Gadgets & Gizmos

Mahnder Singh Dhoni Accept Islam by the hands of former Pakistani Cricketer Saeed Anwar & famous Religious Anchor Junaid Jamshaid
Indian Cricket Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, could not have thought in his wildest dreams that his second marriage to “Aaisha Bi Singh Rawat” alias Sakshi Singh Rawat would come to haunt him one day.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni had converted to Islam to marry Sakshi Singh Rawat as Hindus are not allowed second marriage. Their marriage was solemnised on 04 July 2010 in Lucknow near Babri Masjid in accordance with Islamic rites. He had married Sakshi while his first wife Deepika P was still alive. Had he paid her enough, the matter probably would not have come to light.
Indian Cricket Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, could not have thought in his wildest dreams that his second marriage to “Aaisha Bi Singh Rawat” alias Sakshi Singh Rawat would come to haunt him one day.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni had converted to Islam to marry Sakshi Singh Rawat as Hindus are not allowed second marriage. Their marriage was solemnised on 04 July 2010 in Lucknow near Babri Masjid in accordance with Islamic rites. He had married Sakshi while his first wife Deepika P was still alive. Had he paid her enough, the matter probably would not have come to light.
While filing his divorce papers before the officer, Mahendra Singh Dhoni had written his name as Mahendra Singh Dhoni Kewal Krishn concealing his Muslim name Dilawar Khan and wrote the name of his first wife in the respective column.
When his cricket rivals brought the issue to the notice of BCCI authorities and the general public, he denied his conversion to Islam and change of name. But Delhi magazine Outlook published a photocopy of his Nikahnama (marriage document) which clearly said that Dilawar Khan Singh Dhoni accepted Aisha Bi Singh Rawat as his wife on 04 July 2010 at a mehr of, Rs 11,11,000 in the presence of two legal witnesses…’

Ufone is giving away 10 Toyota Corolla 1300cc XLI cars; through lucky draw to those customers who will sign up for a new Ufone SIM or converts his/her number to Ufone through MNP and consume a minimum balance of Rs.200 during the month of March.
This offer is also applicable to all Ufone customers, all they will have to do is to consumer Rs. 200 credit during March, i.e. till March 31st, 2012.
All such customers will automatically qualify to enter a lucky draw where 10 fortunate ones will become the proud owners of 10 fabulous 1300cc cars.
Lucky draw will take place in first week of April 2012.
Terms & Conditions:

• The winners will be contacted by Ufone itself via call from ‘333’ number or via an SMS from ‘Ufone’ ID
• The duration of this offer is from 1st March 2012 to 31st March 2012
• For this offer customers have to consumer a balance of Rs.200 including taxes
• This offer is for all new, MNP, Prepaid and Postpay customers
• Ufone employees, their family members and employees of related organizations cannot be a part of this lucky draw
• Lucky draw will take place in the first week of April 2012
• Ufone’s decision(s) related to the lucky draw will be deemed final
• Please do not entertain any calls or SMS asking for credit transfer or balance load/share to win the prize. Ufone will not be responsible for any loss that may occur due to any such activities
• Prizes can be availed from specific service centers
• To avail the prize it is mandatory that the SIM is in your name
• Prizes cannot be exchanged or transferred in any situation
• The car given as prize will be Toyota Corolla 1300cc XLI, the color of which may vary from the pictures shown
• Car delivery is dependent on the delivery schedule of the manufacturing company
• All documentation and expenses pertaining to the registration of the prize car will be the winner’s responsibility
• Ufone keeps the rights to advertise the winners
• Terms and conditions apply, which can be changed
• 19.5% FED on usage and 10% withholding tax at recharge or bill applies
• Terms and condition apply

Ghazi Muhammad Abdullah, a fifteen year old school boy, has sent a list of 780,000 adult websites which he thinks should be blocked in accordance with Supreme Court’s orders but are still accessible to general internet users in Pakistan.
Abdullah told me that he has sent this list to PTA only because authority had asked him for a list of adult websites. He quotes an authority letter sent to him by Director General, Law and Regulations, as saying:

If there is any specific website that you wish to bring into the knowledge of PTA, it is requested that PTA may be informed of the same accordingly for further necessary action at our end.

Earlier, Abdullah had written letters to PTA, Ministry of Information Technology and Chief Justice of Pakistan to get adult websites blocked in Pakistan. After his repeated requests, and hack attempts on PTA and Supreme Court website PTA decided in principle to ban adult websites in Pakistan and issued directive for ISPs to block access to adult websites.
It was recently revealed that Pakistan ISPs have blocked 13,000 adult websites, while there are more still accessible, according to Abdullah.
Without detailing the criteria or selection process of adult websites, Abdullah, in an email, told me that he prepared this list of 780,000 adult websites with help of friends having expertise in computers. He wished not to disclose their names.
It merits mentioning here that Internet Service Providers Association of Pakistan is willing to block access to any number of websites, though they have concerns regarding the overhead involved in process. This is why they are advocating proposed national URL filtering system.

As the advertisement by the National ICT R&D got published in the leading newspapers recently, seeking solution providers for URL level blocking and filtering of “objectionable” material on the internet, the debate on internet censorship has been widespread amid civil society activists expressing doubts over authorities’ intentions to limit internet freedom for public on political grounds.
Majority of the people support the authorities to block obscene material on internet for protecting society – particularly growing up students from the menace; whereas there are people who have expressed their reservations over the mechanism of this plan that may be exploited for massive censorship to suppress the public freedom of expression in case of any political opposition.
Full Disclosure
Before starting discussion we want to let you know that ProPakistani supports this national level, centralized, URL filtering system – having said this, we will oppose any censorship, for any medium, based on political grounds. We also believe that people of Pakistan are free to express and have all the abilities to stop any censorship efforts, if ever made.

What this National Level URL Filtering will do?

This highly hyped URL filtering system is an effort to centralize the blockade process of adult websites, which is currently being done manually at individual level by ISPs. So theoretically there’s nothing new. No new rules, no new policy.
Its just the enhanced form of making those websites inaccessible which are of adult nature.
Currently, PTA regularly sends a list of URLs to ISPs to get them blocked. ISPs in return block these websites through their own means using their own staff and resources.
After National level URL filtering system in place, this current procedure will be replaced with a centralized team taking care of blocking websites at international gateway level, eliminating the resource loss of ISPs.
Again: By definition there’s nothing new being implemented.

Why Adult Websites are Blocked?

You might ask me, especially if you are not from Pakistan and aren’t familiar with the background of the case, that why adult websites are blocked in Pakistan?
To recall, there was this verdict issued by Sindh High Court (SHC) in October 2011 to PTA to get adult websites blocked. Based on which Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) directed all Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to block 1,000 explicit sites in the first phase.
The high court issued its verdict after hearing of a petition filled by Syed Iqbal Kazmi, who submitted that obscene material, websites were easily available on the internet, which are spoiling our youth and social norms.
Besides a long struggle was seen by a 15-year-old 9th grader, Ghazi Muhammad Abdullah, who had repeatedly written letters to the Chief Justice, Minister of IT and PTA to take notice of the adult websites, which were easily and freely accessible in Pakistan.
These were merely two cases raised properly and highlighted in the media but the demand was backed by and large all parents and educated people regardless of ideology and liberal and conservative divide as a matter of fact the repercussions of explicit websites are destroying our society moral values and increasing heinous crimes.

What if You Don’t Like the Blockade?

Courts’ rulings are primarily based on constitution, evidences and arguments presented by the parties. To further add, Pakistani courts are independent. Unlike in many countries, Pakistani courts aren’t influenced by the Government or mafia groups. This is evident from facts that court has indicted Prime Minister of Pakistan, while in another ongoing case intelligence agencies are being questioned by judiciary.
So if you don’t like a decision, very fine, its your right to oppose it. In addition you have every right to try reversing the decision, but there’s a procedure to follow.
File a review petition, its simple, go there and request for a review. Doors are open. But once a verdict is issued, try respecting it.
This is exactly like France banning veil. It was state order, based on their constitution. Anyone living in France will have to follow it – regardless of his/her objections over ruling. If one can’t (or doesn’t want to) follow the ban – she’s free to travel to a country where veil isn’t banned. Simple as that.

Need for National Level URL Filtering System

As mentioned above, due to high court order, PTA was bound to get the orders implemented.
Initially order to block websites having obscene content was followed by all ISPs, Broadband operators, Cellular Operators, LDI Operators but the mechanism was manual and could be breached through software/proxy websites.
A meeting held at PTA headquarters on October 27th 2011, according to a document made available to ProPakistani, the authority and ISPs, Cellcos, Broadband and LDI operators attended the meeting.
They believed that the blockade should be expanded to 171,000 websites, estimated to have explicit content but it needed a foolproof system to be deployed as a comprehensive solution.
The authority and all service providers after consensus had been on the same page to block all such websites at international gateway level, that is, at the end of IP backbone (PTCL and TWA) through National Filtering and Blocking System/Solution.
There were two proposals tabled – one was to buy an imported solution from foreign companies, which could cost around $2 and $10 million initially and then maintenance cost with recurring charges every year.
PTA, however, decided to provide opportunity to universities and local firms for developing a proposed solution, which the National ICT R&D will supervise and finance because all of its budget is generated by telecom operators and IT companies.
Secondly, authority and all stake holders there in meeting thought that an opportunity should be given to local talent for unleashing their potential through development of state-of-art solution.

Opposition for National Level URL Filtering System

Activists, I wonder what they specialize in, are up against the URL filtering system with following objections:

• Access to uncensored internet is basic human right
• Blocking of 50 million website will slow down down internet in Pakistan
• National ICT R&D fund shouldn’t be used for financing this project. ICT R&D is supposed to support IT, not to fund such a project.
• Authorities will start blocking websites on political grounds
• Pakistan will get negative publicity due to this censorship

Here are my responses to above mentioned points:
Uncensored Internet is so rare:
You will have to agree with me that completely uncensored internet is a rare luxury to have. Every state/country has standards and rules (based on its ideology and social norms) for restricting its internet users from viewing specific content.
Even developed countries like USA, UK, France and others consider censorship of topics that are held to be antithetical as accepted societal norms. For instance censorship of child pornography, hate speech, hate crime, terrorism, violence against people, animals, or property, etc. is globally practiced.
These countries, however, allow pornography after certain age, unlike our religion which doesn’t allow it all.
Similarly, any material on internet for denial of holocaust is considered criminal – in at least two dozen countries.
Hence, if I may speak frankly, uncensored internet is quite impossible to find.
Adult websites are blocked in Pakistan (though its not fully implemented, and this is why National URL filtering system is needed), just like they are not allowed in other forms of media. For example you won’t find adult material on TV just because PEMRA wouldn’t allow it.
You will have to live with it, weather you like it or not. This country simply doesn’t allow porn, and that’s it. My sincere advise to those who can’t live without porn is to relocate to a place where such activities are allowed.
National Firewall will slow down Internet in Pakistan:
Technically speaking it will impact. No doubt about it. Latency will increase – but it’s the architecture of firewall that will exactly determine the size of delay the firewall will cause.
Technical experts, I have spoken with so far, are of the opinion that impact can’t be gauged at this point of time. They agreed that mission critical assignments (those that can’t afford delay of milliseconds) will be impacted for sure. For general internet user there won’t be any change in life.
Will Pakistan get negative publicity due to this censorship?
Of course yes, due to those attention seekers, who like to be called liberal and activists, running to western media to oppose this blocking system. They are already calling it Great Firewall of Pakistan, according to some, even without reading the RFP (request for proposal).
Western media is always looking for stories against Pakistan, due to reasons obvious to everyone, and how shameful that we ourselves twist the facts to give them the opportunity.
Let’s take the example of Facebook ban last year. Pakistan could easily tell the world that banning Facebook was due to Facebook’s discriminatory behavior and its clear support for the Drawing content.
Pakistan could tell the world that Facebook violated its own TOS, which clearly mentions that hatred speech isn’t allowed. It could tell the world that this country has a blasphemy law (just like so many other countries have their own format of blasphemy laws) that bounds the authorities to get this content banned to the people living in the state. Anyone outside is of course free to access it.
But it didn’t happen this way, in fact these same activists went to western media telling them how miserable their condition was because they couldn’t access Facebook. Even our Chairman PTA couldn’t defend the ban and said that authority simply executed the order passed by court – authority (is so noble and it) has nothing to do with the decision. I mean come’on sir, you could defend our dignity.
Can authorities block websites on political grounds?
Yes they can! But remember, we are only assuming this. Like I mentioned above, internet blocking is already in place – but did you see any website getting banned based on political grounds? One example of a ban last year, which is being referenced by everyone, was due to a technical glitch at Mobilink Infinity.
Yes, there are websites blocked – those advocating for freedom of Balochistan. Which I believe is a matter of national security and is being dealt with diligence.
You will agree that Pakistan is a free nation and Pakistanis are free to say anything against anyone, without involving national security and religion.
Pakistani media is free and private. You will see Kamran Khan shouting against ruling party every night. And he will stay this way – just because we are free.
I myself criticize government so heavily that once I opined of throwing Rehman Malik under the bus.
Don’t worry guys, if you can get Maya Khan out of a show, then you can also stop any censorship efforts by government – just like you stopped SMS fileting.
Why National ICT R&D Fund is used for National Filtering System?
Decision was made to get ICT R&D fund involved because government wanted to give opportunity to local universities and local firms for the this sophisticated deployment.
Instead of buying a solution from abroad, it was best option to avail indigenous resources.

Sweetening the National URL Filtering

Room for betterment in any implementation is always there. The process of blocking adult website could definitely be enhanced. Here are few proposals from ProPakistani

• PTA should publish the list of blocked websites, detailing if block is temporary or permanent
• PTA should also specify the reasons for blocking a website
• Mechanism should be devised for the public for reconsideration/review of PTA’s decision of blocking any website
• Similarly, PTA should also devise a way for public to report inappropriate websites – that they think should be blocked.

There is a dire need of consensus on this issue required, particularly over the assurance that the proposed system will not be misused politically reasons.
The National ICT R&D consists of representation of private sector as well, which can monitor the systems utility in future also and raise objections if National URL Blocking and Filtering System is exploited or misused.
A committee could be constituted with members inducted from government, private sector and rights groups that can monitor the working of the system in future.

Telenor Pakistan’s official website needs an urgent fix for its URL structuring. The problem is that links don’t work If not typed “www” with the main URL.
For instance, type telenor.com.pk (not www.telenor.com.pk) and then try to open any link, yes any link – it won’t work.
Following is what you are likely to get:

I suppose not many internet users type www along with URLs, especially if its .PK domain. I am saying this because a shortcut Ctrl+Enter is largely used with domain names to automatically type www + .com with the domain – but that’s for top level domain. For instance, type Yahoo in your address bar and hit Ctrl+Enter.
We first noticed this when Telenor Pakistan revamped their website last year. But didn’t point it out – just because we thought that they are working on it and might get things straight.
I remember our friend Saad Hamid once mentioning @TelenorPakistan of this flaw over Twitter, but appears they have given up looking at their website (and Twitter account). This is probably why “Blog” section on Telenor’s website is  displaying “Coming Soon” for months.
Update
Okay, it appears Telenor has fixed the issue now.

We are all waiting for Windows 8 with anticipation, and if you’re inpatient as we are, you’ll be pleased to know that Windows 8 is available for testing purposes

It is obvious that Microsoft wants to release its touchscreen operating system in order to compete with Apple and Google, and unlike iOS or Android, Windows 8 will be able to run or variety of devices, from smartphones, tablets to computers and notebooks. If you own a device that can run Windows 8, you might want to get testing version for a free trial, because Microsoft has released Consumer Preview to the public. According to the Microsoft, new Metro UI is user friendly for both desktop and mobile users, and there should be two versions of Windows 8: one that works with on desktops and notebooks, and another version that is optimized for devices that run on ARM microprocessors.
The official release of Windows 8 is still far away, but if you’re interested, you can try out the Consumer Preview of Windows 8 free of charge.

Wateen Telecom has been awarded the Consumer Choice Award for Best Internet Service Provider.
The award was presented at 7^th Annual Consumer Choice Awards, held in Karachi and attended by representatives of the country’s leading national and multinational brands. In total, around 85 awards were presented in various categories, ranging from financial services to FMCG to telecommunications.
The award was presented by Mr. Raza Haroon, provincial minister for Information Technology, along with Mr. Nisar Khoro, speaker of the Sindh assembly, to Mr. Jalil Ahmed Farooqi, Wateen’s head of consumer for the southern region.
The Consumer Choice Award is especially rewarding as the winners are selected by a wide cross-section of Pakistani consumers, who are comprehensively polled in objective surveys carried out through the Consumer Association of Pakistan’s websites.
Wateen beat other internet service providers after being selected by Pakistani consumers as the country’s leading ISP for its reliable internet services and committed customer care.
Over the past year, Wateen has taken several steps to help improve service levels and optimise the network’s efficiency, including the relocation of over 200 sites. The company also introduced multiple payment methods for customer ease, including online e-banking, EasyPaisa, as well as NADRA e-Sahulat Centers. The company has also worked closely with international vendors to improve customers’ browsing experience by installing caching revolutionary solutions on the network.
The company has also seen great support from its principals at the Abu Dhabi Group, which has continued to show great confidence in Wateen and its new management and has provided cash support of over US$57 million in the last 12 months. Despite the recent fire that engulfed Wateen’s headquarters, the company has successfully ensured that customers did not suffer any loss of quality in their services.
Commenting on the award, Wateen CEO Mr Naeem Zamindar said, “To be selected by Pakistani consumers as their choice of preferred and most reliable internet service providing company is an honour and a testament to the improvements brought in to the network over the last year.”

FourQuants and FinanceTrainingCourse, based out of Karachi, are ventures led by Jawwad Farid, which aim to teach finance to people through internet (videos) and mobile apps.
FinanceTrainingCourse is a partially free portal while FourQuants caters to enterprise customers through subscriptions.
One may call this FinanceTrainingCourse inspired by Khan Academy, however, both FinanceTrainingCourse and FourQuants takes next level route to teach and train professionals of a narrowed niche i.e. finance, with premium content for which they charge as well.
The portals themselves are designed for anyone interested in finance, students and professionals alike. The team behind the ventures has taken an easy approach to the material which has helped them gather and serve customers from 162 countries and over 5,000 cities over the world.
Free material is available and paid courses are also there. Some of the paid materials include things like downloadable pdf guides, sample excel model templates and subscriptions to their high end enterprise learning portal dedicated to risk, pricing and treasury management.
Recently they released iPhone, iPad and Android apps under the FourQuants name. The app allows customers to download and view free sample videos related to the field of computational finance, capital adequacy and risk management. The videos are aimed at practitioners, bankers and regulators. The application allows one to access 6 full length video lectures and another forty 2 – 5 minute samplers through the FourQuants YouTube channel.
The application also allows you to purchase video, pdf and excel content on various topics such as pricing, valuation, interest rate modeling and risk management. Topics in the free samples include:

• Financial Modeling – Complete Lesson
• Pitching for Start-ups – Complete Series
• Asset Liability Management – Short
• Selling Treasury Products – Short
• Stress Testing – Short
• Option Pricing – Short
• Quant Crash Course – Short
• Setting Limits – Short

In Jawwad’s own words, “Ultimately people need help in building models, validating models and explaining models to people who don’t come from a financial modeling background. We have been doing just that for the last 10 years as part of our risk practice. While we do very well with our site, the smart phone and tablet market was the next big thing. It was right there in front of us and we took it.”
The iPhone, iPad and Android apps were built by Pepper.pk, the award winning mobile application studio run by Five Rivers Technology in Lahore.
The links to the apps as well as both the websites are given below:

• iPhone app: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/fourquants./id497901651?mt=8
• Android app: https://market.android.com/details?id=com.frt.fourquants
• FourQuants: http://fourquants.com/
• FinanceTrainingVideos: http://financetrainingcourse.com/

The multinational companies and foreign investors have improved the ranking of Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) from nine to six position in the past two years for its cooperation and supportive role for the businesses.
Overseas Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OICCI) recently revealed the results of its perception survey based on its member companies’ feedback saying the telecom authority is supportive to foreign investors in dealing affairs of telephony utility.
The views expressed about PTA are related to multinational companies of different sectors however, foreign companies of IT and Telecom sectors were less interested to participate in the perception survey.
But plans and concerns of IT and Telecom companies’ are almost similar with multinational companies of different sectors, which are positive investment plans in the next two to five years despite issues of security, access to energy and governance.
PTA is one of the most active regulators in the country which has shown tremendous performance in the past one decade keeping the interest of consumers on priority and maximum facilitation to investors.
Despite all of criticism, it has taken some strict actions against telecom companies involved in violation of rules of business and infringement of consumers rights.
In 2011, Pakistan topped in Asia Pacific for having best telecom regulatory environment by LirneAsia, an ICT policy and regulation think tank.
At present, PTCL, Mobilink and Telenor are the member companies of OICCI in the telecom sector.
In IT sector, Hewlett Packard, Teredata Global Consulting, Teradata Pakistan, TPL Holdings TRG Pakistan and UNISYS Pakistan are members of overseas chamber.

Etisalat and Government of Pakistan are soon to resolve the long pending payment dispute of $800 million, reported Khaleej Times, citing Dr. Mirza Ikhtiar Baig, advisor to Pakistan’s prime minister on textile and chairman of Pak-UAE Business Council.
Paper said that the resolution involves a mechanism agreed by both the parties, under which Etisalat will deduct the market price of those properties that Pakistan has failed to transfer.
“We proposed an out of the box solution to this longstanding dispute and hopefully the issue will be settled soon,” stated Dr. Mirza in an interview with paper.

Elaborating, Dr. Baig said the government of Pakistan was unable to transfer about 136 properties to PTCL due to encroachments and legal cases. “Now, we have evaluated the market price of the disputed properties and this amount will be deducted from the pending final payment of the $2.6 billion deal signed in 2006,” he said.
“There is still a difference of opinion on evaluated market price of the disputed properties. The UAE side will soon submit its report and the issue will be resolved within weeks,” he added.

This news surfaced only days after State Bank of Pakistan warned of financial instability if Government of Pakistan fails to raise funds. Pakistan is eyeing $800 million from Etisalat and another $ 1 billion from 3G auction to save its credit situation.
It is not the first time that Pakistani officials have hinted a resolution of pending payment dispute. For example, Mr. Waqar Ahmed Khan, Pakistan’s minister of privatization was once quoted as saying that Etisalat will pay the pending payment of $800 by March 2010. Which obviously didn’t happen.
It maybe recalled that PTA is working on a policy under which Etisalat or any of its subsidiary will be held disqualified to bid for 3G auction in case of non-payment.

Mobilink has partnered with Developments in Literacy (DIL) to set up a Computer Lab at the DIL Model School in the Khuda ki Basti community in Kala Shah Kaku near Sheikhupura.
As part of the partnership, DIL will provide the IT curriculum and teacher training, while Mobilink has provided the hardware and equipment for this.
Mobilink has sponsored a total of ten computer systems, one printer, twenty audio headsets and ten webcams for online lessons. This hardware was handed over to the school management by Mobilink Torchbearers during a brief ceremony, with the Torchbearers also utilizing the opportunity to interact with students and emphasize the importance of IT literacy.
On the occasion, Omar Manzur, Director Public Relations and CSR Mobilink highlighted, “As Pakistan’s premier cellular services provider, we are fully cognizant of the importance of IT literacy for the economic development of the country and bridging the digital divide. It is indeed an honor to provide this support for IT education at the very basic level, where it is needed the most.”
The DIL Model School is located in Khuda Ki Basti, which is a community housing project of “Saiban” a local NGO. The housing scheme is for the low income group of Sheikhpura, located in Kala Shah Kako. DIL establishes, adopts and manages primary and secondary schools for underprivileged children in partnership with non-governmental organizations in all four provinces of Pakistan.
The Mobilink Foundation remains committed towards leading social responsibility in Pakistan, with a history of helping the deserving across the country. The Mobilink Foundation has a dedicated and efficient team of Torchbearers; trained employee volunteers who enable the Foundation in the various causes it identifies for the relief of the underprivileged across Pakistan. Each Mobilink Foundation Torchbearer is empowered to clock an average of five (5) dedicated hours per month during official working hours.

UBL’s branchless banking solution, Omni, has won GSMA Global Mobile award for 2012 for the category ”Best Use of Mobile in Emergency or Humanitarian Situations” beating three other services – contesting in the same category.
Other contestants included:

• Flowminder.org for Rapid Population Movement Analysis using Cellphone Data for Improving Efficiency of Humanitarian Relief
• MoreMagic and Voilà for T-Cash following the Haitian earthquake
• NTT DOCOMO for  Recovery from Great East Japan Earthquake and New Disaster Preparedness Measures
• Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart) for the Strengthening Disaster Preparedness of Southern Leyte through SMS technology

UBL Omni won the award for for a transparent and efficient Cash Disbursement service after the 2009 IDPs Crisis and the 2010 Flood Crisis.
Omni happens to be one of the largest Branchless Banking cash disbursement initiatives to date and has proved to be a quick and transparent mechanism for the way cash disbursements are made by the Government of Pakistan and non-profit organizations.
UBL Omni provided the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP), a poverty alleviation initiative by the Government of Pakistan, and the World Food Programme (WFP) with a transparent and convenient cash disbursement mechanism for victims of the 2009 ‘War Against Terror’ IDPs Crisis and the 2010 Flood Crisis. Beneficiaries were issued unique cards and PINs which were used to withdraw funds from conveniently located UBL Omni retail shops, where agents logged into their mobile based applications to execute quick cash disbursements.
Judges commented over Omni saying:

"There is growing interest in how to direct payment of aid to the needy and this scheme utilizing mobile phones is a valuable initiative."

The GSM Association Awards are considered as the most prestigious contest and mostly called as Oscar for the mobile phone and telecommunication industry.
List of winners for GMSA Awards 2012 for 23 different categories is available here.

As announced earlier, eligible voters can now verify the status of their votes in the new computerized voter lists prepared by Election Commission of Pakistan by just sending an SMS via their mobile phones.
Service has been up an running for all operators, throughout the country.
Election Commission said that this SMS verification service, in collaboration with cellular operators, happens to be world’s largest verification service of any kind.
ECP said that 85 million registered voters can check their records through a single SMS.
How to Check your Vote Status?

• Simply send your CNIC (without dashes) to 8300
• Example: Send “3740541882200” to 8300

You will soon receive a reply with following information:

• Your CNIC Number
• Electoral Area, i.e. District, Tehsil and city/town/village
• Block Code
• Serial Number

Note: Reply message is likely to have words in Urdu (unicode). You may not be able to read the text message if your phone doesn’t support unicode.
Election Commission said that it has purposefully not included the voters’ name and home address to avoid any privacy violations.
Charges:

• SMS sent to 8300 will be charged @ Rs. 2 plus tax

What if you are not registered or registered with incorrect details?
Election Commission of Pakistan has said that that voters, in case of any issue, should immediately contact district election commissioner to get the details corrected. For the purpose, Election Commission is also arranging the establishment of display centers where voters can go an check their details and to get the information corrected.

iPhone is one amazing device that can do all sorts of things, however, iPhone cannot read the temperature, but luckily for you, there’s an iPhone accessory that can do this for you.
 
iCelsius Pro is the latest iOS accessory that you can use to measure the temperature  of objects around you simply by connecting iCelsius Pro to your iOS device and by downloading a special app from Apple App Store. The app itself can crate graphs, set alerts, and you can share your graphs with other people. This device can measure the temperature in both Fahrenheit and Celsius and it can measure the temperature from -22 degrees F to 302 degrees F or -30 degrees C to 150 degrees C.
iCelsius Pro is an useful accessory that you can use for science or for measuring the temperature of your water while making tea. The possibilities are endless, and as for the price, this device is available for pre-order and it costs $54.99.

Through an agreement between Telenor Group and the Wikimedia Foundation signed today, Telenor customers throughout Asia and Southeastern Europe will be able to access Wikipedia.com on their phones for free, i.e. no charges for data traffic at all (as long as there are on Wikipedia.com).
How to Use Wikipedia for Free?

• When implemented (It might take couple of months to get this partnership implemented), customers with a Telenor SIM will be able to access wikipedia.com for free.
• You will be able to visit wikipedia.com as many times as you want
• You will be able to browse wikipedia.com from your phone using any phone browser, or app.
• External links on wikipedia.com will be charged as per usual tariff
• Access to all other web pages (except wikipedia.com) will be charged as per usual tariffs.

When Can you use Wikipedia for Free?
We have asked Telenor Pakistan to give us a definitive date regarding the implementation of this project, for which we are awaiting their reply.
As mentioned above, the agreement was signed today and implementation of this partnership is in process now. Telenor Pakistan told me that a it could take couple of months to work out the technical modalities for making wikipedia.com accessible for free. Ideally, it is expected that all this would be done by April 2012.
A statement issued by Telenor said that this three year partnership between Telenor Group and the Wikimedia Foundation will cover 135 million users. The agreement is signed by seven countries: Thailand, Malaysia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, Montenegro, and Serbia.
By the end of the year, more markets are expected to join. The agreement will be implemented step by step throughout 2012, with the first markets launching during the second quarter.
This initiative is part of the Wikimedia Foundation’s mobile strategy, which focuses on reaching the billions of people around the world whose primary opportunity to access the Internet is via a mobile device.
“The Wikimedia Foundation is working to remove barriers to free knowledge, and for most people around the world right now, cost and accessibility are the two biggest hurdles,” says Barry Newstead, Wikimedia Chief Global Development Officer. “We applaud Telenor for joining us to deliver free access to Wikipedia for their customers. Through this partnership, we move a step closer to providing the sum of all knowledge to everyone in the world.”
This partnership supports Telenor’s commitment to bring more value to its mobile customers. Especially, the company has pioneered the development of value-adding services to rural and underserved communities in Asia. Telenor involve millions in Asia through the I-Geniusproject, which has already reached out to 300,000 Bangladeshi students and school-children with a call to explore open knowledge on the internet.
“We are delighted to have the opportunity to work with the Wikimedia Foundation. Telenor have pioneered affordable, mobile communications across much of Asia, and we have built a track record of offering vital services with a significant outreach” says Kristin Skogen Lund,Executive Vice President and Head of Digital Services at Telenor Group. “With this agreement, we are first in Asia to bring a vast knowledge source to the millions in underserved communities across the region.”
Each local Telenor affiliate will establish technical solutions together with the Wikimedia Foundation.

Warid has launched advance balance service, or also known as loan, for its prepaid customers.
with this service, those customers who get shot of mobile credit can refill their account with advance loan and return it whenever they recharge their accounts.
It merits mentioning here that Warid Advance loan will be given away only if your credit reaches below Rs. 5
How to Avail Warid Loan?

• write LOAN in SMS and send it to 7676
• You will get Rs.10 as an Advance Balance which will be deducted as soon as you recharge your account.
• Rs. 2 + tax will also be deducted as service charges along with Advance loan

In an effort to continue building community blocks, wi-tribe Pakistan shares its latest CSR initiative that is comprised of a partnership with the Islamabad Deaf Cricket Association (IDCA).
The IDCA will be participating in the 1^st National Deaf Cricket Tournament, with 32 Deaf Cricket teams representing different cities throughout Pakistan.
wi-tribe is supporting the team members’ uniforms, travel, accommodation and sports kits for two major gaming events, among others.
The team has played one game as hosts in Islamabad and is currently participating in the 2012 National Championship Tournament, being held in Lahore.
“At wi-tribe, we hold an unequivocal belief that each member of the society should be given equal opportunities and platforms to discover and build upon their strengths. We remind ourselves that each and every human is special in their own way, and our nation will prosper only if we focus on enriching strengths and helping our communities realize their dreams. This is a continuing philosophy for all of us at wi-tribe and we wish our team great success and sporting satisfaction in all their future games,” said Zohare Haider, Manager of Corporate & Digital Communications at wi-tribe Pakistan.

SAP AG has announced two new offerings that will deliver the benefits of the SAP HANA™ platform to small businesses and midsize enterprises (SMEs) in Pakistan.
With analytics powered by SAP HANA for the SAP® Business One application and SAP HANA, Edge edition, SMEs will be able to leverage powerful in-memory technology from SAP.
By helping organizations act on information as it happens, SAP HANA revolutionizes decision-making, dramatically increasing the speed of existing processes and accessing large amounts of data in shorter periods of time.
“Analytics powered by SAP HANA for SAP Business One will offer customers the flexibility to create interactive reports and run ad-hoc analysis faster than before,” said Mr. Hassan Jamal, Country Liaison Manager, SAP Pakistan. “Another major advantage is the access to relevant information in seconds with freestyle search, with the ability to navigate through various business objects from SAP Business One without having to move from screen to screen due to it all being included in the current cockpit. We expect that customers will benefit from tremendously improved productivity.”
Further on, Hassan stated, “SMEs in Pakistan can make use of localized data which will be available to them at all times. Recent trends in comparison to past trends can greatly aid SMEs to plan their strategies accordingly and make the necessary budgetary decisions.” Emphasizing on the importance of SAP HANA’s implementation in the market, he said, “Pakistan is a developing market where SMEs are playing a pivotal role in its economic development. Hence, it is imperative for them to organize their business operations and digitalize them for better efficiency and productivity.”
For a quick and predictable implementation of SAP HANA, customers and partners can use SAP® Rapid Deployment solutions, including the SAP® ERP rapid-deployment solution for operational reporting with SAP HANA. SAP Rapid Deployment solutions delivered by SAP partners include preconfigured software, partner implementation services and end-user enablement resulting in fast time to value with easy-to-deploy and integrated solutions.
Another offering is SAP® CO-PA Accelerator software, which allows significantly faster processing of complex allocations and essentially instantaneous ad hoc profitability queries. It belongs to accelerator-type usage scenarios in which SAP HANA becomes a secondary database for SAP products such as the SAP® ERP application.

With a vision to cater to students with a knack for mobile app development at a university level, Nokia Pakistan and djuice conducted a Developer Workshop at NED University which focused on imparting training to students on S40 devices. It was for the first time that Nokia Pakistan conducted a developer workshop solely for students at a university.
The venue for the workshop was Computer and Information Systems Engineering Department where the trainer Syed Faraz Ahmed from Lakson Business Solutions shared details of the development tools available to develop mobile apps for S40 devices and gave hands-on training to participants.
Expressing her views, Rabia Azfar Nizami, Business Development Manager EDX, Near East, NOKIA said, “I appreciate the interest level of NED University’s students to learn and excel in their chosen field. Nokia has been organizing these kinds of workshops for developers in Pakistan for the past 1 year and it is for the first time that it was being solely organized for students. Nokia partnered with djuice and P@SHA to offer training for S40 platform and the workshop was geared towards channelizing the strengths of these students and providing them a rich bundle of resources to develop more locally relevant mobile apps for S40 devices which are most popular among the masses in our country.”
At the workshop’s conclusion, certificates were distributed among all the participating students. Ms. Nida Siddiqui was awarded a Nokia Asha 200 for her excellent performance in the workshop while Mr. Yasir Tahir and Mr. Shayan Rais, both were awarded a djuice connection & internet bundle by Ammar Waheed, Assistant Manager Content, Product Development, djuice.
Events of this nature are pertinent to take the local IT/Telecom industry to the next level and enable better mobility experience for end consumers especially in countries like Pakistan where majority of people use S40 mobile phones.

PTA based on responsibilities given to it, carries out extensive field surveys to identify illegal/unauthorized users of frequency spectrum and coordinates for vacation.
In addition, for certain persistent unauthorized users, PTA and FIA conduct joint raids for vacation and seizure of wireless equipment.
Frequency Spectrum is a scarce & highly expensive national resource and under Telecom (Re-Organization) Act 1996, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has to ensure that the rights of the licenses and telecom users are duly protected.
During the year 2011, PTA successfully vacated 66 illegal frequency spots which were causing interference in the authorized spectrum of licensed telecom operators. Numerous raids with Federal investigation Agency (FIA) were also conducted against illegal frequency users and equipment was confiscated.
Apart from illegal users of frequency, PTA has also removed 61 jammers across Pakistan to ensure interference free spectrum for the telecom operators.
Chairman PTA, Dr. Muhammad Yaseen emphasized that PTA as a regulator is vigilant and is taking all measures to stop this unlawful activity. He also warned to all those who are involved in such illegal use of frequency and users of jamming devices to stop such unlawful activities, otherwise strict action will be initiated against them as per the Pakistan Telecommunication Act Re-Organization 1996.
It may be mention that Illegal/unauthorized use of frequency and any source of interference in the authorized frequency spectrum is an offence under clause (n) of sub-section (1) of section 31 of the Act.