Current Final

Category: Tech

  • Fawad Chaudhry urges to unban PUBG immediately

    Fawad Chaudhry urges to unban PUBG immediately

    Federal Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry has opposed the ban on popular battle royale game, PUBG Mobile. In response to a tweet, he said: “I am against such bans because it is destroying our tech industry.”

    He urged Syed Aminul Haque, who is currently serving as Federal Minister of Information Technology and Telecommunication, to take action to eliminate hindrances in the digital growth of our country.

    PUBG Mobile was banned in Pakistan on 1st July after PTA received complaints from all quarters. PTA was later asked to explain the reasons behind the decision and submit a lawfully written order to the Islamabad High Court (IHC).

    In another hearing on 15 July in IHC presided by Justice Amir Farooq, the judge said, “PTA should have consulted with a psychologist to learn about the pros and cons of the game before the ban.”

    Explaining the reasons behind the ban, PTA’s counsel said that the game includes anti-Islamic material as well as obscene content. In response, the judge said that there are numerous games with more violence than PUBG, however, it doesn’t mean banning everything is the solution.

    Until now, youngsters have launched multiple social media campaigns to get the attention of PTA, Imran Khan, Fawad Chaudhry, and other notable names to resolve the matter and unban the game.

  • Mobile phone imports nearly double in last 12 months

    Mobile phone imports nearly double in last 12 months

    Mobile phone imports have increased by 81.32 per cent as compared to the last fiscal year (July-June) 2019-20.

    The imports reached $1.369 billion compared to $755.548 million during the same period last year, according to the latest report released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).

    Telecom experts are linking the phenomenal increase in import to the implementation of Device Identification Registration and Blocking System (DIRBS).

    Mobile phone imports increased 300 per cent in June 2020 as compared to $57.736 million imports of June 2019.

    Overall telecom imports saw an increase of 34 per cent during July-June (2019-20) if compared to the same period of last year.

    Total imports were recorded at $1.86 billion when compared to $1.37 billion in July-June (2018-19), while registering 71.62 per cent growth in June 2020.

    The figures stood at $272.576 million in June 2020 as compared to $158.93 million during May 2020.

    Other telecom apparatus imports witnessed a decline of over 21.36 per cent in July-June (2019-20) as they stood at $490.754 million against $624.017 million during the same period last year.

    When compared to May 2020, other telecom apparatus imports registered a 13.41 per cent decline in June as they were $41.453 million as compared to $47.871 million in May 2020.

  • Only 10% of IT graduates in Pakistan are employable: Gallup

    Only 10% of IT graduates in Pakistan are employable: Gallup

    According to a recent study conducted by Gallup, which is the country’s leading social research lab, software houses hire only 10 per cent of the graduates from lower-tier universities. The software houses with low-end IT services employ only 50 per cent of such graduates.

    Research shows that Pakistan’s top universities generate 25,000 IT graduates, but only 5,000 get employed at top local IT companies. The other graduates simply do not meet the selection criteria as a result of their outdated education and lack of relevant skills.

    Furthermore, there is a skill gap between graduates of high-tier and low-tier universities. The gap is widening due to the lack of nationwide IT skills training. The lack of fluency in communication has also been identified as a problem due to the lack of qualified teachers and modern curriculum.

    “There is a need for Pakistan to focus on human capital related to technological innovations” states the research. The best way to boost employability, according to Gallup, is to impart skills upon graduates that are required by the IT industry and digital economy.

    The IT Ministry is aware of it and thus been working on setting up an authority to boost the quality of IT curriculums. The hope is that across Pakistan, IT education can be brought up to global standards.

  • Breaking: Barack Obama, Bill Gates, Elon Musk, Apple, and others hacked in unprecedented Twitter attack

    Breaking: Barack Obama, Bill Gates, Elon Musk, Apple, and others hacked in unprecedented Twitter attack

    The Twitter accounts of major companies and individuals have been compromised in one of the most widespread and confounding hacks the platform has ever seen, all in service of promoting a bitcoin scam.

    It all began when Elon Musk’s Twitter account was seemingly compromised by a hacker intent on using it to run a bitcoin scam.

    Microsoft co-founder bill gates also had his account hacked by the same hackers, who posted a similar message with an identical bitcoin wallet address. Both accounts continued to post new tweets promoting the scam almost as fast as they are deleted.

    A spokesperson for Gates tells Recode’s Teddy Schleifer, “We can confirm that this tweet was not sent by Bill Gates. This appears to be part of a larger issue that Twitter is facing. Twitter is aware and working to restore the account.”

    Shortly after the wave of tweets from Gates and Musk’s accounts, the accounts of Barak Obama, Apple, Uber, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, hip-hop mogul Kanye West, and former New York City mayor and billionaire Mike Bloomberg, among others, were also compromised and began posting the scam.

    The origin of the scam appears to be when Musk’s account issued a mysterious tweet at 4:17PM ET reading, “I‘m feeling generous because of Covid-19. I’ll double any BTC payment sent to my BTC address for the next hour. Good luck, and stay safe out there!” The tweet also contained a bitcoin address, presumably one associated with the hacker’s crypto wallet.

    https://twitter.com/TwitterSupport/status/1283518038445223936?s=20

    The investigation is going on but Twitter has taken security measures to prevent further attacks. Twitter has locked the compromised accounts. They will be restored once the company will be confident about security measures.

    https://twitter.com/TwitterSupport/status/1283591852982231040?s=20

    Most of the accounts will be able to operate normally and the company is working to streamline their services.

    https://twitter.com/TwitterSupport/status/1283562446196596737?s=20
  • FBR, NADRA launch web portal for tax profiling, asset inquiry

    FBR, NADRA launch web portal for tax profiling, asset inquiry

    The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) have launched a web portal through which Pakistanis can view the list of declared assets and download information for documentation and record-keeping.

    The portal provides the following services that allow you to check your asset details online:

    a) FBR Tax Profiling System

    b) FBR Assets Inquiry System (FBR Maloomat)

    The web portal created by FBR and NADRA collects your data from official sources in order to calculate your assets. As long as you’re a Pakistani citizen, you can view the information from anywhere in the world.

    ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA TO ACCESS THE INFORMATION:

    • You must be a Pakistani national with a valid CNIC or NICOP
    • You should be above 18 years of age
    • Citizens residing in Pakistan must have a PTA registered mobile number
    • Overseas Pakistanis must have a valid email address
    • You must make a payment of PKR500 through NADRA e-Sahulat or you credit/debit card

    HOW TO USE THE TAX PROFILING SYSTEM:

    1. Visit the official website for FBR Tax Profiling System
    2. Create your account by entering your valid CNIC number in the relevant field followed by the computer-generated verification code and click on ‘Submit’
    3. Pay the application fee via your credit/debit card or through a nearby NADRA e-Sahulat franchise. A city-based drop-down list of e-Sahulat outlets is also there on the portal for your convenience  
    4. Once you have successfully made the payment, here is the information that will be available for viewing:
    • Tax Filer Status
    • NTN number
    • Total Income
    • Tax Paid
    • Net Wealth
    • Withholding Tax
    • SIM card in your name
    • Number of cars
    • Arms License
    • Executive Services
    • Passports
    • Travel information

    6. You can save the information in a PDF format and print it if needed.

    FBR ASSETS INQUIRY SYSTEM

    Here is a step-by-step tutorial on how to carry out an FBR assets check using the board’s web portal.

    1. Visit the official website for FBR Maloomat
    2.  Use your registered mobile number to send your CNIC number to 9966

    OR

    3. Select the ‘Get Login/ Password for Asset Inquiry (It’s Free)’ tab on the top. Then, enter your CNIC number, name, choose an appropriate prefix, pick current service provider and add your mobile number in the relevant fields. Just make sure the phone number you enter into the portal is registered in your name.

    4. Receive the code on your mobile number

    5. Once you login to the FBR Asset Inquiry System, you will be able to see different tabs. From there, select any tab and click on ‘Load Data’ to see your relevant data.

    You can view the following information if you check your assets using FBR:

    • Withholding Tax 
    • Vehicles 
    • Travel Information 
    • Utilities with bill amount
    • The details of properties in your name

    FBR updates assets data on its portal on a regular basis. Therefore, you will be required to visit the portal regularly to view updated data.

  • India gets $10 billion from Google to accelerate digital economy while disgruntled Pakistani software engineers leave country

    India gets $10 billion from Google to accelerate digital economy while disgruntled Pakistani software engineers leave country

    Google has announced investing $10 billion in India to accelerate its digital economy at a time when software engineers on this side of the border leave the country in “hopeless” times led to by systematic limitations.

    Indian Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi lauded Google’s initiative to invest in India which would eventually improve the lives of country’s “farmers, youngsters and entrepreneurs”.

    How will Google invest $10-billion funds?

    Google said its $10 billion-fund would focus on areas such as enabling affordable access to the internet and information to every Indian in their own language; building new products and services in segments like consumer tech, education, health and agriculture; empowering businesses, especially small and medium ones, to transform digitally; leveraging technology and artificial intelligence for digital literacy, outbreak predictions, and support for rural economies.

    “This mission is deeply personal to me. When I was young, every new piece of technology brought new opportunities to learn and grow. But I always had to wait for it to arrive from someplace else. Today, people in India no longer have to wait for technology to come to you. A whole new generation of technologies are happening in India first,” said Google Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Sundar Pichai in an editorial note.

    Pakistan vs India:

    But while tech giants like Facebook, Amazon and Google have pledged billions of dollars to the Indian economy, software engineers in Pakistan are disgruntled and are leaving the country due to the lack of support, systemic barriers, incompetence of leadership, and lack of will of the establishment.

    Here is a post doing the rounds on the internet.

    K Awan is among many others who have left the country over the past decade, alleging that those with the power to make decisions are incompetent.

  • Naya Pakistan: Optical fiber operationalised from Khunjerab to Islamabad

    Naya Pakistan: Optical fiber operationalised from Khunjerab to Islamabad

    China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) Authority chairman and Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Information and Broadcasting Lt Gen (r) Asim Saleem Bajwa has said that new optical fiber cable has been operationalised from Khunjerab to Islamabad.

    An optical fiber is a flexible, transparent fiber made by drawing glass or plastic to a diameter slightly thicker than that of a human hair. It is used most often as a means to transmit light between the two ends of the fiber and find wide usage in fiber-optic communications, where they permit transmission over longer distances and at higher bandwidths (data transfer rates) than electrical cables.

    In a tweet on Sunday, Bajwa said that in the next phase it will be laid from Islamabad to Karachi and Islamabad to Gwadar as part of the digital highway plan.

    He also said that foundation for the digital revolution project was being processed in conjunction with China.

    Earlier on Friday, the CPEC Authority chief said that the Kohala and Azad Pattan power projects would generate 8,000 jobs and an investment of $4 billion over the years.

    Pakistan and China have signed an agreement for the construction of these two projects as part of the CPEC project. With an investment of $1.5 billion, the Azad Pattan project will involve no fuel import, enabling the country to move towards cheaper and greener power generation while creating local job opportunities.

  • EU arrests 746 organised criminals: murderers, assassins, money launders, hitman

    EU arrests 746 organised criminals: murderers, assassins, money launders, hitman

    European Union (EU) police agency, Europol, has arrested at least 746 criminals after decrypting a phone network of 60,000 organised criminals, including murderers, cartels, hitmen, assassins and money launders.

    French police first hacked the network of EncroChat by deploying a “technical device” to penetrate so that they could read millions of messages “over the shoulders” of suspects as they communicated with custom-made devices.

    “This is an unprecedented look into the heart of organised crime groups that led us to foil violent attacks, corruption, attempted murders and large-scale drug transports,” said Wil Van Gemert, deputy director of Europol, during a press conference in The Hague.

    According to Van Den Berg, chief constable of the Dutch police’s central unit, some of the encrypted messages were so worrying that it went “far beyond the authorities’ imagination”.

    In 2017, French authorities launched an investigation after finding that EncroChat phones were regularly found in operations of criminal groups and the company was operating from servers in France.

    EncroChat sells customised Android handsets with GPS, camera and microphone functionalities removed. These devices are loaded with encrypted messaging apps as well as a secured secondary operating system, in addition to Android.

    The phones also come with a self-destruct feature that wipes the devices after a PIN code is entered.

    EncroChat had in June sent a message to its estimated 60,000 users to throw away their 1,000 euro devices as its servers had been “seized illegally by government entities”. The company has also been shut down.

    EncroChat had customers in 140 countries globally. More than 90 per cent of EncroChat clients were linked to organised crime as between 50,000 to 60,000 of the phones were being used by hardened criminals.

    The Dutch police have busted 19 crystal meth labs, seized 10 tonnes of cocaine and thousands of kilos of crystal meth, said Andy Kraagm, head of Dutch police’s central investigation division at the press conference.

    After this massive operation, some users are throwing away their phones; some have gone offline completely while others are attempting to flee their countries.

  • Marvel to feature Muslim-Pakistani superhero Kamala Khan in blockbuster Avengers game

    Marvel to feature Muslim-Pakistani superhero Kamala Khan in blockbuster Avengers game

    Kamala Khan is all set to be a part of Marvel’s blockbuster gaming roster joining superheroes like Iron Man, Hulk and Captain America. Khan is a Muslim-American teenager of Pakistani heritage, who has shape-shifting abilities.

    According to BBC, Marvel’s Avengers are assembling again, not for a movie, but for a blockbuster video game. The game’s publisher, Square Enix announced that Marvel Avengers would include Kamala Khan as one of its main playable characters and make her central to the plot.

    Kamala Khan was co-created by Marvel editor and director Sana Amanat in 2014. Sana Amanat is a Muslim-American herself, she wanted to create a character young girls of similar background could identify with and look up to.

    Sana Amanat

    Maria Afsar, a 25 years old gamer said, “When I saw the announcement she is going to be in the game and of the main characters, I just thought I’ve literally been waiting for something like this for my whole life. I saw nothing like this when I was young.”

    Kamala Khan will be featured as Ms Marvel Moniker. Ms Marvel Moniker has been used by several white characters in Marvel comic books since 1976, including Sharon Ventura and Dr Karlo Sofen.

    In 2014, readers were introduced to Kamala Khan, a 16-years-old Pakistani-American growing up in Jersey City. She has shapeshifting abilities and she happens to be a fan-girl of the Avengers.

    Making history along the way, she became the Marvel’s first Muslims character to lead her own comic books series.

  • Airlift’s investment reaches 24.1 million USD, marks biggest investment in region

    Airlift, app-based urban mass transit startup that allows consumers to books rides on fixed-rate, announced a new venture in partnership with existing investors that lead their total investment to USD 24.1m. At the time when the risk for global recession is high, Airlift marks one of the largest capital investments in the region.

    Airlift paused its transit operations due to the threat of Covid-19. But they have introduced Airlift Grocer, an offshoot of the same company, that enables the delivery of all household essentials within 45 minutes.

    Consumers in Lahore can now order groceries and other household essentials through their mobile apps via the Google PlayStore, the Apple App Store or using their website via www.airliftgrocer.com.

    Airlift wants to create a positive impact in the region by establishing a decentralized logistics platform. Local and foreign companies invested in Airlift to support their vision and improve the ecosystem of the startups in Pakistan.

    Quiet Capital and First Round Capital based in San Francisco, TrueSight Ventures (London, RT Ventures (London), Shorooq Partners (Abu Dhabi), and ACE Capital (Taiwan) are the foreign venture capital (VC) companies that participated in recent series A-1 financing round.

    Fatima Gobi Ventures (Pakistan) and Indus Valley Capital (Pakistan) are the local investors who continued their support for Airlift in financing.

    Airlift is serving the community in new and innovative ways, and they are also committed to supporting the government income substitution program by creating new employment opportunities for riders on their platform.