Apple hit with antitrust case over in-app payments issues

Posted on by Ali Qasim

Lahore (NUT-DESK)

Apple Inc (AAPL.O) is facing an antitrust challenge in India for allegedly abusing its dominant position in the apps market by forcing developers to use its proprietary in-app purchase system. The allegations are similar to a case Apple faces in the European Union, where regulators last year started an investigation into Apple’s imposition of an in-app fee of 30% for distribution of paid digital content and other restrictions.

The Indian case was filed by a little-known, non-profit group which argues Apple’s fee of up to 30% hurts competition by raising costs for app developers and customers, while also acting as a barrier to market entry.

“The existence of the 30% commission means that some app developers will never make it to the market … This could also result in consumer harm,” said the filing, which has been seen by Reuters.

Unlike Indian court cases, filings and details of cases reviewed by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) are not made public. Apple and the CCI did not respond to a request for comment.

In the coming weeks, the CCI will review the case and could order its investigations arm to conduct a wider probe, or dismiss it altogether if it finds no merit in it, said a source familiar with the matter.

“There are high chances that an investigation can be ordered, also because the EU has been probing this,” said the person, who declined to be identified as the case details are not public.

The complainant, non-profit “Together We Fight Society” which is based in India’s western state of Rajasthan, told Reuters in a statement it filed the case in the interest of protecting Indian consumers and startups.

In India, though Apple’s iOS powered just about 2% of 520 million smartphones by end-2020 – with the rest using Android – Counterpoint Research says the U.S. firm’s smartphone base in the country has more than doubled in the last five years.

The Apple case in India comes just as South Korea’s parliament this week approved a bill that bans major app store operators like Alphabet Inc’s (GOOGL.O) Google and Apple from forcing software developers to use their payment systems.

 

Zain Ashraf Mughal gets prestigious global “ISDB” Award for out standing work.

Posted on by Ali Qasim

Lahore (NUT-DESK)

Zain Ashraf Mughal has truly been an inspiration for us all. He has achieved prestigious award for his continuous efforts to minimize poverty and helping the needy and deprived people through his outstanding work. Now He has achieved ISDB Award for sending thousands of children to school and running hundreds of families during the Corona Outbreak. Compared to 57 Islamic countries of four continents, Pakistan won the award for the first time in its 70-year history.

Zain Ashraf Mughal’s welfare organization sent 4,000 children to school during Corona. And made 1,400 deserving families entrepreneurs … Due to this good deed, Pakistan overtook 57 Islamic countries on four continents. Prime Minister Council member Zain Ashraf has previously won the Commonwealth Champion of Change Award and placed on the Forbes Social Entrepreneur under Thirty list. Aspiring to the mission of empowering deserving people and youth, the youth is determined to serve the people and the economy of the country by expanding this circle with each passing day.

Mahira khan receives criticism for acting “Ek Hai Nigar”

Posted on by Ali Qasim

Lahore (NUT-DESK)

Mahira Khan’s upcoming biopic on Nigar Johar is for all stands strong for women who burn for the love of their nation. Mahira, who traces the life and career of Pakistan’s first Lieutenant General, bravely depicts what it is like to be a woman of steel.

The second teaser of the telefilm dropped on Friday, where fans could spot the Verna star talking about securing a place for women in the army, through her commitment and excellence.

After Mahira Khan’s portrayal of Nigar Johar made it to social media, users have objected to the casting of the star in a show about the life of Pakistan’s first female Lieutenant General.

Many have claimed actors like Areeba Habib or Sanam Baloch could have fit the bill better, especially since Johar is body positive and body positivity should not be replaced like it’s something to shy away from. Others feel it is extremely insensitive to cast someone on the basis of their appearance and stardom, when they don’t even speak in the same dialect as the character, in this case, a real person, or look even remotely similar.

Ek Hai Nigar has been penned down by Umera Ahmad and directed by Adnan Sarwar. It has been produced under the banner of Nina Kashif and Mahira Khan’s production company Sulfur Films. Khan’s Superstar co-actor Bilal Ashraf is also playing a pivotal role in the drama serial.

Johar, on the other hand, is a recipient of the Tamgha-e-Imtiaz (Military) and Fatima Jinnah Gold Medal Awards too, for her meritorious services in Army Medical Corps from the Prime Minister.

 

Faysal Quraishi urges fans to vote for him in Lux Style Awards 2021

Posted on by Ali Qasim

Lahore (NUT-DESK)

Pakistani actor and host Faysal Quraishi, who has been nominated for Lux Style Awards 2021 in best actor category for his outstanding performance in Geo Entertainment’s drama serial Muqaddar, has urged his fans to vote.

Taking to Instagram, Faysal shared Abdullah Kadwani’s post in his Story and urged the fans to vote for their favourite actor.

Faysal Quraishi has been nominated for Best Male Actor – Viewer’s Choice award for his drama serial Muqaddar along with Danish Taimoor (Deewangi), Hamza Ali Abbasi (Alif) and Imran Ashraf (Kahin Deep Jalay).

Muqaddar, directed by Shehrazade Sheikh and co-produced by Abdullah Kadwani and Asad Qureshi under the banner of 7th Sky Entertainment, premiered on Geo Entertainment on 17 February 2020.

Geo Entertainment is leading the nominations list of the LSA 2021 with a total of 25 nods.

Atif Aslam wishes to recite Azaan in Holy Kaaba .

Posted on by Ali Qasim

Lahore (NUT-DESK)

Pakistan’s most acclaimed singer Atif Aslam revealed that he wished to use his voice for a greater purpose. According to Media reports the singer sat down on a TV show and revealed that he wished to recite the Azaan at the Holy Ka’aba.

The singer was very keen and shared that he prayed for himself to one day be the voice behind the religious call and added that he would be willing to work with anyone to make that dream into a reality.

“I am ready to work for the person for the rest of my life whoever can do the favour,” he added.

The singer, who previously recorded the Azaan which is up in a video on YouTube, shared that prior to recording it, he was very eager and excited.

“A day before recording it, I couldn’t sleep at night and couldn’t hold my eagerness. The feeling was beyond words. I never thought I’d be blessed enough to get a chance like this,” he said.

Responding to a question regarding keeping his religious and musical life in harmony, he said, “I am trying to keep both the religion and the world. I am human, human beings make mistakes.”

When questioned over the prospect of quitting his music career, he shared that it was out of the window.

“I am not going to quit music. There is no such thing in my mind to quit my career.”

 

‘Fake news’: Wasim Akram hits back at Indian media

Posted on by Ali Qasim

Lahore (NUT-DESK)

Former Pakistan captain and legendary fast bowler Wasim Akram Tuesday rejected rumours he was vying for the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman post, adding that he was “never interested in it”.  Responding to a report by the Indian publication Times of India, Wasim Akram rubbished reports he was trying to land the job.

“Please stop spreading such fake news. Get your sources right. TOI is one of India’s top and credible newspapers and such baseless news can only hurt that image,” he tweeted.

“PCB chairman’s post is a specialised job and I was never interested in it. Thank God, I am content where I am in my life,” he added.

In a subsequent tweet, Wasim Akram congratulated commentator Ramiz Raja for his nomination to the PCB board of governors, expressing the confidence that Raja can bring positivity to Pakistan cricket as “he has the vision and experience to achieve that”.

“Pakistan cricket needs a big lift and my support is with you,” tweeted the former captain.

The Times of India report which Wasim refuted said that the former left-arm fast bowler had indicated his interest in the post, as per a PCB insider.

However, the report said PM Imran Khan had gone ahead with the decision to appoint Ramiz Raja to the PCB chairman post instead as “he had no baggage to carry with him”.

But this time Wasim had shown interest but eventually the premier settled upon Ramiz who has never come under the shadow of match-fixing allegations as a player or captain,” the report stated, citing the source.

PM felicitates Dr. Amjad Saqib on receiving Ramon Magsaysay Award

Posted on by Ali Qasim

Lahore (NUT-DESK)

Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday felicitated Dr Amjad Saqib, founder of Akhuwat Foundation, on receiving this year’s Ramon Magsaysay Award.

Taking to Twitter, Prime Minister said, “Have been told this year’s Ramon Magsaysay Award, Asia’s highest honour, has been given to a Pakistani, Dr. Amjad Saqib, Founder Akhuwat.”

“Congratulations to him. We are proud of his achievement as we move forward in creating a welfare state based on Riasat e Madina Model.”

Dr Amjad Saqib, was given recognition with the award for providing interest-free loans for poverty alleviation. Akhuwat Foundation has provided Rs 150 billion interest-free loans to the people belong to the lower strata of the society.

This award is given every year to individuals who have made extraordinary contributions to the eradication of poverty and the development of the society in Asia.Ten distinguished Pakistanis have been among those presented this prestigious award said to be equal to the Nobel Award in Asia.

Call for Oscar Submission for Pakistan Filmmakers 2021 announced!

Posted on by Ali Qasim

Lahore (NUT-DESK)

The Pakistani Academy Selection Committee invites Pakistani filmmakers to submit their films for Oscar consideration in the ‘International Feature Film Award’ category for the 94th Academy Awards by 20th September 2021, 5:00 PM [PST]. This will mark the ninth consecutive submission by the Pakistani Academy Selection Committee having previously submitted “Zinda Bhaag” in 2013, “Dukhtar” in 2014, “MOOR” in 2015, “Mah-e-Mir” in 2016, “Saawan” in 2017, “Cake” in 2018, “Lal Kabootar” in 2019 and “Zindagi Tamasha” in 2020 to represent the best of Pakistani cinema for award consideration in the ‘International Feature Film’ category.

The Oscar committee for 2021 is chaired by two-time Academy Award and Emmy winning filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy and includes Ali Azmat [Musician], Bee Gul [Screenwriter and Director], Humayun Saeed [Actor, Director and Producer], Jawed Sheikh [Actor, Producer and Director], Mo Azmi [Cinematographer], Omar Shahid Hamid [Author], Rafay Mahmood [Film Critic], Samina Ahmad [Actress, Producer and Director] and Sania Saeed [Actress].

The committee will choose one film as Pakistan’s official submission for the, International Feature Film Award’. An international film is defined as a feature-length motion picture (over 40 minutes) produced outside the United States of America and its territories with a predominantly (more than 50%) non-English dialogue track. Animated and documentary feature films are permitted.

For entry forms, submission details and queries, please write to: pakistancommittee@gmail.com

The unprecedented coronavirus/COVID-19 global pandemic mandated the closure of commercial motion picture theaters worldwide. Country-selected films that had a previously planned theatrical release but are initially made available through a reputable commercial streaming distribution service or video on demand may qualify for Awards consideration in the International Feature Film category for the 94th Academy Awards under these provisions:

  • Provide to the Academy Committee documentation (original document(s) and an English translation) of government-mandated theater/cinema closure dates, previously planned theatrical release and streaming distribution or video on demand agreements.
  • The film be made available on the secure Academy Screening Room member site within 60 days of the film being officially selected.
  • That it meets all other eligibility requirements.

When theaters reopen in accordance with national and local specified guidelines and criteria, and on a date to be determined by the Academy, this rules exemption will no longer apply. All films released thereafter will be expected to comply with the standard International Feature Film category theatrical qualifying requirements.

The criteria for eligibility is as follows:

  1. The country-selected film must be first released in the country of origin no earlier than January 1, 2021, and no later than December 31, 2021, and be first publicly exhibited for at least seven consecutive days in a commercial motion picture theater for the profit of the producer and exhibitor. Submissions must be in 35mm or 70mm film, or in a 24- or 48-frame progressive scan Digital Cinema format with a minimum projector resolution of 2048 by 1080 pixels, source image format conforming to ST 428-1:2006 D-Cinema Distribution Master – Image Characteristics; image compression (if used) conforming to ISO/IEC 15444-1 (JPEG 2000); and image and sound files packaged as Digital Cinema Packages (DCPs) in the “SMPTE DCP” format. SMPTE DCP refers to SMPTE ST 429-2 and related specifications. (Blu-ray format does not meet Digital Cinema requirements.)

The audio in a Digital Cinema Package (DCP) is typically 5.1 or 7.1 channels of discrete audio. The minimum for a non-mono configuration of the audio shall be three channels as Left, Center, Right (a Left/Right configuration is not acceptable in a theatrical environment). In addition to channel-based audio, object-based audio may also be present as an immersive audio bitstream.

The audio data shall be formatted in conformance with ST 428-2:2006 D-Cinema Distribution Master – Audio Characteristics and ST 428-12:2013 D-Cinema Distribution Master Common Audio Channels and Soundfield Groups. Immersive audio, if present, shall be formatted in conformance with ST 2098-2:2019 Immersive Audio Bitstream Specification.

  1. The film must be advertised and exploited during its qualifying theatrical release in a manner considered normal and customary to theatrical feature distribution practices. The film need not have been released in the United States.
  2. Films that, in any version, receive a nontheatrical public exhibition or distribution before their first qualifying theatrical release will not be eligible for Academy Awards consideration. Nontheatrical public exhibition or distribution includes but is not limited to:
    • Broadcast and cable television
    • PPV/VOD
    • DVD distribution
    • Inflight airline distribution
    • Internet transmission
  3. The recording of the original dialogue track as well as the completed picture must be predominantly (more than 50%) in a language or languages other than English. ACCURATE, LEGIBLE ENGLISH-LANGUAGE SUBTITLES ARE REQUIRED.

The Pakistani Academy Selection Committee will announce its nomination for award consideration 20th October 2021.

Infinix contributing to development of Pakistan with a vision “Progress through Innovation”

Posted on by Ali Qasim

Lahore (NUT-Technology)

Today, a whole new world of infotainment is available online, instantly accessible for every smartphone user, nurturing a prolific new lifestyle. While the smart-devices industry is experiencing unprecedented progress at an enormous scale and speed, Pakistan must take maximum advantage of this revolution, to unleash the enormous potential of its youth at this critical juncture, to overcome the major challenges faced by this resilient nation.

In 2020, the telecom sector in Pakistan contributed 278 billion rupees to the economy – 129% higher than the previous year, while the country’s tele-density has reached well over 84%, with more than 184 million cellular subscribers. Thus, it is promising big revenue-opportunities for the investors. Due to this robust performance, almost all the global manufacturers of mobile-devices are planning to enter Pakistan, while ‘Infinix’ – a resourceful multi-national, has already pioneered the manufacturing of hi-tech devices in Karachi.

‘Infinix’ is surely the No. 1 smartphone brand in Pakistan, with the fastest business growth. It is showing complete confidence in the ability of this nation to progress, despite major crises like the Covid-19 pandemic. Infinix is proud to be the only manufacturer of smartphones, which has established 3 smartphone-factories in Pakistan, operating for more than a year now. Hence, the robust investments and advanced telecom technologies from Infinix are already gaining great recognition and reputation in this key Asian market.

These 3 state-of-the-art production plants installed by Infinix in Karachi, have provided employment for more than 6,000 people, with a capacity to manufacture the most sophisticated technologies for high-quality smart-devices sought by various consumer-segments. Local manufacturing of such high-tech products in Pakistan has enabled valuable savings in the import-bills and foreign-exchange. These valuable contributions of Infinix are enriching the national economy, while also promoting the ‘Made in Pakistan’ brand, all over the world.

Speaking at a forum, as the Chief Executive Officer of Infinix, I – Joe Hu, had recently promised to all our consumers and stakeholders that our company will pursue a new vision to achieve “Progress through innovation”, with a powerful strategy to introduce the best technology products in Pakistan. Nearly 70 percent of Infinix workforce in Pakistan are women. This clearly reflects our strong commitment for “Women’s Empowerment” and global best-practices, along with other social-development initiatives to improve quality of life, Public-Health and Education for the masses.

Infinix Mobile is a subsidiary of Transsion – a globally leading Chinese company that achieved the highest market share (47%) during the 2nd quarter of 2021. It also achieved 409% growth as a smartphone vendor in Pakistan. In the same period, ‘Vivo Mobile’ achieved 23% unit-share, while Xiaomi was ranked 3rd with 11% unit share. Samsung was 4th on the list with 9% share and Oppo came 5th with 7% share in Pakistan’s smartphones market.

In future, Infinix plans to focus on bringing cutting-edge technologies into Pakistan. One of its spectacular innovations is the Concept Phone 2021 that boasts a 160W fast-charging, to fully charge a 4,000 mAh battery in just 10 minutes. It is also working on other revolutionary features like; Color-changing technology to liven up the rear panel. Meanwhile, Infinix is also developing a sustainable technological ecosystem that will nurture the support industries for local-manufacturing of devices in Pakistan.

Currently, all three Infinix plants in Pakistan are based on Semi Knocked Down (SKD) components only. However, Infinix is now striving to enable ‘Completely Knocked Down’ (CKD) manufacturing in the country, to significantly reduce the cost of production, and achieve higher efficiencies. The CKD production-model will create a lot more room for local manufacturers to improve their quality-standards and build-capacity to produce more sophisticated technologies, indigenously. Infinix is thus enabling Pakistani industries to gain self-sufficiency in producing smart-devices. This game-changing development will soon bring tremendous opportunities for the mobile sector, leading to a brighter future for the nation.

 

Clubhouse launches new feature to help chats feel life-like

Posted on by Ali Qasim

Lahore (NUT-DESK)

Clubhouse, an audio-only chat app, said  it will launch a spatial audio feature to make voices sound as if they’re coming from different directions, helping conversations and virtual performances feel more life-like.

The app, which is backed by venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, jumpstarted the social audio trend last year and became known for chatrooms of thousands that included chief executives and celebrities. However, it faces increasing competition from larger tech giants like Facebook, Twitter and Spotify, which have all introduced their own social audio chat features.

The new surround-sound-like feature will help Clubhouse lean into performances and entertainment rooms that have proliferated on the app.

Depending on how many speakers are in a Clubhouse room and a variety of other factors, the app’s technology will assign users a spatial positioning, so that the listener will hear the voices surround them in their headphones, said Justin Uberti, Clubhouse’s head of streaming technology.

In comedy rooms for instance, Clubhouse’s technology will detect the main speaker and place that person’s voice in the “front,” while the laughter of other people could sound as if they’re coming from a listener’s left and right sides, he said.

“I could hear people laughing and the room erupts around me,” Uberti said. “You can imagine in music … there’s a lot of potential.”

The spatial technology also makes it easier to detect when different users are speaking, whereas people previously might have to pay attention to the speakers’ cadence and vocal timbre, he added. Clubhouse, which started as an invite-only app and recently was opened to all users, said more than 700,000 rooms are now created each day, up from 300,000 in May. Spatial audio will roll out first to iOS users and then Android users soon after, Clubhouse said.