Technology

ISLAMABAD: To provide high-speed internet service in a region of the erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas, the Universal Service Fund (USF) has awarded a Rs92 million contract for developing broadband in Kurram district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The contract has been awarded to Jazz to develop next generation broadband for a sustainable development project in Kurram, including the tehsils of FR …

With the continuous rise in coronavirus across the world, business activity has already taken one of the worst hits in decades, as projections suggest that it might be even scarier than the Great Depression. Apart from a few countercyclical sectors, demand in most has already shown a sharp decline. In such times, agile companies have quickly jumped on whatever opportunity …

WASHINGTON: Google said on Friday it would waive fees for publishers using its Ad Manager platform for the next five months as part of its efforts to support news organisations reeling from the coronavirus pandemic. The move comes in addition to Google’s “journalism relief fund” announced this week, which will include emergency grants to news outlets. Jason Washing, head of …

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s first e-commerce index was launched at an online event, hosted by Daraz, showing an increase in digital payments and growing demand for online shopping. Federal Secretary for IT and Telecommunication Shoaib Siddiqui attended the event. The purpose of the index is, not only providing insight about consumer behavior online amid the Covid-19 pandemic, but to also help stakeholders …

LONDON: Facebook said on Thursday it would start sending tailor-made warnings to users highlighting facts about the coronavirus pandemic, after the world’s leading social media platform was accused of tolerating the spread of outlandish conspiracy theories. The US giant has already been publishing fact-checking articles about the global outbreak through its partnerships with media organisations. “We will also soon begin …

Apple is releasing a new iPhone that will be vastly cheaper than the models it rolled out last fall at a time when the economy was booming and the pandemic had yet to force people to rethink their spending. The second-generation iPhone SE introduced Wednesday will sell for as little as $399, a 40 per cent markdown from the most affordable iPhone …

ISLAMABAD: The Islam­abad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday directed the Minis­try of Information Techno­logy to reconnect the erstwhile Federally Adminis­tered Tribal Areas (Fata) to the cyberworld, observing that people there could not be denied access to the internet. IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah admitted a petition filed by a student, Syed Mohammad, and sought a reply from the IT ministry, …

APPLE Inc and Alphabet Inc’s Google said last week that they will work together to create contact tracing technology that aims to slow the spread of the coronavirus by allowing users to opt into logging other phones they have been near. The rare collaboration between the two Silicon Valley companies, whose operating systems power 99 per cent of the world’s …

THESE are perilous times. The entire human race is in a state of war against an invisible, implacable, and lethal enemy. There is no cure in sight. Health systems in many places are overwhelmed. The toll of infection as well as mortality is rising exponentially. Not only has the pandemic placed our life and health in jeopardy, it has what …

ISLAMABAD: Chairman of the Senate Standing Com­mittee on Interior Senator Rehman Malik has directed the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to probe reports about data breach involving sale of data of 115 million Pakistanis on darknet. Addressing a press conference on Satu­r­day, he said there were reports suggesting that data of 115 million cellphone users from Pakistan, including details such as …