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Category: Tech

  • 5 products of this decade that transformed the tech world

    5 products of this decade that transformed the tech world

    The year 2020 is almost here, marking the end of this dacade, but it surely brought a lot of new technology and gadgets which range from latest mobile applications to mobile phones, computers to smart devices, and much more in the internet of things.

    But not every product that is created in the past ten years has the same impact on the society. It takes some serious innovation and cultural adoption to really change the tech world.

    We have listed here a few tech innovations that truly changed tech and were hailed as the most revolutionary products this in this decade.

    WhatsApp:

    Launched in November 2009, WhatsApp is a social media messaging platform that is owned by Facebook and its impact on society was significant enough to be mentioned here.

    WhatsApp specializes in cross-platform messaging, it is a free service that lets users message one another seamlessly between mobile and desktop devices. It is known for its enhanced privacy features, like end-to-end encryption, and its free audio and video international calling services.

    Apple iPad:

    When Steve Jobs first revealed the iPad in early 2010, many wondered whether there was a room for a product that was bigger than a smartphone, but lighter than (and more limited in features than) a laptop.

    Apple originally designed this new device to occupy a new product category between the iPod touch/iPhone and the Mac and by late 2012, over 100 million iPad devices had been sold worldwide and around 71 million iPads were sold in 2013 alone.

    It runs the same version of operating system as the iPod touch and iPhone. Similarly, the iPad devices are compatible with the vast majority of mobile applications written for the iPhone and iPod touch as well.

    Uber:

    Launched in 2012, ther ride-hailing service Uber has become the most recognized alternative to the traditional taxi services around the world. The service is available in over 700 cities including around the world including Pakistan, and this number is set to increase even more.

    This service allows its users to order a cab from a mobile application by just mentioning the pickup and drop-off locations.

    However, with expansion the problems in the service also increased. Wired has reported that the company’s relationship with its drivers is fraught and the company also refuses to classify its drivers as employees. Moreover, it is has also been criticized for skimping on driver background checks.

    Apple iPhone 4S:

    The original iPhone was launched in 2007 and it was one of the most influential events of our modern era. But the launch of the iPhone 4S in October 2011, was the big game-changer for Apple company’s business.

    Its new design and being the first iPhone mobile device to boast a front-facing selfie camera with the launch of FaceTime and Apple’s video chat service, the device captured the market in an instance.

    Oculus Rift:

    Oculus Rift is a virtual reality headset, designed to connect to a high-powered PC to enable advanced computations and graphics rendering. The original prototype of this device was created in 2011 by the (then) 18-year-old Palmer Luckey in his parents’ garage in Long Beach, California.

    But what captured the comsumers’ interest was the launch of an HD (high-definition) version of the device in 2012. Later, in the fall of 2012, the company raised over two million dollars through its kickstarter crowdfunding campaign which is significantly higher that the $250,000 the startup sough.

    Oculus Rift’s constellation positioning technology uses gaze tracking and IR LED sensors to identify the user’s position while interacting with the virtual environment. It allows users to move freely within their physical environment, where they can sit, stand, walk, turn, duck and dodge as they desire.

  • ‘Can locate users even if they opt-out of tracking,’ reveals Facebook

    The social media giant, Facebook has revealed that it can determine where users are even if they choose-out of having their whereabouts tracked, The Express Tribune reported.

    According to the details, Facebook in its letter sent to United States (US) senators explained the ways it can use to figure out where people are after they have selected not to share precise location data with the company.

    The social media network, contended that knowing a user’s location has benefits ranging from showing ads for nearby shops to fighting hackers and battling misinformation.

    Republican Senator Josh Hawley in a tweet said, “There is no opting out. No control over your personal information,” adding that, “That’s Big Tech. And that’s why Congress needs to take action.”

    Facebook said that the clues for figuring out someone’s location include being tagged in a photo at a specific place or a check-in at a location such as at a restaurant during a dinner with friends or a hotel.

    Along with location information shared in posts by users, their whereabouts can be noted with the help of devices connecting to the internet, which are given IP addresses. Those IP addresses include locations, although they are a a bit imprecise when it comes to mobile devices linking through telecom services that might only note a town or city.

    The tech giant had recently said that it is ready for a data privacy law which will go into effect in its home state of California at the start of next year.

    The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) will give internet users the right to see what data is being collected by the big tech companies and with whom it is shared.

  • Kp govt to launch ‘Online Sabzi Mandi’ with free home delivery

    The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government has decided to launch an Online Sabzi Mandi with free home delivery option to ensure the provision of quality household commodities at citizens’ doorsteps, a private media outlet has reported.

    According to the details, the KP government is developing a mobile app which according to the Directorate General Information of KP, will be inaugurated by Chief Minister (CM) Mahmood Khan in January.

    The citizens with the help of this app will be able to order groceries and fruits online at government notified rates without any delivery charges and it will be available on both the Google Play Store and Apple’s App Store.

    In the first phase, the online service will be launched in four districts of the province including, Mardan, Abbottabad, Peshawar, and Dera Ismail Khan.

    This online platform will provide all household items such as vegetables, fruits, grains and other food items on government applied rates.

  • PM Imran to inaugurate Science and Technology Park today

    PM Imran to inaugurate Science and Technology Park today

    Prime Minister Imran Khan will inaugurate the country’s first National Science and Technology Park in Islamabad today.

    Federal Minister Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry took to Twitter to announce that “Prime Minister Imran Khan will inaugurate Pakistan’s first National Science and Technology Park in NUST.”

    Fawad Chaudhry also wrote that the initiative is a combination of researchers and industry that turned the world around. The coming ten years will be bright years for Pakistan’s science and technology.”

    Earlier, on Dec 5, Prime Minister Imran Khan had launched the ‘Digital Pakistan’ programme, an initiative to introduce the latest technologies for public welfare.

  • ‘I already love her,’ say Twitterati about former Google exec leading ‘Digital Pakistan’ campaign

    ‘I already love her,’ say Twitterati about former Google exec leading ‘Digital Pakistan’ campaign

    A senior Pakistani executive of Google, Tania Aidrus quit her position at the tech giant to lead Prime Minister Imran Khan’s ‘Digital Pakistan’ initiative. Her decision to serve the country has won the hearts of Pakistanis who took to Twitter to thank her for her efforts.

    https://twitter.com/NeelumMunirKhan/status/1202569193964654592?s=20
    https://twitter.com/SeditiousHeart/status/1202581427218460673?s=20

    According to reports, Tania arrived in Pakistan from Singapore to offer her services to the country’s digitalisation programme.

    Tania was the Chief of Staff and Head of Strategic Initiatives on the Next Billion Users (NBU) team at Google which is focused on building new products and services that are aimed at addressing the emerging trends and needs of users in growth markets.

    Prior to this, Tania was a leader in the Global Business Organisation at Google in the US and then in Singapore where she was the Country Manager for South Asia Frontier Markets at Google focused on expanding the Internet ecosystem, increasing product adoption amongst consumers and businesses and accelerating innovation.

    Before being part of Google, Tania co-founded a mobile health diagnosis company called ClickDiagnostics which was focused on connecting rural patients in emerging markets to doctors globally. She also spent a portion of her career consulting for Fortune 500 companies and the US Government at Booz Allen Hamilton.

    Tania holds an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management and a BSc from Brandeis University.

    PM Imran Khan inaugurated the ‘Digital Pakistan’ campaign on Thursday. The campaign was executed by the Ministry of Information Technology (MoIT), who were tasked with digitising all correspondence between the government offices. They were given only three months to complete the task.

    According to a statement, Digital Pakistan is a comprehensive plan which will help the country in competing in the digital market globally and will also create jobs and ease for the people of Pakistan.

    Earlier in September, senior PTI leader Jahangir Tareen had announced the government had engaged a senior former Google executive to help revamp its payment system and set into motion the digitisation initiative.

    He said the government had persuaded the Google executive, who was in Singapore, to lead the project from Pakistan, after a lot of effort and headhunting.

    “She is leaving Google. In fact, she has left it and she is moving to Pakistan and will lead the digitisation initiative,” Tareen had said.

  • Student sues TikTok over alleged data transfer

    Student sues TikTok over alleged data transfer

    A university student in California named Misty Hong, has filed a class-action lawsuit against Chinese-based social media video app TikTok, accusing it of harvesting large amounts of user data and storing it in China, Dawn reported.

    According to the details, the court filing said, “TikTok clandestinely has vacuumed up and transferred to servers in China vast quantities of private and personally-identifiable user data”.

    The lawsuit has alleged, “TikTok also has surreptitiously taken user content, such as draft videos never intended for publication, without user knowledge or consent”.

    “In short, TikTok’s lighthearted fun comes at a heavy cost,” the lawsuit said.

    The social media app which is quiet popular with teenagers around the world, was launched by Chinese company ByteDance in September 2017.

    The suit marks the latest legal battle for the app. Earlier in November, the United States (US) government had opened a national security investigation into TikTok, according to the New York Times, potentially looking into whether the app was sending data to China.

    Misty Hong alleges that the app retrieved her data without permission – including videos that she had created but not shared online with friends – and transferred that data to servers run by companies that cooperate with the Chinese government.

    Hong filed the suit on behalf of the approximately 110 million US residents who have downloaded the app.

    In November, TikTok didnot gave any comment on a possible US investigation but emphasised that the respect of US users and regulators was its highest priority.

    TikTok claimed that it has distanced itself from Chinese authorities, maintaining that its servers are located outside of the country and that its data is therefore not subject to Chinese law.

    In November, the app hit 1.5 billion downloads worldwide, outperforming the photo-sharing app Instagram.

  • SOS Pakistan to launch app to rescue stray animals

    SOS Pakistan to launch app to rescue stray animals

    Save Our Strays (SOS) Pakistan, an animal welfare community, is launching a mobile phone application to rescue stray animals. According to the makers of SOS Animal Rescue, this will be Pakistan’s first-ever rescue app for strays.

    The app will spot the exact location of animals in danger and provide instant help through the nearest volunteers and vets. The app is expected to launch on March 23, 2020, to end violence against stray dogs, cats, donkeys and other local breeds.

    Director Operations and PR from SOS, Mustafa Ahmed, said “People could not share the exact location of animals in need, especially when reporting from the roads, hence the rescue work would get delayed,”

    As per reports, the app will initially launch in Karachi, Badin, Bahawalpur, Lahore and Islamabad, but will soon cover other cities as well in the next phase.

    The application will only require address, nearest landmark, contact number and details of the animal in danger to provide help. The volunteers are also being trained for this purpose while CNIC and mobile number based verification system are also being presently developed.

    Ahmed shared that more than 1,500 animals, that were mostly wounded or poisoned, were rescued and around 130 animals in November alone. He hoped that more strays would be saved via this app.

  • ‘Pakistan to introduce battery-powered electric buses,’ says Fawad Ch

    ‘Pakistan to introduce battery-powered electric buses,’ says Fawad Ch

    Federal Minister for Science and Technology, Fawad Chaudhry has revealed that Pakistan will become the first country of South Asia which would introduce battery-powered electric buses in the country.

    The minister in his Twitter message has said that the budget of science and technology has increased up to 600% in the current year, adding that he would make efforts to hike the budget to 1000 per cent next year.

    Fawad credited Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan for his special attention in the sci-tech sector, saying that the government has brought back the country to research and development with the support of the PM.

    Chaudhry said that ministerial commissions are being established with Russia and the government is now focused on the European Union (EU) and United States (US).

    He said, “It is our failure for not manufacturing engines, but we will make up solar panels and lithium batteries in the next three years. The energy system of the country will be completely changed.”

    The minister further announced that Jhelum biotech park will become the largest herbal medicine park of South Asia, whereas, Pakistan will be the first country which would manufacture battery-powered [electric] buses in the region.

    On November 20, it emerged that the government had set to launch electric buses in Pakistan to combat air pollution. The federal government has reportedly signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with private ride-hailing service to introduce electric vehicles in the country.

    The MoU was signed by Fawad Chaudhary and CEO of bus hailing service in Islamabad on Tuesday, according to Radio Pakistan.

    Under this agreement, the company will introduce electric battery-powered buses and also spend Rs12 billion to expand its transport bus service in the country.

  • Facebook to pay users $600 for taking survey

    Facebook to pay users $600 for taking survey

    Facebook will pay $600 to users sharing opinions on its new application “Viewpoint” that will be introduced to facilitate its market research purpose.

    Viewpoint will give back users a voluntarily control to participate in market research, surveys and different programme, for which Facebook has announced to pay $600 a year.

    The purpose of the application is to collect information directly from the users to improve the performance of its products like Facebook, Whatsapp, Instagram, Oculus, Portal and others.

    “Today, we’re introducing Facebook Viewpoints, a new market research app that rewards people for participating in surveys, tasks, and research. We believe the best way to make products better is to get insights directly from people who use them. We’ll use these insights to improve products like Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Portal and Oculus, and to benefit the broader community,” Facebook Product Manager Erez Naveh said.

    The participants will be paid through PayPal after scoring a set number of points in the programme. The users will also be asked to carry out various tasks to acquire feedback to improve the product or service, such as assisting the company’s artificial intelligence technology.

  • Mobile application launched in KP to recover missing children

    Mobile application launched in KP to recover missing children

    Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Chief Minister Mahmood Khan has introduced a smartphone application, “Mera Bacha Alert” to help citizens and concerned departments in the recovery of missing children in the province.

    According to reports, the launch event of the application took place at the Chief Minister’s Secretariat where CM Mahmood appreciated the efforts of the Performance Management and Reforms Unit of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He said that the app would not only help in recovering the missing children but would also discourage dreadful incidents regarding innocent children in the province.

    The mobile app is available in the KP citizen’s portal and soon will be added to the Pakistan citizen’s portal.

    This application will allow parents to register a report if their child goes missing. They will be able to upload a picture along with the necessary attributes.

    The application will auto-generate alerts and SMS will be sent to the District Police Officer (DPO), Regional Police Officer (RPO), Inspector General of Police (IGP) and the chief secretary.

    Moreover, the details including registration of FIR, starting of investigation, dispatching of the team, evidence collection and completion of investigation would also be added to the dashboard of District Police Officer (DPO)

    This application will also help in developing a directory of all the cases of missing children at the provincial level and can be monitored by the Chief Minister and Chief Secretary as well.