Prime Minister of Pakistan meets VimpelCom senior management

A delegation comprising senior management from VimpelCom, the parent company of Mobilink, called on Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf at Prime Minister House on Thursday. The delegation was headed by Jo Lunder, Group CEO, VimpelCom who apprised the Prime Minister on VimpelCom’s global operations and the significance of the Pakistani market for VimpelCom’s growth strategy.

The Prime Minister also discussed VimpelCom’s outlook on current operating conditions within Pakistan, and was apprised of Mobilink’s existing investment of over USD 3.9 billion towards consolidating its position in Pakistan’s telecom sector. The delegation informed the Prime Minister of plans for further investment of USD 1 billion in Pakistan for the enhancement of Mobilink’s nationwide mobile network.

The VimpelCom delegation also included Mr Ahmed Abou Doma, Group CEO, Orascom Telecom, Mr Robert Conway, Chief International Affairs Officer, VimpelCom and Mr Rashid Khan, President & CEO, Mobilink.

JAYBIRD BLUEBUDS X IN-EAR BLUETOOTH HEADPHONES

JayBird is back with a new set of in-ear Bluetooth headphones called BlueBuds X. To “rewrite the ruls of Bluetooth audio”, the new Bluetooth headphones is built to deliver performance that rivals mainstream wired headphones. It features JayBird’s own Shift Bluetooth SBC codec to deliver lossless audio decompression.

The BlueBuds X also includes PureSound, an onboard filtering system that filters out and eliminates the white noise for a clean audio experience. The in-ear headphones uses Bluetooth 2.1 wireless technology and features Signal Plus to ensure stable wireless connection. It also comes with in-line microphone and remote for taking phone calls, and music and call controls. The Jenna voice prompts offers smooth and simple operation, and the internal battery provides 8 hours of battery life.

Ideal for fitness and sports, JayBird’s new headphones is sweat-proof and comes with sportscar grille inspired secure fit ear cushions with hexagon cushioning for maximum stability and comfort. Users may also get the optional X-Fit over/under-ear fit accessory to lift the cord off your neck for over-ear or under-ear wearing style. Three pairs of ear-tips and three pair ear cushions are included. You can also find micro USB charging cable and protective carry case in the box.

Available in midnight black and storm white, the JayBird BlueBuds X is priced at $169.95.

SHARP PN-K321 32-INCH 4K IGZO LCD DISPLAY

Sharp announced in Japan the PN-K321 32-inch professional display with a 4K2K resolution of 3840×2160. Using IGZO LCD technology and Edge-lit LED backlight, Sharp’s new display offers high resolution in a super slim factor. Thanks to IGZO (Indium Gallium Zinc Oxide) technology, the display also consumes less energy than LCD displays currently on the market.

Sharp‘s PN-K321 delivers 4K 3840×2160 resolution in 32-inch screen size, offering a pixel density of about 138ppi. Measuring just 35mm thick, Sharp says that the PN-K321 is the industry’s thinnest 4K display. The monitor also features 250cd/m2 brightness and is able to show over 1 billion colors. It provides HDMI and DisplayPort inputs and RS-232C control port. There are also 2Wx2 stereo speakers.

Sharp plans to release the 4K IGZO display in February in Japan for 450,000 Yen (US$5480). Other than professional desktop monitor, the company is also implementing the IGZO technology in displays for smartphone, tablet, and HDTV.

ZTE MF823 IS THE WORLD’S SMALLEST 4G LTE DATACARD

Chinese network equipment and mobile device maker ZTE introduces the MF823, the world’s smallest 4G LTE datacard. Measuring just 13mm thick, the MF823 is just a third of the size of the company’s first gen LTE data card. It also consumes a third less power than its brother.


ZTE’s MF823 is boosted by Qualcomm’s second generation LTE chip and supports LTE-FDD, UMTS-HSPA+ and GPRS/GSM mobile networks, and IPv6 standard. The USB 4G LTE modem supports up to 100Mbps DL and 50Mbps UL on LTE-FDD network and up to 42/5.76Mbps DL/UL on HSPA+. It is compatible with Windows XP/7/8, Mac OS X, and ‘all major operating systems’, and provides a web UI for operation and settings.

ZTE has released the MF823 in Kazakhstan and will launch it in Europe and Asia-Pacific countries soon.

Google updates Google Drive and Chrome apps for iOS and Android

Google has updated their Google Drive and Chrome apps on both the platforms.

The new Google Drive app gets a slew of new features but the biggest one is the ability to edit spreadsheet within the apps, which makes it so much more useful now.

Other changes in the app include:

Edit contents of tables in Google Docs editor
Formatting is maintained when copy/pasting within Google Docs
Single tap to enter edit mode in Google Docs editor
Add a shortcut to Drive files/folders to your homescreen for quick access
Send Link now supports copying link to clipboard

As for the iOS version of the app, the following changes have been introduced

Create, edit and collaborate on spreadsheets
Upload to Drive from other apps using “Open in…”
Manage upload progress and see recent uploads in new Uploads section

Rich text copy-paste within a document
Improved speed and stability
Improved contact search for sharing

Bug fixes

The Chrome app didn’t get as many updates. According to Google’s change log, the Android version gets stability fixes and performance improvements. The iOS version gets ability to open PDF files in other apps, Passbook support, text encoding detection and other performance improvements.

In my opinion, Chrome still lags behind the stock browser on either platforms in terms of performance, and I don’t mean just page loading speed. It’s especially bad on Android, with all that stuttering and blanking out every time you scroll, even on powerful devices. Having said that, it has come a long way since it first released, so hopefully it can catch up to the stock browser in terms of performance some day. Especially now that Google is replacing the stock browser with it in Nexus devices.