SMS Addiction Leading to Health Problems in Youth: ProPakistani

SMS Addiction Leading to Health Problems in Youth
FIA Raids Pharma Company for Software Piracy
APPATHON: App Contest for Students

SMS Addiction Leading to Health Problems in Youth

Posted: 27 Mar 2012 10:17 PM PDT

Major newspaper (including DAWN) and TV channels yesterday carried this story by APP claiming that widespread availability of cheap unlimited text message plans has made the service as preferred mode of communication for youngsters and its excessive use is leading to health problems among them.

Report said that SMS has surpassed rest of the forms of daily interaction amongst youngsters like face-to-face conversations, voice calling, etc.

It said that 60 per cent of youngsters send and receive over 125 text messages daily to interact with their peer group.

Report claimed that excessive texting is leading to a number of problems for kids such as insomnia, depression, lack of eating, isolation etc.

Almost 90 per cent of those interviewed by APP admitted that they sleep with their cell phone lying next to them and thus, keep slightly awake most of the time during their sleep.

Majority of respondents admitted that they are often awakened by a phone call or a text message after going to bed and the lack of sleep has affecting their work and progress.

On a related note, very similar survey with almost similar results was conducted by Indian industry body Assocham back in July 2011. Interestingly APP's findings exactly match with this study done by ASSOCHAM. And don't get amazed if we tell you that we had revealed exactly similar impacts of SMS/Night Packages on youth back in July 2008.

Here's what exactly we reported in 2008:

These night packages have made people lazy. As they don't enjoy sound sleep at night and of course they have to do a lot of work at day as well so it is making them both physically and mentally sick.

Eating disorder is common among these people. They don't go to anyone's home as they can't afford to waste any "free" night.

FIA Raids Pharma Company for Software Piracy

Posted: 27 Mar 2012 10:10 PM PDT

In a demonstration of the government's resolve to curb the menace of piracy, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has initiated a crackdown on corporate users of unlicensed computer software.

Acting on a complaint, the FIA this week raided a large pharmaceutical company with offices in Rawalpindi and Islamabad. The company has been accused of using pirated software, in other words, unlicensed software.

The production, sale, copy, purchase or usage of unlicensed software is an offence, punishable under Section 66 of Chapter XIV of the Copyright Ordinance 1962 and can lead to criminal prosecution for violation of the law.

The FIA raid resulted in the confiscation of computers loaded with unlicensed software, including Microsoft® Windows and Microsoft Office. The use of unlicensed software by a large company of this nature reflects the scale to which the issue of software piracy has proliferated into penetrated the country.

Pakistan remains a haven for software piracy. According to a study conducted by the IDC for the Business Software Alliance (BSA), the leading global organization that is the voice of the global commercial software industry and its hardware partners before governments and in the international marketplace, released on May 2011, the rate of software piracy in Pakistan was 84% during the past year. As a result, the country is now amongst those with one of the highest piracy rates in the world. This has adversely affected the competitive image of the country among IT investors.

Kamal Ahmed, Country Manager Microsoft Pakistan remarked, "Software piracy is a significant threat locally and we as a nation need to take concrete steps to curb it. It is unacceptable when profitable commercial organizations indulge in software piracy with complete disregard to the law, often in a manner which gives them an unfair cost advantage over Pakistan companies with licensed software. Promoting a culture that respects IPR, in software and other industries, will attract greater foreign investment in our economy and also provide an incentive to local entrepreneurs to explore new ideas."

According to a survey by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), conducted for BSA, the country's IT competitiveness ranking has declined to 62^nd in the world, which is behind other regional countries like India and Sri Lanka. Most importantly, the unchecked trade of pirated software in the country is exposing unsuspecting software users to the hazards of malware, viruses and other online scams.

APPATHON: App Contest for Students

Posted: 27 Mar 2012 09:29 PM PDT

Read this post in Urdu

Microsoft envisions the professionals from industry working in close contact with the students and faculty from the education sector, where professional experience along with the knowledge of current technologies being used in the IT industry and the creative new ideas from the minds of tomorrow can help produce the next breakthrough in the IT Industry.

Keeping it in mind, Microsoft plans to initiate the first of its kind Industry Academia Collaboration event with the focus set on Windows Phone7 Application Development.

Microsoft Pakistan in alliance with P@SHA, HEC, wi-tribe, ProPakistani and Comsats is holding an Application Development Appathon & Exhibition at Comsats Institute of Information Technology, Islamabad.

10+ top universities from Islamabad and Lahore with more than 100 students are expected to participate where they will publish and showcase their applications.

Microsoft said that this apps exhibition will be giving students a chance to visit their stations, see what they have developed and discuss how they have done it

Students willing to participate and showcase their work to not only Microsoft but the Industry and Academicians present there, can get themselves registered with Microsoft for the event.

The competition is unique, in that the participants are not restricted to developing applications only on the assigned dates of the competition. Instead, the applicants can start developing their applications NOW. What this means for them is that there is no time restriction. Develop as much as you want, in the development environment you desire.

The participants will be welcomed to COMSATS Institute where they will be required to upload all the applications they have created to Yalla Apps Marketplace using Student Cards which will be provided to all the participants on the day of the Event. A brief agenda of the event is as follows:

31^st March 2012:

Time	Activity
9:30am – 10:30am	Introductory gathering and distribution of Student access card
10:30am – 1:00 pm	First phase of App Publishing
1:00pm – 2:30pm	Lunch and Prayer
2:30pm – 5:00pm	Second phase of App Publishing

1^st April 2012:

Time	Activity
9:30am – 12:00pm	Gathering and Third and Final phase of App Publishing
12:30pm-4:00pm	App Exhibition
1:00pm – 2:30pm	Lunch and Prayers
2-30pm – 3:30pm	Kinect Programming with Ali Sufyan
3:30pm – 4:00pm	Launch of Wi-tribe Bazaar in Partnership with Microsoft Pakistan
4:00pm – onwards	Prize distribution ceremony