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Twitter’s Stone: no IPO or funding talks

Pakistan IT — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 09:50:43 +0000

Twitter has no plans to go public any time soon and does not need additional funds because it is making money, the co-founder of the popular microblogging site said

“We have so many other things before we even think about that,” Biz Stone told Reuters at a business forum in Seoul on Thursday when asked about the prospects of an IPO.

“We are not even discussing it internally. It’s too far off,” he said, as fans crushed around trying to take his photo, adding that Twitter had no plans to raise funds over the next 12 months. The company, created in 2006, employs about 350 people.

Valuations for social networking companies have soared, with Facebook’s recent $1.5 billion round of financing led by Goldman Sachs, giving the company a projected value of $50 billion.

Stone also dismissed speculation that JPMorgan Chase & Co was in talks with Twitter to buy a 10 percent stake for $450 million, which would value the company at $4.5 billion.

A Financial Times report on Sunday said a JPMorgan technology fund was interested in 10 percent of Twitter. The FT story said it was not clear if JPMorgan would buy the stock directly from Twitter or from current shareholders.

Stone was asked if Twitter was talking with JPMorgan.

“(The report is) made up,” he said.

The New York Times reported this week JPMorgan had indirectly acquired an approximate 9 percent stake in Twitter through a fund operated by an angel investor.

Twitter, which allows users to send short, 140-character text messages, or Tweets, to groups of followers, is one of the Web’s most popular social networking services along with Facebook and LinkedIn, and had 175 million users as of September.

Social networking services are a growing challenge to Web players such as Google Inc, Microsoft Corp and Yahoo! Inc, competing for users online and advertising dollars, raising speculation Twitter may become the target of a takeover bid.

Last month, Netscape co-founder Marc Andreessen’s venture capital outfit invested $80 million in Twitter.

In December, Twitter said it raised $200 million in a deal that valued the company at $3.7 billion, less than a year after it began its first serious efforts to make money. Silicon Valley venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers was the lead investor, which included existing Twitter investors.

Stone, 36, who reportedly pronounced his given name Christopher as “Bizober” when he was a child learning to talk and decided to change it later to Biz, created Twitter with Evan Williams and Jack Dorsey in 2006.

He left Google at around the same time with Williams to start a new podcasting project and later worked to improve the then-popular text message to create Twitter.

It has since become a popular communication tool for celebrities, politicians and businesses, and played a role in several geopolitical events including the recent uprising in Egypt.

“TWEETS MUST FLOW”

Stone defended Twitter’s role in his recent blog article “The Tweets Must Flow” after Egypt curbed access to social networking sites that helped activists rally supporters and coordinate protests to depose its long-time ruler Hosni Mubarak.

“Throughout 2008, 2009 and 2011, with so many things around the world somehow Twitter found its way. And every single one of these things was just another amazing eye-opening moment for us, making us realize that the open exchange of information really can have a positive global impact all around the world,” Stone said on Thursday.

“The very simple service we started building is being used in the corners of the world we had never anticipated, thanks in large part to the fact that there are 5 billion mobile phones in the world. It really taught me … technology can solve almost any problem.”

The explosion of tablet computers and low-cost smart devices is helping social networking sites grab more users and boost growth.

Stone said Twitter wanted to remain independent and was not in any formal bid talks.

Twitter held talks with Facebook “a couple of years ago … (but) nothing formal since and it’s mostly rumors all the time,” he said.

The Wall Street Journal reported last month that Google and Facebook have held low-level takeover talks with Twitter that give the Internet sensation a value as high as $10 billion.

“We make money. We earn money from a suite of products — We have promoted tweets … promoted accounts, all of which are in our advertising mechanism..

“We are just really getting started. We have some internal forecasts (for advertising revenue for 2011) but nothing is really shared right now. We don’t need to set the world record or anything like that,” Stone said.

Industry research firm eMarketer said in January that Twitter, which does not provide financial information, generated an estimated $45 million from advertising in 2010 and was expected to generate about $150 million this year.

source: reuters

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LG Triptych: Phone Morphs Into Tablet Concept Design

Pakistan IT — Sun, 13 Feb 2011 15:32:12 +0000

Designer, Edward Hale, recently shared some images of an LG concept phone called the Triptych that can morph into a tablet. This sounds familiar harking back to Sprint and Kyocera’s joint announcement of the Echo dual-touchscreen phone/tablet earlier this week. But those two sure could take a lesson from Hale’s design. The Triptych makes the Echo look very very sad. Luckily for them, LG is still busy pushing their first tablet the G-Slate. More images after the cut.

The Triptych concept design shows a very slim-bodied phone featuring one phone screen and two additional screens that fold out from behind to form the tablet screen. Imagine how awesome it would be if they used AMOLED technology for this.

It’s also interesting to think about what OS it would use since it can switch back and forth between phone and tablet. Perhaps it can dual booth phone and tablet operating systems.

[Via Design Buzz]

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Samsungs 750 and 950 3D LED monitors do a whole lot, won’t give us a price

Pakistan IT — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 13:24:48 +0000

We reported on Samsung’s new line of 3D-enabled LED monitors just before the CES tsunami hit, but it seems the specs got lost in the commotion. So here’s what we know about the new 750 series and the asymmetrical 950 series: they’ll come in both 23- and 27-inch sizes with 1080p resolution, two-millisecond response time, 1000:1 contrast ratio, and D-sub, HDMI, DisplayPort, and DVI-DualLink connectivity — and they can all be ordered with a TV tuner for hybrid HDTV / monitor operation. They all do 3D for gaming, TV, films, and user-generated content, and the hybrid 750s and all the 950s can do 2D-to-3D conversion from PCs, Blu-ray players, gaming consoles, and set-top boxes. We know what you’re thinking: “How much?” Well, we’d like to know the same thing. The whole line hits stores in March, but Samsung has yet to set a price.

CNET

Samsung

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Samsung’s HDTV-based app store passes two million downloads

Pakistan IT — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 12:47:02 +0000

Reaching two million downloads in a year may seem paltry considering Apple’s app store delivered 1.5 billion downloads in its first year, and the Mac app store passed one million downloads on opening day. Still, it’s the largest number we’ve seen from a TV maker, and when you factor in that Samsung’s store just passed one million downloads back in November, it seems the Korean tech giant has a good thing going. Naturally, we knew the company was serious about apps when it announced the Free the TV contest late last summer to lure developers to the platform, and today the app store is available in over 120 countries and features roughly 380 applications, 259 of which are free. It also doesn’t hurt that the brand has already sold boatloads of Smart TVs and plans to ship 12 million more in 2011. The question is, when the store hits the 10 million mark, can Samsung possibly pull off a new interpretive dance that tops its 2011 CES keynote? We certainly hope so. For the full announcement, check out the press release after the break.

Show full PR text

Samsung Smart TV Leadership Reaches Milestone with 2 Millionth Application Downloaded

(SEOUL=Korea Newswire) January 17, 2011 — Samsung Electronics Co, Ltd. today announced that Samsung Apps, the world’s first application store for the television, has reached its two millionth TV application download globally. The milestone is the latest in Samsung’s Smart TV category leadership, which was on full display at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas earlier this month. Samsung reached the 2 million mark within a year of the launch of Samsung Apps and the number of apps downloaded has doubled since November, when it reached one million downloads.

Samsung Apps allows users to purchase and download applications from a wide variety of content and service providers, directly from their Smart TVs. Samsung Apps boasts around 380 applications designed for Smart TV, of which 259 are free. The store is currently available in 120 countries around the world.

“This achievement and the short period in which it was achieved demonstrate the rapidly growing popularity of applications and content for Smart TVs,” said Mr. Sangchul Lee, Senior Vice President of Samsung’s Visual Display Business. “Samsung’s leadership role in this category has paid off and allowed us to provide new experiences for consumers that are more rich and integrated than any before.”

Interest in applications on Smart TV increased at a tremendous pace during the holiday season. When Samsung Apps reached one million downloads in November, it had been just 268 days since the store’s launch. The two million-mark was reached just 53 days later.

Some of the most frequently downloaded applications from Samsung Apps are YouTube, Hulu Plus, ESPN Next Level, AccuWeather, Google Maps and Texas Holdem, showcasing global demand for Samsung Smart TV entertainment experiences across popular consumer hobby areas – sports, movies and gaming. After reaching one million downloads, consumers have downloaded an average of 100,000 applications every five days.

To spur Smart TV innovation, Samsung is also working closely with the developer community to bring new applications to the Samsung Apps library. Throughout 2010, Samsung held “Free the TV Developer Days” around the world, bringing together developers and notable leaders across the connected TV ecosystem to discuss and plan for the next era of Smart TV. Accompanying the Developer Days were contests such as the “Free the TV Challenge” (http://www.freethetvchallenge.com/) in the United States, which announced its winners earlier this month at CES.

“The developer community is a critical component to maintaining the momentum and growth of Samsung Apps for the TV,” said Mr. Kyungshik Kevin Lee, Vice President of Samsung’s Visual Display Business. “These talented individuals will bring depth and personalization to an environment built initially with our industry-leading partners.”

Samsung announced a series of high-level partnerships during a keynote address by Visual Display Business President Boo-Keun Yoon, including alliances with cable television leaders Comcast and Time Warner as well as online video leaders Hulu and Adobe.

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PTCL is Going to Double the DSL Speeds

Pakistan IT — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 18:47:40 +0000

It seems like PTCL is going to double the DSL speeds of broadband customers very soon, most likely with in month or two, at most – same like it did last year. According to news the existing packages will be doubled as

• 1 mbps to 2 mbps
• 2 mbps to 4 mbps
• 4 mbps to 8 mbps

According to PTCL representative and feedback of different users PTCL is testing these double speeds on randomly selected subscribers from different areas of country. These users will be downgraded after the testing period ends to their original speeds and will be upgraded after official announcement, which is most likely to be on 23rd March, but can be delayed as no final date has been announced yet.

The up gradation process may take several months according to the size of network. Though PTCL is using is ADSL2+ which supports up to 24mbps but at same time there are many subscribers on Copper media, which supports up to 4 mbps at most (that too with distortion).

We hope that student package users will also get this upgrade and can enjoy higher speeds at discounted rates as recently PTCL discontinued all student packages above 1mbps.

We will keep you informed on this, you can also share your experience in comments if you got this test up gradation.

No official words on the situation yet.

via ProPakistani

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Ufone Islamic Handset Offer

Pakistan IT — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 17:58:32 +0000

Ufone always keeps its customers’ needs in mind, so that you can always stay connected to your loved ones.

Now with the Ufone Islamic Handset, also stay connected with your faith, because the Islamic handset comes with some built-in Islamic features, such as Alarm, Islamic wallpapers, direction of Qiblah etc. A wonderful phone that comes with color display, all for just Rs.1650.

If you want your phone to help you stay on track, then this is the phone for U!

Specifications:

	Islamic Content
	Prayer Alarm, timings of 5 time prayers & alarm facility for each.
	Feature of direction for prayer.
	Islamic IVR Service 1314 & one touch access to Islamic Portal
	16 chord poly phonic ring tones
	Color display
	LCD Size 1.5”
	WAP/MMS capable
	Weight Approx 70 Grams (including battery)
	Stand by time 350 hours (Network dependent)
	Talk time 210 Mins (Network dependent)
	Speed dial feature

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P@SHA Google Adword Workshop

Pakistan IT — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 12:03:13 +0000

Google Pakistan, in partnership with P@SHA, is holding a workshop on Online Marketing on Wednesday January 13, 2010 at T2F in Karachi from 10 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. followed by a quick lunch.

This talk, which will be facilitated by Badar Khushnood, Pakistan Consultant for Google, will help Pakistani technology companies to harness the power of the internet for promoting their products and services to potential local & global customers most economically. This course will also explore various tools and applications that are available online, for marketers.

Pictures:

Pictures: Badar Khushnood – http://bit.ly/badar

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Ufone Background Music

Pakistan IT — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 10:08:15 +0000

Ufone Background music lets you play music and sound effects in the background of your call. You can play your favorite song in the background, or the sound of the beach, a market place and many more.

So stop making those boring calls and personalize your conversations by playing music that matches the mood in the background. Just activate this service on your Ufone, select the song you want and hear the music play during the call. And that’s not all. You can also select different music for different people and play special sounds during the conversation at the press of a button.

Once the service is activated on your Ufone you can dial 770 and either select different songs for different mobile numbers or you can select one single song for all mobile numbers.

How To Use Ufone Background Music Service:

By dialing 770, you can manage your Background Music account by adding, deleting or changing the songs.

An easy way to add music to a conversation is by adding the prefix 77 before dialing the required number.

Here is a short guide to Ufone Background Music (BGM) Service:

Ufone BGM service can be subscribed as follows:

• SMS SUB to 770
• Dial 770

You are subscribed and a default BGM tune is set against your number.
You can download content through following medium:

• SMS to 770
• Dial 770
• Log on to BGM Subscriber WEB Portal- click here

http://bgm.ufone.com:8080/bgmSubWeb/homepage.htm

After selecting a content, you will be given the option to assign the selected content on your phone keys (1 – 9).
After first subscription, first three content (including default tune) will be downloaded for free.

Ufone Background Music Call Mechanics:

You have complete control over the music while it is playing. You can easily control the volume of the music and can end the music as and when you want! This is not all- you can also add sounds effects like a crying baby, car horn, marketplace, etc. Just read on below to know all about Ufone Background Music Service.

In order to initiate a BGM call, simply dial 77 followed by any number e.g 770333xxxxx , 77051xxxxx, 770300xxxxx
If you are not subscribed to BGM and want to initiate a BGM call by dialing 77 before the required number, call will not be initiated and you will be prompted to press 1 to subscribe the service.
A default BGM tune is set against the MSISDN.
After downloading content, other tunes and sound effects can then be assigned on keys 1 to 9.
Volume of BGM will be increased by pressing the ‘#’ key.
Volume of BGM will be decreased by pressing the ‘*’ key.
Pressing ‘0’ key will mute the Background Music during the call.
Pressing ‘0’ key will again activate the Background Music during the call.
If you are a BGM user and want to copy the BGM of other BGM user during the call, ‘*’ key will be pressed.
If B party is not a BGM subscriber and wants to copy A party’s (BGM subscriber) BGM tune, B party can press the ‘*’ key to copy the BGM tune. B party will also be subscribed and the copied tune will be set as his/ her BGM tune.

SMS Commands:
Following commands will be sent to 770:
To Subscribe SUB
To Unsubscribe UNSUB
For Help HELP
Content Download CONTENT ID

Pricing:
Subscription Charges (Prepaid) Re. 0.5+Tax per Day
Subscription Charges (Postpaid) Rs. 15+Tax per Month
Call Charges to 770 IVR: Rs. 2+Tax per Minute
Content Download: Rs. 5+Tax per Download
BGM Tune Copy: Rs. 5+Tax per Copy
SMS to 770: Rs. 2+Tax/SMS
Call Charges with prefix 77: Rs. 1.30+Tax/Minute (Prepaid & Postpaid)

(Prefix based charging applies on all U to U, U to OMO and U to PTCL)

Terms and Conditions:

Calls with prefix 77 will be charged on premium rate of Rs. 1.30 + Tax per minute regardless of user’s current call package.
Service available for both Prepaid and Postpaid users.
Service is not applicable for International calls.
Service is not applicable for roamers.
After using the service for a month, if you do not have the service subscription fee for next one month, you will be unsubscribed from the service and will have to subscribe again by dialing 770 or simply sending SUB to 770.

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EVO PCMCIA Card for RS-999 ONLY

Pakistan IT — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 09:20:38 +0000

Prepay advantage – Easy Recharge through Vfone Scratch Cards
Unlimited Data Volume downloads!
Superior 3G experience.
Broadband Internet in your pocket
EV-DO Roaming in all Major Cities- Nationwide Roaming through automatic switch over to 1 X in non EVDO Coverage areas.Average download speeds from 300 kbps to 500 kilo bits per second!
Access rich media applications like live video streaming, web casts, online games and a host of other applications.
Plug & Play – Instant Connectivity
Rs.999 is price of the PCMCIA Card.
This offer is not valid on Evo USB.
PCMCIA Card works only on laptops which have the PCMCIA Slot.
PCMCIA Card is not compatible with all Laptops/Desktops.

Benifits

Never Before Speed: With PTCL Evo Wireless Broadband’s 3G network technology you now have access to internet at super fast speeds using the new USB Modem & PCMICA card.
Internet on the Move: Customers have the convenience of being able to access PTCL Evo Wireless Broadband from wherever they are.
Unlimited Downloads: Customers have the freedom to download as much data as they want as there are no download limits.
All Pakistan Roaming: Roaming in entire Pakistan. Evdo coverage in all major cities of Pakistan. CDMA 1X lower speeds (153 kbps) in 1900 mhz Vfone coverage areas.
Plug and Play: All you now need to do is just plug the USB Modem/PCMICA into your Laptop / Desktop PC and you are ready to access a whole new world of high-speed internet connectivity.
Hassel free/Wireless: With Evo sleek and stylish devices, you are now completely free from wires.

Packages	Charges
USB Device	Rs. 3,999
EVO MAX	Rs. 2000 – Unlimited – 30 days validity
EVO LITE	Rs.1200 – 50 hours* or 3000 minutes – 30 days validity *Rs.21/additional hour
DAY PASS	Rs.100/day – Valid for 24 consecutive hours

Postpaid Tariff/Package Details:

Package 1 (For subscribers having PTCL Landline)

Option 1: USB Device Rs. 3,999 (upfront)

Option 2: PCMCIA Card Rs. 999 (upfront)

Monthly Service Charges Rs. 2,000 (Payable through PTCL Landline Bill)

Package 2 (For subscribers NOT having PTCL Landline)

Option 1 : USB Device Rs. 3,999 (upfront)

Option 2: PCMCIA Card Rs. 999 (upfront)

Monthly Service Charges Rs. 2,000 (Payable at start of each month at PTCL OSS or CSCs)

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Jazz International Dialing Offer

Pakistan IT — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 14:39:00 +0000

Jazz once again reasserts its market dominance as the best voice-based package in the cellular market by launching brand new discounted international call rates!

With Jazz’s new international call rates, all Jazz users can make International calls to the highest number of destinations offered by any mobile operator at Local call rates ANY time for as low as Rs. 1.36 per min! All our customers have to do to avail this offer is to subscribe to their desired destination once a week.

Salient Features International Direct Dialing:

One time Subscription Fee will be charged at the time of Subscription.
Subscription Validity period will be 7 days.
User can opt for maximum of 9 destinations at one time (separate fee per destination will be charged)

Countries Available

SR. #	Destinations	Country Code	Subscription Fee
1	Australia (L)	61	Rs. 10
2	Canada & USA (L+M)	1	Rs. 20*
3	China (L+M)	86	Rs. 10
4	Denmark (L)	45	Rs. 10
5	France (L)	33	Rs. 10
6	Germany (L)	49	Rs. 10
7	Greece (L)	30	Rs. 10
8	Ireland (L)	353	Rs. 10
9	Italy (L)	39	Rs. 10
10	Netherlands (L)	31	Rs. 10
11	Portugal (L)	351	Rs. 10
12	Singapore (L+M)	65	Rs. 10
13	Spain (L)	34	Rs. 10
14	Switzerland (L)	41	Rs. 10
15	United Kingdom (L)	44	Rs. 10

* For Canada and USA (L+M) the subscription charges have been doubled since 2 destinations get opened through the country code of 1.

Subscription Process

Customer will type the name of the country and send an SMS to 424.
Once the SMS is sent, a USSD string will be sent back to the customer for further subscription for a particular country.
User will dial the USSD string on mobile screen and press send to avail the discounted rate for that country.

Example:

Customer types ‘UK’ and sends it to SMS short code 424.
The following reply message would be sent to him.

Type *104*1*44*01# & press send to avail this offer for UK (Landline)

Customer types *104*1*44*01# and presses send. After sending the USSD, customer will be subscribed to the feature and a confirmation message would be sent to him.

Un-Subscription Process

To un-subscribe from a particular country, customer will type the following USSD string and press send
* 104*4*<>*<>#

Where:

xxxxx: Complete country code (can be of any number of digits)
yy: Can be any of the values: (01:Landline 02:Mobile 03: Landline Mobile)

Example:

To un-subscribe from UK landline, customer will type the following USSD and press send.
*104*4*44*01#
After sending the USSD, customer would be unsubscribed from UK landline discount and a confirmation message would be sent to him.

Terms & Conditions:

Charging pulse for all calls is 60 seconds
The above discounted rates are not applicable for users on international roaming.
Max 9 countries can be selected at one time, with multipl subscription fee deductions for different destinations
In case of multiple selections, the validity of previously selected destination will remain intact
Weekly subscription charges: Rs. 10 per country
Combined charges for USA and Canada: Rs. 20 per week
19.5% Federal Excise Duty applies on usage and 10% Government Tax applies on recharge
Using SIMs without proper documentation is a crime – PTA
Limited time offer only

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