PAKISTAN NEWS:
Govt Launches Digital Pakistan Internship Portal to Automate Hiring:
The federal government recently launched the Digital Pakistan Internship Portal to boost the IT industry in the country. Shoaib Ahmad Siddique, Federal Secretary Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication (MOITT), formally launched the portal. The Internship Portal will not only automate the hiring process for tech companies but it would also help bridge the gap between academia and industry.
[divider style=”normal” top=”20″ bottom=”20″]
SCO Announces Special Packages for Landsliding Affected Areas in AJ&K and GB:
Glaciers and land sliding from the recent spell of torrential rains and heavy snowfall caused severe damage to the Optical Fiber Cable at several points between Athmuqam to Sharda in Azad Jammu & Kashmir and Astore, Jaglot surroundings in Gilgit Baltistan. Special Communications Organization (SCO) responded proactively to this national calamity and its dedicated teams, through their round the clock efforts and hard work, restored the communication system.
[divider style=”normal” top=”20″ bottom=”20″]
Huawei PlayStore Competitor is Now Available Across the Globe:
To uphold its position in the market, the Chinese tech giant Huawei has launched the full release of its HMS Core 4.0 globally. For those who don’t know, this Core is basically a collection of tools designed to help prospective developers produce applications for Huawei’s AppGallery. The collection comes with IDE tools for development and testing, HMS Connect, HMS Capabilities, open HMS Apps, and HMS Core. Developers have been waiting for these features since Huawei first announced its in-house operating system and AppGallery. Hence, we will see a massive increase in the number of applications produced since around 1.3 million developers have already signed up, and over 50,000 applications have been integrated into the Core.
[divider style=”normal” top=”20″ bottom=”20″]
KP Police Orders Officers to Quit WhatsApp Groups:
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Police department has issued new directives for police officers regarding the usage of social media. According to details, the police department has directed officers to leave WhatsApp groups that are not only deemed a source of unnecessary pressure but often serve as a rumor mill.
[divider style=”normal” top=”20″ bottom=”20″]
Senate Asks for Ban on Twitter:
The Senate Standing Committee on Information Technology and Telecommunications has recommended the government to initiate an agreement with Twitter management for sharing information about fake accounts and blocking these, and a warning may be issued for stopping the microblogging and social networking service from working in Pakistan in case of non-cooperation. The parliamentary panel met with Rubina Khalid in the chair on Wednesday.
[divider style=”normal” top=”20″ bottom=”20″]
Microsoft Launches Chromium Based Edge Browser:
In December 2018, Microsoft announced its Edge browser based on the Chromium codebase. Along with the announcement, the Company also declared that it would be foregoing the development of its own browser. Now, slightly a year after the announcement, Microsoft has made the browser available to download for both Windows and Mac. This browser is quite similar to Google Chrome since it is based on the Chromium open-source project.
[divider style=”normal” top=”20″ bottom=”20″]
AMD is Dominating the Gaming PC Market:
Intel has always been the most dominant chipmaker in the market, but AMD has been slowly chipping away at its share over the years. It has gotten to a point where 41% of the total PC gamer community is now using AMD processors in their systems. The news comes from a new survey conducted by Jon Peddie Research in collaboration with Wccftech. It was a worldwide survey of PC gamers based on the millions of viewers that visit Wccftech. The survey included questions about consumers’ current hardware, market attitudes, and future buying plans.
[divider style=”normal” top=”20″ bottom=”20″]
TikTok Overtakes Facebook and Becoming the 2nd Most Downloaded App in the World:
2019 closed with inauspicious news for the Chinese application TikTok. Both the US Army and Navy has banned it for its close ties with the Chinese government on the ground of security concerns. However, this does not change the fact that the year was a good year for the social media app. With over 700 million downloads, TikTok dethroned Facebook and became the second most download application after WhatsApp that held the lead at 850 million downloads.Both WhatsApp and TikTok are buoyed by their popularity in India. Based on research carried out by Sensor Tower, 45% of the first-time downloads were from India. On top of this, WhatsApp’s owes 39% of the growth in Q4 to the Indian audience as well.
[divider style=”normal” top=”20″ bottom=”20″]
Is This Xiaomi’s New Pocophone?:
The Xiaomi Pocophone F1 quickly became a fan favorite soon after it came out. It featured all the high-end specifications of its time for a price tag no more than a mid-range device. A successor device has been speculated time and time again but the rumor mill has mostly been silent, up until now. In a recent listing at the benchmarking platform Geekbench, a device named Poco X2 has been spotted under the codename phoenixin.
[divider style=”normal” top=”20″ bottom=”20″]
Intel Becoming the Biggest Chip-Maker in the World:
In 2017, Samsung dethroned Intel for the top semiconductor market position after breaking a 24-year long streak. It was all good for the Korean Giant until Q2 2018, after that, things started going South. Samsung had to face massive losses due to market deflation. According to reports, the memory market had more supply than demand, which resulted in reduced prices. The Company struggled hard in 2019 but the fall of the sale price of NAND and DRAM flash products caused a more than 50 percent decline in the profit revenue.
[divider style=”normal” top=”20″ bottom=”20″]
Sony to Show Up With a Flagship & Mid-Range Phone at MWC 2020:
The Mobile World Congress event is the world’s largest exhibition for the mobile phone industry and various other device manufacturers. Sony is one of the companies showing up at this event which can only mean that there are major announcements incoming. The Japanese tech giant has sent out invites for the MWC Barcelona event for February 24, 12 pm PST. The event will be live-streamed as well so users can watch it at home.
[divider style=”normal” top=”20″ bottom=”20″]
Huawei P40 To Feature a Samsung-Like Design:
Last month, we saw Pixel-4 like (black renders on a black background) renders of Huawei’s upcoming flagship duo, the P40, and P40 Pro. Whilst the renders gave us a vague idea of what to expect from the premium set of smartphones, it was not very detailed. This time around, new renders of the Huawei P40 have surfaced on the internet giving us a pretty clear view of what the smartphone has in store for Huawei fans. At the back, the renders from 91mobiles show a rectangular camera bump housing a triple sensor camera setup. According to analysts, this new trend will be followed by most of the flagships launched in 2020. On the front, we see a pill-shaped punch hole for the dual sensor selfie camera. The screen will most likely measure 6.1 or 6.2-inches diagonally. Moreover, Huawei has disappointingly ditched the 3.5 mm headphone jack.
[divider style=”normal” top=”20″ bottom=”20″]
Here is Our First Look at Xiaomi Mi 10:
Xiaomi’s lineup of Mi flagships is about to get a refresh with the introduction of the Mi 10 and Mi 10 Pro. The two phones have had some of their specifications and appearance revealed through leaks before, but this is the first time we’re getting to see the device in live photos.
The images posted by techdroider confirm the design seen in previous leaks. The display has a punch-hole cutout in the top left corner with minimal bezels all around. The only difference is that the display is slightly curved unlike the mockup renders from before. The lack of a physical fingerprint reader suggests that there is going to be an in-display sensor, which was to be expected since Xiaomi has already included in-display fingerprint sensors in its mid-range devices.
[divider style=”normal” top=”20″ bottom=”20″]
[ads1]
INTERNATIONAL NEWS:
Facebook blocks the Spinner’s ‘brainwashing’ tech:
Facebook has issued a cease and desist notice to an Israeli firm that claims to be able to subconsciously alter people’s behaviour. The Spinner charges a fee to “subconsciously influence” targets by exposing them to online posts “disguised as editorial content”. But Facebook has objected to the start-up using its services to achieve this. And the tech giant has barred the firm and its chief from using Facebook or Instagram for any reason.
[divider style=”normal” top=”20″ bottom=”20″]
Microsoft makes ‘carbon negative’ pledge:
Microsoft has pledged to remove “all of the carbon” from the environment that it has emitted since the company was founded in 1975. Chief executive Satya Nadella said he wanted to achieve the goal by 2050.To do so, the company aims to become “carbon negative” by 2030, removing more carbon from the environment than it emits. That goes beyond a pledge by its cloud-computing rival Amazon, which intends to go “carbon neutral” by 2040.
[divider style=”normal” top=”20″ bottom=”20″]
Apple may have to abandon Lightning connector cable:
Apple could be forced to abandon its Lightning connector cable if European lawmakers get their way. The cable is used to charge and sync many Apple devices, such as the iPhone. But members of the European Parliament urged the European Commission on Monday to force tech giants to adopt a single universal charging method. Two other charging cables – USB-C and micro-USB – are used on Android devices, and Apple has already stopped using Lightning on the 2019 iPad. European regulators will vote on the matter on a yet to be determined date, but Apple says the proposed regulation would stifle innovation and be disruptive to consumers.
[divider style=”normal” top=”20″ bottom=”20″]
‘Barnacle’ car windscreen clamp sparks student fury:
Plans to introduce a new “barnacle” parking fine system at a US university have been put on hold after complaints from students. The so-called barnacle is a type of car clamp that sticks to the windscreen using suction cups, and releases its grip after the parking fine is paid. But outraged students at the University of Oklahoma (OU) shared tips for removing it without paying. The university’s parking authority said it would delay its trial of the device.”The amount of sheer rage festering in my body right now… this is what I’m in thousands of dollars of debt for? I pay how much to go here and you continue to exploit us in ludicrous ways for profit?” said one student on Twitter.
[divider style=”normal” top=”20″ bottom=”20″]
Twitter apologises for letting ads target neo-Nazis and bigots:
Twitter has apologised for allowing adverts to be micro-targeted at certain users such as neo-Nazis, homophobes and other hate groups. The Media discovered the issue and that prompted the tech firm to act. Our investigation found it possible to target users who had shown an interest in keywords including “transphobic”, “white supremacists” and “anti-gay”. Twitter allows ads to be directed at users who have posted about or searched for specific topics. But the firm has now said it is sorry for failing to exclude discriminatory terms.
[divider style=”normal” top=”20″ bottom=”20″]
Turkey’s Wikipedia ban ends:
Turkey is restoring access to Wikipedia after a ban that lasted almost three years. The country’s Constitutional Court ruled that the ban violated freedom of expression. The online encyclopaedia was blocked in Turkey in April 2017, after it refused to delete articles critical of the country’s government. The ban lasted 991 days, said internet-monitoring organisation NetBlocks.org. The Wikimedia Foundation, which runs the service, had refused to remove articles that said Turkey’s government had cooperated with the so-called Islamic State (IS) group and al-Qaeda in Syria.
[divider style=”normal” top=”20″ bottom=”20″]
US lawmakers concerned by accuracy of facial recognition:
US politicians expressed concerns about the accuracy and growing use of facial recognition software. The technology is being developed by firms including Amazon and Microsoft and increasingly used by law enforcement worldwide. Some facial recognition technologies misidentify women and people of colour. Civil liberties and privacy groups have raised concerns about how the data for these programs is being gathered.”This is some real-life Black Mirror stuff that we’re seeing here,” New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez quoted as saying, a reference to a science-fiction TV show that explores the dark side of technology.
[divider style=”normal” top=”20″ bottom=”20″]
Petersfield Bookshop inundated after ‘tumbleweed’ tweet:
A 100-year-old bookshop has been inundated with orders after tweeting it had a “tumbleweed” day in which it had not sold a single book. An employee at Petersfield Bookshop posted a picture of the store on Tuesday and said it might have been the first time it had not made a sale. The tweet was retweeted more than 7,000 times, including by author Neil Gaiman. The shop’s managing director John Westwood said he had been “overwhelmed” by the response.
[divider style=”normal” top=”20″ bottom=”20″]
Cookies crumbling as Google phases them out:
Google is to restrict the number of advertising cookies on websites accessed via its Chrome browser, in response to calls for greater privacy controls. It said that it would phase out third-party cookies within the next two years, Cookies are small text files that are used to track users across the web. It comes as a study suggests that many cookie consent pop-ups are flouting EU privacy laws.
[divider style=”normal” top=”20″ bottom=”20″]
Huawei: ‘No smoking gun’ in US’s 5G dossier:
The decision over whether or not to allow Chinese company Huawei to build 5G telecoms infrastructure has been much delayed and much agonised over. Leaks cost one cabinet minister his job and the matter has divided the US and UK, two allies who are normally tightly bound on security issues. The difficulty comes because it may well be one of the most consequential decisions that this government has to take. It involves conflicting interests that cannot easily be squared and future technological risks that cannot easily be predicted. Sensing that the government may be heading towards allowing Huawei to operate in “non-sensitive” parts of the UK 5G network, Washington has intensified its lobbying campaign for the company’s exclusion.
[divider style=”normal” top=”20″ bottom=”20″]
Mukesh Ambani: Asia’s richest telecom man:
Asia’s richest man has scored two major wins in his ambition to dominate the Indian telecoms market. The main competitors to MukeshAmbani’s Reliance Jio have been told they must pay the bulk of almost $13bn (£10bn) to the government in historical fees. The country’s top court rejected calls from older firms, including Vodafone Idea, to review the case. Meanwhile, Reliance Jio has overtaken Vodafone Idea to become India’s biggest mobile services operator. The court ruling adds yet more financial pressure on India’s telecoms sector, which has already been hit hard by a bitter price war.