USF Awards Projects For Balochistan And South Punjab

Universal Service Fund has achieved another milestone by reaching out to the remote rural areas in Balochistan. It was just recently that we had written about the digital divide within Pakistan and expressed the hope that the efforts of USF will bridge this divide. We received the announcement today that:

USF has signed contracts for providing basic telecom services in Nasirabad (Balochistan) with CM Pak and Broadband Services in Multan Telecom Region (Southern Punjab) with World Call. CEO CM Pak, Mr. Qian Li and CEO World Call, Babar Ali Syed signed these contracts with CEO Universal Service Fund, Parvez Iftikhar.

For the Rural Telecom project, CMPak will be paid Rs. 1.57 Billion to provide telephony services to 648 unserved Mauzas to serve a population of around half a million in districts of Bolan, Jaffarabad, Jhal Magsi and Nasirabad of Balochistan. See map below, taken from USF site.

Whereas in the Broadband project, WorldCall will be paid Rs. 785 Million to provide broadband connections in 11 districts (38 small towns) of Southern Punjab, in addition to establishing 27 Educational Broadband Centres in high-schools, colleges and libraries plus 121 Community Broadband Centres. It is noteworthy that this is in addition to broadband services in MTR that PTCL will provide under a contract with Universal Service Fund signed last month.

More from the press release after the break.

Giving his remarks on the occasion, Federal Secretary for Information Technology, Mr. Naguibullah Malik said that the Ministry of IT is striving to reinvigorate and stimulate the ICT sector by increasing level of telecom penetration in unserved areas of the country. He informed that Ministry of IT, through Universal Service Fund, has been successfully executing rural-telecom, broadband and optic-fiber programmes that are playing a huge role in socio-economic development in rural and semi-urban Pakistan. He further stated that Broadband Programme will give impetus to provision of other e-services like e-education, e-health, e-government, e-commerce etc.

CEO of Universal Service Fund informed that after signing the two contracts, the total amount of subsidies through Universal Service Fund have crossed Rs. 10 Billion, which has generated total investments of Rs. 16 Billion in unserved areas of the country. Seven major Telecom Service Providers are rolling out these services under contracts with Universal Service Fund. The number of villages where services have already started with the help of Universal Service Fund has exceeded one thousand. Work is in progress for another five thousand villages, including 648 under today’s contract with CMPak. Another five thousand remaining unserved villages shall be covered by Universal Service Fund through future auctions.

New Site Lets Citizens Follow the Government's IT Money Trail

It may not seem like most people's idea of summer reading. Then again, it is the chance to engage in some detective work with billions of dollars and terabytes of sensitive government data at stake. Better yet, you don't have to spend any money to read this latest techno-thriller. IT Dashboard is the new free online service launched Tuesday by the Obama administration to let Americans view how their tax money is spent on information technology. The Dashboard contains animated pie-chart graphics and links to information on 157 investments from 20-plus government agencies.

EU Slashes Mobile-Phone Roaming Rates

The European Union has dramatically slashed the rates that wireless carriers can charge consumers roaming across the EU's member states.

Previous rate reductions introduced in 2007 cut the cost of voice roaming calls within the EU by 70 percent. Under the new rules that went into effect Wednesday, noted EU Telecommunications Commissioner Viviane Reding, EU roaming charges have been reduced by a further 60 percent.

"The roaming rip-off is now coming to an end, thanks to the determined action of the European Commission, the European Parliament, and all 27 EU member states," Reding said. "From today, all Europeans making calls or sending texts with their mobiles can experience the EU's single market without borders."

The Downside for Carriers

Though the new EU rules are limited to reducing the rates that wireless operators charge each other, Reding expects the changes will make it much cheaper for roaming consumers to place and receive calls, send text messages, and surf the Web on mobile phones.

"I call on the mobile industry to pass these savings on to data roaming customers swiftly," Reding said. "The commission and national regulators will monitor data roaming charges very carefully and assess next year whether the roaming market is finally becoming competitive."

The new rules come at an inopportune time for the region's wireless carriers. The EU's earlier roaming cuts have already had a negative impact on the carriers, which previously had "made margins on inter-country calls, and particularly on data roaming," said Jessica Ekholm, a Gartner principal research analyst. T-Mobile said earlier this year that "lower roaming revenues and newly introduced regulation on roaming and termination charges had a negative impact on revenues."

Despite Danger, Iranian Protesters Won't Be Silenced

The Iranian protesters sneak their cellphones onto the streets and hit record, frantically trying to evade being caught or beaten. The shaky, grainy images are emailed to friends. Then they are uploaded to blogs, YouTube or social networking sites -- offering the world some of the only firsthand glimpses of tensions following disputed presidential elections on June 12. However, the Internet window on Iran's upheaval is being increasingly blacked out by the information crackdown by authorities.

YouTube Opens Digital J-School for Amateur Reporters

How do you conduct a great interview? For Katie Couric, it all starts with being a gracious host. "I think the more comfortable you make someone feel, the better interview you'll get," she says. "I know in terms of body language I always try to be very warm and welcoming. It's really critical to put someone at ease." How do you write a great piece of investigative journalism? For Bob Woodward, it's all about calling a lot of people, finding the right documentation -- "and getting your ass out of the chair."

New Swiss Airplane to fly 24×7 on sun juice; is Solar finally coming of age?

A new Swiss aircraft will be the first to fly night and day without the need for any external source of energy. All its power needs will be met by the nearly 12,000 solar cells mounted on top of its wings. And those are pretty large wings too, mind you. The span is about the same as a Boeing 747, which stands at about 229 feet.

Inspiring By Interviews: In The Line Of Wire

Jehan Ara has been talking to some very interesting people. And you know what’s great about the interviews? You can be anywhere in the world but you can hear about the positive work happening in Pakistan. Just a few years ago it was hard to stay in touch and figure out what everyone else in the small but growing tech space of Pakistan was doing. Now we have the right set of tools technologies and connectivity to spread the word and keep us connected.

Jehan Ara and team have proved that it is possible to inspire, even in difficult times like these. There’s an art to the interviews - finding interesting people, asking the right questions, making them comfortable and then allowing the interviewees to talk about their passion.

Such candid interviews present a picture of progress and accomplishments which is extremely important to share with the world. Sharing information and inspiration can result in unexpected side benefits as well. Moreover, these interviews have also connected people and some have resulted in business inquiries and joint venture opportunities.

In case you have missed some of the recent interviews, here are links to a few of the many:

• Azhar Rizvi - MITEF Pakistan, Tech Angels Network - Post, Interview
• Zafar Khan - Sofizar. Post, Interview
• Dr Arshad Ali - EECS - Post, Interview
• Farzal Dojki - Post, Video
• Asharaf Kapadia - Post, Interview
• Shahzad Shahid - Post, Video

What motivates you to do all this, I asked Jehan Ara.

I am just so excited by all the innovation and growth that is taking place in this industry and I want to talk about it. If I make my guests comfortable enough so that they share information about themselves, their struggles, their successes, what motivates them, then I have been successful. I strive to ensure that their voices are heard.

Telematics In Pakistan

This is an introductory post on the topic of Telematics and how it could be used in Pakistan. Telematics refers to the convergence of telecommunications and information processing in the context of automobiles. Services which are enabled by telematics include safety and security (get help after a crash, ask for help with a dead battery, stolen car alert), convenience (traffic alerts, find an address, remotely unlock a door) and other (download content to car, book a hotel room). Telematics used to be offered by expensive car makers but it is now becoming mainstream rapidly.

Lets take a look at what components and technologies are involved in building a telematics solution.

• Hardware - TCU (Telematics Control Unit) - a box which is placed in the car and has GPS
• Connectivity for voice (call center) and data (GSM or CDMA for sms and TCP/IP data)
• Software (server-side platform which manages the entire solution)
• Services and applications (e.g. speech recognition, POI data, call center)

Overall building a telematics solution is very much like a systems integration work. From connecting the hardware to data centers, managing the wireless data and voice, providing the information to a specialized call center and coordinating the response with different types of providers (emergency, police, roadside assistance, insurance etc). Protocols are defined to communicate between different components and to handle messages in SMS format or to handle packet data.

Most common scenario of telematics is when a car is in accident. Modern TCUs can sense the crash and send the data automatically to the system, alerting a call center about the crash severity and the location. Emergency help can thus be sent. Other scenario is when a person gets stranded on a road and needs help, then the SOS button in the car is pushed and a call is initiated to the call center from the car. Of course a wireless signal is needed for the TCU to dial out. Similarly a call center can call back the car.

Fleet tracking (commercial vehicles - taxis, buses, company vans, trucks etc) is another big area where the cost of telematics is justified because of business advantages.

In developing countries, services such as stolen vehicle alert and location could be useful. Since a vast majority of the cars do not come with the hardware, retrofitting of cars with TCU/GPS units will be most common. Once there is connectivity and a way to send data over the air, many different solutions can be built. You can have a geo-fence application which can alert you if your car moves out of a certain radius. Parents can track the movement of the car when their kids are driving. Of course the modern cars have many sensor built into the car so one can imagine all kinds of automobile data being sent over the air. Vehicle data can be used for troubleshooting, diagnostics and maintenance alerts.

In Pakistan there are a few companies and groups working on telematics (perhaps as distributors of foreign hardware makers) but the market is not ready for massive adoption - most probably due to hardware cost, complexity of building solutions and the limited number of people who are willing to pay for such service. It usually takes the car makers a few years to plan out a complete telematics solution so we might see something in the next 2-3 years in limited models. At least a good and affrodable telecom and wirless infrastructure is in place in Pakistan to support the telematics services. There is plenty of activity in this area in India.

The Troublesome Task of Rejiggering the Keyboard

Lenovo put nearly a year of research into two design changes that debuted on an updated ThinkPad laptop this week. No, not the thinner, lighter form or the textured touchpad -- rather, the extra-large "Delete" and "Escape" keys. It may seem like a small change, but David Hill, vice president of corporate identity and design at Lenovo, points out, "Any time you start messing around with the keyboard, people get nervous." Computers get smaller and faster every year, but keyboard design remains largely stuck in the 19th century.

Jackson doctor did not inject painkillers: lawyer - Reuters

Jackson doctor did not inject painkillers: lawyer LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The personal physician at Michael Jackson's side when he died told police he did not inject the singer with painkillers that friends say might be behind the King of Pop's death on the brink ...

Building a Better 'Bot: Behind the Scenes With the Transformers

Giant alien robots don't actually exist. So the dozens featured in "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" had to be built from the ground up. That effort took hundreds of artists, thousands of hours and even caused one computer to explode. "We lost some machinery," visual effects supervisor Scott Farrar said with a smile. "The thing just kind of gave up." A high-tech blockbuster, "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" is practically two movies in one. There's the live-action element, which took director Michael Bay and his cast to Egypt, Jordan and New Mexico.

The World Wins South Korea for Firefox

Open...: "I've written before about the curious case of South Korea, where the use of Internet Explorer and ActiveX is almost mandatory. I rather despaired of anything changing this situation, since there didn't seem to be any way to get around it from outside. And yet, remarkably, change is coming"

Google Throws Its Voice to the Masses

Three months after unveiling its Google Voice application, Google unveiled a limited public roll-out on Thursday. The application's home site says the tool is available by invitation only. Anyone can sign up for an invitation, though they must then wait for a go-ahead from Google. Google has added several features to the application since March. It's not yet clear how Google will monetize the service, but there has been speculation that Google might sell ads. Asking for an invitation to participate in the limited roll-out is easy, though it appears one will have to wait on Google.

India a natural destination for Hollywood studios

Washington, With a growing middle class, a large English-speaking populace, a booming number of multiplexes and a cinema-obsessed popular culture, India is a natural destination for Hollywood studios, say US and Indian business leaders.

Pointing to the worldwide success of “Slumdog Millionaire” and the release of latest James Bond film, “Quantum of Solace,” in India a full week before its American opening, they suggest a fostering of Hollywood-Bollywood connections.

“The United States and India possess the world’s largest entertainment and media industries, both in terms of sheer output and global popularity. Yet traditionally neither industry had much interaction with the other or enjoyed success in the other’s domestic market,” they noted in a new report released Wednesday.

“However, two signal events, both occurring in recent months, point the way to how important synergies can be exploited for producing new content, forging new creative collaborations and accessing new markets,” the experts said referring to the two films.

Specifically, a task force set up by the Pacific Council on International Policy and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) recommended:

- The United States and India should craft a common approach on cultural market access and use their strategic positions to advance it in global trade negotiations.

- Both countries should devise a joint plan for advancing the digital transformation of the global media industry.

- Both governments should provide adequate funding for efforts to develop advanced fiber-optic networks that enable real-time creative and production partnerships between the two countries.

- Create short-term exchange programmes between US and Indian production companies and film schools designed to foster genuine creative interactions.

- Washington should encourage the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to help the Indian film industry create a counterpart institution.

- The United States and India should eliminate tax and regulatory barriers that continue to impede bi-national production partnerships.

Blogger Gets Front-Row Seat at Obama Press Conference

White House officials phoned a blogger from a popular left-leaning Web site on Monday evening to tell him that President Barack Obama had been impressed with his online reporting about Iran. Could the writer pass along a question from an Iranian during the president's news conference on Tuesday? Of course. The next day, The Huffington Post's Nico Pitney, the Web site's national editor, got a prime location in the White House Briefing Room and was the second reporter Obama picked for a question.

Apple's iPhone 3GS Sales Strong Even in a Recession

Apple sold one million iPhone 3GS devices during its launch weekend, leading many to wonder whether the iPhone is recession-proof. Although it's not clear how many of those phones went to consumers who canceled wireless contracts with companies like Verizon and Sprint to get in on the exclusive AT&T deal, it's clear that many people may be ready to purchase an iPhone.

Specifically, four out of 10 BlackBerry and other smartphone users would switch to Apple's iPhone as their next smartphone purchase, according to a survey by Crowd Science. On the other hand, only 14 percent of non-BlackBerry smartphone users would switch to a BlackBerry for their next purchase. Meanwhile, 82 percent of iPhone users are loyal to Apple's device.

"These results reflect the great challenges BlackBerry faces in stemming the iPhone stampede," said John Martin, CEO of Crowd Science. "In the days ahead, we'll lean on our research platform and continue to gauge the mindset of smartphone users and address the changing mobile landscape, including the Palm Pre, the iPhone 3GS, and other up-to-the-minute developments."

BlackBerry Still Dominates

Crowd Science offered additional insights into the smartphone population. For starters, iPhone users outpace other smartphone owners in their use of a wide variety of phone functions, from Internet and e-mail to music, Wi-Fi and GPS.

What's more, when compared with BlackBerry users, iPhone users report a significantly higher overall satisfaction level with their phone. In particular, iPhone users are more satisfied than other smartphone users with the screen size, navigation, availability of add-ons, and video playback. Finally, 71 percent of smartphone owners use their devices for both business and personal matters, with only three percent using them for business alone.

Apple isn't dominating the smartphone market, though, at least not yet. According to Gartner, Apple doubled its share of the worldwide smartphone market in the first...

Impatient Palm Pre Developers Are Hacking webOS

Palm indicated last week that is working to make its Mojo software development kit for the new Palm Pre available to all developers before the end of the summer. Though Palm initially restricted SDK access to a limited number of partners, the company now says it is ready to take a limited number of applications from developers.

But Palm said not everyone will receive the new SDK right away because it wants a small group of developers to kick the tires on its APIs, tools and docs before releasing them to the rest of the world.

"Our goal is to make the SDK available to everyone by the end of this summer, and to get there in stages," said Palm Developer Community Manager Chuq Von Rospach. "Beginning immediately, we'll accelerate the growth of the early-access program," which "will grow from hundreds to thousands of developers."

A Major Holdup

According to Medialets, the Palm Pre application catalog has already grown from 18 applications at the smartphone's launch June 6 to 30 applications as of last week. During this period, the Palm Pre catalog generated more than 650,000 software downloads, the mobile analytics firm said.

Medialets notes that one of the major holdups behind Palm's release of a public SDK is the Palm Pre app catalog itself. Developers have been continually jockeying to position themselves at the top of the catalog's "most recent" category by simply posting an upgrade, which changes the date of the app and moves it up the list, the mobile analytics firm observed.

"After all the gaming we've seen take place in the app store, this issue, coupled with a lack of a payment system in the store itself, are two of the major reasons why the app catalog isn't ready to handle the volume of submissions that a public SDK...

Obama to create panel for auto workers

WASHINGTON (AFP) — President Barack Obama is to reach out to workers in the battered US auto sector on Tuesday, announcing the establishment of a policy panel to address their woes.

The White House is to create a "Council on Automotive Communities and Workers," which will be charged to recommending policies that would help auto workers, an administration official said.

After decades of industry decline, workers have recently been buffeted by plant closures, slumping car sales and production plant sell-offs.

According to the government's own estimates, 400,000 jobs have been lost in the industry.

Big names like General Motors and Chrysler have been brought to their knees, forced to lend tens of billions from the government to keep afloat.

Obama has ushered the firms toward bankruptcy in order to hive-off non-core businesses, but it has come at a political cost for the administration.

Bankruptcy has shuttered some factories and put dealerships and parts manufacturers on notice, as the impact of the crisis continues to trickling down across the sector.

But Obama will hope to capitalize on some glimmers of hope.

Chrysler, which emerged from bankruptcy protection earlier this month, has said it will resume production at seven of its North American assembly plants at the end of the month.

The panel is expected to be announced later Tuesday by Vice President Joe Biden during a visit to Perrysburg, Ohio, where one firm is making state-of-the-art solar panels.

But it will be Obama who signs it into existence through an executive order.

The panel will be headed by "car czar" Ed Montgomery.

Hunch.com Provides Limited Help, Still Fun to Play With

I'm sick of spending so much time making decisions, like what to eat for lunch or where to go on a date. So lately I've been outsourcing the process to a free new Web service that is happy to do it for me. Hunch, which was cofounded by one of the people who launched the popular photo-sharing service Flickr, helps you make thousands of decisions ranging from "Am I drunk right now?" to "Which Zelda game should I play?" Hunch asks you several multiple-choice questions to help it hone in on the best advice. The breadth of topics on the site is pretty limited.