TikTok tops Facebook as most downloaded app of 2020

Posted on by Ali Qasim

Lahore (Nut-Desk)

TikTok was the world’s most downloaded app last year, overtaking Facebook and its messaging platforms, market tracker App Annie report yesterday. The Chinese-owned video app surged in popularity despite efforts by former president Donald Trump to ban it or force a sale to US-based investors, according to the research firm.

TikTok, owned by China-based ByteDance, is believed to have one billion users worldwide including more than 100 million in the United States, and its short-form videos are especially popular with young smartphone users.

US President Joe Biden in June revoked executive orders from his predecessor seeking to ban TikTok and Chinese-owned WeChat from US markets on national security concerns but ordered a review of the potential risks of foreign-owned internet services.

While the political debate about the video-snippet sharing sensation roiled, TikTok climbed from the fourth most downloaded app in 2019 to the top spot last year, according to App Annie data.

On the way, TikTok stepped over Facebook and two of the US internet giants texting apps Messenger and WhatsApp, the market tracker determined. TikTok’s popularity has prompted Facebook-owned Instagram to add video features to ride the hot trend.

Meanwhile TikTok last month began letting users post videos up to three minutes in length, tripling the prior cap to stay ahead of competitors.

Facebook has argued that the surge in TikTok’s popularity undercuts claims from antitrust enforcers in the United States that the California group dominates social networking.

Kareena Kapoor, Saif Ali Khan revealed name of their second child

Posted on by Ali Qasim

Lahore (Nut-Desk)

Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor Khan had been quiet about their second son’s name for the longest time. Last month, Randhir Kapoor had revealed that his grandson has been named Jeh.

The couple, who became parents for the second time back in February, have reportedly named their baby boy Jehangir Ali Khan. Jeh is apparently a short form of the same.

Confirming the news, a source reveals, “Yes, they have named their son Jehangir Ali Khan. Saif and Kareena have refrained from revealing the name as they do not want any kind of controversies surrounding it.”

The source further reveals that the couple was contemplating a few names, “When Taimur Ali Khan was born, Saif was keen on naming him Faiz after the famous poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz but Kareena decided to go with Taimur. This time too, Saif was keen on naming the child Faiz, but later on, the couple thought of naming their second child Jehangir Ali Khan.”

 

ICC to push for cricket’s inclusion in Olympics

Posted on by Ali Qasim

Lahore (Nut-Desk)

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has confirmed its intention to push for cricket’s inclusion in the Olympic Games going forward, starting preparations for a bid on behalf of the sport with the primary target being its addition to the Los Angeles 2028 itinerary.

A Working Group to lead the bid has been assembled by the ICC. Thirty-million cricket fans live in the USA, making LA 2028 the ideal Games for cricket to make its return to Olympic competition. Cricket, till now, has made just one appearance in the Olympics, way back in 1900 in Paris when only two teams competed at the event – Great Britain and hosts France – meaning the sport s inclusion in 2028 would mark the end of a 128-year absence.

The sport will feature in the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games next year, which shapes as a perfect showcase for what the sport can bring to the Olympics, as well as being a momentous occasion on its own. ICC Chair Greg Barclay said the addition of cricket to the Olympic Games would be beneficial to both the sport and the Games themselves.

“Firstly on behalf of everyone at the ICC, I would like to congratulate the IOC, Tokyo 2020, and the people of Japan for staging such an incredible Games in such difficult circumstances. It truly was fantastic to watch and captured the imagination of the world and we would love for cricket to be a part of future Games,” Barclay said.

“Our sport is united behind this bid, and we see the Olympics as a part of cricket’s long-term future. We have more than a billion fans globally and almost 90 percent of them want to see cricket at the Olympics.

Barclay added: “Clearly cricket has a strong and passionate fanbase, particularly in South Asia where 92% of our fans come from whilst there are also 30 million cricket fans in the USA. The opportunity for those fans to see their heroes competing for an Olympic medal is tantalising.”

“We believe cricket would be a great addition to the Olympic Games, but we know it won’t be easy to secure our inclusion as there are so many other great sports out there wanting to do the same. But we feel now is the time to put our best foot forward and show what a great partnership cricket and the Olympics are.”

The ICC Olympic Working Group will be chaired by England and Wales Cricket Board Chair Ian Watmore. He will be joined by ICC Independent Director Indra Nooyi, Chair of Zimbabwe Cricket Tavengwa Mukuhlani, ICC Associate Member Director and Vice President of the Asian Cricket Council Mahinda Vallipuram and Chair of USA Cricket Parag Marathe.

Marathe believes the time is now for cricket to make its long-awaited return to the Olympics, confident the sport s inclusion at the showpiece event would accelerate the growth of the game in the USA.

“USA Cricket is thrilled to be able to support cricket’s bid for inclusion in the Olympics, the timing of which aligns perfectly with our continuing plans to develop the sport in the USA,” he said.

“With so many passionate cricket fans and players already in the USA, and a huge global audience and following for the sport around the world, we believe that cricket’s inclusion will add great value to the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games and help us to achieve our own vision for establishing cricket as a mainstream sport in this country.”

Child abuse detection system will check photos stored in iCloud: Says Apple

Posted on by Ali Qasim

Lahore (Nut-Desk)

Administrative sources of Apple said that iPhone users’ entire photo libraries will be checked for known child abuse images if they are stored in the online iCloud service.

The disclosure came in a series of media briefings in which Apple is seeking to dispel alarm over its announcement last week that it will scan users’ phones, tablets and computers for millions of illegal pictures.

While Google, Microsoft and other technology platforms check uploaded photos or emailed attachments against a database of identifiers provided by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and other clearing houses, security experts faulted Apple’s plan as more invasive.

In a posting to its website on Sunday, Apple said it would fight any such attempts, which can occur in secret courts.

“We have faced demands to build and deploy government-mandated changes that degrade the privacy of users before, and have steadfastly refused those demands,” Apple wrote. “We will continue to refuse them in the future.”

In the briefing on Monday, Apple officials said the company’s system, which will roll out this fall with the release of its iOS 15 operating system, will check existing files on a user’s device if users have those photos synched to the company’s storage servers.

Julie Cordua, chief executive of Thorn, a group that has developed technology to help law enforcement officials detect sex trafficking, said about half of child sexual abuse material is formatted as video.

Apple’s system does not check videos before they are uploaded to the company’s cloud, but the company said it plans to expand its system in unspecified ways in the future.

Apple has come under international pressure for the low numbers of its reports of abuse material compared with other providers. Some European jurisdictions are debating legislation to hold platforms more accountable for the spread of such material.

Company executives argued on Monday that on-device checks preserve privacy more than running checks on Apple’s cloud storage directly. Among other things, the architecture of the new system does not tell Apple anything about a user’s content unless a threshold number of images has been surpassed, which then triggers a human review.

The executives acknowledged that a user could be implicated by malicious actors who win control of a device and remotely install known child abuse material. But they said they expected any such attacks to be very rare and that in any case a review would then look for other signs of criminal hacking.

 

Corona death toll crosses 24,000 mark.

Posted on by Ali Qasim

Lahore (Nut-Desk)

During previous 24 hours, 86 more people have died in Pakistan due to the ongoing fourth wave of the coronavirus pandemic, after which the death toll has crossed 24,000. The National Command and Operation Centre’s (NCOC) daily numbers showed that 49,506 COVID-19 tests were conducted across the country in the last 24 hours. Of these, 3,884 came back positive.

According to the NCOC, the positivity rate now stands at 7.84%.

The number of deaths from coronavirus in the country has crossed 24,000 and reached 24,004 and the total number of cases has reached 1,075,504.

In addition to this, 2,669 patients have recovered from COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of recoveries to 967,073, while the number of active cases is 84,427.

A day earlier, it was reported that Pakistan has been recording a slow decline in its daily COVID-19 numbers over the last few days.

According to NCOC’s stats, the positivity rate, daily cases and deaths fell Monday. There is a small downward trend in daily numbers, however, active cases continue to increase with the latest figure recorded at 84,427 cases.

Saba Qamar introduces her Romeo to followers!

Posted on by Ali Qasim

Lahore (Nut-Desk)

Pakistan’s top actress and model Saba Qamar have introduced her Romeo with everyone. She is an adorable puppy dog. Saba has posted a video, sharing adorable moments with her dog Romeo but it is her editing skills that have attracted praise from Imran Abbas.

“Peace, love and my Romeo,” Saba wrote. “Hey Romeo, say hi to my fans.”

The simple video has been made using photos and clips.

“I am loving the editing,” Imran Abbas said. “Ahem, ahem…”

His comment indicated that he might have something to do with Saba’s editing, and she confirmed it.

“Thank you, teacher,” Saba replied.

The video has crossed more than 170,000 views on Instagram. Saba’s followers are praising her affection towards animals. Saba and Imran will be seen next in the drama serial Tumhare Husn ke Naam.

Murad Raas warns schools to get teachers, staff vaccinated by Aug 22. or face closure.

Posted on by Ali Qasim

Lahore (Nut-Desk)

Punjab Minister for School Education Murad Raas has directed all public and private schools to get teachers and other staff members vaccinated against COVID-19 by August 22.

In a video message shared from his official Twitter account, Murad Raas asked teachers and other staff members to get themselves vaccinated and submit their vaccination certificates at their concerned educational institutions.

“We have established monitoring teams and they will conduct random visits in schools to check vaccination certificates after August 22,” he added. The minister warned that if any staff member of any school was found unvaccinated, authorities will close the school.

“We will also take disciplinary action after finding out that any staff member is not vaccinated,” he added. The provincial minister had taken to Twitter to share the picture of a written notification issued by the ministry.

“All teachers, administration and staff of public and private schools of Punjab to be vaccinated by August 22nd, 2021. Any individual without a vaccination certificate after the stated date will NOT be allowed in the school premises. Please follow the issued SOPs,” Raas had written on his official Twitter account.

The notification had said that the directives for immediate vaccination of the schools staff had been issued in pursuance of what was agreed in a meeting with the National Command and Operation Centre last month.

“Pursuant to the discussion, it is hereby ordered that the un-vaccinated employees of the School Education Department shall not be allowed to enter into any school/office after August 21, 2021,” reads the notification.

 

Ghana Ali once again defends husband in online trolling.

Posted on by Ali Qasim

Lahore (Nut-Desk)

Celebrated actress Ghana Ali is not happy with the social media comments and has once again hit back at online trolls for questioning her relationship with her husband, saying that everyone needs to mind their own business.

After a user left a disparaging comment on Ghana’s recent post suggesting that she married her husband Umair Gulzar for his money, Ghana Ali set the record straight saying, “He was never an ATM nor he’s a billionaire. Those were only rumours to disturb our mental peace!”

Ghana shared that her husband does a “very normal job” and that they are happy and content with each other.

“I don’t have to clear anyone over here but I think it’s wise to always mind your own business when especially one doesn’t know the whole story,” she further advised her followers.

The couple has consistently been at the receiving end of mean comments online ever since Ghana Ali announced her marriage on Instagram; from body-shaming her husband to gross assumptions about Ghana herself, the trolls have been relentless.

Ghana has made sure to hit back, earlier asking people to unfollow her if they have an issue with her husband.

Fawad khan head to Northern Areas for family vacations.

Posted on by Ali Qasim

Lahore (Nut-Desk)

Pakistan’s heartthrob Fawad Khan is taking time off in Skardu with his wife Sadaf and three kids. Spotted in viral photos. Although Fawad himself has not documented his visit on Instagram, producer Ammara Hikmat, who also accompanied the group on the trip, posted photos of the actor, his wife, and kids – Ayaan, Elayna and Bia- on her social media.

The Humsafar star is seen beating the summer blues with his trip up North.

In one photo, the Zindagi Gulzar Hai actor was spotted in vacation mode, teaching his son fishing in the blue rivers of Skardu. For his day out, Fawad pulled up a black bomber jacket paired with green pants and black cap.

In another photo, the actor posed for a photo inside Deosai National Park. At one instant, the former EP frontman was also spotted posing with his pals amid the Skardu river while the group looked sideways for the camera.

Google to launch Pixel 5a on August 26

Posted on by Ali Qasim

Lahore (Nut-Desk)

Google’s latest cellphone Pixel 5a will be released on August 26, according to the reliable sources of NUT. A new leak has revealed that the phone may get official later this month and has revealed the key specifications of the successor to the Pixel 4a. The features will include 6GB RAM and Snapdragon 765G processor. It comes with a 6.4-inch screen as well.

There will be no wireless charging feature.

Pixel 5a will be available for sale in the United States and Japan markets. It will have a price of $450. The report said that it will have the same camera as its predecessor, Pixel 5.