Technology

BEIJING:  In a major blow, encrypted messaging app signal has been blocked in China that was one of the last US social media platforms still freely available in the country. Users of the free app, which has surged in popularity globally after rising privacy concerns, were unable to access it without a virtual private network (VPN). China has deployed a …

Tesla Inc added “Technoking of Tesla” to billionaire Chief Executive Elon Musk’s list of official titles on Monday in a regulatory filing that also named finance chief Zachary Kirkhorn “Master of Coin”. The electric-car maker did not elaborate on the reasons for the cryptic new titles. Last month, Tesla revealed it had purchased $1.5 billion of bitcoin and would soon …

A new feature has appeared at smoke shops in Montana, gas stations in the Carolinas and delis in far-flung corners of New York City: a brightly-lit bitcoin ATM, where customers can buy or sell digital currency, and sometimes extract hard cash. The machines have multiplied quickly through the United States over the past year, fueled by a frenzy in crypto …

While the government has taken revolutionary steps, some basic flaws in the system and a lack of direction are restricting Pakistan from harnessing its potential for digitisation. Jazz CEO Aamir Ibrahim believes the outreach of 4G should be expanded as it is sunset time for 3G. But the ground reality is that around 90 per cent mobile sets that are …

For the longest time, the country’s private sector has often used the government’s inefficiencies as an excuse for its own mediocrity. Be it the hue and cry over taxes or the demands of trade protection, Pakistan Inc. has developed a particularly rent-seeking behaviour. In some respects, the startups are not too different. After all, they also take birth in the …

ISLAMABAD: An Islamabad-based technology startup has raised $1.4 million from Silicon Valley investors, reflecting the growing tech ecosystem of Pakistan. The round was led by Indus Valley Capital and also saw participation from several renowned global investors such as billionaire investor Tim Draper, Hustle Fund Ventures and other well-known angel investors from Silicon Valley. RemoteBase capitalised on the pandemic and …

KARACHI: Lack of charging infrastructure network along highways/motorways has been a key hurdle restricting plying of costly electric vehicles (EVs) on inter-city routes in Pakistan. Owners of these vehicles have not been able to test the technology on long routes by driving to other cities due to battery limitations and unavailability of charging points. Millat Tractors Ltd (MTL) Executive Director …

ISLAMABAD: With the grant of entry of China’s largest automobile manufacturer by the Board of Investment (BoI), the manufacturing of electric vehicles will start in the country’s first private Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Raiwind. During the SEZ Committee meeting on Friday, the BoI approved the Zone Enterprise in order to facilitate the JW-SEZ China-Pakistan SEZ in Raiwind to manufacture …

CAPE CANAVERAL: A pair of Nasa astronauts floated out on a spacewalk on Saturday to rearrange space station plumbing, careful to avoid toxic ammonia coolant still lingering in the lines. The hose work should have been completed during a spacewalk outside the International Space Station a week ago, but was put off when power upgrades took longer than expected. Eager …

ISLAMABAD: Strong evidence has been found that people in the erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) use Twitter to communicate about service delivery issues and this phenomenon is increasing, according to a World Bank research. Tweets about service delivery have been dominated by the topics of access to clean water, education, economic development and healthcare. There is also a significant …