Category: Technology

Panasonic Corp will buy U.S. supply-chain software firm Blue Yonder for 700 billion yen ($6.45 billion), in the Japanese electronics firm’s biggest acquisition since 2011, the Nikkei reported on Monday.

Panasonic, which bought a 20% stake in Blue Yonder for 86 billion yen last year, is in the final stages of acquiring the rest of the stock from shareholders including Blackstone Group Inc, the Nikkei said, without saying where it obtained the information.

“This is not something that has been announced by our company. It is not true that it is something we have decided,” Panasonic said in an emailed statement.

An acquisition would bolster Panasonic’s supply chain management services as the COVID-19 pandemic focuses the attention of companies on their resilience to disruption.

Better known for its consumer electronics and appliances, Panasonic in recent years has focused more on building parts and supplying services to other businesses, such as batteries for Tesla Inc’s electric cars.

Any deal to acquire all of Blue Yonder would be Panasonic’s largest since it spent 800 billion yen to make Sanyo Electric and Panasonic Electric Works wholly owned subsidiaries in 2011, the Nikkei said.

The acquisition money is likely to come from Panasonic’s own funds, although loans or other financing may also be considered for the purchase, the report said.

March 8, 2021: Pakistan Telecom Authority (PTA) has issued show cause notice to Jazz on misleading advertisements and phrases like “Jazz Super 4G” and “Super Nahi Tou 4G Nahi”, which give a false impression to the consumers that Jazz network is based on superior technology as compared to other 4G networks in Pakistan.

PTA has issued a notice to the operator under relevant Section of the Telecom Re-organization Act 1996, relevant Regulations and License Conditions, said a news release.

Jazz has been asked to immediately discontinue use of misleading advertisements and phrases like “Jazz Super 4G” and “Super Nahi Tou 4G Nahi”, which give a false impression to the consumers.

Good customer experience is an important recognition needed for any brand. realme has been working to provide the best technology experience to its customers in Pakistan for almost 2 years now. The brand opened its exclusive Experience Store in the city of lights, Karachi on March 6, 2021. There was a live performance by the famous stand-up comedian, Junaid Akram, and a great crowd came to join this inaugural day.

realme is the fastest-growing smartphone brand with a focus on both offline and online markets. realme pledged to launch its brand stores all across Pakistan with the first one already open in Peshawar city. These brand stores feature all realme products to provide customers with a one-of-a-kind experience including phones, AIoT products, and Category N home/lifestyle products. After the opening of the Karachi store, realme has announced its latest number series phone, realme 7i to be available at a special discounted price of only PKR 36,999.

realme’s number series phones are one of the hot-selling smartphones from the brand. The high-resolution 64MP AI Quad Camera phone, realme 7i comes with a 90 Hz Ultra Smooth Display and a 5000mAh Massive Battery. The phone became a hot seller due to its trendy design and youth-centric specifications. Its predecessor, realme 7 Pro was the fastest charging phone in Pakistan with 65W SuperDart Charge, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G Mobile Platform, 64MP Quad Camera with the Sony IMX682 sensor, and was upgraded with 64MP Pro Nightscape Mode to give ultra-Nightscape videos. 

The inauguration ceremony in Karachi went very well with a huge crowd, Junaid Akram’s live performance, and a lucky draw to end the event in a fun way. Many customers, fans, retailers, distributors, and the hardworking realme team were there to celebrate this day. The young and trendsetting smartphone brand, realme has plans to launch 100+ brand stores nationwide. With the successful opening in Peshawar and Karachi, realme shall be coming to other cities very soon.

Internationally, realme has many brand stores that exhibit the brand’s DNA of young, trendy, and fashionable products. These experience stores and brand shops have been designed and developed as per the “Dare to Leap” spirit of the brand. These stores are exclusively made to help the customer directly interact with the brand without any middleman. 

So what are you waiting for? Go visit the realme store in Karachi and do not miss this chance to grab your latest realme 7i at an exclusive price of only PKR 36,999 now!

 

Lahore (Muhammad Yasir) Pakistan’s most Premium smartphone brand, Infinix has joined hands with the Punjab Safe Cities Authority, Government of the Punjab to launch Punjab Police – Women Safety App, developed by Punjab Safe Cities Authority and available on iOS and Android. Women will now be able to get help from Emergency Helpline – 15, Rescue 1122, Highway Police, and Motorway Police in case of emergency with just one tap.

Punjab Police Women Safety app allows women to check the location through location reviews before going anywhere and they can also give feedback on their experiences of being safe, partially safe, and unsafe about a particular place so that other women can benefit from it. Women can use a live chat facility to reach a representative of the Police Department and they can also get access to different laws, awareness material/documents available on this application.

Speaking about this collaboration, Mr. Joe Hu CEO of Infinix Pakistan said: “Our vision at Infinix is to ‘Empower Women’ by giving them the freedom to dream big and be able to turn them into reality. To do so we aim to provide a safe space for women in the society so they can prosper as successful individuals.”

Using technology to enhance policing for women’s safety, Infinix believes in supporting / being a part of a movement which protects the citizens. We join hands with the Punjab Government in promoting the Punjab Police Women Safety App, which was developed keeping this in mind.

Mr. Muhammad Kamran Khan, Chief Operating Officer , PSCA said: “Punjab government is keenly engaged in creating awareness and providing better solutions related to security through the use of technology, we firmly believe that this initiative will help us in creating a safe space for the women in our society.

Link to APP:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.psca.ppic3.womensafety&hl=en&gl=US

https://apps.apple.com/pk/app/punjab-police-women-safety-app/id1487787591

Lahore (Muhammad Yasir) President of Huawei Middle East Region, Mr. Charles Yang called on Minister for IT and Telecommunication, Syed Amin Ul Haque and discussed matters of mutual interest. The Huawei delegation lauded the efforts of the minister regarding digitalization, Mr. Syed Amin Ul Haque said that: “Steps are underway by the government for connectivity and provision of internet services across the country for 5G network in coming years.”

Federal Secretary for Ministry of IT and TelecommunicationMr. Shoaib Ahmad Siddiqui,Deputy Secretary, Aftab Rasheed,Director Telecom, Jehanzeb Ahmed were also present from the Ministry’s side.President of Middle East Enterprise Business department, David Shi, Huawei Pakistan CEO, Mr. Mark Meng, Deputy CEO, Ahmed Bilal Masud were also present at the occasion.

Furthermore, both sides discussed the 1,000 officers training program initiative, in which a 1,000 of the ministries officers would be given ICT knowledge training by Huawei’s industry leading teams to help increase their ICT skill. The Minister appreciated Huawei’s effort for the training program.

President Huawei Middle East, Charles Yang said, “The Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication has Huawei’s full support, with the help of our secure and leading solutions, we can help Pakistan realize digital transformation, especially benefittingthe people from rural areas.”

Both sides also discussed possibilities of future collaboration including the development of an innovation lab and other programs.

 

 

Lahore (Muhammad Yasir) WhatsApp has announced that private and secure one-to-one voice and video calls are now available on WhatsApp’s desktop app.

As per a blog on WhatsApp’s official website, they stated “Throughout the last year we’ve seen significant increases in people calling one another on WhatsApp, often for long conversations. Last New Year’s Eve, we broke the record for the most calls ever made in a single day with 1.4 billion voice and video calls. With so many people still apart from their loved ones, and adjusting to new ways of working, we want conversations on WhatsApp to feel as close to in-person as possible, regardless of where you are in the world or the tech you’re using.”

Answering on a bigger screen makes it easier to work with colleagues, see your family more clearly on a bigger canvas, or free up your hands to move around a room while talking. To make desktop calling more useful, it has been made sure it works seamlessly for both portrait and landscape orientation, appears in a resizable standalone window on your computer screen, and is set to be always on top so users never lose video chats in a browser tab or stack of open windows.

Voice and video calls on WhatsApp are end-to-end encrypted, so WhatsApp can’t hear or see them, whether you call from your phone or your computer. The feature is starting with one-to-one calls on the WhatsApp desktop app to make sure users get a reliable and high-quality experience. The feature will be expanding to include group voice and video calls in the future.

You can read more, including how to download the desktop app on Windows PC and Mac here: https://faq.whatsapp.com/web/voice-and-video-calls/about-desktop-calling

Lahore (NUT Desk) Google pledged to steer clear of tracking individual online activity when it begins implementing a new system for targeting ads without the use of so-called “cookies.”

The internet giant´s widely used Chrome browser this month will begin testing an alternative to the tracking practice that it believes could improve online privacy while still enabling advertisers to serve up relevant messages.

“We´re making explicit that once third-party cookies are phased out, we will not build alternate identifiers to track individuals as they browse across the web, nor will we use them in our products,” ads privacy and trust product management director David Temkin said in a blog post.
“Advances in aggregation, anonymization, and on-device process and other privacy-preserving technologies offer a clear path to replacing individual identifiers.”

The move comes with Google hammered by critics over user privacy, and increased scrutiny of privacy and protecting people´s data rights.

Growing fear of cookie-tracking has prompted support for internet rights legislation such as GDPR in Europe. Temkin described the new Google system as “privacy-preserving… while still delivering results for advertisers and publishers.”

Safari and Firefox browsers have already done away with third-party cookies, but they are still used at the world´s most popular browser, Chrome.

Chrome accounted for 63 percent of the global browser market last year, according to StatCounter. Last month, Google unveiled the results of tests showing an alternative to cookies called Federated Learning of Cohorts (FLoC) which identifies groups of people with common interests without individualized tracking. Some businesses have objected to the Google plan claiming it will force more advertisers into its “walled garden.”

 

With smartphones available with futuristic features, OPPO the smart device brand is taking innovation to a whole new level with its latest inventions showcased at MWC. The brand kickstarted the year of innovative technology with its Reno5 Pro 5G. The latest addition to the Reno5 series, Reno5 Pro is a stellar package with its Dimenslty 1000+ (5G), 65W SuperVOOC 2.0, AI Highlight Video, and 3D Borderless Sense Screen. Whether you are a frequent traveller or a gaming fanatic, these features will change your life.

 

Let’s take a glance at the features that have made Reno5 Pro the talk of the town.

Rapid 5G technology 

The Reno5 Pro features MediaTek’s latest flagship 5G-integrated SoC, the Dimensity 1000+, for top-of-class 5G capabilities. Built on the 7nm process, the octa-core SoC, with four ‘Big Core’ Arm Cortex-A77 cores operating up to 2.6GHz and four power-efficient Arm Cortex-A55 cores, offers industry-leading performance and lower power consumption, achieving an outstanding AnTuTu benchmark score that is 79% higher than the previous generation. Thanks to the boost in raw speed that 5G offers – up to a staggering 10Gbps, ten times what even 4G LTE-A can deliver – gamers can expect faster downloads and streaming. The bigger impact will likely come from massively improved latency giving an uninterrupted gaming experience.

 

Camera-centric smartphone

As watching/making videos and playing video games is the most essential medium for people to express themselves, OPPO Reno5 Pro aims to unlock infinite possibilities for all gamers and videographers. Bringing this into reality, Reno5 Pro is equipped with a 64MP rear quad-cam matrix and a 32MP front camera. These are further enhanced by the OPPO Full Dimension Fusion (FDF) Portrait Video System, an imaging system designed for superior portrait video effects. Its AI Highlight Video is the first feature in the industry to automatically detect the ambient light in a scene and improve the video’s quality accordingly by applying OPPO’s industry-leading Ultra Night Video Algorithms and Live HDR Algorithms. With Dual-view Video, users can use both the front and rear cameras simultaneously, providing two perspectives within the same frame in videos. These features aim to open new horizons for photographers/videographers allowing them to capture life at its best anywhere and at any time.

 

Long-lasting battery 

With a larger 4350mAh battery and 65W SuperVOOC 2.0 Flash Charge, Reno5 Pro can charge up to 70% of the battery in just 15 minutes, and up to 100% in as little as 30 minutes. Through the help of Super Power Saving Mode, Reno5 Pro can support WhatsApp text chatting for more than 1.5 hours with only a 5% battery. The users will never run out of battery in while recording videos. Users can also enjoy the ultimate gaming experience with OPPO Reno5 Pro. 

 

A smooth display 

The phone is equipped with a 6.5-inch 3D curved Super AMOLED display, providing a smooth, rounded touch with borderless immersion. The 90Hz refresh rate and up to 180Hz touch sampling rate ensure a silky-smooth feel whether playing games or switching between apps. 

With OPPO Reno5 Pro, the brand aims to give an integrated user experience to people who like to play games or want to capture special moments in life with an aesthetic smartphone that they can flaunt. 

Available at a price of PKR 104,999, the smartphone is available in the market and online.

What are you waiting for?

Get your infinite OPPO Reno5 Pro today!

Disclaimer

1. 5G Services are not currently commercially available in Pakistan
2. OPPO does not claim to be a service provider/operator for 5G Service

   

realme launches its first 108MP camera and trendsetting photography features in the Camera Innovation Event

realme, the world’s fastest-growing smartphone brand, holds the online Camera Innovation Event today, launching the first 108MP camera in its upcoming realme 8 series. With sharper photo quality, the world’s first tilt-shift time-lapse video and starry time-lapse video and new portrait filters, realme 8 series will lead the trendsetting photography.

realme 8 Pro adopts the latest generation of Samsung 108MP sensor HM2 as the primary camera, featuring 12000 x 9000 pixels and a large sensor size of 1/1.52″. The larger single-pixel size ensures a better image quality. And HM2 also supports 9-in-1 pixel binning, ISOCELL Plus and Smart-ISO, which enable realme phones to take excellent images in more light conditions.

The 108MP photo taken by realme 8 Pro has a well-balanced overall exposure with vivid colors and sharp details in both bright and dark areas. The details are still sharp even after zooming in.

And based on the advanced 108MP sensor, realme provides lots of deep optimizations and exciting features.

In-sensor zoom, higher clarity

realme 8 Pro achieved higher zoom clarity thanks to the new In-sensor Zoom technology.

In realme 8 Pro’s camera, 3x mode will activate a new In-sensor Zoom, the sensor will only use the 12 megapixels mapped with the zoomed part to generate an image. The imaging process is faster because of the smaller size on the 12MP photo, enabling realme 8 Pro to take eight 12MP photos in a row and then input them into the clarity enhancement algorithm to further increase the image clarity.

After such processing, a 3x photo from realme 8 Pro is even better than some optical telephoto lenses in terms of sharpness.

New Starry Mode with time-lapse video

In the new Starry Mode, realme also launched the world’s first Starry Time-lapse Video on smartphones. Starry time-lapse videos are usually realized by shooting multiple clips via professional cameras, and then synthesizing and combining these clips by a computer through video editing software. Develop starry time-lapse video is facing a serious challenge in terms of the needed performance to handle the synthesis of the photos.

realme came up with an exclusive time-lapse video algorithm based on starry photos. It will take 480s to shoot 30 photos and then generate a 1s time-lapse video, which means the time-lapse mode can show the perpetual changing universes at 480 times faster speed.

Tilt-shift photography, miniature world

Tilt-shift photography is achieved with the help of expensive tilt-shift lenses, which can make only a part of the photo appear clear and keep all other parts out of focus to create a sense of a miniature world. With realme’s new tilt-shift photography algorithm, realme 8 series is able to take tilt-shift photos as well as 10x faster tilt-shift time-lapse video, presenting the world in a fantastic and unique way. realme 8 Pro is also the world’s first smartphone that features tilt-shift time-lapse video.

realme also provides some adjustment options in the tilt-shift mode, such as the shape, angle, position, and size of the bokeh effect, and even the transition effect between the bokeh area and the clear area. You can conveniently choose and customize the bokeh effect as to best suit the scene.

New portrait filters, portraits never get bored

Most smartphones nowadays take portrait shots featuring a standard bokeh effect in the background. realme, as a trendsetting technology brand, added something more to portrait photography as well. This time in realme 8 series, realme provides three iconic filters, Neon Portrait, Dynamic Bokeh Portrait, and AI Color Portrait to make every portrait trendier.

Focusing on camera, new era of number series

As the star series of the realme smartphone portfolio, the realme number Series will focus on cameras in the future and bring the most innovative camera tech and feature, creating new trends in photography and providing a leap-forward camera experience to young users.

108MP camera and the new trendsetting photography features will soon be available on the upcoming realme 8 series, stay tuned with the launch event!