Current Final

Tag: Google

  • Google honours Bano Qudsia with a doodle on her 92nd birth anniversary

    Google honours Bano Qudsia with a doodle on her 92nd birth anniversary

    Google is celebrating renowned novelist and playwright Bano Qudsia’s 92nd birth anniversary with a doodle.

    In a statement, Google said: “Today’s Doodle honours the life and legacy of Pakistani novelist and stage and television playwright Bano Qudsia, affectionately known as Bano Aapa (elder sister), who is widely credited as one of the most significant Urdu language authors in modern times.”

    “Renowned for her message of love and hope, Qudsia earned enormous acclaim for Urdu classics like her television play Aadhi Baat (Half Talk, 1968) and novel Raja Gidh (The Vulture King, 1981).”

    Bano Qudsia was born on November 28, 1928, in Firozpur, British India. She began to write short stories when she was a child. After the partition of the subcontinent, she moved to Lahore, where she earned her master’s degree in Urdu. While in school, she also met her future husband and fellow luminary of Urdu literature Ashfaq Ahmad.

    Google further said: “During a fertile era of Pakistani literature, Qudsia’s thought-provoking television plays earned her a reputation as a cultural trendsetter. In addition, she wrote a prolific 25 novels and founded her own magazine called Dastango. Even as her legend grew throughout her six-decade career, she maintained a reputation for her radical acceptance and kindness, known to embrace those from all walks of life who approached her for mentorship or assistance.”

    “Happy birthday, Bano Qudsia! Your contributions to Pakistani literature and entertainment will continue to resonate for generations to come!,” concluded the Google note.

    It is pertinent to add that Qudsia is also the recipient of the prestigious Sitara-e-Imtiaz (1983) and the Hilal-e-Imtiaz (2000).

    Read more – Google celebrates Manto with a colourful doodle

    Meanwhile, cricket commentator Ramiz Raja also remembered the late novelist and recalled the time he played tennis ball cricket at her home and broke her veranda’s tube light.

    “Readying myself for a dressing down, all I got from her instead was a warm expression to know if I was okay,” shared Raja.

  • WhatsApp rolls out payment services in India

    WhatsApp rolls out payment services in India

    WhatsApp began testing its payment services in India with one million users in 2018, and now they are rapidly expanding the feature to capture the world’s second-largest economy.

    The Facebook-owned company said on Friday that it is rolling out payments in ten regional languages in the latest stable version of WhatsApp on Android and iOS.

    The company made the announcement when National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), the body that runs the Unified Payment Interface (UPI) system, approved to roll out the feature in the Indian market.

    Like Google, Samsung and several other firms, WhatsApp has built its payments service in collaboration with large banks in India.

    NPCI said WhatsApp, which has accumulated over 400 million users in India, can expand payments to its users in a “graded-manner”, and to start with, it can only roll out the payments service to 20 million users and has to work with multiple banking partners.

    WhatsApp said that they are already working with leading banks like ICICI, HDFC, Axis, Jio Payment, and the State Bank of India.

    Google and Walmart are currently dominating the mobile payments market in India; together they have almost 80% of the UPI market share.

    UPI’s popularity has diminished the relevance of several firms in India, including SoftBank and Alibaba-backed Paytm that spent years building mobile wallets. Unlike UPI apps, mobile wallets are not interoperable with other mobile wallets and levy a small fee to consumers.

    “With UPI, India has created something truly special and is opening up a world of opportunities for micro and small businesses that are the backbone of the Indian economy. India is the first country to do anything like this. I’m glad we were able to support this effort and work together to help achieve a more digital India. I want to thank all our partners who’ve made this possible. When people can access financial tools, they’re more empowered to support themselves and others or start a business. Long term, we need more innovation that gives people control over their money, and making payments easier is a small step that can help,” said Mark Zuckerberg, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Facebook, in a video posted on Friday.

    Facebook itself has made a big push in e-commerce in the past year. And if WhatsApp gains traction with payments, it could open more avenues for its parent firm.

  • Google creates earthquake alert system using Android Operating System

    Google creates earthquake alert system using Android Operating System

    Google is using its huge Android Operating System (OS) to create a worldwide earthquake alert system. This will create the world’s biggest earthquake detection network.

    If you sign up for the new initiative, your Android phone will become a mini-seismometer using the built-in accelerometer, and the system will eventually warn people of earthquakes.

    Google is working with the United States Geological Survey (USGS) and the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) to send alerts to Android users in California. This new earthquake detection system is based upon the existing alert system that uses signals from 700 different seismometers.

    “The public infrastructure to detect and alert everyone about an earthquake is costly to build and deploy. We saw an opportunity to use Android to provide people with timely, helpful earthquake information when they search, as well as a few seconds warning to get themselves and their loved ones to safety.”

    Marc Stogaitis, the Software Engineer at Android

    Google will gradually roll out earthquake alerts to more states in the US and then to other countries around the world. Since every smartphone has an accelerometer, they can detect signals that can indicate an imminent earthquake.

    Once a phone detects an earthquake, it will send location data to Google to point out where the earthquake took place. Google will then use data from numerous devices to determine the epicentre of the earthquake. Google hopes to make its earthquake data more accurate and will eventually release it for Google Search as well when people look up earthquakes.

    The update for earthquake detection will be rolled out using Google Mobile Services (GMS), meaning that a full OS update will not be required. It also means that phones without GMS such as Huawei phones will not receive the feature.

  • YouTubers, fans seek YouTube office in Pakistan

    So far, over 30k tweets have been posted with the popular hashtag #WeWantYouTubeOfficeInPAK as the users request the company to create its office in Pakistan as it will resolve many problems that Pakistani YouTubers face.

    https://twitter.com/KhujLeeFamily/status/1288416791912382466?s=20

    Last week, Pakistan’s famous YouTuber Raza Samo’s account, “Awesome Speaks” got hacked and he took to social media to share the awful news.

    As a result, his fans have initiated protest on Twitter for opening a YouTube office in Pakistan which will bring solutions to YouTubers in Pakistan.

    While addressing to the demands, a famous TV personal turned YouTuber Waqar Zaka tweeted: “YT (YouTube) you must register at PTAofficalpk and Security exchange commission in Pakistan as you are earning from our country and not providing proper support to our users. I am willing to give you free space so please come to Pakistan.”

    YouTube Space is a physical location created by the social media giant for the content creators. The space offers various facilities to the popular YouTubers for producing content. It is also a hub where multiple workshops and community events are arranged for the YouTubers.

    YouTube has created both YouTube Space and YouTube offices in most of the Asian countries. Unfortunately, it does not come to Pakistan, neither YouTube Office nor YouTube space is to be found anywhere.

    A vast number of YouTube accounts are from Pakistan, but due to the nonexistence of YouTube offices in the country, the users face a number of problems that takes the company forever to address.

  • GUYS, FREE GIVEAWAY! Fill it out NOW!

    GUYS, FREE GIVEAWAY! Fill it out NOW!

    So, as we announced earlier, the Google News Innovation Fund is funding The Current to start Pakistan’s first membership program. What does that mean? That means that while everything we do for you will always be free, IF you want something more from us, we can now make that happen! This is so exciting guys! But obviously we need to know from you…what do you want? Fill out this survey and we will start working on what to do for you. And to make it more fun, we are sending GIVEAWAYS to FIVE PEOPLE who fully complete the survey! Thank you so much for supporting us! Means a lot! And we can’t wait to do more!

    Check out this link to fill the survey

  • Celebrating Manto

    Celebrating Manto

    Pakistan is celebrating the 108th birth anniversary of renowned Urdu short story writer Saadat Hasan Manto. His birthday is trending at number one on Twitter and Google even honoured the writer with a doodle.

    The doodle was designed by artist Shehzil Malik, who took to social media to share the news. Talking about the late author, Malik said, “I’m a big fan of Manto. He is a hero to me for pushing the envelope in Pakistan through his art (which I try to do and often get in trouble) so this is the perfect assignment! His stories are dark, beautiful, brutal, honest; once you read them, you can’t forget them. He used his words as a mirror to society, to speak truth to power, and would not back down in the face of intimidation.”

    https://www.instagram.com/p/CACNqLjACa3/?utm_source=ig_embed

    Meanwhile, people from Pakistan, as well as India celebrated the acclaimed writer and his words on Twitter.

    https://twitter.com/karlremarx_/status/1259696501384593415?s=20

    About Manto

    Manto was born in Ludhiana, British India on May 11, 1912. The writer spent his life in Bombay before shifting to Lahore after the Partition. Though he was already an acclaimed name before the Partition, it was his vivid and intense stories on the partition that earned him critical acclaim. Manto produced 20 collections of short stories, five collections of radio dramas, three of essays, two of sketches, one novel and a clutch of film scripts. He wrote about sex, desire, alcoholics, prostitutes which led to him being charged with obscenity six times – thrice in British India before 1947, and thrice in Pakistan after. Despite this, he received the Nishan-e-Imtiaz from the Government of Pakistan.

    Some of his most praised works include Thanda Gosht, Khol Do, Toba Tek Singh, Iss Manjdhar Mein and Babu Gopi Nath.

    Manto’s life and works have also been adapted into two feature films: one by Sarmad Khoosat and another by Bollywood filmmaker Nandita Das.

    Manto passed away on January 18, 1955, in Lahore at the age of 42.

  • The Current wins Google’s innovation challenge, becomes only organisation from Pakistan to secure funding

    The Current wins Google’s innovation challenge, becomes only organisation from Pakistan to secure funding

    Pakistan’s fastest-growing digital media start-up, The Current, has won the Google News Initiative (GNI) Innovation Challenge, becoming the only media organisation in the country to have secured the coveted spot and that too within just a year of its launch.

    Under the challenge, Google received applications from over 255 news organisations and technology companies from across the Asia Pacific, including media giants like Japan’s Nippon Television Network, out of which 18 were selected to receive $2.3 million in funding.

    The first round of the challenge focused on diversifying revenue and saw dozens of examples of creative new approaches. The applicants were asked for proposals to increase reader engagement, which ultimately leads to greater loyalty and willingness to pay for content.

    The 255 strong submissions revolved around topics like user-generated content, community management, fact-checking and the use of technologies such as machine learning to tackle business challenges.

    As part of the project, The Current will develop a membership model that will be the first of its kind in Pakistan — with three levels of membership provided for its most avid followers. The plan is to provide content and training that members want, and also test a viable alternate stream of revenue for digital news startups.

    The challenge had been won by Jang Media Group in Pakistan last year. As part of the project, the media organisation developed state-of-the-art Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Augmented Reality (AR) platforms for digitising its historical news archives. The project was similar in scale and ambition to the New York Times collaboration with Google in transforming its archives.

    Here’s what you should know about the selected projects from 2020 and the previous years.

  • Coursera to give 3,800 free courses to unemployed people

    Coursera to give 3,800 free courses to unemployed people

    Coursera — an online learning platform — will be making 3,800 courses free for people who have lost their jobs due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the consequent global economic crisis, a private media outlet reported.

    “We are proud to announce Coursera Workforce Recovery Initiative to help governments worldwide provide unemployed workers with free access to 3,800 online courses,” a statement read.

    The objective of the initiative is to support affected workers in developing knowledge and skills to get employed again.

    These free courses are covering skills like business development, information technology (IT) and data science skills, and they are taught by the world’s leading universities, including the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Duke University, University of Michigan and Yale among others.

    Courses on professional certifications like Google IT support, IBM Data Science, or Date Engineering with Google Cloud are also available to train people for high-demand jobs.

    This step towards public and private sector partnerships is imperative, and various government leaders have made the initiative available to their respective states and countries.

    Earlier, Google and YouTube also launched new resource pages to help teachers and families continue to educate students under quarantine.

    Coursera works with universities and other organisations to offer online courses, specialisations and degrees in a variety of subjects, such as engineering, data science, machine learning, mathematics, business, computer science, digital marketing, humanities, medicine, biology, social sciences and others.

    Coursera was founded in 2012 by Stanford University computer science professors Andrew Ng and Daphne Koller.

    Princeton, Stanford, the University of Michigan and the University of Pennsylvania were the first ones to offer content on the platform.

    Offerings have since expanded to include specialisations — collections of courses that build skills in a specific subject — as well as degrees and a workforce development product for businesses and government organisations.

  • Google is helping Pakistan fight coronavirus, here is how.

    Google is helping Pakistan fight coronavirus, here is how.

    According to Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) press release, Google has introduced various features and tools to facilitate the operations of telecommunication networks to promote learning and access to authentic information in Pakistan.

    The platform has given the Pakistani government an ad-inventory to disseminate accurate information on time.

    Moreover, Google has shared tips and resources for remote workers and students so that they can improve the quality of work and ensure productivity.

    Google has allowed free access to advance ‘Google Hangout’ which means the users will be able to put 250 participants on audio and video calls so the entire class can attend lectures. The participants can record the lectures and save it in google drive so when they cannot join, they can access the lectures when needed.

    Google has also launched a speech-based reading app “Bolo” — based on machine learning — to help children read aloud confidently, using their voice. The app is available in the Urdu language as well.

    Apart from these tools and resources, they have ensured measures to combat misinformation. Google has also attached ‘SOS Alert” banner with news from mainstream outlets and information from recognised health organization such as the World health organization (WHO) and National Institute of Health (NIH).

    These hubs provide a comprehensive overview of the pandemic, information about its symptoms and measures, as well as current statistics and answers to common questions.

    These necassary measures taken by the company because search interest in COVID-19 has continued to climb across the world. At present, this is the most researched topic in the world so it is necassary to curb fake news and misinformation.

    In addition to launching new features on the search engine, the platform has rolled out a website—available at google.com/covid19 — focused on education, prevention and local resources.

    People can find state-based information, safety and prevention tips, search trends related to COVID-19, and further resources for individuals, educators and businesses.

  • Google, Facebook and Twitter threaten to shut services in Pakistan

    Google, Facebook and Twitter threaten to shut services in Pakistan

    When PTI’s government unveiled some of the world’s most sweeping censorship rules for the internet, global internet companies like Facebook, Google and Twitter threatened to shut services in the country, a step which would leave 70 million internet users in digital darkness, New York Times reported

    Through the Asia Internet Coalition, they wrote a letter to Prime Minister Imran Khan, warning him that “the rules as currently written would make it extremely difficult for AIC Members to make their services available to Pakistani users and businesses.”

    READ MORE: Punjab govt’s first-ever digital payment method collects Rs1 billion

    This undemocratic policy of PTI’s government faced severe backlash from rights groups forcing the government to retreat. Pakistani officials, this week, pledged to review regulations by doing a broad-based consultation process with all relevant stakeholders of civil society and technology companies.

    Pakistan’s digital censorship law will give power to the government to take-down a wide range of content. These laws can be easily abused by the powerful if they consider any sort of content harmful, distasteful or simply a threat to their interests.

    The unified resistance by Facebook, Google, Twitter and other tech companies in Pakistan is highly unusual. Companies often protest these types of regulations, but to leave a country is very unusual. Google pulled its search engine out of China in 2010 rather than submit to government censorship of search results.

    READ MORE: OGRA to drastically cut down petrol prices

    Under the new regulations, formally known as the Citizen Protection (Against Online Harm) Rules 2020, social media services must remove or block content within 24 hours of a request from a newly appointed officer, called the national coordinator.

    Companies must also prevent the live-streaming of any type of content the authorities say is objectionable.

    In addition, the companies must open permanent offices in Islamabad and set up servers to store data in the country. Violations of the law are subject to fines of more than $3 million, with the authorities even empowered to block services entirely.

    READ MORE: Christian youngster killed for ‘polluting’ tube-well water by bathing in it

    The new laws are a direct threat to the digital economic future for Pakistan. This will also decrease freedom of expression, increase censorship and diminish digital rights.

    What is interesting to note is that PM Khan rose to power in Pakistan in 2018 largely because of his party’s strong presence on social media. But now that he is in charge, and he is very intolerant towards online criticism.

    Pakistan’s powerful military is also averse to debates on social media platforms, especially on Twitter, which is used by critics to question human rights violations and Pak-military’s involvement in politics.