Karachi Metblogs » Technology

Geo blocked over news of shoe hurling at Zardari

Raja Islam — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 09:44:11 +0000

Update [9th Aug 1:54 PM] : ARY & SAMAA also blocked.

It is being reported by many sources all over Karachi that Geo channel is facing the wrath of PP gov. and its being blocked over news of shoe hurling at Zardari by a British PAK Mr. Shamim Khan. Looks like PP still lives in 70s when the nation was fooled on 71 disaster. Geo reports that : ” Some of PPP’s leaders and government officials have issued threats and warnings to cable operators across country against continuation of Geo News transmission, pressurizing them to shut Geo News transmission but most cable operators refused to do so, sources said.”

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Geo can be accessed here: http://www.geo.tv/geoip

Pakistan’s first ever Blog Awards

Afreen — Mon, 31 May 2010 09:23:49 +0000

It wasn’t lights, camera, action but lights, camera, tweet/blog! At Kohinoor Hall of Regent Plaza on 28th May, 2010 in Karachi, the first of its kind Annual Blog Awards were organized by CIO and Google. Most of the KMB bloggers were present at the event either as nominees or part of the organizing committee (special mention of Rabia Garib) that has now become a stepping stone for the blogosphere of Pakistan.

The first Blog Awards received 207 entries for 41 defined categories, which were judged by 14 industry experts. Welcoming around 300 guests that not only included nominated bloggers but tech gurus and industry specialists whose input made the evening intellectually riveting.

Nominee hand bands

From our contributing bloggers, four got lucky in winning for the following categories:

Best Podcast (Awab Alvi & Faisal Kapadia)
Political Blogger (Teeth Maestro)
Best Live Photo Blogger (Jamash)
Photo Blogger (Raja Islam)

The awards announcements were sporadically done and complimented by three Unconference sessions featuring industry luminaries of respective fields; in short:

Session 1:

Topic: Innovation in Media

Panelists: Amin Rammal, CEO Digispace
Sarmad Ali, MD Mktg & Adv Sales, Jang
Bushra Iqbal, Digital Team Leader, P&G
Nabiah Mohammad, Dawn News
Naveen Naqvi, Blogger and News anchor
Faizan Leghari (audience member)
Mohammad Jehanzeb (audience member)

Summary: The evolution of new media and it’s increasing role of how people access it. There was a time that TV and Print were the only mediums of news; however, with ever increasing internet penetration (cable/broadband), users are switching bandwagons. They see and hear exactly what they want to rather than some designated representatives that provide only one side of the story. Blogosphere has played a major part in making that happen with citizen journalism and active participation in making the voices of masses heard, highlighting the real socio-political issues.

IPTV is in its nascent stages but there would come a time when the content being seen would be totally ruled by the viewer along with customization. An example of it is Youtube presenting an array of tagged content that is easy to find.

The time of innovation is NOW and many traditional media vehicles are finally catching up to it. E.g., introduction of epaper, Live streaming of news and programs online, updates and alerts regarding content and competitions via SMS, IVR and Web, interactive Outdoors, etc.

Session2:

Topic: Selling 3.0

Panelists: Ali Raza Merchant, Synergyzer & BrandSynario
Adil Ahmed, CEO The Symmetry
Badar Khushnood, Google Pakistan
Imran Moinuddin, NexDegree
Adil Ahmed (audience member)
Mohsin Jaffrey (audience member)

Summary: Digital Marketing is an infant in Pakistan that has just started crawling on its knees. It has a long way to go yet it’s not the time to write it off rather time for investment. Compared to other mediums this is highly customizable, interactive and cost-effective. I would disagree with the audience view on this topic that Pakistan only has 18M (it’s actually 20Million now) online users thus investing on such a small population is a waste. Interesting fact that Badar pointed out was that Mobility has to be made part of the digital world rather than only online.

In case of Pakistan, 58% of population (96M) possesses a mobile that is actually a part of their personality (leaving home, there are three things that no one forgets: wallet, keys and mobile). Pakistanis are ready for Digital Marketing campaigns that is proven by increasing brands taking up the challenge, just to name a few: PTCL, Mobilink, Telenor, Warid, Ufone, Zong, Nokia, all major brands of Unilever and mostly banks. It’s a high time that such limited mindsets are turned towards the traceability of digital campaigns along with high ROI via click rates, page views, SMS traffic, registrations, calls, etc.

In case of local content, our regional areas are rife with cultural treasures that can be acquired to produce engaging entertainment for the masses. The copyright issues are to be ironed out with clear rules and regulations for a profitable music and entertainment industry.

Session 3:

Topic: Engage & Converge

Panelists: Sidra Iqbal, Television anchor
Aleem Bawany – Express C/O Badar
Yasir Riaz, GEO
Jeremy Higgs, NOWPDP
Ashar Zaidi, Intel Pakistan
George Fulton, Journalist and Television anchor

Summary: With content being easily available now, panelists talked about what made them click in the viewers’ eyes and had a viral effect for increased traffic. Tech savvy users have very less time for advertisements and more time for exactly what they want to see and hear (music, videos, movies, games, etc.) They can zip websites; pick and choose the relevant content as per their preference. The content stickiness via creative content or friends endorsement are needed in order to bring in the traffic.

Many types of viral videos were discussed like some classics like Meera video, Thakur ka Inteqaam, Captain Safeguard, etc. There’s definitely a need of more such content to be produced locally. The Pakistani blogosphere has made this lacking area fill with increasingly colorful content comprising of beautiful pictures and videos of the picturesque locations, social stories, political views, individualistic opinions that ranges from satirical to solemn.

All in all, the event was a resounding success, recognizing local intellectuals, who make a point in getting heard about various socio-economic, political and lifestyle issues. Hopefully, this is the first of many.

Blog Awards Winners’ list:

Best Celebrity Blog

Naveen Naqvi – naveenaqvi.com

Best Culture Blog

Yasir Niaz – yasirniaz.blogspot.com

Best Fashion Blog

Irfan Ahson – bridalfashions.wordpress.com

Best Gossip Blog

Rafaeel Akbar – blog.roofe.net

Best Humor Blog

Tazeen – tazeen-tazeen.blogspot.com

Best Music Blog

Hammad dar – koolmuzone.com

Best Photo Blog

Awais Yaqub – www.photopakistan.blogspot.com

Photo Blogger

Raja Islam – www.flickr.com/rajaislam

Muhammad Khabbab – lahoregardening.blogspot.com

Best Podcast

Teeth Maestro (Awab Alvi & Faisal Kapadia) – laidbackshow.com

Business Blog

Salma Jafri – wordpl.net

Best Current Affairs Blog:

Adil Najam – pakistaniat.com

Best Diarist

Momal Mushtaq – mm89.wordpress.com

Best Ezine

Sarosh Waiz – pakmediablog.net

Best Food Blog

Neelam Hamid – neelscorner.com

Travel Blog

Nabeel – eatntravel.pk

Urdu Blog

Fahad Kehar – abushamil.com

Best Political Coverage Blog

Ahsan butt – fiverupees.com

Best Sports Blog

Mudassir Aijaz – reverseswing.wordpress.com

Best Personal Blog

Salman Latif – salmanlatif.wordpress.com

Political blogger

Teeth Maestro – www.teeth.com.pk/blog

Best Individual Blogger

Awais Aftab – awaisaftab.blogspot.com

Best Automobile Blog

Mohammad Khan – caradvice.pk

Best Education Blog

Khurram Hassan Shafique – nextstepforward.net

Tips and Tricks

Qasim Imtiaz – cellplugin.blogspot.com

Best Gaming Blog

Ali Sharaq – actionradius.com/jdl

Best Technology (Domestic) Blog

Tech Lahore – techlahore.com

Best Technology (International) Blog

Haris Nadeem - sizzledcore.com

Imran Hussain – ithinkdiff.com

Taimur Asad – redmondpie.com

Saad Hamid – sizlopedia.com

Best News Media Channel

Adeel Ayub – geotauaisay.com

Best Online Community Blog

Yasir Nisar – www.flickr.com/groups/pakistaniphotographers

Activist Blogger

Sana Saleem – sanasaleem.com

Live Blogger

Fariha Akhtar

Tech hardware

Abdullah Saad – wccftech.com

Best Live Photo Blogger

Jamal Ashiqain – karachiart.blogspot.com

Best Blog Aggregator

Asim Imtiaz, Ammar Yasir, Asad Ullah and Hamza Zafar – teabreak.pk

Best News Broken on a Blog

Farhan Janjua – guppu.com

Best Local Humor

Touseef Ikram – paksatire.com

Best Industry Support

Jehan Ara

Sources: CIO Pakistan and Converge Weekly

Pictures courtesy: Jamal, Raja and CIO

http://blog.converget.com

Nokia Calling All Innovators (CAI) Competition

Afreen — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 12:01:51 +0000

One of the exclusive Nokia’s market research revealed that Pakistani Software Applications Industry possesses a huge potential and growth prospects and its local developers can do wonders in the industry if their exceptional piece of work is put forward at the global level. Thus, to recognize and promote the creative excellence of Pakistani developers, Nokia offers an excellent opportunity for them to participate in the globally launched, Nokia Calling All Innovators (CAI) competition by submitting their applications now and win the exciting rewards.

CAI competition is open to anyone in Pakistan with bold ideas and tremendous talent. Whether it is someone new to mobile or an experienced coder, Nokia is offering new opportunities for local developers to grow their business. The competition challenges mobile and web application developers to submit entries for locally relevant content in English or Urdu in any of these four categories; Eco/Being Green, Entertainment, Productivity and Life Improvement. Details about each of these categories are available here.

Talking about launch of Calling All Innovators Competition in Pakistan, Nauman Durrani, Services Manager, Nokia Pakistan & Afghanistan said, “We are very excited to bring Calling All Innovators Competition to Pakistan this year. There are some highly talented web developers in Pakistan and Nokia Calling All Innovators Competition will give them a great opportunity to inspire people all over the world with their creative ideas. Nokia Pakistan has high hopes from Pakistani developers and we are certain to receive some really wonderful applications”.

Submission deadline is 18 May 2010, with finalist being announced in June 2010 and winners being announced in September 2010. All eligible entries received will be judged by the sponsor and industry experts. Criteria for choosing the winner include quality and functionality; uniqueness and innovativeness; usability and creativity; and ability to fulfil users’ needs in terms of relevancy and customer adoption.

Grand prize winner will receive a special prize of 1,000,000/- PKR in cash; “spotlight” placement featuring the winning application for 4 weeks on the top page of Nokia’s Ovi Store; and paid travel and accommodation to demo the winning application at a Nokia specified event. The winning application will also be reviewed by Nokia for possible preload on future Nokia devices. Additionally, two runners-up will get 500,000/- PKR in cash and 300,000/- PKR in cash respectively; and “spotlight” placement featuring the winning application for 3 weeks on a relevant category page on Nokia’s Ovi Store. The winners in all four applications categories will also receive a one-year membership in Forum Nokia Launchpad, which is designed to accelerate mobile application development and elevate your business visibility in the mobile world.

More information about Nokia’s Calling All Innovators Pakistan, including how to submit an application and complete contest rules and requirements can be found online here.

Via Converge Weekly

Telenor “Karo Mumkin” Bloggers Meet-up

Jamash — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 10:57:06 +0000

Telenor Pakistan, a few days back called upon a number of bloggers, at there regional office in Karachi to introduce, and discuss their new campaign “Karo Mumkin“. First of all I was glad to realize that the company seriously believes in the potential of the immerging new media (social media) and respect’s the bloggers and the young generation who are busy day and night generating content over the internet for the sake of it and not for any financial gains, there are a lot of other companies who don’t realize the true potential of the social media, and how strong it has become over the days and completely ignore this aspect of marketing .

Coming back to Telenor’s new campaign “Karo Mumkin”, the idea is to give the nation some hope and ignite a fire in them to think of social change and actually making an effort for it by sending in their ideas to the company which will then take these ideas to a TV show where the selected few will be carried forward and a finalist will be chosen who will earn the company’s support to bring the idea into action.

At the meet-up several bloggers raised the question that the final thought, to win the prize may only be the one which would benefit the Company at which it was explained that the decision would be taken keeping the interest of the public in mind, also the whole concept of the campaign is not to associate or support a single cause but to encourage the people to think of ways to help and improve the society, and bring about a bigger change.

The scope of the campaign sure is larger then just addressing a single issue, but the only thing which I am not comfortable with is the idea of allowing the public to vote for the idea they find appealing, which will make 50% of the whole scoring leaving only half of the scores in the hands of the panel of judges which means the idea and the presenter of the idea both should be appealing to the public, her/his convincing power should be strong so in the end it will not be just the idea but also the ability to actually sell it to the public which will decide the winner. But on the other hand the system will also make sure that most of the people agree with the decision the panel of judges make, but then we also know that mostly people wont agree with any big idea which would suggest a larger social change… anyhow lets just hope the public votes gets the most brilliant idea win instead the most appealing personality.

CCTV Footage of MA Jinnah road Violence – Help Police Catch terrorist

MB — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 14:02:58 +0000

I would like readers to share other video links in comments. Thank you Technology. Spread this CCTV footage and help LEA to catch terrorists. In the end all i want to ask is Who won in all this ? Hussaniat or Yazeediat ?

[youtube]www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwYQ7ymxuNQ[/youtube]

[video: www.pracmqm.com]

Intel Education Initiative Pakistan Awards

MB — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 07:13:37 +0000

Intel Pakistan organized an award ceremony in recognition of schools and teachers who are using technology for learning. This was part of the Intel Education Initiative. Department of Information Technology Sindh has been working with Intel for this purpose. These awards are held annually in Pakistan under Intel Teach programme which provides professional development and guidance to teachers on how to use technology to enhance student learning in the digital world. To date, the programme has trained 220,000 teachers in Pakistan, reaching out to over 60 cities and districts. In addition to the teacher training, the Intel Teach Programme also hosts forums and workshops to enhance the use of IT in learning environment, and so far has reached more than 28,000 teachers and principals. [The News]

HP Bloggers meetup

MB — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 11:09:48 +0000

HP Pakistan is arranging Blogger’s Meetups in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad to discuss blogging, social media and technologies effect on marketing to the next generation of technology consumers. The event will discuss how technologies can be more interactive to build their brands in developing countries.

- Karachi : Royal Rodale (Royal Room II) – > 13th December (4pm – 6pm)

- Lahore: Holiday Inn ->10th December -> 3 – 5 PM
- Islamabad: Hotel Crown Plaza – Boardroom I -> 11th December -> 5 – 7 PM

Click here for registration :

Facebook link

Green Technology Initiative by Warid Pakistan

Raja Islam — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 06:25:55 +0000

With ever growing POWER crisis the news below comes as a fresh hope that our corporate players are not far behind in thinking initiatives to share their responsibility for the country.

Warid has recently commenced an outstanding project of implementing Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) solution based on Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V. This initiative was taken as part of Microsoft’s early adoption Program for this cutting edge virtualization technology. Warid Telecom was amongst the pioneer customers in the MEA region in implementing VDI solution under this program.

Microsoft held a commercial launch of Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2, and Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 in Pakistan. The event was held in Sheraton Hotel Karachi on 22nd October 2009. It is the largest outreach to IT Decision Makers, IT Professionals and Developers in Microsoft’s history. . Warid Telecom is awarded with Gold Sponsorship and an honorary shield was given to Warid’s Chief Information Officer. While speaking on the event Javed Mushtaq, Chief Information Officer, Warid Telecom said , “We expect a 20 percent drop in our capital expenditure and a 62 percent drop in operating expenses by cutting power, support, and hardware costs with the Hyper-V solution.”

Microsoft Country Head Kamal Ahmed said “The launch of such a powerful product portfolio showcases Microsoft’s commitment to our customer’s top priority and seeks to enhance cost savings, IT efficiency and business productivity. Companies in Pakistan can use these products to not only drive costs down but also drive down their risk profile through better security and compliance, while maximizing the productivity of the workforce they support”
With this project, Warid Telecom taken a leap forward in carbon emissions, honoring its part in keeping the planet greener thus takes another initiative for environment friendly green technology. Total Power Consumption is reduced by 180% with annual saving of 215,280 KW/Y from power and Total Air Conditioning Saving per Year: 160,030 KW/Y, also Carbon Emission Saving per Year: of 581730 Pound.

[image: Pearlfinders]

Google Earth Karachi – Latest Satellite Imagery

MB — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 09:26:33 +0000

Google Earth Karachi had no (significant) update for a long period (3/4 years?) though CDGK had given the city a relatively different look. GOOD news is, they are now updating KARACHI and recently one can see all major updates (starting with an over-due Nursery flyover map/patch) and almost all changes in last 4 years now incorporated. Keep in mind, the visibility might be a question but GOOGLE has this layered approach when updating maps so places will get more visible and clear with time. Thank you so much Team GOOGLE (Earth).Here are some screen-shots. See if you figure out the places correctly.

[ If you mouse-over the image it will give you the answer ]

Show me the money – Internet Abracadabra

MB — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 09:39:27 +0000

The internet is no longer restricted by the IT professionals. The new wave for internet marketing has made it accessible for housewives, students, retired people, or even professionals looking for extra cash

Scheduled for November 7th, 2009

[ www.personalityquotient.com ]