Wasim Akram Appointed as the Brand Ambassador of Innovation Factory

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Pakistan (Muhammad Yasir)

Innovation Factory Royal Investment Group, appointed the international cricket star & legend Mr. Waseem Akram as the international brand ambassador of Innovation Factory. The ceremony took place at Innovation Factory’s head office in Dubai. Mr. Waseem Akram, Mr. Omer Khan (founder), Mr. Rana (co-founder) and Mr. Nawal (CEO) signed the memo in presence of a fine media coverage from around the globe. After the signing ceremony, Innovation Factory’s management along with Mr. Waseem Akram announced the launch of three upcoming utility projects of Innovation Factory. Customized cakes designed for each project were cut to iconize the event of this announcement. Mr. Wasim Akram, expressed his excitement on the collaboration, and stated: “Pleased to shake hands with Innovation factory, as it strives to bring in the much- desired change, understanding that Ideas and innovation are the most precious currency in the upcoming times.” Commenting on the affiliation, Mr. Omar Khan (Founder) said: “We are delighted to collaborate with Mr. Wasim Akram, a world-famous personality, as the face of this new-age solution providing firm. His zeal for evolution and deep connection with people will enable us to inspire a larger community and drive the adoption of smart innovations amongst them.” The CEO of Innovation factory, Mr. Nawal Kishor further added: “Wasim has always endeavored hard work & achievement and is perfect to exemplify creativity and optimism. Wasim witnessed the evolution from black and white Tv all the way to OTT platforms, and fiat to digital (Crypto) currency in his decades long experience and understands the value of progression” Mr. Rana Saqib, COO expressed: “We are ecstatic to have him on board to help spread the message of Unity, team work and the importance of Dedication.” The event was a major milestone achievement in Innovation Factory’s journey towards establishing its worldwide community. Together with an international star on board, the management of Innovation Factory seemed confident as ever that they’ll achieve the broader vision of bringing prosperity and accessibility of technology to the masses around the globe. About Innovation Factory Innovation Factory is an IT firm that focuses on blockchain based solutions. The company has designed an entire ecosystem to bring everyday users closer to the technological advancement brought about by blockchain tech. The ecosystem comprises of a number of unique digital solutions/utilities that enhance the lifestyle of its users and enables them to thrive for an improved state of life.

Public Private Partnership deemed necessary for sustainable development, CSOs

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Civil Society asked Government for Their Meaningful Participation at Policy Level

Lahore (Muhammad Yasir) For sustainable development and achieving SDGs by 2030, experts termed collaboration between Government and non-government stakeholders and effective role of CSOs in advancing localization, implementation and achievement of SDGs as the real game changers towards success.

These thoughts were expressed by development practitioners, civil society members and education champions in a Post HLPF consultation session on Pakistan’ VNR Report 2022, presented by the Government in UN’s High Level Political Forum in July 2022. The session was organized was Awaz CDS – Pakistan and Education Champions Network.

Awaz CDS-Pakistan engaged with education champions/ECN member organizations and other CSOs of the country to prepare an analysis of Government reporting and CSOs perspective on that and the same was presented in the consultation session.
Highlighting priority SDGs especially SDG 4 and 5 on Gender Equality and Quality Education, Civil society members expressed their dissatisfaction on Government’s focus on these SDGs in the VNR report.  

Chief Executive, Awaz CDS, Zia ur Rehman briefed the audience on the background and process of development of the Voluntary National Review report. He appreciated the incumbent government’s presentation of official VNR at the UN High Level Political Forum (HLPF). He said that several concerns still exist on critical sustainable development goals (SDG) priorities in the absence of policy coherence, efficient implementation and review mechanisms.

According to him the report failed to capture and highlight the Citizens’ Voices on VNR process and progress on SDGs collected through stakeholders’ consultations. He stressed on the need of inclusion and participation of civil society representatives in the report making process for depiction of real on ground situation.

The Parliamentarians from Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Saira Raza, Fauzia Abbas and Saira Jabeen participated in the event and appreciated the efforts and expressed need to put education and gender equality on priority and their plan to bring about a legislation and its implementation in this regard.

Program Manager-AwazCDS-Pakistan, Marium Amjad Khan, while sharing the CSOs perspective on official VNR 2022 and findings of the analysis of Government reporting said that Government has shared a number of good progress that has been made in recent times on SDG 4 and 5 but that’s not the complete picture. For example, in VNR reporting on SDG 4, Government is presenting the enrollment rate as a success while according to the UNICEF’s country profile 2022 adjusted net attendance rate for children of primary school age is only 62% whereas, it further drops at middle and secondary level to 33%.

CSOs representatives appreciated that there have been improvements in strategies action plans, policies and legal frameworks. However, the scale of these initiatives as well as monitoring and transparency mechanisms needs strengthening.
As far as SDG 5, Gender Equality, is concerned CSOs shared their perspective that several national and provincial legislations have been made for gender equality and women’s inclusion but these are not being practiced.

Civil Society representatives shared that Sustainable Development Ranking Report 2022 is showing that SDGs 4 and 5 are stagnant and not improving compared to last report. This also mirrors the lack of initiatives and financing to improve both sectors. Governments and all stakeholders should invest more in country’s 48% of population to minimize disparities to at least achieve near to half of the SDGs targets by 2030.

GUARD INTRODUCES ANOTHER HIGH YIELD HYBRID RICE SEED

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Lahore (Zahid Chughtai)  Guard Agricultural Research and Services (Pvt) Ltd which is the pioneer in introducing hybrid coarse rice seed in Pakistan Pakistani has developed a new ‘Extra long grain super hybrid rice’ heat tolerant seed with double per acre yield and length after cooking as compared to competitor existing varieties.

Joint ventures Longping Hi-Tech Industries China and Guard Agricultural Research & Services (Pvt) Ltd., held a limited commercial trial this year spreading over 200 acres of land at various places of the country which resulted in having a yield of 90-100 maunds per acre at different places. The seed will be available for open commercial cultivation from the next season.

Guard Agricultural Research & Services (Pvt) Ltd., held a field demonstration to showcase the new seed, its technology and the produce from the trial fields to farmers at a village near Pakpattan the other day and informed the growers that the new variety can attain maturity in 80-85 days and gives double yield using the same amount of nutrients and inputs as used by the existing varieties.

Momin Ali Malik, Senior Executive of the company speaking on this occasion said that their company is working to bring such seeds to market which can ensure prosperity for the growers and food security for the country’s ever-increasing population. He said they partnered with their Chinese counterparts in 1998 and since then they are putting in efforts to bring high-yielding varieties and have tolerance against climate change as well. He said their research team is bigger than their sales team as they believe that only research-oriented activities can produce the required results in the seed sector. He said Pakistan’s export of rice had touched new heights but to maintain this momentum, the country needs more per acre yield by using the existing resources. He claimed that the new variety can produce more than 100 maunds per acre provided taken good care of it. Final data is being completed as harvesting is still underway at different places, Momin added.

Head of Research of the Chinese Company in Pakistan, Mr. Long threw light on hectic research activities being carried out in the country. He said that they plant 12000 lines every year and make hybrids by using local varieties and Chinese material. He said 11 varieties have so far been approved for cultivation by the Pakistani government since 2012. He said the new variety took 3-4 years of testing with a 14 mm length after cooking and an 8 mm length as uncooked rice.

The event was also addressed by the GM Guard (Agri) Rizwan Younis, Chaudhry Muhammad Afzal (grower) and Usman Khaliq (Grower) also spoke on this occasion and shared their experience about the new variety.

Ajoka performed “Bulha and Banda” at historic Lahore Fort.

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Lahore (Qasim Ali) Ajoka theatre presented extracts from its Iconic play “Bulha” in Lahore Fort for an event organized by the Pakistan-US Alumni Network (PUAN). Performed at the recently restored picturesque Shahi Kitchen, the play received warm response for its profound message of peace. Written by Ajoka’s executive director Shahid Nadeem the play extracts depicted the dramatic confrontation between Baba Bulleh Shah and Sikh Sardar Banda Singh Bahadur, who both responded to the tyranny of the Mughal rulers but their approach was conflicting. It was a strong indictment against intolerance and violence. Actors Usman Raj and Usman Zia performed characters of Bulha and Banda Singh respectively, whereas Luka Kalvin, Suneel Inayat, Kashif Jan, Khalid, Rai Kamran Ali, Sohail Afgen, performed their roles efficiently in the play. Ali Moon group performed mystic Qawalis and Sufi numbers which mesmerized the audience. The audience included Justice (r) Nasira Javed Iqbal, Kamran Lashari, Nighat Chaudhry, Ustad Rafaqat Ali and the US Consular in Lahore. Ajoka Institute director Nirvaan thanked PUAN for organising a meaningful event at such as exotic location and assured that Ajoka will continue its message of peace and enlightenment through theater.

TECNO Initiates #ColorChangingMobile campaign on Tiktok with Top Influencers in Pakistan

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Pakistan (Muhammad Yasir)

TECNO, an innovative smartphone brand, has initiated a fun campaign on Tiktok with the hashtag #ColorChangingMobile. The latest TECNO Camon 19 Pro Mondrian edition features polychromatic isomer technology which changes its colors while exposed to sunlight creating a vivid light-chasing experience.

Many of the famous Tiktok Influencers like Areeka Haq, Haris Ali, Aiman Zaman, and Minahil Malik have taken the challenge and posted interesting videos on their platform. The Influencers are grooving in the chic costumes designed by the famous brand BTW in collaboration with TECNO to show off their transformation in a trendy style.

The widely accepted Camon 19 Pro Mondrian edition became the center of attention upon entering the market as the first color-changing phone in Pakistan. The hashtag #ColorChangingMobile was also rolling over social media since the launch of the phone and made the top trend over Tiktok.

Kelvin Zeng, the CEO of TECNO Mobile Pakistan was overjoyed on this occasion and said:

“TikTok is widely used amongst millennials. However, TECNO with its customized product ideas has always tried to develop a connection with them. This alliance of technology fusion with BTW is yet another effort to engage the youth and provide them with the best quality products.”

TECNO has a history of creating trends and collaborating on TikTok to engage its fans. #ColorChangingMobile has proved, yet again to be a successor of #ShowYourSpark and previous campaigns like #SparkTheSpeed, #TECNOSpark4more, #CamonShow, and more. So, wait no longer, upload your video to be a part of this fancy campaign!

The trendy platform Tiktok has always been a source of great entertainment for youngsters.  If you want to have the stylish fusion costume made by the collaboration of TECNO Mobile and  BTW, then follow the transformation video and upload it on your Tiktok with #ColorChangingMobile. As the campaign unfolds, incredible surprises await participants and fans.

 

Power supply to Karachi Stabilized following tripping in national grid

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Karachi (Muhammad Yasir) Power supply to Karachi was restored in a phase-wise manner following a tripping in the transmission lines of the National Grid on Thursday. It had affected multiple cities across Sindh, Balochistan and Southern Punjab. KE’s network after safely being disconnected from national grid, landed in island mode post which KE through its own generation plants started power restoration within a span of an hour and half. 

KE teams began phase-wise restoration efforts with first priority to strategic installations such as KWSB pumping stations, Airport, and hospitals. Power supply was then gradually diverted to residential areas including but not limited to PECHS, Orangi, Lyari, Ibrahim Hyderi, Nazimabad, and DHA.

While KE systems remain stable, supply from the National Grid is partially affected due to ongoing technical constraints at their end. Per initial information, this situation may persist over the next 48 hours. To manage the constraints, KE may temporarily curtail power supply to industrial zones during nighttime hours to facilitate residential areas. Should the situation persist or intensify, the company may also have to conduct loadshedding. We appreciate the cooperation of our valued customers during this ongoing situation.

Aleemrk Makes It From Fresh Finds PK to Spotify’s Global Viral 50 List

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An emerging musician from the fold, AleemRK is making waves thanks to Spotify and its ‘Fresh Finds PK’ playlist.

Pakistan (Muhammad Yasir) After Abdul Hannan, the first face of Spotify’s ‘Fresh Finds’, who rose to dominate streaming charts with tunes like ‘Bikhra’ and ‘Iraday’, the trend continues with AleemRK, an emerging Hip Hop artist who has found global fame with his track “Cold Hours” trending at number 4 and 5 on Viral 50 India and Spotify’s Global Viral 50 respectively.

With close to 800,000 monthly listeners, AleemRK is rapidly on his way to the top as the second “Fresh Finds” artist to pop up on Spotify charts due to ‘Fresh Finds PK’. This locally curated editorial playlist shines light on tracks from independent artists in multiple genres, giving a broader platform to independent artists to get discovered by new audiences. AleemRK’s track, “Cold Hours” has witnessed a 1095% increase in times played over the past month putting it at 5.3 million streams and counting.

After being discovered in June 2021 by Spotify’s editorial team and added to  Fresh Finds PK for the first time, AleemRK has shown steady growth. From his track, “Cold Hours”, being added to prominent local playlists such as Hot Hits Pakistan, Top Songs Pakistan, Pakistani Hip-Hop and Desi Hip Hop to reaching listeners far and wide from India, US and UK.

“I feel honored to be a part of something that I dreamt of. Starting from scratch and now seeing my music going through global charts of Spotify makes me ecstatic. Well, sky’s the limit for me, it’s just a start. Thanks for listening,” said AleemRK.

Earlier this year, Spotify data revealed that Pakistani Hip Hop has grown by nearly 70% since the launch of the music platform, with over 63% of the streams coming from outside the country, highlighting its global appeal.

Explore more of AleemRK’s tracks on Spotify. 

New Visa Reports Underscore Importance of Cybersecurity Amid Shifting Threats

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Whether in-person or online, cybercriminals target payments touchpoints with sophisticated fraud techniques

Pakistan (Muhammad Yasir)  Visa Inc. (NYSE:V), the world leader in digital payments, today shared an updated look at how fraud has evolved since the height of the pandemic, with criminals simultaneously targeting online and offline vulnerabilities as our daily lives return to a blend of in-person and e-commerce experiences.

“As in-person commerce returns to pre-pandemic levels, crooks are back to exploiting the physical points of vulnerability in stores, while continuing to capitalize on e-commerce through malware, ransomware and phishing attacks, among others,” said Neil Fernandes, Head of Risk in NALP and GCC regions at Visa.

Two new pieces of global research – the latest Visa Biannual Threats Report and an MIT Technology Review Insights study “Moving Money in a Digital World,” released on October 6in partnership with Visa – highlight new and returning threats to the post-pandemic economy.

Digital commerce, crypto users are rich targets for innovative fraudsters

Still, the digital commerce environment – vastly accelerated by the pandemic – remains the richest target for cyber criminals.

Nearly three-fourths of fraud and data breach cases investigated by Visa’s Global Risk team involved e-commerce merchants – often social engineering and ransomware attacks. Digital skimming attacks targeting e-commerce platforms and third-party code integrations are common.

These attacks shine a light on the need for stringent security controls on merchant websites and checkout pages, ensuring external code is not enabled in sensitive cardholder environments. In fact, 42% of respondents in the MIT Technology Review Insights report Moving money in a digital world | MIT Technology Review  say security measures are important for their customers, with 59% acknowledging that cybersecurity threats are the biggest challenge to expanding digital payments. Many are prioritizing advanced security capabilities like digital tokens (32%), artificial intelligence and enhanced authorization (43%).

Beyond attacks on traditional currency, threat actors are employing new tactics to defraud cryptocurrency users, including new malware focused on browser extension wallets for crypto users as well as innovation in phishing and social engineering schemes. Crypto bridge services are also a target.  From January through February 2022, three sizeable thefts exploiting vulnerabilities in various bridge services netted cyber thieves over $400 million.[1]

Protection Is Visa’s promise

While cybercrime persists, Visa has increased its efforts to mitigate fraud. Over the past five years, Visa has invested more than $9 billion on network security. Visa employs more than a thousand dedicated specialists protecting Visa’s network from malware, zero-day attacks and insider threats 24x7x365. Visa also deploys AI-enabled capabilities and always-on experts to protect its ecosystem, proactively detecting and preventing billions of dollars of attempted fraud. In fact, Visa’s real-time monitoring with AI blocked over $4.2 billion in fraudulent payments volume in the last 12 months, preventing many from ever knowing they were at risk of a potential fraudulent transaction.    

To read more of the Payment Fraud Disruption report, visit Biannual Threats Report (visa.com).  To read the full MIT Technology Review Insights Moving Money in a Digital World report, visit Moving money in a digital world | MIT Technology Review.

 

Ericsson’s largest consumer study shows 5G is already paving the path to the metaverse

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Pakistan (Nut Desk)

Ericsson ConsumerLab’s 5G: The Next Wave report is the largest consumer 5G research to date.

  • Compared to 4G users – 5G users spend an average of one hour per-week more on metaverse-related services, such as gaming in virtual worlds, and augmented reality (AR).
  • Half of 5G consumers who already use extended-reality (XR) related services believe AR apps will move from smartphones to XR headsets within two years.

As 5G uptake in many parts of the world bridges the milestone from early adopters to mass adoption, major new Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) research – the industry’s largest global study of its kind to date – underlines consumers’ growing commitment to 5G and their expectations on next-generation uses cases.

Called 5G: The Next Wave, the Ericsson ConsumerLab report addresses the impact 5G has had on early adopter consumers since launching in various countries, as well as gauging the intention of non-5G subscribers to take up the technology – and their related expectations. The report forecasts that at least 30 percent of smartphone users intend to take up a 5G subscription within the next year.

The mix of Ericsson tracking data covering 5G launches since 2019, and the new consumer survey, has enabled Ericsson ConsumerLab to identify six key trends impacting the next wave of 5G adoption.

The report covers the behavioral changes triggered by the bundling of digital services into 5G plans by communications service providers – particularly the increased use of enhanced video and augmented reality (AR) apps. 

The report also addresses the speed of mainstream 5G adoption, whether consumer demands are being met, and 5G-related changes in smartphone behavior – and their impact on network traffic.

More than 49,000 consumers in 37 countries were interviewed in the research – the largest global 5G-related consumer survey in the industry to date and the largest consumer survey conducted by Ericsson on any topic. The survey scope is representative of the opinions of about 1.7 billion consumers worldwide, including 430 million 5G subscribers.

Jasmeet Singh Sethi, Head of Ericsson ConsumerLab, says: ”The scale of the research gives us an authentic insight into consumers’ views and attitudes to 5G. The report shows that the next wave of potential 5G users have different expectations from the technology compared to early adopters. Overall, consumers see engaging with 5G as an essential part of their future lifestyles.”

He adds: “It is interesting to note that 5G is emerging as an important enabler for early adopters to embrace metaverse-related services, such as socializing, playing and buying digital items in interactive 3D virtual gaming platforms. The amount of time spent on augmented reality apps by 5G users has also doubled over the past two years, compared to 4G users.”

The report forecasts that 5G consumers with experience of using extended reality (XR) functionality are likely to be the first to embrace future devices as they are more positive about the potential of mixed-reality glasses. Half of 5G users who already use XR-related services weekly think that AR apps will move from smartphones to XR headsets within the next two years, compared to one-third of 4G consumer who hold this view.

5G – the Next Wave Report: Six key trends

  1. 5G adoption to be inflation resilient: At least 510 million consumers across 37 markets are likely to take up 5G in 2023.
  2. The demanding next wave of users: The next wave of 5G users have high expectations on 5G performance, especially network coverage, compared to early adopters — who care about new innovative services enabled by 5G.
  3. Perceived 5G availability is emerging as the new satisfaction benchmark among consumers. Geographical coverage, indoor/outdoor coverage, and congregation hot-spot coverage are more important to building a user perception than population coverage.
  4. 5G is pushing up usage of enhanced video and augmented reality. Over the past two years, time spent on AR apps by 5G users has doubled to two hours per week.
  5. 5G monetization models are expected to evolve: Six in 10 consumers expect 5G offerings to move beyond more data volume and speeds to on-demand tailored network capabilities for specific needs.
  6. 5G adoption is setting the path to the metaverse. 5G users on average are already spending one hour more per-week in metaverse-related services than 4G users. They also expect two hours of more video content will be consumed weekly on mobile devices, 1.5 hours of which will be on AR/VR glasses by 2025.

Innovative Infrastructure Drives Industrial Digital Transformation discussed in HUAWEI CONNECT 2022 at Dubai

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Pakistan (Muhammad Yasir) More than 3,000 industry stakeholders gathered together at HUAWEI CONNECT Dubai, to discuss “Innovative Infrastructure to Unleash Digital”. Representatives from Huawei and other organizations shared their latest digitalization practices, exploring new paths to industrial digital transformation. Ken Hu, Huawei’s Rotating Chairman, delivered a keynote outlining three ways the ICT ecosystem can help break through common barriers in digital transformation:  Boost digital infrastructure, including more robust connectivity and stronger, more diverse computing resources.  Help organizations go beyond simple cloud adoption and truly make the most of cloud, focusing on advanced technology services that drive leapfrog development.  Build out local digital ecosystems including partner development, strengthening the digital talent pool, and providing more support for SMEs. Opening the event, Steven Yi, President of Huawei Middle East & Africa expressed gratitude to customers and partners for their ongoing trust and reaffirmed Huawei’s commitment to contributing to local development. He also shared three key initiatives of Huawei, its customers and partners, to unleash digital productivity. Together, they work to build a solid digital foundation for all and reinforce local digital ecosystems to support the future of digital nations. Innovative, scenario-based technologies enhance digital infrastructure to unleash digital productivity Bob Chen, Vice President of Huawei Enterprise BG, discussed how multi-tech synergy is critical for finding the right technology for the right scenario. He explained in his keynote speech “Innovative Digital Infrastructure Accelerates Digital Transformation” that “Data is at the core of digital transformation, and data ingestion, transmission, storage, and analysis are key steps. Huawei provides full-stack products and product portfolios to support end-to-end data processing, accelerating customers’ digital transformation.” In terms of data connectivity, Huawei unveiled NetEngine AR5710, a hyper-converged gateway that is ideal for small and midsize branches, and NetEngine 8000 F8, an ultra-compact universal-service aggregation router. These all-new products are helping lay a solid data foundation to further unleash digital productivity. With regards to data transmission, Huawei has been exploring how to apply the fifth generation fixed network (F5G) evolution across various industries. During the event, Huawei in partnership with a customer, jointly launched a digital pipeline corridor inspection solution based on optical fiber sensing technology, enabling automatic pipeline corridor inspection. Regarding data storage, Huawei and Commvault, a data management software company, jointly launched a data protection solution that provides enterprise customers with secure and reliable data protection from end to end. This helps create a reliable and efficient storage foundation, allowing enterprises to maximize the value of data. Joy Huang, President of Huawei Cloud Strategy & Industry Development, pointed out that Huawei’s approach to digital transformation has three pillars: greener infrastructure, ongoing innovation, and shared experience. Huawei Cloud aims to be the best digitalization partner for customers, and is working with partners and customers to unleash digital with Everything-as-a-Service. Additionally, customers from various industries in the Middle East and Africa also shared their best practices with Huawei in digital transformation at the event. Huawei also launched the Huawei Empower Program, which aims to help develop a thriving digital ecosystem for global partners. Through this program, Huawei will conduct joint innovation with its partners via OpenLabs, empower partners with a new framework, a new plan, and an integrated platform, and create a talent pool through the Huawei ICT Academy and Huawei Authorized Learning Partner (HALP) programs. Huawei also announced an investment of US$300 million into this program over the next three years to support its global partners.