Google brings music matching to Google Play in the US

After the European launch last month, Google is now bringing the music match feature for the folks in the US. If you don’t know how this works, the service scans your local library and then adds those track to your online Google Play library so you can stream them later from anywhere.

This feature was already available on both iTunes and Amazon’s music service. Both these services are paid. Apple and Amazon charge $24.99 per year, which is not a bad deal when you consider what you’re getting but Google is offering an even better deal, where it’s free of cost, at least for the first 20,000 songs.

Just like iTunes, Google Play does not upload your entire library on Google’s servers but just scans it and adds it to your online library. This is a significant improvement from the past where you had to upload every track. Later, you can choose to stream it at 320kbps, regardless of what the quality of your original local file was (assuming Google has a 320kbps version of it). Unlike iTunes, however, Google won’t let you download the file in a higher quality version and you can only stream it. Also, it would only match tracks that are in Google’s store. You can still upload tracks as before, though.

The feature is now available in the US and available for new users. For existing users who have tracks already uploaded on the cloud, Google will try to match them without you having to re-upload them.

Wateen CEO participates in Conference on Entrepreneurship & BAP-2012

 

Wateen Telecom, Pakistan’s leading converged communications provider, was invited to participate in the prestigious Entrepreneurship & Business Acceleration Program (BAP)-2012 conference, held in Lahore, from 17th and 18th of December 2012.

SME  Business Support Fund (BSF) is a “Not for Profit Company” established by the Ministry of Finance, Government of Pakistan to assist both the SMEs and the Business Development Services Providers (BDSPs). Focusing on issues pertinent to entrepreneurship and development of the small scale businesses, this event was specifically targeted at gathering individuals from the government, members of the business community, NGOs, academia, agencies supporting small businesses, entrepreneurs, financial institutions and other international development agencies.

Wateen’s CEO Naeem Zamindar moderated discussion amongst some of the leading names from the micro finance sector, private equity amongst others. The panel included Saqib Mohyuddin, CEO Business Support Fund, Roshaneh Zafar, Founder, KASHF Microfinance bank, Mohammad Sajid, Partner JS Private Equity and Shaharyar Ahmed, CO Head of Growth Equity Investments, Cyan Ltd. Later Naeem Zamindar was also part of the adjudicating panel for the BAP (Business Accelerated Program) presentation.

Commenting on the BAP conference, Mr Zamindar said, “It was a great honour for me to represent Wateen at this incredible event. It is fantastic to see that opportunities for entrepreneurs are growing in Pakistan and we are collectively working towards enabling a new era of economic and social development in the country. SME empowerment, structural reforms, good-governance and HR training can help reinvigorate the national economy
and the SME sector rapidly”.

Under the theme of “Role of Quality Universities in Supporting Entrepreneurial Eco-System”, the Conference’s focuses was on developing an in-depth understanding of the current dynamics and devise the most viable strategy for empowering and facilitating SME stakeholders. This conference proved to be another collective effort, towards recognizing and optimizing the potential of the SME sector in Pakistan, for generating sustainable business growth and opportunities.

Amongst the dignitaries attending the event were Mr Azhar Rizvi Voice Chair MITEFP, Mr. Adul Aziz CEO LumenSoft, Mr. Monis Rehman CEO Naseeb networks and Mr. Salim Ghauri CEO Netsol Technologies, in addition to a number of state officials. Numbers of foreign dignitaries were also present at the conference.

Kwick’s outclass offer to telecom operators

Telecom companies of Pakistan are facing a lot f hurdles after PTA announcement to ban more than 5 SIM cards on one CNIC and letting down of late night packages. While taking statistical analysis of profit and loss ratios of all the leading telecommunication companies, you would be surprised to see a huge decline in the expected profit margin of telecom companies due to implication of PTA orders. Taking into consideration such drastic conditions of telecom industry, KWICKhigh tech and solutions, the only GSM SIM cards producing body in the country decided to bring forward something that would assist cellular companies in bringing their profit margins to a satisfactory level. For this purpose KWICK announces a new and surprising addition of some astonishing features in newly developed SIM cards. All the cellular companies were dying to know what would be that surprising feature that would make their profitability satisfactorily high. After backbreaking hours of research and study, KWICK finally boomed into the market with the availability of spectacular and vibrant SIM applications that the cellular companies can bring forward to their customers and built a more loyal and strong relationship with them. Cellular companies were extremely guilty of not providing their customers a set level of satisfaction they deserve from them. But KWICK has solved the problem by producing such an astonishing feature of providing built-in applications in SIM cards.

KWICK claimed that customers can load these applications to their SIMS without any extra charges and enjoy their dynamic features forever for totally free of cost. These applications are quite unique and of obvious importance. Here is a list of some of these applications that KWICK has proposed;

• Single SIM can have more than one phone numbers. This application is officially titled as Multi-IMSI. Cellular companies can offer their customers to load this feature in their SIM cards if they want to operate on more than one numbers without facing the trouble of changing different SIMs for their privacy issues. The most important thing about this application is that, it solves the difficulty of the directive passed by PTA of not issuing more than 5 SIMs at one CNIC. As this directive was troublesome for some professionals whose ultimate need of profession is to have different numbers.
• More capacity to phonebook; KWICK said that the customers who face the problem of inability to save more than few thousands of numbers to their SIM cards can have this application downloaded in their SIMs through which their phone book will be extended and they can save unlimited amount of numbers in their phones.
• Blocking SIM
• Offline notifications
• Group chat
• And many more

KWIC high tech and solutions has proved to be the most sincere entity of its customers and suppliers by providing such a high quality of operational opportunities to cellular operators within an affordable price range.

2012 was an exciting year for Intel in the APAC region

2012 was an exciting year for Intel in the Asia Pacific region. Technology innovation from the region made possible devices with an immersive and personal computing experience. Intel is proud to be a driving force behind this innovation. Creating and extending computing technology to connect and enrich lives has been Intel’s company vision. This year Intel made a leap forward by delivering next generation processors that changed the way people use and interact with computing technology from interactive signs, smart cars to smartphones, tablets, Ultrabooks™ and servers. Intel also continued its work to help transform Asia into a global powerhouse through a focus on education, encouraging the adoption of 21st century skills and investing in Asian start-ups and entrepreneurs across the region.

In 2012 Intel made smarter, faster and more secure computing possible through the integration of revolutionary technology. The first processors built on Intel’s innovative 22nm 3-D tri-gate transistors<http://newsroom.intel.com/docs/DOC-2032>came to marketwith the launch of the 3 rd Gen Intel® Core™ processor family. As a result Ultrabooks and other PC
systems are now equipped with new technology that enables faster file transfers, super-quick start times, quick connections and greater security.

Continuing Intel’s commitment to consumers to make computing easier, faster and more engaging will continue with the company’s planned 4th Gen Intel®Core™ processor family that is expected to reach consumers in 2013.
“Technology companies and manufacturers will need to tap into the psyche of Asian consumers and respond with relevant and desirable products, now more than ever. Consumers will be inundated with mobile device options. A range of screen sizes, processing power and weights will enter the market in 2013 and manufacturers will rely on consumers’ choices to identify the most popular devices for future production,” Naveed Siraj, Country Manager, Intel Pakistan.

In 2012, thirty-six teams from Asia were selected as finalists for the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair<http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/education/competitions/international-science-and-engineering-fair/student-profiles.html?wapkw=intel+international+science+and+engineering+fair>.

This year the competition attracted more than 1,500 talented high school students from around the world to compete for  over US$3 million in prizes and grants.

The Intel® Teach Program has also helped millions of teachers harness technology to improve learning in the classroom.  Worldwide, Intel trained more than 10 million teachers and we have trained more than 2.6 million teachers across 13 APAC countries. In Pakistan, Intel has trained more than 325,000 teachers.