Technology

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tele­communication Authority (PTA) on Wednesday urged the Federal Board of Revenue to stop illegal imports of GSM boosters that cause interference in frequency bands of mobile companies and deteriorates quality of cellular services in the area where these amplifiers are installed. In a letter to the FBR Member Customs, the telecom authority said only licensed Cellular Mobile …

PayPro, a fintech startup that focuses on business to business (B2B) and business to consumer (B2C) payments, on Thursday announced that it had received a grant amounting to Rs7.4 million from USAID Small and Medium Enterprise Activity (SMEA). According to a press release from PayPro, the grant is intended to help digitise micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) that want …

ISLAMABAD: More than 70pc increase in complaints was reported at the cyber harassment helpline of Digital Rights Foundation (DRF) during 2020, showing a high number of cases related to online blackmailing, extortion and hacking during the lockdown. The DRF Cyber Harassment Helpline Report 2020, launched on Wednesday states that 3,298 cases of online harassment were registered at the helpline. Around …

ISLAMABAD: Internet services faced disruptions across the country on Wednesday as one of its six international submarine cables developed a fault. The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) confirmed that due to a fault in an international submarine cable system near Abu Talat, Egypt, users faced some degradation in internet services. The disruptions developed at the SMW-5 due to subsea fault in …

  BRUSSELS: Fortnite creator Epic Games has taken its fight against Apple to European Union antitrust regulators, ramping up it dispute with the iPhone maker over its App Store payment system and control over app downloads. The two companies have been locked in a legal dispute since last August, when the game maker tried to avoid Apple’s 30% fee on …

ISLAMABAD: Amid threats of Covid-19 and lockdowns, the year 2020 witnessed a significant change in internet viewership as searches like sadqa, pet, cooking, mental health, gender equality, kids’ home activities, etc, at Google were among the top trends in Pakistan. A report titled “What is Pakistan Searching for?” captures the collective trending searches and sheds light on what captured people’s curiosity for …

A group of scientists accidentally discovered species living in -2°C temperatures under 890 meters of ice in Antarctica. According to the details, the researchers were conducting a survey in Antarctica when they accidentally discovered the species on the southeastern Weddell Sea. The new finding sheds light on the existence of life beneath the ice shelves of the continent. The find …

SINGAPORE: Bitcoin hit a new record high $60 shy of $50,000 on Tuesday, extending a sharp rally that has been mostly fuelled by big investors beginning to take digital assets seriously. The first and most famous cryptocurrency, bitcoin hit $49,938 and has gained roughly 70% this year, most of that after electric carmaker Tesla said it bought $1.5 billion in …

BENGALURU: Luxury car group Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) unveiled plans to go electric on Monday, saying it aims to be net zero on carbon emissions by 2039 as it joined a global race to roll out clean-energy vehicles. The Tata Motors-owned group’s strategy – internally referred to as “Reimagine” – comes as car groups worldwide accelerate moves towards fleets powered …

SINGAPORE: Bitcoin pulled back from a record high on Monday and other cryptocurrencies slipped, as investors took profits from a record-breaking rally that had pushed bitcoin close to $50,000. Bitcoin fell as much as 5.6% to $45,914 in Asian trading hours after having posting a record peak of $49,714.66 on Sunday, while rival crypto ethereum slid more than 8%. Once …