Online piracy is a sensitive issue, not just because activists make it sound like it, but it is also something that users don’t benefit from if seen closely. Recently, a study by a British legal firm revealed that most of the people don’t even understand what piracy actually is and which of their acts could be considered as indulging in piracy.

According to the survey from Wiggin, respondents actually liberty feigned and pretended that they are not aware, because internet downloading sites are also very clear about copyrights and if any infringe upon these, they are incriminated.

However, despite this, many people really don’t know what could constitute in them passing the line into illegal downloading of any text, image or video, or any other content. Intellectual property rights are safeguarded to protect the integrity and respect the labour of the creative people from whichever sphere they may be.

In Pakistan, cyber laws are not too strong already. There are many advocacy groups, however, that are working to get some sense into what behaviour is acceptable and legal online and where it is crossing the line, especially with piracy laws.

Although, there are many movies, books and even other items which are available in Pakistan in the open market, the law enforcement agencies themselves don’t take a keen interest in stopping it, simply due to corruption and incompetence. But when a user gets into trouble with international piracy laws or infringes upon rights of a copyrighted item from another country, there is bound to be an action against that user.

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Nimbuzz

Nimbuzz, a leading cross-platform global communications solution and Mobilink have announced a partnership to bring the Nimbuzz Messenger app to Mobilink subscribers across Pakistan at an unbeatable price. Nimbuzz is one of the world’s leading mobile messenger applications, which is compatible with a wide range of mobile platforms.

The partnership will enable Mobilink subscribers to opt for a special, discounted ‘Nimbuzz Bundle’ that will allow unlimited internet usage via Nimbuzz app for subscribers to make full use of the many features. Mobilink subscribers will also become part of the 150 million strong global Nimbuzz fraternities and able to communicate freely with Nimbuzz users across the world.

Talking about the partnership,Vikas Saxena, CEO Nimbuzz said, “Since messaging is one of the fastest growing usage categories on smartphones it becomes imperative that stakeholders in this ecosystem like telecom companies and Nimbuzz work together to bring out services that best serve this user need This tie-up will further help a large and growing user base of Nimbuzz in Pakistan to enjoy our product without caring about individual data costs much. We are excited to work with Mobilink in bringing together best communications experience on mobile for people of Pakistan. ”

Moied Javeed, Director Marketing (Mobile Internet) at Mobilink highlighted, “Mobilink sustains its market leadership through innovation in the services and products that we offer to our customers. Nimbuzz is one of the leading innovators in the realm of seamless messaging and entertainment via mobile internet services. We are confident that our partnership with Nimbuzz will provide our customers with the benefits of the most modern form of data-based communication.”

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Almost around 250,000 households in the U.S. have already filled their online census questionnaires. People have taken to the idea very positively in the U.S. and prefer using the internet for such a purpose. Because, earlier they had to fill it by hand and had to return it through the postal service.

This new going-tech idea for the government departments has taken much speed during the current administration and seeing it, other governments are also inspired. There is no doubt that technology is the way to go in these fast times of quick communication. Pakistan is also following in these steps, albeit slowly.

he U.S. Census Bureau developed its online questionnaire after a lot of research into how people responded to different questions and checking their eye-movements. The online version takes around 40 minutes to complete and asks for pin numbers and other special codes to access secured pages.

At least the environmentalists will be happy that papers are being saved and in turn trees are being protected. It has also saved a lot of financial spending on part of the government with one household costing $96 to the census surveys.

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Around 800 million people have mobile phones, but are unable to read the text due to their low-literacy. Because of their poverty, learning to read or write proves as an impediment. To tackle with this situation of poverty and illiteracy with the mobile users, researchers in Pakistan are using a voice game to give motivation to thousands of people that will allow them to master an automated voice system. After acquiring this skill, they can become independent into finding jobs suitable to their potential.

This programme has been introduced by combined efforts of the researchers at Carnegie Mellon University and Pakistan’s Lahore University of Management Sciences. Currently, the mobile game is being played by some 156,000 users that get 600,000 calls with some 27,000 job inquiries. This is being done with a viral spreading of the mobile game.

According to Dr. Umar Saif, who is currently the Chairman of the Punjab Information Technology Board, viral spread is central to this whole programme because amongst poor people, it is the only means. This is also the first virally spreading speech-based service in a developing country.

This game is called Polly, where a person calls the game’s phone number and receives a call back from the system, then gives commands to record a message to a friend, plays it back with funny changes and lets the person forward the message to another friend. All this is done in Urdu language.

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Malaysian Defence Ministry has expressed its confidence in Pakistan’s ability to deliver on their said offer and on other strategic assets and equipment. Malaysia and Pakistan are both expected to cooperate in joint exercises, training, education and exchange of officers. UAVs are effective for intelligence agencies as piracy, illegal trafficking of goods, people, drugs, illegal fishing can be monitor and caught.

Many intelligence and defence agencies around the world have now started using UAVs for monitoring illegal immigrants, smuggling and other maritime border crimes. Although it has been politically very sensitive amongst different countries to share intelligence with each other during an era which has seen so much spread of violence.

Pakistan is fighting at the forefronts of the War On Terror and yet the U.S. which has better intelligence technology refuses to share it with Pakistan. With the implementation of such technology as the UAVs and satellites monitoring and stopping terrorists and their plots would be helpful. Without invading an individual’s privacy, it is necessary that the government keeps sight of those who are in the midst of the people to create chaos.

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According to Pakistan Council of Science and Technology (PCST), Pakistan needs a thorough research in all classes of materials, including hard and soft materials, metals, inter-metallics, organic and inorganic semiconductors, polymers, composite materials, biomedical materials, and vitreous materials. It is necessary that modern techniques are used in characterization of materials and understand their properties and uses.

There are different universities in Pakistan that offer Masters and PhD degrees in the field of materials science and there are many laboratories that operate in the same field, but there are no dedicated research institutes in this area of study at the national level. The National Materials Science Research Institute will also serve as an interface between academic institutions and industry needs.

Trained personnel are also required who are expert in this field of materials research and science. Such industrial sectors as ceramics, plastics, metallurgy, aerospace, telecommunications, transportation, electronics, micro and optoelectronics, energy, healthcare, computing, consumer goods and construction will benefit thoroughly from research studies of materials science research institute.

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According to the CEO of All World Live, Anne Habiby, C Square Consulting has been competing on a large scale at the global level maintaining quality in its information technology services. This is what makes a company a winner in their point of view and hence, they gave the award to the company. The Arabia 500 Awards are regarded very highly within the industry and by most entrepreneurs around the world as they have operations in more than 100 countries. They look for effective information technology companies in the Middle East, North Africa, Pakistan and Turkey that also provides companies from these areas a global recognition in their field.

Awards should never be the aim, but only an encouragement to strive for something even better. It means that what they have been performing is the right way to go and improvement can never stop. It is wonderful to see a Pakistani information technology company from the private sector getting this recognition.

This also proves that there are many individual success stories that happen every day in Pakistan, but what need to happen are some more national stories which are positive for the country’s growth and image. Pakistan has the potential to provide in every field and this should be recognised too.

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According to the secretary, it is important that Pakistan considers developing nanotechnology manpower with proper strategy. Although, he talked about seriously taking nanotechnology, but without a planned strategy toward developing skilled professionals in the field of nanotechnology, there is no use of lip-service.

It often happens that seminars and conferences are often organised with the help of foreign private institutes and foreign governments’ aid for research and development in the third world countries, but with little “seriousness” from the government itself. The funds are wasted and the corruption takes over with incompetence as well as dislocation of funds.

For a field like nanotechnology, which is expected to have a market share worth $3 billion for its products, it is in fact fatalistic not to pay attention to the opportunities of growth. In Pakistan, only 0.6% of the gross domestic product (GDP) is spent on science and technology altogether which can be compared to neglecting to provide the basics for development and progress.

In the coming seven years, it is expected that the government will raise this GDP to 2% expenditure by 2020, which means still no serious efforts on part of the government with many more such seminars and conferences, besides much talk and articles written on the subject, about paying due attention to science, technology, innovation, invention, creativity and communications.

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Through this national robotics competition, the winning team will get the opportunity of representing Pakistan in the grand finale. The event has been arranged by Air University’s assistant professor, Liaquat Ali Khan and will be also leading the team at the final event in India. All Pakistani universities offering degree programmes in engineering and computer science have been invited to participate at the national competition.

It is expected that at least 10 different universities will compete to make it to the final representing Pakistan. There will be two categories in the national robotics competition where competitiveness of the participants will be judged, one is of International Autonomous Robotics Competition and the other is International Robot Talent.

Robotics deals with designing, construction, operation and application of various types of robots that serve different purposes. The computer systems to control them, sensory feedback and information processing makes it all the more difficult and interest for creative enthusiasts. With the advancement in robotics, many places where humans used to work have now been taken over by robots making it cost-effective and quick. However, there are many tasks where a super-human ability like that of a robot is required and that is where it serves the best.

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It is expected that the university will contribute toward providing solutions of problems of information technology in Pakistan and will work toward achieving global standards to compete in the international market. The standards are being set in education, research, entrepreneurship and also creating personnel capable of being hired in the field of information technology companies and businesses.

Already Pakistan is lagging behind in the field of latest technological development. Even though companies do work, but that work of latest technology and its applications remain limited to only a few companies which adopt modern means and upgrade to newer software relevant to their sectors.

The guest speaker was Dr. Umar Saif, who is also the Chairman of the PITB. On the occasion, he said:

“The launch of the IT University is a visionary step towards providing the youth quality IT education. ITU’s mission is to educate the next generation of innovators and engineers to develop technologies that drive the country’s economic growth.”

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The PCP certification was awarded to Mobilink Foundation after an extensive evaluation that assessed the Foundation for internal governance structure, financial management and program delivery. The awarding of PCP certification is a testament to the diversity and outreach of the Mobilink Foundation and establishes the credibility of its operations.

Bilal Munir Shiekh, Chief Commercial Officer, Mobilink, highlighted, “The Mobilink Foundation is a cornerstone of Mobilink’s Corporate Responsibility initiative. The Foundation has conducted some of the largest and most successful humanitarian initiatives in Pakistan’s history with utmost transparency. I would like to thank PCP for acknowledging Mobilink Foundation’s endeavors to provide education, healthcare, environmental protection and disaster relief for the communities we operate in.”

Tanwir Ali Agha, Executive Director, PCP, added, “The PCP certification is a very rigorous process where organizations are evaluated against over 80 evaluation parameters. Mobilink’s qualification for certification shows that it has financial controls and good governance practices in place.”

PCP is the only Non-Profit Organization (NPO) certification agency authorized by the Government of Pakistan, with certification by PCP authenticating the credibility, transparency and performance of Non-Profit Organizations (NPO) through an assessment and validation process. This also includes verification of the evaluation by an independent certification panel comprising of representatives of SECP, Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), members of media and prominent civil society organizations.

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The Ballistic Backpack will shield the wearer as one is running away from an attack. It has been made from ordinary polyester and has a layer of RynoHide, which has carbon nanotubes applied to textile threats that block bullets. The main substance is, however, RynoHide, which can be fitted into any backpack. The carbon nanotubes have been supplied by University of Utah’s Nano Institute.

This kind of backpack is also required by students in Pakistan. Even though there has never been such a school shooting incident anywhere in Pakistan, but at times, incidents of gun violence have taken place in universities where students have been involved with other political groups and have brought such political associations into university campuses.

It is worth US$300, which is quite expensive for an average student here. But surely, something of a similar technology of shielding students should be conceived by our researchers too.

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According to Pew Research, more than a quarter of smartphone users in 18 countries surveyed are using mobile web regularly. The countries that were found to be most active on the internet through mobile phones are Britain, Japan, United States and China. The Pew Research also conducted survey for Pakistan and found that it ranked the lowest amongst the internet users from mobile phones.

There are just only 4% smartphone users in Pakistan that actively use mobile web for their online search. This lack of internet usage through smartphone devices can be attributed to higher internet charges that telecom companies charge for internet access and can also be due to the fact that Pakistani smartphone users are not into mobile web search as they are more into using computers, laptops and iPads for the access.

The report found that from five billion people in the world who have mobile phone access, only about two billion can access the internet through their devices. Although China has more mobile users as compared to the United States, but considering proportions of each, the US exceeds China in percentage.

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The question was asked by a man over the Facebook page of the company and received a reply that users considered racist toward Pakistan. The reply came from company’s president Matt Schaeffer that, “we don’t deliver outside Montana, certainly not Pakistan”. The man who asked the query became angered on such a response and reacted to the answer by saying:

“What are u talking about!!??? I think.ur comment is rude to assume i live in Pakistan. I live in Sheridan but just because of your ignorance i wont buy your ice cream and definetly wont recommend it.”

The company president explained his response by saying that he remarked about Pakistan because of an icon image of the questioner that led him to believe he was from Pakistan. Although, the man’s location was clearly mentioned beside his name. The comments by other users that followed this initial exchange between the company president and the man consisted of such heated debate and statements, that the Facebook page was taken down by the company.

When the Facebook page went down, people expressed their disappointment and anger on the company’s Yelp review page. The company was called racist and full of bigotry and disrespectful of Pakistan. They were labeled Islamophobic. The man’s anger upon being considered from Pakistan could be explained by the fact that the company said they “certainly don’t deliver to Pakistan”, which means that Pakistanis should not be concerned about their pork-based gelatin that the ice cream company has. It was clearly a rude remark.

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Ufone Facebook Fans

Ufone started its facebook account for its fans in July 2009 and felt a huge applause by its fans being liking and posting more and more information on the page. The main purpose to create this fan page was not to achieve an award or something else but their mere purpose was to remain continuously in touch with the valued customers and post new and latest information. Not only information regarding Ufone charges and packages was posted at the page but even more useful information about our country was posted. The youth of our beloved country has always played beautiful and sincere role in all the economical affairs of the country but when I visited Ufone fan page, it brought tears to my eyes out of excitement when I saw comments and posts regarding Independence Day.

Ufone gained this huge popularity on social media network just because of its active participation in customer’s problems and showing deep concern in their lives. From July 2009 to 6^th Dec 2012, Ufone has done its best and successfully received the reward of its hard work in 6^th Dec 2012 when it got the title of first telecommunication company to attain the reward of having more than one million fans.

Apart from consistent hard work of Ufone’s work force, it has become possible due to unmatchable love of its customers. The way they showed their enthusiasm through their posts and comments is just unbelievable. Ufone is heartedly thankful to its customers for all their love and affiliation they have showed. Well, a mere is not enough to make it worth something; Ufone is again proving itself as best servant for its customers by making the celebrations of this achievement in a lush style. You might be wondering what that could be? It is a “thanks a million quiz competition”. In which a quiz competition would be held and 3000 winners would get surprise gifts. If you were still unaware of it, just go to the page and be the participant because Ufone is waiting for you to be the winner. J

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