NVIDIA reveals their Tegra roadmap

At their GPU Technology Conference in San Jose, NVIDIA revealed the roadmap for future Tegra-series processors, among other things. The roadmap highlights NVIDIA’s plans for 2013 and 2014 with two future processors, Logan and its successor, Parker, which continue NVIDIA’s tradition of naming them after the real last names of superheroes.

Logan will be the successor to Wayne, more commonly known as the Tegra 4 chipset, and will be appearing in devices in early 2014. It will feature a quad-core ARM Cortex A15 MPCore alongside a low power companion core. It will also be the first Tegra chip to include CUDA cores, NVIDIA’s solution for parallel computing on the GPU, and will be based on a Kepler architecture, similar to the desktop GPUs that NVIDIA makes.

Logan will also be introducing support for CUDA 5.0, the latest version of CUDA, as well as OpenGL 4.3, which brings new features such as tessellation, computer shaders and geometry shaders over OpenGL ES 3.0.

Next is Parker, which will use the upcoming Denver CPU with 64-bit support and the upcoming Maxwell series of GPU. All the advancements in Logan will be carried forward to Parker. Parker is expected to arrive in devices by 2015.

NVIDIA also showcased an mITX-like board called Kayla, which features a Tegra 3 SoC and a low power Kepler GPU, presumably from Logan. This board is designed primarily for developers to test their applications, specifically for the new CUDA functionality that will be introduced from Logan onwards. Not much details about Kayla are available at the moment.

Zameen.com Launches Mobile Version of its Website

Zameen.com, the leading property portal of Pakistan, has launched the mobile version of its website. The new mobile site will add to the ease of the users and agents while on the go. All this will be exceedingly handy for a country where mobile tele-density is on the rise.

According to the latest estimates, there are over 120 million mobile subscribers in Pakistan with a mobile tele-density of 68.3 percent. This makes Pakistan the 5^th biggest market for mobile phones in Asia. Zameen.com has further expanded its realm and would now be available to every single person carrying an internet enabled handheld device in the country.

Speaking of the internet, there has also been an explosion in the number of internet users in Pakistan. There are almost 30 million internet users in the country and this number is on the rise. To top it all, 2013 might as well be the year when 3G is launched in Pakistan. All of this points towards the fact that the launch of the mobile version of Zameen.com could not have come at a better time.

The high tech mobile version of the website is user friendly and gives the members excellent functionality in terms of searching properties. The mobile site allows users to search properties by city, type, price or area. Users can log into their accounts too and add whichever property they like to their ‘Favourites’ list as well. This is a handy way to bookmark and revisit a listing of your choice for a detailed study later on.

‘With upcoming 3G licensing and fall in prices of Smart Phones, a wave of new internet users is expected in Pakistan, as we have already seen similar internet adoption trends in neighbouring countries. The mobile version of Zameen.com is well-suited for the needs of both new and existing next-generation internet users.’ said Zeeshan Khan, CEO Zameen.com. As per Khan, ‘It’s another milestone for Zameen, which will benefit both the buyers as well as the sellers.’

Lenovo Issues an Update to the ThinkPad Lineup in the T431s

Lenovo has announced yet another laptop in the popular ThinkPad lineup. The new T431s is the successor to the T430s and comes with either Windows 7 or 8.

From the outside, it looks like any other ThinkPad laptop thanks to the boxy & rugged design and the popular TrackPoint. This one, by the way includes a hinge which makes the laptop movable by up to 180 degrees from the center.

The specs

The biggest blow you receive upon checking out the specs of this ultrabook is that it comes without the all-so-important touchscreen which is helpful while navigating through Windows 8 environments. Specs are quite good other than that. It comes with a 14 inch display with resolution of 1600 x 900 pixels. Under the hood you get a 1.8Ghz Intel Core i5-3337U processor, 4GB of RAM and Intel HD Graphics for the starting model, along with a 320GB hard-drive.

Connectivity options are fine too with an Ethernet port, Mini DisplayPort, 2 USB 3.0 ports, SD card reader, Wifi, WWAN, Bluetooth 4.0, 3.5mm headphone jack and 720p HD webcam. A 47WHr battery can power the unit for over 8 hours. All this package comes in a body which weighs about 1.6kg heavy and just over 2cm thick. These were, by the way the specs of the base model. If you are willing, you can get up to 12GBs of RAM, 2.1Ghz Core i7 processor and an optional backlit keyboard.

Talking of keyboards, this keyboard also houses Lenovo’s traditional TrackPoint device (knob describes that better) in the middle. There’s also an improved glass TrackPad which now supports up to 20 gestures and has got no click buttons accompanying it. As said above, it will run on Windows 7 or 8, depending on your preference.

The laptop will be released next month for $949. For that you’re not getting a touchscreen but this offering will give you a traditional Lenovo experience and fine specs. And a laptop which can revolve 180 degrees from the middle.

The Drawbacks of Using Social Media on Phones (Infographic)

The following is an amazing infographic which focuses mainly on the drawbacks of social media and social apps on smartphones nowadays. To start off, 47% of people on earth use social media services through phone and 4 out of 10 have an app for that purpose. Then comes the worse bits which tell you how expensive it can be to be social through a phone and the ‘mental’ problems one faces in several scenarios (scroll downwards).

The worst part is yet to come though. Do you know that people have actually been killed due to such services? And that reaction times while driving and being on social media on a phone are slower than when you’re on drugs? If no, then you desperately need to check out the following Infographic by guys over at business2community.com

Pakistanis Exchanged 238 Billion SMS in 2011

Mobile phone users in Pakistan exchanged a total of 237.58 billion text messages in 2011 (Jan 2011 to Dec 2011), up from 176 billion text messages that were shared in 2010, said a report published by Pakistan Telecommunication Authority.

Report said that on average one mobile phone user sent 175 person to person SMS or text messages per month or 5.8 person to person SMS per day.

Operator Wise P2P SMS Traffic

PTA said that Telenor generated the highest person to person SMS traffic during the year 2011 by contributing 26.5% percent of total traffic, closely followed by Mobilink which contributed 26.4 percent of person to person SMS traffic.

Operator	Annual P2P SMS (Billion)	Share of P2P SMS
Telenor	62.78	26.5%
Mobilink	62.61	26.4%
Ufone	57.83	24.4%
Zong	27.92	11.8%
Warid	25.72	10.7%

Average SMS per Subscriber Per Day

Calculating the SMS-per-Subscriber-per-Day for each Pakistani cellular operator reveals the Network Popularity for the network. The PTA report suggests that Ufone subscribers are sending an average of eight(8) P2P SMS per day which is the highest when compared against other operators.

In contrast, the subscribers of Warid are sending less than five(5) SMS per day while other operators lie in between Ufone and Warid. Following table shows the calculated average number of P2P SMS per subscriber per day.

Operator	No. of P2P SMS per Subscriber Per Day
Ufone	7.5
Telenor	6.2
Zong	5.6
Mobilink	5.1
Warid	4.7

On-Net P2P SMS

Out of the 238 billion text messages, almost 48% of the total person to person SMS were ON-NET , i.e. within operator’s own network. Mobilink generated highest on-net person to person SMS while Ufone generated least number of on-net text messages. Following figure will reveal more about this:

International Out-Bound SMS Traffic From Pakistan

Total international SMS destined to international operators from Pakistan during the year 2011 stood at approximately 430 million. Ufone stood top in sending the international SMS. Following graph details more on the same:

On average 35.8 million text messages were sent to international operators from Pakistan.

Bundled SMS

The trend of bundled package has increased in Pakistani market during the past three years. Cellular mobile operators have offered daily, weekly and monthly SMS bundles to it subscribers. These SMS bundles have gained popularity mostly due to its low cost and above all, its exclusivity to terminate on any and every network against a one-time subscription charge.

The bundled SMS traffic has increased to an extent that the CMOs are carrying an average of around 80 percent of their SMS traffic from bundled packages.

A comparison of ‘bundled SMS traffic’ with ‘flat rate SMS’ shows that; an estimated highest percentage of bundled SMS to non bundled person to person (P2P) SMS traffic on one of networks is around 97% (Bundled rate SMS traffic) to 3% non Bundled (Flat Rate) SMS traffic. Similarly, the minimum percentage ratio carried by another operator is around 65% (Bundled rate SMS traffic) to 35% non Bundled (Flat Rate) SMS traffic.

Approximate ratio on each network is given in the table below.

Operator	Approximate Percentage Ratio of flat Rate SMS to Bundled Rate SMS traffic on Network
Mobilink	3 % Flat Rate: 97 % Bundled Rate
Telenor	3 % Flat Rate: 97 % Bundled Rate
Ufone	15 % Flat Rate: 85 % Bundled Rate
Warid	65 % Flat Rate: 35 % Bundled Rate
Zong	35 % Flat Rate: 65 % Bundled Rate

Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS)

MMS usage in Pakistan has not been able to catch with SMS usage. In Pakistan, the total MMS sent in the year 2011 were 100.8 million (100,793,994). The revenues generated from MMS were Rs. 345,754,580, which amounts to 2.8% of the total messaging revenues.

All the operators offered MMS nationwide as well as to international destinations, except one operator.

Worldwide 207 billion MMS were sent in 2011 and have been forecasted to reach approximately 387.5 Billion by 2016 representing 1.7 percent of global messaging traffic.

Premium Rate SMS/MMS Services

Premium Rate SMS/MMS is a Value added Messaging Service that carries a premium price above the flat/normal rate that is charged from the consumer. Application to Person (A2P) and Person to Application (P2A) are typical types of PSMS.

A2P messaging includes messages from financial services, to or from an application, advertising, marketing, business administrations, ticketing, television voting etc.

In Pakistan, total A2P subscriptions from three of the operators, in the year 2011 were 865.1million. Number of P2A messages generated by subscribers to any application, on four of the mobile networks was 196.1
million.

Approximate revenue generated from both A2P & P2A is Rs. 912.6 million that is almost 7.4% of the total messaging revenues.

Altogether, 64% of the popular premium rate SMS services used in Pakistan were music tunes, followed by missed call alerts (MCA), which is 20%. It is followed by cricket alerts that are 4%. There is still a great potential for the experts to explore in premium rate SMS services.

Following graph shows the popular A2P and P2A SMS services and their share:

Revenues from SMS, MMS

PTA stated that mobile messaging market generated an amount of Rs. 12.4 Billion (12,345,375,247 being the precise value) in 2011. This revenue includes the revenues collected from P2P SMS, MMS, A2P and P2A revenues.

The P2P SMS were the main contributor in terms of revenues. Around 89.8% of the total revenues were from P2P SMS. Around 2.8% of total revenues were MMS revenues while premium SMS (A2P and P2A) contributed 7.4% into the total revenue.