khalid Mahmood, Saulo Passos and Calin Turcanu. The event had global and regional spokesperson from Nokia to share their thoughts on emerging markets and the new devices. Let’s take a brief intro to each of these speakers.

Imran Khalid Mahmood

Imran Khalid Mahmood is the VP, Near East, Nokia Corporation. In his line of duty he is responsible for heading the sales strategy for Nokia in this region. He is the frontrunner of all measurable KPIs and maintains a strict vigilance over them which are the main reason for Nokia’s success and popularity in this region.

Saulo Passos

Saulo Passos is the Global Director Mobile Phone Communications at Nokia, based in London, England. As part of the global Mobile Phones leadership team, his main focus targets the Next Billion strategy, a Nokia effort to connect more people to the internet, using a mobile device as the leading path.

Calin Turcanu

Starting from August, 2011, Calin Turcanu is the Head of Mobile Phones Business Unit, Nokia India, Middle East & Africa and overseessales, marketing and business development of Nokia devices in the region. Calin is actively involved in developing business strategies to ensure market success of key Nokia devices and strengthen Nokia’s brand presence in the region at the same time.

Remember the dance and music I mentioned earlier? Check out the photo below.

We’ll try to get a full video coverage for you to watch it as well. This performance was just before the Nokia team unveiled their new Nokia 110 and Nokia 112.

These new devices will be available in Pakistan and soon after into rest of the world, starting from the end of May. Prices of these new Nokia phones were one of them ain concerns by the attendees there. Nokia 110 is priced at Rs. 3800 and Nokia 112 will be available for Rs. 4000. Very affordable, isn’t it?

Nokia is continuously working on making the value rich features affordable to all price points â€" Nokia 110 and Nokia 112 are great examples of how even the entry-level Nokia devices don’t just offer optimized and affordable internet but at the same time flaunt a stylish design that will cater to a variety of lifestyles.

These devices will prove to be a true enabler in providing the people of Pakistan and the consumers from other growing economies with their first internet experience on mobile phone. Having internet on mobile phone opens up doors for new opportunities for the masses and helps them follow their dreams.

Now, we expect Nokia to make a bigger global launch announcement from Pakistan next time!

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(For PCWorld Pakistan)

Google Turns Down White House’s Request to Remove ‘Controversial’ Video

The anti-Islamic film, which provoked protests and riots in many different regions of the world, has been in the news for few days. Where many authorities banned YouTube in their countries, the White House also asked Google to remove this anti-Islamic video posted on its YouTube, but the search engine giant declined the request. The movie sparked several anti-American protests in many Islamic countries like Egypt and Libya where angry protesters stormed the US embassies.

Google said it had censored video in Egypt, Libya, India and Indonesia as to comply with the local laws and not because of any political pressure. “We’ve restricted access to it in countries where it is illegal such as India and Indonesia, as well as in Libya and Egypt, given the very sensitive situations in these two countries. This approach is entirely consistent with principles we first laid out in 2007.” White House officials had asked Google earlier on Friday to reconsider whether the video had violated YouTube’s terms of service. The guidelines can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/t/community_guidelines.”

The company said the video clip made by Egyptian Coptic Christian, Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, was in accordance with its guidelines. US authorities were investigating whether Basseley has violated his terms of prison release. He was convicted of Bank Fraud in 2010 and was released on probation last June.

Mobilink Increases its Campaign Response with KENX

Mobilink has used KENX module InfiniteInsight Social to increase its campaign response rate by as much as 380%. KENX is the leading solutions provider of predictive analytics.

Mobilink used InfiniteInsight Social to increase its performance by tracking and analyzing the billions of monthly call details, encompass phone calls, SMS and MMS messages of more than 70 million phone numbers. It will help the cellular company to track the rate of its campaign by checking the loyalty and retention rate. Moreover, it will help in cost reduction to design their campaigns according to customer needs.

Mobilink’s Assistant Manager of Advanced Analytics, Mr. Mirza Yousaf, believes the modeler has enabled the company to exactly understand and target their customers. He also said the uptake of customer retention has soared up by eight-fold from 0.5% to 4%.

KENX Chief Executive, Mr. John Ball, said that “Mobilink’s success indicates that applying social network analysis to millions of subscribers and billions of call records can considerably improve customer insight.”

Ufone Introduces UAE Offer

Ufone brings another offer for its prepaid customers to get additional minutes on every talk time. The UAE offer will allow customers to pay for one minute and get next minute free on Etisalat’s network. It means the more you talk, the more additional minutes you will get.

The offer comes with no subscription charges for all prepaid customers. The offer is valid only for Etisalat Network and regular charges will apply for all other networks.

Panasonic Halts Operations in China

Panasonic will suspend some of its operations in China after anti-Japan protests resulted in attacks on two of its factories. The Japanese electronics maker said its factory in Qingdao will remain shut until 18th September.

Widespread protests erupted in China after Japan said it had agreed a deal to buy a chain of disputed islands in East China Sea from their private Japanese owner.

Earlier, Canon also halted operations at three of its factories in China. The attacks have also hurt Toyota.

The disputed islands are a bone of contention between the two countries. The islands are uninhabited, but rich resource wise.

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Google Blocks Anti-Islam Film in Malaysia, Indonesia, Libya, Egypt and India

By Mehwish Khan · Monday, Sep 17, 2012 22 Comments

Google has announced that it has begun blocking a recently announced anti-Islam film, which mocks Islam and Prophet Mohammad (P.B.U.H) on YouTube in selected countries after it received official complaints from respective states.

Google said that recent most complaint came from Malaysian government through Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) asking the company to restrict the access of controversial film.

Malaysian government through complaint communicated Google that film was against Islam and is hence illegal in nature to be broadcasted in the country.

A spokesman for video-sharing site YouTube, which is owned by Google, has told AFP that it has begun restricting access to clips of the privately-produced film Sunday, in line with its community guidelines.

Google had previously denied access to the film in question in Indonesia, Libya, Egypt and India.

YouTube is making efforts to block all replications of the controversial film in these selected countries.

Apparently Pakistan Telecommunication Authority has taken a different route in Pakistan for barring the same movie by asking local ISPs to block the access. However, efforts are not considered enough since the film is being replicated on YouTube servers and hundreds of copies are being produced on daily basis.

Reportedly, PTA is yet to reach out to YouTube to file an official complaint against the film.

ISPs in Pakistan are calling PTA to officially record a complaint with YouTube for the blockade of the film and to make sure that YouTube keeps a consistent watch on its content that is aired in Pakistan.

Via The News

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Saad Hamid on August 2, 2012

I just made a fresh upgrade to Mountain Lion on my Macbook Air and the first thing that I noticed was the Macintosh HD drive appearing on my desktop.

Although I admit that when it comes to usability, shortcuts are useful. But for some reason I believe the Macintosh HD icon appearing on the desktop just interferes with the clean design and decided to get rid of it, here are the steps.

Click on Finder and open Finder's preferences pane.

There in General tab, uncheck "Hard disks" under "Show these items on the desktop" to clear away the icon.

That's it. The same can be done to remove icons of external disks, connected servers or any CDs, DVDs and iPods connected to your Mac.

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Three days ago, after months upon months of rumors and reports, Apple sent out official invites for the media event where they will be announcing the next-gen iPhone. The event is set to kick off at 10:00 AM in San Francisco at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts which, according to the photos we’ve across online, is being prepared for the mega unveiling. Check them out after the jump.

Because the event is still five days away, decorations so far are pretty minimal â€" featuring only a large Apple logo. We expect to see a much more lively Yerba Buena on the day of the announcement.

This is the first time Apple is holding an iPhone announcement event at the Yerba Buena, which is usually reserved for iPod and iPad-related announcements.

We’ve seen a good number of leaks so far, with front / back panels, dock connectors, headphone jacks and the culmination of them all in the form of a fully assembled iPhone 5 body.

Based on these leaks, rumors and reports, the new iPhone is expected to have a larger, 4-inch widescreen display, an evolutionary design update in the form of a slimmer body and a new metal + glass back, a smaller dock connector, exclusive use of Nano-SIM, full support for 4G LTE, and an appropriately larger battery.

These features aren’t too exciting for us, but we have a feeling that Apple will find ways to wow their audience. A camera that can take on high end point and shoots? A graphics chip that offers PS Vita level of graphics? More aggressive pricing? Lasers? Who knows!

Also, after seeing the shadowy 5 in the invite image, we strongly expected the next iPhone to be called iPhone 5 instead of “new iPhone” as previously claimed. Sure, it’s actually going to be the sixth generation iPhone, but after 3G, 3GS, 4 and 4S, 5 sounds like a logical step and makes sense for less “techie” customers.

We will cover the event in its entirety when it kicks off at 10:00AM PDT on September 12th, so stay tuned! We may see more leaks as we come closer and closer to the event’s date.

(via 9to5Mac)

You may also like to check out:

• Apple To Ditch iPhone 3GS For Good, Introducing 8GB iPhone 4S Next Week Alongside iPhone 5

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