According to WSJ, GoPro is working on expanding its market share of video recording through UAVs. Since plenty of people are already strapping their GoPro cameras to their drones, it is not unreasonable to expect something like this from the manufacturer of the camera itself. Even though so far GoPro hasn’t confirmed the rumors but it is expected that by end of 2015 we should see these drones hitting the market. Lets see if GoPro is able to give some tough competition to DJI, Parrot and other drone makers.

Source: WSJ

Image Source: mediamarkt.es

In another set of disturbing news for Pakistan who is already fighting conventional war almost on all its borders, Iranian Hackers are said to have penetrated into the critical networks of Pakistan posing a great threat. According to the researchers at Cylance this has been going on since 2012.

According to the report the hackers have “extracted highly sensitive materials” from government agencies and major infrastructor companies of countries like United States, Britain, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Israel, Kuwait, Mexico, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.

Cylance researchers called the effort “Operation Cleaver” and said it has “conducted a significant global surveillance and infiltration campaign.”

“During intense intelligence gathering over the last 24 months, we observed the technical capabilities of the Operation Cleaver team rapidly evolve faster than any previously observed Iranian effort,” the report said. “As Iran’s cyber warfare capabilities continue to morph, the probability of an attack that could impact the physical world at a national or global level is rapidly increasing. Their capabilities have advanced beyond simple website defacements.”

The 86-page report says evidence of Iranian involvement is clear, with Persian hacker names used throughout the campaign and many domains used registered in Iran.

Source: Express Tribune

Peter Vesterbecka, maker of Angry Birds, is going to be available for an exclusive Skype Session on 16th December 2014 at 2 PM. For all those who are interested can join the PlanX team at Arfa Software Technology Park, Lahore.

The man who is behind one of the most popular mobile game of our era, will be giving exclusive insights into his experience with Rovio Studios. For all those who are interested, it would be a great experience to learn from the creative mastermind and marketing guru. He has definitely done wonders with Angry Birds. He has also been affiliated with various other start-ups during the course of his career.

For all those interested can join the event page on Facebook.

Source: PITB

Warid has finally started giving 4G LTE sims to its customers located in Karachi, Islamabad, Faisalabad, and Lahore. The people who have compatible handsets have been getting SMS and phone calls from customer services at Warid asking them for their postal address details or requesting to create a backup of their sim as they would be receiving one pretty soon. If you are one of those unlucky ones who has a compatible phone but unfortunately haven’t received your sim so far, its ok you aren’t alone. But there is an easy solution to this problem of yours. Just visit your nearest Warid Business Center, and they will issue you a 4G LTE sim. Though they might charge your Rs. 100 for this new sim.

Well so far in Lahore, Warid hasn’t been able to offer any extra ordinary speeds. The best speed I was able to get was 8.07 download and 4.39 upload. I have run speedtest in DHA, Gulberg, Model Town & Township area. The best download speed received was in Model Town.

Currently the 4G LTE on Warid is absolutely free. But please remember, that if you aren’t in a 4G LTE coverage area your regular Edge/GPRS package will be charged.

Apart from poor speed, the other issue is that the fallback of 4G is Edge for Warid as compared to Zong whose fallback is 3G.

Anyway it is still a long way to go, so lets see how it all turns out. Really hoping for better speed from Warid in the near future.

If you are using Warid 4G LTE, please do share your speed test results with us in the comments.

Dropbox, one the most widely known cloud storage services has recently announced its partnership with Microsoft, a move that will allow for seamless integration for users of both services. Companies in this age are rapidly embracing cloud computing as an integral part of their infrastructure both as a means to stay competitive and cost effective. The plethora of devices out there means that users will want their favorite apps to work uniformly across them hence opting for apps that have this ability.

Now when it comes to productivity Microsoft has long been the king of this domain offering spreadsheet, word processing and presentation tools that not only work, but are something that every computer user is familiar with. Until recently however, given the emphasis on collaboration, efficiency and cost savings their has been a void which Microsoft has tried to address through Office 365, its own subscription based service that lets you achieve the multiplatform goodness. Meanwhile Google has been continually gnawing on Microsoft’s share by offering Google drive services, which sort of gets work done. Although it doesn’t offer multitude of features that the Microsoft suite offers but it does lets users work on different parts of a document in real time.

So where is Microsoft lagging behind? Well Office 365 utilizing its in house storage solution (Sky Drive) seems pretty robust but feels limited to just being a virtual hard drive for saving documents. You cannot work on other files or connect Sky Drive to other apps. Luckily Dropbox offers just that seamless integration users and businesses want. Instead of simply being bound by Microsoft’s storage solution users can now opt for using Dropbox as their storage service.

Users utilizing Dropbox for business can now integrate Office 365 and Dropbox to work seamlessly. The benefit is two-fold; for Dropbox, they get to tout another suite that works with their eco-system which is not your average productivity but Microsoft Office! This should drive a lot of users to adopt Dropbox as their primary source of online storage needs given the ever-increasing list of compatible apps. For Microsoft, this would help them surpass any sort of competition by offering their robust productivity suite that works with a highly desirable specialized cloud storage service.

In its most recent update Dropbox mobile app now lets users edit Microsoft Office documents directly from the app amongst other new features, making the integration more seamless.

What makes Starbucks amazing is not only their signature Coffee blends but the efficiency with which baristas churn out drinks. Thanks to their Six Sigma techniques, they have been able to reduce unnecessary processes thus reduce preparation times. However, even with machine like efficiency they get a lot of traffic during rush hours resulting in long lines hence wait times drawing some of their clientele away.

The good news however is that Starbucks might have found a work around. Though only available for Portland users at the moment, users can now use the Starbucks iOS Mobile app to order their favorite drink not having to wait in lines. So users can just breeze in to an outlet and pick up their caramel latte and marble pound cake.

Unless you have an unlimited data plan, many mobile users are always struggling with keeping within data limits. Exceeding these limits can often times result in a massive bill. 4G, HD video, Retina optimized online content all proponents of the problem.

For iOS users especially, there is not a toggle or control that you can configure to switch data off when you have reached your data limit. Account managers usually getting text/email notifications once 70% data has been used but this might not help other users if sharing a plan. On the other hand, Android handsets as old as Galaxy S3 allow their users to set data cycles depending on their billing dates and enables them to keep their data usage in check by enforcing usage limits.

Once workaround was to call #3282 or #DATA to receive usage information via a text message but it was inconvenient not to mention forgetting to check constantly

However, In a recent update of “My Verizon Mobile” app, Verizon users can now monitor their data usage through the iOS Widget. I believe this is was a much needed feature and will benefit a lot of users

With the advent of 3G & 4G LTE, smartphone scenario is changing in Pakistan. Prior to launch of these services, there were only a few handsets available in Pakistan which support 3G or 4G LTE. And who is to blame, because there was no point of having one anyway. Over the period of last few months, we have seen several companies introducing new smartphones which are compatible with these new technologies and then there are companies which have jumped into this bandwagon with Apple being one.

Apple is currently offering its latest iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 plus in collaboration with cellular service providers. Unlike other countries, the phone are not network locked. But there are benefits of buying one from you current service provider because some of them are offering lucrative deal in terms of free data and voice minutes.

However, there is something important you need to know before you jump into buying one from the service providers. You will not be able to use Facetime on these devices. According to service provider websites it is because it is banned by PTA. Well that could be one reason. The other reason could be that these phones are coming in from Middle East where you can’t use Facetime, Skype or Viber on your iPhone. So just be-careful before you buy an iPhone from a service provider.

Happy Shopping!

Imagine never having to drive you car to go from point-A to point-B. Especially in a country whose roads are congested because of too much vehicles. Singapore being such one country who is already working hard by giving incentives to its people for using mass transit is all set to explore the option of allowing robotic cars. They will be assigning one of its neighborhoods to autonomous cars next year to to see how well they can contribute to eliminating traffic congestion.

There are obviously a lot of things which need to be done before they can start doing road tests on actual roads. These hurdles include hyper-accurate maps to ensure that the car doesn’t hit a curb or stop at a wrong stop. However, things might not be perfect in the beginning but if large-scale tests like this pan out, there are chances that we might see a lot of other cities adopting robotic cars to bring end to road congestion.

Source: MIT Technology Review
Image Source: MIT Technology Review

Skype is working hard making it easier to communicate even when you are working. Thanks to the latest development, now you can share ideas with your colleagues or keep the conversation running alongside your documents without having to toggle windows. Skype chat is now built into the web productivity suite’s version of PowerPoint and Word.

Source: Skype Blog

Today is the first day of Warid’s LTE official launch. Till yesterday Warid was offering free LTE under its trial phase program. Warid started notifying its users via automated phone calls, text messages and emails about the launch of LTE services.

It is good to know that Warid has priced its LTE in a competitive way. They are currently offering following packages:

Prepaid Customers

• Weekly 250 MB: Rs. 50
• Monthly 300MB: Rs. 100
• Monthly 750MB: Rs. 200
• Monthly 1.5GB: Rs. 300
• Monthly 5GB: Rs. 500
• Monthly 8GB: Rs. 800

Postpaid Customers

• Monthly 750MB: Rs. 200
• Monthly 1.5GB: Rs. 300
• Monthly 5GB: Rs. 500
• Monthly 8GB: Rs. 800

Dial *400# to subscribe to you desired internet bundle, get handset settings or get details on your data usage.

Currently Warid is offering its LTE services in following cities only:

• Lahore
• Faisalabad
• Gujranwala
• Islamabad
• Rawalpindi
• Karachi

Warid plans to expand its LTE network to 10 more cities in next months. You can view the current coverage map of LTE services here.

Source: Warid

Warid has been striving hard lately to improve its services and to stand out as compared to its competitors. This includes the launching of 4G LTE, smartphone application and now online bill payment solution. Warid in collaboration with HBL has launched a new utility using which the users can pay their bill online using their visa/debit card. Currently this facility is for postpaid users only.

You can do so by clicking on the following link: https://gateway.waridtel.com/OnlinePayment/

Source: Warid

As time passes by, the competition is forcing the telcos to offer more and more competitive pricing. Mobilink has recently announced its new 3G bundle which has a validity period of 24 hours. You can consume 1 GB of data by paying Rs. 8/day only. There is a catch that there is a time limit. You can use this data from 12am to 5pm only.

As per mobilink’s website it is offering following bundles:

* Inclusive of taxes
** To check remaining MB’s and validity – no charges apply
*** Overage of Rs. 0.25/MB applies for 3G Daily & 3G Daily super, till bundle expiry
**** Subscriber will receive expiry notification before incentive and validity expiry

Note: Above information is as printed on Mobilink’s website on 21st January 2015. For updated information please visit Mobilink’s website.

Source: Mobilink

It certainly feels great to see the country progressing. Punjab has been lately focusing on introducing new softwares to improve the governance and it is nice to see KPK address a very serious issue. A2Z e-payments has recently collaborated with KPK government in providing them a solution through which individuals can pay their traffic fines easily through Easy Paisa without any hassle of getting queued outside National Bank of Pakistan, who are notorious for delaying even the simplest task. As per the information stated on A2Z’s website,  penalty holders in districts of Peshawar, Abbottabad, Manshera, Haripur, Mardan, Nowshera, Charsadda, Swabi, Swat, Kohat, Bannu and Karak along with their respective highways will be able to avail this facility. However, it will be expanded to other districts of KPK within 2 years.

How to pay traffic fine via new service?

1. Visit nearest designated EasyPaisa outlet along with Traffic Ticket.
2. Pay the amount to the EasyPaisa Shopkeeper, who will enter the details via Installed POS Terminal. This terminal will generated the receipt for both shopkeeper and traffic offender. Simultaneously, a SMS will be sent to the offender confirming receipt of payment.
3. Offender can get his/her documents from Traffic Police Center by presenting the receipt.

Source: A2Z E-Payments

As opposed to Zong, who is offering its super fast 3g coverage throughout the motorway, Mobilink has decided to expand its 3G network and is currently offering free trial at the following service areas on M2.

1. Sukheki Rest Area
2. Sial Mor Rest Area
3. Bhera Rest Area
4. Kalar Kahar Rest Area

Even though you won’t be able to enjoy 3G throughout the journey with Mobilink, but it is nice to see them adding more areas and hopefully they will soon be covering the full motorway to make traveling more fun.

Source: Mobilink

A terrible password choice can go a long way. It not only compromises your data but can also result in compromising of the server. SplashData has just released its annual list of the worst ones (gleaned from hacked file dumps), and things haven’t changed much over last year. The passwords “123456” and “password” are still on the top of the list. The only good news is that as compared to 2013, fewer people are using bad passwords. This could be result of several main servers being compromised which has resulted in people selecting much wiser-passwords. Following is the list for 2014 which is followed by the list for 2013.

If you haven’t changed your password lately or happen to be using any of the listed passwords above, you are highly advised for your own safety to change the password immediately. It is a good practice to change your password frequently.

Source: Splashdata
Image Source: Splashdata

Earlier this week, WhatsApp launched its latest update under which they launched a new service called WhatsApp Web. Using this service the users don’t need to rely on their phone in order to chat on WhatsApp. They can do so by simply using Google Chrome. However, there are limitations yet apart from being compatible with Google Chrome only, and that it is available for android users only. The update for iOS users hasn’t rolled out yet. The Web client isn’t a perfect mimic of the original application, it has some features missing and following are some obvious ones:

1. You can’t change your name, profile picture
   If you want to change your name or profile picture, you will have to pick up your phone and make the changes as currently the Web client doesn’t allow you to do so. It would be nice to allow users to change their picture using web client at least.
2. You can’t change your privacy settings
   You can’t change last seen, disable receipts or change who sees your status.
3. You can’t block people
   You currently can’t block the annoying people on WhatsApp using the web client. You will have to launch the app to show creeps the door.
4. You can’t change your status
   I don’t know if people update their status that frequently on their WhatsApp, because I don’t, but nonetheless it would be nice to have this feature onboard.
5. You can’t create or edit groups
   It is annoying that the Web Client lacks the capability of playing with groups. You have to create groups on the phone app before you can start messaging them using web client. It is a very essential feature and I think that WhatsApp team should definitely consider including this feature in their next update rollout.

Even though these features are missing, nonetheless it is a great move by the WhatsApp team in order to make WhatsApp more accessible. It is going to be especially helpful at times when you don’t feel like picking up your phone or when it is on charging and you feel too lazy to get out of your comfortable seat. Hopefully, as the things progress the above mentioned features will be made part of the web client, so that the users can make maximum out of it.

Who said a good game needs to be complex and featured packed to keep a player engaged? 2 Cars is one such game that provides a perfect example of how the developers have managed to avoid clutter and provide its users a challenge which would keep them going for hours.

The concept is simple really, they have created a multitasking challenge which tests your awareness, reflexes and hand eye coordination. Do you claim to be ambidextrous? Here is your chance to prove it. So essentially, like the name suggests you are in charge of navigating 2 cars simultaneously avoiding  obstacles which are squares and collecting circles. Each car has its own unique color (Blue and Red) and has to avoid or collect objects which are similarly colored. Missing a circle would end the game while crashing into a square would also end the game.

What makes this game really interesting is when your friends start playing it. Given the unique nature and fresh concept that’s not a problem but once everyone is hooked, the real challenge begins! Who will get the highest score? Scoring is calculated based on the number of collective circles you collect with each car which are updated in real time. However, take your eyes off for once second to check the score and you are done. This game requires extreme concentration and while you are itching to blink, you cannot!

2 Cars has a really clean interface and hardly any annoying gimmicks making you pay for add-ons such as buying items to restore from where your crashed or buy for energy/fuel points to keep playing. 2 Cars can be played for as long as a user wants, which is very hard to come by these days.  The game has a soothing music which can be turned off at will if it gets too annoying depending on the number of times you play or just because it helps you concentrate without it. Similarly sound effects can also be toggled on or off depending on user preference.

Personally, we think 2 Cars is a wonderful effort by “No Power-up” the developers behind 2 Cars available both on iOS and Android.

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Description:

Control both the red car and the blue car at the same time. Collect all the circles and avoid the squares on the road.

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Mushroom wars is one of the most fantastic and fun loving strategy game for a touch device. The game design and concept makes it look so simple. You are required to use the troops in your buildings to take over buildings of your opponents. All you have to do is drag, and viola your army is up and running to attack the enemy troops. This simplicity and user-friendliness is what I love about the game. Zillion Whales, the company behind the game, has long been advertising about their upcoming game. They even ran a competition to create a hype. But due to some technical issues, they were unable to launch it in Q4 of 2014. However, they have finally managed to roll out the game.

The new version of the game is not called Mushroom Wars 2 as it was advertised in the game and their campaign, it is called Mushroom Wars Space.

Fortunately this time they have provided 3 different worlds for single player campaigns which will allow users to play even when they don’t have access to internet. The best part of the game which I have always liked is its multiplayer. You can combat up to four players in a battle, with different maps requiring you to employ different strategies. Each map also has different victory objectives, varying from capturing all enemy buildings, to capture those with a star or collecting 300 points before others do.

This time instead of a common leader-board, there are leagues through which you progress. You start with iron league, move to bronze and keep on progressing.

In order to spice things up, they have provided with special powers which you can help you win.

1. Frost, it freezes your nearby enemy’s units.
2. Sacrifice, destroys troops in target friendly point increase your morale for each sacrificed unit.
3. Blood Stone, slightly increases your units attack.
4. Reserves, drops 50 soldiers into target friendly point.

There are more spells which get unlocked as you play.

Overall, it is a great game and the more you play it the more you fall in love with it.

 

 

Description:

“The forest floor has never been more deadly or more fun.” – IGN “It’s hard not to get sucked into Mushroom Wars once you start playing, and you’ll certainly never look at that portabella on your plate ever again without the urge to send it charging into battle.” – Gamezebo Space Tournament takes place just once in a million years, and the moment has come! Play now, take part in great online battles, earn Tournament Experience and get awards in Mushroom Wars... and Mushroom Wars 2! Aye, all participants of the Space Tournament will get valuable awards in the new part of the game, which will be released very soon! * Оne of the all-time “Top 25 PSN Games” by IGN! * Ranked #1 Strategy game in US, Germany and 59 other countries * Featured by Apple in US, Canada, UK and 103 countries An unknown enemy has made mischief among the Mushroom folk, and once friendly neighbors have begun to fight one another. Lead the Mushroom Army and mediate peace in the forest! Mushroom Wars is a dynamic real-time strategy. Defeat enemy tribes or capture key strategic locations! Increase the size of your army, complete the construction of your villages, improve your weapons, capture smith shops or hold defensive towers – it's up to you to choose your way to victory! Complete a fascinating Campaign or challenge other players online! One of the greatest games of all time for Playstation and PlayStation®Network according to IGN is now available for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad! * Three modes of multiplayer competition. * Up to four players in a battle * A campaign containing 32 maps with increasing difficulty levels * Simple controls and exciting gameplay * Multiple challenges for experienced gamers * A variety of mission goals: capture, king of the hill, etc. * Three variants of controls for more effective play * Supports left-handed gamers See video trailer: http://youtu.be/BjGXDJIPUVI Learn more: http://www.facebook.com/MushroomWarsMobile Attention! Dear users, we have successfully implemented iPad 1 and iOS 5.1. support for single player campaigns. Unfortunately, iPad 1 doesn’t have sufficient resources for the Mushroom Wars multiplayer mode, so the mode is unavailable for this device; our first priority being that you enjoy the game. If you encounter any problems with online multiplayer we highly recommend you to close other applications that may be active. To do this quickly press the iPad button twice, press…

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Release Notes:

Undertake an intriguing campaign or challenge other players online!

What's new in v.1.14:
• Take part in the Space Tournament and receive valuable awards!
• Play now to get awesome awards in Mushroom Wars 2!
• Significant graphic improvement for iPad Air and iPad Mini Retina
• Bug fixes

New features in previous versions:
* iOS 7 support!
* Campaign tutorial mode significantly improved
* The Revenge ability is now available for all players
* PvE CAMPAIGN BOOSTERS introduced:
- TROOP SWARM to build an instant army
- BLAST ATTACK to effectively stop your enemies
- MUCHO MORALE to immediately boost your Morale
* More intriguing events coming soon!

Requires iOS 5.1.1 (see notes on device compatibility in game description)
Please send feedback to games@i-free.com
Or join us on Facebook at facebook.com/MushroomWarsMobile

 

 

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by 4633 users

 

 

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