Warid Launches its Financial Services: Mobile Paisa

Warid Telecom and Bank Alfalah Limited have launched their Mobile Financial Service (MFS) by the name of ‘Mobile Paisa’.

The soft launch of ‘Mobile Paisa’ has been announced with the tagline “Chalta Rahey Pakistan”.

Warid Telecom and Bank Alfalah aims to serve the unbanked population of Pakistan with their banking needs.

Monet (Pvt.) Limited is the technology provider for the Mobile Paisa, that has partnered with Fundamo – a global mobile platform provider, to utilize its technology and offer branchless banking solutions to banks in Pakistan.

Evolution of the Gs [Infographic]

While we wait nervously for the arrival of 3G, there are people like the maker of this infographic who experience data speeds of 100,000 kbps. LTE to be precise.

This amazing infographic by Commscope compares 4G – which the West is enjoying – to 2G by giving an example of Burj Khalifa (the world’s tallest building) to a Border Collie, which is a breed of dog not more than half a meter in height.

Get Your Wedding Captured by a Nokia Lumia 1020 for Free!

Nokia Pakistan has announced that it will get a wedding function covered by a professional photographer using a Nokia Lumia 1020, for FREE.

So if you are getting married in coming days, then go ahead and register yourself to get your wedding captured by Lumia 1020’s 41 megapixel camera that comes with PureView technology, Optical Image Stabilisation and amazing high-resolution zoom.

Samsung Releases an Infographic on the Evolution of Displays in Smartphones

Samsung may have been leading the smartphone race by some distance but it hasn’t forgotten the past. Instead, they’ve released a new infographic on the evolution of displays on its phones, starting all the way from the Mono displays of the 80s.

Mono Displays ruled the telephony industry until the start of the 21st century when we first got color displays. By the end of the first decade, technology once again changed, when we finally got the AMOLEDs, the more common breed of displays found on the current smartphones

PTCL EVO New Year offer 2014

PTCL has announced an exiting new year offer on 3G EVO service. If you buy an EVO device between 24th December 2013 and 3rd January 2014 you can get discounts as much as 58% on monthly charges for whole 2014.

21st Century Currency : Bitcoin

Bitcoin is all the craze in the world right now. What is it, why has it gone on to become so popular in the last month alone and why should you pay attention? This is all what this post is about. Keep reading!

The start of the currency

Bitcoin, as you might’ve known, is the digital currency (or cryptocurrency) for the 21st century. It’s nothing physical, you can’t see it, you can’t touch it but it’s there.

But before you start, keep in mind that Bitcoin is a complex product. The concepts of cryptocurrencies in general are deep and abstract, and understanding how and why Bitcoin works requires a fair degree of technological knowledge. If I may speak frankly, Bitcoin is not everyone’s subject.

To put the idea in simpler words, Bitcoin is an alternative (digital) currency that can be paid for goods and services much like conventional currencies. You can transfer Bitcoins to other users and vice versa to maintain your financial account.

It was started in early 2009 by an unknown person under the name of Satoshi Nakamoto. No one knows for sure who this person might be or whether there is a whole group of people operating under this name.

In around-2010, he transferred all the Bitcoin-related property to Princeton University graduate, Gavin Andresen. Interestingly, Andresen has himself communicated with Nakamoto only via emails or web forums. Still, the amount of Bitcoins owned by Nakamoto are estimated to be around a million so he’s a billionaire in dollars regardless of his identity.

The currency isn’t dependent on a bank or any other source. Its value depends on the amount of interest and support it garners, as simple as that.

New Year Gift: Mobile Companies to Charge 10 Paisas Extra For Each Call

Mobilink, Telenor and Ufone, as per the announcements published on their websites, will charge 10 paisas plus tax extra for each and every call made by their prepaid customers from next week.

While we had anticipated a notable increase in tariffs, it is highly unusual that all three operators are introducing call setup charges during the same week.

Here are the official statements published on respective websites:

Telenor

Dear Customers,

Call setup charges of 10 paisa + tax will be deducted on every charged, free or bundle call from 30th December 2013.

Gourmet Foods to Launch Android Smartphones

Gourmet Foods to launch Android smartphones in Pakistan Gourmet Foods, a bakery and confectionery chain based in Lahore has planned to launch its own Android smartphones in Pakistan soon.

Next Gen USB Connector Will Work the Either Sides

Do you get frustrated while connecting one sided cords and blindly jamming the USB connector towards the port. Well don’t worry because the next-generation USB connector plug will always work as it will get connected to the port on the both sides.

The new USB Type-C connector is built on existing USB 3.1 and 2.0 technologies but features an entirely new design, the connector would be much smaller in size and won’t depend upon the plug’s orientation.

The promoter group of USB 3.0 comprised of HP, Intel, Microsoft, Renesas Electronics and Texas Instruments. The group says that the new design will accommodate further upgrades in future devices bringing thinner and sleeker product designs, enhancing usability and providing better performance.

Kareena Kapoor to Star in QMobile’s Most Expensive Ad Till Date

It would not be surprising news that any Bollywood star is appearing in our local advertisement as by far, there have been several TVCs on-aired that prominently screened Bollywood celebrities.

This time, QMobile has taken up with this prospect, by casting India’s most popular female star Kareena Kapoor in their upcoming advert.

ProPakistani was told that the mastermind behind the whole venture – from conception till the execution — is Mr. Zeeshan Akhter, Chairman and the CEO of QMobile.

According to the information shared with ProPakistani, to shoot a television commercial for the smartphone brand, Qmobile, Kareena Kapoor Khan took off to Bangkok this week.

Under the hood, this advert will be directed by Farooq Mannan, famed as The ‘Imtiaz Ali’ of Pakistan’s advertising among several people particularly in Indians.

Samsung announces the Galaxy Xpress 2

Samsung has announced a new Android handset in its Galaxy line-up, the Xpress 2. The phone succeeds its forgotten brother, the original Xpress, and comes with a 4.5″ display, dual-core processor and a 5 megapixel camera.

The display comes with a qHD resolution of 540 x 960 pixels which should be fine for a display of this size. The OS which runs on it is Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean with TouchWiz customizations.

Burq Broadband to Offer WiFi Broadband Services Across Pakistan

ICONDOR Telecom Group from Argentina launched its flagship broadband brand ‘BURQ Broadband’ in Islamabad.

Aimed at offering high-speed broadband services over WiFi, Burq Broadband is planning to start its operations very shortly.

Having footprints in Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay since the early eighties as a pioneer in wireless telecommunications, ICONDOR Telecom is all set to spread the expanse of its network across the sub-continent and Middle East with Pakistan being the hub of its core business activities starting with Broadband Internet Services.

Burq Broadband is reportedly going to offer high-speed broadband over WiFi. Down the line, the company has plans to partner with cellular companies to offer their subscribers the broadband services through WiFi but they will be charged based on their mobile-internet subscriptions.

Data channels over WiFi are always proffered when compared with GSM or 3G networks. Similar kind of partnerships are successfully running across various markets

Warid Offers Unlimited Mobile Internet Bundle to Celebrate Quaid Day

Warid is Celebrating Quaid-e-Azam Day with a special offer for customers, with which they will be able to use 100 MBs of mobile internet for just Rs. 1.99 per day.

Offer will remain valid from December 23th to December 25th, 2013.

World's First Phone with a QHD Display Goes Official

Sometimes, it is not necessary to be a major name to produce a revolutionary product. Vivo, a rather unknown manufacturer (from China) is an example of this because they’ve made a quantum leap in the field of smartphone technology, announcing the world’s first ever phone, the Xplay 3S with a “QHD” or 2K display.

Phone was announced during a ceremony in Beijing, China, yesterday.

That stands for “Quarter HD”, despite the fact that it is written and pronounced similarly to the aging but not uncommon qHD resolution. Its resolution of 1440 x 2560 resolution leads to a mind-boggling pixel-density of 490 ppi. With a 6 inch display on-board, you know you’ll have the resources to make full use of the sensational resolution.

And it’s not only the video, the audio is a massive part of the equation too. You get a OPA2604 amp made by Texas Instruments, ES9018 DAC and DTS Headphones, which allow 11.1 surround sound effect.

Other big specs of the phone include a 2.3Ghz quad-core processor with Adreno 330 GPU, 3 GB worth RAM, 32 GB and LTE connectivity. Battery capacity is set at 3200 mAh.

Candy Crush Saga is the Best-Selling App of the Year

Unless you’re living in a dungeon, you already know that a match-three puzzle game by the name of Candy Crush Saga has taken the world by storm.

The reason why it's such a hit is that it took an already-proven formula and adds several more interesting elements to it and the result is a game which gets the “App of the year” accolade from Apple itself.

Nokia Lumia 1020 Unboxing: Imaging Beast Unleashed

Yesterday, i finally got my hands on the Nokia’s latest imaging beast. Instantly, i started working on the Nokia Lumia 1020 Unboxing video for you guys. So without making you wait further, below it is.

Mobilink Introduces Mobilink Voiler, a Voice-Based Social Networking Service

Mobilink has introduced Mobilink Voiler, a voice based social media service that will allow subscribers to connect and communicate with friends and family over a virtual voice space.

Voiler works on a similar platform as Twitter where users may create a followership of their own or follow others including the top celebrities of Pakistan, but with Mobilink Voiler its all voice instead of text as in Twitter.

Mobilink Voiler users can use their unique identities (ID) on the service to be identified in the virtual voice space. The IDs may be shared with friends and family over SMS to make it easy to connect. Users can also follow their favorite celebrities, leave voice messages for them and listen to their voice message over the IVR.

The service is also beneficial for closed student, business or other groups where the teacher or lead can leave a message and the followers can retrieve updates at their convenience.

Unlike Twitter, you will get voice feeds of those IDs that you are following on Mobilink Voiler.

Warid Introduces One Click Start-Stop Service for VAS

Warid has introduced START-STOP self-service which allows customers to activate and deactivate Value Added Services through interactive SMS process. This Service is bouquet of ten  different existing services. Now customers will be free from the hassle of remembering service activation and deactivation methods and short codes. Customers are just required to send an SMS to5656 to get the list of offerings for activation or deactivation in an easy and effective way.

Facebook Tests Auto-Play Video Ads in Newsfeeds

Facebook has announced that in order to continue forward its fight for profits, it will be adding auto-playing video ads in the users’ news feeds from now onwards.

The feature has been under the spotlight for quite a time now since it has already been tested a number of times over the past few months, on a limited scale though.

Rather than having to click or tap to play, videos will begin to play as they appear on screen – without sound – similar to how they behave when shared by friends or verified Pages. If you don’t want to watch the video, you can simply scroll or swipe past it.

Selected 3G Consultants and PTA Sign Agreement

Representatives of Value Partners Consutlants signing contract with PTA for the consultancy services for auction of next generation network services at PTA headquarters in Islamabad

Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) and Value Partners Management Consulting Limited yesterday signed a formal contract at PTA headquarters for the provision of consultancy services for the auction of next generation services spectrum.

After the completion of the evaluation process for the selection of consultant of international repute, under the policy directive of the MoIT&T, Value Partners Management Consulting Limited was declared successful as a consultant for the auction of next generation mobile services in Pakistan.

Value Partners is a Consortium Consultant of USA, UK, Singapore and Spain.

Apple Finally Releases its Latest Mac Pro for $2999

Apple’s latest, redesigned top-of-the-rank Macintosh is finally released and it is absolutely stunning. Visually to begin with.

Instead of a giant, monster desktop PC that it used to be, the new Mac Pro is nimble, delicate and exquisite. It’s almost as portable as a tube-shaped crisp jar. One might think that Apple has “overdesigned” the product, the exact reason given for the failure of Mac Cube but only time will tell about that.

The Parking In This University Is Full Of Student’s Super Cars

In this university, the students don’t have to live on ramen noodles or Mac and cheese. Instead they drive up in their super cars.

A Rolls-Royce, a Ferrari and a black Aston Martin, which wouldn’t look out of place in a Bond film, line the student car park row after row.

The gallery of super cars was taken by student Meeka Nasser who wanted to show the world the array of models on show at the university. He said: ‘I attend the American University of Dubai and the cars that students drive here are just ludicrous.’If I was back home in Canada my car would be considered nice, but here nobody looks twice at it.

Breaking: Zong Gets LDI License

Zong has finally been issued an LDI license (Long Distance and International) for Pakistan, we have confirmed with sources.

Zong was long struggling to get the LDI license, which was earlier denied due to an agreement between the Government of Pakistan and Etisalat.

According to PTCL SPA (Sale-Purchase agreement) government of Pakistan was bound to not to issue any new telecom license till March 2013.

Google Releases its Annual List of Most-Searched Topics, Malala is in The List!

Google has released its list of most-searched objects throughout the year on its zeitgeist site. Rather unsurprisingly, consumer tech grabbed three out of the top ten spots.

The list, headed by Nelson Mandela and Paul Walker, features the iPhone 5s as the third most-searched query of the year. Samsung’s Galaxy S4 and PlayStation 4 were on 8th and 9th respectively.

Xbox One and Nexus 5 are next in consumer technology while Malala Yousufzai is third on the list of most-searched people worldwide.

The list further divides these topics into numerous categories such as Events, Movies and Athletes. Google also released an interactive globe which shows you the 5 top-trending topics for a particular city in the past or the present.

Top trends of the year can be viewed for a particular country. (There are only two lists for Pakistan though, with uninspiring top-searches on either of them.)

Lastly, Google has added a feature to take you back in time to see the top-trends of time as back as 2001. It’s a small addition but it does feel nice to be able to go back in the past see what was being searched in a time when we weren’t here on this place called the Internet.

Zindagi Gulzar Hai is the Top Trending Drama – Google Zeitgeist Launched in Pakistan

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Google officially globally released its brand new product Google Zeitgeist on December 17, 2013. An event was held in PC Hotel Lahore which was synchronized with the global launch. The tool was released in 50 countries and Pakistanis could be proud of the fact that we were included in these top 50 countries of the world.

Google Zeitgeist is a tool which gives a detailed analysis of the top searches and trends done by the netizens of a country. Zeitgeist Pakistan will get trends for now and top searches feature will be rolled out in future.

Zeitgeist Pakistan is showing only two ‘boxes’ at the moment, i.e. top ten People and Searches. But these two boxes contain mammoth amount of data and can be used by marketers, researchers  as well as SEO professionals to have a crucial insight into behavior of internet users across Pakistan. Features like graphs, exporting data to CSV files (which can be opened in Excel), embed codes and city-wise search scores are great.

You can view personalities and searches from the Zeitgeist page. The top-3 trending personalities are Paul Walker, Jiah Khan and Nelson Mandela and the top-3 trending searches are ‘PTV sports live’, ‘Ashiqui 2′ and ‘Chennai Express’.

Here is a treat for you. Some top-trending searches which you cannot view on Google Zeitgeist yet!

Samsung Announces the Galaxy Core Advance for Those on a Budget

Samsung has announced the newest addition in its Galaxy line-up, the Galaxy Core Advance. The phone boasts a 4.7 inch display with WVGA resolution and is the first phone from the company in quite a time to not feature any capacitive button under the hood.

The phone, as you would expect, follows the same design language as other Samsung’s Smartphones. It’s about 9.7mm thick and 145g heavy.

Pakistan to Block Import of Mobile Phones Without IMEI

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority has reiterated its earlier viewpoint of not allowing the import of cellphones/Smartphones that ship without any IMEI or with fake IMEI number.

According to a report published in Dawn.com, PTA has written a letter to Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and has asked the board to not to clear consignments of cellular phones if the importer has not obtained clearance from PTA.

Importers and manufacturers will now have to submit these specification details to the PTA to get approval under section 29 of the Pakistan Telecommunications (Re-organization) Act, 1996.

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority has long worked to block the sale of phones that come without IMEI.

With Steve Jobs, has Apple Disintegrated [Infographic]

Apple may have spent two years without its popularizing co-founder Steve Jobs, but how successful has it been during all this time? The answer: much more than ever.

A detailed infographic by Cool Infographics compares the situation of before and after and it is clear that Tim Cook has been handling affairs quite steadily.

Firstly, it is quite clear thanks to some staggering numbers that Apple has a lot more money than before. In simple numbers, 77% more.

Secondly, it is a lot more charitable than before. The cook is also more readily accepted by his staff, 97% of them compared to Jobs’ 95%.

PITB Develops Electronic Challan System for Traffic Violations

The Punjab Information Technology Board has developed and deployed new Ticket Charging System for Traffic Violations that uses Android phones and Bluetooth Printer to get the job done.

With this new system, Police Officers will be able to charge traffic violation tickets on the spot.

Upon a violation, the Police Officer will enter driver’s license number in an Android app to match the number with the central database for authenticity. After authentication the type of violation is input into the system to ultimately get a printed ticket through the Bluetooth enabled portable printer.

Sony Announces Pen-Drives for Android Phones

Japanese Electronics maker, Sony, has launched the world’s first pen drive, which can be connected to your Android smartphone or tablet.

This new drive is a “2-in-1 device”, with MicroUSB and standard USB2.0 plugs into a tiny package, allowing users to connect it with both desktop computers and smartphones.

It is devised to grant flexibility to the Android users by making the file transfer between mobile devices simple and brisk, without the requisite of any Wireless Connectivity.

In order to make it work with your device, your phone must need to run Android 4.0 or higher since it is explicitly intended for devices with Android’s On The Go (OTG) connectivity, which is usual in most phones running Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and above.

Warid Telecom and Bank Alfalah acquire license for Mobile Financial Services

Warid Telecom will soon launch its mobile financial service in collaboration with Bank Alfalah Limited. Bank Alfalah Limited has been granted the license by State Bank of Pakistan to operate its branchless banking services and Warid Telecom is facilitating the bank with its wide network cellular coverage.

Warid and Bank Alfalah’s joint mobile financial services aim to provide convenient financial solutions to all segments of the society. This latest service will provide unbanked customers with a secure channel for money transfer and utility bill payments.

Nokia is Making a Phone with Android-App Compatibility

According to a report from The Verge, Nokia might be making a device running a dumbed-down version of Android. The device code-named Normandy lies in the budget range just as the Ashas.

Not to mention, this report is followed by the up-given image leak shared by EvLeaks almost two weeks ago.

Google Agrees to Launch Localized Version of YouTube in Pakistan

Google/YouTube has conditionally agreed to launch localized version of YouTube in Pakistan that will work in-line with local authorities to block blasphemous content with-in Pakistani borders, reported Dawn.com.

Citing the Minister for IT and Telecom, Ms. Anusha Rehman, the paper said that this new arrangement will give birth to YouTube.com.pk or YouTube.PK, a local version of YouTube in Pakistan.

Ms. Rehman was cited as saying that government of Pakistan has succeeded in convincing the Google management about religious sensitivities of Pakistanis.

She was explaining the situation to a Standing Committee of Senate yesterday.

Anusha Rehman further unveiled that Google wants not to be held responsible for any blasphemous content uploaded on its sites as that will be a personal action of the individual. Google, however, will work closely with government of Pakistan to get any such blasphemous content blocked in Pakistan.

PIA is Planning to Launch Wi-Fi Services for its Customers

Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) is planning to launch Wi-Fi services for its customers, a first in country’s flying history.

PIA is planning to offer this service, at the moment, on its long distance flights to provide entertainment to the passengers. PIA which still carries one of the largest dedicated fan base in the world, is seriously haunted by local and international rivals on long distance flights and passengers have been seriously complaining about lack of entertainment in flights that lasts for hours.

PIA’s nine Boeing 777s which are to provide services on longer routes to Europe, US and Canada are planned to be equipped with these services. 

how deactivate all those promotional messages from telecom companies?

Nearly everyone who possess a mobile phone is tired of receiving bulks of promotional SMS from their subscribed telecom companies like Ufone, Mobilink, Zong, Telenor and Warid. But you can deactivate all those promotional messages by cellular operator

Easypaisa Launches ATM Cards

Easypaisa has officially launched the ATM cards for its mobile account holders, reported The Nation.

Paper said that after the soft launch of Easypaisa ATM cards earlier this year, Easypaisa has now commercially launched the cards for its mobile account holders.

Easypaisa Mobile Account holders can get their ATM cards from Telenor Service Centres or from Tameer Bank branches.

Card Issuance charges are set at Rs. 200 per ATM card, while transaction charges are Rs. 25 per transaction.