Cartoon contest and counter-contest Online now

Holocaust cartoon gets entries

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - An Iranian newspaper's contest for cartoons about the Holocaust, launched Monday in response to a series of caricatures about the Prophet Mohammed, has already drawn at least two entries - one from Brazil and one from Australia, the paper said. Hamshahri, one of Iran's top five newspapers, said its contest was a test of the Western world's readiness to print cartoons about the Nazi slaughter of 6 million Jews in World War II. It called for cartoons under the title: ``What is the Limit of Western Freedom of Expression?''

 

Israel Launches SEO Contest Against Iran Holocaust Cartoons
In response to Iran's best-selling newspaper announcing a competition to find the best cartoons about the Holocaust, the Israel News Agency launched an SEO - Internet search engine optimization marketing contest to prevent Iran news Websites from reaching top positions in Google. "When I heard that a newspaper in Iran was now holding a cartoon contest on the Holocaust, I knew that SEO would be the most potent tool in combating it," said Joel Leyden, publisher of the Israel News Agency. "That 12 winners in Iran would have their Holocaust cartoons published and would receive two gold coins (worth about $140 each) as a prize, I donned my SEO Israel Defense Forces uniform, cocked and loaded my keyboard. There is no way that Iran will spit on the graves of over 6 million Jews who perished in the Holocaust."

 

An award for telecom

Dawn's Editorial in today's edition: "WITH all the conspiracy theorists predicting gloom and doom for the country, the news that Pakistan has received an international award for progress and development made in its telecommunication sector proves that all is not that bad after all. It has been awarded the Government Leadership Award 2006 beating heavyweight India, a serious contender for the award. This is no small achievement in a highly competitive field. Recognized for its “remarkable work in the field” by the competitive board of Global System of Mobile Association, Pakistan was lauded for creating a booming mobile communication sector by reducing tariffs and expanding the mobile subscribers’ base to 20 million in just three years. Pakistan hopes to increase this base to 50 million in the next three to four years. This can be achieved provided that the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority’s planned investment of Rs 20 billion in the telecom sector during 2004-5 materializes and it receives two billion dollars over the next few years. There are many indicators to prove that the time is ripe for investment in this sector. In the last year or so, two major international mobile phone operators opened shop here and have performed well. Then there are wireless loop operators entering the market with various high-tech options once unimaginable.The mobile phone is no longer a rich man’s luxury as it was at one time but a necessity for everyone. Those in the service sector — like plumbers and electricians — are now always available on the phone and it has opened new vistas for lower-income entrepreneurs, who, through various micro-finance schemes, can use their mobile phones to attract business. This conducive environment will allow more players into the market and give consumers a wider choice of networks to choose from. Once the option of mobile number portability comes into play — allowing consumers to switch networks without changing their existing mobile numbers — service providers will have no option but to ensure their network’s reliability and coverage as on that front many companies have been deficient. For this the PTA will have to play a more effective role as a regulatory body, checking telecom companies’ poor services and ensuring that consumers’ complaints are taken seriously."

PK CDMA Forum

From Irfan Khan's SAIT-list:

 

"The main objective of the Pakistan CDMA Forum is to create awareness, encourage dialogue and promote CDMA technology and its use in Pakistan for telecom operators, broadcasters, manufacturers, software companies, government, academia and the general public. We aspire to provide, through Pakistan CDMA Forum, a platform to people to openly address their queries and provide a resource and database that will provide them accurate and reliable information about the latest news and developments in CDMA."

It takes a lot of smart people to keep launching products constantly that make consumers sit up and take notice. Apple is one such great example. They havent looked back after the iPod, and have made sure its now part of the fashion / lifestyle trends of this century, like Hafsa posted below. Apple have just released the new MacBook Pro. I was excited to read that its four times faster than G4s, but this analysis is the only thing that's stopping me from placing an order for the MacBook Pro right now. Anyone here who disagrees with the analysis?

Google Packs it

Thumbs up to Aleem's post and the ensuing dialogue since we identify with most of it. Will keep this Google post for a few days only. Would you download a Google Pack too?

In a blog entry, Google advertised why they are packing software as one--to make computing simpler. What does it contain? Google goodies [Earth, Picasa, Screensaver to display ur pics, Desktop, Toolbar, Norton for 6 months, Adware, Acrobat 7, and Mozilla. No office, yet.] Nice for school kids.

Bill Gates launches hunt for top Indian student geeks
BANGALORE, India, Dec 9 (AFP) Microsoft chairman Bill Gates launched Friday a talent hunt for India's top student technologists and urged developers to cash in on the digital age. Addressing more than 5,000 developers at the grounds of a historic palace here in India's high-tech capital, Gates said the search dubbed "Code 4 Bill" recognised India's role in nurturing technical talent.
"This is something we have never done before anywhere," Gates said. "It is aimed at pre-final and final year students. The best amongst the participants will get an opportunity to work with my Technical Assistants Team for a year. "I will get to know them. I am very excited about this," he said.
Registrations for the contest will start in January 2006 and students will be tested for their technical and analytical skills. They will also be interviewed by Microsoft technical teams. "Twenty selected students will also intern with Microsoft India before the final selection," Gates said.
India's software industry clocked revenues of more than 17 billion dollars in the last fiscal year to March 2005 and is driven by a large pool of skilled professionals working for almost one-seventh the salaries of their counterparts in the United States.

New cable link b/w UAE-PK

[WAM News agency reports] Emirates Telecommunications & Marine Services FZE- e-marine- a subsidiary of Etisalat, has announced the completion of a new submarine cable connecting UAE and Pakistan, branching to Oman. The project to lay over 1200 kms of submarine cable, awarded to e-marine by Tyco and owned by Trans World Associates (TWA), Pakistan, was completed ahead of planned schedule. Read the news item here.

PK and Iran linking via fiber optic

Pakistan and Iran have decided to establish a working group to address any operational problems ahead of building an optic fiber link between the two countries within the next one year. The decision was taken during a meeting between Minister for Information Technology Awais Ahmad Khan Leghari and Iran's deputy communication minister Kamal Mohamedpour here on Thursday.

The two countries have also decided exchange expertise and technical know-how in the area of telecom training for which officials from the both countries would visit each other to view the status of training facilities and find ways to further coordination and cooperation. Read more here: http://www.iranian.ws/iran_news/publish/article_11238.shtml

'Vignettes from Tunis': Bytesforall is at WSIS

BytesforAll team Frederick Noronha, Partha Sarker and Shahzad Ahmad are reporting on the World Summit on the Information Society.

The APC blog is your front row seat to the event where our friends are blogging as well. Partha is podcasting here.

World Bank consortium launches Web Portal to update quake damages and relief operation

The World Bank (WB) on Thursday launched an information-sharing web portal on Pakistan quake relief activities and related Information Systems for Earthquakes (RISE). The Web-Portal has been prepared in collaboration of academics, research and policy makers of US and Pakistan universities, multilateral organizations, non-governmental organizations and various government departments. It includes information about 727 villages of Muzaffarabad District and (387 of Tehsil) while 494 villages of Mansehra District(258 of Tehsil) in the largely rural North Frontier Province (NWFP) and Azad Jammu & Kashmir (AJK) in Pakistan. The portal will operate while using most recent portal technology to integrate demographic, geographical and satellite images searchable at village level and overlaid with distances from major roads and epicenter. It will continuously update information received via fax, phone, text-massaging and through www.risepak.com during 8 hours turn around.

Sue, Sue, Sue Google

More people want a piece of the $$$$ pie.

 

Authors Guild sues Google over print program

http://www.boingboing.net/2005/09/20/authors_guild_sues_g.html

The Authors Guild on Tuesday filed a class action lawsuit against search engine Google, alleging that its scanning and digitizing of library books constitutes a "massive" copyright infringement. 
 

State of e-governance in Pk

The Centre for Civic Education (CCE), with support from the European Initiative for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR), released a report on the state of e-governance in Pakistan after conducting a thorough web watch exercise of six official and six political party websites, during the August 15 to September 15 peak local body elections period. Their verdict? E-governance still in fluid state.

More Google News

This past week, Google has been interconnecting a lot of its affiliates with Google - Orkut users now have to login via their Gmail address, and Google's just launched the Google Blog Search, a search box to it has also been provided on the main page - Yahoo for Google! ;)

PTCL charging ISPs 15% CED, violating CBR rules

I nearly missed this new one from Imran Ayub at Daily Times: "In a recent move, the ISPs have approached the Central Board of Revenue, disclosing that the PTCL has been charging 15 percent CED on the broadband DSL service, violating the CBR rules and the government policy." Read the entire news item here: http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_30-8-2005_pg5_1

15% GST on computer parts !!!

Just as I have been waiting for the prices on my killer graphics card to go down, yippee, the government hikes the prices up.

The tax-free prices were a welcome and should have remained so. So far computer parts were not what exactly what I call cheap but some how affordable.

First the government announces tax-reliefs in the budget 05-06, public goes happy, government realizes loses in revenues in tax cut, government resorts back to old dirty tricks......... ;)

Where's ma piggy bank, oh shit, I am still Rs. 1557.75 short. If save Rs. 1 a day how long will it take me to.......

What's with Vista!

It's been some time since "Longhorn" the successor to Windows XP has been officially named Windows Vista.

I ponder does 'Vista' sound catchy or has M$ got a blooper on their hands? Though, the logo turns out to be pretty flashy.

MSDN subscribers can download the Beta right away. I'll try to get my hands on it for a preview for our lovely mag and readers of Spider ;)

PTCL's Games.

The Pakistan Telecommunication Company has agreed to pay damages for the losses during the 11-day Internet disruption due to a fault in a key submarine cable in June, but said it would compensate only the Internet service providers.

In a recent development, top PTCL officials held a meeting with the ISPs representatives, but said the compensation would not match the claims made by the operators.

Read the entire story here.

The statement that PTCL will not be paying the full amount of claims of losses made by ISPs is disturbing, to put it mildly. PTCL screws up, makes businesses suffer losses to the tune of millions of rupees, and boldly claims it will not compensate the companies. How very nice of them.

Top 10 web fads

CNet has a listing of the top 10 fads ever. Bring back memories, don't they? Or you have any of your own craze?

Hampsterdance
Mahir All your base are belong to us
Dancing baby
Hot or not
Friendster
Ellen Feiss 3
Star Wars kid
Blogger
JibJab

Good find: Many-to-many

MANY-TO-MANY: A useful group weblog on social software. See: http://www.corante.com/many/

Courtesy: SA-IT List and Fred@BytesForAll.
 

Dailytimes site hacked

The dailytimes site was hacked today... the message on the site read "hacK3d bY ic3d r0s3
security is ~~ :) This is the end beautiful friend. This is the end my only friend".....