PAKISTAN NEWS:
PTCL targets aggressive expansion as it returns to profitability:
Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) is back on the road of profitability. After a period of recovery of four years, the company is now targeting expansion as its business strategy for the future. The telecom giant recorded year-on-year revenue growth in 2018 for the first time since 2014, with net profits showing a 22 % year-on-year growth. It sustained this profitability in 2019 with 95% profit growth in the first quarter of this year compared to last year.
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Paypal is not coming to Pakistan: IT minister:
Federal Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunication, Dr. Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, revealed on Thursday that PayPal is not coming to Pakistan. The government is still in touch with PayPal and is looking for other alternatives, said the minister while briefing the Senate Standing Committee on Information Technology and Telecommunication. The committee meeting was chaired by Rubina Khalid on Thursday.
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3G/4G users cross 67 million mark:
The number of 3G and 4G users in Pakistan has reached 67.48 million by the end of April 2019, said Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA). The number of mobile phone users now stands at 161.01 million compared to 159.024 million at the end of March, registering an increase of 1.986 million during the period under review.
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Telenor velocity partners with google to bring its first gaming cohort:
Telenor Pakistan’s digital startup accelerator program, Telenor Velocity has signed a contract with Google to launch its first ever gaming cohort aimed at promoting game developers. Game Launcher is a program for top indie game studios who are looking to build, scale & monetize best-in-class mobile games. Like most developing technology areas, game development requires learning and mentoring. To bridge the gap, Telenor Pakistan has joined hands with Google to bring in the world’s top gaming gurus to speak and mentor at game development workshops.
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Govt to offer 100pc loans for tech-based business ideas in science fair 2019:
Federal Minister for Science and Technology, Fawad Chaudhry, has announced that the government will provide 70-100 percent loans for the execution of technology-based business ideas. While briefing a parliamentary panel on Wednesday, the minister revealed that CEO of Facebook has been invited to participate in the Science Fair to promote science talent in the country.
“Science Fair will be held on 31st August to showcase the innovations and to finance the technology-based business ideas from students”, said Federal Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry. He was briefing the National Assembly Standing Committee on Science and Technology, which met with Sajid Mehdi in the chair.
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Facebook launches new tougher policy for live streaming violations:
Following the terrorist attack in New Zealand, Facebook is cracking down on its live streaming service after it was used to broadcast the attack live on the platform. Facebook was heavily criticized for not removing the stream quickly enough before it left hundreds of copies online. After discovering more than 900 different copies of it online, Facebook COO Cheryl Sandberg admitted that the company needed to do more.
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World’s first ever 1tb microsd card is here:
The world’s first ever 1TB microSD card is out and available for buying right now for $450. SanDisk teased about it earlier this year and now it’s finally here. The new and extreme microSD card advertises 160MB/s of read and 90MB/s of write speed. In simpler terms, this means that file transferring and load times should be quite fast on this microSD card. Though all of those high-end features are great and all, it does cost you an arm and leg for something that could easily be lost in the wash. There’s not much of a reason to buy this right now anyway unless you do a lot of 4K video recording or do all of your downloads on your phone.
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Google’s new rivet app encourages children to read:
With the increasing use of tablets, mobile phones, and laptops, children nowadays don’t have time to, or in some case, they don’t prefer to take time out for reading. As a result, most of the kids are struggling to read and pronounce certain words properly. Google’s in-house incubator, Area 120, just released ‘Rivet’ a reading app for children. It has more than 2000 children friendly e-books. The application is still being worked on and the AI is still being trained but this is a step in the right direction.
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Redmi takes a jab at oneplus with its flagship killer 2.0:
Healthy competition between rivals is never bad, a little bickering only keeps everyone going as long as it does not turn into a feud. As we all know, Redmi has decided on an ‘interesting’ name for its upcoming flagship. The phone will be called K20, K for Killer. Redmi’s focus with K20 is towards making innovation, technology, and flagship worthy specifications accessible to all. The phone’s internal name is ‘Demon King’
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Xiaomi crowdfunds a 3-in-1 power bank flashlight and bag holder:
Xiaomi, under its crowdfunding program, has a number of Chinese sub-brands. Despite having a vast variety of gadgets, the tech giant is always able to something weird or outlandish every other day. This time, Xiaomi’s ecosystem company, Yule Life (Shenzhen) Technology Co. Ltd. Came up with a weird yet interesting innovation called the Youle LOVExtend 3-in-1. It is a small hand sized gadget that works like a power bank, flashlight, and grocery bag holder
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INTERNATIONAL NEWS:
Microsoft and sony strike games streaming deal:
Microsoft and Sony have formed a partnership on video games streaming, despite being fierce competitors.
It is expected Sony will use Microsoft’s Azure cloud service to host its upcoming PlayStation streaming service. Microsoft has been trialing a streaming offer of its own, under its Xbox brand. The firms said they would also work together on semiconductors and artificial intelligence applications.
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Goznym cyber-crime gang which stole millions busted:
An international crime gang which used malware to steal $100m (£77m) from more than 40,000 victims has been dismantled. A complex police operation conducted investigations in the US, Bulgaria, Germany, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. The gang infected computers with GozNym malware, which captured online banking details to access bank accounts. The gang was put together from criminals who advertised their skills on online forums. The details of the operation were revealed at the headquarters of the European police agency Europol in The Hague.
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Amazon invests in deliveroo food courier:
Online giant Amazon has announced a big investment in food courier Deliveroo. The exact figure was not given, but Amazon is the biggest investor in Deliveroo’s latest round of fund raising, which in total raised $575m (£450m). Deliveroo said it would use the money for international expansion, improving its service and to grow its delivery-only kitchens business. Several existing US investors also contributed to the fund raising. The amount of capital invested in Deliveroo since it was founded in 2013 now totals more than $1.5bn, and the firm is one of Europe’s fastest growing technology companies.
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Facebook bans inauthentic accounts targeting Africa:
Facebook has removed hundreds of social media accounts and banned an Israeli firm due to “co-ordinated inauthentic behaviour” mainly targeting Africa. The fake accounts often posted on political news, including on elections in various countries, the firm said. Facebook has faced rising criticism for failing to stamp out misinformation on its platform.
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Global education x-prize awards $10m:
Two teams are sharing a $10m (£7.8m) prize for advancing education among some of the world’s poorest children.One billion.org, which is based in the UK and Kenya, and KitKit School, from South Korea and the US, developed software to aid learning in Tanzania.
The winners were announced by entrepreneur Elon Musk, who donated to the prize. The XPrize for Global Learning was set up to empower children to take control of their learning. Nearly 200 teams from 40 countries entered and five finalists were each given $1m to field test their solutions, among 3,000 children in 170 villages across Tanzania. Teams had to design a solution that enabled children to teach themselves basic reading, writing and maths within 15 months.
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Five seater self-flying air taxi unveiled:
A German start-up has unveiled what it says is the world’s first five seater self-flying taxi. Lilium said the prototype had its first test flight earlier this month, in which it took off, hovered, then landed again. It said the craft, which is electric powered, is capable of travelling up to 300km in just 60 minutes. A number of other firms have tested self-flying taxis, but none seats more than two people.
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Global virus fear prompts update for old windows:
Fears of a massive global computer virus outbreak have prompted Microsoft to issue security updates for very old versions of its Windows software. One patch is for Windows XP, which debuted in 2001 and Microsoft stopped supporting in 2014. Microsoft said the patch closed a hole that could be used to spread a virus. Malicious hackers exploiting it could kick off a worldwide outbreak like the 2017 Wannacry worm, which hit thousands of machines.
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Boeing completes 737 max software upgrade:
Boeing has completed development of a software update for its 737 Max plane which was grounded following two fatal crashes within five months. The US firm announced that it had flown the 737 Max with the updated software on 207 flights. It added it would provide data to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on how pilots interact with controls and displays in different scenarios. The FAA expects Boeing to submit the upgrade for certification next week. An Ethiopian Airlines flight crashed in March, killing all 157 people on board. It followed the Lion Air disaster in Indonesia in October, in which 189 people died.
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Trump declares national emergency over it threats:
President Donald Trump has declared a national emergency to protect US computer networks from “foreign adversaries”. He signed an executive order which effectively bars US companies from using foreign telecoms believed to pose national security risks. The order does not name any company, but is believed to target Huawei. The Chinese tech giant said restricting its business in the US would only hurt American consumers and companies.
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Russian bots rigged voice kids tv talent show result:
The result of a popular Russian TV talent show – The Voice Kids – has been cancelled after thousands of fraudulent votes were found to have handed victory to a millionaire’s young daughter. There were complaints after singer Mikella Abramova, aged 10, won with 56.5% of the phone-in vote. She is the daughter of pop singer Alsou and wealthy businessman Yan Abramov. State-owned Channel One TV says it will make its voting system safer, and the children will appear in a special show.