Mirchu.Com: IT News

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Microsoft Launches Hardware in Pakistan

Microsoft Pakistan has announced the official appointment of its authorized hardware distributor, Advance Business Systems (ABS) in Pakistan.

With this appointment, Microsoft strengthens its distributor network footprint in Pakistan and ensures provision of original Microsoft hardware in key metropolitans of the country.

This appointment reaffirms Microsoft’s mission to help people and businesses in Pakistan to realize their full potential.

Although Microsoft is most famous in Pakistan owing to its Windows software, the company also offers a wide range of high quality and reliable hardware such as head phones, keyboards, mice and webcams. Now Microsoft’s hardware portfolio will be available across Pakistan through its only authorized distributor in Pakistan – ABS.

ABS has further nominated its retail partners, MUSHKO Electronics, Viper technology and IT Park to ensure availability of Microsoft hardware across the major cities of Pakistan. All Microsoft hardware is available with 1 year local warranty.

“We chose ABS as authorized hardware distributor for their solid business credibility in the market and their reputation for being the leading IT hardware and software provider in Pakistan,” said, Mr. Kamal Ahmed, Country General Manager, Microsoft Pakistan. “Considering Microsoft’s technology achievements and the passion that we put into all of products and services, customers will find the same level of brilliance and innovation when selecting from our new range of products, that they have experienced using our software and other services.”

“We are pleased to have been appointed by Microsoft Pakistan as their sole authorized hardware distributor in Pakistan,” said Mr. Syed Nasir Hussain, COO, ABS Pakistan. “To match the level of commitment that Microsoft expects from us, ABS has ascertained that our well-trained team will guide customers through their pre, during and post purchase queries and help them choose the right Microsoft hardware that perfectly matches Microsoft customers’ needs. Warranty and after-sales claims can be processed easily from any of ABS offices across Pakistan in Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, and Multan.”

Microsoft Hardware for Business, available through qualified resellers, is an easier way to purchase and deploy Microsoft Hardware. Our full line of products for business—from webcams and headsets to keyboards and mice—are designed to work seamlessly withMicrosoft software and help save you money, increase productivity, and improve employeecomfort.

Check below the selected product list of Microsoft Hardware with pricing details:

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Nust Launches Pakistan’s Fastest Supercomputer

National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST) inaugurated its fastest supercomputing facility in a ceremony held on Tuesday at its Research Centre for Modeling and Simulation (RCMS).

The supercomputer installed in NUST is the fastest GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) based parallel computing system operating in any organization/academic institution in Pakistan till date.

The supercomputer can perform parallel computation at a peak speed of 132 Teraflops (132 Trillion Operations per second). It is equipped with multi-core processors and graphics co-processors with inter-processor communication speed of 40 Gbps.

Techinical Specifications:

Computer’s Cluster configuration:
- 66 NODE supercomputer with 30,992 processor cores
- 2 Head Node (16 Processor Cores)
- 32 Dual Quad Core Computer Nodes (256 Processor Cores)
- 32 Nvidia Computing Processors
- Each processor has 960 Processor Cores (30,720 processor Cores)
QDR Infiniband Interconnection
21.6TB SAN storage

Imaginational ceremony was presided over by Chairman Higher Education Commission (HEC) Dr Javaid Laghari.

Speaking at the ceremony, Principal RCMS Engr Sikandar Hayat highlighted some of the unique features of this state-of-the-art computing facility recently acquired by Nust through financial grant by Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST).

Hayat said that besides the supercomputer’s extensive utilisation in the computation-intensive research projects in the areas of Fluid Dynamics and Biosciences, this massively parallel facility can also be utilized to handle huge data processing applications of social sciences such as Flood and Weather Forecasting, Oil and Gas Exploration, energy efficient building designs and national transportation management.

Addressing the event, Laghari appreciated the efforts of the entire team associated with the project and encouraged all institutions to come forward and benefit from the facility acquired by Nust. He assured HEC’s full support in this regard.

Rector Nust Engr Muhammad Asghar, in his welcome address, sharing his vision, specifically mentioned that the acquisition of the supercomputing facility would be a source of inspiration for PhD scholars, abroad, to return to Pakistan.

“This will give an impetus for collaborative research between universities and other research organisations within the country and abroad.”

Dr Imran Akhtar, the key note speaker, gave a highly motivating and thought provoking speech on the occasion, encouraging young researchers to come forward and utilize the facility in solving national challenges in the areas of engineering, bio-informatics, political science, psychology and social sciences.

Monday, March 5, 2012

Business Express -Train will Offer WiFi Service

Recently launched Business Express has announced to offer free Wi-Fi service to its passengers, following an agreement with PTCL, reported Daily Times citing Pak Business Train Chief Operating Officer (COO) Ejaz Ahmad.

According to paper, PTCL will offer In-Train service to Business Express passengers throughout their journey between Lahore and Karachi.

However, report said, in some area passengers might face disruption in service due to in-availability of coverage in far flung areas of Punjab and Sindh.

Mr. Ejaz Ahmad, COO for Pakistan Business Train said that no company was was ready to offer uninterrupted Internet services inside the train, while PTCL promised us best Internet facilities and coverage.

Though we are yet to receive service reviews but it appears that Internet service during the journey will remain bumpy, due to coverage constraints.

It merits mentioning here that Business Express is offering one way ticket of Rs. 5,000 or two way ticket of Rs. 9,000 for Lahore-Karachi route. Online ticket reservation facility is also being offered – though payment has to be made at railway station with-in 24 hours of reservations; cash on delivery can be availed with additional charges.

Fare includes following free services:

Separate cabins for 6 passengers/families.
WiFi Internet service
LCD with music and video channel.
Soft drinks, tea, snacks, dinner and breakfast.
Paramedical staff and direct access to local 1122 emergency service.
Power outlets for your laptops/mobile phone charges.
Security guards

Sunday, March 4, 2012

Google says 850,000 Android devices activated every day

Google said on February 27 in Barcelona that 850,000 Android devices - mobile phones and tablet computers - were being activated every day as the software continued to dominate the smartphone market.

The US search giant, which created the Android operating system, issued the figures at the Mobile World Congress phone trade fair in Barcelona.

It said daily activations, in which new devices connect online to Google's servers, were up 250 per cent from a year ago.

There were now more than 300 million Android devices in use worldwide, the company added.Its download platform, which offers application programmes for the Android smartphone and tablets at prices starting from zero, had increased its product range from 150,000 to 450,000 apps in the last year.

Friday, March 2, 2012

Google exec hints of Android 5.0 release this fall

BARCELONA -- Google isn't offering much information about the forthcoming Android 5.0, even though there are rumors saying that the new version of the operating system will be available on a smartphone by early summer.

It's more likely that it will be rolled out in the fall, based on comments made by Hiroshi Lockheimer, vice president of engineering for mobile at Google. He spoke with Computerworld at Mobile World Congress here on Monday.

"After Android 4 comes 5, and we haven't announced the timing yet, which we're still sorting out," Lockheimer said. "There's a lot of engineering work behind it still, and there's also just the question of how to time it."

Lockheimer added: "In general, the Android release cadence is one major release a year with some maintenance releases that are substantial still." That statement would suggest a fall 2012 time frame for the release of Android 5.0, given that Android 4.0 was released last November, he acknowledged.

Nonetheless, Lockheimer added a caveat: "Having said that, we're flexible. The [timing of releases] is not what drives us, but what does is innovation and offering users a great experience."

Lockheimer wouldn't divulge the dessert that will be used as a code name for Android 5.0, which follows Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS), as Version 4.0 is known. Google is already getting suggestions for sweets that begin with the letter J, he said. Earlier versions of the mobile operating system were called Cup Cake (1.5) , Donut (2.0), Eclair (2.1), Froyo (2.2), Gingerbread (2.3) andHoneycomb (3.0).

Google is still enjoying the success of Android 4.0, a version that was well received by developers and users. At MWC, the large Google exhibit area, located in the back corner of a major exhibition hall, was crowded with visitors who wanted to see dozens of Google partners show off their ICS-related applications.

One Google partner, Wyse Technologies, uses Android Beam technology in ICS to run its NFC software, which is designed to initiate file transfers between devices.

Wyse employees placed one Galaxy Nexus phone near another Galaxy Nexus phone to give the second device permission to access a file kept in the cloud or on a PC. The actual download of the file to the second phone was sent over Wi-Fi, but a 3G network or other wireless signal could be used. NFC is too constrained to transfer the actual file, they said.

Lockheimer said Android Beam has led to dozens of other applications, many of them sold in Android Market, including an app that allows two users to share a video by bringing two NFC phones close together, even when the clip is in midstream. StumbleUpon demonstrated a similar technology at its booth inside the Google exhibit area.

Lockheimer listed several improvements in Ice Cream Sandwich that have been popular with users, including data-usage and battery-usage meters and widgets on the home screen.

While ICS was center stage at Google's booth, many users have expressed frustration that the operating system's new features are not yet available on devices running older Android versions. Lockheimer acknowledged that there is frustration over receiving ICS upgrades in a timely manner, which was why the Android Upgrade Alliance was announced at last year's Google I/O conference. The premise of the group was that phone manufacturers and wireless carriers would provide timely upgrades of devices during their first 18 months on the market.

"The alliance is definitely making a difference," Lockheimer said. "We're making the upgrade process better and are passionate about it.... There's a lot of progress being made toward making upgrades smoother."

But "getting upgrades to users is very complicated," Lockheimer added. "By the time you add up all the players, it's a big pipeline, a big assembly line, with lots of parts. Everyone needs to be working in tight coordination."

Lockheimer wouldn't divulge any specific directions for the next version of Android. "Things we will add in the future are around simplicity and power [simultaneously]," he said. "That's an ongoing theme at Google, and increasingly so." Those simultaneous directions are meant to satisfy both sophisticated users and beginners to Android, he explained.

"We're proud of our work in the OS, and we want to offer a polished experience [in the future] that's even faster and smoother." he said. "We call that 'butter,' which can take many forms." Future versions of Android, he quipped, "should run even faster and smoother, and even butter-er."

Android was founded on the principle of openness, which means it has been customized by carriers and manufacturers alike, so those groups can provide unique features to differentiate themselves, Lockheimer noted. Google is satisfied that some users want plain vanilla Android on their smartphones and tablets, while other users, carriers and device makers want the added layers that support customization, he added.

"Having both traits [of plain vanilla and highly customized Android phones] is a strength of Android," Lockheimer said. "How did Android get here? It was through openness. And by the way, you can customize it. As long you don't mess with its compatibility, you can customize it. That's the secret of our success. [Device makers and carriers] don't all want to do the same thing as one another; they want to innovate."

At the same time, Lockheimer said Google is well aware that "some users prefer our true Google experience," which is one reason that Ice Cream Sandwich includes the ability to strip off many apps and functions added by manufacturers and carriers.

"If you prefer plain ICS, you can disable the [added] apps," he said. "One slice does not fit all. This way, you can have your cake and eat it too."

Google Will Offer $1 Million In Rewards For Hacking Chrome In Contest

Updated below to clarify that Google‘s Pwnium contest will take place separately from the Zero Day Initiative’s Pwn2Own competition.

For the last three years, Google’s Chrome browser has left the world’s premiere hacking competition unscathed, even as Firefox, Internet Explorer and Safari have all been taken down by the assembled security researchers. So in a new contest it’s launching this year, Google is offering hackers a million reasons to re-focus their efforts.

Google announced Monday evening that it’s offering up to a million dollars in rewards at a hacking contest it’s calling Pwnium, which take place at the same time as the annual Pwn2Own hacking contest at the CanSecWest security conference in Vancouver. Hackers don’t necessarily need to target Chrome to win a chunk of that money: Google is paying $20,000 to any participant who can exploit hackable bugs in Windows, Flash, or a device driver, security problems that would affect users of all browsers. But for hacks that include flaws specific to Chrome, Google will pay $40,000 each, and for those that exploit only bugs in Chrome, the company will shell out $60,000, up to its million dollar limit.

In fact, Google’s rewards may end up dwarfing those offered by the longer-running Pwn2Own’s organizer, the Hewlett-Packard-owned Zero Day Initiative. HP plans to offer $60,000 to the first place winner of its competition, $35,000 to the second, and $15,000 to the third place contestant, using a point system to determine those placements.

And why is Google willing to pay seven figures to see its browser taken apart in public? Because, the company explains in a blog post, the annual hacking contest offers a chance to test Chrome’s mettle against some of the world’s most innovative hackers in a setting where any new flaws can be identified and patched. In return for its rewards, Google demands any winning researcher submit the details of the exploited flaws to its security team, a condition that ZDI doesn’t impose on its winning hackers. ”Not only can we fix the bugs, but by studying the vulnerability and exploit techniques we can enhance our mitigations, automated testing, and sandboxing,” Chrome security engineers Chris Evans and Justin Schuh write. “This enables us to better protect our users.”

The Pwn2Own and Pwnium competitions aren’t the only time researchers can be paid for digging up security flaws in Chrome. Like other companies including Mozilla and Facebook, Google offers “bug bounties” to researchers, and its flaw-buying program has given out more than $300,000 in payments over the last two years.

Since Chrome first appeared as a target in the Pwn2Own contest in 2009, participating hackers haven’t even tried to exploit the browser, focusing instead on the array of other software and devices laid out as the contest’s victims. Because security exploits are usually developed well ahead of the contest, that’s a sign that none of the researchers could find a chink in Chrome’s armor–its security features include sandboxing, which limits the access of an exploit to the rest of a user’s PC and “just-in-time hardening” that prevents javascript on websites from executing commands on the user’s machine.

Even when Google offered an extra $20,000 to anyone who could hack its browsers last year, no one took up the challenge. That result provides great marketing fodder, but Google says it’s more eager to expose bugs in its code–hence this year’s massive payouts. “While we’re proud of Chrome’s leading track record in past competitions, the fact is that not receiving exploits means that it’s harder to learn and improve,” Evans and Schuh write. “To maximize our chances of receiving exploits this year, we’ve upped the ante.”

Internet Users in Pakistan Cross 20 Million

Pakistani internet users have been on the rise with accelerated pace, crossing 20 million benchmark with a greater percentage accessing the internet via mobile phones, said Freedom on the Net in it’s 2011 annual report.

The report cited International Telecommunications Union (ITU) and said that estimated users have been surging significantly on monthly basis however, the Internet Service Providers Association of Pakistan (ISPAK) estimated a far lower number of internet users at only ten million.

On the other hands, some of the local think tanks said that the internet users have crossed 24 million benchmark at present with surging number of broadband and mobile internet users.

The report stated that the Internet is available in all the major cities of the country, as well as in many remote areas. The majority of people use dial-up connections whereas broadband internet is growing speedily in big cities.

With the explosion of mobile-phone use and the gradual spread of broadband internet in Pakistan, access to information and communication technologies (ICTs) has increased, as have citizen journalism and online activism, the report said.

Pakistan does not yet have a third generation (3G) network, which is also a hindrance for the spread of broadband internet and other wireless services in the country. Remote areas of the country have no access to broadband, and are left with only a slow, intermittent dial-up connection, rendering any meaningful online activities very difficult.

The number of broadband users reached almost 1.5 million mark. Pakistan is recently ranked as one of the top countries that registered high growth rate in broadband Internet penetration, Point Topic, a global broadband tracker said in its report published a few months back.

The country, which has seen a boom in its telecom sector and information technology services in recent years, recorded around 46.2 percent growth of subscribers and is placed fourth on the ranking list.

There more than 50 internet service providers including 10 broadband companies operating in different parts of the country under their license at various charges.

These service providers have brought advanced technology to deploy their network including Wimax, DSL, FTTH and HFC. The number of operators with variety of technology has been expanding base of technology users with competition, showing the falling rates of service by every passing month.

The different service providers include PTCL, Wateen, wi-tribe, Qubee, Link Dot Net, Infinity and Comsats. The broadband packages are lowest in the world ranging from Rs. 250 to Rs 3,000 per month depending on the speed and utility of data by the subscribers. However, the stiff competition among the operators has resulted constant decline in quality of service.

Pakistan has already developed and expanded its technology highways with international undersea cable for its future demands. Presently, there are four undersea cables connecting Pakistan to rest of world including PTCL’s owned SMW3, SMW4 & IMEWE and one with TWA.

The domestic internet highways or domestic Fiber backbones providers are PTCL, Wateen, Mobilink and Multinet.

Internet has been evolving in its different technological modes through high-speed broadband and has become a basic need of the people for the purpose of information, education, entertainment and business. Hence, it is an indispensable source that plays a vital role in different aspects of a masses’ life.

Pakistan’s digital growth prospects have begun to look brighter lately. Besides having a large bilingual (English and Urdu) Internet using population as the estimated viewership of blogs have reached nearly 3.4 million.

TRICK FOR BLOCKING ULTIMATE SPAM EMAILS

I am sure there are thousand others, getting these SPAM emails (every five minutes in many cases) for offering training courses to selling crap products online to every nonsense one can imagine. All this has become a major worry for professionals.

Two days ago I got an email from a senior industry official, bashing some 100 other fellows on the list to not to send him any further SPAM email. Here’s how he exactly explained his misery:

I receive more than 100 mails daily from the offenders, that is appx 36,500 emails a year. I have a LOT on my plate and these emails are a MAJOR distraction as they are all over the place, inbox, junk, spam all folders and as you may know a LOT of good emails today also go to junk / spam hence I CANNOT delete any email without at least reading the subject line, it is a VERY painful process over the year.
Pakistan Ranked in Top 12 Spam Countries
United States 11.3%

S Korea 9.6%

India 8.8%

Russia 7.9%

Brazil 5.7%

Taiwan 3.8%

Vietnam 3.5%

Indonesia 3.3%

Ukraine 3.1%

Romania 2.8%

Pakistan 2.0%

Italy 1.9%

Others 36%

So if you are one of the victim then you have hit the right space, because today I am going to tell you the ultimate way of blocking these SPAM emails, no exaggeration, try it to believe it.

Background

After investigation, we found that 98 percent of such SPAM emails (in Pakistan) come from Google groups. Reason: Google used to offer its group administrators to add any email id in their group even without users’ consent – though they have abandoned this facility now, but much of the damage has already been done.

Advertisers and email marketers exploited this till their limits and added thousands of internet users’ email ID in to their groups, multiple groups in fact.

How to Block SPAM emails?

Fortunately we have a way to opt out of all groups groups in a single go, following is the procedure:

Step 1: Log in to your Google account

Step 2: Click on this link http://groups.google.com/groups/mysubs

Setting Invitation Preferences:

You can set your Google account preferences to disallow any future invitations, so that you are not added into Google groups again. (You will have this option of joining a group yourself, but no outsider will be able to add you). To do so, you need to remain on the same URL, which is:http://groups.google.com/groups/mysubs

At the top of the page, look for this text: “Invitation preferences”, select both the options that are:

Do not allow group managers to invite me to their groups.
Do not allow group managers to directly add me to their groups.