Friday, 4 October 2013

Skype, Viber and WhatsApp Ban proposal in Sindh,Pakistan

Anger over Pakistan Sindh instant message ban proposal

A Pakistan man chats with his friend on a online network in the port city of Karachi

Under the proposals most forms of online and mobile communications will be banned

Internet freedom activists in Pakistan have expressed anger over proposals by the government of Sindh province to ban messaging apps including Skype, Viber and WhatsApp for three months.

The provincial government says the move is necessary as a security measure.

It says the move "detaches criminals from modern communication means".

But the proposal has to be approved by the central government before it is implemented and so far no decision has been taken.

Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan has said that he was not in favour of such a move.

"But I will go through the Sindh government's application in favour of the ban to see how much weight it carries," Mr Khan was quoted by local media as saying.

Critics say the proposals represent a serious breach of human rights and will hamper small businesses

Scores of social media users have condemned the proposals arguing that they are infringements of personal freedom and will impede small businesses and entrepreneurs from working effectively.

"The ban on Skype, Viber and WhatsApp in Sindh is a cyber-drone attack from the government," social media user Umer Pirzada tweeted.

Another critic wrote: "This is when you know the country has gone down the drain. Blocking WhatsApp, Skype, What's next? Blocking oxygen?"

But senior Pakistan People's Party (PPP) leader Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has spoken out in favour of the move arguing on Twitter that it was necessary to "catch some terrorists and save some lives".

Sindh has been plagued by serious militant, sectarian and criminal violence throughout 2013 with the port city of Karachi being especially badly hit.

Technology experts have pointed out that the proposed restrictions may be doomed to failure because they could easily be circumvented by criminals.

Correspondents says that Pakistan's mobile network has been switched off about 12 times over the last year.

Former PPP Interior Minister Rehman Malik frequently shut down cellular networks for extended periods on important national and religious holidays to "ensure the safety of the people".

A ban on video sharing website YouTube - deemed by the authorities to be blasphemous - was introduced by the central government in September 2012.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-24397854

Samsung forecasts record quarterly profit

Despite the launch of new models there had been some concerns over Samsung's growth rate slowing

Samsung Electronics, the world's biggest mobile phone and TV maker, has forecast record profits for the July-to-September quarter.

It expects operating profit of 10.1 trillion won ($9.4bn; £5.8bn) for the quarter, a 25% jump from a year ago.

The profit guidance beats many analyst forecasts.

Samsung has enjoyed tremendous success with its Galaxy range of smartphones, but there had been concerns recently that its growth rate may be slowing.

"The company is doing a phenomenal job of continuing its growth rate," said Andrew Milroy, an analyst with consulting firm Frost & Sullivan.

"One would have expected that its growth rate may be hit by the emergence of other cheaper mobile phone makers.

"But it doesn't seemed to have happened, at least not yet," he added.

'Smart enough'

“Start Quote

Samsung realises that growth opportunities in emerging markets are key to overall success of their business, and they have been smart enough to tap into it”

Andrew MilroyFrost & Sullivan

The success of its Galaxy range of smartphones has seen Samsung become the leading player in the global mobile phone market.

Analysts say the company's policy of catering to the low and high-end segments of the market has proved particularly effective.

Samsung has launched top-end products such as the Galaxy S4 in a bid to take on the likes of Apple's iPhone.

It has also introduced low-cost smartphones targeted at customers in emerging markets such as India and China.

Many mobile phone operators in those markets do not subsidise phones, making low-cost devices a much more attractive option for many consumers.

"Samsung realises that growth opportunities in emerging markets are key to overall success of their business, and they have been smart enough to tap into it," said Mr Milroy.

"They have covered both ends of the spectrum really well."

Bendy and curved

Last month, Samsung said that it is planning to launch handsets with curved displays.

It exhibited prototype products with bendy and extendable screens in January this year, but there are doubts as to how this technology can be mass-produced cheaply and reliably.

The firm also launched a smartwatch, the Galaxy Gear, last month - beating Microsoft, Apple and Google in the race to bring this type of technology to market.

The smartwatch has a colour screen that can show alerts, be used for voice calls and run apps.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-24393850

HTC reports first ever quarterly loss

The launch of new products has so far failed to trigger a recovery for HTC

Taiwanese mobile phone maker HTC has reported its first ever loss as it continues to lose ground to rivals.

It made a net loss of 2.97bn Taiwan dollars ($100m; £62m) in the three months to September.

Its numbers are in sharp contrast with rival Samsung, which has forecast record profit for the same period.

HTC was one of the early market leaders in Android smartphones, but has lost market share to rivals such as Samsung and Apple in recent years.

It has launched new products, such as the HTC One, in an attempt to regain some of the lost ground.

While the firm has claimed that the response to those products has been encouraging, analysts have warned that prospects of a recovery continue to remain weak.

Laura Chen, an analyst at BNP Paribas, said that there were "no signs" of a recovery anytime soon.

The company's shares have fallen more than 50% over the past 12 months amid concerns over its future growth.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-24393975

Adobe in source code and customer data security breach

Adobe says cyber attacks have become an "unfortunate" part of doing business

Adobe has confirmed that 2.9 million customers have had private information stolen during a "sophisticated" cyber attack on its website.

The attackers accessed encrypted customer passwords and payment card numbers, the company said.

But it does not believe decrypted debit or credit card data was removed.

Adobe also revealed that it was investigating the "illegal access" ofsource code for numerous products, including Adobe Acrobat and ColdFusion.

"We deeply regret that this incident occurred," said Brad Arkin, Adobe's chief security officer.

"Based on our findings to date, we are not aware of any specific increased risk to customers as a result of this incident," he said.

But Chester Wisniewski, senior adviser at internet security company Sophos, told the BBC: "Access to the source code could be very serious.

"Billions of computers around the world use Adobe software, so if hackers manage to embed malicious code in official-looking software updates they could potentially take control of millions of machines.

"This is on the same level as a Microsoft security breach," he added.

Adobe said it had been helped in its investigation by internet security journalist Brian Krebs and security expert Alex Holden.

The two discovered a 40GB cache of Adobe source code while investigating attacks on three US data providers, Dun & Bradstreet, Kroll Background America, and LexisNexis.

Mr Krebs said the Adobe code was on a server he believed the hackers used.

Compromised

Adobe said that it is resetting passwords for the customer accounts it believes were compromised, and that those customers will get an email alerting them to the change.

It is also recommending that, as a precaution, customers affected change their passwords and user information for other websites for which they used the same ID.

For those customers whose debit or credit card information is suspected of being accessed, Adobe is offering a complimentary one-year subscription to a credit-monitoring programme.

Finally, the company said it had notified law enforcement officials and is working to identify the hackers.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-24392819

Instagram to start allowing ads in US photo streams

Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom says the photo sharing service must fund itself

"We have big ideas for the future, and part of making them happen is building Instagram into a sustainable business," it said.

Ads will appear in a few months and involve just a handful of firms.

Instagram was bought by Facebook for $1bn (£619m), but has never made a profit.

The company, which now has 150 million users, has been a favourite among consumers but has long left analysts wondering how it could turn enthusiasm among photographers into a business model.

Early efforts by Instagram to generate revenue were met with user backlash, such as when the company changed the terms of service to seemingly indicate that it would own user images and could sell those images to advertisers.

The failure of this move was acknowledged in the company's posting.

Social media boom

"As always, you own your own photos and videos. The introduction of advertising won't change this," it said.

In an interview earlier this year with the BBC, Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom said that Instagram must "fund its own future."

Social media advertising is a booming business in the US.

According to research firm eMarketer, advertisers will spend $9.5bn on social network ads worldwide this year.

Facebook has boosted its efforts to gain a larger share of this ad spending.

This year, the company's share of global mobile ad revenues will rise to 15.8% from 5.35% last year.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-24393387

Mr. Bean is not converted to Islam

Please also follow the below wikipedia link about false claim of islam conversion:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Rowan_Atkinson

See update below containing email from Rowan Atkinson’s agent denying he converted to Islam.

My Batsh*t Crazy Claim Of The Day: Rowan Atkinson Converted To Islam post has quickly become perhaps the most “popular” Israellycool post ever. Traffic has gone through the roof. Tens of Muslims have ‘liked’ our Facebook page. And despite the title and content of the post – in which I clearly point out why the claim is ridiculous – thousands of Muslims around the world have shared, retweeted and linked to the post, as evidence that Rowan Atkinson has converted to Islam! (here is one example)
I guess they will believe what they want to believe.
Meanwhile, no word from Atkinson himself because – as I have made clear – the claim is almost certainly false.
The question is, why did the anti-Israel site start the rumor?
I think I missed this due to the poor auto-translation, but this next video seems to make it clearer: there seems to have be a photo of Atkinson holding his finger up, which is apparently something called the shahada finger. It just looks to me like Atkinson telling someone off, or any number of other things.

So Muslim readers, feel free to believe what you want and even spread our blog post to all and sundry. But know we do not believe for a second Rowan Atkinson has converted to Islam.
Having said that, I am glad you have all come to Israellycool. Please feel welcome to have a look around, and engage in some dialogue. Perhaps we can bring some world peace, together!
Update: Holy fact-checking fail Batman! We are currently being used as proof of his conversion on Wikipedia!

Update: We reached out to Rowan Atkinson’s agent so she could end the ridiculous speculation once and for all.

From: Lucy xxxxxxx <xxxxxxx> Date: 2 באוקטובר 2013 13:32:37 GMT+3
To: Brian of London <xxxxxxxxx>
Subject: RE: Would appreciate a statement from Rowan Atkinson about CRAZY claims that are sweeping the Arabic world
Hi Brian,
Thanks for your e-mail. I’m afraid that, as far as I’m aware, Rowan has not converted to Islam.
All the best.
Lucy

http://www.israellycool.com/2013/10/02/no-we-do-not-believe-rowan-atkinson-converted-to-islam/

Thursday, 3 October 2013

Leather bags Women