Razzak Rules in Abu Dhabi; Butt and Amir Snubbed in Dubai

I tuned into the game right as it was ending. Which, it turned out, was the best time of all to tune in!

The drama of the entire day packed into those three overs. And Abdul Razzak right there at the center of it all. Winning the day for Pakistan in rather majestic style – especially with that 6-6-4 in the last over that gave him his century and Pakistan the game.

It had not been the best of days for Pakistani players. A short drive away from the Abu Dhabi where the second one day international was being played between Pakistan and South Africa, at the ICC headquarters in Dubai the ICC code of conduct commissioner Michael Beloff had rather summarily and hurriedly dismissed the appeals of Salman Butt and Mohammad Amir who had earlier been suspended on scandalous charges of spot-fixing.

With South Africa already one up in the 5 match ODI series and Pakistan team in disarray the South African total of 286-8 although by no means unattainable did seem a formidable one. As I tuned in it was the 47th over from South Africa and the screen flashed that Pakistan needed 32 runs from 16 balls and had two wickets in hand. Even as I was trying to get bearings on the game, Razzak tried to steal a run off a no-ball and Saeed Ajmal fumbled and was run out. I must say, I was not upbeat at that point.

That Razzak was able to hit a four off the next ball and then steal a run off the last ball of the over was a good omen. 25 runs required, 12 balls left, 1 wicket in hand. Razzak hits a six off the very first ball and the mood on of the crowd on the screen – and my own mood – begins to change! Another four and then a single off the fifth ball again left Razzak very much in charge. Shoaib Akhtar just needed to survive the one ball he was facing. He did.

And then the grand finale was truly grand. A six off the second ball brought Razzak to 99. Another six off the very next ball got him his century. And a four off the very next ball gave Pakistan the game. In good time, and in good style.

And there he was – very much the man of the moment and man of the match: Abdul Razzak: 109 Not Out, off 72 balls, with 7 fours and 10 sixes. And what should be make of Salman Butt and Mohammad Amir? Well, this was not their day!

Mobilink and Pakistan Post to Launch Mobile Money Order Service

Mobilink has signed an agreement with Pakistan Post Office to introduce Mobile Money Order Service in Pakistan. The agreement was signed by Ahsan Basir Sheikh, Additional Director General (Financial Services) from Pakistan Post and Bilal Munir Sheikh, VP Marketing from Mobilink

Elaborating on the initiative, Bilal Munir Sheikh, VP Marketing, Mobilink said, “As a company on the forefront of technological innovation, Mobilink has pioneered mobile commerce in the country. Continuing our tradition of firsts, the Mobilink Mobile Money Order Service is a unique offering that completely revolutionizes the process of sending and receiving money orders. The first and only service of its kind in Pakistan, MMO enables our customer to send and receive money orders to any Mobilink customer across the country anytime, anywhere, via SMS.”
Bilal added, “Mobile Money Order Service offers far greater speed and efficiency as compared to a cash-based system by combining the reliability and speed of Mobilink’s network, the largest in the country, with Pakistan Post which also has an extremely strong presence nationwide and unparalleled experience in serving the rural areas. In line with the strategy to ease the process, the registration is also extremely simple and only a one-time requirement.”

Mohammed Ahmed Mian, Director General Pakistan Post and Secretary Postal Services Division in his speech highlighted the salient features of the service. He also mentioned that the customers can not only remit money to their kith and kins and friends through mobile SMS but can also withdraw or deposit up to Rs 10,000. This can be done by simply filling out a form that will be available at authorized PPO branches across the country upon launch. Once they are submitted, within 24 hours customers will be able to send and receive money orders at their convenience to Mobilink users via SMS anywhere in Pakistan.

The Mobile Money Order Service is in line with Mobilink’s principal aim of connecting the unconnected and providing unique products and services to the consumers, especially the underserved sections of society. In the past, Mobilink has introduced various socially inclusive products such as Mobilink PCO, a self-employment solution enabling people from all walks of life to earn a secured livelihood, and Mobilink Kisan Service, an IVR based service providing farmers access to price & weather information along with valuable advice on harvesting matters. Mobilink will continue to introduce more such service in the near future as well that are novel, socially inclusive, improve accessibility and connect the people of Pakistan in ways that truly reshape their lives.

Nokia and Indus Hospital Implement Electronic Surveillance System for Pneumonia

Nokia has proved that it can not only connect but care too. The press release below from Nokia below says it all
The Indus Hospital Research Center and Nokia Pakistan announced the successful implementation of INTERACTIVE ALERTS, an electronic surveillance system for pneumonia in Karachi at a press conference held at the Indus Hospital. The Interactive Alerts system was designed by Interactive Research and Development (IRD), in collaboration with the Next Billion Network program at the MIT Media Lab.

The Interactive Alerts system has been specifically developed to use the Nokia 6131 NFC phone for childhood pneumonia surveillance and referral in low-resource settings, although it can be easily extended to other diseases. At the time of the 6-week vaccination visit, children are given a radio frequency ID (RFID) tag in the form of a traditional bracelet. This tag provides a unique ID to the child, and parents are advised and encouraged to take sick children to participating general practitioner clinics or general hospitals in the program. At each encounter, the Nokia 6131 NFC phone is used to scan the child’s tag. Pertinent immunization, clinical and laboratory data is collected and posted to the server via GPRS in real-time, and can be viewed over a secure website.



The innovativeness of this approach is that it helps overcome the challenges of disease tracking and patient referral in settings where medical records and referral systems do not exit. The RFID bracelet provides unique identification, allowing health workers to verify identity and view basic medical records, and respond to emergencies quickly.

Pneumonia is a leading cause of childhood death in countries with high under-5 mortality rates. Invasive pneumococcal disease is the # 1 vaccine-preventable cause of death in children under 5 years of age. The World Health Organization estimates that up to 1 million children under 5 die each year due to pneumococcal diseases.

IRD has established pneumonia surveillance in Karachi in collaboration with the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health (JHSPH), the Program for Appropriate Technologies in Health (PATH) and the Indus Hospital. The objective of collecting this data is to provide policy makers in Pakistan and in the region the information required for introducing appropriate and new vaccines against pneumonia for children.

Interactive Alerts was co-developed by IRD’s health informatics team, led by Omar Allawala (Director of Information Technology) and Julia Irani (IT Project Manager),and a team of researchers and students from the Next Billion Network at MIT. The MIT team proposed the idea of using the Nokia NFC phones, and produced an initial design and working prototype, from which the IRD team then developed the final product.

Commenting on the project, Damien Balsan, Director, Head of NFC Business Development Americas, Nokia said, “We believe in a world where connecting people to what matters empower them to make the most of every moment. NFC is one of the ways to define the Nokia vision in terms of community services. We are committed to this project to ensure its expansion to a greater geographical area.”

This is a very encouraging step, finally we are seeing some research oriented approach in the communication industry of Pakistan. In my view IRD should come up with more projects of similar kinds and get Pakistani students on board to work along. Such initiatives will in turn acheive the main objective of all communication devices, i.e. serving the humanity in a better way!

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Telenor’s postpaid Package

Reality bites recently discussed future of postpaid market in Pakistan, where he had mentioned the rumors that cellular companies are working out plans for postpaid market. And it turned out true as Ufone revised their packages, and today Telenor brought forward new calling plans for postpaid users.

Early feedback about Telenor’s new postpaid package is that they are simple, pleasant and doable. A new idea has been indulged of offering free minutes for not only calls but for value added services, other network calls, GPRS or any other services that customers will use.

Telenor’s postpaid Packages come in three plans, one stays at Rs. 150 line rent another at Rs. 500 while third’s line rent is Rs. 1500. Call rates for all packages are same (something not comprehendible), i.e. Rs. 0.50 for on-net calls and Rs. 0.75 for off-net calls (for 30 second billing pulse), only difference is the amount of free minutes that customers can use.

There is another interesting thing that you will notice in ADs and campaign theme is the brand color, yes Telenor has changed the brand tone to start over the race with new policy and tactics, in a similar way they did with Telenor Talkshawk couple of years back.

Following tables will help you understand packages more easily


Tags: Postpaid, Telenor

ZONG Launches Post-Paid; Attractive Packages on offer

ZONG has announced its entry into the “Postpaid” market following a huge increase in its prepaid subscribers’ base across the country. A number of customized postpaid packages are on offer, to suit the vastly varied needs of individuals, large corporate entities and small businesses.

The key features of the ZONG Postpaid include same airtime rates for both on-net & off-net besides keeping the rates competitive and simple with no hidden charges or catches. The postpaid service is said to be aimed towards a common mobile user who has more talk time and is currently keeping a prepaid subscription eventually paying more.


Zong Post Paid Packages


30 Sec billing
Air-time rate for both On-Net & off-Net calls are same
Off-Net Calls i.e. Calls to other mobile operators & PTCL will be subjected to Interconnect charges given above
Free minutes will be calculated on per minutes basis
We will offer 5 FnF (on-net only) numbers on 100, 300 & 600 package
FnF addition charges will be Rs 15 for each addition
For FnF Addition / Modification dial 1313 from your Mobile
Spouse number will only be applicable on Rs 1200 price plan with zero charges
Spouse number can be added / changed once in a month
Free minutes calculation for Rs 1200 price plan will be exclusive of Spouse number as the charging on Spouse number will be zero
Free Minutes on 1200 package are exclusive of Spouse number
Spouse number can be added by calling our help line or visit our Customer services centre
Rs 2000 LR package will have 6800 free minutes in total, 6000 minutes will be On-Net with a daily cap of 200 Minutes (Fair usage policy)
The first 200 minutes of the day will be charged at Rs 0 after which charging will be done at On-Net Airtime rates i.e. 0.1 per 30 sec

“The ZONG brand has been built with a vision to enrich the lives of people of Pakistan through better communication. We will be providing guidance to our customers and sending them comparisons of their bills to ensure that they are at the right package and saving money by best selection of their package plan”, stated Awais Malik, Director Segment, Products & International Business ZONG.

ZONG will be offering state-of-the-art payment solution; postpaid customer can pay through Scratch Cards, Miniload, Cash, Credit Cards, Debit cards etc. It will also be providing a Web-based “do-it-yourself” Customer Service interface where the customers can change or add anything in their subscription from Friends and Family numbers addition or modification to mobile payments.

Salman Wassay, Head of Marketing, ZONG while expressing his views about this launch said that before stepping into market, the company carried out extensive market research into what is liked and disliked by the existing and potential customers about the currently available services in the industry. “The research enabled us to create an environment in which communication is hassle-free, intuitive and meaningful”, he added.

“ZONG market research showed that customers wanted new, exciting mobile offers and value for money. ZONG has created different packages for heavy, medium and light users as well as introducing new service plans with reduced prices. An important aspect of the offering is that ZONG has bundled a whole great range of services for postpaid customers”, he further added.

A unique offering of ZONG post-paid is the Spouse number facility whereby customers can call one number for free for the whole month. One important feature of ZONG post-paid would be that the company will not block any number (security deposit paid) till the time credit limit is reached - even if the customers have not paid their bills for months (being inside their credit limit).

In addition, a specialized team of relationship managers will be constantly offering quality service on a single call to all the valued corporate customers.

Recharging Mobile Phones in Just a Few Seconds

MIT engineers have created a kind of beltway that allows for the rapid transit of electrical energy through a well-known battery material - for cell phones and other devices - that could recharge in seconds rather than hours.

The work, led by Gerbrand Ceder, the Richard P. Simmons Professor of Materials Science and engineering, is reported in the March 12 issue of Nature.

Apparently this technology will take some time to hit stores, but once done, it will open the doors of recharging small devices in seconds, and electric vehicles in considerable amount of lesser time when compared today’s technology.

Via [Cellular News]

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Google introduces phone services

Google has strengthened its mobile services with the debut of a service called Voice that could be a challenge to Skype and other phone firms.

It lets customers make cheap international calls and gives them a speech-to-text feature for voicemail.


The services are available thanks to Google's acquisition of phone firm GrandCentral which gives users a lifelong universal phone number.

"This could be big. Google is seen as disruptive," said analyst Jon Arnold.

"They are a wild card in telecoms and wireless but this is Google and they are very smart at what they do.

"The core of Google's business is search and for a long time the industry was concerned about the GrandCentral acquisition. What was the fit? What was the motivation? It will be interesting to see where they ultimately go with this," said Mr Arnold, principal of analyst firm J Arnold & Associates.

Table stakes

Google Voice is the first major update to GrandCentral, which Google bought for an undisclosed sum, thought to be $50m (£36m) in 2007.

The service gives subscribers one number that lets them route all their phones through - home, office and mobile.

Users also get a single voicemail account regardless of which phone messages are left on.
Skype says it expects to double its revenue to over $1billion in 2011


Google Voice is the latest attempt by the company to reach out beyond online search and advertising.

Domestic calls will be free but international calls will require users to set up a Google Checkout account. Calls to landlines in the UK will cost 2 cents per minute.

EBay's Skype offers free domestic and international calls made over the internet from one computer to another, but there is a charge to landlines and mobile phones.

Skype president Josh Silverman told analysts and investors that "chat and voice will become table stakes". He also revealed that the company is adding 350,000 new users a day and is on track to do more than 100 billion calling minutes in 2009 alone.

Google does not view the service as a threat to Skype or other telecom companies any more than its Google Talk offering, which lets users chat over the internet for free.

"This is about allowing your existing phone to work better," said Craig Walker, now group product manager for real time communications at Google and co-founder of GrandCentral.

"It's not that we are replacing your phone, we are giving [it] the ability to work better," he said.

He declined to say how many users had signed up. Google Voice is currently only available to former GrandCentral users.

"Chore"

Google Voice also allows all voice messages to be turned into text which will then be sent either through an e-mail or an sms.

"Voicemail can be a pretty negative experience for a lot of people," said Mr Walker.

"Now it's about putting the user in control. We will transcribe voicemails and convert it into text and put it in your inbox so that it's searchable and you will always have a record of that voicemail.

"Voicemail need no longer be the chore it has been in the past," he declared.

Mr Walker demonstrated its search capabilities by displaying the 1,000 or so voicemails he had accumulated while testing the system over the past few months.

By typing "pool man" in a search box, he located an old voicemail from December 2008. Returned results were in both text and audio form.

"I would never have been able to find that number. The phone company deletes everything for you after a couple of weeks and the scrap of paper I wrote the number on is long gone. This feature makes your voicemail a pretty powerful tool," said Mr Walker.

Opportunity

Google boss Eric Schmidt said he viewed mobile as the next big opportunity.

At the recent Morgan Stanley Technology Conference in San Francisco, Mr Schmidt said he believed mobile search revenues would over take those on a PC within a few years

"The fact of the matter is that mobile devices are going to be the majority of the way that people get information," he said.

A report in February by the Kelsey Group suggested that "about 20% of U.S. cell phone subscribers are on the mobile web right now and only about 5.2 million are doing searches".

Mr Arnold said that if Google perfected its speech-to-text feature to other languages, all bets were off.

"This could be very powerful given the globalisation of markets. Language is another barrier and when you break that down, the world of communications opens up and globally this has exciting opportunities," he said.

use of sms in pakistan

In addition to being 4th heaviest user country of SMS,Pakistanis have taken an unusual lead in telecommunication: the largest text messaging growth in Asia Pacific. With Pakistan's 763 million messages sent during the "festive seasons",

the top five countries with the highest SMS traffic processed over the festive season were the Philippines, again leading the ranking with 2.36 billion messages, closely followed by Indonesia (1.193 billion), Malaysia (1.075 billion) and Pakistan (763 million). In terms of year-on-year growth, Pakistan SMS Text traffic volume grew by 253 percent compared to last year during the same period. Other markets that experienced high messaging growth include Philippines (65 percent), Australia (57 percent), Indonesia (27 percent) and Malaysia (13 percent). "MMS traffic is bound to increase as consumers become increasingly savvy in interacting with their personal blog sites and applications such as Facebook

How to keep your computer secure

eeping your computer secure from nasties on the web is often overlooked, but taking a few simple steps can minimise the risks from viruses, Trojans, worms, spyware and all other forms of infections.


Prevention is the best way to protect a machine from being attacked by malicious software, also known as malware. Users can try and prevent malware infecting their computers by using a firewall.

But if a PC has already been infected by malware, the cause of the infection could be eliminated by using anti-virus or anti-spyware software.

So what is a "firewall" exactly? And what do we mean by "anti-virus"?

FIREWALL

A firewall will try and prevent infection in the first place, and acts as a first line of defence against the web's more unpleasant elements.

It monitors inbound and outbound web traffic on a computer, searching and blocking behaviour consistent with malware.

Whichever operating system you use, check that your firewall is already switched on. This happens as standard with Windows Vista and later versions of Windows XP but not with Mac OS X. PROTECTING YOUR COMPUTER
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Check if your machine's firewall is on by opening the control panel and selecting firewall settings. Then look at the check box to see if Microsoft's firewall is switched on or off.

That said, commercial alternatives can provide a more comprehensive level of protection.

There are many tried and tested third-party firewalls available. Some less-known but perfectly adequate pieces of software, are available as a free download.

Many of the free packages also have grown-up fully featured paid-for alternatives.

If you decide to plump for a third party firewall, you may need to switch the Microsoft firewall off. Often MS firewall will conflict with third party firewalls.

ANTI-VIRUS

While a firewall is the first line of defence, it should also be used in conjunction with good anti-virus and anti-spyware software.

These pieces of software should hunt down and eliminate malicious software lurking on a machine. But make sure only one piece of anti-virus software is installed at a time.

If you purchase or download new anti-virus software, uninstall any previous protective software that may be running on your machine.

Like the firewall, running multiple anti-virus suites can cause software conflicts and create major computer performance issues.

There are also paid-for and free versions of anti-virus and anti-spyware software available.

Many of the free options have fewer and more basic features than the full price alternatives.

In addition, it is important to make sure that anti-virus software and the operating system is updated regularly.

New threats are being released onto the web all the time, so anti-virus and operating system updates are required to combat these threats.

For less experienced users, many of these updates can be performed automatically, by instructing both the operating system and anti-virus to auto-update.

Ikhlaque Ahmed Bozdar
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