Apple is a leading company when it comes to tablets and smartphones and it’s all thanks to the iPhone and iPad. Both iPhone and iPad provide amazing quality and design and it’s the main reason why are they so popular among the users. As you know, first iPhone was released in 2007 and we have seen new models of this amazing phone in the each following year. Speaking of its popularity, each iPhone model was sold in more than million copies over the first week, so we don’t know how many millions of iPhones has been sold over the years. As for iPad, it was released this year and for just few months it has been sold in more than three million copies. Both of these devices provide amazing quality and more than 200, 000 apps that have been approved by Apple. Speaking of apps, we have seen many different apps available for these devices that have provided us features such as GPS navigation, social networking and so much more. Few months ago, official Skype app has been released for iPhone and iPod but it had certain limitations. Now we have a new and improved version of this app so let’s see what does the updated Skype app for iPhone and iPad has to offer.

Skype is highly popular IM service that allows you to chat with other Skype users with ease, but that’s not all. Unlike other instant messengers that allow you to chat, Skype provides you with Skype to Skype calls, and calls to landline and mobile phones. However, Skype for iPhone had some issues so you couldn’t use this application while multitasking. That was quite a bother but luckily, that has changed with this version. With the new version of Skype you can multitask with ease. You can even receive IMs and calls while using any other applications. All that you have to do is to keep your Skype application open and that’s it. New Skype app fully supports multitasking on iOS 4 and now we’re just waiting to see Skype to Skype video chat option for iPhone.

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Syria has forbidden the country’s students and teachers from wearing the niqab — the full Islamic veil that reveals only a woman’s eyes. The ban shows a rare point of agreement between Syria’s secular, authoritarian government and the democracies of Europe: Both view the niqab as a potentially destabilizing threat.

The government also reportedly forced 1,200 women teachers who wore the burka to leave their jobs or seek reassignment away from classroom duties.

The issue of full face veils has caused controversy in other countries. The new government efforts were described as an attempt to fight the inroads radical Islam has been making over the recent years into Syrian society. The issue has been debated across Europe, where France, Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands are considering banning the niqab on the grounds it is degrading to women.

In 2009, Egypt’s then foremost Muslim cleric, Sheikh Mohammed Sayed Tantawi, barred female students from wearing the full-face veil at the al-Azhar University, Sunni Islam’s centre of learning and scholarship.

Earlier this month, France’s lower house of parliament overwhelmingly approved a bill that would ban wearing the Islamic full veil in public.

Belgium’s lower house of parliament has also passed a bill to ban clothing that hides a person’s identity in public places, although it does not specifically refer to full-face Islamic veils.

The niqab is not widespread in Syria, although it has become more common in recent years, a development that has not gone unnoticed by the authoritarian government. In recent years, Syria has witnessed an Islamic revival with more and more women wearing the Hijab.

The Human Rights Watch reported that the Pakistani army has carried out 238 extrajudicial killings of people in the Swat Valley since September last year. The Human Rights Watch report says that while police have also been involved in the killings, but most of them have been carried out by the army.

There were at least seven cases where Taliban suspects have been arrested and taken away by the army, according to the report. Their bodies have later been found with bullet wounds and marks of torture.

In one case, the 12-Punjab regiment detained a resident of the Matta area of Swat, named Farman Ali, along with two other men on 28 March this year. The bodies of the other two men were later produced by the military and presented as Taliban militants who had allegedly been killed in a clash with the army.

Local citizens have told HRW that the men were arrested by the army and that they were not connected to the Taliban.

The Mercer, a human resource and related financial services consulting firm, headquartered in New York City, survey covers 214 cities across five continents and measures the comparative cost of over 200 items in each location, including housing, transport, food, clothing, household goods and entertainment.

Luanda, capital of Angola, ranked 1st.

It is the world’s most comprehensive cost of living survey.

For the first time, the ranking of the world’s top 10 most expensive cities includes three African urban centres: Luanda (1) in Angola, Ndjamena (3) in Chad and Libreville (7) in Gabon. The top ten also includes three Asian cities; Tokyo (2), Osaka (6) and Hong Kong (jointly ranked 8). Moscow (4), Geneva (5) and Zurich (joint 8 ) are the most expensive European cities, followed by Copenhagen (10).

Karachi was ranked last (214), which means that it is the cheapest city to live among the cities surveyed in this latest survey. Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan was ranked 212.

]]> http://www.pakbits.com/2010/07/world%e2%80%99s-most-expensive-cities/feed/ 0 http://www.pakbits.com/2010/07/apple-patent-haptic-feedback/ http://www.pakbits.com/2010/07/apple-patent-haptic-feedback/#comments Thu, 01 Jul 2010 11:54:15 +0000 Adeel Awan http://www.pakbits.com/?p=726

Apple has filed yet another patent on a technology for haptic feedback. Apple Insider writes that Apple is still working on ideas for a screen with haptic feedback. Haptic feedback is a function which makes you feel when you press a button on a touchscreen . This means aige that through touch can feel that you press something. This makes it more natural to write when the feeling will remind more of a real keyboard. Especially writing without looking at the screen , which today is near-impossible , will be easier.

Besides giving feedback when you write on the screen, describing the new patent a feature that makes you can get feedback when certain limits on screen exceeded. This could be the edge of a picture or simulation of a click wheel, as we know from the old iPods.

Unfortunately, it all still at the prototype level, but hopefully it will not last too long before we see an idea like this come true .

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and Pepsi Cola International launched a talent hunt programme with the name ‘Pepsi Cricket Activation’.  Joint press conference by PCB and Pepsi Cola officials concluded that the main mission of this programme is to select talented cricketers from all over the country. The PCB represent by Intikhab Alam and Wasim Bari whereas Khurram Koraishy represent Pepsi Cola.

The spokesperson for the Pepsi Cola said that many talented young boys may never get a chance to get selected for the national cricket team due to lack of opportunities. “For these young talented boys of Pakistan, Pepsi and PCB are launching this training programme where each and every boy, whether he belongs to any province or any city in Pakistan, will get a fair chance for getting short listed for being trained at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) and eventually for the Pakistan cricket team.”

In the first stage of the programme, the tryouts will be held across Pakistan in which more than 100 cities will be covered: from Lahore, Karachi, Islamabad, FATA to Swabi, Turbat and Dadu. Boy’s who are under 16 years of age will get a chance to prove his determination and selected by PCB’s qualified coaches and selectors. The selected individuals will then be grouped into 12 teams (11 regional and one FATA teams) and a regional tournament will be held surrounded by the most talented youth of the country. From this tournament, top 25 will be selected for rigorous training section at different level and if they remain performing well they will get a chance to get selected for the Under-19 team.

“International Housing, Real Estate & Construction Industry Show” scheduled from 27-29 July 2010 at Karachi Expo Centre is being planned by Global Association of Exhibition Industry (Paris – France), with aspire to focal point on the enormous prospective of the Building and Construction Industry in Pakistan.  The affair also includes the contribution of Furniture Asia, Property Asia and Stonefair Asia International Exhibition.

“International Housing, Real Estate & Construction Industry Show” will also feature the most inclusive collection of International Conference to make available networking platform to engineers, constructors, builders, consultants, government officials, bankers, policy makers, stakeholders and other practitioners and professionals of housing and construction Industry of Pakistan.

Build Asia International Housing & Building Construction show will display latest Technological Advancement of Equipments, Materials, Services and Techniques in the associated fields, providing prospects to Overseas Exhibitors to interact with entrepreneurs in Pakistan for joint ventures, transfer of technologies and appointing Agents / Distributors / Partners.

I-Prize is a global competition organized by Cisco in which entrepreneurs from all over the word have to  submit their proposals and collaborate to create the fundamental idea for Cisco’s next billion-dollar business. Pakistani Student Syed Imtiaz Ahmed has reached into the finals of Cisco’s ‘I-Prize’, a global innovation contest, for his mobile commerce idea dubbed as Pay 2.0.

The winning team will be hired by Cisco and will also get  a grand prize of US$250,000. Cisco I-Prize was started in January 2010, Pay 2.0 was selected in its first round ended up in 30th April 2010. Pay 2.0 was selected among of 32 semifinalists and then ultimately for the finals. Pay 2.0 is selected out of more than one thousand ideas and more than three thousand contestants from 156 countries of the world. Pay 2.0 along with eight other ideas are now in final.

Asif Raza and Shakeel Tabassam, are  Syed Imtiaz’s long time friend and they joined him after the semi finals before this Syed was solely contesting.

Imtiaz Ahmed, Asif Raza and Shakeel Tabassam will be demoing their presentations to Cisco top management on June 21^st from Dubai and Finland using Cisco’s Tele-presence solution. Winner will be announced by John Chambers and Marthin De Beer at Cisco Live on June 29, 2010.

What is Pay 2.0?

Ufone, one of the leading telecom companies in Pakistan, is celebrating Football World Cup 2010 with gusto and gaiety as the company kick started Uth FUTSAL (A shorter or “T20 version” of Football) in its traditionally vigorous way in the country.

Uth FUTSAL has been launched with exciting promotions in Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi. The idea is unique since it caters well for time constraints and paucity of play grounds

FUTSAL is a variant of football that is played on a smaller playing surface. This name is derived from Portuguese and Spanish words which can be translated as “hall football.”

FUTSAL is played on a surface delimited by lines and between two teams of five players, one of whom is the goalkeeper and is played with a smaller ball with less bounce than a regulation football.

Organized according to international standards of this game, Ufone will host a back-to-back chain of matches in Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi in the first half of July this year. Out of the two day activity at each of the three stations, day one will conclude with underground bands performing live. On day two, the final of that city will be played followed by a concert of the very renowned ‘Call the Band’ for which the passes are available in all three cities with the Uth squad, comprising of the very talented Uth brand ambassadors. The Uth ambassadors shall inform the youth about the recently launched ‘Uth Package’ which is professionally crafted to cater for the needs of the youth of Pakistan.

The first match of this series will be held in Lahore on July 5th followed by final on 6th. On the same pattern, a two day activity will be hosted in Islamabad on the 6th & 7th similarly in Karachi on the 10th & 11th.

Mr. Akbar Khan Chief Marketing Officer Ufone said, “The youth is the future of the country and Ufone’s Uth package has been designed to ensure we cater to each of the youths likes. Being a part of the Uth family is sure to bring many surprises for the youth of Pakistan”. “FUTSAL is only the beginning of many of the surprises planned for our valued customers. As always Ufone is striving to bring a smile to all segments of the society”, he added.

An embarrassing situation was faced by Fauzia Wahab when the Deputy Speaker switched off her mike during an address to the National Assembly on Friday.

Deputy Speaker Faisal Karim Kundi asked PPP’s Information Secretary Fauzia Wahab to sit down for her time to address was over.

During debate on budget, Fouzia Wahab of PPP tried to speak without permission on which her microphone has been closed on the orders of deputy speaker. Z99BQ5YBA7CY

When she did not give any heed to the orders for another time, Kundi got her mike switched off.