In the Spirit of the SI series, here is a great article by the well know Joel Sposky on the link between Innovation, ebay, wikipedia and naval gunnery:

http://www.inc.com/magazine/20080201/how-hard-could-it-be-inspired-misfires.html 

Popularity: 38% [?]

I am SUPER pissed. I mean, WTF?! (excuse my french) Youtube has been blocked in Pakistan, leaving thousands of instructional, knowledge building , and great videos out of reach of 160 million Pakistanis. The PTA apparently (as per the news article) had blocked one objectional page on youtube, but ISPs have blocked out the entire site?!

http://www.thenews.com.pk/print1.asp?id=97814 

Once again, we, by our people, are locked out of progress and change. I’m just ticked off now. Several other video sites still work, for the time being. If you remember, they also blocked blogger.com for a long time as well. That didnt last. I hope this doesnt.

Popularity: 33% [?]

I dont know why really or what will be achieved out of this. Most of us get our comic kicks by reading Asterix, Tintin, X-men,etc. Microsoft has released a c omic series “Heroes Happen Here”. Here is an excerpt from the site : “The HHH Comic Series is a daily web comic that adapts tech stories from actual IT Professionals and Developers - a web comic that reflects the real lives of IT Hero’s such as you. Every business day we will release a new episode driven from suggestions from the IT community.”

Well, might be interesting. Here is the link to the comic:

http://www.microsoft.com/heroeshappenhere/cool-stuff/comic/default.mspx 

Popularity: 24% [?]

http://www.ittazee.com/2007/08/01/orkut-getting-run-over-by-facebook/

Well, if its not official then lets make it. Facebook has run a 18 wheeler NLC-style volvo container truck over Orkut. I dont even think its a fair comparison to make anymore.

Pity, because I do think Orkut’s technical architecture is superior, but then, in the end its not about technology is it ? its as much and more about strategy and execution

And those silly little $1 “gifts” (read pretty icons) are probably the best money making idea since selling sliced bread…

Popularity: 18% [?]

Seems like Pakistani enterprises are finally realizing what everyone has known for years : that online is an equal or even better medium than print for marketing and building mindshare on several services, such as credit cards, cellphones, cell phone service, broadband, etc.

In the world of static billboards and quarter page newspaper ads, there are a few companies that have set aside some part of the advertising budget for building an online presence. Some names are HBL, Wateen Mobilink, Ufone, Nokia Pakistan. Mostly they advertise on Yahoo (Google they do, but less), Yahoo Mail, Hotmail, Facebook, and the like. Sure, these are massive companies with huge budgets, but then you also have innovative smaller shops, such as lootmaar advertising on Facebook on and off. Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 26% [?]

If you are an MCB online banking user (I am ) and you have received an email message going something like :

“Your Account Will Be Suspended” From email: MCB Bank <upgrade@onlinemailingnetworking.com>

And asking you to provide information or stating that your Virtual Banking Account would be shut down.”

Disregard it immediately. I was suspicious of this as soon as it arrived (you should be too). This is not MCB, this is a classic phishing attack tactic, and a basic one at that, the email address isn’t even masked with the MCB domain. Probably the first one we are seeing on such a large scale on a local website, which is what makes it significant.

Popularity: 21% [?]

Mobilink’s exclusive Blackberry partnership with RIM is coming to an end and the rumour is that RIM will now allow other operators to also license and give their users Blackberry service. This is good news because uptil now, you had to have a mobilink number to use a crackberry, erm, I mean Blackberry

Mobilink still owns this high end market, but with other entrants, (UFone is pitched as the next services to offer a BB) the price should come down and we should have more choice.

So what about Me? Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 31% [?]

Yeah, thats what I stumbled on today.. paktube.com seems to be a localized clone of YouTube.

Nice clean interface, needs some smoothing around the edges but overall quite usable. They are using a nice flash video player as well..nicer than Youtube’s I think. It does not seem to have a filter of what kind of videos get in, but there is a “number of views” counter so you can see that the single video of cute girls still outranks the “mullahs rock” videos ;)  . Here is a video of a robotic Mehran for your viewing pleasure..would love to know whose project this is..its quite awesome. Also expect someone to post a comment/video claiming this is the devil at work

Popularity: 15% [?]

Yes, like the plague. DO not sign up (if you value your privacy) , do not go there or try to use that horrendous service. For those of you not victimized yet, Shelfari is a funded startup aiming to be a book sharing site.

During sign up, a very dodgy page asks you for your an email ID and its password (bells should start ringing now in your head). In good faith, given that the site looks ok, lets say you do it. Now, it gets interesting… Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 19% [?]

Telenors service is going from bad to worse. Literally. I have been trying to call their service center to activate my GPRS connection for 3 days to no avail - I call from my Telenor sim and get disconnected each time. Instead of paying pop stars millions to feature in their TV ads, Telenor should be doing something to fix their -basic -customer experience and network problems. Ali Zafar, find another commercial contract before people hate you for making them buy lousy cell phone service…!
Apparently, I’m not alone. TechLahore has had terrible problems with his/her subscription to Telenor’s Mobile TV service. My two cents on MobileTV : Its too expensive and I havent seen it the darn thing work on -ANYONE’s- mobile yet.

To be fair, I have 3 sims : Warid, Telenor and Mobilink,and all of them have their quirks and problems, there is no single perfect phone service, but , darn it, Telenors making me jump through too many hoops for basic GPRS service

Popularity: 25% [?]