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Google Earth: A Tool for Terrorists?

Sc8uf — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 08:47:01 +0000

Google Earth is an application developed by Google that comprises of satellite images of the entire Earth. The application has become very popular with time and is widely used by people for navigation and other purposes. Google Maps have also been developed based on it and are considered as one of the most popular navigation service in the world. However, like every piece of technology, Google earth has also seen a negative use which is very trouble some, specifically for Pakistan.

Google Earth mapped the entire earth using real images which was great, but, pictures of installations and facilities that were not supposed to be open for general public were also included in the photographs. This has led to many disagreements between government around the world and Google. Some countries like China have banned Google as well. Other countries like UK, Israel, Russia, Korea, and Thailand have also showed concerns over imagery from Google Earth. Major concern was due to revealing of Missle, Nuclear sites and secret military installations. It has also been found that Iraqi Jihadi groups, Palestinian groups and Pakistan’s Laskar e Tayyiba have regularly been using Google Earth for planning attacks.

Military’s General Head Quarters were attacked in Pakistan in October 2009. After a 19 hour long operation, control was taken back. One accused Dr Usman alias Kamran alias Nazir Ahmed was caught and tried in military court. He was convicted by military court on 11 Aug, 2011. He reveled that they had planned to take top brass hostage to get their 116 men released. He also said that they used Google Earth for planning all their attacks. This is particularly a thing to worry about as Google Earth has revealed many military installations in Pakistan that were not previously known. The government and the military should work out a plan to stop foul use of Google Earth in Pakistan. Here are Google earth pictures of some important military installations around the world.

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Unregistered SIMs Declared The Base Of All Criminal Activity

Sc8uf — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 12:26:36 +0000

Unregistered SIM is being considered the result of all the crimes happening in our society especially some common one like extortion and kidnapping for the sake of money and all that is carried out by unregistered SIMs.

The chief of the Citizens-Police liaison Committee (CPLC) Ahmed Chinoy agrees with all the businessmen who blame unregistered SIMs to be the basic irritant for law enforcing agencies to control the major crimes.

Chinoy said that this problem of unregistered SIMs can be overcome only by the mobile phone service providers if they deliver SIMs to the postal address of the customer instead of handing them over to the customer or at shops and outlets.

Industry officials have said that they are going to send data about flagged and suspicious SIMs regularly to the Pakistan telecommunication authority (PTA).

This problem have been taken very seriously by the telecom companies which are concerned about the business ethics and their own targets have been set about verifying SIMs. A few companies are very much worried and investigating every unverified or unregistered SIM individually.

Those people who are investigating this system are running after it as if they were running after sales targets. The companies are having their call center and also people monitoring the traffic and the SIM is detected every time when one switched on or switched off it frequently or being ported around the networks.

They said that, Nevertheless, all the companies point out a defect in their plan, the human factor. We can get a SIM registered by any other NIC If we want to pay a bit extra while the other people have managed to figure out the way to change International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) numbers.

IMEI is very unique and different number that is able to make the phone traceable in the world but the people have also discovered a way to ignore it as well, and making them impossible to track.

The top leading communities of city`s business are becoming very violent with the interior minister of Pakistan Rehman Malik for not taking any action and not equipping police with the modern technology so that they can detect unregistered SIMs. A few months ago the number of extortion taking place have in our society have increased at a very large extent and they have also threatened a series of strikes.

Unregistered mobile phones range from the stolen phones that have been blocked or Chinese phones that have just a single identification number over the whole mobile model, making it impossible to trace.

Kidnapping for the sake of money and snatching of money have plagued the beautiful Karachi in recent months and all the efforts made by the government to control these crimes have failed which is resulting in tangible things.

Source: TribuneSimilar Posts:

New Pictures Of Steve Jobs Show Him On Wheel Chair

Sc8uf — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 08:01:50 +0000

We witnessed a photo of Steve Jobs today, he wasn’t looking much healthier. Well, these new photos were released by a Hong Kong based newspaper; Oriental Daily. In the first picture we can see that Mr. Jobs was standing with the support of a friend and was about to sit on a wheel chair. Second picture shows that he is in his wheel chair and his wife and son are accompanying him. We can also see that Jobs’ iconic black turtle-neck and blue jeans outfit is also missing.

First photo was published on the headlines page of Oriental Daily, which will appeal you so much that you will buy this paper for just HK$5. The family picture of Jobs is inside the story page and here we are uploading for you, because we want all the Apple fans in the world to see that how peaceful Steve Job’ life is by getting together with his family after the resignation.

New York Post also published these pictures after that but you can only see them on their printed version; online version of the NY post doesn’t include the pictures.

Steve Jobs has been in battle with pancreatic cancer since 2003 and according to a witness the car in the picture took Jobs to San Francisco, his native city and he never got out of the car when he reached San Francisco. The source added that “it was as if he was taking a last look around the city”.

Well, it’s clear that these pictures sadden us a lot but still these cannot be compared to the one which was posted by TMZ a few days ago, showing Steve Jobs very ill. Yes, these are sad too but still it looks like he is more peaceful than ever and he is well take care of by his family at this moment. Many of us will love to see Jobs healthy and doing what he does best “work”, in future.

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One Nation, Two Eids? Who's to Blame?

Sc8uf — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 03:08:40 +0000

Eid is a holy occasion for Muslims that comes two times in the year. It is one of the most celebrated events in the world. In every Muslim and non Muslim country, this occasion is celebrated on a single day. This increases unity and promotes brotherhood in the country. In our country this is not the case unfortunately. Each year the country sees 2 and some times even 3 different Eids.

Eids being celebrated on different days is a very big issue but unfortunately neither the government nor the ‘Maulana sahibaan’ of the country have made any effort to resolve this issue. This situation is particularly sad because our politicians and Maulanas are one of the least enlightened communities of the society. The lack of understanding of opinions of different people has led to this situation. In this article, we will try to establish why the problem that exists and what can be done to solve it.

The Eid in Khyber Pakhtun Khwa:

KPK is a province that always celebrates Eid one day ahead of rest of Pakistan. Ask a common man the reason and he will of the opinion that Pathans celebrate Eid according to Saudi calender. This can not be considered true as there have been Eids when Saudia and KPK have had different Eid days. The announcement of Eid is done in the Masjid Qasim Khan by the Committee their.

Islamic Procedure of Verifying Witnesses in KPK:

Most people are critical of this without knowing the procedure or Islamic Laws that are followed. The committee in KPK calls in witnesses, verifies their claims of seeing book by asking them to swear on the Holt Quran and does other steps necessary to validate the ‘shahada” of any Muslim. The procedure is correct according to Islamic teachings apparently.

Eid in Rest of Pakistan:

Eid in rest of Pakistan is announced by the government ‘Royat e Hilal Committee’. It has renowned Ulema and Muftis from all over Pakistan. Although the History of founding of this committee by General Zia ul Haq is full of controversies, it has been forgotten now. Many young people wouldn’t even know that before the formation of this committee the Eid was celebrated in the entire country on the same day as the scientific calender was followed.

Islamic Procedure Followed by Govt’s Committee:

The Islamic procedure is the same except there is certainly a mistrust on the committee from the KPK population. When 3 years back an Eid was not announced despite having more than 10 witnesses from KPK, this issue became more serious and now many people in KPK dismiss the government made committee as a joke.

What does Science Say?

Before telling about a shocking thing that I learnt in my online research, I would like to tell the readers to draw a boundary between our PTV-based ‘Weather Experts’ and the scientists who make Lunar calenders.

Our weather experts have had a long and steady record of agreeing to the decision of the government committee. But surprising, the Lunar calenders for Pakistan made around the world do not agree with the observations of most local scientists.

KPK Eid Matches Scientific Lunar Calenders?!

This time the Eid will be celebrated today (30th Aug, 2011) in KPK and most probably tomorrow in the rest of the country. The first proof of Ramzan being announced on the wrong date by ‘Royat e Hilal committee’ is that the Full moon night came on 13th of August. It should have been on 14th August according to Royat e Hilal Committee’s decision. Some of the images of full moon night in scientific calenders are displayed below. The second proof is that the 1st Ramadan date and the 1st Shawal dates are also the same in the scientific calenders as announced by the KPK committee.

Does this mean that ReHC is deliberately helping Gov. to decide Eid day of their choice rather than deciding on the basis of moon sightings? Maybe Not!

Are Royat e Hilal Committee Eid Dates Correct?

In short the answer can be yes. Why would the ReHC try to deliberately delay Eid? There is no logical justification for this. Most probably the Committee is trying to see the moon as accurately as they can. However despite my attempts, I could not locate any scientific calender that had the new moon and full moon dates according to those announced by the ReHC Pakistan.

This certainly led to make me believe for a moment that the ReHC Pakistan had been making mistakes in seeing moon of previous months and the mistake had been carried forward. This is such a delicate matter that the committee can not admit the mistake even if it makes one.

Are Both the Committees Right?

Then I found some thing that made me believe that ReHC was right in moon sighting. I saw that the lunar calenders of the countries on west of Pakistan i.e with the KPK and Baluchistan border had Eid today(3oth Aug) but the countries in East like India had Eid scheduled for 31st Aug. This certainly means that Pakistan is the central region where the moon is visible to the eastern half and not to the western half. This makes it possible that both the committees are making correct announcements.

What Should be Done to Resolve the Conflict?

Last year Committee of Masjid Qasim Ali Khan invited the ReHC Pakistan to see the procedure that is being followed, the government Muftis, however, did not respond. This offer has been made many times but no response has been give. Some people are of the view that Eid should be celebrated when ‘majority’ of Pakistani Areas can see the moon but according to Islam if moon is visible in any part of the country, Eid should be celebrated in atleast that part. So to promote unity we should follow the Islamic Law?

The simplest solution might be that the Government Committee should see the moon in KPK along with the Masjid Qasim Ali Khan Committee. If both committees can announce the Eid on a single day, it will be a great achievement.

Please do let us know in you comments your ideas for solving this dispute without insisting that one committee is right and the other is wrong.

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Biological Father Of Steve Jobs

Sc8uf — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 12:39:04 +0000

An interview was taken of Steve Jobs’ biological father who is a Syrian immigrant. Abdulfattah John Jandali is a 80 year old man and works as an executive vice president of a Reno casino and just like his son, he is a big workaholic and is avoiding retirement at all costs.

John gave full credit of Apple to Jobs and appreciated him by saying; Apple didn’t fall from the tree. But both father and son have another thing in common, they don’t want to speak with each other. Yes, Jobs has never met his biological father in his life. Jandali said that this might be very strange to hear but if any one of us was on deathbeds, I am not prepared to pick up the phone and call him. Steve will have to take the first step because my Syrian pride forbids me to even give him a little hint that I am after his fortune, he added.

Jandali also said in the interview that, he is overcome with guilt for his treatment to Jobs over all these years. Now as Jobs is 56 and after all his accomplishments now due to his bad health he had to step aside as the Apple’s CEO. Jandali said, he is afraid of time running out and hopes that Steve will reach out to him before it is too late. He said that even just one cup of coffee with his son will make him a very happy man.

Syrian Immigrant, Jandali, learned a few years ago that the son his ex wife gave up 56 years ago for adoption grew up to be the most successful man on the earth and is called the modern Edison. Jandali said, it saddens him that he couldn’t be the part of his son’s incredible journey through thick and thin.

In 1955, Joanne Simpson, who was the girlfriend of Jandali’s got pregnant. Though he wanted to marry her but couldn’t because her family did not allow it. He said that, He was truly in love with Joanne but her parents forbade her to marry him because he was a Syrian. So, she gave up baby to adoption after she moved to San Francisco from Wisconsin.

Jandali wished to keep the baby but he respected Joanne’s wishes and now he doesn’t know that, whether Steve knows the facts about this difficult decision.

It’s a pretty emotional story that a father fears that he and his son might never communicate. Following are some of the pictures we found of Jobs’ biological father John Jandali, you can notice a definite resemblance.

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Eyeborg Filmmaker, Rob Spence, Now All Set To Do The Business

Sc8uf — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 10:56:29 +0000

You might have heard about a filmmaker named Rob Spence, he caught media’s most attention when he announced that he is planning to set a video camera in his skull as a replacement to a lost eye. He lost his eye in an unfortunate accident, so he did not or maybe he did try to connect the camera to his brain but failed. He wanted to become a so-called “lifecaster” by recording all the things he see through that camera on an external device.

After that so much time, now it his bionic eye is prepared and ready to run. Spence partnered with a little company called Sqaure Enix, the main purpose of this partnership was to create a documentary about state of the arte prosthetics and cybernetics just like one he has put in his skull. This Short film was commissioned due to the launch of Deus Ex: Human Revolution, but don’t think of it just as a long commercial for a game or anything like that, it is based on very serious exploration and research of cutting edge technology for leg, arm and eye replacement. Video is embedded below, do check it out and beware that there are some images in the video which are not preferred to the people with weaker stomachs.

[yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TW78wbN-WuU&feature=player_embedded'] Similar Posts:

Now Keep Yourself Safe From Hurricanes

Sc8uf — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 11:37:02 +0000

Here is a list of the best sites, put together by CNET, for tracking Hurricane Irene:

The National Hurricane Center

NHC is the number one site for you. It has latest advisories, maps and even satellite images.

Weather.com and MyWeather.com

These are similar sites, with a lot of maps, charts and storm chasers are also added in these sites which will help to you keep updated.

Google Crisis Response

It’s the Google site, and shows the evacuation routes all around the east coast.

Stormpulse

This site is the best way to keep you updated with the rapidly changing forecasts.

Yesterday, Mayor Bloomberg posted a NYC evacuation map. The New York Times has the interactive copy of that map which will let you find your evacuation zone by searching your zip code. Other than these sites, social networks, like Twitter is the best way to keep updated about the weather in different areas. Thousands of tweets are being posted with the hashtag #hurricane on Twitter. Photos can also be seen on the Twitter which are uploaded by people of the storm in their areas. The ocean service from NOAA also has a twitter feed to follow, @stormprediction which specifically made to share severe weather alerts. There also a feed from FEMA to share the tips and news about the emergency response efforts.

It isn’t over yet, for all those East Coast residents who are worried about the Hurricane Irene. Here we have a list of mobile apps and other digital tools available to help. Following apps could be proved very helpful in these times.

HurricaneHD

HurricaneHD is an Apple app, available at store for only $3.99. It provides exclusive videos and blog posts form weather experts and there are other tools for users to watch Irene or other future storms. It also has a tracking map, which can display multiple storms all at a same time. You can also receive active storm bulletins and also an archive about the past hurricanes. It also supports GPS to show you how far away you are from various storm points area.

Weather Channel

This app is available in both Apple and Android platforms and its free of cost. It has animated radar, video, local forecasts and even the ability to upload photos or videos of the storm in your area. Weather channel Max is the app for iPad which has full screen customizable weather maps, in-motion digital radars and also the real time Twitter feeds directly coming from weather channel meteorologists.

Hurrican Hound

This is an Android app is available at marketplace for $1.99. It is based on Google maps and tracks storms in the Atlantic and east Pacific and also passes along National Weather Service (NWS) advisories and warnings.

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Only 3% Smartphones Will Not Have a Touchscreen By 2016

Sc8uf — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 08:13:06 +0000

A New York based research firm ABI released a report today. According to that report, by 2016 only 3% of the smartphones will be the ones which won’t have a touchscreen. Obviously this means that in near future 97% of the new smartphones will be coming with a touchscreen, it will be like a trademark to the smartphones.

Well, we can give this credit for the success of touchscreens on smartphones to the Apple’s iPhone. Apple’s first device was launched in 2006 and prior to that only 7% of the smartphones had the touchscreens. But now in 2011, 75% of the smartphones have touchscreen which is a vast difference.

According to the ABI’s report, the main reasons behind the huge growth in smartphone users are the touchscreen together with 3G connectivity. Before Apple released the iPhone, touchscreens then were a lot different than the today’s touchscreens. In the past, the typical touchscreen’s surface was resistive, which means that, it could only respond when any point object touched the screen. Well, this feature wasn’t ended even after the release of iPhone, many touchscreen smartphones were released and most of them claimed themselves to be the so called iPhone Killers but they all failed because of their irresponsive resistive touchscreen for example LG Voyager.

Thankfully, resistive touchscreen’s concept shown in the image is pretty much extinct now. Capacitive display replaced those old screens which enables the smartphones to respond to electrical impulses on the user’s fingertips. So, stylus or pen cap are also extinct now because they are not needed now.

Blackberry which was famous for its QWERTY keyboard phones is also moving to the touchscreens by leaving its older designs behind. Well, the best example for that is the new BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930, which is the most loved BlackBerry form ever. It is because it has one of the best physical QWERTY keyboard and a touchscreen functionality to its 2.8 inch display is added as well. RIM is also planning to create further more smartphones of the same design. They announced their Torch 9810 and Torch 9850/9860 models with the same touchscreen design. It doesn’t end here, it is also said that the low cost Blackberry Curve will also be having a model with a touchscreen display. According to a source, RIM is also planning a lineup for Q1 of 2012 which will include QNX powered Superphones which means they will be touchscreen models but without the trackpad in sight.

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Almost Ten Thousand More Cables Published By WikiLeaks

Sc8uf — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 11:38:23 +0000

WikiLeaks are back in news. Yesterday, an announcement came from the organization which stated that they still have ten thousand of previously unpublished US diplomatic cables, some which are still classified and secret. Wikileaks are planning to release these cables very soon.

According to a Tweet, sent by WikiLeaks, “We will release over 10,000 US embassy cables from around the world by the end of today”. Wikileaks’ twitter feed page is believed to be controlled by Julian Assange himself. As we all know Julian is the Wikileaks’ controversial founder and chief.

The cables which are being discussed here are taken from the cache of more than 250,000 State Department reports, which are leaked to the Wikileaks and they will dumping onto public record today. Wikileaks started their operation by releasing cables in smaller batches from late last year.

Several news companies, like Reuters have complete sets of cables for months but they only publish the cables for the specific or the investigative stories based on those cables. Wikileaks website, on Thursday afternoon, stated that they had published 97,115 of the 251,287 cables they possess but they did not specify what motives are behind such massive release at once.

A source inside the Wikileaks reported that the reason of this release of documents was “frustration” among Wikileaks activists about the media organization losing interest in publishing stories which are based on the material.

Well, the main reason could be the order by federal prosecutors in Viriginia, to produce “Information on Julian Assange” was given to a California Internet Registrar which was involved in hosting WikiLeaks name Dynadot. Dynadot complied with the order, according to the Wikileaks.

US investigators asked for all of the documents held by Dynadot, which were related to Assange, wikileaks or the wikileaks.org. A document copy of this order was released on WikiLeaks which headlined “required customer or subscriber account information”.

It was not made clear that how Wikileaks found the copy of the government order document which was supposed to be sealed by court order at January 4, 2011.

US officials have stated that, Alexandria’s grand jury has been running investigation into WikiLeaks, Assange and the other members of the group for a long time.

Bradley Manning a US Army private who was detained for alleged disclosures of information to WikiLeaks was the member of the same prosecutors team, which requested Twitter to provide records of accounts held by Assange, Wikileaks and others.

Last year Wikileaks and Assange made headline of the world by releasing State Department Cables, tens of thousands of other classifies US files and a secret video of an American military operation in Iraq.

After that sudden popularity, Public interest in Wikileaks got waned because of some controversies of sexual conduct Assange was charged in Sweden. Assange was also involved in a public feud with former collaborators.

Assange is also waiting for the appeal in British court which is due to rule early next month on his appeal against the Swedish extradition request scandal. There might be a link between the anticipated court decision and the latest cables dump by WikiLeaks.

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Tweets Say That Gadaffi Is No More In Libya!

Sc8uf — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 08:26:59 +0000

Social media has proved that it is a phenomenon which is to be reckoned with, when it comes to breaking news. An amazing development in the Libya matter has came forward that the Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Al-Gaddafi has left the country.

As we know about the rebels have surrounded the Libya’s capital city of Tripoli. Social Media network Twitter’s users are claiming that Gaddafi has left the country. There were many tweets coming from a lot of people confirming this news. NBC correspondent Richard Engel has also reported via Twitter that people of Libya are celebrating and still they are hearing lots of gunfire but the reports of Gaddafi leaving Libya are still unconfirmed.

You can get more updates from Libya by following tweets at #Libya.

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