Facebook Tracks You Even After You Log Out: ProPakistani

Facebook Tracks You Even After You Log Out
Jazz to Go Bananas with an Online App Store
Huawei To Commercially Launch its Smartphones in Pakistan by Year End
UPayments Now offers Inter Bank Funds Transfer Service
Internet: Paradise for Intellectual Property Thieves
Ufone Dhansoo Offer for Uth Customers
Chairman PTA Launches Broadband Road Show
Intel and Roots School System Collaborate to Develop ICT Curriculum
PTCL to Provide ICT Services to all Punjab Boards

Facebook Tracks You Even After You Log Out

Posted: 26 Sep 2011 12:53 AM PDT

Facebook has always topped the list of privacy invaders since it's inception, however, a recent revelation has shocked security analysts and internet users alike.

According to information and proofs unveiled recently, Facebook cookies track you even after you logout, to make sure that they maintain a complete list of websites that you may visit even after logging out to build a comprehensive and sophisticated data about user behavior.

To experiment this yourself, create few fake Facebook accounts. After using them for some time, you will find that Facebook will suggest you your real account as a friend. This is a proof that Facebook knows that all accounts are coming from the same browser, even after you are logged out.

So apparently if you don't want to be tracked then logging out of Facebook isn't enough, you will need to clear all the browser cookies (relating to Facebook), or maintain a separate browser (other than your primary browser) to use Facebook, or don't use Facebook at all.

Making it worse, it appears, Facebook isn't bothered about this flaw. The guy who revealed the bug claims to have reported this to Facebook through their support and press emails, but of no avail. He says that the has all the emails that he has sent to Facebook over past one year regarding the said issue.

Just to mention, this user behavior or user tracking data is of extreme value for marketers and government agencies. They can pay anything for this data to be made available to them.

After going through the track record of Facebook, one might think that Onion's this report of Facebook's link with CIA was probably more than just a prank.

Jazz to Go Bananas with an Online App Store

Posted: 25 Sep 2011 11:24 PM PDT

Read this post in Urdu

Mobilink has prepared itself for the upcoming 3G era, when millions of mobile phone users will be looking for mobile apps and other mobile related content.

Named as "Jazz Bananas", Mobilink is today evening unveiling it's online app store that is aimed to bring localized mobile apps and more, exclusively to Mobilink customers.

So basically idea is simple, there’s this website: http://www.jazzbananas.com/, which will offer mobile apps, games, music and more; primarily for Android, Java and Symbian phones. Most apps are free with some priced between Rs. 5 to Rs. 100.

Mobilink says that they are up with at least 5,000 apps to start with, however, thousands of more apps are in the pipeline to be uploaded on the store.

Mobilink is officially announcing the launch of Jazz Bananas today evening, for the purpose they have setup this event page on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=224457297609236

More details to follow after the event, meanwhile here's how you can download apps from Jazz Bananas.

How to Download Apps:

This service is currently exclusively for Mobilink users, so anyone with a Mobilink number can go to website, set his/her mobile phone to view filtered list of apps compatible with his/her phone.

Step 1:

Browse through the website to select app, music video, game or whatever content you want to download. There would be a "Buy Now" button – click on it to proceed.

Step 2:

After clicking "Buy Now" button, a pop-up like below will appear. Here you will need to enter your Mobilink number and to click the continue button.

Step 3:

Send displayed short code from your mobile phone to complete the purchase.

Note:

If you are purchasing a paid app then charges will be deducted from Jazz Account.
You will be given a link to download the app
GPRS charges for downloading the app will apply

Here’s official promo for the service:

Huawei To Commercially Launch its Smartphones in Pakistan by Year End

Posted: 25 Sep 2011 11:00 PM PDT

Read this post in Urdu

Huawei is all set to launch its smartphone handsets in Pakistani market by the end of 2011, well before the roll out of 3G services in the country, Nadeem Aslam Malik, Director Enterprises Business at Huawei Pakistan said.

In an exclusive interview to ProPakistani Mr. Malik said that Huawei branded smartphone will be affordable for Pakistani customers ranging from Rs 12,000 to Rs 25,000 with maximum features and applications for cellular users whether on GSM or on 3G networks.

Huawei brands have been gaining successful repute in the local and regional markets dealing in low-cost and high-end sets, he said. The company's low-cost smartphone handsets have received excellent business in collaboration with its cellular partners including Ufone and Zong.

Presently, the company is working on channels and marketing of the handsets in the local market to compete different brands with competition on pricing and exciting offers, Malik added.

Huawei specializes in low cost smartphones powered by Google's Android operating system and those with Windows platform.

Huawei has been carrying out its operations for two mainstreams cellular operators in the case of infrastructure building and handsets availability for large section of customers.

Malik said the 3G is likely to hit Pakistan next year after conclusion of regulatory affairs, particularly regarding the roll out of 3G policy and auction of the licenses to the cellular operators.

The network vendors such as Huawei will roll out physical infrastructure for 3G for cellular operators in minimum of three months once they are given green signal from the partners and regulator, he said. The investment on the 3G is definitely significant but its lucrative when it comes to level and capacity of service offerings by operators.

"We have already completed our homework to rollout physical network of 3G in Pakistan and are ready to kick off operations with the plans of our partner cellular operators," Director Huawei said.

Mobilink and Ufone, the two major operators, have already enabled their networks with 3G technology in past two years with Huawei in position to deploy 3G technology in several major cities in the first phase, he revealed.

"I think cellular operators are reluctant to go for 3G technology but they are interested in 4G, which is an advanced technology. But, Pakistan, is not the market for 4G or LTE because this service is beyond the affordability of the customers compared with 3G," he added.

Also to keep in mind that network swap from 3G to 4G is easy, rapid, affordable and involves not many technical issues and complications, therefore, there will be no need of another heavy investment on 4G infrastructure when operators finds its suitable to launch.

UPayments Now offers Inter Bank Funds Transfer Service

Posted: 25 Sep 2011 10:58 PM PDT

Ufone in collaboration with Habib Bank Ltd. has introduced Funds Transfer facility, which will allow it's customers to transfer funds (FT – sending money to other accounts of the same bank) and Inter Bank Funds Transfer (IBFT – sending money to other accounts of 17 partner member banks of 1LINK) is a revolutionary product and a major milestone achieved for the UPayments portfolio.

For the first time in Pakistan's history a Telco has offered FT/IBFT services in collaboration with a commercial bank on menu based USSD secured session oriented channel giving liberty to the subscribers to carry out transactions using their existing handsets.

This service enables UPayments active subscribers to transfer funds from their Ufone Handsets using their own HBL account to millions of other HBL accounts or any other member bank accounts listed with 1LINK network across the country. This service can be availed without the internet as users only need to dial *808# from any Ufone handset to access UPayments.

The service not only eliminates the hassle of writing cheques, making demand drafts, reduces the cost of transaction but also eliminates ATM no cash/downtime issues and most importantly the ATM theft cases can be avoided once and for all. Furthermore UPayments FT/IBFT service is available anywhere anytime round-the-clock even on Ufone International Roaming network throughout the world which has over 290 roaming partners.

At present following 17 Banks are listed on 1LINK consortium for FT/IBFT.

Allied Bank Limited
Askari Bank
Bank Al-Falah
Bank Al-Habib
Bank Islami
Bank of Punjab
Dawood Islamic Bank
Faysal Bank Limited
Habib Bank Limited
JS Bank
KASB
NIB Bank
Soneri Bank
Standard Chartered Bank
Summit Bank Limited
Tameer Microfinance Bank
UBL

The entire concept of FT/IFBT grew by challenging the traditional customer service approach where customers approach the organization. The aim of UPayments FT/IBFT at Ufone is to allow customers to avail services at their preferred time, place and mode. With this initiative customers can be served at any time and place at their own convenience using their own handsets!

Speaking on the occasion Taimur Faiz Cheema, Head of Value Added Services and Mobile Financial Services at Ufone said:

Our first priority is the convenience and facilitation of our customers. At Ufone it's all about our valued customers and our team strives to keep up with the new age needs of our customers.

The team at Ufone has worked together with HBL to provide UPayments – ensuring that the customer enjoys complete security and control. By virtue of this service Ufone is determined to build a lasting relationship with its customers and be there for them in the true sense.

This initiative in collaboration with HBL, is an extremely proud achievement for the organization as it is a first of its kind service being provided by any Telco in the country. It is our aim and promise to the customers that Ufone will continue to provide the most innovative, secured and customer friendly services in the country.

Internet: Paradise for Intellectual Property Thieves

Posted: 25 Sep 2011 10:30 PM PDT

We have written over and over on copyright infringements and how they impact legitimate bloggers/content producers. Here are few of those posts:

You can look out for more of such posts, if you use search bar.

I am not going into details this time, but want to highlight few things (after reading a well researched piece from Omair Zeeshan of Express Tribune)

Content Copying is Like Stealing

When you copy content that is owned by someone, it's just like stealing money from someone's wallet, or mobile phone or jewelry.

You can steal the content, reproduce it on your website, and make money. But be informed; it's stealing, like any other form of stealing in the real world. In other words content copying is just like earning from the efforts made by others.

A Country without Law: Pakistan

We repeat, Pakistan is a lawless land when it comes to cyber crimes. The government has been so awful and irresponsible that it isn't able to constitute a law for cyber crime.

Not only the law, but apparently country doesn't even have the ability to deal with incredibly serious cyber crimes like money, identity theft or such as copyright infringement.

In short, there's in this country to catch the content stealers.

In fact, it's not about the law only, our government and law enforcement agencies don't have the required infrastructure to monitor people who steal other people's (intellectual) property.

Making Money from Internet is Not for Everyone:

It's a dilemma that everyone is given a wrong perception that Internet is a money making machine, which is alarming. This perception is largely spread by those fraudsters who misguide people that they can make money from internet by copying/pasting – which is of course illegal. For more details on such kind of people their methodologies visit this page.

You can make legitimate money from Internet only if you can produce your own content. This content can be of any form; say it can be articles, jokes, videos, pictures, music, games or anything that can attract readers to visit your web page.

Conclusion:

Making money from internet by copying/pasting is illegal, but lucrative as there's no legal obligation as there's no law in the country.

Need of the time is to regulate this area by taking necessary measures to protect copyrights over the internet, or this multi-billion dollar industry will get buried in next few years – hurting our national economy, hundreds of thousands of jobs and what not.

Ufone Dhansoo Offer for Uth Customers

Posted: 25 Sep 2011 10:28 PM PDT

Read this post in Urdu

dhansoo offer by Ufone thumb Ufone Dhansoo Offer for Uth Customers Ufone has introduced Dhansoo Offer for it's Uth subscribers that will enable them to make hourly calls at a flat rate of Rs. 1.50 per hour.

Dhansoo Offer comes with a daily subscription fee of Rs. 2 plus tax. Once offer is availed, all Uth to Uth calls will be charged at Rs. 1.50 plus tax per hour – round the clock.

Earlier, Uth customers could make hourly calls for Rs. 2.99 per hour between 12 AM to 5 AM. But now they can make hourly calls round the clock, that too at lower rate.

Tariff:

Uth to Uth calls: Rs. 1.50 plus tax Per hour
All other calls/SMS will be charged as per your base package

Subscription Charges

Ufone Dhansoo offer is a daily subscription based service, i.e. you will have to subscribe to offer on daily basis. Daily subscription will expire at 12 midnight everyday.

Subscription Charges: Rs. 2 plus tax

All other charges, i.e. Uth services charges which are Rs. 1 plus tax, will be charged in addition to Dhansoo offer charges.

How to Subscribe:

Uth Subscribers can dial *25# to avail Dhansoo Offer
If you are not a Uth Subscriber than dial *22# to activate Uth Offer

More details on Uth Package can be found here.

Chairman PTA Launches Broadband Road Show

Posted: 25 Sep 2011 08:50 PM PDT

Huawei Pakistan organized a Broadband Forum and Road Show in collaboration with Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) at Islamabad today. The basic theme of the Forum was "Smarter Network for Better Life".

Chairman PTA, Dr. Mohammed Yaseen, was the Chief Guest on this occasion while, Mr. Leo Xu, Vice President of Middle East Region, Huawei, IT & telecom industry experts, representatives of telecom companies, academia and media representatives attended the Seminar.

Speaking at the occasion, Chairman PTA, Dr. Mohammed Yaseen said that Pakistan has emerged as one of the leading markets in telecommunications. However, it is imperative that we keep on moving forward for further development of the sector bringing more value to it. Arrangement of such events is surely an important step for sharing and identifying the future areas

Chairman added that broadband penetration is driven by a number of factors. PTA as a regulator has an important role in ensuring fast growth of broadband in Pakistan. Though the principal duty with regards to broadband is to maintain a competitive broadband market, yet regulatory actions and strategies regarding broadband are supposed to reflect on the driving forces in form of expanding access, enhancing Citizen Digital Skills, Promoting Local Content and increasing value addition inside the Network (Intelligent Network) and services.

He said that Wireless Broadband is surely an important area of consideration for the industry in future. People are interested in mobility and connectivity at the same time. We will be observing new era of wireless broadband in the country.

During the Seminar, Mr. Leo Xu also shared his expert opinion on future of broadband in the country. He highlighted areas of mobile technologies, broadband, consumer lifestyles, smart phones, mobile content, services and applications etc.

In his closing remarks, Chairman PTA appreciated the efforts of organizers for organizing the event while inviting multi-stakeholders to deliberate on future of digital society in the country. Chairman PTA distributed the souvenirs among the participants during the Forum.

Intel and Roots School System Collaborate to Develop ICT Curriculum

Posted: 25 Sep 2011 08:45 PM PDT

Intel Pakistan and Roots School System (RSS) have announced the successful completion of the Intel and RSS Joint ICT Curriculum where appreciation certificates and mementos were awarded to the project development team.

Chaudhry Qamar Zaman, federal secretary of the Ministry of Professional & Technical Training, kindly consented to be the chief guest on the occasion. Naveed Siraj, country manager, Intel Pakistan; and Faisal Mushtaq, executive director of RSS; and Riffat Mushtaq founder director of RSS, among others, also graced the ceremony.

Keeping in mind the changing paradigm of education today, RSS has co-authored a unique ICT curriculum in collaboration with Intel® Education Initiative under an MOU signed with Intel Pakistan in March 2009. The introduction of this curriculum represents a significant step towards helping schools; teachers and students achieve optimum technology literacy, thus converting them into digital citizens and active learners.

Speaking at the occasion, Intel Pakistan's Siraj said, "ICT in education promotes the acquisition of the knowledge and skills that empower students for lifelong learning. ICT-supported learning encourages interaction and cooperation among students and teachers as it greatly facilitates the absorption of knowledge. We are thankful to RSS in supporting this cause as it serves our mission to open doors to unlimited opportunities and empowerment to students of Pakistan."

The RSS Project Team congratulated and thanked the Intel Education team for inspiring and leading the development of 21st century skills based curriculum. The initiative taken by Roots School System in collaboration with Intel Pakistan has now successfully culminated after 2 years of work.

RSS is moving beyond education and schooling; it aims to change the national education landscape and paradigm through its award winning curriculum, beyond the classroom teaching and learning initiatives, teacher training programmes, qualifications, results, achievements, thus promoting 'social change' and 'community re-engineering'.

RSS Department of Information Communication Technology is committed to ensure that the students and teachers are provided with excellent education that encourages integrated virtual teaching and learning, thus promoting ICT as a common denominator to bridge the digital divide for the 21st century learner.

"We lay tremendous emphasis on developing global community and work-based technological awareness through Curriculum. Building of lifelong skills is a part of the RSS Academic experience and philosophy. RSS remains constantly and inquisitively aware of its responsibility to prepare its students to become digital citizens and future technology leaders." said Mr. Chaudhary Faisal Mushtaq, executive director and project director, ICT, at RSS.

PTCL to Provide ICT Services to all Punjab Boards

Posted: 25 Sep 2011 08:29 PM PDT

Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) has won a bid to provide all Punjab educational boards of intermediate and secondary education with latest information and communications technology (ICT) services.

According to the details, PTCL will be the exclusive provider of ICT services to all eight intermediate and secondary education boards of Punjab including Lahore, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Faisalabad, Sargodha, Multan, Bahawalpur and DG Khan boards.

PTCL will provide data center based hosting services for the customized application software of the boards, countrywide IP based access to students and citizens and secure access to the hosting servers for the customer Network Operation Centers (NOCs).

The ICT services provided by PTCL would enable the Boards of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISEs) with hosting services of their websites providing fast and efficient services to their candidates and visitors with online registration and issuance of registration card, submission of online admission forms and access to the results, retrieval and printing of roll number slips, interface for affiliated schools and colleges and any other services as determined by the BISEs.

Services of PTCL's "Tier 3 certified Data Center" Lahore will form the basis for provisioning of the Managed services in a highly available infrastructure in terms of power, HVAC, security and all other Tier 3 plus data center features, together with appropriate access links to the fully redundant self-healing backbone optical fiber network, higher level of security and technology support to BISE's critical operations.

The ICT services will also provide the management and staff of all the BISEs with an efficient working environment minimizing the hassles of dealing with a large crowd of candidates and students every day and lessening the paper work.

world on your screen

Monday, September 26, 2011