wi-tribe Unites Global Giants to Revolutionize Pakistan’s Tech Industry

We told you earlier about wi-tribe Bazaar, a first of its kind software buy-sell portal for local 

market, where local developers can submit their web/mobile applications and games to grab revenues through sale of apps.

Taking its commitment further towards local software development, wi-tribe has gone a step ahead with the announcement of Pakistan Developers’ Challenge 2012 (PDC 2012); bringing together the greatest young minds of Pakistan onto one, single pioneering platform.

Sure this is a an effort to be appreciated as wi-tribe has offered a platform where Pakistani developers can sell and monetize their software, bringing together the local communities, with local content, on a simple and easy-to-use platform.

Bringing together academia and global technology industry giants – HEC, Microsoft, Intel, P@SHA and Dell – the PDC 2012 invites students, graduates, aspiring developers, professionals and virtually anyone in the development community to be part of the contest.

wi-tribe Bazaar supports both Windows Desktop and various Mobile app platforms, in recognition of the opportunity that a local market of 22 million internet users has to offer.

Talking about PDC2012, Mustafa Peracha, CEO, wi-tribe Pakistan said, “wi-tribe Bazaar is our effort to support and encourage the local IT industry and software developers in particular. For us, Bazaar is a forum for and by Pakistani software developers. At wi-tribe, we are only acting as a catalyst by providing the platform. Feeling strongly about the potential this platform offers towards the growth of the local IT industry, we expect great things to come out of the Pakistan Developers’ Challenge 2012. PDC 2012 seeks to offer a rewarding opportunity to Pakistan’s flourishing developers’ community, ushering in a new era of commercial viability for Pakistan’s technology industry.”

wi-tribe Bazaar is powered by scratch cards, allowing software purchase through wi-tribe scratch cards, available at over 700 locations throughout its cities of operations. Software applications can be priced to match multiple denominations of wi-tribe scratch cards, at the developers’ discretion. wi-tribe Bazaar also offers hundreds of free applications, supporting developers in building and reaching a larger, previously untapped market. wi-tribe Bazaar is not exclusive to wi-tribe customers. Instead, it is open to developers nationwide, be it students, graduates, young professionals or businesses.

Participating contestants are challenged to win from 17 award categories, while also gaining from numerous other career boosting opportunities

Average Internet Connection Speed in Pakistan Stands at 741 Kbps

Average connection speed for internet in Pakistan for both broadband and narrowband connections stood at 741 kbps in fourth quarter 2011, slightly down from 763 kbps in third quarter 2011.

According to stats revealed by Akamai in its ‘state of the internet’ report for fourth quarter 2011, 1.2 million unique IPs from Pakistan averaged 741 kbps data rates during the quarter. On another front average peak connection speed was recorded at 5,286 kbps for all the broadband users in Pakistan.

Average Connection Speed in Pakistan

Average Peak Connection Speed in Pakistan

Akamai said that stats are derived from the data gathered from all around the globe through Akamai Intelligent Platform.

Akamai report suggested that broadband adaption rate (for connections above 2 Mbps) in Pakistan was 0.8 percent, lowest since third quarter 2010. At the same time, narrowband adaption rate is on a consistent decline showing that dial-up customer base is shifting towards broadband internet.

Broadband (over 2 Mbps) Adaption Rate

Narrowband (dialup with less than 256 kbps) Adaption Rate

PTCL EVO Plays the GB Card, Offers New Packages

PTCL has played its long kept GB card for its EVO services. To give the WiMAX service providers a tough time, PTCL EVO now comes at decreased rates with monthly limit of 5 and 10 GB (in addition to a package that offers unlimited downloads with 3.1 mbps and 256 kbps speeds).

These packages are especially suitable for those who want to retain EVO services for mobility while they are on the go but will use DSL/Fiber/Other broadband services while at home or office.

This way they can get a handy and inexpensive internet solution while on the go or even as a backup broadband service when their primary internet connection gets lousy.

Check below new EVO Packages:

Packages	Monthly Charges	Volume	Additional Usage / Mb
DayPass	Rs. 100/day	24 (consecutive hours) Fair Usage Policy Applies*	-
GO	Rs. 899	5 GB	Rs. 0.10/Mb
LITE	Rs. 1199	10 GB	Rs. 0.10/Mb
Max	Rs. 1999	Unlimited	-
256Kbps Prepaid	Rs. 1199	Unlimited	-

*Fair Usage Policy is applicable at 1GB/day for Daypass.

EVO 3.1Mbps Postpay

Billing Options	Monthly
PTCL Landline Billing	Rs.2000	Billed in PTCL Landline bill
Advance Line Rental package	Rs.2000	Advance payment at PTCL OSS, designated bank or using any smart recharge method.

EVO 256Kbps Packages

Billing Options	Monthly
PTCL Landline Billing	Rs.1199	Billed in PTCL Landline bill
Advance Line Rental package	Rs.1199	Advance payment at PTCL OSS, designated bank or using any smart recharge method.

Note:

• Flexible recharge options to suit your needs & your pocket
• Daily usage of Rs. 100/day for DayPass, with 24hours consecutive usage.
• Volume buckets of 5GB and 10GB respectively for GO and Lite packages with 30 days validity.
• The Biggest Volume Boost ever for any prepaid package offering 5 times additional volume for no additional cost for 2GBLite.
• Most economical additional volume rates within 30 days of only 10 paisa/MB after consumption of volume buckets.
• Unlimited downloads with EVO Max at 3.1 Mbps and 256 Kbps Unlimited with 30 days validity.
• Truly Unlimited downloads with EVO Max & 256Kbps prepaid packages
• Prepaid Packages with 30days validity.
• PTCL EVO covers more than 180 cities countrywide.

How to Avail New Packages:

Existing subscribers can opt-in for new packages either through a call or an email; for package change and subscriptions please

• Call 1236
• or Visit any PTCL OSS
• or Email evosupport.packages@ptcl.net.pk

PTA Asks PTCL to Revert Pakistan Package

While PTCL was busy celebrating its 1st million broadband customers, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority has directed the company to revert back its Pakistan Package to the terms and conditions that existed prior to 1st April 2011 with an advance notice of at least seven days to all relevant subscribers as required under the Telecom Consumer Protection Regulations, 2009.

In an enforcement order sent to PTCL, the authority said that due to the powers it bears (delegated by Telecom Act) to regulate the competition in the market, PTCL was reminded time and again (through various letters dated 6th December, 2007, 18th Jan, 2011 and 1st Feb 2011) to seek prior approval from authority before launching/announcing any promotion or traffic package and submit complete detail of such packages at least ten days in advance.

However, despite Authority’s direction PTCL introduced and implemented tariff package forPakistan Package on 17th  March, 2011 without authority’s approval.

Letter said that PTCL was sent a show cause notice for launching Pakistan Package without notifying authority. PTCL was given a chance to reply the Show Cause Notice and then it was heard in meeting too, but PTA was contented to call the introduction of Pakistan Package by PTCL not according to procedures as mentioned in the law.

It is interesting to mention here that PTCL has revised Pakistan Package several times since March 2011 – the above case in point. The latest revision happened on May 3rd, 2012.

PTA probably needs to resolve issues lot faster than they do it now.

Telenor Wins Two PAS Awards in Two Different Categories

Telenor has outshined in Pakistan Advertisers Society (PAS) Awards – country’s premiere advertising awards – by winning two titles in two different categories.

Wateen and Nokia also bagged PAS Awards in their respective categories tonight.

Telenor’s Khamoshi Ka Boycott ad by ADCOM won the best ad award for “Telecommunication Service Provider” category.

Other shortlisted ads in this category were by Ufone namely “Ufone Mobile Internet” and “49 Paisa Offer” – both by Interflow.

Zong and Mobilink’s creative advertisement agencies had submitted their entries but failed to make it to final round.

There were total of 14 submissions for “Telecommunication Service Provider” category, out of which three ads were shortlisted for final round.

Telenor’s “Easy Paisa Mobile Account” by ADCOM also won the award for “Banking and Financial Services” category – beating HBL for their ads “Sila Mila” by Think Tank Advertising and “Shanakht Cricketers” by JWT.

Nokia’s “Nokia dual SIM plus” ad by JWT won PAS award for “Telecommunication Hardware Manufacturer” category. Nokia’s ad was only submission in the category and hence had no competition.

Wateen’s “Jo Chaho” ad by Adetude won the title for “Computer and Internet” Category.

Competition for Computer and Internet category was immense, as entries of three well-known broadband operators were shortlisted along with their agencies.

Other shortlisted ads were from wi-tribe for “Wi-tribe Pakistan Brand refresh” and “Live in your world connect in ours” ad by Pirana Advertising for Qubee.

Rs. 17 Billion Allocated for Broadband Development in Pakistan

Yousaf Raza Gilani, Prime Minister of Pakistan, has announced that government of Pakistan has plans to allocate PKR 17 billion (USD 190 million) in next year’s budget for stretching the broadband services in un-served and under-served areas of the country.

It is anticipated that this money will be taken from USF’s pocket, which was specifically created for the development of telecom, broadband and ICT in far flung areas of the country where doing business isn’t viable otherwise.

Mr. Gillani revealed that his government had already spent Rs. 22 billion on IT, without mentioning that this amount was disbursed in five years, and that too by Universal Service Fund (not by his government) that is funded from 1.5 percent yearly revenues of all telecom companies.

It is said that PKR 62 billion is lying in USF’s account (that is bound to increase in July 2012 – as the end of fiscal year nears) which the government has plans to disburse on development projects to get the credit in upcoming elections.

Regardless of the goals Mr. Gillani has in mind, if spent well, this PKR 17 billion grant can change the course of internet reach in Pakistan in one year. Internet Service Providers are eagerly waiting for new bids to work on with USF.

Zong Offers Truly Unlimited Mobile Internet

Zong, after rocking the market with all sorts of mobile internet packages, has once again set a new standard by introducing truly unlimited mobile internet – that is: without any data limits on downloads/uploads at all.

This truly unlimited mobile internet comes at a daily subscription charge of Rs. 10 (including taxes) per day.

This new package will replace old daily mobile internet package of Zong with no download limits – which was earlier capped at 50 MB per day.

Also, with this new daily internet package, Zong customers of monthly mobile internet package will revert to daily mobile internet package – with which they can enjoy the daily charging instead of paying Rs. 200 in advance for whole month.

Though, paying Rs. 10 per day will translate into Rs. 300 per month – but you will get truly unlimited mobile internet, plus daily subscription model, instead of monthly subscription – which would be useful for majority of Zong subscribers.

Daily Unlimited Mobile Internet:

• Unlimited Mobile Internet
• Daily Charges: Rs. 10 (auto re-subscription)
• Activation Charges: Rs. 10 (One time activation)
• Subscription: dial *909#
• Un-subscribe by sending an SMS: unsubunlimited” to 909
• Un-subscription charges: Rs. 5

Note

• This package is available to all Prepaid Zong customers on all commercial packages.
• The package is truly Unlimited with no usage caps.
• Limited Time offer.

Update:

Daily Plus – loyalty program which offers one day of unlimited browsing without any additional fee after three consecutive days is for Daily Mobile Internet (Rs. 5/day) subscribers only– and is not offered with Zong Daily Unlimited mobile internet package.

That’s not it, if you use Daily Unlimited Mobile Internet for three consecutive days, you will get fourth day for free as  Bonus.

Activation of the loyalty program is automatic; meaning that you just have to use the package for three days consecutively – to automatically get fourth day for free.

This bonus comes with no extra subscription charges. Just the daily subscription charges for the day.

• This package is available to all Prepaid Zong customers on all commercial packages.
• The customer will be eligible for unlimited browsing after successful charging of fourth day.
• Unlimited browsing starts after 5:00am on the fourth day and ends at 11:5

Jawbone Up – A Smart New Product

Jawbone a company which is known for its Bluetooth headsets has designed a product that is going to help you move, exercise, sleep and eat better.

Up is a groovy new gadget that makes your life easier when it comes to organizing the most essential of activities.

Imagine having a device that helps you know how much you have slept, what you ate, how much you exercised in a day and if it is time for you to move from your work desk and move around because you have been idle for some time.

Imagine having a device wrapped around your wrist that assists you in keeping a check on all of these essential activities, Jawbone’s Up helps you exactly do that.

What is UP?

Up is a wearable device that has the ability to track the users sleeping, eating and exercise habits. The wristband has to be used with an Apple I-Phone and currently no other platform is supported by the device. The device comes with a free application that can be loaded on to your apple I-Phone and helps you control the device, set reminders, track your exercise , monitor your sleep and food intake.

Why is UP so cool?

The device has some really cool abilities one of them is that it can actually determine whether you are in deep sleep or if you are just dozing. On the basis of this information the device then decides whether it should wake you up or not, an ability which an alarm clock aside not even a human can replicate. Additionally the device is water proof up to 1 meter and the company is promising a battery life of up to 10 days.

The Design

While looking at the band you will observe that the band is relatively thin and considering the fact that consumers will be wearing this all around and everywhere it looks sturdy enough to handle all the activity.

One end of the band is topped off with a metal piece or a button that needs to be pressed every time the user wants to let the band know he/she is going to sleep, getting out of bed or beginning / ending a workout. The band has a vibration motor inside and also an LED light that flashes different colors.

On the opposite side there is a metal cap covering a 3.5mm headphone connector which can be used to sync the band with the iDevice in addition the connector is also used to recharge via your computer’s USB port. In order to do that the band comes with a USB adapter that can fit on top of the headphone connector and then can be inserted into the computer for recharging.

The UP I-Phone Application

One of the drawbacks of the device is that it does not sync wirelessly with your phone, in fact the user has to sync the device manually by organizing his/her goals and objectives on the iOS application provided with the device. Once that has been done the user will have to sync the device with the phone thus transferring all the data onto the wristband.

In order to retrieve daily progress from the device the user will have to sync the device back. The application is fairly simple as it organizes your data by day in accordance with the three categories: sleep, activity and food intake the device is designed to monitor. Once the application is launched users at first see’s a bar graph for the current day called the “Me screen”.

The screen features three color coded vertical bars arranged side by side which represent the hours the user slept, the number of steps the user took and the energizing meals the users have consumed. The bottom of the chart, also displays some basic stats related to all these three categories.

Price and Availability:

For roughly Rs. 9000 ($ 99) the device is a cool gadget to have, the upcoming versions of the device will have the ability to sync wirelessly with the users phone which will be a massive add one for the device and the users. Additionally it would be a huge benefit if the device would be made compatible with other platforms like Android.

This gadget isn’t available in Pakistan as of now. But we hope that suppliers will bring it here soon.

More details on Up are here: http://jawbone.com/up/product

Samsung Galaxy S3 to Hit Stores Next Week at PKR 62,000

Samsung has announced that it’s flagship device, Samsung Galaxy S III will be available in Pakistan on May 31st, 2012.

Like we anticipated, Samsung has said that price for Galaxy S3 will be PKR. 62,000.

Samsung Galaxy S III, the next big thing from Samsung, which is said to have broken all previous records for pre-orders, was unveiled earlier this month.

Samsung, in a statement, said it has made all arrangements necessary to start shipping for Galaxy S3 in Pakistan on May 31st, that’s along with global launch for the device. Samsung Galaxy S3 will be available on Teletec stores, countrywide.

Samsung Galaxy S III comes with 4.8 inch Super AMOLED HD screen (1280 x 720) on a minimal design with Samsung’s conventional plastic pack. On hardware front, Galaxy S III is equipped with 1.4GHz Samsung Exynos 4 Quad processor.

Samsung Galaxy S3 2ill be powered by Android 4.0.4 or Ice Cream Sandwich at the time of shipment next week.

Here is a rundown of Galaxy S3’s Specifications:

Specifications:

Here is a run down of complete specifications for Galaxy S3:

• Network:
  • 2.5G (GSM/ GPRS/ EDGE): 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 MHz
  • 3G (HSPA＋ 21Mbps): 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100 MHz
  • 4G (Dependent on market)
• Display: 4.8 inch HD Super AMOLED (1280×720) display
• OS: Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich)
• Camera
  • Main(Rear): 8 Mega pixel Auto Focus camera with Flash & Zero Shutter Lag
  • Sub (Front): 1.9 Mega pixel camera, HD recording @30fps with Zero Shutter Lag
  • Recording & Playback: Full HD (1080p)
• Connectivity:
  • WiFi a/b/g/n, WiFi HT40
  • GPS/GLONASS
  • NFC
  • Bluetooth® 4.0(LE)
• Sensor: Accelerometer, RGB light, Digital compass, Proximity, Gyro, Barometer
• Memory: 16/ 32GB User memory (64GB available soon) ＋ microSD slot (up to 64GB)
• Dimension: 136.6 x 70.6 x 8.6 mm, 133g
• Battery: 2,100 mAh

Does This 3G Ad (for Afghanistan) Hurt you?

This above ad is being advertised on Google network by Etisalat Afghanistan for its newly launched 3G services. You call it bad strategy that it is appearing in Pakistan (on websites with adsense enabled, such as here on ProPakistani) but it could be a purposeful and planned act by Etisalat to enhance the image of its telecom arm in Afghanistan.

Whatever the reasons are behind displaying this ad in Pakistan, but it might not look that pleasant to Pakistani audience, who are deprived of 3G just because operators don’t find 3G viable enough.

Just in case in you aren’t familiar, Afghanistan has got its first 3G network through Etisalat. This is exactly what the above ad is advertising about: “High-Speed Internet has Arrived”.

ARPU (Average Revenue Per User), economic situation, inflation, law and order situation, internet adaptability, smartphone penetration and all other concerning factors in Afghanistan are seemingly not any better than Pakistan.

In such a situation, how does this AD feel like to you? when Afghanistan has a 3G network while it still seems like a distant dream here in Pakistan.

You can share your thoughts in below comments.

High Court Dismisses PTCL’s Appeal Against PTA Order

The long-standing court case between PTCL and Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has finally been decided by the Islamabad High Court in favor of PTA, said a statement issued by authority.

In this decision, Islamabad High Court has dismissed PTCL appeal regarding dispute concerning origination charges on “Non prepaid calling card service” and upheld PTA’s decision of 21^st August 2006.

It is clarified that Long Distance and International (LDI) operators are dependent on PTCL’s network for connectivity and therefore, are required to pay origination charges to PTCL for providing prepaid calling card services.

The dispute between PTCL and LDI operators arose when PTCL started charging LDI operators for unsuccessful calls as well, thus making businesses of LDIs unviable.

PTCL took the view that since the calls have been responded by Interactive Voice Response (IVR) using PTCL’s resources, therefore the duration used for IVR should be considered as a successful call. LDI operators were of the view that the terms and conditions given in Reference Interconnection Offer (RIO) of PTCL do not address the said issue in such manner and they should not be charged for that service for which they cannot charge their subscribers. Moreover, they also argued that PTCL was not charging pre-call connection duration used for IVR from its O&M partners, therefore, it is a clear discrimination.

PTA, being the telecom regulator, took up the issue with LDI operators and PTCL. In this regard, detailed consultations, meetings and deliberations were held with the industry.

International references were also studied by PTA and detailed calculations were made in order to assess and verify claim of both parties. Finally PTA gave determination on 21^stAugust, 2006 that PTCL shall charge origination charges from LDI operators for both ‘Revenue Time’ and ‘Non-Revenue Time’ on calling card traffic after giving 25% discount being a win-win situation for all parties. However, the Determination was challenged by PTCL in the court of law.

The Honorable Islamabad High Court after hearing detailed arguments from PTA and PTCL has now dismissed PTCL’s appeal and upheld PTA’s Determination by stating that the Determination made by PTA fully reflects all material aspects of the issue, not considered but recorded as well, and the reasoning advanced by PTA is not only cogent but plausible.

This landmark decision by the honorable court will help to build further confidence of industry and general public regarding the fair and transparent decision making process of PTA.

This will also help to revive the business of prepaid calling card which declined during the past few years owning to various factors including this dispute between PTCL and LDI operators. As a result of this decision, the LDI operators will be able to settle their long outstanding dues as well as resume prepaid calling card service for the benefit of general public.

Now Remove New folder.exe or regsvr.exe or autorun.inf virus

I want to tell you a story, two days back i got affected by this virus very badly as it eat up all my empty hard disk space of around 700 MB .

I was surprised that my most reliable friend Avast, for the first time failed me in this war against viruses but then again avg and bitdiffender also failed against it. This virus is know popularly as regsvr.exe virus, or as new folder.exe virus and most people identify this one by seeing autorun.inf file on their pen drives, But trend micro identified it as WORM_DELF.FKZ. It is spreading mostly using pen drives as the medium.

Well, so here is the story of how i was able to kill the monster and reclaim my hard disk space.

Manual Process of removal

I prefer manual process simply because it gives me option to learn new things in the process.

So let’s start the process off reclaiming the turf that virus took over from us.

1. Cut The Supply Line

a. Search for autorun.inf file. It is a read only file so you will have to change it to normal by right clicking the file , selecting the properties and un-check the read only option
b. Open the file in notepad and delete everything and save the file.
c. Now change the file status back to read only mode so that the virus could not get access again.
d.
e. Click start->run and type msconfig and click ok
f. Go to startup tab look for regsvr and uncheck the option click OK.
g. Click on Exit without Restart, cause there are still few things we need to do before we can restart the PC.
h. Now go to control panel -> scheduled tasks, and delete the At1 task listed their.

2. Open The Gates Of Castle
a. Click on start -> run and type gpedit.msc and click Ok.
b.
c. If you are Windows XP Home Edition user you might not have gpedit.msc in that case download and install it from Windows XP Home Edition: gpedit.msc and then follow these steps.

d. Go to users configuration->Administrative templates->system
e. Find “prevent access to registry editing tools” and change the option to disable.
f.
g. Once you do this you have registry access back.
3. Launch The Attack At Heart Of Castle
a. Click on start->run and type regedit and click ok
b. Go to edit->find and start the search for regsvr.exe,
c.
d. Delete all the occurrence of regsvr.exe; remember to take a backup before deleting. KEEP IN MIND regsvr32.exe is not to be deleted. Delete regsvr.exe occurrences only.
e. At one ore two places you will find it after explorer.exe in theses cases only delete the regsvr.exe part and not the whole part. E.g. Shell = “Explorer.exe regsvr.exe” the just delete the regsvr.exe and leave the explorer.exe

4. Seek And Destroy the enemy soldiers, no one should be left behind
a. Click on start->search->for files and folders.
b. Their click all files and folders
c. Type “*.exe” as filename to search for
d. Click on ‘when was it modified ‘ option and select the specify date option
e. Type from date as 1/31/2008 and also type To date as 1/31/2008
f.
g. Now hit search and wait for all the exe’s to show up.
h. Once search is over select all the exe files and shift+delete the files, caution must be taken so that you don’t delete the legitimate exe file that you have installed on 31st January.
i. Also selecting lot of files together might make your computer unresponsive so delete them in small bunches.
j. Also find and delete regsvr.exe, svchost .exe( notice an extra space between the svchost and .exe)

5. Time For Celebrations
1. Now do a cold reboot (ie press the reboot button instead) and you are done.
I hope this information helps you win your own battle against this virus. Soon all antivirus programs will be able to automatically detect and clean this virus. Also i hope Avast finds a way to solve this issues.
As a side note i have found a little back dog( winpatrol ) that used to work perfectly on my old system. It was not their in my new PC, I have installed it again , as I want to stay ahead by forever closing the supply line of these virus. You can download it form Winpatrol website.

Pakistan Launched Its First Search Engine "Raftaar"

 Pakistan’s first local search Engine “Raftaar Pakistan” has been launched in the country with the aim to facilitate internet users to explore filtered and Pakistan-based content rapidly.

Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has designed this online search engine (www.pakistan.pk/search) that will entertain a particular search string by fetching the relevant information from websites registered under .pk ccTLD.

Raftaar Pakistan is expected to catch the attraction of broadband internet service providers in order to encourage and promote local search facility.

PTA would welcome to work with Broadband services providers to host Raftaar. Besides, PTA launched various application services on its online national rabta portal (www.pakistan.pk). The primary focus behind the launch is to assist local Internet users in retrieving various information specific to Internet resource information and content of the country.

National Whois application will help the user to access ownership and management information of an IP address of Pakistan. The Whois service is linked up with APNIC (Asia Pacific Network Information Center) database.

ICT rabta pages service will assist a user to retrieve contact and general information about ICT industry of the country whereas educational portal service will help the students and general community to access information regarding public & private educational institutes, scholarships and skill development programs available in the country.

FTP and SFTP

FTP (File Transfer Protocol) is an older protocol for moving files back and forth over the Internet and other networks. All modern web browsers still speak FTP, which was sometimes used as a substitute for HTTP in the early days of the web. FTP is still used often as a means of downloading large files.

Many web hosts still offer FTP as the preferred way of uploading new web pages to a website. However, because there is no encryption of your password, FTP is not the best choice for this purpose. And since there is no encryption of the files being moved, FTP is a poor choice indeed for more sensitive information.

SFTP (Secure FTP) is a popular replacement. Built on SSL, SFTP is just as secure as HTTPS. And most modern FTP clients, such as the free, high-quality FileZilla program for Windows, support both FTP and SFTP. SFTP offers a set of features quite similar to FTP and will be immediately familiar to FTP users, although it works quite differently "under the hood."

Every Windows, MacOS X and Linux system comes standard with a simple command line FTP client program. And MacOS X and Linux also have command line SFTP clients as standard equipment. In addition, MacOS X supports connections to FTP servers in a user-friendly way, right out of the box (you can find a great tutorial on creativemac.com).
Binary Mode and ASCII Mode in FTP
"Classic," non-secure FTP can move files in two major ways: "binary mode" and "ASCII mode." Binary mode just moves the file down the wire without modifying anything... and this is, almost always, what we want today.

"ASCII mode" is sometimes used for plain-text (usually, .txt) files. ASCII mode, named for the American Standard Code for Information Interchange which determines what byte stands for each letter, number or other character in text, corrects for differences in the way line endings are stored in text files. Windows traditionally uses a carriage return (represented by an ASCII value of 13) followed by a line feed (represented by 10). Unix typically expects just the line feed. And MacOS, at least prior to MacOS X, preferred a carriage return only.

Today, though, most text-editing and viewing programs can view text files that follow any of these three conventions (including Microsoft Word, and the free WordPad program that comes with Windows, but excluding a few annoying holdovers like Windows Notepad). So ASCII mode doesn't do us much good. These days ASCII mode is mostly an annoyance, something people accidentally leave on in a very old fashioned command-line FTP program, or accidentally turn on in a newer one. And when you're moving a program, an image or anything else with an exact file format that must not be modified, that means you get garbage instead of the file you wanted.

The norm today is for FTP to simply ship files unchanged in binary mode.

Once upon a time there was also something called "TENEX mode," to move files between computers that didn't even use the same number of bits to represent a byte. Yes, FTP has been around that long! But TENEX mode doesn't come up as an issue these days, and we're all happier for it.

Preparing to Move Hard Drive to Another Computer

To remove the devices from device manager when taking a HD from one computer to another,simply:

Run Regedit
Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ and delete the Enum section

This removes all of the hardware specific settings

Allowing Network Access with Blank Passwords (XP and Vista)

Although you can log in locally without a password, by default, WindowsXP Pro does not allow network users to access the computer without a password. Typically you will receive an Unknown error 31 if this is the case.
To change this setting:

Run gpedit.msc

Go to Computer Configuration / Windows Settings / Security Settings / Local Policies / Security Options

Double click on Accounts: Limit local account use of blank passwords to console login only
Disable this option

====> Differences of GSM, GPRS, UMTS and HSDPA <====

1. GSM: 2G Europian standard and the first digital mobile system. It offers only
circuit-switched traffic (i.e voice calls,
SMS...etc) and data transfer at very low
bitrates 9.6kbps.

2. GPRS: also reffered to as phase 2+. It offered packet-switched traffic with
new network components integrated
over the existant GSM core network.
This allowed data bitrates to increase
to 171kbps. It is also considered as the
first step towards 3G networks.

3. EDGE: It was made to cover the delay of delivery of 3G/UMTS network.
It supported data rates upto 384kbps.

4. UMTS: the first 3G Europian standard network. It is the optimal solution for
GSM operators to support 3G services.
The Air interface technique used for
this network is WCDMA. This technique
allowed data rates to reach 2Mbps.

5. HSDPA: It is actually a software upgrade to the UMTS network using
the same air interface technique used
in UMTS (WCDMA) and supporting data
rates upto 10Mbps.

Q: Why is my internet connection intermittent despite full HSDPA signal?
A: The service that you receive on your connection depends partly on how
busy the network is. Voice and text
users take priority over dongle (data)
users, so when the network is
particularly busy, data speeds may be
slow even though signal strength is high. Conversely when the network is
not busy, you may get fast data speeds
although you barely have a signal.
Unfortunately you can only influence
this aspect of service by connecting at
less sociable hours.

Difference Between Core i3, Core i5, Core i7

Difference Between Core i3, Core i5, Core i7

Difference between Core i3, Core i5 and Core i7

Intel will stop selling Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Quad in 2010. Core is the new range of Intel processors.

Core i3:
* Entry level processor.
* 2-4 Cores
* 4 Threads
* Hyper-Threading (efficient use of processor resources)
* 3-4 MB Catche
* 32 nm Silicon (less heat and energy)

Core i5:
* Mid range processor.
* 2-4 Cores
* 4 Threads
* Turbo Mode (turn off core if not used)
* Hyper-Threading (efficient use of processor resources)
* 3-8 MB Catche
* 32-45 nm Silicon (less heat and energy)


Core i7:
* High end processor.
* 4 Cores
* 8 Threads
* Turbo Mode (turn off core if not used)
* Hyper-Threading (efficient use of processor resources)
* 4-8 MB Catche
* 32-45 nm Silicon (less heat and energy)