Tech Hugger

While it is true that the Coronavirus is bankrupting more people than ever before. But it has even greatly affected the way we perform our daily activities. With thousands of affected people and mostly recovering. There is a hidden call to something that we all might be missing. All this has happened so suddenly that we have no other option than doing what is necessary and within our reach. Remote Work More people than before this decade have started to work remotely with great examples like Google, Microsoft, Alphabet, IBM, and so on. Companies have asked their employees to work remotely as they can no longer bear the expense of holidays due to COVID-19 lockdown in many countries worldwide. This might prove to be the best opportunity for freelancers and people already working from home to show their full potential. COVID-19 shows clearly that the jobs economy is dead and to go further you need to adapt to the skills economy. You need to give results not just work. Ed...

G oing off-grid is a word of mouth nowadays with thousands of homeowners installing solar panels or wind turbines or a combination of both(hybrid). Buying electricity from the power company is a talk of the past with people moving for cheaper and better alternatives. Here is why you must too follow them blindly: Saving On Bills! With the increase in electricity rates, people tend to avoid buying power from the national grid with a bit expensive but profitable up-front investment with low maintenance costs and low monthly rates. This can actually save you hundreds if not thousands of dollars per month. Depending on off-grid renewable energy can decrease your dependence on limited fossil fuels with inflating prices. No More Power Outages! Your off-grid investment will be more notable when there is a blizzard, freezing rains or high-speed winds. Power outages can be vexing since they hamper productivity and make living conditions irksome.  The off-grid system...

With the fact that the conventional car industry has been revolutionizing, people around the globe are keenly captivated in buying electric vehicles despite cheaper petrol and diesel sucking engine vehicles. Electric cars will take over conventional vehicles throughout the world. Here is why you should look no further in adopting the trend! Less to No Maintenance Since electric motors have few moving parts (20) as compared to their inefficient counterparts (up to 2000). ICEs also have air/fuel filters, engine oil,  coolant, spark plugs, exhaust system, starter motor,  fuel injector, radiator, and oxygen sensor. EVs do not have any such parts and it's much simpler. Batteries of an EV do not degrade that easily and have a high mileage warranty with most dealers. More research is underway to scale back production costs for long-lasting batteries. Lower Fuel Cost EV drivers have the advantage of significantly lower operational costs.  Their electricity to c...

So far, Qualcomm has already made some big moves in the virtual reality market with its Snapdragon 835 and 845-based reference headsets, however, its latest move in the market could be its most decisive yet. The company has unveiled a new chip built from scratch, the Snapdragon XR1. The XR, in its name, stands for “extended reality”, which points to AR, VR and all the related mixed reality experiences. With the market expected to grow to 186 million users by 2023, this could be the start Qualcomm feels the market requires. The new chip packs the custom Kryo CPUs and the Adreno GPU together in a cluster, which means it won’t require an external connection similar to other Snapdragon-powered headsets. Further, it has an A.I. engine for better built-in processing of commands rather than relying on the cloud. ALSO READ Microsoft is Now More Valuable Than Google Despite the space-savings, Snapdragon XR1 will enable 4K video playback at 60 frames per second. He...

Author:  Dr. Sana Farid Cinematic experience has never been the same again in Pakistan since the arrival of IMAX. The kind of immersive experience it provides adds tremendously to the viewing quality, excitement and entertainment. The good news is Pakistani classrooms will soon be transforming into much more engaging and immersive experiences enabled by Google Expeditions. We have all heard the catchy phrase “When in doubt, travel!” The thing about traveling is that you learn more on an excursion than you do reading a dozen books on a topic. The reason is that you are singularly focused, you are up for challenges and you are absorbing everything like a sponge. But as amazing as all that is, it is not always possible to travel especially when it comes to school trips with limited budgets and feasibility of a tour. But all that can change if you don’t have to go on an excursion, but the excursion can come to you. That is certainly possible with Virtual Reality. ...

The Korean electronics giant Samsung is planning to integrate AI-powered voice assistant Bixby in all of its product lineups by 2020. Kim Hyun-suk, Director of Samsung Electronics told the  Wall Street Journal (WSJ) that Samsung expects to bring Artificial Intelligence features in all its devices by the year 2020. The company plans to introduce the features of Bixby to home devices such as televisions, smart speakers, and smart fridges. Kim hopes that bringing AI to home products through Bixby will increase the demand for these appliances. Samsung home products will work around SmartThings app. Talking about Bixby, it is quite similar in function to the various virtual assistants such as Apple’s Siri, Google Voice Assistant and Amazon’s Alexa. Users can activate the assistant by just saying “Hi, Bixby”. Once activated, the users would be able to ask the device to perform different tasks, ranging from calling a number to complicated comm...

In a ceremony held at Prime Minister’s Office on May 23rd, Pakistan and Somalia have forged a collaboration for a $10.5 million grant to provide technical assistance for developing the Somali National Identification System. As part of this collaboration, the Pakistani National Database & Registration Authority (NADRA) will help the Government of Somalia to build a state-of-the-art national data and registration system. NADRA will not only develop the technology but also supply software and equipment to enable the national identification system. Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi witnessed the agreement as Minister of Finance Mr. Miftah Ismail signed the documents. The ceremony was also attended by Special Assistant to Prime Minister Dr. Musadiq Malik, Secretaries of Finance and Interior Division, Chairman NADRA and other senior dignitaries. See also:  Pakistan exports IT & ITeS products to over 100 countries, Minister of IT & Telecom The Somal...

Uber has officially announced its plans to open a lab in Paris to develop its flying taxi service. On May 24th, Uber on its official website announced that the company will invest $23 million over the next 5 years to open an Advanced Technology Centre in Paris (ATCP). The center will work towards developing a flying taxi service. Uber hopes to launch the futuristic flying taxi service by working on AI algorithms, airspace management system and traffic control system. The company plans to launch the service by 2020 in Dallas, Los Angeles and an unspecified third city outside the US. ACPT is all set to start its operations this autumn and looking to hire dedicated engineers that will focus on machine learning, AI algorithms, energy storage, real-time communication networks and charging systems. The laboratory will work with the Paris based renowned engineering school Ecole Polytechnique to work on this project. Uber chief executive Dara Khosrow...

A high school in China has made a facial recognition technology system that scans the student’s behavior in the classroom. The facial recognition technology introduced in the school is recording facial expressions of all students while they are in their classrooms. The system scans the classroom every 30 seconds and recognizes seven different expressions such as neutral, happy, sad, disappointed, scared, angry and surprised. The system is called as “Intelligent Classroom Behavior Management System”  and it is being used at Hangzhou No. 11   High School. With scanning facial expressions the system has the ability to even analysis six types of behaviors by the students such as standing up, reading, writing, hand raising, listening to the teacher, and leaning on the desk. The information regarding how the students are reacting and behaving in the class when a teacher teaches is later sent to teachers to more efficiently analyze the behavior of students. The s...

Faaiz Arbab, an Electrical Engineering student from Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) has been awarded ‘Best Consumer Product Design Award for 2018’ by National Design Awards (NDA) for developing Pakistan’s first voice-operated smart wheelchair. Currently studying MS Electrical Engineering at LUMS’s Syed Babar Ali School of Science and Engineering, Faaiz believes in helping the disabled through technology which drove him to build the smart wheelchair called GOBEE. Faaiz is also the founder of Ayub Yaqoob Engineering Company (AYECo). Specifications GOBEE has the following specifications: Voice-operated 25km range Anti-rusting Water repellent Anti-sweat sofa seat Alloy rim wheels Remote control (100 feet range WiFi Bluetooth Current Status The smart wheelchairs are already being distributed in the Pakistani market by Faaiz and he aims to meet the International Health Regulations (IHR) regulations in a bid to export smart wh...

Not many entrepreneurs in Pakistan are working with hardware in Pakistan, especially because of the difficulties associated with manufacturing in the country. Even the companies that do develop their products in Pakistan tend to outsource the bulk of the work to other neighboring countries like China. However, a certain Pakistani startup,  Bionik , has recently hit the headlines for doing some very impressive work in the field of bionics with their prosthetic limbs. What is Bioniks and what do they do? Bioniks, one of Pakistan’s first biomedical companies, provides 3D printed prosthetics solutions and surgical planning tools. It was launched by Anas Niaz and Ovais Qarash, two mechatronics engineering graduates from SZABIST. It started out as an idea for their final semester project and now holds the mantle of being the only 3D printed prosthetic manufacturer in the country. ALSO READ Pakistani Startup Wins $100,000 for its Low Cost and Fuel Efficient Stove ...

Looks like iPhone users have finally forgotten the iPhone throttling by Apple and are now after Google over privacy issues. Millions of iPhone users in the UK are suing Google for allegedly collecting their personal information and are seeking up to $4.29 billion from the search giant, as reported by  Independent . The lawsuit filled in a UK’s high court on Monday urges that Alphabet Inc. — Google’s parent company — illegally collected personal information of millions of iPhone users by bypassing default privacy settings of iPhones. The plaintiff argues that 4.4 million iPhone users who have signed for the court filling should receive money from the tech giant. Google Maps to get a 3D car icon by replacing that boring arrow sign The group called “Google You Owe Us” led by the director Richard Lloyd of a British charity organization known as “Which?”, claims that Google bypassed privacy settings of Safari browser in iOS devices during 2011-12 to ...

This feature is available for users having iOS-designed devices. With this feature, users can choose a 3D vehicle on the navigation map that most closely resembles with your driving vehicle. On March 21, the company announced the new update in its official blog that will let users to “customize” their driving. Pakistan’s IT & ITES export likely to cross $5 billion by 2020 According to the  blog post , the iOS users can select any of the three available vehicles among “a stylish sedan”, “a timeless pickup truck” and “a speedy SUV”. To choose a new vehicle, users need to tap on the arrow during the driving navigation mode and then select the type of vehicle icon they want to appear on the road. It is important to mention that blue vehicle icon is only available in the driving navigation mode. That new   feeling without the down payment: now on  @googlemaps  for iOS, you can swap out the classic blue navigation arrow for a new car icon →  h...

Pakistan’s IT and ITES exports are expected to exceed $5 billion by the year 2020. It is expected that Information Technology (IT) and Information Technology Enabled Services (ITES) export of Pakistan will touch the mark of $5 billion by 2020 due to the tax relief government has given to the IT sector. The launch of strategic initiatives and major tax exemption announced by Premier Shahid Khaqan earlier this month has given IT sector a massive opportunity to increase its export rate. The government has also launched capital repatriation incentives for the private sector that means the transfer of foreign capital or money back to the home country to increase its revenue. Giving 5% cash reward on IT export is also included in the agenda to boost the IT industry of Pakistan in international markets. Pakistan’s IT sector has already crossed $3 billion export in this year and now it sets a new target. See Also:  World’s first holographic smar...

Google has announced its new music-streaming service YouTube Music. The service has all the Google’s AI-powered search and insights, and a focus on finding new tunes like its bigger sibling YouTube Videos. Consider it good news for people who spend a lot of time on YouTube watching music videos and listening to playlists, singles, remixes or even cover songs. YouTube music is a dream come true for music enthusiasts. This Finnish Physicist wins the “Nobel of Technology” award YouTube has previously rebranded its  YouTube Red service into separate entities.  Now with the launch of YouTube music, Google has introduced two options for users which is ad-supported (free) and ad-free ($9.99 monthly). The company plans to introduce another service by the name of YouTube Service which will cost the user $11.99 monthly subscription. The service will give ad-free access to three YouTube services which are Google Play Music, YouTube Videos, and YouTube Music. As...