A good news for Islamabad & Rawalpindi citizens – TEDx Margalla (independently organized TED event) that happened in Islamabad last year is coming back again in 2012. The event was curated by Saad Hamid, leading blogger and social media enthusiast from Islamabad. The event was a big hit and according to an email sent today by TEDx Margalla team, the event will be organized again in coming year. Exact day and month is not announced yet.
Photo: Email sent by TEDx Margalla team
For more details, please visit: http://www.siliconistan.com/general/tedx-margalla-coming-again-in-2012/
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A good news for Pakistani BlackBerry users – the infamous ban on BlackBerry Apps by PTA has been lifted and now you can use BlackBerry Apps without any problem – Siliconistan.com has learnt. Be it Facebook, Twitter or any other BlackBerry application, you can now install it on your handsets and enjoy the real feel of BlackBerry.
BlackBerry apps were banned by Pakistan’s telecom regulator and users were unable to experience the real power of a BlackBerry device earlier. BlackBerry service providers in Pakistan – telecom operators – were also facing criticism for users’ inability to use BlackBerry apps. “BlackBerry apps are blocked by PTA. We are trying to resolve this issue and cannot confirm when will this ban be lifted” used to be a typical reply when users complained on cellular operators’ call centers.
Now, BlackBerry users in Pakistan can install almost all of BlackBerry applications on their handsets. There has been no formal announcement in this regard by now but Siliconistan.com has confirmed the development and tested it on multiple BlackBerry handsets. For now, Siliconistan.com can confirm that Ufone’s BlackBerry users can freely download and install these apps.
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Number one video sharing website brings the biggest change of its history
Monitoring Desk
World’s number one video sharing website has changed its look and feel and gave it more of a social network look. The new look now has three columns. On the left you can see your friends, in the middle you can see latest and selected YouTube videos and on the right side column you can see advertisements and recommended videos.
Google is trying its best to compete Facebook and by now it has been unsuccessful. On the other hand, YouTube by now has remained the market leader when it comes to video sharing or watching videos. Maybe Google now wants to brand YouTube as a social networking platform bundled with powerful video sharing system.
Take a look at the official video to explore the new look:
]]>Pakistan Muslim Laegue (Nawaz) – PML(N) – is gearing up to compete on social media with other political parties in general and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) in particular. The party has set up a social media cell recently and now inviting volunteers to join its team. The ad reads “Young & Energetic Volunteers
by Muhammad Hanif
As the political debate in country heats up, parties are now gearing up to take lead on one another. One such move by Chief Minister Punjab and a prominent leader of PML(N) is launching of first SMS based service to connect citizens with the Chief Minister. Citizens who want to say anything to Chief Minister Punjab, be it suggestion or complaint, can now just send a text message followed by SS to 9900.
Talk to Shahbaz Sharif!
The SMS campaign is named as “Talk to Shahbaz Sharif”. Through this SMS based system, public can send a text message followed by SS to 9900 and this message will be forwarded to Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif. Obviously, keeping spamming in mind, there must be some screening of these messages before being forwarded to the Chief Minister. Normally, public cannot easily reach top level government officials especially chief ministers and prime minister etc. This facility will definitely help general public to send their complaints and suggestions directly from their mobile phone. As Pakistan’s tele-density and mobile subscribers is very high, technically every Pakistani can use this facility very easily.
This SMS based system to connect public and a chief minister is first of its kind in Pakistan. Keeping political affiliations aside, this step is undoubtedly a positive one as it encourages Information Technology based systems in the country. We can expect that other chief ministers will also be adopting such a system soon.
SMS Charges
As a consumer right and from regulatory point of view, SMS charges should have been mentioned while advertising these SMS short codes (i.e. 9900). It is unknown at this stage that how much will be charged per SMS for this facility. For now, apparently, this facility is only being advertised on Internet and maybe in its initial phase. Hopefully, when this will be advertised in newspapers or TV, SMS charges will be publicized as well.
Technology & Politics in Pakistan
Till last general elections in Pakistan (held in 2008), there wasn’t much hype about social media usage for politics and bridging the gap between public and government. However, 2011 has seen fast paced growth of technology based and social media platforms based activities to foster public relations and gain political advantage. One such example is Imran Khan’s rally in Lahore. Young supporters of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf used social media positively and made such a big jalsa (rally) possible. It was not just social media (or Internet) but Internet was a significant part of campaigning for the rally.
Other political parties that were undermining social media and technology based mediums for political campaigning then recognized the importance of technology and can now be seen either using or planning to use social media.
It can be predicted that Internet will be one of the most important mediums of political campaigning in next general elections to be held in 2013 as per standard schedule.
PML(N) and Shahbaz Sharif’s quick moves
It has been observed that PML(N) is taking giant steps and quick actions to counter Internet based negative propaganda against it and to spread awareness on development projects by its party’s government in Punjab province. Few days back Chief Minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif launched his official Facebook page and the PML(N)’s page has also seen improved activities. In the past 3-4 days, many positive news about party and leadership were published on these Facebook pages.
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Chief Minister Punjab and prominent PML(N) leader Shahbaz Sharif has launched his presence on social media platforms including Facebook and Twitter. Shahbaz Sharif launched his social media presence himself using a laptop.
Social Media for Politics
Usage of social media for politics has recently got hype in Pakistan when two political parties PML(N) and PTI announced their rallies in Lahore – capital city of Pakistan’s largest province Punjab. Both parties and their supporters geared up on social media to promote their events. As the political scenario is heating up in Pakistan, political analysts and social media experts suggest that Internet played a key role in activating supporters and bringing them to rallies in Lahore.
Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf (PTI) led by Imran Khan is currently the most active party on Facebook and started using it very early with largest number of Facebook fans. On the other hand, PML(N) and PPP are late entrants on social media. Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) or PML(N) has recently got pretty active on Facebook and it seems that they have started realizing the power of social media in spreading party message and interacting with supporters. This is why we can see PML(N) getting really active on Facebook.
Shahbaz Sharif using BlackBerry while sitting infront of a laptop
Shahbaz Sharif demonstrating his Twitter presence
Reaching Out
Social Media provides an excellent opportunity to political leaders to reach out citizens. People can lodge complaints, submit suggestions and share their thoughts with the leadership through social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter.
One public message to Chief Minister on Facebook by a citizen reads:
Dear Shahbaz Sharif! I wanna come into your notice a problem that we Talagang District Chakwal people face. From last more then two years Sui Gas has been reached at Talagang Via Chakwal. It goes form Talagang bus stand to all city, but can you imagine Talagang main road one sided people have the gas supply from last more then two years and other side of people are just looking for it.
If used effectively, social media can really become a catalyst of development.
Reference:
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Million of BlackBerry users across the globe face service outage
Monitoring Desk
BlackBerry service users across the globe are facing problems as Research In Motion’s (RIM) BlackBerry service goes down in many countries. BlackBerry users are unable to send instant messages through BlackBerry Messengers, access email and browse Internet on their BlackBerry handsets.
According to BBC, the BlackBerry service is down in Europe, Middle Eastern countries and Africa, however complaints are being received in Pakistan as well as BlackBerry users are facing delays in their email and instant messaging communication on their handsets.
An official of Ufone, Pakistan’s cellular operator, that offers BlackBerry services as well when contacted said “We are facing problems and we are aware of them. We are upgrading our system and the problem will be resolved very soon.” He further said that BlackBerry service problems on their network has no link with global BlackBerry outage.
Dependency & Reliance on BlackBerry service
Many businesses and public sector organizations now rely on BlackBerry services for their office communications. Most of the managers nowadays use these services to stay connected with their staff and to reply their emails instantly. This service outage can effect such organizations badly.
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by Sidra Jalil
Leading natural gas company in Pakistan, Sui Northern Gas Pipes Ltd. (SNGPL), has started using Internet advertisements for its conservation campaign. An Internet ad appearing on leading news websites of the country shows a public service message in video format emphasizing on conserving gas.
“Never set your geyser’s thermostat on ‘Very Hot’”, the video ad advises to Internet users in Urdu language. These ads are being shown on news websites like Dawn.com and others.
The gas distribution company is partially owned by government of Pakistan. Usage of Internet by such organizations is a positive sign as it shows that government has started realizing the potential of new media. It can be expected that many other government departments will be using Internet for spreading awareness, reaching out to general public and for several other purposes.
]]>I have some very sad news to share with all of you. Steve passed away earlier today.
Apple has lost a visionary and creative genius, and the world has lost an amazing human being. Those of us who have been fortunate enough to know and work with Steve have lost a dear friend and an inspiring mentor. Steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple.
We are planning a celebration of Steve’s extraordinary life for Apple employees that will take place soon. If you would like to share your thoughts, memories and condolences in the interim, you can simply email rememberingsteve@apple.com.
No words can adequately express our sadness at Steve’s death or our gratitude for the opportunity to work with him. We will honor his memory by dedicating ourselves to continuing the work he loved so much.
Tim
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