Tag Archives: Pakistan

Around the Interwebs: Digital News

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Just catching up on major inter-web related news:

1. Very excited about the Skype / Facebook integration. I heard about it a while ago but didn’t realize that the ‘integrated’ version is available for download.  (The full release details are available here.) I actually thought thought that the integration would be available seamlessly on FB (i.e. no upgrades download required – just sign in with you skype login on FB). Once I get it fired up (hopefully I will if my work computer is not totally locked down) I’ll post screen captures.

2. Bing incorporates Facebook ‘your friends like this’. Interesting news. I guess it’s still up in the air about who is going to own the ‘social webs’ but I think Facebook is winning. Seems like all of Googles initiatives in this area have not been super successful (i.e. Buzz, Wave, FriendConnect).  I wish I could buy some Facebook stock.

3. Looks like more and more Brands are getting into the location game. Actually, I’m really annoyed because of course being in Pakistan mean I have not really been able to try the whole ‘Facebook Places’ ‘Gowalla’ ‘Foursquares’ check-in thing. I wonder how successful this will be (in the future) in our local market. I know that some forward thinking business in Pakistan have actually been using Google Lattitude for business purposes – i.e. tracking the location of on the road salespeople / delivery people etc.  I think if would be interesting to use check-ins to monitor for field visits and collect real-time data.Two side notes though:

- I gotta get data on ‘data package’ penetration on mobile phones. I think providers like Telenor have recently pushed for it on the mid-level market (i.e. People who don’t have smart phones)

- I really gotta get rid of my BlackBerry. Almost of all my data communication is still locked down (Ok if SOMEONE can logically explain to me why is it locked down for blackberries and not other handsets I will bake them a cake). This mean no Facebook, no Twitter, no ‘on the go WordPress updates’, no google maps (which I really miss most of all), no Google mobile search (which is actually very useful and pretty accurate – even in Karachi).  So basically this device is totally useless for me.  I will probably go for an Android phone although sometimes I still get tempted by the iPhone.

Another bold step…towards insanity.

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It seems people around me are not very alarmed at the neck breaking speed at which Pakistan is heading towards fundamentalism. First it was the banning of Facebook – which was implemented while I was traveling. The ‘REASON’ for the ban was blasphemous material (aka people wanting to draw pictures of the prophet).  I thought that the banning was insanity – and more insane that it was a court order ban. Hello what about if people find it SO offensive DON’T GO ON FACEBOOK!  Why do we have to be big-brother monitored so that SOME people don’t encounter content that SOME content they might find offensive.Ok as usual – I would expect most people to be incredibly indignant and protest this restriction of our freedom. But as I often do, I totally underestimate people reactions. Everyone I spoke to about this (and I’m talking about educated, well traveled, so called moderate people) AGREED with the ban either because 1. It’s Blasphemous (um.. note point above) or 2. It’s to appease the irrational masses (umn..no it sets a precedent).Well the president has been set and now some stupid person has gone to court to say that Google, YouTube, Yahoo, MSN, Bing and like 19 other sites should ALSO be blocked because they contain blasphemous material. And guess what – the court agrees and the PTA claims that ‘it has yet to receive a directive from the court to block these sites’ but I’m assuming as soon as they do they will obliging go ahead and block them.First of all, it goes to show that these so called lawyers have not spent much time dragging themselves out of the stone age cause they don’t seem to know that you have to actually SEARCH for something blasphemous for it to appear. Or that they are just like politicians pushing through laws that pander to the public regardless of what would actual responsible judicial decision.I’m very angry – but I better spend the last few hours of free access to the world wide web googling ways to by pass the ban.

Breaking The Curfew

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Finally finished – Breaking The Curfew by Emma Duncan.Yes, so it’s an old book about Pakistan and reading a book about politics in history written in 1989 fully 20 years later in 2009 is a little weird. What is surprisingly un-weird is how much the class, political, tribal and ethnic breakup (and alliances, affinity, identity) that the writer describes (with clarity, sharpness and openess) is still so valid today.Most of the key players in the book in Politics, Tribal Power, Feudal Power, Business Power are the same people from 20 years ago, or at least from the same family. The army and its power play is the same. All you really have to do is replace soviet threat with Tabliban and whamo – you gotta book for 2010.