Techno Platforms

Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Smartphone - a busy man’s best friend

2011-11-15T10:58:00.000+05:00

The Xperia™ X10 is a revelation to anyone who would benefit from communication, entertainment and information brought together in one powerful, stylish device.

Starting with the popular Android operating system, the Xperia™ X10 has a wealth of features that make it a can’t-live-without gadget once you get it out of the box: 8.1-megapixel camera with face and smile detection, a lustrous 4” touchscreen, Timescape™ for displaying your communications and social networking, Mediascape’s intelligent media player, GPS, Wi-Fi, and an Android market with thousands of apps to make your X10 truly persona

Microfiber cleaning products UK

2011-11-15T10:31:00.002+05:00

Enter any living space, home or an office, hotel or airport lounge, and the standard of cleanliness will form your first idea of a place. Cleaner the place, better the image you form. If the things are messed up, given chance, you would not like to deal with the place again in anyway. That is why one people going a long way to clean up. More so in corporate world.

The cleaning of living spaces – interior and exterior – is a fine art as well as science. The living spaces cleaning activities includes the cleaning of edifice’s facades and floors, the cleaning of steel structures such as bridges, wind turbines, and the cleaning of tunnels, sewage systems as well as items placed inside the space.

In modern living spaces, such as office blocks, supper stores, hotels or a hospital, facades and partitions made of glass are widely used. To maintain the characteristics and transparency of these building elements over the long term, they have to be regularly cleaned. How these requirements can be met cost-efficiently and with the necessary thoroughness.

One needs to have a right product for a right job. May be your cleaning staff doesn’t know the difference between cotton cleaning material and micro fiber cleaning products. Which one absorbs water more and which one lasts longer? I suggest the mangers at the upper ladder of the pyramid need to decide before bulk purchase. That is how any concern can save on cleaning products. No?

Google Introduces Google Maps Directions Gadget

2011-09-12T20:10:00.000+05:00

Are Web site-based directions too vague for your liking? Too much of a pain to cut and paste an address from a restaurant or store site to Google Maps?

Google on Tuesday introduced a Directions gadget that will let webmasters add customized Google Maps directions to their Web sites.

"With the directions gadget, you no longer need to type and update multiple sets of text directions," Julie Zhou, an associate product marketing manager at Google, wrote in a blog post. "Let's face it: customers are only looking for directions from their specific location."

Webmasters can "pre-fill" the "To" directions field with one or several addresses. Customers can then type in their starting address and print out walking, driving, or public transit directions with one click. The gadget will also provide suggestions for vague "from" addresses.

Have a family Web site and want to help people navigate to your home from the airport. You can use simple tags like "Grandma's House" rather than your exact address to make it easier.

The gadget is available in 23 languages.
Source

Sony's tiny new laptop next month

2011-09-12T15:37:00.000+05:00

Sony plans to launch a tiny new laptop next month - the entertainment and consumer electronics giant's belated entry into the growing netbook computer market.

The new addition to its Vaio line of computers will cost about $630 when it goes on sale in Japan next month, with launches in the U.S. and Europe to follow shortly after. It will be about the size of a hardback book and run on lower-grade hardware than other Sony models.

Sony trails Asustek Computer, the Taiwanese pioneer of the mini-laptops known as netbooks, and Toshiba is offering a low-cost, small-screen computer with reduced processing power, a product category set to become the fastest-growing segment of the computer industry this year.
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People Search reverse email

2011-07-20T16:55:00.001+05:00

Since the day I stepped into practical life, my job has been taking me to different duty station. Being a social person, I left friends on each station. And keeping track of all friends is an overwhelming experience. On each station, I try to locate all and reestablish the communication, but locating friends busy with their own life have always been a difficult a daunting task. Things have changed now. Innovative technology solutions are changing the way we live; making it easier. People Search can do this for you. Have a look at People Search reverse email and you will know how?

Better still, try searching old friends and experience the power their people search. The leading premium people search site on the web helps you find people on the web. Whether its celebrities, friends, or interesting people you'd like to meet, find them on People Search.

Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other

2011-07-05T20:48:00.000+05:00

With the recent explosion of increasingly sophisticated cell-phone technology and social networking websites like Twitter and Facebook, a casual observer might understandably conclude that human relationships are blossoming like never before. But according to MIT science professor Turkle, that assumption would be sadly wrong. In the third and final volume of a trilogy dissecting the interface between humans and technology, Turkle suggests that we seem determined to give human qualities to objects and content to treat each other as things. In her university-sponsored studies surveying everything from text-message usage among teens to the use of robotic baby seals in nursing homes for companionship, Turkle paints a sobering and paradoxical portrait of human disconnectedness in the face of expanding virtual connections in cell-phone, intelligent machine, and Internet usage. Despite her reliance on research observations, Turkle emphasizes personal stories from computer gadgetry’s front lines, which keeps her prose engaging and her message to the human species—to restrain ourselves from becoming technology’s willing slaves instead of its guiding masters—loud and clear. --Carl Hays [Via]

Aprons, Towels, Sports Socks, Beachwear and Workwear

2011-07-05T13:34:00.000+05:00

We all are so very well familiar with apons - one of the most useful items at home or work. We all have seen aprons clad ladies picking up hot dishes, feeding children, moping the floors or the medical staff that reminds about healing hands, or the sky queens serving you hot coffee while your are flying to your destinations. Also you might have seen garden parties where everyone hangs out in apron self cooking.

Product Impex offers a wide variety of aprons, including Bar Aprons, Bip Aprons, Bistro Aprons, Butcher Aprons, Cobblers Aprons, Dish Washing Aprons, Economy Aprons, Four Way Aprons, Kids Aprons, Money Pouch, Tools Aprons, Tuxedo Aprons, Vinyl Aprons, V Neck Aprons, Waist Aprons and Waterproof Aprons to name just a few. Most of Product Impex apron categories overlap and can be used for multi purposes.

What is more, Product Impex can make this most functional item called apron a fun. Ask them and they will add funny sayings and cartons, famous quotes and best of all your message or a logo and you can use them as promotion item. Have you thought of using aprons to make the work place lively or to reach out? No one can miss to view what is so funny about any nicely styled apron in any setting. Think of aprons in your own settings.

Massage Helmet

2011-06-03T19:18:00.000+05:00

All of us do get headache off and on and some of us get this headache more frequently. Brookstone has introduced a massage helmet, uCrown 2 Massage Helmet, Gray in color, it is priced at US $ 200.00. You can wear it on your head with a strap. You can get Air pressure massage, Vibration massage, Magnetic therapy, "Gentle" heat and it has Built-in speakers with which you can listen to gentle music to put you at ease.

Although the helmet is expensive, it's not a bad deal if you get frequent headaches as you will be able to get rid of the headache. Not a bad bargain. Besides this massage helmet Brookstone also offer massage chairs, feet massagers, back massagers, etc.

The Budget

2011-06-03T16:09:00.003+05:00

Their Budget, Your Budget

Your attention please!

2011-06-03T11:50:00.000+05:00

S A J Shirazi

In this attention age, virtual world is seamlessly getting into real world. Social side of technologies is making the World Wide Web much more localized by bringing like-minded people together and in the process creating closely knit online communities.

Combination of features like worldwide accessibility and instantaneous communication has made it possible for backpackers, globetrotters and other curious from all over the world to join together at different online platforms to exchange information, experiences and plans in their favorite pursuit; travel.

Subscribers range from the professional travel writers to hardcore travelers and adventurers and commoners who are simply interested in reading online. Travel communities are accessible by millions of interested people all over the world.

Out of some major and hundreds of less noticeable travel forums on the Web, I have had the fortune to belong to a few and have been visiting some others for my travel information needs.

Exceptions apart, all virtual travel communities have some common features: Communities mostly provide a warm, trusting and supportive atmosphere. When members give information, they do it with great care and responsibility. They rely on each other more than they do on outdated travel guidebooks or on second hand and static information from conventional travel literature.

Visit any online community and one finds anything related to travel, along with flames and off topics, which are informative, sometimes funny or even annoying. The mutual exchange of information is not restricted only to destinations, affordable places to stay and dine in, security issues, maps, weather conditions there and where to have best bargains and how to find public restrooms or which Websites better describe any particular place. Or which dress a female anthropologist going to study Kalash clan up in northern district Chitral should wear during her extended stay there. It goes much beyond to helping in finding work, selling and promoting each others in local markets.

“Travel forums have become hunting grounds for meeting fellow travelers and making new friends. You really do not require any other reason to join a community or two,” says Atoorva Sinha who intends building up travelers’ community at Mindzwine.

Carla King is founder member of one virtual travel community called Wild Writing Women for female travelers. She emailed, “When we published Wild Writing Women -- Stories of World Travel (an anthology of women’s travel stories) -- we got a lot of publicity. People wanted to know how we traveled solo and weren’t afraid, and just how we went about it. We started giving workshops. We also started giving writing workshops and hosted a free monthly literary salon. People just gravitated, and we accepted them. We made a business of it and formed the online community. So it’s a profitable business for us to expand the community, and also, happily, it’s close to our hearts.”

Members are slow in response sometime. Chris Heidrich, the Director of a BootsnAll says, “One has to be patient in waiting for a response from members and insiders. It should be understood that it is a voluntary favor and some people do not come on board or check email as often.” Court who is always found on board in the same community adds, “Some time they may be away traveling to yet another location.”

The recipients of information have to keep in mind that what ever comes is based upon individuals’ personal experiences or empirical observations. One member may have had different experience than others. When I posted a query about Virtual Travel Communities (for this article) at BootsnAll community; the first reply referred me to Nick mediator at another community at Bali Blog who in turn advised me to email direct to all on his mailing list. The replies I am still receiving are varied showing so many perspectives. “There is nothing like variety,” says Nick.

The virtual world is composed of information rather than physical identities. Information spreads and diffuses. Those who belong to these impalpable spaces also diffuse, you are free to take it or leave it.

Walk with Walkman

2011-06-02T18:48:00.000+05:00

Remember when walkman came up on the market first. Everyone wanted one and sales sky rocketed. No gadget has still surpassed the sale record
of walkman.

Now Sony's new NWZ-W202 W-Series Walkman MP3 player - a stylish device worn directly in the ears – is creating waves.

The W-Series Walkman MP3 player is made with two rectangular-shaped earpieces that are connected with a flexible cord of a neckband. When you put it on, it looks like you are wearing two Bluetooth headsets. The earpieces are magnetized so that when they are separated, music begins playing, and when they are joined together, the music is off. The controls are simple to operate - the right earpiece contains one button each to turn the volume up and down and a jog dial to skip songs. A feature called ZAPPIN allows you to preview a short clip of each song before picking the one you want. Oh, how amazing.

The W-Series Walkman that 2 GB of music, can be plugged into a laptop with the USB cord, songs can be dragged and dropped from iTunes onto the device. What is more, charge it for three minutes and it will go for 90 minutes of battery life. What else one needs.

One of the best device that can accompany you anywhere, especially in gym and on other outdoor athletic pursuits. May be this will urge me to start jogging again.

Blind to see through tongue!

2011-06-01T12:42:00.000+05:00

Wicab is going to introduce Blind Port, a device designed to afford a chance to the blind to see, but not with their eyes, instead with their tongues. The device allows the blind to regain some vision by means of a camera and electrical impulses sent to the tongue. The blind has to wear a camera on the head and lollipop like electrode array in the mouth. The image is captured by the camera which sends it to BrainPort. Brainport decodes the signals and transforms them into electrical pulses which gently hit the tongue of the user. The trials have shown that users can, in a few days, start reading the text, move about in the house or outside, dine at the dining table without the support of others and even get onto a bike.

FDA approval of BrainPort is still awaited. The device is rather costly in the range of $ 10,000. Thus, it is going to be beyond the reach of many affected individuals unless state chooses to help them out.

Source: scientificamerican.com

The Cr-48

2011-04-21T20:46:00.000+05:00

Ujala Ali Khan

With its new notebook, the Cr-48 , Google is venturing into a territory that no one has dared to enter before, scaling down the laptop.

Believe it or not, this latest innovation is simply a web browser with a keyboard and all you can do with this device is surf the internet. With a 12-inch screen and a full-size keyboard, it feels like a regular laptop, however its bare Chrome OS provides instant on/off capability. The device asks you for your Google ID when you turn it on and the desktop icons don’t lead to software and applications, but to web pages.

The Cr-48 will not work unless you’re online.

Users in the US will get 100 MB of free bandwidth from Verizon every month; that's not a lot, but it’s being justified on the basis that virtually all places have WiFi these days, and the 100 MB should be more than enough to cover the rare dead spots.

What’s baffling a lot of tech reviewers out there is how users will be able to cope with this whole new way of working entirely online, as one would have to with the Cr-48 . You can’t type emails or letters on the system, unless you’re logged into Google Chrome or Gmail.

While some techies are writing it off as an object of pure geek appeal, other tech pundits are convinced it will do well.

Wilson Rothman, Deputy Technology and Science Editor at msnbc.com , stated, "At this moment, our computers are capable of way more than we need them to be. Photos, e-mail, Web, music, a little video. We shame our powerhouse machines with this wimpy activity. It's like driving a Ferrari to the corner store and back."

Self indulgence

2011-04-21T20:39:00.003+05:00

See here what I captured in my camera during the 'day I spent with myself.'

Force Trainer

2011-04-01T19:26:00.001+05:00

If you want to assess and develop the power of concentration of your family and that of your own, here is a Star Wars Force Trainer. It's more of toy not only for kids but also for the adults who will find it equally amusing and challenging too. The strength of the brainwaves will control the power of air which in turn will cause the ball upward of downward.

You put on the head gear and look at the trainer with maximum possible concentration. The more you concentrate the higher the ball will rise. Loss of concentration will correspondingly lower the ball. It looks more like a magic, but it's not. It's the use of dry sensor technology through which the Force Trainer can differentiate between alpha, beta, gamma and delta waves present in your brain. There is a microchip inside the Force Trainer uses algorithm which will figure out the brain state you are in and correspondingly decides how to raise or lower the ball based on that state. The price of the Force Trainer is $ 120.00.
Features:
For ages 8 and up.
Voice guided through 15 levels of Force training by Yoda!
Star Wars sound effects confirm accomplishment and provide encouragement throughout your training.
Includes an adjustable wireless headset, Jedi training tower w/ball and an informative learning guide.
Base can also operate with an AC adapter (not included)
Batteries: 6 AA and 3 AAA (not included)
Dimensions: 16.1" x 14.2" x 6.2"
Source: thinkgeek.com

One baby one tree

2011-04-01T19:24:00.000+05:00

I (S A J Shirazi) am glad to be a small part of beautiful tradition of one child one tree being practices by Thatta Kedona i remote Punjab village Thatta Ghulamka Dheroka (aka Dolls' Village) located at the bank of River Ravi near Gogera. The NGO AFA presents one fruit tree on the birth of a baby and one flower tree on a wedding. Results: almost every household in Thatta Ghulamka Dheroka has a fruit and flower tree in their yards (in addition to their own kitchen garden). And it looks so good; refreshing.

This year the beautiful ceremony of handing over fruit and flower trees and celebration of 18 years of tradition was held in BHU on March 25, 2011. Here are some of the images of the event. Everyone missed Dr. Senta Siller, the originator of the tradition, who could come due to her engagements in Germany. Thanks to Dr. Norbert Pintsch who is still carrying on the work and traditions in the village.[X-posted from Light Within]

Largest torch

2011-03-31T15:24:00.000+05:00

The world’s largest torch stands at 227 cm (7ft 5 inch) in length and 55 cm (1 ft 9 inch) in width, and allegedly emits light with a brightness equivalent to 500 times of any standard torch light

Credit for this master piece goes to its creators Moon Way General Trading LLC, which is a multilateral organization based in the UAE that fabricates and markets products under the trademark of Mr. Plus and Mr. Light. Mr. Light, a sub division of Moon Way General Trading LLC was given the responsibility of bringing this ambitious dream into existence.

With the expertise of more than 20 engineers; the world’s largest torch finally came to life in year’s time. Surprisingly, the torch is not created with any special materials, but the same material used to produce standard torch lights.

Abdul Gafoor, CEO of Moon Way General Trading LLC was elated on their product being recognized by the Guinness Book. "We are honored to have received the Guinness World Record recognition for the largest torch light in the world. At Mr. Light, we focus on quality and efficiency, and our unique creation proves that our German technology is the best for torch light’s and flashlights,” Gafoor said.

The world’s largest torch was showcased to the world amid great fanfare. The owners of this torch have themed its creation, as the Light of Hope in order to honor the lives of million people around the world who are deprived of electricity even in this day and age.

Gafoor further elaborated on this thought by stating that, "our objective in creating the world's largest torch light was to put the global spotlight on the UAE, a country that promotes innovation and entrepreneurship and to highlight the fact that millions of people around the world still don't have access to regular electricity.”

Moreover, the event was inaugurated by the well known Indian actor, Padma Shri Mohanlal Vishwanathan Nair, who unveiled the flashlight in the presence of 20,000 spectators and the officials of Moon Way General Trading.

Nair was very humbled to be a part of this ceremony and said, "I am honored and privileged to unveil this great feat and feel proud to be a part of this momentous occasion.”

With the launch of the world largest torch, there has been yet another addition to UAE’s already glittering fame, and we all hope that this torch keeps on shining to witness many more glorious years for this nation. [From Here]

Prof Dr Asi Karnali 1927 – 2011

2011-03-28T09:25:00.000+05:00

S A J Shirazi

Prof Dr Asi Karnali was the first person who I had the privilege to meet and learn a lot when I was in Multan back in 1992. He was the soul (and a living encyclopedia) of literary landscape of Multan – a very literary city. Personally, Asi Karnali taught me the mechanics of Inshaya and encouraged me to write (Helmet ke nechee) every week in Nawa-e-Waqat. He was kind to write preface of my book Reet Pe Tehreer. I still remember countless meeting in literary congregations and at his home, where his writer wife Samar Bano Hashmi (another very kind and loving person), and poet sons would also join in our discussions I call my leaning sessions. He lived a very active life till the end.

Dr Asi Karnali’s Thesis “Persian poetic traditions influence on Urdu Hamd And Naat” is a great contribution in the field of Urdu poetry. Writer of 19 books (including 11 poetry books), Dr Karnali was conferred upon President’s Pride of Performance Award on his book Naatoon ke Ghulab.

Related: Carry the dust to Multan

What a drive

2011-03-21T09:08:00.001+05:00

A worldwide leader in high-performance computer memory, power supplies and flash memory products, including solid-state drives, Corsair®, has introduced the 128GB Flash Voyager GT. It is the world's fastest high capacity 128GB USB flash drive. It is able achieve read speed of up to 32 MB/second and write speed of up to 25.6MB/second. "High performance is a key requirement for super-high capacity flash drives, such as the 128GB Voyager GT, simply because it is able to store such a large volume of data," said John Beekley, the VP of Applications at Corsair. " The 128GB Voyager GT is nearly twice as fast as other high-capacity flash drives, which means less time waiting for your music, video or office files to copy to and from the drive."

The 128GB Flash Voyager GT has a durable and water-resistant rubber housing which protects the drive against accidental damage. It is most suited for those who need access to huge volume of data in a convenient, durable and extremely fast format. The USB drive can store massive video, photo and music libraries. Surprisingly, with so much of capacity, the size is less than half of a solid state drive. The company is offering ten years warranty.

Source: Company website.

Spring comes to Dolls Village

2011-03-21T09:06:00.003+05:00

With Monika Kuppler in Thatta Ghulamka Dheroka busy with series of her pottery workshops and Dr. Norbert Pintsch also in the village, Thatta Kedona spring activities are picking up.

Work is in progress at different projects in addition to electricity by kites project. Thekedar Iqbal from Harappa is busy in various the repair work, a group of students from Women College University is expected to come and spend a day in the village. Flowers and decorative trees will be handed over to residents under ‘one boy one tree’ program.

While this is happening in the village, dolls and toys from Thatta Kedona are on display at Alhamra Art Gallery with the collaboration of Daachi-Foundation. Large number of friends of dolls came to visit Thatta Kedona stall at Alhamra Art Gallery.

Daachi Foundation mela has a message to create an atmosphere of harmony, tolerance, unity among the nation by establishing a peaceful society and promotion of traditional art and crafts. The mela not only entertained the masses but also provided an opportunity to know about the traditional arts and crafts and to bring them closed the real culture of this land. A large number of Lahorites along with their families visited the festival with full zeal.

The YikeBike

2011-03-18T16:32:00.000+05:00

It's like getting your first Big Wheel all over again — and you don't even have to pedal. An innovative bicycle-design concept derived from the old-fashioned penny-farthing, the YikeBike is a folding electric bicycle out of New Zealand. The rider sits on the seat, holds on at the sides and zooms around at a top speed of 12 m.p.h. (20 km/h). You lean left or right to steer, and it even comes with electronic antiskid brakes. The first 100 YikeBikes will be road-ready by mid-2010 in New Zealand as well as the U.K. and selected other countries in Europe.

The YikeBike weighs roughly 20 lb. (9 kg) and runs on a lithium phosphate battery that can be charged to 80% capacity in 20 minutes

Heavenly Mud

2011-03-18T16:13:00.002+05:00

Concept of shifting to mud architecture is creating waves in Pakistan. It is heartening to know that a lot is happening to convert this concept in to a reality in the form of proposed Mud Village, Peerzada Festival Area, Lahore.

Mud is an excellent construction material. It is being used as a building material since prehistoric times. Mud structures can still be found in a variety of climates across the globe; In Pakistan, it is most strongly associated with rural culture. The idea of mud building is now coming to urban areas. Construction of model mud village in Lahore is the case in point.

Society for the Promotion of Art and Culture (SPARC), registered in Lahore since 1994, is starting construction of mud village for handicraft men. Prof. Dr. Norbert Pintsch (Senior Expert Service Bonn, Germany) is planning to coordinating the project and giving it a practical shape.

Prof. Dr. Norbert Pintsch is an experienced architect by profession is very passionate about mud architecture. Since completing first building project as an architect at the age of 18, Prof Dr Norbert Pintsch has been in various activities as an architect and civil engineer all his life.

In addition, Iqbal, a local builder from Harrapa, Ghayyoor Obaid, a famous architect, Peerzada Festival Area, a concern that is providing space for construction of mud village near world famous Puppetry Museum are also involved in the project. Beacon House University, Department of Architecture and Building Research Institute are also likely to participate.

It is not good enough to assume that “everything from the past is good. It is necessary to show,” says Dr. Norbert Pintsch who is very passionate about the project. Like national University in Colombia where students practice construction with local materials like bamboo and wood, the project will give an opportunity to the students of Beacon House University to practice what they have been learning while adapting the construction technique mixed with appropriate technology in Pakistan.

Prof. Dr. Norbert Pintsch never gets tired of talking about his passion and, given my own interest, I don’t get tired of listening about the details of the project. Please stay tuned and I will endeavor to bring every detail as the project unfolds.

Thatta Kedona Internet Radio

2011-03-11T11:04:00.002+05:00

Internet radio is essentially the same as regularly broadcast radio, with a few distinguishing characteristics. Whereas there is a minimal lag time with regular radio because it broadcasts through the air, Internet radio has a lag time of 2.5 to 10 seconds or so, depending on the server. Internet radio is streamed, and so does not involve downloading. You simply log on to the particular site and in it comes.

Receiving the stream is much like listening to your MP3 player, as the format is the same. Several formats are on offer, but the MP3 and ACC formats are currently the most frequently used. As the medium continues to find its footing, there will likely be modifications, which are difficult to predict today.

Coming to village Thatta Ghulamka Ghulamka Dheroka known as dolls village, Internet Radio will empower the rural community in the rustic village and also offer them information on the subjects of their interests. Stay tuned, the regular broadcost is scheduled to start here soon.

Alcoholometer!

2011-03-09T11:58:00.001+05:00

This post is for the ones who are alcoholic. The ones who wait for the weekend to begin so that they can enjoy drinking and boozing. Every time such people go to a different bar, they are skeptic about the quality of the drink they are paying for. Usually they are able to sense if the quality is not good but they can't prove the same to the bartender. Now, they have a sensor available to them which can detect the truth. Rotgutonix, a chemical sensor, can detect the quality of the alcohol and determine if the alchol in your glass is pure or adulterated. By dipping the Rotgutonix into your drink, you can find out the truth. If alcohol is of good quality, it will display the type of alcohol or brand on the device and if it is adulterated you will get an image of a skull and cross bones implying your drink has rotgut. This blogger has opted to name it as Alcoholometer.

Source: chipchick.com

Powered Vending Machine

2011-03-09T11:36:00.000+05:00

When it comes to building a healthier vending machine, lesser minds have considered only swapping out the sodas and Snickers for apples and granola bars. But Pep Torres has a better idea. At his Barcelona workshop, Stereo-Noise, he attached a stationary bicycle to a vending machine so a customer who wants a product would have to pedal a certain distance to get it. Thus far, Stereo-Noise has had just one taker — a Spanish baked-goods company — but Torres has high hopes for the device. "We'd like to see it in subway stations and schools," he says. "That way, people can eat their potato chips and still get in shape."

Alumni Meetup

2011-03-06T09:59:00.000+05:00

Lahore School Alumni Meet Up, also at Khabarmana, Lahore School, Logic is Variable

The Apricot Road to Yarkand by Salman Rashid

2011-03-01T16:59:00.000+05:00

Is there anything more beguiling than a true tale of high adventure well told? Stories about places like Pakistan and China sides of Muztagh Pass, braving difficult odds under overwhelming conditions in far flung locales, relating to people of Pakistan and Chinese Turkistan who had been in the area centuries ago, can keep anyone glued to The Apricot Road to Yarkand by Salman Rashid.

The Apricot Road to Yarkand is a spellbinding tale of journey from Shigar Valley to Yarkand in the North, over the glaciated Mustagh Pass by Salman Rashid. The author is master of conveying what seems to be going on in his heads in gripping prose that is never clichéd.

First, a word about the author. Salman Salman is Pakistan's foremost travel writer. His passion for writing is matched by his passion for photography. His research, range of visual subjects and narratives make a remarkable combination. In addition to eight travel books, his work appears in leading English language journals. In The Apricot Road to Yarkand, Salman Rashid has also told how he switched his career in the army to become a full time researcher and a writer. (I keep thinking how Salman Rashid would have been in appreciating tactical situation on battle grounds if he was still in army?)

Salman Rashid is a historian in the truest sense. He writes from a knowledge standpoint as opposed to a position biased toward the dominant paradigm and its conquests. A moving writer, Salman reminds the heart of its search for power in a world which has forgotten its purpose for existence. As usual, Salman Rashid, 54 when he undertook the journey, delivers a ton of current information all based on historical research. No one else seems to have half the energy of this man. What is more, Salman Rashid is currently translating the book into Urdu language.

In The Apricot Road to Yarkand, Salman Rashid recounts his journey from Shigar Valley to Yarkand and he does so in frank and honest terms. Result of sixteen years of dreaming about everything that sits on the historic route from Baltistan to Yarkand, The Apricot Road to Yarkand is an epic to the essence of exploring mountains, but it is also about of the cultural, geological, and biological make up of mountains, people of that area, human behavior in difficult situations, and history and about joy of about watching purple-gray clouds spreading out like an atmospheric ocean in all directions as far as the eye can see.

Alan Hovaness once wrote, "Mountains are symbols of mankind's search for God," and Allen Ginsberg told us, "Things are symbols for themselves." In The Apricot Road to Yarkand, Salman Rashid allows the mountains to be symbols of the seeking soul and at the same time symbols of themselves - they are encountered as we internalize them in our quest, and they are encountered as they really are: cold, hard, lonely, mighty and sometime hazardous.

The Apricot Road to Yarkand inspires its readers to explore the less explored areas and experience for themselves what only a few had the fortune to discover. Well-written and wonderfully presented, the book is a must read for anyone remotely interested in mountains, adventures or for those who want to find out why a chunk of land was handed over to our best friends. I highly recommend it.

Fellow of Royal Geographical Society, Salman Rashid is author of eight books including jhelum: City of the Vitasta

Also at Doodh Patti, Logic is Variable and Light Within

Camera with a screen on front

2011-02-28T22:20:00.000+05:00

Samsung have moved a step forward. They have added another viewing screen on the front of their recently introduced cameras. This camera in front will enable the photo fans to take self portraits or be part of the group photo. The two models are ST500 and ST550. So, it's a good news for all those who are fond of taking their own pictures or including themselves in the group of friends and family. In the latter case the member taking the picture used to get be excluded from the picture. Similarly, earlier, the couples going out picturing had to request some passerby to take their snap. Now, be it an individual, a couple or a group of near and dear ones, everyone is going to be included in the picture. No exclusions! ST550 has a 3.5″ rear touchscreen and the other one 3″ screen.

Source: Samsung

Doctor of Science

2011-02-27T22:09:00.001+05:00

Prof Dr Norbert Pintsch has been working tirelessly on Appropriate Technology in Cameroon, Pakistan and elsewhere.

I have the fortune to be familiar with Prof Dr Norbert Pintsch’s work in Technical Transfer and Training Center (TTTC) for Men in remote Pakistani Village Thatta Ghulamka Dheroka, Mud Housing Project at Lahore and also what he has been doing to promote African energy through the use of solar energy with the meaningful and active coopration with Senior Expect Service (SES) Bonn-Germany and Society for the Advancement of Culture (DGFK) Berlin Germany as solutions to Climate Change and adaptation.

Prof Dr Norbert Pintsch has experience with no less than 133 projects since 1976 and each one of them has made a visible difference in more than one ways.

To recognize the work of Prof Dr Norbert Pintsch, the Senate of the Bamenda University of Science and Technology (BUST) on the Nomination of Board of Governors of Industrial and Educational Development Company (INDECO) Ltd have conferred upon Prof Dr Norbert Pintsch the Honorary Title of Doctor of Science with all the Rights and Previleges Thereto Pertaining in Recognation of his tangible Services to the Cause of Appropriate Technology on Feb 19, 2011.

Big congratulations Prof Dr Norbert Pintsch.

Also at Light Within and Logic is Variable

Rescue Stick

2011-02-22T11:49:00.000+05:00

Yanko Design have introduced Rescue Stick which affords a better chance at survival once you are out in the waters. It is a baton shaped container tied together by specially designed strings. These strings dissolve upon entering the water and automatically release a horseshoe shaped life float. If the baton strings fail to dissolve, you can manually extract the tube and inflate it. Owing to the use of chemical compounds, the tube will get inflated within four seconds.

In case of natural disasters these rescue sticks can be air dropped in hundreds to survivors in water until they are evacuated out of water. However, at present, the rescue stick is quite costly but the company designers are working to reduce costs per unit.

Source: www.coolest-gadgets.com

Spring in TGD

2011-02-22T11:30:00.000+05:00

Like always this Spring was very active season at Thatta Ghulamka Dheroka – Dolls Village – in the rural Punjab. Activities started with the arrival of two German volunteers {Therapist Gundula and Porter Monika Kuppler} in Thatta Ghulamka Dheroka followed by senior volunteer Dr. Norbert Pintsch – the moving spirit of Thatta Kedona. Amjad Ali from Radio Deutsche Welle was also here for the season.

Dolls and Toys Village, in addition to producing dolls, toys and other cultural handicrafts has been a center of leaning since its inception over a decade ago. Students from different universities have been visiting Thatta Ghulaka Dheroka for cultural research, orientation and or for sightseeing. This season a large number of students from Lahore College for Women University (Dept for modern languages, Dept for Home-Economic and Dept for Ceramic) visited the Dolls Village on Mar 28, 2010. Students from Beaconhouse National University also visited the village on April 9, 2010 and spent a day exploring the village life, rural culture and traditions and mixing up with the village folks.

Like a cherished traditions of giving flower tree to a married couple and fruit tree on the birth of a baby and giving awards to best mud houses (Best Mud House, Best Brick House, Best Detail) in the village, another tradition has started in the Dolls and Toys Village. SPARC – Lahore based NGO that is reintroducing and promoting concept of Mud Architecture in Pakistan - has selected three functional mud houses in Thatta Ghulamka Dheroka and asked the owners to continuously maintain their houses and keep them open for visitors. SPARC will give rupees 10,000.00 per house per year. Mudhouse Owners in Rural Areas (MORA) initiative is already creating waves in the village. Every mud house owner wants to be selected for this project. Result: the whole village looks spanking new all the time.

Books and stationary items were also distributed among students of Government Boys School and Government Girls School in the village. At the same time villagers are being interviewed for upcoming broadcast of Radio TV Thatta Village. Dr. Norbert Pintsch has enough on his hand before he goes back for the summer. Spring in Thatta Kedona has not over yet. Stay tuned for more.X-Posted from Light Within

Two Terrabyte Hard Drive

2011-02-18T13:38:00.000+05:00

Hitachi has announced the release of Enterprise-Class Hard Drives, the new Ultrastar A7K2000. It has enormous storage capacity of 2 Terra byte and has 7200 RPM performance. Despite 100% increase in its storage capacity, there has been no increase in the size and it needs 36% less power.

The Ultrastar A7K2000 is reported to be the 'industry’s first enterprise-class, 7,200 RPM 2TB hard disk drive' according to Todd Gresham, senior vice president, Networked Storage Solutions, Xyratex.

Hitachi offers five years warranty besides being RoHS compliant, and also halogen free. The 2TB Ultrastar A7K2000 is now available globally, while the 1TB and 500GB versions should be available soon.

CAT, SES, DGFK Setting The Pace For African Energy

2011-02-18T11:05:00.002+05:00

In a bid to promote African Energy through the use of solar energy, the Centre for Appropriate Technology, CAT – Cameroon in partnership with Senior Expect Service (SES) Boon-Germany and Society for the Advancement of Culture (DGFK) Berlin Germany have for the past days organizing “open day” and public exhibitions on some appropriate technologies as solutions to Climate Change and adaptation. .

A series of solar training workshops for students in Cameroon and the North West Region in particular by CAT Cameroon and its partners is training students on photovoltaic system which is a solar energy system that provides electricity directly from sunlight. It produces clean, reliable energy without consuming fossil fuel and can be used in wide varieties of application like radio, lighting and even large scale electricity supplies.

Before promoting the use of solar energy, CAT Cameroon led by its Director Njini Victor, SES led by Dr. Norbert Pintsch, DGFK led by Lutz Fluegge and Mrs. Renale Perrier have been cress-crossing schools in the North West Region educating the students that conventional fuel sources have created a myriad of environmental hazards such as global warming, acid rain, smog, water pollution, rapid filling waste disposal sites, destruction of habitat from fuel spills and the loss of natural resources. It is against this back drop that CAT and its partners are out to educate the entire population that photovoltaic systems do not pose these environmental problems.

Today, many photovoltaic modules use silicon as their major component. The silicon cells manufactured from one tone of sand can produce as much electricity as burning 500.000 tons of coal. Today, photovoltaic modules supply electricity to more than one million homes and create hundreds of thousands of jobs world wide. One of such sensitization tours took place at Alah-Nkie at the Royal Development Cooperation Foundation. The free passive solar Active Technology training workshop brought students from ENS Bambili, students on Youth Forum Programme from CRTV Bamenda. In the presence of Prof Norbert Pintsch, Lutz Fluegge and Renale Perrier, CAT’s project coordinator Njini Victor drilled the students and villagers on the need for the use of solar energy and the various environmental problems caused by conventional fuel sources. In the long and short of it, it was a free passive solar active technology training workshop for the students and villagers characterized by interactive stage plays by Lutz and Renale as part of their ongoing campaign against environmental degradation and climate change and adaptation for children in Cameroon.

At Baptist Comprehensive College Nkwen, students and teachers were equally drilled on the need to diversify and choose solar energy because it serves health and money. Njini Victor outlined the disadvantages of relying on other sources of energy than solar energy. He and his team also sensitized the students and teachers on how medicinal friendly trees can be planted to prevent global warming. Before the workshop rounded up, students were called upon that the only way forward is to have an autonomous

house that produces its own electricity. The students were taken aback when they saw some demonstrations on the use of solar energy on household equipment. The principal of the school Bumenang Eugene appreciated CAT and its partners for choosing his institution as one of the beneficiaries of the workshop.

Over the years, CAT-Cameroon has been collaborating with schools like JMBC Ndu, BCHS Njinikejem Belo, SAC Kumbo, BHS Mankon and others, organizing free passive solar active technology training workshops for students. It has also been organizing open days or public exhibitions on some appropriate technologies as solutions to climate change and adaptation.

During such, some site attractions like cooking, baking, drying, boiling, lighting with solar energy have often taken pride of place. It should be noted that CAT Cameroon has been excelling in the field of appropriate technology with a ten year experience. They have also been working in partnership with Africa Energy in Arizona in the US.

Away from that, song, dance and fanfare characterized the arrival of Njini Victor, CAT Director, Prof Norbert, Lutz and Renate at the Alah – Nkie Royal Home for the laying of the Foundation stone for the construction of the Royal Rehabilitation Centre for the treatment of mentally handicapped persons, the abandoned and under-privileged children. The project according to Prof. Norbert is an example of appropriate technology, financing and implementation in a rural area based upon, traditional methods, local materials, autonomous functioning and flexible. The project is expected to engulf a walloping sum of FCFA 300 million.

The project designed by the Institute for Planning and Consultancy IPC in Germany, is expected to have a school, hospital, workshops, a Biogas plant, solar installations and rooms. According to Prof. Norbert, the project is one in Africa and its construction will depend on foreign donors, and the Government of Cameroon.

Appreciating the gesture, the Regional Delegate for Culture North west congratulated Prof. Norbert Pintsch for helping Ambassador Simon to realize the project which will go a long way to improve on lives. He congratulated Prof. Norbert, Lutz, Renate and Njini Victor for coming to lay the Foundation Stone. He equally lauded CAT Cameroon for the efforts to educate people on the need for solar energy. The Delegate called on Njini Victor not to relent his efforts because if solar energy is propagated as it has to be, and then there will be a solution to frequent power cuts.

The Royal Rehabilitation Centre for the care and treatment of mentally handicapped persons and the under - privileged and the people’s centre for development is a project of Ambassador Simon Tabufor Lesley who saw the effectiveness of his medicines for the treatment of mentally handicapped persons and to reduce the high number of mental patients in our streets.

The centre will also act as the reformation and training of already mentally handicapped persons.

This article also appeared at Light Within

INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGIES

2011-02-13T18:28:00.000+05:00

Back to the future: Mercedes-Benz creates bizarre concept car that looks like a 19th century carriage. It bears more than a passing resemblance to an old-fashioned carriage, but Mercedes-Benz laims this roadster could be the car of the future. Built by 150 trainees, the car combines traditional design features with the latest technology.

Read complete post at: Latest technologies - BLOGGER ARTICLE

Self-heating food cans

2011-02-12T12:54:00.000+05:00

Going out for a picnic or a long drive is always a pleasure. Once you are away from town out in the wilderness, having hot meals was nothing but a dream that's no longer the case. Now, you can have hot meals of your choice in tinned cans. All you need to do is to remove the rubber cap from the can, pierce some holes with the key which is included in the packing and place the perforated can over the rubber cap for twelve minutes and your hot food is ready to be consumed. The food in tinned cans weighs 400g per tin. You don't have to arrange for camp fire to heat your meals. The meals offered in the tinned cans are not only delicious but are also nutritionally balanced.These meals are not very costly either.each tin costs around US $ 5 which certainly is not a bad bargain. The variety offered is also good;Beef Casserole, Sausage and Beans, and Vegetable Chilli.
source

Islamic Calligraphy

2011-02-12T09:33:00.002+05:00

Islamic calligraphy has come a long way since this fine art was first started on parchment or papyrus with a quill from the seventh century, and was used in making copies of the Quran. Now it is genre of fine arts practiced all over the world particularly in Muslim societies. And it continues to flourish. Now innovative artists write Quranic verses in vibrant colors that are pieces of art in themselves.

Related: Art for Allah, Khate-e-Ra’ana - calligraphy script invented by Ibn-e-Kaleem

Sony’s “Next Generation Portable”

2011-02-08T15:55:00.000+05:00

Sony rolled out its next-generation PlayStation portable gaming system today, with similar appearance to its current PlayStation portable, but with a higher-resolution 5-inch 960×544-pixel OLED touchscreen.

Calling it the “Next Generation Portable” (but it’s clearly marked PlayStation), Sony showed a new user interface similar to the iPhone. It’s controlled by what Sony says are the first dual analog control sticks. Also on board are social gaming capabilities, location-based games, and compatibility with Sony’s PlayStation 3 gaming console.

A surprising feature are touch controls on the front and back of the unit. It’s also equipped with front and rear cameras, motion sensors, and both Wi-Fi and 3G connectivity. Sony didn’t say which processor would power the hand-held gaming device, mentioning it would be the “most advanced.”

Sony says its PlayStation portable gaming system will be available at the end of this year, in time for the holiday season.

Sitaroon Ki Bastiyan

2011-02-08T15:34:00.000+05:00

Abbas Khan is a celebrated writer of our time. His other published work includes three novels and seven short story books (Zakham Gawah Hain, Tu Aur Tu and Mein Aur Umrao Jan Ada (novels), Dharti Binam Akash, Tensikh-e-Insan, Qalam, Kursi Aur Wardi, Us Adalat Men, Jism Ka Johar (short story books) and Reza Reza Keenat and Pal Pal (afsancha -- shortest story books) and a philosophical compilation Din Mein Charagh.

Living now in serene and rustic environment of Bhakar, Abbas Khan has written another shortest story book Sitaroon Ki Bastiyan. I have the pleasure to translate the book into English and publish it here while the Urdu version goes to the press. Stay tuned, I will soon start posting the short stories at Logic is Variable.

Portable solar panel to charge gadgets

2011-02-05T14:14:00.000+05:00

With everyday passing, we are becoming dependent on a number of portable gadgets like cell phone, i pod, i phone, laptops, palm tops etc. All of these gadget need power to charge them. Currently, battery chargers are used to charge these gadgets. However, efforts are in hand to develop solar powered chargers which are multipurpose. Sanyo has introduced a portable solar panel, eneloop portable solar. Its size is 174(W)×204(H)×26(D)mm. It weighs 230g. It can be used to power (almost) any of the portable devices on the go. It has a USB port and has a separate “mobile booster” (70g) for your cell phone. The solar panel needs to be charged for around three days to get around 120 minutes of power. It takes just 7 hours via USB. Sanyo is also offering twin set i.e two solar panels combined. This will halve the charging time.

From the echo friendly point of view it is a good addition to the green electronics. However, the charging time of three days is quite frightening. Similarly the solar panel is priced at US $ 90.00 and the twin set at US $ 150.00, it appears to be an additional expense for an ordinary person, particularly, when the battery chargers and electricity are available all over.
source

Prof Dr Asi Karnali 1927 – 2011

2011-02-05T13:12:00.001+05:00

S A J Shirazi

True story

2011-02-03T09:57:00.001+05:00

Guest post by Aaron Kah

Wangbé is a Heifer International Cameroon farmer who wanted her family to become closer. Wangbe was schooled by Heifer International Cameroon through GIC Boyare of Goudjouing. She has been married to Watey Joseph for 15 years and they have three children.

Wangbe and her family live in where farming is in a precipitous decline due to drought. Her spending income was seriously compromised. “It is true we did not have enough money to meet our needs, I was managing by selling gravel that I gather around the village; with the money I bought salt and soap for the family,” she said. Limited resources and poor communication between Wangbe and her husband led to a series of hostilities. “It started with my husband’s excessive consumption of alcohol that brought division in the family,” she said crying. The woman, too, retaliated by drinking but her financial situation only deteriorated, leaving her and the children malnourished. “I could not stay for more than three months without abandoning matrimonial home in search of solace anywhere,” said Wangbe. The Heifer International Cameroon training on integrated agriculture, gender equity, HIV and AIDS, composting, pen construction broadened her mind. The donation of pigs and donkeys to her as a Heifer International Cameron helped her put the ideas she learned in the trainings into practice.

Hopeful, Wangbe reduced her alcoholic intake and concentrated on her farming. She used techniques she learned Heifer International Cameroon. Her hard work attracted her husband to join in the farming activities. “As time passed on my husband also started to change,” she said. The husband and wife now took care of their animals together. Two sets of hands made the work lighter and their children began also helping to care for the animals. They began using compost on their fields and used donkeys to till the fields. Their efforts tripled the food crop yields.

The husband became more conscious of his duties and gave off alcohol. “Last month, we decided to sell some of our harvest {cowpea} in order to compile documents for our child to seat for the entrance examination to secondary school. I am surprised that we now live in peace in our house” Wangbe said. With available food crops and a steady source of spending income the couple is a happy one in their locality and their children are healthy. “For me it is a miracle that we are living in peace,” Wangbe said.

The couple is thankful to Heifer International Cameroon for assisting them to find love and happiness. Their plans are to help others in their community find it, too.[Also here]

Motivation

2011-02-01T10:52:00.002+05:00

Aaron Kah

Eyebe Marguerite 52 is a Heifer International Cameroon motivated farmer who received a gift of goats through her groupe des Femme Agricultrice et Eleveuse D’Efok in July 2008 in Obala Sub division some 48 km on the Yaounde – Bafia high way in Cameroon.

Marguerite is married to Eyebe Jean, 60 and they have nine children (3 girls and 6 boys).

Marguerite ended her primary education at her teens, because her parents were not interested in girl-child education. At the age of 17, in a bid to escape the tortures of poverty she got married to Eyebe Jean a secondary school teacher from another tribe in her sub division. Her husband’s meager salaries could not give them any better living. “Our main meal was cassava and starch” the woman recalled in distress at the time. Marguerite was not from the same tribe as her husband and that deprived her of social inclusion in the village. “I felt very inferior in the presence of other women as I hardly attended any meetings or gathering. I couldn’t express myself in public to tell anyone my situation” she lamented at the time. “In 1997 life became increasingly difficult” marguerite said.

Marguerite’s joined four Christian women to form a self help group as a best way of making ends meet. “We contributed 100FCFA (£ 0.14) from which members borrowed to purchase kerosene for lighting. We started farming maize on a 500 meter squares piece of land provided by the village head” the farmer said. The first harvest was 15Kg of maize. The group members shared the proceeds. “Because I ran the family alone this was not enough for our feeding” she believed. By April 2007, Marguerite’s group had increased to 20members (1man 19 women). “The same year, we met Groupe d’intiative Commune des Producteurs Vivrieres (PROV) that had benefited from (SACHIC) Send A Cow and Heifer International Cameroon assistance in 2006 and they gave us directives on how to get help. We applied and were lucky to receive assistance from SACHIC in July 2008” the farmer recounted.

Heifer International Cameroon brought Marguerite and her group member’s capacity building lessons on leadership and group dynamics, goat husbandry techniques, community animal health care, ethno veterinary practice, gender equity, construction and use of bio-sand filters, and non violent conflict management. Marguerite and other 19 members each received four goats, agricultural seeds and farm tools as an encouragement to put the knowledge in to practice. “My husband out of curiosity attended the training on gender equity” she said. The teachings inspired the man to support his wife in all their farming activities. Their children emulated this example and were supporting their parents in every way. In severely cultivating and composting their farm--- the couple harvested 1.5tons of maize as against 850kg, one ton of cassava as against 4500kg and 1750kg of vegetables as against 360kg. “Our nutrition had greatly improved in quality, quantity and variety” Marguerite said. Marguerite went to the market with the food crops and made income beyond her wildest dreams for their children school fee, hospital bills and emergency spending.

By dialoguing with her husband, Marguerite gained her freedom of social inclusion in the community.” I was able to attend several workshops, trainings on Bio-sand water purification and exhibitions organized by SACHIC within and out of Efok community” the farmer said. These trainings brought the woman a wealth of experience. She was the lone resource person in her community who spear headed the installation of the Bio sand water filters. The couple is also skillful in the processing of cassava by products. Their fame has gone beyond their community. Marguerite from her experiences had resumed many responsibilities in her community, she is secretary in Groupe d’innitiative commune des Femme Agricultrice et Eleveuse D’Efok and president of a conglomeration of 11 common initiative groups, and a social network under the National Participatory Development Programme in charge of family welfare. “My husband bought me a cell phone to facilitate communicate with all my association members” she boasted.

Marguerite and her husband have daring plans to pass on the gift when time comes but have evidently shown their willingness to do so by sharing their food crops with the poor and needy.

“I wish to thank SACHIC so much for having made us come out of hunger, poverty and misery. My family will live to ever remember SACHIC”. Marguerite concluded.

Caption: Eyebe facilitating bio-sand filter training and installation in Abono Community member happily collecting pure water from installed filter

Unconditional love

2011-01-27T15:23:00.003+05:00

S A J Shirazi

Smartphone Apps for smart education

2011-01-20T11:59:00.000+05:00

Not long ago, it seemed absurd for academics to carry around a computer, camera, and GPS device everywhere they went. Actually, it still seems absurd. But many professors (and administrators) now do just that in the form of all-in-one devices. Smartphones or tablet computers combine many functions in a hand-held gadget, and some users are discovering clever ways to teach and do research with the ubiquitous machines.

For many on campus, checking e-mail on the go is the first killer app of the hand-held world. The downside: Having that ability can mean working more than ever—answering student e-mails while in line at the grocery store, responding to a journal editor during lunch. There can be benefits, though. Some professors say they find that carrying the Internet in their pocket helps them collaborate, teach, and collect data in new ways that include e-mail but go far beyond it.

Read 6 Top Smartphone Apps to Improve Teaching, Research, and Your Life

World Clock

2011-01-20T10:02:00.000+05:00

Poodwaddle.com

With thanks to Light Within

Mud Village

2011-01-20T09:56:00.000+05:00

The Knee

2011-01-19T16:34:00.000+05:00

Tens of thousands of amputees in the developing world wear an inexpensive prosthetic called the Jaipur Foot. But poor patients who lose a knee joint have few options: a titanium replacement can cost $10,000, and crude models don't work very well. Now a team of Stanford engineering students has designed a knee that's not only dirt cheap — just $20 — but also mimics the natural joint's movements. Developed with the Jaipur Foot group, the JaipurKnee is made of self-lubricating, oil-filled nylon and is both flexible and stable, even on irregular terrain. The device is being tested in India; more than 300 people have been fitted so far.

The JaipurKnee comprises five pieces of plastic and four nuts and bolts. It requires no special tools and takes just a few hours to manufacture

Follow me

2011-01-19T14:48:00.002+05:00

Those who spend time on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter and do something just tagging and retagging others or cut paste know that aside from connecting people, social networks have opened new opportunities. Take Facebook, for example, a website with half a billion active users, savvy users are using it as a marketing tool.

Lately, I have been inhabiting Facebook and twitter where I found folks spending as much as sixteen hours a day and doing nothing and on the other hand some users taking advantages of social media as an SEO tool.

Notwithstanding the fact that facebook uses the “nofollow” tag (backlinks from Facebook aren't given any weight by search engine crawlers) and they those links do not affecting search engine rankings at all, but hold on. If you are having good amount of friends and fans, post a link of your online concern, may be in info section or on your wall, and see the results. Chances are you will get considerable traffic from the facebook. And if you have an idea of who your followers are and if you can keep holding their attention, chances are that you can inititiate a meaningful debate.

BTW, it never hurts to ask. I you have fans, do something that stands out and they will talk about it where ever they can (like on their own blogs and elsewhere) or simply ask them to come back to your site and talk about you. Facebook SEO strategy is working good for me. It should work good for you too. Why not?

Follow Logic is Variable on Facebook and follow sAJs on Twitter for much more all day long.

Let me show income power of your blog

2011-01-18T16:14:00.000+05:00

If you wish to learn about the income power of your blogging efforts, read the following post and learn how you can make money by blogging in Pakistan:

There is no more secret to making money online

Easy ways to make money online in Pakistan

Making Money by blogging in Pakistan

Micro blogging

2011-01-15T12:45:00.000+05:00

I started using to twitter last year. It was wonderful experiences and I wrote about it in monthly Techno Biz Magazine.

Every day I am getting more into twitter. In addition to self publishing my thoughts, concerns, and feelings (you care?) or a means of talking to others and sharing whatever they are up to, Twitter (most used English language word of year 2009) now is my micro blog. You are cordially invited to join and discover what is happening. It is collective brain of online world. Fine out what 14 million active users are telling us.

Twitter indeed is a ‘happening place’. Are you on twitter.com yet?

Follow Light Within on Facebook and follow me on Twitter for much more.

Airk Air reason to explore Africa

2011-01-15T11:46:00.001+05:00

Travelling is a lifestyle and a trend. Growing human activities has resulted in increase in travel for business, pleasure and or leisure. This growth has given birth to increase travel service that facilitate you and help you get tickets, save money on airfares, hotel accommodations, hire cars and airport transfers at different destination around the world.

I have been travelling whenever I could. Given my own interest, I try to keep a watch better services, newer services and cheaper services to get tickets. I use the info for my writings and also try them when I need to. Travelling to Africa by Arik Air is one of my new finds.

Pure competition is one of the best factors that have created great choices for frequent travellers. Every airline is trying to do its best in offering lowest fare, luxury and comfort to attract passengers. Arik Air is a case in point here.

While searching for cheapest and quality services to destinations in Africa, I came upon flights to Lagos from London – a travel company that can take care of all your travel needs. They supply low cost cheap flights to Lagos from London from hundreds of Airlines to over 500 travel agents in the United Kingdom. BTW, If you can’t find your required route, call them and leave the rest to them. Air Arik gives yet another reason to visit Africa.

Art on Wheels

2011-01-14T20:42:00.001+05:00

Creative people do wonderful thing to express themselves. A graphic designer has come up with a novel way of using discarded pens instead of binning them: He sticks them to his car. Costas Schuler has spent more than five years covering his treasured car in over 10,000 pens from around the world. The designer, from Forestville, California, painstakingly glued the pens all over the inside and outside of his beloved 1981 300SD Mercedes Benz after collecting them from businesses, doctors' surgeries, friends and family.

The father of four wanted to show people different purposes for discarded pens instead of billions of them being wasted each year going to landfill. His unusual hobby is the subject of a website with thousands of fans and has resulted in Costas receiving pens from around the world.On one occasion, a group of orphan boys sent Costas used pens from Mozambique, in Africa, to stick on to the car. In return he sent them packs of new pens.

Costas said: 'A friend of my mine gave me the car in 2000 after my old one broke down. I found a book in the library about car art and was immediately fascinated by the art form. 'I hatched an idea to make my own art car and then thought about completely covering it in pens.

'Everyone uses pens and eventually they get stolen, lost or thrown away. So when I first started collecting them I had no problem asking, and people had no problem donating them for a crazy art project. 'It took me five years of going around, setting up collection drops for pens and painstakingly sticking them to the car with silicon glue.

'It's my only form of transport and I use it every day. Most people stop and talk to me about it, it's difficult getting out of a car park!

'People wave at me when I drive by, honk their horns and light up with a big smile.' Costas added: 'I've had pens sent to me from all over the world, including Australia and England. 'I like to get out and talk more about recycling, art, and inspiring others to follow their dreams and visions for their life.'

Related: Art on Wheels

The World's First Internet-Connected, Photo-Taking Cyborg

2011-01-13T11:48:00.000+05:00

What does it feel like to have a computer webcam surgically implanted in your skull?

"It hurts," Wafaa Bilal told AOL News.

And who better than he to know? A month ago, he underwent surgery to do exactly that -- install a small, Internet-connected camera into the back of his head.

"The pain has gone down by a significant amount, but the healing process is still ongoing," says Bilal. "I feel the camera in my skin, even though the majority of the pain is gone."

Wafaa Bilal always has photography on his mind. Literally. Last month, he had a camera surgically implanted on the back of his head.

And why exactly did he do this? Why else? -- for art.

Bilal is one of 23 artists whose works were commissioned as part of the grand opening of Mathaf: The Arab Museum of Modern Art in Doha, Qatar.

For a project called "The Third I," Bilal -- a professor of photography at New York University -- will wear his newly implanted camera, dubbed the 3rdi, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for the next year.

The project's website explains it clearly: "The 3rdi makes a technological apparatus part of my body and distributes the recorded content openly within space using the Internet."

Essentially, Bilal has become the world's first Internet-connected cyborg. But for the professor, it's not just an exercise in inducing shock in the public at large or spreading his creative wings. It's also about documenting the world around -- and, well, behind -- him.

"I was exiled from Iraq during the first Gulf war," the professor said. "I left everything behind. I regretted not having any record of where I left.

"I had this idea when I settled, but have waited for the right time to implement it."

Bilal explained that technological considerations forced him to wait until now to start the project.

"To have a persistently connected, truly mobile computer has only recently become possible," he said.

The 3rdi is connected via cable to a small, portable computer contained in a satchel that Bilal wears everywhere he goes. The computer automatically connects to wireless Internet hot spots when in proximity, and if there aren't any, it uses a 3G cellular modem as a backup.

The picture-taking process is all live.

"You can see what's going on behind me at any moment, live on the project website," he said.

The camera records every second of every day. The footage is stored on the portable computer's hard drive, and the custom software written for this project selects one frame every minute to upload to the 3rdi.me website.

In addition to the website, photos taken from the back of Bilal's head are displayed on LCD monitors at the "Told/Untold/Retold" exhibition at the Arab Museum of Modern Art.

On the website, viewers can search through archived footage and are encouraged to tag any image in which they appear in the background.

"It's part of the process that people will be able to tag themselves even if they're not in the image," he told AOL News. "It's a social experiment to see how people behave -- both in front of and behind the camera.

"My job as an artist is to be a mirror of our social condition," he said. "I won't impose my ideas on people while they're involved in my platform -- physically or digitally."

For Bilal, one of the captivating parts of the project is observing the ways people act when they're on camera and when they're off camera.

"Some people act very differently when a camera's near them," he said. "Cameras force us to lose subjectivity and behave differently."

With his 3rdi camera automatically taking photos of the world behind him, Bilal's endeavor raises interesting questions about how connected -- or disconnected -- a photographer can be from the act of picture taking.

"Cameras and images can never be objective -- we encode every image we take in as humans. We assign meaning to it, we process it and we make decisions accordingly. The camera? It can only see as far as its lens. What it captures is not thought about or processed. It just is."

It's been a month since the surgery, and Bilal says he's already gotten used to it.

"The camera has physically altered the way I go about my life," he said, noting that he no longer sleeps on his back, and when he rides in a car, he cannot put his head against a headrest.

And for his travels to Qatar, there were concerns about getting the camera and laptop through security at the airports.

"Travel will be interesting," he said shortly before his flight to Qatar. "I have no idea what to expect at the airports. I have decided I am just going to walk in with it and see. I've given myself extra hours to allot for security concerns for getting on the plane."

It turns out that the Transportation Security Administration can actually be understanding. Bilal was physically screened and his computer equipment examined for explosives, and he was sent on his way.

World Cup 2011 on Geo

2011-01-13T11:01:00.000+05:00

Geo Super has exclusively signed Imran Khan to participate, provide commentary, and be the brand ambassador for its Cricket World Cup presentation in Pakistan. Read the story here.

Bhowani Junction - Lahore

2011-01-10T08:47:00.001+05:00

Owais Mughal

This photo was taken on April 22, 1955 and it shows American actress Ava Gardner at Lahore Railway Station. She was in Lahore for the filming of Hollywood Movie ‘Bhowani Junction‘. When Ava came to Lahore, there was only one reasonable hotel in Lahore. It is still there – Falletis. The suite in which Ava stayed has been named after her – “The Ava Gardner suite”. In it’s lounge one could see a beautiful large size, black & white portrait of Ava Gardner smiling.

‘Bhowani Junction‘ is the name of a novel by John Masters which came out in 1952. Bhowani Junction In mid 50s Hollywood decided to make a movie out of it. The movie is set amidst the turbulence of the British withdrawal from India. It is notable for its portrayal of the Eurasian (Anglo-Indian) community, who were closely involved with the Indian railway system. The film was directed by George Cukor, and was shot on location in Lahore, Pakistan. It starred Ava Gardner as Victoria Jones, an Anglo-Indian nurse in the British Army, and Stewart Granger as Colonel Rodney Savage, a British army officer.

I found following review of movie plot at The Internet Movie Database

The town of Bhowani is a railroad junction and both the Congress Party and the Communist Party are doing all kinds of sabotage to help the British quickly get out of India. Of course each is doing it for their own reasons. In the movie, two people who may have given the outstanding performances of their careers are Ava Gardner and Bill Travers. Both play bi-racial people who don’t fit in either society. But they react differently. Gardner is going through a whole lot of angst, really seeing both the British and Indian point of view.

Bill Travers is the railroad station manager and his whole life is his job. He focuses narrowly on that and his tunnel vision leaves him oblivious to the momentous changes around him. Except for the fact that when the British leave he might lose that little piece of authority where he is, that which gives him stature in the Raj society.

In the movie, the issues are complex, but in the hands of a great director like George Cukor the characters and their struggles become real and even more important, the audience becomes interested. Stewart Granger who was the British Colonel in charge of the whole mess in Bhowani, said that Bhowani Junction was one of the few films he was really proud to be associated with. He has a struggle to, he really does see the Indians as human beings and not just “wogs.” He’s quite knowledgeable about their customs and at one point utilizes that knowledge to unjam that railroad terminal.

Pakistan’s famous writer Mustansar Hussain Tarar‘s has mentioned at least at two places and dedicated a whole chapter in his book ‘raakh’ on the making of Bhowani Junction. While I cannot tell if all of account is real or fictional, there is certainly some degree of truth to it.

Read Urdu and English excerpt from ‘raakh’ on Bhowani Junction at ATP.

Tech Predictions for 2011

2011-01-09T21:15:00.000+05:00

You may be ringing in 2012 surrounded by cheap tablet devices, a robot shrink, and software that writes emails for you. Thomas E. Weber and Brian Ries forecast the gizmos likely to rule the year.

Imagine going back to the start of 2010 and sitting wherever you are right now. At that point in time, tablet lovers had yet to smear their greasy fingers over the impeccable screen of Apple's now-revolutionary iPad. Three-D televisions were but a glimmer in high-end consumers' eyes. And Xbox had yet to unveil its Kinect, a cutting-edge gaming console that uses a video camera to track its player’s every move.

If this year is any indication, 2011 will prove to be yet another year of intense technological innovations. Will the smartphone soon replace the wallet? Will we be professing our deepest secrets to robot shrinks? Will Steve Jobs rule the publishing world?

To help chart these stormy waters, The Daily Beast lists 21 technological innovations we predict will happen in 2011—from the probable to the not-so-likely.

“Advances in artificial-intelligence software—including systems developed for online dating sites—will usher in a new approach in therapy: robots.”

Read 21 Tech Predictions for 2011

Best of 2010

2011-01-01T22:13:00.000+05:00

As I say Happy New Year to all my friends and readers and greet the start of the next year, here is the list of articles the characterized 2010 through my blogs. These articles reveal how I will remember 2010.

I am sure some of these articles will allow you to relive the memories of the past year while some others will let you how I was right (or wrong) when I wrote them. List is long. I suggest you have a cup of Doodh Patti, sit back and while you say farewell to year 2010.

Social Media in the Attention Age
Blogging in Rage
Identity Access Management
Cyber World is Not in Safe Hands
Plagiarism, Prove it!
Chaudhry Norbert Pintsch and the Appropriate Technology
Why telecommuting trend is not picking up
Art for Allah
The Nizam Sahib, I think I know
What Are Criminals Made Of?
Changing Chitral
Pakistan blogging era
Thatta Kedona reach out
Calling Pakistan marketers and advertisers
How to make money online in Pakistan
Sanjh story
Flood and the Taliban
Pakistan Flood 2010
Pakistan economy
Harrapa
Jalal HB on Fine Art of Blogging
Mud architecture in Pakistan
Revival of Mud Architecture in the world
Summer camp in Gupis
Pakistan cricket
Changing outlook

Easy ways to make mony online in Pakistan

2010-12-30T11:46:00.000+05:00

How easy? Fine out here.

Panasonic Lumix FZ28 SLR camera from Vicky Cristina Barcelona

2010-12-27T10:50:00.000+05:00

The FZ28 is a fantastic halfway house between professional and consumer cameras, great for those that want to take a proactive approach to snapping but don’t know every trick of the trade. The iA (Intelligent Auto) mode makes everything easy; its various features combating hand shake on your part or movement of the subject. It can detect faces in the frame, the brightness level of the light and new to the FZ28 is AF Tracking which helps you keep a subject in focus even when you’re constantly moving.

Manual operation is just as fluid and smooth, the mechanical shutter ensuring minimal smearing and distortion effects and the joystick helps you operate everything with minimal fuss and effortless ease. The kit itself is top quality, a 27mm wide angle Leica DC VARIO-ELMARIT lens with 18x optical zoom, great for getting close to your subject (as near as 1cm away) or for taking a step back and snapping a stunning wide-angle shot.

Travel Pakistan

2010-12-27T10:24:00.000+05:00

Travel writing is a fine art; accepted literary genre that is read. Writers who are gifted with an ability to understand what they see can breathe life into a place when they narrate their travel experiences. The Internet that is wrongly considered a pedestal for instantaneous scribbles mixed with emoticons and indecipherable abbreviations has already become a place to find some good travel literature, travelogues and travel stories in addition to online trading of travel services. It can be one of the best display places for local writers to showcase what Pakistan has to offer.Travel is prosperity and leisure pursuit, which is a result of many things: history, heritage, culture, natural beauty and a quest to know what is unknown and meet wonderful people.

Pakistan is a land of geographical, geological, and natural contrasts and has every thing nature could bestow; from some of the places like Mehr Garh in Balochistan and Harappa in Punjab where some of the initial human activities began, Lots Valley (NWFP and people there) once home to Gandhara Civilization where Chinese Hiuen Tsiang who is regarded as an early trendsetter traveller treaded, or ancient city Multan that, as per the legend, is living since the time of Hazrat Noah (A.S.), Kalash community existing in an on the edge district Chitral still holding awaiting for anthropologists’ conclusive research about origin of their unique identity against all outside pressures for development and modernity, unsolved riddle where rivers were lost (River Hakra in Cholistan) to pristine locations in Northern Pakistan (tree line in Himalaya Range) where one can see two seasons at the same place — winter above and summer below, and thematic pilgrims for Sikh and Buddhist communities, to name just a few.

Now consider this: All major national publications have some portions designated for travel writing but it is a small and competitive market. For those who write in English — language that is understood on World Wide Web – the market is even smaller. Experienced travel writers are associated with newspapers and magazines and new ones get chance to appear in print only occasionally. The print publication should open more opportunities for travel writers.

There should be more travel journalism and industry news. Public should know if the Ministry of Tourism reduces royalty fee by 50 percent for climbing Pakistani mountains that are above 6000 meters.

Facts packed guidebooks with eye-catching, superb, clear and sharp images of people and places enlivening every page provide good background information into any country’s history, culture, attractions, and its people; information that are useful during journeys to new places. Guidebooks have their own style quite different that travelogues and travel stories. The guidebook publishing business is totally in the hands of famous foreign companies and it is hard for local publishers to compete with them. “Only foreign tourists need and buy guidebooks and they already have one when they arrive in Pakistan,” says a publisher Munir Ahmad. Still opportunities for travel writers do come up from time to time. Some guidebook companies also get updates and inputs from local writers and photographers that appear in their newer editions. Some time ago, for example, Insight Guides commissioned a local writer to revise their outdated edition. Tony Wheeler, British founder editor of Lonely Planet while marketing guidebooks on Pakistan prides in growing up in here for some years and has contact with many local travel writers for updates. But, Munir Ahmad says, “Publishing guidebooks is not a viable option here; it is difficult to sell books.” Same is the case with self publishing by writers.

Given the rate of travel industry growth and every one’s interest in knowing new places, people and cultures, so many Websites have come up that show travel contents all over the Internet. So far Pakistani destinations have very scanty presence on the Web. Print publications, particularly English, get the original work and pay to the writers whereas most Websites just recycle travel articles from print media.

This scarcity of places where to get published leaves the travel writers to turn to the Internet where they can pitch their ideas to many editors of travel Websites and or interested foreign publications who are always looking for new talent; eager and encouraging. Not only that, writers can read what has already been published there, find background material and facts. Quick search on the Internet reveal so many starting points, notwithstanding travel writing how-to services and premium travel writers’ marketers. BootsnAll.com, where I am published some time, is a Web service that post articles by writers from all over the world. I have found it writer friendly and receptive to new locations.

In Pakistan, so far much has not been documented systematically what to talk of presenting it on the Internet for others to find about with an aim to tempt them to come here and see (and spend their money in the process). Which is why Pakistani travel writers and photographers have a vast field of activity on hand right at home? In addition to glob trotters with a compass, a camera and itchy feet, historians, geographers, archaeologists, geologists, naturalists and birdwatchers also need to publish their work in order to generate wide ranging interests in off beat and mostly obscure destinations in Pakistan. I know an engineer Itehar Mahmud who works with oil exploration firm and writes about places where ever he goes in connection with his duty. Mobashir Ahmad has travelled all along the borders, “for recognisance purposes mostly on foot,” he says, during his long service. He also writes his memories from the Salt Range (and Katas Raj) to Jhang and more in the form of travelogues. It is in this context the Web can be viewed as the playing ground for local talent.

Travel calendar of Pakistan is quite impressive. Where else in the world other than in Pakistan polo – grandest of all the sports — is played at the high ground like Shandor Pass that is called the roof of the world, or moving international cultural festival are held along Kharakorum Highway. But all the events on the calendar go without any advance publicity or follow ups. One wonders how interested people come to know about these events. PTDC list of events and festivals need to be improved and lot more can be included in the list.

Somebody has to write the travel literature in order to keep fuelling the demand for airline seats, hotel rooms, tour operators, eateries, transport companies, porters and facilitators, guidebooks, atlases, picture postcards and posters publishers, and other affiliates of the travel industry besides those communities whose major source of income comes from tourism. Kim Rahan, a traveller from China who bought History of Rohtas Fort on location, told, “This buy is to promote interest of people in travel related vocations.”

Too often, deftly executed travelogues or a travel story can accomplish much more than any other promotional activity, particularly a story that combine passion, personality and perspective. Every place has a story (and a history), as they say. If you have a drive to write, there is a need of extensive travel writing showcasing Pakistan from Pakpattan to Pashin on the Web.

Blogging Review - 2010

2010-12-24T19:23:00.000+05:00

S A J Shirazi

End of another year again, the New Year just around the corner, time to reflect back, to look back on accomplishments, setting goals! This year, I would try to assess my blogging pursuit. I don’t really remember when blogging became part of my job (it started as a hobby and ‘me too’ thing). For me, fine art of blogging is addictive and blogging satisfaction makes a huge difference in my overall happiness. I may like it or not, but if things remain as they are, I will be spending a huge portion of the next year blogging.

Obviously, one of the biggest (tangible) values I received from blogging is blogging revenue. I have continued my making money experiments at different platforms and with variety of affiliate programs with sufficient degrees of success (here I am posting some of the images to get the idea). Before I discuss making money by blogging, let me hasten to add that money is not the only measurement of blogs’ worth.

During 2010, I mainly concentrated on two of my blogs - Light Within (Personal) andDoodh Patti (Travel and Food) - and started third by the name Logic is Variable(yes, I dated it back from 2009) where I achieve my articles that appear in print media. Others few where I write have been primarily supporting my main blogs.

This year, I experienced with blog flipping, a blog model that is yet new here in our local blogsphere. In that blog contents were pulled, composed and hopefully will come out in book form next year; 2011. I have seen the dummy of the coming book and it feels good to hold. I am celebrating the success to flip my blog by planning more of blog flipping and am already working on two; one in the field of Social Media and another about Collaborative Web Technologies next year.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, local market is now ready to work with bloggers and pay them for their work. During 2010, I persuaded three different organizations to start, run and maintain their blogs. Even individuals are showing interest to start personal branding and reputation management through blogs. I hope to go ahead with this segment where I will urge whosoever I can to start a personal blog.

Fact that SEO professional are approaching bloggers to get help in their SEO efforts might come as a surprise to some. I have been working with one of the reputed SEO companies supporting their projects with contents and links. It is win win situation for both bloggers as well as those working in the field of SEO.

Last but the one I take most pride and pleasure is that I pushed some friends into blogging. They all started from question like what is a blog and are now in the middle of blogging fusion and as far as I can say are enjoying. Three of them are now substantial bloggers. Two of them have already monetized their blog efforts and already making money.

My blogging had a year of tremendous growth during 2010, in both revenue and networking. For this I extend my most gracious thanks to ever one who has ever been read or left comments. The sheer amount of content I was able to develop this year is impressive, both in scope and depth.

My goal for the next year is to convert awareness into commitment. It is simply not enough to know. One needs commitment to convert awareness into reality by action to make a change.

World cup semi finals

2010-12-24T12:06:00.002+05:00

Michelle Beckett

With the 2011 World Cup around the corner, speculation on the probable champions has started to rise. Australia has dominated the competition for a long time winning the Cup 3 consecutive times, in 1999, 2003 and 2007. This time, however, many fear that the 4-time World Cup winners will face a much stiffer challenge to reclaim the title.

An interesting fact to notice is that in all their previous three wins, Australia has faced the three Asian giants in the final. 1999 was the year when Wasim Akram’s Pakistan failed miserably after scoring just 132 runs in the final. The 2003 final saw Indian bowlers being smashed to all parts of the ground in South Africa. In 2007, Sri Lanka were hoping to replicate their 1996 World Cup win but failed.

Another stat regarding Asian teams in the tournament is that in the previous 5 ICC World Cups, there has been an Asian team in the Final. In 1992, Pakistan won their only ODI World Cup under the influential captaincy of Imran Khan. In the following 1996 competition, Sri Lanka beat Australia in the final at Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore Pakistan.

Considering the fact that the 2011 World Cup is being played in Asia, the three mighty Asian teams have a good chance of winning the tournament. The list of for probable semi-finalists, however, is easily topped by India.

1. India: One of the greatest batsmen of all time, Sir Viv Richards, has labelled India as the favourites for the 2011 tournament. Under the captaincy of MS Dhoni, India has developed a formidable team which will be difficult to beat on home soil. A batting line up which includes the little master Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Yousaf Pathan, Dhoni and the inform Virat Kohli, can demolish any bowling attack. Perhaps the only worry the Indian camp has is the lack of pace in their bowling attack which is held together by only Zaheer Khan.

2. Australia: Australia might not be as strong a team as they were a couple of years back, nonetheless, it is still hard to rule out a team which has made it to the final in the previous four attempts. The Kangaroos have managed to reach the final of the World Cup 6 times in the 9 tournaments held so far. As a Captain, Ricky Ponting has a remarkable 100% record in the competition. Australia have won all 22 matches played under his leadership. Their experience in the tournament is bound to come in handy even with this less high profile team.

3. Sri Lanka: This will be spin-wizard Muttiah Muralitharan’s final World Cup outing and he will surely be looking to end his illustrious ODI career on a high. On World Cup pitches, which are expected to support spin bowling, Murali’s magic can single-handedly win games for Sri Lanka. He will be supported by the Lasith Malinga in the bowling department, who will be looking to exploit batsmen with his reverse swing. The batting will be anchored by Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene and players like Tillakaratne Dilshan will look to impose themselves on the opposition.

4. Pakistan: Most people will be surprised to see this name in the list as Pakistan has failed to secure an ODI series win since 2008. However, given the fact that the World Cup will be played in conditions similar to Pakistan, this unpredictable team has the ability to cause an upset. With players like captain Shahid Afridi, Abdul Razzaq and Shoaib Akhtar, who can win matches single-handedly, Pakistan can go on to win their second World Cup title.

Orlando Limo Luxury

2010-12-23T11:44:00.000+05:00

I was looking for Limo services in Portland when I came upon Sunny's Transportation that provides transportation services to businesses and or individuals in Orlando area. I explore the uncluttered and users friendly site and was amazed to see what they are offering and how. I suggest you try Orlando Limo when you need a limo for weddings, proms, bachelor parties, corporate events and or for any other occasion throughout Orlando area.

Having a transport at your disposal when you need is one of the main requirements these days. Imagine the impact it will have if your corporate guest is received by a Limo at the airport. Driven by demand, Sunny's Transportation is running a good fleet of mini-coaches, vans, town cars, SUVs and limousines that can be used as Orlando limo, Orlando Airport Shuttle, Orlando Port Canaveral or you want a Sanford airport transportation. Anyone looking for a transport in Orlando and the surrounding, Sunny's Transportation is one of the best choices. What is more, you can book online. Try them and have an enriching experience of personalized transportation service.

If you are arriving within 48 hours, you can them at 321 - 946 - 2644 or toll free at 1 - 888 - 540 - 5893 and make your reservation. Best thing is that you can book online. I recommend you try them and enjoy the personalized service.

Gadgets designed by women, for women

2010-12-20T15:30:00.000+05:00

The electrical company Memorex is to launch a new range of products aimed at what it claims are the most neglected customers for new technology – women.

According to a survey carried out on behalf of the company, 70 per cent of women feel ignored by the booming consumer electronics market.

The survey claimed although 40 per cent of women are the buyers of electrical goods, they still feel as though in-store and online marketing is targeted at the male consumer.
More

Fine Art of Blogging

2010-12-20T15:13:00.000+05:00

This article by S A J Shirazi also appeared in in Sci-Tech World daily Dawn

Blogs have redefined the Web in many ways. The Web has always been interactive and blogs help interactivity. And then there are new software and blog tools, making it easier and attractive for everyone to start a blog.

Let us assume that you have a blog on a platform (software) of your choice. You define your goals; your target is audience and the content you will be writing. Your next aim is to pick the right blogging tools that work for you.

In addition to the integration of blogging tools, and free and premium blogging software, new blogging tools and services are being released every day to help blog masters add new features to their blog. This becomes quite overwhelming to choose from and to choose the best from among a number of blog promotion tools and add-ons. It all depends on your goals, your expertise, and the time you are consuming for it. Here are a few common solutions for different situations.

Any serious blogger needs to read a lot of other blogs to know what is going on in the ever expanding blogsphere. Technorati alone in its October 2006 report claims to track 57 million blogs. One of the marvels of technology is that you can have new post from every blog. It is delivered directly to you via Really Simple Syndication (RSS). Bloglines is a good online choice to start feed reading. And there are so many others.

Similarly, you can make it easier for your readers to subscribe to your blog's RSS feed. RSS is a protocol, an application of XML (Extensible Mark-up Language) that provides an open method of syndicating and aggregating Web content. By using RSS files, you can create a data feed that supplies headlines, links, and article summaries from your Website. Users can have a constant updated content from websites delivered to them via a news aggregator, a piece of software specifically tailored to receive these types of feeds, reads a Web definition. One of the ways to do this is to go to Feed Burner and burn your own RSS feed there and use the tools they provide to set up to automatic subscriber links so that even people who want to use Bloglines, Google Reader, My Yahoo or Pluck can subscribe to it. And it also can be figured out without the buttons but why not have a prominently visible button? It creates an option for people to subscribe by giving an email address so that they can receive your blog posts like an email message. Feed Burner offers this service for free.

Feed Burner also offers automatic pinging but in case you want to use a separate service for pinging, try Ping Goat and Ping O Matic. Most blog software these days ping each post automatically.

As readers search from blog to blog, they may find interesting sites that they want to point out to their readers. Online bookmark managers allow readers to collect bookmark and categorise blog pages and all other interesting stuff found on the Web. I use del.icio.us but Blink List does a fine job as well.

Then there are statistics produced by analysing the access logs for a blog which are very useful for the success of blogs, while boosting the webmaster. The number of hits also determines a click-through rate for those who have subscribed to Google AdSense or other similar affiliate programs. There are countless technologies, making it possible to track statistics in real-time to show what other web users may be visiting or still linking to you or posting about your blog.

In almost all blog software, you must go online and can post using a set of tools provided. Many bloggers like to use a desktop application like w.blogger, Performancing and Qumana to create and publish their posts as it gives them some extra help and allows them to integrate content and files more easily on their computer. Maybe it looks like they are far more tech-savvy folks but there is no harm in trying and learning in the process.

There is also a blog display, automatically changing daily quotes or cartoons on the sidebar of their blog for their own interest or for their readers. I am not counting different revenue-generating blog affiliates (Google AdSense, Amazon) that turn in content-related ads on any blog.

The choice is endless and users can have anything on their blogs from blogchat to blogmap; time, temperature and weather display of any area or a nifty new blogbar (blogbar.com) that allows them to search from 12 search engines from single search box. On one blog, I clicked on an array of symmetrically stacked colourful buttons and found email icon generator, official seal generator. The good thing about the blogger community is that they share anything new that is announced. Thus, it gets moving fast in the blogsphere.

Since 2003 when I started blogging, I have been using many blog tools. The fact is that whenever any new blog tool was announced, I would try it. But over time, I have settled for site metre (statcounter.com), analytical tools (Google Analytics), news aggregators, news sourcing tools (Technorati and Blogpulse), polls (blogpolls.com), email subscription and newsletter service (feedblitz.com). And there are some others like Pingoat, Audiobloger, Blogrolling and Flickr.

When my daily blogging time starts, I first go to my invisible site metre to find out who has been reading my blogs. Then I read my feeds and know what has been happening on blogs of my interest since I last went offline, bookmarking items. In the meantime, I plan to write and post entries and start pinging. In the end, I read the feedback and read comments left by readers. In fact, it is the comments part that keeps me going.

Gore Wind Stopper Sleeping Bag

2010-12-18T19:31:00.000+05:00

Representing the best in sleeping-bag technology, the Bison GWS bag is impervious to the elements and jammed with 42 oz of 850-plus power down. It's also still incredibly lightweight (at a little over 4 lbs) and very compressible, two critical factors for keeping pack weight down in hostile winter environments. Thanks to a massive hood, huge side baffles, and a heat-saving collar seal, it's one of the few bags you should trust with your life in the world's most dangerous cold-weather environments.

Adventurous souls in search of a cold-weather challenge Stateside should look nowhere other than Denali National Park. Home to America's most classic climb and the greatest vertical relief on the planet, here you'll experience world-class climbing that mountaineering enthusiasts flock to from all corners of the globe.

Cost: $835.00-plus, available at: Moosejaw.com [Via]

Urdu newspapers

2010-12-18T18:24:00.001+05:00

Why Urdu newspapers have poor layout and unreadable design?

Economic choices

2010-12-17T16:42:00.002+05:00

Mubeshir Ali Kazmi, ACA

This article appeared in Pakistan Accountant July-Sept 2010 issue

Memories are valuable in life. I still remember that day when my uncle gave me a ten US dollar note on my tenth birth day. I could not buy an ice cream from general store against the currency but it did create interest and I started collecting and saving foreign currency notes and coins. I have extended family living broad hence my collection started growing steadily. At that time the rupee was trading about 29.40 to dollar (imagine now when Pak currency has fallen to the lowest level verses dollar on the inter-bank market for buying and selling at almost 86.00.) Graphical representation of Pak rupee value to dollar is as shown in the diagram.

Why is rupee falling so fast? Most economists are of the opinion that the main reasons behind the fall of the rupee are an increased demand for dollars due to a spurt in crude oil prices and the flight of foreign funds from the local markets. Demand for rupees, simultaneously, has dipped because capital inflows are down.

Read here

Three way split

2010-12-15T08:30:00.001+05:00

The Economist magazine has divided world economy into three zones. Even though talk about emerging economies is often about China, India and few other countries, Pakistan too is part of the emerging-economies zone. This article is very much relevant to Pakistan and its economic future. Some have suggested that Pakistan should take a 'piggy ride' on the back of economic success of its neighbor India. I argue Pakistan need not to do that. It can and it must chalk its own independent economic course. Pakistan is worlds 25th. largest economy and a huge economic market. If Pakistan plays its cards well and fully integrates itself with Europe, North America and South America, whose economies are very different than those of Asian emerging economies, there is no reason why it can not be part of the G-20.

America, the euro zone and the emerging world are heading in different directions, says Pervaiz Munir Alvi. Read the article here.

Lahore School of Economics Convocation – 2010

2010-12-06T09:22:00.001+05:00

The Lahore School of Economics’ Eighth Annual Convocation was held at the main campus on December 4, 2010. Dr. Shahid Amjad Chaudhry, the Rector Lahore School of Economics conferred degrees and awards to 850 graduating students of MPhil, MS Economics, MSc Economics, Masters in Business Administration, BSc Economics, Bachelors of Business Administration and Master of Business Administration (Executive) and Masters of Business Administration (Professional).

Best of Blogsphere - Top Ten Blogs – 2010

2010-12-01T10:05:00.000+05:00

I am glad to learn that Logic is Variable has been named number eight in Best of Pakistan Blogsphere - Top Ten Blogs – 2010 list published at Light Within. Thanks for this recognition.

For me, blogs are resources for my writings. More often, I blog informally, sharing impressions, generating ideas and seeing how they invoke reactions, keeping track of others’ work in fields of my interest, or simply ranting or pointing out things that come to my attention. Also, I use blogging as a platform to prune ideas. This is where I meet others and share thoughts.

In addition to my other interests, at Logic is Variable, I keep a record of my articles that appear in print media.

Follow Logic is Variable at Facebook

2010-11-27T14:47:00.000+05:00

Whether you’re shopping for tech geeks or smartphone novices, there’s a perfect gizmo for everyone in Brian Ries' roundup of 17 hot gift ideas. And you may even find something shiny for yourself.

Gallery: 17 Gadget Gift Ideas ,
[from here]

How much money you canmake online?

2010-11-26T14:48:00.000+05:00

S A J Shirazi

[This is not a blog to teach how to make money. I first wrote this blog about Making Money Online – my own experiences while struggling to make some money online - earlier this year. Since then I keep getting various questions (along with the traffic that I get to the post) so I thought I add a little more that may answer some of questions I get.]

Empirical observation shows that many people quickly set up a blog and start thinking about making money the first day. How to get some money right now? They don’t care much about building or defining an online reputation and keep moving from one craze to another and also go with anything that comes to their way. That is very short term (or short sighted, if I may use the term) to say the least.

Many people ask me “How much money can I make [in so many months] with blogging?” I don’t have an answer to that. Probably no one has. Not even gurus selling their books claiming to make that much money in this much time.

My answer is that there is a difference between those looking to make quick money and those looking to build a personal brand, repute and authority. The second category is willing to go a long way to train, learn and deliver before thinking of making money. They even forgo immediate gratification to achieve their goals of running a successful online blog.

I suggest you take blog only as a means only. Yes, you can make money by using blog as a means. Have a long term plan. Build a powerful presence online by providing value to the readers. Let the people know what you know by sharing what you know and what they can learn in your chosen field. Think (and plan) to make some reasonable money only after having done that.

Pakistani craftsmanship at the Market of Peoples

2010-11-26T13:34:00.000+05:00

Dr. Senta Siller has been busy in displaying beautiful handmade dolls from Pakistan at bazaars in the ethnological Museum in Cologne, Stuttgart, Hamburg and Vienna Austria and bringing them to “market of people.”

Dr Senta Siller got an award in Brandenburg for the work in the Project Landgut Borsig. Here are some images of Dr. Senta Siller with Dr Posch – the former Austrian Ambassador in Pakistan.

Last events before the end of the year will be fair in Berlin (Ethnological Museum) and another in International Lyceum Club, Berlin, and another display in Landgut Borsig in Gross-Behnitz and in Nauen, Exhibition Hall.

The Most Popular Phone in the World The Most Popular Phone in the World

2010-11-26T13:32:00.000+05:00

Nokia has problems. Smartphone problems. Software problems. American problems. But to fully understand what's wrong, we've got to understand what's been right, or to put in another way, what's distracted Nokia. Meet the most popular phone in the world.

It has been said that more of the world's population has access to a cellphone than to a sanitary toilet. But of the planet's estimated 5 billion cellphone users, a privileged minority have smartphones; a paltry few, iPhones.

If you spend hours thumbing through pages of apps, scoffing at less-than-perfect software upgrades and grousing about screen resolution and pixel density, it's easy to forget that the very concept of a mobile phone is a miracle. It's a device that shrinks your day to day world into a single point, making you simultaneously accessible to and able to access nearly everyone you know, instantly and everywhere.

One summer in 2005, a man in Nigeria wanted in. He found a shop, put his money down on the counter, and left with a cellphone: a Nokia 1100, nearly identical to the model discontinued by AT&T that same year. Statistically, this was likely his first handset. He'd probably used a similar one through family or friends. Personal milestone or not, the tiny Clarkian miracle of that day represented a cold milestone for Nokia. It was their billionth phone sold.

In buying that phone, this man was joining a slightly smaller club. He became a Nokia 1100 user. Along with a staggering 250,000,000 others, he had traded up in the communications world, from little or no phone access at all to this little brick of a phone.

***

The 1100 is not pleasant to use. The keypad is too narrow for two-thumbed texting; it's thin enough that curling a thumb for one-handed use is strenuous. Tiny pedestal buttons are concealed behind a squishy rubber shield, and configured in such a way that learning how to use the phone is a process of rote memorization and habit-building rather than intuition.

The phone wasn't exactly a technological marvel, even by the standards of the time. (For perspective, in 2003 Gizmodo was writing breathlessly about the promise of the Palm Treo 600—a real smartphone.) The screen is small and the pixels large and monochrome. The ringer is both tinny and piercing. The whole assemblage feels suspiciously light.

I say this all as someone coddled by smartphones, touchscreens, and the results of years upon years of careful and expensive interface research, but also as someone who has used a hell of a lot of phones. For a few years years I carried a Nokia 3595—a not-so-distant relative of the 1100—so the 1100 doesn't feel exotic to me, nor should it to most anyone.

But I was never really meant to buy a Nokia 1100, and its designers never meant to impress me. The phone's small size makes its extremely portable, and easy to carry or stow. That narrow, squishy keypad is dustproof and water resistant, so a splash of rain or a drop in the sand won't ruin it. The phone's plasticky shell and light weight make perfect sense the first time you see it bounce off your tile floor, skittering to a stop unscathed. The menu system and button configuration might clash with my design sensibilities, but I was raised on PCs and Nintendo. I have expectations of polish, and can mistake brutal simplicity for lack of design.

This phone was meant to survive and to do; its only jobs are to call and to text and to create convenience for as long as possible, as cheaply as possible. "The way we get to those features is by spending a lot of time with consumers, with teams in their homes, interviewing them, seeing how they live," says Alex Lambeek, who, prior to becoming Nokia's VP of Phone Marketing, worked extensively with hardware design for the developing world. "Take for example a feature like a torch (flashlight), and you might think: Who cares about a torch? Well, for a consumer who lives in an area, let's say, of India or Indonesia or Africa, where there is either no power supply or power is intermittent, having a torch is pretty important."

Likewise, accessories and services aren't cast-offs from the Western world, but specifically adapted for their environments. Alongside new cellphones you'll see chargers that draw power from bikes, and by sending an SMS to a specific, Nokia-operated number, you can get a listing of local crop prices, or a weather forecast.

A phone sold in an outdoor market can't exactly be brought back for a warranty claim. Software updates are mostly out of the question, so the phone you buy is the phone you'll be stuck with. Customer service is complicated by language differences, literacy issues and simple lack of awareness, so a short sort of troubleshooting guide has to be included in the phone's software.

The lesson, basically, is that a company won't do well in the developing world simply by hawking cheap, out-of-date hardware after it's become obsolete in places like America. Companies like Nokia, LG and Samsung spend a lot of time and money developing new phones that you and I might consider old-fashioned or odd, and with good reason: Emerging markets are huge. The 8th, 9th and 10th largest phone seller in the world, by volume, are companies you've never heard of—ZTE, G-Five and Huawei—which have made heaps of money selling millions of customers their first phones. Nokia is actually losing share in India, largely due to a burgeoning domestic phone industry, led by companies whose spectacular sales volumes belie their newness. They'd be stupid to try to sell their cast-off dregs to hyper-competitive exploding markets like this.

***

The hardware demands of the developing world are different. That much is obvious. Making things even more difficult is the way people sell phones outside of the US and Europe. Surprise! It's also different. "In North America and many parts of Europe, operators typically subsidize handsets," says Lambeek. It's a familiar, unwieldy system of blood contracts and extravagant hardware. It's why we tend to loathe our carriers, and also why you can get a Droid for $150. But it's by no means universal. "That is quite rare in places like Africa, for the simple reason that the economics of subsidizing don't make sense. Either the money doesn't come, or it takes far too long." This means that the price of the phone isn't distorted by subsidies, and that the operators are barely involved in phone distribution at all.

This makes things less complicated in a lot of ways, and more complicated in others. Phones have to be cheap enough that people can buy them outright, which basically renders all high-end smartphones like BlackBerrys or iPhones, which can cost well over $500 unsubsidized, almost comically inaccessible. It also means that phones need to be standardized and network-neutral, or unlocked, and that they have to work with whatever services are popular or available, be they voice or text or internet.
***

The developing world has no interest in the iPhone. It's impractically delicate and expensive, and its battery lasts a day, if you're lucky. But the concept of a smartphone is in some ways as attractive in rural Nigeria as it is anywhere else.

Companies like Huwei are already refiguring the Android phone equation to suit second-time phone buyers, and bringing prices for unsubsidized touchscreen smartphones well under $200, edging ever closer to $100. Nokia's C3 series has Wi-Fi, a 2.0MP camera, a full, metal-keyed QWERTY keyboard, microSD storage and an App Store. It comes with Facebook and Twitter access out of the box. Depending on tariffs, it sells for around $100 worldwide. It's coming to America, soon making an appearance on Wal-Mart's shelves. The price? $80. It's the anti-N8: Fairly simple, very cheap, and so far, wildly popular.

This is what the next generation of the mega-selling phone will look like. They'll be rough facsimiles of the high-end smartphones forged for well-heeled buyers, stripped of fat and excess—an embodiment of compromise. They'll be 90% of the phone for 20% of the price, with FM radios instead of digital music stores, and flashlights instead of LED flashes. This is how the other half will smartphone, if you want to be so generous as to call the developing world's users a half. We're not even close.

Which blog you follow

2010-11-22T11:37:00.002+05:00

Like so many years, Light Within is asking you to recommend the best Pakistani blogs. In Pakistan - the happening state - writing a blog is a great responsibility. Please show your appreciation for the best blogs (and bloggers) you have been following during the year. Also indicate the new blogs (including your own) and new bloggers that have come up during the year and we might have missed them. Leave your recommendations in comment section here or send them to sajshirazi@gmail.com.

Best of Pakistan blogs - previous years:
Pak Blogsphere - Top Ten Blogs - 2009
Pak Blogsphere - Top Ten Blogs - 2008
Pak Blogsphere - Top Ten Blogs - 2007
Pak Blogsphere - Top Ten Blogs - 2006

Sony Ericsson’s C905 Camera cum Bluetooth

2010-11-22T10:24:00.000+05:00

We just got a heads up from one of our AT&T ninjas and it appears as if an AT&T-branded version of Sony Ericsson’s C905 could be hitting AT&T just a few weeks from now. This, if we’re not mistaken, would be AT&T’s first 8 megapixel cameraphone trailing behind T-Mobile. While the photo we have received shows the front-facing video camera intact, we have our doubts whether that will make it on the final shipping AT&T version. The actual release we’re told is July 19th but you guys know by now that could be as solid as gelatin. Specs look to be unchanged from the standard SE version and here’s a loose recap:

* 8 megapixel auto focus camera with Xenon flash, 30fps QVGA video recording
* 240×320 resolution LCD
* GSM/EDGE/UMTS/HSDPA
* Bluetooth
* Wi-Fi b,g
* AGPS

All in all a pretty solid camera-first-phone, but that price whatever it ends up being will obviously be the real determining factor.

Source

Akamai Technologies iPhone 3.0

2010-11-13T13:39:00.000+05:00

Akamai Technologies, Inc., the leader in powering rich media, dynamic transactions and enterprise applications online, has announced variable bit rate streaming support for live and high quality video content on the iPhone and iPod touch. Variable bit rate streaming was a key feature delivered in the recent iPhone 3.0 update and this new capability expands Akamai’s ability to provide consumers with the highest quality video streaming experience on their iPhone or iPod touch. Akamai HTTP Streaming for the iPhone is available as part of Akamai’s Media Delivery solution.

Akamai is also announcing the launch of the iPhone 3.0 Video Showcase - iphone.akamai.com - to demonstrate this new solution. Content owners and publishers including Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Discovery, FOX News, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, MTV, NPR, Turner Sports and USA TODAY are participating in the showcase site. Inlet Technologies’ Armada and Spinnaker solutions are being used to encode the VOD and live experiences on the showcase site. Akamai has also developed a whitepaper, entitled “Streaming to the iPhone 3.0 - Best Practices” that can be accessed here:http://www.akamai.com/dl/whitepapers/iphone_wp.pdf

“Apple’s extensive support for new web standards like HTML 5 and HTTP streaming of live and on-demand video to the iPhone and iPod touch has transformed the quality of video content that consumers can now view while mobile,” said Tim Napoleon, Chief Strategist Digital Media at Akamai. “To be able to watch video anytime, anywhere at a quality this high is nothing short of amazing.”

Variable bit rate streaming over HTTP benefits the consumer by enabling a high fidelity viewing experience at any bit rate, faster video start up times and reduced video buffering. Studies have shown that content owners and publishers see the strategic business opportunity to maximize consumer access to their content by delivering video to iPhone and iPod touch. Content owners can now use Akamai’s Media Delivery solution to deliver live and on-demand content while leveraging a highly-available and fault tolerant infrastructure of tens of thousands of HTTP servers.

“CBC is pleased to be taking part in this initiative with our valued partners at Akamai,” said Bob Kerr, director, Business & Product Development, CBC Digital Programming and Business Development. “We are excited to be able to offer Canadians both live and on-demand programming from the CBC in remarkable quality on the iPhone and iPod touch.”
Source

Easy ways to make money online in Pakistan

2010-11-13T10:05:00.001+05:00

Blogging is no more a new phenomenon in Pakistan. Many Pakistani online users are writing their own and rest are reading others' blogs and interacting in meaningful ways. Their voice is being heard in the blogsphere. Getting paid for blogging is still a new idea in Pakistan though. Still you can earn extral money working form home.Here is how?

Look at neighborhood crimes

2010-11-08T16:32:00.000+05:00

Have you ever wanted to see a map of crime in your neighborhood? With a new online tool from the Columbia Police Department that went online Friday, you'll be able to do just that. CrimeReports.com will allows users to search for crimes by date, location and type of crime committed. Data will be added to the Web site each day, and reports currently go back to Jan. 10. With the Police Department in the process of redefining its patrol beats, the new map will help the department and residents understand where crime is taking place, Public Information Officer Jessie Haden said in a news release.
Source

Art of calligraphy

2010-11-08T15:32:00.000+05:00

To understand the magnitude of the invention of a new calligraphy script it is important to remember that after creation of ‘Nastaleeq’ by Mir Ali Sultan Tabreezi around 1400 in Persia, no script of Urdu, Persian or Arabic, has ever been invented, with the exception of Mirza Muhammad Hussain who developed the running the running hand version of Nastaleeq called Shakistan in 1616 and Mirza Sultan in Heart who came up with a similar style called Shaffiah in the middle of the seventeenth century. Ibn-e-Kaleem stands alone in the feat.

How did Ibn-e-Kaleem find his metier? Find it here.

Related: Art for Allah

Fine Art of Blogging

2010-11-05T12:08:00.000+05:00

Fine Art of Blogging started some years ago, when blogging was still new in Pakistan. Bloggers of note were invited to contribute their thoughts in general. In particular, they were asked to answer some serious questions; How blogging matters in life and work, inspirations and why bloggers blog in the first place. Soon this project became viral and answers started pouring in from far and wide.

Bloggers including Liz Strauss (of Successful-Blog), Sterling W. Camden (Chips Tips), authority blogger like Chris Garrett (chrisg.com) and many more successful bloggers have contributed their thoughts, insights and inspiring success stories. Big congratulation to Muhammad Yaqoob for making it possible.

This book will prove useful for every one remotely interested in blogging as a phenomenon, practicing bloggers and in particular to new bloggers who want to join the party and start blogging.

The book is in production stage. Please stay tuned. More will come on this.

Barack Obama's Moving Command Post

2010-11-04T12:35:00.000+05:00

US President Barack Obama – first black and 44th President of the United States of America - arrived to take the oath of his office in a new brand car, a Cadillac Presidential Limousine. As per one of the many traditions associated with presidential inauguration in United States, the president's car is shown for the first time on the day of inauguration – Jan 20. The safest (may be costliest) car has already been officially names as Cadillac One and nicknamed as the Beast and a rolling bunker. I call it a command post on the move.

Cadillac Presidential Limousine is an ultimate combination of high end engineering, communication technologies and safety. Results of extreme testing and development, this beast of a very customized diesel powered car can withstand a direct hit, chemical attack and much more. It has an inbuilt coded communication system. It also carries CTS and Escalade design cues. The boot contains an independent oxygen supply and advanced fire-fighting systems.

What is more, Defense systems of Cadillac One includes pump action shotguns, night-vision cameras and tear-gas cannons and some medical aid gadgets.

Cadillac Presidential Limousine weighs more than 5,000 pounds, goes from zero to sixty in a leisurely 15 seconds, and has a top speed of just sixty mph.

Top 50 Gadgets in Last 50 Years

2010-11-03T19:59:00.000+05:00

We're living in the golden age of the gadget. Don't believe it? Check your pockets. Odds are you're carrying a portable music player, an electronic organizer, a keychain-size storage device, a digital camera, or a cell phone that combines some or all of these functions. And you'd probably be hard-pressed to live without them.

At PC World, we'd be lost without these things. We don't merely test and write about digital gear, we live and breathe the stuff. In honor of this raging gizmo infatuation, we polled our editors and asked them to name the top 50 gadgets of the last 50 years. The rules? The devices had to be relatively small (no cars or big-screen TVs, for example), and we considered only those items whose digital descendants are covered in PC World (cameras, yes; blenders, no). We rated each gadget on its usefulness, design, degree of innovation, and influence on subsequent gadgets, as well as the ineffable quality we called the "cool factor." Then we tallied the results.

After a lot of Web surfing, spreadsheet wrangling, and some near fistfights, we emerged with the following list. Some items in our Top 50 are innovative devices that appeared briefly and then were quickly consigned to museums and future appearances on eBay, but whose influence spread widely. Others are products we use every day--or wish we could.

Read at CIO

The High-Intensity Entrepreneur

2010-10-29T13:35:00.002+05:00

Article titled “The High-Intensity Entrepreneur” by Anne S. Habiby and Deirdre M. Coyle, Jr. has appeared in Harvard Business Review and is creating waves in academic and industrial circles. The article presents the case of entrepreneurship in the developing world and the important role it is playing in moving the sluggish economies of the countries forward. The inspirational stories on entrepreneurship are not only coming from Silicon Valley, Cambridge Research Parks and other traditional seats where knowledge is being generated, but also coming from Beirut, Saudi Arabia and yes from Pakistan too. The article motions Pakistan’s Air Blue success story.

There are so many other successful entrepreneurship examples in Pakistan. We only have to look around. In these times of dooms and gloom, our economists and writers can identify the best growth companies and given them a little visibility. That will help education and industry in Pakistan. And we will have something to look forward to.

I suggest you read The High-Intensity Entrepreneur (subscription required) and see what is the central idea and how we can use it in our own settings.

Dr. Senta Siller deserves President's Award for Pride of Performance

2010-10-16T22:44:00.000+05:00

On the occasion of the 75th birthday of Dr. Siller Siller, I on my own behalf and on the behalf of all friends of Thatta Kedona, take this opportunity to thank her heartily for her exemplary and untiring efforts towards the cause.

Happy Birthday to Dr. Senta Maria Anna Siller – the honorable Mother of Dolls who is recipient of Floriade (the Netherlands), Gestaltetes Spielgut (Creative Toys – German Toys Industry), Bundesverdienstkreuz (highest civil order of merit of the Federal Republic of Germany) and many more honors.

We recommend Dr. Senta Maria Anna Siller for Pakistan President's Award for Pride of Performance.

Man with vision

2010-10-08T09:37:00.000+05:00

By Prof. Humayun Ghauri

“The two things that can satisfy the soul are a person and a story; and even a story must be about a person.” opines G.K Chesterton. Today I intend to explore the profile of a person; Professor Dr Nizamuddin the vice chancellor, University of Gujrat. He is a legend in his own life time. His life is a progress and not a station. He conjures up great visions and is perpetually on the move; always in practice; scaling ever new heights.

He keeps his associates and affiliates also on the move, towards achievements; towards pinnacle of glory. His motto appears to be in Browning’s words “the best is yet to be”.

Read at Logic is Variable

Mud Architecture

2010-10-02T10:11:00.000+05:00

Guest Post by S A J Shirazi

The future lies in mud architecture. Though this sweeping statement may sound prehistoric, but it is very relevant to modern times. Building living spaces with mud is a tradition dating as back as the start of civilization. Some excellent examples from the Great Mosque - the world’s largest mud building and UNESCO’s World Heritage site – to the oldest surviving mud specimens found in Harappa, Pakistan, show the continuous use of mud buildings.

Having grown up in mud house myself (before I moved to urban center), mud buildings have a special place rooted deep in to my cultural consciousness and this personal bond encourages a more intimate relationship between me and the mud as the material transformed from formlessness to form. Hence my interest in mud architecture and how I see its future in Pakistan.

Why use Mud? Mud – a mixture of earth and water - is economical, practical, functional and attractive. It is easy to work with, and it takes decoration well. Mud is especially useful in humid and hot climates like we have in Pakistan. Mud is a natural material that is found in abundance, especially where other building materials such as bricks, stone or wood are scarce due to affordability and or availability. In Pakistan, use of mud has evolved from local necessity. Which is why the use of extremely sticky mud deposited found along river banks or elsewhere in Pakistan combined with appropriate technology makes an excellent material to build functional and climate friendly buildings.

Work has already started and many experts are critically analyzing the more purposeful use of mud as a building material. Dr. Gus Van Beek of the Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History is working on a book in which he is examining methods of construction and varieties of designs in contemporary as well as ancient structures found at many places. Dr. Gus Van Beek’s research started when he uncovered arch and vault construction at Tel Jemmeh, Israel. Dr. Gus Van Beek is covering major types of construction in Morocco, Egypt, Yemen, Israel, Syria, Iraq, Iran, India and Pakistan.

At local level, Society for the Promotion of Art and Culture (SPARC), registered in Lahore since 1994, is undertaking the task of revival of much needed mud architecture in Pakistan. SPARC planning to hold workshops at different art and architecture institutions in order to restart the traditional building with mud in rural as well as urban areas of Pakistan. These workshop will not only create awareness and initiate a thought process at gross roots level but will also train SPARC employees in mud architecture. Dr. Norbert Pintsch from Senior Expert Service (Bonn, Germany) is planning to present new techniques of mud building to adapt the construction technique mixed with appropriate technology in Pakistan.

Prof Dr Norbert Pintsch is an experienced architect by profession and mud enthusiast by choice. Since completing first building project as an architect at the age of 18, Prof Dr Norbert Pintsch has been in various activities as an architect and civil engineer all his life. One of the best starting point for Prof Dr Norbert Pintsch may be a mud building that stands in Peerzada Festival Area, Green Acre, Lahore. Renowned Pakistani architect like Ghayyoor Obaid are also keen on mud architecture there. Any other example that I know of is remains of Sher Shah Suri built mud fort in historic village Sher Ghar near Okara.

The mud architecture is a great resource that focuses on architecture constructed of mud brick, rammed earth, compressed earth block and other methods of earthen construction. The proliferation of concept to use mud and improved techniques in order to raise the level of living in the population is a very welcome idea and we in Pakistan need that. This can go a long way not only in the form of changing the look of population centers, rural as well as urban, but also in solving environmental problems and problems related to use of energy and other finite resources.

Solar Lounge Table

2010-09-30T16:01:00.000+05:00

Intelligent Forms offers a solar table that can be used to eat dinner, charge laptops, or both. A solar panel sitting under the glass table top harnesses solar energy, which can then be channeled to recharge laptops or consumer electronics. Do not underestimate the table's capabilities -- it can gather 73 kilowatt hours of solar energy every year "in a typical outdoor setting," the company says on its Web site, using Southern California as an example. The company claims it can provide up to 100 mobile handset charges, 40 iPhone charges or three laptop computer charges per day.

As for looking geeky, don't worry, the lounge table "integrates perfectly into modern lifestyles," the company says. The high-tech dinner table's shell and legs are made of stainless steel, and the surface carries LED (light-emitting diode) bulbs to provide an afterglow. If anything, its uniqueness could make it a conversation starter.
More

Gender computing preferences

2010-09-30T13:16:00.002+05:00

Lately, a survey about gender computing preferences crossed my desk top. The survey cover a lot of areas from what men and women do differently when online.

Machines can’t differentiate between users; who is man and who is women. But users’ preferences and the ways users work on computers can clearly indicate who is who? Male users prefer faster download speed to easier navigation and quick toggling between portals and multi tasking. Female users prefer easier usage, easier navigations, and easier accessibility instead.

Male and female have consensus that that easier usage is one of the most important factor in assessing website usability. It is in the second most important factor that gender differences come into play. Men prefer fast download speeds second, while women prefer easy navigation. Customization was found to be the least important factor in web usability, consistent with a previous design factors research.

I know that more women would read press releases and or users manuals where as male world prefer learning by doing. Exactly as men would be less likely to ask for directions while lost while to-ing and fro-ing in a new area, male users are less likely to go through details and users instructions before hitting action keys. Female are more likely to learn before they act online.

What are your observations? How you prefer? [X-Posted from Light Within]

Cold Air Intakes

2010-09-28T22:08:00.000+05:00

Driving your vehicle is one thing and maintaining it well is another. Experienced drivers know it well. Enjoying the ride and getting the best out of your vehicle, you need to maintain it well. There are a number of maintenance tips which are useful for the efficient performance of your vehicle engine. Regular and timely replacement of engine oil and oil filter are to name a few. However, relatively less known, ensuring Cold Air Intakes for your vehicle is one of the important aspects of vehicle maintenance. To provide clean and cool air to your vehicle engine, you need to have top quality air filters. A little neglect on this account will adversely affect the performance of your vehicle engine in much greater proportions. If you don't have the right kind of air filters, you will find a noticeable drop in power and torque becomes evident slowing you down and sapping away crucial horsepower.

Air filter should be able to turn hot dirty air into the cool clean breeze for the engine. If this aspect is not duly taken care of, hot air and dust clog up the inner workings. The air filters should be less restricting providing a clearer path from the intake to the engine. When the path from the intake to the engine is clear, your vehicle engine will inhale more oxygen and more crisp clean air. This will obviously result in better performance. The horsepower of your vehicle engine will be truly realized. You will find your machine running with energy and confidence. The customized image of the Cold Air Intakes will also receive appreciation. So, you should use the air filters for your vehicle which have been manufactured through superior engineering which makes them outstandingly effective. This customization, using Cold Air Intakes is certainly worth giving a try and enhancing the efficiency and performance of your vehicle engine in geometrical proportions.

Blu-ray Player by Toshiba

2010-09-28T14:54:00.000+05:00

Having had to put down HD-DVD behind it, Japanese Consumer Electronics giant Toshiba is planning to launch a Blu-ray player by the end of the year. Initially the Blu-ray Player will be launched in Japan.

Earlier in 2007, Toshiba lost the battle and could not launch Blu-ray. And, it happened, despite support from Microsoft and many other technology giants. Toshiba is going to integrate the best from HD-DVD in its Blu-ray Player which is likely to make it the market leader.

Source

Karimabad, Hunza

2010-09-28T14:41:00.002+05:00

Historic Baltit Fort is at a short walk from Karimabad. Around 700 years old castle has been rebuilt a number of times during the centuries it has seen. The present structure was constructed some 600 years ago and the architecture reflects a marked Tibetan influence. The story goes that a Princess from Baltistan married the local Thum and she brought in Balti masons, carpenters and craftsmen to build it and it. According to local legends, 300 labourers for the construction of the Fort were also part of the royal dowry of the Princess from Baltistan. In former times this impressive fort ensured the survival of Hunza regimes. But even before the Fort is reached, the old cobbled streets of Baltit village spanned by easily defensible archways seem to provide enough of a deterrent to all but the boldest of intruders. Within the fort itself, narrow stairs with a small opening into the living quarters on the first floor are features, which must have helped ensure that the ruling Thum stayed out of harms way.

Ultra-portable netbook, the 13.3” Joybook Lite T131.

2010-09-26T12:57:00.000+05:00

BenQ is bringing more enjoyment and quality to the lives of today’s on-the-go Internet generation with the official launch of their latest ultra-portable netbook, the 13.3” Joybook Lite T131. At a petite 1.8kg (3.97lbs.), the T131 effortlessly enables multimedia/Internet entertainment to become a take-anywhere companion for consumers of all age groups. Everyday digital fun – such as web browsing, video chatting, email, IM, home/office networking, games, and movies – is brought in-hand and on-demand with an eye-pleasing 13.3” super-enhanced UltraVivid™ screen, AMD’s® next-generation Yukon mobile platform, integrated microphone and fun-packed webcam, and WiFi connectivity.

"This newest netbook from BenQ reflects the personality and lifestyle of the Internet adventurer – spontaneous, resourceful, daring, and capable of handling whatever comes its way,” said Peter Chen, General Manager of BenQ’s Technology and Product Center. “Visuals are exhilarating and performance is without hesitation, ensuring pure and uncompromised mobile enjoyment of the digital age.”

A svelte 320mm(W) x 240mm(D) x 28mm(H) (12.6” x 9.45” x 1.1”) form belies the considerable capabilities of the T131 netbook. The large 250-nit CCFL screen is super-charged by BenQ’s exclusive UltraVivid Technology, Display Brilliance Enhancement Film (DBEF™), and a low-reflectivity, anti-glare coating that keeps movies, games, office applications, and Internet activities lookin’ great wherever you go…from bedroom to sidewalk café. HD audio, VoIP, and smart noise suppression and echo cancellation also promote spontaneity by ensuring video web chats with friends and video conferencing with business clients are always clear-sounding. Also uncharacteristic of the netbook’s compact size and modest price tag is a big 320GB hard disk drive, high-resolution 1.3MP webcam featuring fun WebCam® Companion®, two built-in speakers, integrated microphone, and high-speed WiFi. Likewise unexpected in this diminutive netbook is a generously-sized keyboard featuring isolated “Chiclet” style keys for easier, less error-prone typing. An SD/MMC card reader and two USB ports further testify to the T131’s well-thought engineering.
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World sports

2010-09-26T12:17:00.001+05:00

Sports fan must have a look at this blog that brings up all about major sporting events. These days you will find best of Cricket World Cup coverage there.Read what it says about Pakistan cricket here.

Development of micro projectors for handsets,

2010-09-24T19:55:00.001+05:00

Taiwan-based Foxlink has stepped into the development of micro projectors, and the company is currently developing the products in cooperation with a handset client from Europe, according to sources with Taiwan handset makers.
Foxlink has sent related samples to the client for verification, which may pave the way for small shipments in the fourth quarter of 2009, the sources noted.

International brand vendors, including Nokia, Samsung Electronics and Apple, reportedly all plan to launch handsets with built-in micro projectors by the end of this year, indicated the sources, adding that Foxlink is likely to benefit from the emerging trend due to its strong business relationships with Nokia and Apple.
Source

Your Cup of Coffee

2010-09-23T12:52:00.000+05:00

Espresso or coffee espresso (a concentrated coffee beverage brewed by forcing very hot water under high pressure through coffee that has been ground to a consistency between extremely fine and powder) consumption has grown tremendously in the last decade or two all over the world particularly in urban centers. You cannot walk more than a couple of blocks without seeing espresso shop â€“ they are found everywhere. Preparation of espresso requires an espresso machine. Latest trend is that people are buying espresso machines for homes as well. What is better than a professionally brewed espresso right at home? These machines have already become household items

The best way to brew a cup of coffee is to force the water through the coffee with pressure that comes from heating water inside a sealed vessel. As a result of the high pressure brewing process, all of the flavors in a typical cup of coffee are concentrated. That is what.

Technology gives an easy-to-use interface that lets users make espressos, cappuccinos, lattes, and tea all from one machine that grinds, tamps, and brews gourmet coffee. It is really simple; the pump-driven frothing device dispenses steam in three different directions to make it easy to steam and froth milk for cappuccinos and lattes. The wand also dispenses hot water for making hot drinks and soups. You can even adjust the fineness of the grind, the level of coffee brewed, and the amount of coffee that is used to make every cup from 6 to 9 grams of ground beans per brewing cycle.

What else, I should be brewing coffee with espresso machine rather than writing this.

In the Northern Areas

2010-09-22T16:50:00.004+05:00

For adventure-loving tourists, there are few paradises in the world that can compare to northern Pakistan for unspoiled natural beauty: a combination of soaring mountains, shimmering glaciers, crystal clear water streams and flower bedecked alpine pastures. In addition, the gentle, warm and hospitable character of the villagers makes your trip to this part of the world a fantastic and unforgettable memory of a lifetime.

And, did I have had the chance to see the fairies during my to-ing and fro-ing, at time zigzagging in the area? Yes, I met fairy Jia Ku once in my dream, that is. She said, “do not waste time running after fairies. Try finding what you want among humans. And that is what I think I am doing ever since.

Want to meet faeries? Go here.

Digital Divide

2010-09-16T12:49:00.000+05:00

As per the latest tech literature, Robot "is a virtual or mechanical artificial agent". In practice, it is usually an electro-mechanical system which, by its appearance or movements, conveys a sense that it has intent or agency of its own. The word robot can refer to both physical robots and virtual software agents, but the latter are usually referred to as bots.” Robots have come a long way since Hisashige Tanaka (1799–1881) created an array of extremely complex mechanical toys, some of which served tea, fired arrows drawn from a quiver, and even painted a Japanese kanji character.

Analysts and trend watchers say the day is not far when robots will be more pervasive and this interaction between men and machines will have visible impact on society. Spanish scientist have carried out a study to find out the possible influence of robots on society in times to come. The study concludes that the vast automation potential of robots and their capability to interact with humans will cause a technological divide over the next decade or so between those who have them and those who do not.

There already exists major technological divide. Fact is that over six billion computers have been sold till date. Every one living on this Earth would have one if they were evenly distributed but they are not. Same way, the pervasiveness of robots is going to increase the gap even further. This gap needs to be bridged. How you think that is possible?

Women at Their Best

2010-09-16T10:52:00.000+05:00

Read the story of Pakistani women fighter pilots here.