Coeus solutions to invest in human capital:
Coeus Solutions Ltd announced a plan to expand their human resource by over 300 new team members, ranging from technology operations to sales and marketing. It also announced a new building acquisition with over 10,000 sq feet of covered space as additional office space in Lahore, Pakistan. The company previously announced a plan to list on the Pakistan Stock Exchange in the first quarter of 2022.
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Biggest esports event in Pakistan soon:
Galaxy Racer, the esports organization that recently entered Pakistan, has just announced the country’s biggest esports event. The event is called Gamers Galaxy and it will take place in Islamabad on 8th-9th January 2022. Gamers Galaxy will be held at the Pak-China friendship center and it will have a prize pool of Rs 20 million. This makes it the largest esports event in the history of Pakistan.
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Bitcoin ‘founder’ can keep billions of dollars:
A computer scientist who claims he invented Bitcoin has won a court case allowing him to keep a cache of the cryptocurrency worth billions of dollars. A jury rejected claims that Craig Wright’s former business partner was due half of the assets. As a result Mr Wright will retain 1.1m Bitcoin, worth $54bn (£40bn). However he will pay $100m to his late partner’s company for intellectual property infringement.
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Brandverse closes multi-million dollar seed round:
Brandverse, Pakistan’s leading startup that is enabling profitable and sustainable growth of small businesses by democratizing access to e-commerce, announced that it has closed a multi-million dollar investment seed round led by the JS Group. The round also saw follow-on participation from seed investors, regional family offices, and operator angels.
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Xiaomi’s impressive new 50″ 4k tv:
The Chinese tech giant Xiaomi has announced the ES50 TV in China, that’s expected to make a statement with its impressive new features. Xiaomi ES50 2022 features a striking 50-inch display that has slim bezels, a 178-degree viewing angle, and a 60Hz refresh rate. The panel natively operates at 4K and can playback Dolby Vision as well as HDR10 compatible content with an in-house super-resolution algorithm designed to reduce noise & sharpen images where possible.
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Success of SnackVideo and PUBG hashtag challenge:
PUBG Mobile, the popular gaming platform, recently collaborated with SnackVideo for the first time on a hashtag challenge, set to introduce the heroic warriors and their collaboration with Engin Altan Düzyatan, the main protagonist of the renowned Turkish show, Ertugrul. The challenge encouraged SnackVideo content creators to produce imaginative and fun videos inspired by their favorite hero, Ertugrul, and hashtag the videos with #GhaziPUBGM. The challenge ran for 7 days and was a whopping success.
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Here is what Pakistanis googled in 2021:
With 2021 coming to an end, Google has put together a list of what people searched for throughout the year. As always, the report includes trends for different countries and Pakistan is among them too. This year’s Google Trends report shows that Pakistanis mostly searched for cricket, athletes, and TV shows. The number 1 search query on Google was “Pakistan vs South Africa” and the athlete people searched for the most was Shoaib Malik.
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Realme launches first premium flagship:
Qualcomm introduced its flagship Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 for Android devices, sending companies into a frenzy of being the first to launch a smartphone with it. Lei Jun, Founder, and CEO of Xiaomi, discretely stated that the Xiaomi 12 series will be the first in the world to make use of the SoC.
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Windows 11 is making some SSDS slower:
Windows 11 has more than a few issues to iron out. The new OS has been out for months and we are still discovering new issues. We can only hope that it’s not headed in the same direction as Windows 10. It turns out that some NVMe SSDs are significantly slower on Windows 11 when compared to other operating systems. For laymen, SSDs or solid-state drives are fast storage devices used alongside hard drives in computers. Some Reddit users have reported that the random write speeds on their SSDs plummeted on the new OS.
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Twitter DMs could get a major overhaul soon:
Twitter DMs may get an upgrade soon thanks to a new acquisition by the company. The social media giant has announced that its acquiring Quill, a messaging app for collaboration and communication with teams. It rivals other productivity apps like Slack and Microsoft Teams. QuillChat focuses on keeping your messages organized and notifications to a minimum while you’re at work. Twitter may be looking to add similar features to its app in the future.
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Service sector needs digital boost:
The rapid transformation of service sectors is required through new policies to move away from vested interests, rethinking of regulations, and new institutions in two key areas, i.e., trade competition, and skills. This was the crux of the session ‘Services-led Growth and the Rise of Digital Platforms: A South Asia Perspective’ organized by Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) in collaboration with the World Bank South Asia Chief Economist Office. The speakers also recommended that new institutional capacity must be developed to regulate the digital economy.
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Tiktok jumps on online shopping bandwagon:
The social media platform TikTok is making a big push into shopping. The video sharing app is famous for its short lip sync videos, dance routines and humour. And its popularity has soared during the pandemic. TikTok is now producing its first live shopping and entertainment event on Wednesday where people can buy products directly on the platform, tapping into the rise of “social shopping”.
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‘Euros’ is most googled term of 2021 in UK:
The three most searched for terms on Google UK this year were football related, with only one reference to Covid in the top 10. “Euros”, “Premier League” and “Christian Eriksen” – the Danish player who had a cardiac arrest on the pitch – were the top three, with “Covid vaccine” fourth. Covid had dominated last year’s list. Google News Labs head Matt Cooke said the annual list revealed “insights into the zeitgeist of the nation”.
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UK to phase out 2G and 3G by 2033:
The UK will phase out 2G and 3G mobile services by 2033. The switch-off date has been agreed with mobile-network operators Vodafone, EE, Virgin Media, O2, and Three. In July, EE owner BT revealed plans to phase out 3G by 2023, and 2G later in the decade. And many other companies have already begun phasing out technology that support the services.
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Instagram announces changes:
Instagram has announced new features it says will help teenagers and parents manage time spent on the app. Parents will be able to see how much time their children spend on Instagram and set time limits, while teens will get reminders to take a break. It comes a day before Instagram chief Adam Mosseri is due to appear before US Senators investigating online safety. Instagram has been under increasing pressure over teens’ use of the platform in recent months.
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Ubisoft NFTs, called ‘digits’, launch for in-game items:
Game titan Ubisoft has announced its new system to bring NFTs to its in-game items, starting this week. Non-fungible tokens have exploded in popularity, and are widely used for digital art collectibles. Ubisoft’s system – called “Digits” – will be offered as in-game digital items with one-of-a-kind serial numbers, which can be bought and sold.
Critics argue NFTs are bad for the environment, while offering little benefit over traditional systems.
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Google sues alleged Russian cyber criminals:
Google has sued hackers believed to be part of a cybercrime gang that has stolen user information from around the world. A complaint names two Russians and 15 unknown individuals said to be behind Glupteba, a malicious “botnet” that has infected over a million computers. Criminals use these systems of compromised devices to hack private data. It is the first case Google has launched against a botnet.
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US boss fires 900 employees over zoom:
The boss of a US firm has been criticised after he fired around 900 of his staff on a single Zoom call. “If you’re on this call you’re part of the unlucky group being laid off,” said Vishal Garg, chief executive of mortgage firm Better.com, on the call, later uploaded to social media. Comments on social media said it was “cold”, “harsh” and “a horrible move”, especially in the run up to Christmas. “Last time I did [this] I cried,” Mr Garg told the staff on the call. “I wish the news were different. I wish we were thriving,” he said. This time his tone was measured and he referred to notes on the desk in front of him.
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Tesla probed over solar-panel safety:
US authorities are investigating Tesla over an alleged failure to disclose fire risks with its solar panels, according to reports. A complaint from a whistleblower prompted the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to investigate. Steven Henkes, a former field quality manager for Tesla, alleges the company failed to properly notify shareholders and the public about the risks. Tesla solar systems have been known to catch fire in a small number of cases.
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Far-right using Twitter’s new media policy:
Far-right groups are using Twitter’s new private media policy to target anti-extremism accounts, activists say. The social media giant last week said images or video of private individuals shared without permission would be removed on request. Activists report that members of the far-right are using the policy to have accounts identifying them suspended.
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Africa’s patchy transport network gets a tech boost
Benson Ndumu Mwangi has been a truck driver for 10 years, navigating the roads of Kenya and East Africa. It can be a tough job: “Trucking in Kenya is a challenge, some of the roads are very difficult to manoeuvre through, causing mechanical issues and delays. “Some areas have a high risk of theft and so we have to be extra careful,” he says. For Mr Mwangi and others who work in the logistics industry there is hope that a new African free-trade area will spur improvements. The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement is in its first year of operation. Signed in 2018 the deal includes 54 African countries