Tag raises $12 million in Pakistan’s largest seed funding round:
Pakistan’s financial technology startup, TAG Innovation Pvt. Limited, raised more than $12 million in Pakistan’s largest seed funding round. This pushes the startup’s total financing to date to over $17.5 million, and raises the company’s valuation to about $100 million. After the funding, the company is valued at $100 million, according to Bloomberg. The valuation compares with an average $386 million for Pakistan’s 21 listed lenders, it added.
[divider style=”normal” top=”20″ bottom=”20″]
Driving innovation through empowered tech talent:
Businesses today are fortunate to be operating in an era that is characterized by a rapidly evolving technological landscape. We had barely indulged ourselves in the glory of digitization when the fourth industrial revolution graced us with applications of Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, and Augmented Reality. With our hands full with such powerful tools, it was only natural that we adopted a tech-focused approach. Perhaps, to an extent that it led us to devaluing our human capital.
[divider style=”normal” top=”20″ bottom=”20″]
Samsung is setting up a TV manufacturing plant in Karachi:
Samsung Electronics, in collaboration with R & R Industries, is setting up a television line-up facility in Karachi, according to the Adviser for Commerce and Investment to Prime Minister Imran Khan, Abdul Razak Dawood.”I have been informed that Samsung Electronics is in the process of establishing their TV line-up plant in collaboration with the R&R Industries at Karachi,” Dawood tweeted.
[divider style=”normal” top=”20″ bottom=”20″]
Xiaomi is launching a new smartphone series:
A few days ago, the Chinese Mi Store hinted that it could be launching a new smartphone called Civi. Now the brand has taken it to Weibo to officially announce that a new smartphone series is indeed launching on September 27. Xiaomi has not shared any official details for Civi, but previous reports have speculated that the brand is renaming its CC lineup to Civi. The new series is expected to target the female audience with lightweight designs that are easy to carry and use.
[divider style=”normal” top=”20″ bottom=”20″]
Facebook launches portal go and portal+ video calling devices:
Facebook has updated its Portal lineup of video calling devices with the Portal Go and Portal+. Both these machines are designed with portability in mind with a handle on top and a tilting display so you can take it anywhere with you and set it down wherever you please.
The Portal Go has a 10-inch screen with a 12MP ultrawide camera at the top for immersive video calls. It can also work as a Bluetooth speaker by connecting to any of your devices and playing your favorite music wherever you go.
[divider style=”normal” top=”20″ bottom=”20″]
Google pixel 6 pro appears in hands on video:
The Google Pixel 6 series has appeared countless times in leaked images and renders, but this is the first time we are seeing it in a hands-on video. The latest leak comes from tipster Brandon Lee and it shows a Google Pixel 6 Pro prototype in a short hands-on video.
[divider style=”normal” top=”20″ bottom=”20″]
Pakistan’s first digital census in accordance with UN:
The Federal Cabinet has given the approval to conduct Pakistan’s first digital census in accordance with UN principles. As per the details, the Advisory Committee on conducting the next (seventh) census in the country presented its recommendations before the Cabinet.The recommendations state that the census will be conducted in accordance with UN principles.
[divider style=”normal” top=”20″ bottom=”20″]
Local mobile phone production surpasses imports:
The production of mobile phones by local manufacturing plants has surpassed the number of mobile phone imports in the country during Jan-August 2021, with local production recorded at 13.05 million units compared to 8.52 million units of imported phones.
The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) data revealed that this positive uptake reflects the success of PTA’s Mobile Device Manufacturing (MDM) Authorization regulatory regime, whereby the local manufacturing, within the first year of regime introduction, has resulted in the production of 13.05 million phones in a short span of eight months, including 5.48 million 4G smartphones.
[divider style=”normal” top=”20″ bottom=”20″]
Lithuania urges people to throw away Chinese phones:
Consumers should throw away their Chinese phones and avoid buying new ones, Lithuania’s Defence Ministry has warned. A report by its National Cyber Security Centre tested 5G mobiles from Chinese manufacturers.Researchers identified that one Xiaomi phone had built-in censorship tools while another Huawei model could be vulnerable to cyber-attacks.Huawei said no user data is sent externally.
[divider style=”normal” top=”20″ bottom=”20″]
NFT-based fantasy football card firm raises $680m:
French firm Sorare, which sells football trading cards in the form of non-fungible tokens (NFTs), has raised $680m (£498m).The NFT-based cards are used by fans to create fantasy football teams which can then “play” each other. The funding was led by tech investor Softbank, with ex-England international Rio Ferdinand also putting in money.
[divider style=”normal” top=”20″ bottom=”20″]
Bitcoin mining producing tonnes of waste:
Bitcoin mining produces electronic waste (e-waste) annually comparable to the small IT equipment waste of a place like the Netherlands, research shows. Miners of the cryptocurrency each year produce 30,700 tonnes of e-waste, Alex de Vries and Christian Stoll estimate.That averages 272g (9.5oz) per transaction, they say. By comparison, an iPhone 13 weighs 173g (6.1oz).
[divider style=”normal” top=”20″ bottom=”20″]
Douyin China will use time limit for children:
Douyin, China’s version of TikTok, will limit use of the platform for children to 40 minutes a day.The rules will apply to users under 14, who have been authenticated using their real names, and who will be able to access it between 06:00 and 22:00.
Parent company Bytedance announced the app’s Youth Mode in a blog post, saying it is the first short-video company in the industry to have these limits.It comes as China cracks down on teenagers’ use of technology.
[divider style=”normal” top=”20″ bottom=”20″]
High-speed internet via airborne beams of light:
A novel way of delivering high-speed internet via beams of light through the air has successfully transmitted data across the Congo River.It means that citizens in Brazzaville and Kinshasa could get faster and cheaper broadband. Project Taara is one of Alphabet X’s (formerly Google X) so-called moonshot ideas.It grew out of Project Loon, a broadband project using balloons in the stratosphere, since shut down.
[divider style=”normal” top=”20″ bottom=”20″]
Sir Clive Sinclair: computing pioneer dies aged 81:
Inventor Sir Clive Sinclair, who popularised the home computer and invented the pocket calculator, has died at his London home aged 81. His daughter Belinda Sinclair said he passed away on Thursday morning after having cancer for more than a decade.Sir Clive’s products included the ZX series of computers and his ill-fated C5 electric vehicle.He was still working on his inventions last week “because that was what he loved doing”, said Ms Sinclair.
[divider style=”normal” top=”20″ bottom=”20″]
Beeple’s NFT digital art nets £50m at christie’s auction:
The first digital-only art auction by Christie’s auction house has netted $69m (£50m) for the artist Beeple. The digital art was sold as an NFT – the latest tech craze which has boomed in popularity in recent weeks .Beeple – real name Mike Winkelmann – creates a new piece of digital art every day, and was selling the first 5,000 days (13 years) of his work.
[divider style=”normal” top=”20″ bottom=”20″]
Abba’s Bjorn ulvaeus opens campaign to fix £500m music royalty problem:
Abba star Bjorn Ulvaeus has launched a campaign to ensure musicians don’t miss out on millions of pounds in royalties.Called Credits Due, the scheme aims to ensure all songwriters and musicians are correctly identified when a song is recorded.At present, missing and incomplete data means that about £500m is unallocated or misallocated globally every year