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April 18th, 2009

Just went back home from the bloggers conference which was held in this city for the first time. Not sure about the enthusiasm of the host who made a point that this is the first bloggers conference in South Asia? But overall the effort made was worth appreciating and keeping in view the current atmosphere in the country , it needs to be appreciated.

Overall the bloggers who made their presentation were very well versed and their hard work was evident from their presentation and arguments which were very professionally made and most importantly they were to the point. The only big disapointment was the pro-mqm host who act stupid most of the time and i was barely able to understand what he was buzzing all the time. The lady host was great however!

As per our Pakistani culture the conference started late that is after more then one hour. The chief guest was IT minister of Sindh who seemed more enthusiastic in presenting the laptop gift to young girl then the overall conference. The girl was deserving though as she had made a mark by completing several courses at only 11 years of age, but again i was unable to link that aspect with the blogging conference.

Anyway, Mr. Cowasjee was there as well, he woke up late and forgot to change his night suit and shorts. The man was there to make a point, not sure what that was though :)

Mr. Farooq Sattar , the chief guest arrived at around 6:30pm, mind you the conference time was 4:00pm

Coming back to the conference, the topics were widely  organized with categories of speaker who covered topics such as introduction to blogging, free speech and technology blog. Similarly the photo blog covered by Mr. Raja Islam was the most entertaining part of the conference which gave the hall some time to cheer and he got his share of applause for his work.

Similarly the comments made by PASHA chief were more personal then engaging. But again some points made were very positive.

The Urdu blog presentation by the last speaker was not allowed to have his share of time, he got the same treatment our national language got in this country, he was the last one to come in, made good points in his brief presentation, however much more was expected to be heard from him but the poor man had to cut back his time as Mr. Sattar was in a hurry....

This is a short commentary but i again feel that this is the right step in the right direction, if you eliminate some politics which was discussed by some politicians in the conference, i believe overall this was a great effort!

February 25th, 2008

So govt has banned youtube presumably because of the cartoon issue, so lets see how long this will last. For now say bye to the time killing and bandwidth munching baby!

February 7th, 2008

The DSL Dilema

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Our company was one of the satisfied user of Dancom online services since past two and a half years, but ever since Dancom and WOL are acquired by Orascom ( presumably linkdotnet ) things have changed, the support is getting worst, you need to hold on to your phone for 15 mins just to get in tocuh ( if you are lucky enough ). On the other hand support staff is unaware of what to do. The speed they commit has been severly downgraded and all they do is just send their bill on time.

I need to point out there needs to be a regulation authority who monitor when such mergers occur, orascom which is notorious for such tactics should be dealth with an iron fist , they have done this with mobilink previously, they are doing something similar to these two companies as well and i am sure like us their other corporate clients are also facing hardship.

May 24th, 2007

Recently our office staff purchased NIDO powdered milk for tea whitening instead of Everyday, upon consuming it for the first time it appeared as if something is wrong with it as the powderred milk is forming crystals instead of disolving. So the staff contacted the shopkeeper and interestingly instead of offering any refund or replacement they claimed that they have received a similar complain from some 3 to 4 people, however its strict company policy of Nestle not to offer any refund or replacement so he can't help or exchange the product.

It was very disappointing to hear that these multinational companies just know how to mint money out of ordinary and provide products which are sub-standard and not guaranteed to be in their original form, and this can only happen in Pakistan. There is no customer care contact number on Nido bag where a protest can be lodged. So these words are here just to make sure that a protest is registered, instead of sitting idle and accept the wrong practices conducted by Nestle.

Nestle is enjoying a good share of profits in Pakistan. Its milkpak brand is always in such a demand that they put its pricetag above all and most of the time its demand outrun the supply, same is parallel with other products like infant cereals and powdered milk where there is not much of a competition. These people even didn't stop minting money during the earthquake back in 2005, so you can't expect much.

May 19th, 2007

The "Bhairchaal" effect

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I just posted this in other forum and thought that this is something which speaks from my inside. After working with Goras for past 5 years, i realize their mentality and when i compare it with the masses the difference is very clear.  Most of the goras are honest in what they do, they are not emotional, but they are very dedicated, they are not cheaters but they do try to re-invent the wheel and when facts lie in front of you then they accept it.

When a Pakistani will stop cheating, stop stealing and become dedicated in what he/she do then they 'll be in par with all other nations.

Most Pakistanis follow others track, they never try to reinvent the road or make their own path. They set others as example everytime and thats what i call "bhairchaal".

If i'll start something and it becomes a success, the other day 100 people will line-up doing the same thing? Thats the mentality which persist here and without changing it we can't come in par with others.

My opinion is very realistic, by mentioning a bunch of people you can't pride yourself and start blaming "kay ager yai na hota to hum yai hotay". Thats rubbish!

In last 50 years give me a single innovation that has its name assciated with a Pakistani? And we still say "bohot talent hai hamary pass". Yes we have allot of talent and we keep it in pendora box? Stop day dreaming, you have nothing unless you prove it, so its useless to give yourself false hope.

Some of those who does something exceptional choose the wrong path. Take Agha hasan abidi, one who was considered best banker, with his skills he sky rocketted BCCI, and see what happened in the end? A FRAUD that tainted Pakistan with black color.

February 14th, 2007


The One Laptop Per Child project will ship nearly 2,500 of its $150 laptops to eight nations this month, Reuters reported today. The experiment is a prelude to mass production of the kid-friendly, lime-green-and-white laptops scheduled to begin in July, when 5 million will be built.

State educators in Brazil, Uruguay, Libya, Rwanda, Pakistan, Thailand and possibly Ethiopia and the West Bank will receive the first of the machines in February's pilot before a wider rollout to Indonesia and a handful of other countries.

An OLPC spokesperson said the price should fall to $100 apiece next year, when they hope to produce 50 million of the so-called "XO" machines, before dipping below $100 by 2010 when they aim to reach 150 million of the world's poorest children.

About the OLPC laptop

The idea behind the OLPC laptop is to provide children with the opportunity to learn about learning itself -- to explore, experiment and express themselves, an OLPC spokesperson said. The laptops will be distributed in schools.

Key features of the OLPC laptop include a 7.5-inch 1200 x 900 pixel LCD screen, a keyboard that switches between languages, a digital video camera, built-in 802.11b/g wireless connectivity, a hand crank to charge its built-in rechargeable battery, and a customized version of Fedora Core Linux tailored for remote regions.

The device is based on a low-power, x86-compatible AMD Geode "embedded" processor clocked at 366MHz. It has 128MB of DRAM, along with 512MB of nonvolatile flash memory for program and data storage, and is equipped with three USB 2.0 ports for expansion. It boots via LinuxBIOS into Linux.

The OLPC project, based at the MIT media lab in Cambridge, Mass., is well into its second year. OLPC founding include AMD, News Corp, Google, Brightstar, Red Hat Linux, Nortel, Marvell, eBay, Quanta, Chi Mei, SES/Astra, and Citigroup. The United Nations and Inter-American Development Bank are its non-profit partners.

Source: http://www.desktoplinux.com/
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