Let me start by apologizing to all those of you who have high expectations from me and Umair and PakCrunch. We’ve been lazy and busy. Well, more busy than lazy, with studies and other projects and also our primary blogs. While I’m enjoying some level of success as a blogger, there’s always something in me that wants to do something different for my country. Yes, I’m a patriotic as Chacha Cricket, but in my own way.

Getting back on track, we’ve decided to refocus on PakCrunch’s coverage of all things technology in Pakistan. Made a WordPress theme? Plugin? Website? Startup? Hardware? Software? Web Service? We’ll cover it all! And we’ll make sure the word goes out to a huge number of people out there. For this, we’ll need your support, encouragement, feedback and no criticism. Ok, maybe some criticism.

Me and Umair have been doing some PakCrunch related stuff on the side. We’ve got a show about blogging tips and tricks on CIO WebStudio, thanks to Rabia Garib from CIO Pakistan. We’ve tried to help all the blaagers out there with all we know about content, SEO, Social Media, Activism and the all time favorite ( number 1!!! ) topic : earnings. Yes, all this for free. So, if you’re reading this blog post and haven’t seen our show or commented on it or given your feedback OR asked any questions there – shame on you! On a side note, any silly antics we do on the PakCrunch show are all Rabia Garib’s fault and maybe Umair’s, but not mine at all.

To get your feedback and input, I’ll be setting up a form shortly (thanks to SelfExile for the suggestion!). We’re also inviting everyone out there for an opportunity to write for PakCrunch (yeah, we’ll pay you if you’re that greedy :P). Along with that, expect some guest posts from some popular folks from around the country. (I’m shamelessly going to spam all you popular people/bloggers no matter who you are, or where you are.)

Oh, we’ve got a new writer with us at PakCrunch, Zainub Asif. She’s a student and will be writing on stuff that will mostly be non-technology related. Just to make sure there’s something for everyone to read here. Check out here first post Non Cooperation of the Corporate World.

Here’s hoping to a better future for Pakistan and PakCrunch! Take care all.

P.S. Subscribe to the PakCrunch RSS Feed, join the Facebook fanpage or follow us on Twitter.

People say that the youth doesn’t take interest in the country. They are going overseas for employment and opportunities. Why? One of the reasons is that the organizations in Pakistan are very harsh and rude to the youth.

For instance many students go for their project based work to these organizations but they don’t co-operate with them in a good manner. The organizations hesitate in giving any kind of information even if the students have a permission letter from their university. Therefore, a student can’t go to the organization if he or she doesn’t have any kind of reference or link there. If a student doesn’t have any link or reference then what will that individual do? This situation will only make the individual depressed and discourage him or her further. Because of these things, the country is leading towards more and more corruption, day by day. If you will not let people do things the right way, they will definitely go the other way. And if these people are the youth and they go the wrong path, then the organizations are taking equal part to destroy the work ethics of the youth as other factors do. The so called friendly organizations are leading the youth to find other means. They discourage the students on the very first level.

The question arises: Are we going to face the same problems in the future too or is there going to be a change? Something to think about.

CIO Pakistan is hosting the first Dine Up ever with Social Media Experts in Pakistan on the 9th of December, 2009. This is the third even by CIO Pakistan and Google for bloggers and tweeters in the country. The special thing about this event will be the appearance of Sania Saeed who will share her experiences with social media experts.

The event is exclusive and for only 40 people. If you’re in Karachi and consider yourself a social media expert, here’s the link to register. Confirmation will be done via email or phone call from the CIO secretariat. Also check out the Facebook event page for more details.

Oh, and yes, Umair Jadoon and yours truly (hosts of PakCrunch) will be present at the event too.  :)

Let us know if you’ll be there!

KESC is up to its usual self again, which shouldn’t be a surprise for any resident Pakistani amongst us. Combined with mosquitoes, KESC’s load shedding schedules make up quite a formidable force that can actually become a pain both physically and mentally. As a student and a blogger, this adds up to disaster most of the time, since I don’t have a UPS so for to supply power to my PC with two monitors, speakers and my all-in-one printer. If you’re a blogger in a similar situation as mine, you must know how it feels when the lights go out as soon as you’re about to publish that blog post. Blows your mind doesn’t it?

But let’s look at the bright side, it turns out to be the best time to tweet my thoughts, exchange texts, watch an episode or two of my favorite show on my iPod Touch, or call some friends or cousins up using my cell phone or PTCL line ( doesn’t happen much though, I prefer Skype ). Having the lights out also means that I may get some exercise in the form of a walk downstairs in Askari 4 with my friends.

So, turns out that going offline actually increases my social interaction with people – ‘real’ or more ‘humanly’ social interaction I mean. For the really optimistic people among you, this is a positive aspect of not having power for a while. Because as soon as the lights come back on, a lot of people like me tell to each other, “ok, so you’ll be online, right? See you there!”.

How do you spend your power-less time? Do you see any benefits in it or does it just kill your productivity and ruin your mood?

P.S. Did you know KESC has a rather good looking website?

Did you know Yahoo is the most visited website in Pakistan?

Did you know you could reach 1,146,963 Females from Pakistan using Yahoo?

Did you know you could reach 1,176,162 Adults from Pakistan using Yahoo?

It’s funny how Yahoo chose to make The Generation Next, Females and Adults the highlighted words. Specially, Females being at the very center of the ad.

This photo was also taken at ITCN 09 today.

I was at ITCN 2009 today with Umair Khan Jadoon in Karachi, and we couldn’t help but take pictures of these advertisements that PTCL had put around their stall. Each of them had a different ‘witty’ line ( if you may ) to convince people to use Smart TV. Now personally, having seen the demo of both a classical old movie as well as Geo transmission at the PTCL stall today, I have no reason to let go of my cable wala for Smart TV, which offered almost no improvements in quality!

Anyways, check out the great advertisements by PTCL below:

P.S. how about a caption contest on these pictures? the best one might win a freebie ;)

If you’re from Pakistan and a Twitter user, you probably know by now of the Go Green (Facebook group here) campaign which is an initiative of Farhan Masood to show love and unity for our country. While, the idea behind the campaign is excellent, a lot of publicity is being generated on blogs and even TV, some elements are actually trying to change the outcome.

A lot of Pakistani Twitter users have prepared lots and lots of fake ids for 14th August as well as created many automated Twitter bots to create RT’s of tweets with specific hashtags in them. So, if you’ll tweet about #Pakistan or #GoGreen, those tweets will be automatically RT’d many, many times. Those Twitter users claim this will help in getting Pakistan as a trending topic on Twitter.

While, I’m all up for a green display picture and tweeting about our independence day, but abusing ( read: spamming ) Twitter to get into the trending topics and trying to show the world that we love our country, as one Twitter user said it, through spamming, isn’t my idea of loving the country. If we want to show the world we’re a good nation and that the negative attitude against us in the world isn’t nice or correct, we have to do something good for that, and spamming is NOT good.

As I said on Twitter:

The world doesn’t care about your love for your country, they care about what you do for it.

But if we want the world to know we’re a bunch of collective and united spammers utilizing wrong tactics to get Pakistan in the trending topics on Twitter, than that’ll be really obvious to them. It’s not something that would help our reputation.

There are many more ways to get your country noticed on the world map other than spamming. For me, having a green display picture and simply tweeting about it is enough.

I know really well that a lot of people are narrow minded and have issues on what I think about the spamming being planned for 14th. I won’t name the spammers here as some of them are my own friends. They are actually proud that they’ll be spamming. Really makes me go WTF? in anger.

Please make sure that getting Pakistan in the trending topics is well deserved and a display of unity and positive attitude and not a result of automated bots for spamming and fake Twitter ids. I, for one, don’t want my country to be know for such acts. That won’t make me proud.

Show your love, change your avatars to green. But please do not spam. Getting on the trending topics isn’t the end of the world that anyone should spam to get there.

Flaming in comments will not be tolerated as usual.

VS  

Make no mistakes about it. Linkdotnet and PTCL are like the giants of DSL in Pakistan. While, there are other broadband alternatives like WorldCall, Maxcom, Multinet, Wateen and many more, the focus of this poll will remain on these two.

Personally, here at PakCrunch, our experience with PTCL has been abysmal. They have the worst customer service ever, and to get an upgrade or something fixed is very difficult unless you have a relative in PTCL. The only ‘plus’ point of PTCL is that they can also deliver DSL over their fiber optic lines, which is actually a way to create their monopoly on DSL. And the fact that they provide (pirated) movies for downloads is a plus for many as well, although they have the worst sound and video quality.

Linkdotnet, on the other hand has excellent customer service if somewhat clueless about what ‘ping’ means. I’ve always had a customer service guy at my doorstep in less than 48 hours as they tell me. They do their best to diagnose the issues. Heck, I can even upgrade or downgrade my connection over the phone or get a static or dynamic IP. Try that with PTCL!

I wont go into speed details here, as everyone has a different experience for that as well as DSL speed varies over a huge amount of factors. Cast your vote to help new broadband subscribers or those who are tired of their current service! Remember to share your opinion on why you selected either to help others as well.

Yesterday, I went to Galaxy Computers (that’s my trusted computer shopping spot) to buy USB headphones. I took my notebook with me to make sure that they work with it. While talking to the Galaxy guy, I told him I want to check those, he said “yes you can”. I pulled out my notebook out of the bag and that guy got scared! As it was a bomb or something. He lifted it up to see the Windows serial number sticker at the bottom of my notebook. As it had come with Linpus Linux, there was no such sticker. He said “Sorry Sir you cant use pirated software here! we have been warned”. He assumed that I have a pirated copy of Windows installed in my notebook as 99% of home users in Pakistan never buy genuine Windows. I can’t afford all software installed on my PCs but as I am member of Bizspark, MSDN and MSDNAA, I get licensed software from Microsoft for free. I told him that I have original and licensed software in my notebook. I turned it on and he turned it off with a scared face and said “Sir please don’t turn it on here, we don’t know if it is pirated or not, you have no sticker on your notebook” I asked “Why are you behaving like this?” he replied “Yesterday, a guy came and warned us to get rid of pirated windows installed on our systems or else we can be sentenced to jail”. I asked “Are you sure he was an official?” and he said ”Yes! I am sure, even Viper ( a computer hardware company who loaded pirated software) is screwed up”. I still tried to turn on my notebook and he said “Sir please don’t turn it on our shop, buy the headphones, if they don’t work we will replace them”.

I don’t know if its real but if its happening! It’s the best thing that can happen to Pakistan. Piracy is a crime. The Government of Pakistan is slowly trying to get rid of piracy. They are very slow but at least its happening. Now the problem is affordability. New PCs and laptops come with bundled licensed Windows that is much cheaper than buying a separate copy. Many people here can’t afford a new PC and go for the used ones. Branded used PCs are being sold in Pakistan cost around Rs 6,000 to Rs 10,000. Buying Windows XP home edition with it costs $93 (Rs 7,482 according to today’s dollar rate) which means that their used PC cost is almost doubled!  So how can they afford one?

Before you go for the “no anti-piracy” protest, I have a few tips that I would like to share with all Pakistanis (who don’t know about them) to start living a no-piracy life.

How to live in a ‘no-piracy’ country:

The thing is you don’t always have to buy Windows with PC. There are alternatives and they really work.

Ubuntu is a free Linux operating system. Its goals include providing an up-to-date, stable operating system for the average user, with a strong focus on usability and ease-of-installation. You wouldn’t need Windows if your primary uses are:

1. All kind of Internet surfing.
2. Word processing.
3. Movies and songs.

And best thing is no viruses that irritate those who can’t protect their Windows PCs against viruses (Noobs). There are many free applications available for Linux which are almost comparable to their Windows counterparts. Ubuntu also offers free shipment of Ubuntu operating system

Still love Windows and can’t afford it?

Yes! You can get a genuine copy of Windows for free! And not just Windows but many other Microsoft’s licensed software. Microsoft is offering free software through 3 programs in Pakistan:

MSDNAA: All schools and universities registered with Microsoft Developer’s Network Academic Alliance can get all version of Windows and other Microsoft software for free. Any school or university can register with them. If your school or university is not in the MSDNAA list of schools, tell your head of Computer Science department to send them an email for the request of registration and they’ll respond to it. I study in Bahria University which is a member of MSDNAA.

DreamSpark:It is another program set up by Microsoft to provide students with software design and development tools at no charge. It is available for more than 80 countries and is offered to many high school and university students.

BizSpark: Bizspark is Microsoft’s initiative zone that provides startups with free software through MSDN subscriptions. This program is for startups that cant afford paid software and want to use Microsoft technologies legally. This program is applicable for startups only though.

I think almost everyone can get free windows legally with these programs.

Update: RedmondPie will be glad to sponsor any local startup in Pakistan looking for BizSpark membership. Also IThinkDiff is offering free DreamSpark invites

I have been using PTCL Broadband from past 3 month, and had several strange experiences like non-transaction of paid bills, holding phone for about 56 minutes to talk to senior technical support, feeling stupid when internet isn’t working, imaginarily beating the beast who is responsible for my internet downtime and dreaming about tooth fairies when have nothing to do.

If you don’t know anyone of some authority in PTCL or Government of Pakistan or your home doesn’t reside with any of the ministers of the Government, then here are some handy tips that can save your day:

1) Always pay your PTCL bill in Bank or PTCL exchange office. Avoid General Post Offices because they are still living with written register entries. So according to Murphy’s Law “If anything can go wrong, it will”: means that there is chance of delay, bogus entries and some of them have really bad handwriting(can’t mention everything here :P ). Because transactions written on paper have maximum chance of errors and they are still using 1990s like entry system mixed with a little bit of computerized endpoints. I have been victim of this thing. I paid the bill but PTCL was not still able to record the transaction. After what has happened with me, I am sure that this was laziness of General Post Office where I submitted the bill.

2) 1218 and 1217 Customer support will try to write your complaints. If there is something wrong with your PTCL Broadband, don’t let the customer relations person to flee by just writing the complaint. They always ask one lame question “is the DSL light of your modem blinking?” whatever you say, there are maximum chances that they will write down your complaint and will say that your complaint has been noticed and you will be notified soon. Try to eat his/her brain by confirming all the modem settings because most of the times, when your DSL modem’s light is stable, there is something fishy with modem’s firmware settings and you don’t know.

3) If your DSL light in modem is unstable then it could be a very very common reason: The DSL modem voltage adapter that comes with it sucks! seriously! It is “China Wala” (below average quality product of China) not designed for the unfriendly and unstable voltage supply of Pakistani electricity infrastructure. That adapter is very voltage sensitive and you really need to buy a new one of good quality. This has happened with me as well. Customer support will never understand this problem. if you complain, they will just send a lineman to check your phone lines. I will soon write a post about ideal settings for a smooth and stable internet broadband connection. Indeed, you are lucky if its working properly.

4) Always know your telephone exchange’s phone number because they are more likely to help you in some situations. If your internet connection isn’t upgraded to double speed according to the latest announcement and  even if you have complaint numerous times at PTCL customer support, then people sitting at the exchange office are more likely to help you.

So good luck :)