The Yahoo logo is shown at the company’s headquarters in Sunnyvale, California in this file photo taken April 16, 2013. — Reuters Photo

SAN FRANCISCO, Sun May 19, 2013 – Yahoo Inc’s board has approved a deal to buy blogging and social networking site Tumblr for $1.1 billion in cash, the Wall Street Journal cited people familiar with the matter as saying on Sunday.

Such an acquisition would be Marissa Mayer’s largest deal since taking the helm of the once-iconic Internet company in July 2012. Yahoo is keen on fast-growing Tumblr because its younger user base would bolster the older website’s “cool factor,” the technology blog AllThingsD cited the sources as saying.

Mayer, who spent 13 years at Google Inc, is trying to revitalize a former Internet powerhouse that in recent years has struggled with declining business. On its home page, Tumblr says it hosts 108 million blogs, with 50.7 billion posts between them.

Yahoo declined to comment, while Tumblr did not respond to requests for comment.

The deal comes after a recent failed attempt to buy a controlling stake in French video site Dailymotion, owned by France Télécom SA.

Tumblr, one of the more successful Internet start-ups out of New York, has only just begun earning revenue through advertising. On its home page, Tumblr says it hosts 108 million blogs, with 50.7 billion posts between them.

Yahoo has invited press to an event in Manhattan on Monday at which it promised to “share something special,” without elaborating.

The map generated by European Space Agency (ESA) Plank Probe is pictured. – Courtesy Photo

At a cost of €700 million, the European Space Agency (ESA) Planck probe is one of the most sensitive instruments that has been used to analyse the nature of the Universe.

The Planck probe has been in operation for nearly 4 years. Its findings have given us the most detailed picture of the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation – the residual radiation of the Big Bang – yet.

Designed to measure the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation (CMBR), the afterglow of the Big Bang, the findings from the probe’s readings – which are significantly more detailed than the previous Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP), challenge some aspects of our model of the Universe.

The probe measures the CMBR – the oldest light in the Universe, which was emitted when it was 380,000 years old. As the Universe expanded, this light has stretched to microwave wavelengths, and is equivalent to a temperature of 2.7 Kelvin, or -271.15 degrees Celsius.

This radiation shows the small temperature fluctuations that occurred during the Big Bang and thus provide cosmologists and astrophysicists with what is essentially a map of the early Universe with fluctuations representing different densities, forming a framework from which the stars and galaxies that populate the Universe were able to form.

Planck’s new detailed map has been able to confirm the standard model of cosmology with a very high degree of accuracy, and has given cosmologists an extremely detailed map of the temperature fluctuations when compared to the previous readings.

The results support the theory of cosmic inflation; the idea that during the first few seconds of the Universe’s existence it expanded at an extremely high rate before slowing down, which helps explain the size of the Universe.

Inflation also predicts that quantum fluctuations occurring during this rapid expansion would be amplified, which are reflected in the temperature fluctuations of the CMBR, and gave rise to the existence of matter. However, the Planck data does challenge a fundamental assumption about our model of the Universe – the cosmological principle.

The cosmological principle is the assumption that the Earth does not occupy a unique or privileged location in the Universe as a whole. By that assumption, on sufficiently large scales the properties of the Universe should be homogenous, and be the same for all observers at any point. This is revealed by the asymmetry of the map.

The opposite hemispheres of the sky have different average temperatures, which indicate that the principle may need to be revised, or new physics must explain the anomaly. Additionally, a cold spot has been detected that occupies a large space in the sky.

A possible way to explain these abnormalities is by doing away with the cosmological principle, and instead proposing that the Universe is not the same in all directions on a larger scale. If this is the case, the photons of the CMB may have traversed a more complex path through the Universe which would have resulted in the asymmetries that have been discovered.

Anomalies aside, the data Planck has gathered thus far confirms most other predictions of the standard model of cosmology. The age of the universe is now estimated to be approximately 13.8 billion years, 100 million years older than previously thought, and the Hubble Constant, that is, the rate of expansion of the Universe, has been redefined to be 67.15 kilometres per megaparsec, a much smaller value than the previously recorded 69.32.

Other revisions were made in terms of the composition of the Universe. The matter, such as that which composes the stars and planets, accounts for only 4.9% of the energy density of the Universe, whereas dark matter, detectable only by its gravity, makes up 26.8%. Dark energy, the ill-understood energy that drives the accelerated expansion of the universe, makes up 68.3%, and is thus the main constituent of the energy density of the Universe.

The data analysed so far is only from the first 15.5 months of the probe’s operation, so there is still plenty more to be released. The team expect that these will be released sometime in early 2014.

It therefore appears that the Planck probe has allowed us to become more confident in many of our assertions about the way the Universe works, but will force us to rethink our positions in some other aspects, or come up with new physics to explain the anomalies that it has now confirmed exist, which were only hinted at by the previous WMAP.

These anomalies only add to the many unresolved questions of cosmology, the most pressing of which is perhaps the nature of dark energy. We know it exists due to observed increase in the rate of expansion of the Universe, however very little about it is currently known or understood.

Likewise, dark matter, another major component of the Universe we have not directly detected, still eludes cosmologists. A nobel prize certainly awaits anyone who discovers more about these two features which make up the majority of the energy density of the Universe.

It was Enrico Fermi, one of the great physicists of the 20th century, that said:

“If the result confirms the hypothesis, then you’ve made a measurement. If the result is contrary to the hypothesis, then you’ve made a discovery.”

These anomalies that have contradicted the previous hypothesis may necessitate the revision of the current theory, but that will only lead to an exciting new picture of the laws that govern the Universe in which we live.

Various concept images from different forums showcasing the iWatch pictured. —Bilal Brohi/Spider Magazine Photo

I don’t normally dabble in speculative writing as it is nothing more than guessing what someone will do; instead I focus more on what they should do. The following post is an anomaly.

The rumor mill on the internet is abuzz with information about Apple’s upcoming iWatch.

Spurred by the recent success of Pebble – a wearable smartwatch which connects to your smartphone via bluetooth – the rumors suggest that Apple is set to enter the market with it’s own competitive product offering. The following are reasons why it simple cannot be a simple ‘Smartwatch’ and if anything, it is a band using flexible display technology.

Apple cannot afford a dud

Perhaps more so than it should be. Apple’s stock (AAPL) has been taking a financial beating in the past few months, which has seen it’s market capitalization drop by more than $100 billion dollars since December 2012. All this despite delivering record-breaking sales quarter over quarter. Ironically, everyone agrees that Apple is still a grossly undervalued stock.

Why? The simplest explanation is that Apple trades less on financial’s and more on market sentiment. This means that in addition to exceeding sales expectations, investor’s expect Apple to deliver breakthrough innovation and disrupt new markets; an unfair expectation, yet a completely self-created one.

For the first truly new product category to emerge under Tim Cook’s stewardship, Apple cannot afford for it to be a failure.

Apple’s dabbled in watches before; sort of.

People loved the old iPod nano and the ability to wear it as a watch. iPod owners who had no need for another iPod were buying the Nano. Third party manufacturers were starting to release products for it in the shape of straps etc. Pebble’s existence, and success are a nod to the iPod nano wearable watch.

Apple is better than any other hardware manufacturer at reducing the footprint of their devices in every iteration.

A new iPod Nano watch could have been thinner and sleeker the following year.Rather than putting Siri on it and letting geeks the world over live out their James Bond fantasies, Apple changed the design and murdered the momentum.

Perhaps it was intentional and they didn’t want to have to cannibalize their own sales when they released their iWatch, but had Apple built on the foundation laid at that time, they would have been regarded as the first in wearable computing. Now it looks like someone is scrambling to keep up. It doesn’t bode well as a watch alone.

People already have watches.

Apple banks billions every quarter by refreshing it’s hardware line annually. This makes people upgrade every annual cycle, or alternate year. Software revisions ensure that the hardware is rendered obsolete. Even as a companion to an iPhone, a watch makes little or no sense.

People spend anywhere from hundreds, to thousands of dollars on watches that they simple would not want to replace for a multitude of reasons. As a standalone watch, it would be a niche product with varying adoption rates. Every industry Apple has disrupted has been as a replacement device with the software layer (iTunes) fueling the demand in the form of installable apps.

The iPod replaced mp3 players, the iPad replaced netbooks, the iPhone replaced Blackberries. The iWatch is not going to replace a Rolex or an Omega.

Some people say Apple is perfectly happy entering business areas without being pervasive, while touting the Apple TV as an example.

This is a false construct; Apple holds that stance more as a threat than anything else. Apple has not been able to solve the content puzzle, and that is why you don’t have the glowing Apple logo mounted on a wall in living rooms across the world. As a standalone TV with unparalleled industrial design, Apple could launch a TV tomorrow, but that doesn’t really jive with how they make their money.

Apple is used to selling replacement devices to it’s own products every one to two years. Customer’s aren’t going to replace a TV every 2 years. Apple could make money selling content, but it’s role would be limited to being an aggregator and a reseller of existing content, which could easily be controlled into making Apple’s foray into the TV industry a failure.

TV’s need access to captivating content. Netflix and Amazon realize that and have started investing in content production, as well as started paying for either timed, or complete exclusivity, for it’s streamed content sourced via production studios. This may represent a paradigm shift in the industry, but it underscores a bigger issue; one which might be insurmountable.

Getting into content and distribution without augmenting, or exponentially increasing, the revenue stream will dilute the profitability. Additionally, if this does become the norm, then how are they going to compete with the likes of Google, Microsoft and Apple, who have much, much deeper pockets and are also vying for consumer interest in those areas.

Strategic alliances only get so far and the precedent for that is ugly; Netflix’s renegotiation efforts with Starz disintegrated months before the contract was supposed to be renewed, resulting in the loss of a significant portion of it’s premium catalog choices, including streaming titles from Disney and Sony.

So now, Netflix has produced it’s own content in the form of House of Cards, which  reportedly costs $100 million for it’s 26 episodes spread across 2 seasons. Apple won’t deviate from it’s core business to start producing it’s own content; not just yet.

Wearable Computing is the Future 

Wearable computing is the next big thing. Apple can’t, or rather should not base it’s entire presence in this market on a device which may or may not be able to gain traction. Wearable computing also extends to augmented reality, which is an unexplored territory by itself. A watch by itself simply does not bode well for this concept.

Apple’s recent acquisition of WiFiSlam, an indoor presence company which pinpoints a user’s location by using wifi signals may offer a clue here. If they can locate and address a user using a hybrid of wifi and 3G signals, they can be in a unique position to push relevant content to each user without all the privacy concerns of Google Glass, A wearable pair of glasses which allow’s a user to record video, capture photographs, share information, and query the internet using voice commands.

Augmented reality also requires substantial external support. Imagine being in a new city which you’ve never been to. A wearable computer capable of augmenting reality could tell you where the nearest coffee shop is, guide you there with step-by-step directions, translate for you in the appropriate language, and even order and pay on your behalf.

This isn’t some far-fetched science fiction. This reality is very possible today as the technology already exists. Smartphones can do all of this today, but their form factor isn’t as efficient as Google’s Glass. All that would be required in this case would be for a wearable device to have mobile data connectivity, a database to reference, a transactional app and a credit card or equivalent, on file.

Apple can provide all of those today including the software ecosystem and a social discovery app.

However, for this hypothetical to manifest into reality, it would require many external businesses to be onboard, possibly have scanner in place which can detect the wearable computers – theoretically, this can easily be done with existing wifi routers and some remote/locally installed software – and for the businesses to accommodate this practice.

For this to happen, Apple has to reduce the friction drastically and provide incentives to external entities; things they have done successfully before if one thinks about how Apple turned it’s lack of programs (apps) into a sustainable competitive advantage, by enticing and enabling individuals with programming knowledge to monetize it through their ecosystem (app store), or how it negotiated with record labels and turned the entire music publishing industry on it’s head.

A wearable band using flexible display technology can easily double as a watch (if the watch part is an app that displays on the screen as a screensaver) Even people with watches worth hundreds of thousands would wear one if it brought an element of convenience. A band can be worn by anyone irrespective of age, gender etc. and can have it’s functionality upgraded via software updates.

The form factor is a lot more relevant in the immediate future and would enable Apple to crossover into multiple markets simultaneously while injecting it with some much needed sentimental momentum.

Customer’s are starting to struggle with Apple Fatigue as Apple has deviated from it’s annual refresh cycle for the iPad – which has  caused the Brazilian Institute of Politics and Law to file a class-action lawsuit for planned obsolescence – by introducing two refreshes within a calendar year. Buying iPads, iPhones and other iDevices every year or two is troublesome and expensive enough. Apple’s been vulnerable recently and it’s affect is evident in it’s corporate communication.

A recent indicator for their corporate disorientation is the ‘why iPhone’ page on their website. If you have have to explain why you’re the best, you’re not going to appear to be the best. Being defensive doesn’t symbolize a continuity of Apple’s temerarious attitude which allowed it to leave Adobe’s Flash off it’s devices, or throw out optical media from it’s notebook’s.

Apple also fumbled the iPhone 5 launch after stating to ‘double down on secrecy’. They have also skipped Macworld since 2009, where the iPhone was revealed in 2007 and the macbook air in 2008.

A truly fantastic move would have been for the company to return to Macworld in 2013 armed with a new, disrputive product and send a very, very strong message to both, it’s competitor’s and it’s customers. Now what remains to be seen is if their next product can send that message. If not, I fear their stock rating will be relegated from a ‘buy’ to a ‘hold’ sooner than it should be.

Twitter handle: @yasserbrohi

screenshot taken from http://www.edx.org is pictured.

Online learning is nothing new. Many schools and universities have been offering some form of virtual education for a few years, either to complement a class or as a full alternative to real life interaction in a classroom.

Many universities, such as Stanford and MIT, have made educational material, known as Open Courseware, available. However, in the past year, there has been a major growth in what are known as Massive Online Open Courses or MOOCs.

These courses, offered by services such as Coursera, edX, and Udacity, permit students to enroll in university-level classes and receive instructions via recorded lectures and supplementary materials posted by course staff. Other services, such as Khan Academy, simply offer many instructional materials on a variety of topics, and are intended primarily as a study guide.

Coursera and edX both evolved separately from Stanford and MIT’s existing open courseware platforms. Each started with a small group of universities, and in just under a year, and has expanded significantly; Coursera now offers over 100 courses from 62 universities, with edX providing a more modest 25 courses from 12 universities.

Udacity is a unique case; it was started by Sebastian Thrun, a former engineer at Google, and offers its own set of courses, independent from traditional educational institutions. All of them offer certificates of achievement or completion, depending on the grade received, with each course having its own grading system. Completing a course generally involves watching lecture videos and reviewing any supplementary material, completing quizzes, and doing homework assignments, with some courses integrating a final exam into the curriculum.

The offered subjects vary drastically. A diverse range of classes are available, spanning all disciplines, with selections such as machine learning, medical neuroscience, global poverty, startup engineering, and law. The courses offered mirror the ones conducted by the universities themselves.

Hence, if one decides to take “Machine Learning,” a course offered by the director of the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Lab, Andrew Ng, they will receive similar instructions and will learn the same materials as the students at Stanford University who take this course. Some classes, such as Networks: Friends, Money, and Bytes, given by Princeton professor Mung Chiang, run simultaneously with the actual university class.

Princeton students enrolled in this class watch the lecture videos before going to class and discuss the material with the professor. The flexibility given by this platform, therefore, suits many different needs, both for students and professors. For distance-learners, it gives them access to previously difficult-to-acquire material at no cost, and for university students and professors, it allows them to save class time for discussion and clarification, rather than simply being told the material.

Some courses on Coursera have even been approved by The American Council on Education for college credit. This allows students who need credit in one of these subjects (Algebra, Calculus, Pre-Calculus, Genetics, and Bioelectricity) can do so via Coursera’s platform. This is perhaps the most promising indicator of the acceptance of MOOCs by traditional educational establishments.

Will MOOCs replace traditional universities?

Most definitely not. The value in university is not only the material or curriculum taught, but the opportunity to communicate directly and fairly easily with the professor. Additionally, the years of study and hard work going into the commitment of a university degree are attractive to employers, as it demonstrates strong work ethic and an ability to thrive in a high pressure environment – qualities which are vital for success in professional life.

However, MOOCs are starting to be seen in quite a positive light, and certainly may be used by students and professionals alike seeking to expand knowledge or give a boost to their CVs.

Can MOOCs survive?

Profitability of MOOC platforms has now become a serious concern as they near a year’s anniversary of being launched. While they remain committed to providing education for free, in order to survive, these platforms need be able to make some income for the material provided.

The universities themselves are not overly concerned, but certainly sustainable revenue would improve the long-term viability of the project. A potential avenue for revenue could be in allowing employers to pay for access to student profiles. This can work because the companies behind the MOOCs have started to form partnerships with different corporate companies interested in recruiting certain students.

Another option would be offering the courses for free, but making the certificates paid for. For the accredited courses, Coursera are offering paid-for proctored final exams via the service ProctorU. In proctoring services, proctors are connected to the students via webcams; such exams cost around 60 to 90 US dollars.

A promising future

The outgrowth of digital media platforms has changed many industries permanently. The music industry, with iTunes and Spotify; films, with Netflix and Lovefilm and books with e-books and the Kindle are the most obvious examples.

Perhaps now even education will get its own overhaul and we will see increasing demand for these services. The future certainly looks promising, and the opportunity to learn material that might normally not be available is certainly beneficial for the intellectual development of an individual, and the society as a whole.

Whether one is a school student, at university, a working professional, or retired, there is something to be learned from the wealth of programmes offered.

Foodies are using social media in more and more innovative ways.

It was a gloomy Saturday morning as I entered the Dentist’s clinic and headed to the waiting room to wait for my turn to go through torturous pain (read: root canal). As I settled into the stainless steel chair, I looked around to check my fellow victims, a twenty-something female sat with her head bowed down, phone in hand.

On her right was a middle-aged man, again looking down with phone in hand. Surveying the rest of the room, I noticed all present were busy with their phones, which wasn’t an uncommon sight, but it got me thinking of how our lives are being affected by these devices and the social media we are almost compelled to be on all the time.

Social media can most easily be defined as a network of various websites where people meet, share and interact.

I remember Orkut, MySpace and Hi5 – what fun we thought they were, the perfect way to spend the ‘extra’ time we had.

Then there are Twitter, Instagram, Google+ and Facebook, totally addictive examples of social media, where users just ‘have’ to check for updates every other minute! From uploading photographs of every (and any) event happening in our lives, to sharing ‘memes’, to stalking relatives and friends, to adding/following anyone we’ve ever said hi to, to bringing revolutions and creating hate groups, to marketing for business ventures, for home entrepreneurs  – social media has it all.

There is a difference of opinion on the advantages/disadvantages of social media.

The main argument of those against it is that one is glued to a screen all the time, causing physical repercussions; and due to the fact that all interactions on it are virtual, this reduces a person’s social skills. Obsessive use of such media may lead to detrimental physical and mental effects.

On the other hand, the benefits of social media are many, from marketing your brand, to establishing a business from home, to increasing your customer base, to shortening distances worldwide; social media has for sure brought about a change globally. Anything can be made popular using social media.

For the love of food

Lately, things related to food are very popular all over the social media, and food promotions on this platform are rampant.

You see almost every other person tweeting or Instagramming the meal they just had (that includes me too). Somehow the trend for sharing the food we just had or are making on social networking websites has become very common now.

People all over Instagram, Twitter, Facebook etcetera, are posting pictures almost every other hour. There are various groups on Facebook which are dedicated to food, where people share the reviews of their favourite eateries specifically highlighting what they liked or disliked.

The restaurateurs and various owners of the eateries also have a chance to reach out to their customers via these groups or pages and update them regarding different activities, new launches, and the sort.  Social media has had an impact on us not only individually but on the way we do business as well, the way we market our products.

New age chefs

Earlier, we only had Ideal Bakers, Hobnob, or United Bakers, bakeries where we needed a car to get to, but ever since people have started using Facebook, and that too so frequently, entrepreneurs have had a chance to use it to their advantage and customers have the convenience of having almost everything delivered to their homes.

There has been a sudden increase in the number of home-based bakers, more like a plethora of home-based bakers and caterers, because social media is indeed cheap marketing.

The entrepreneur gets first-hand feedback, the advantage of word-of-mouth on the internet, sharing, easy and cheap marketing – which are all sources of benefit to any business. Taking the same example of a home-based baker, the baker has the ability to show samples to people, answer queries and get the customer’s feedback via his/her Facebook page or Twitter account.

The customer, on the other hand, has many choices to choose from, does not (God forbid) have to leave the house, and can easily order online. Not just home-based bakers or caterers, but even restaurateurs use Facebook pages to introduce customers to new additions to their menus, post photos, interact with the consumers, take orders online, get consumer feedback and improve their services.

Food groups are also a source of consumer-owner interaction.

If we look at it from another angle, we see how much opportunity social media has given to women who have baking or cooking talents to share or convert their passion effectively into businesses.

It has provided a great opportunity to many people, especially women, who, in our conservative society are preferred not to work to showcase their skills and make money from them; hence, sharing economic responsibilities with their husbands, fathers etcetera, and getting a chance to create their own identity.

A personal experience

Speaking of myself, I started my blog way back in 2009, hoping to create my own virtual identity and for the sake of sharing my skills with people all around the globe. It does not use a lot of my time, hardly an hour for each post, including editing the photos and writing, so it is a very convenient hobby.

A year after my blog had started, it got nominated for the best food blog in Pakistan; later on, my blog received the award for the Best Food Blog in Pakistan in 2011, which gave me even more recognition, opportunities and chances to use it well for my own benefit; especially if I wanted to start a business in the future.

Taking advantage of my blog’s age, and my award, I created my own page on Facebook, built an audience, shared recipes, took requests to attract a certain number of loyal followers, and later used my very own page to advertise my mini-catering business.

I received orders, sent customers photos of the food, and answered their queries, while sharing some of my recipes on the page to keep it interactive. I later on decided to give cooking classes as catering was a bit too hectic, and consumed a lot of my energy.

Thanks to Facebook and Twitter, I could advertise almost for free for my classes as well. The reputation I have built from my blog over the past years allows me to accept invitations from various eateries to review their menus and give my honest feedback to help them understand their consumers.

Not only this, my page is also my portfolio in a way; it proves my abilities and lets me be a part of various magazines as a freelance writer.

Social media is more responsive, interactive, and much more convenient than people having to leaving their homes for the very same tasks. The feedback you get from people keeps you going and helps you improve.

So, when is the right time to post something on the social media, you may ask. Early morning? No. Afternoon? No. Evening? Yes. And why? Because people are home from work, schools, and colleges, and have some time to spare to spend on these websites.

Just mastering some more techniques like these will get you more likes or followers for your page or business. Another important thing is to not spam your followers’ timelines, as that may lead to them disliking your page.

SNS versus blogs

People have started taking internet and social networking sites (SNS) very seriously. So much so that social networking websites are more attractive and popular than blogs.

Our customers are always logged on to one website or the other, making it easy for us entrepreneurs to reach out to them.

A person only needs a basic understanding of the internet to be a member or a part of such social networking websites. The era of digital information has made us all very lazy, full-time consumers, and without doubt this is an opportunity for entrepreneurs to enjoy the benefits of social media and the internet - everything is literally just a click away; whether it is ordering food, or deciding where to get food catered from for a wedding, or getting a birthday cake!

The sun sets behind power-generating windmill turbines from a wind farm near the eastern German town of Dessau July 27, 2007. – Reuters Photo

The world is going through a serious energy crisis. I’m told that there is a scarce amount of fuel left to satisfy our energy demands, and if we keep on going like this, all the fuel reservoirs of the world will be consumed within 200 years.

That means we should cut short on our usage of non-renewable sources of energy, like fossil fuels, in order to save for the future generations. But we’re increasing the usage instead, and this is an alarming situation. 

There are two types of energy sources; renewable and non-renewable. Renewable sources of energy are those which are provided by nature in unlimited quantity, and they won’t be depleted anytime soon- like solar and wind energy. While on the other side, there are some sources of energy that are non-renewable. As the name implies, they cannot be used once they’re consumed, and they’re depleting over time. The most common of them being oil, gas and coal.

So how can we make the switch?

We can’t really run vehicles on renewable energy sources yet, but the second largest cause of depletion of non-renewable resources is due to electricity generation. We all need electricity for everything we do (really, try figuring out how life would be without electricity- we can pass a day or two without it, but imagine months or even a year without electricity). That’s where we can bring in an alternative. Alternate energy production includes getting energy from the infinitely large source of light and heat, the sun- or using wind to run wind turbines, which in turn generate electricity.

Applying solar or wind power generation solutions on a wide scale would be a long term project (and may or may not take place), so we should try to reduce our own carbon footprint by adopting one of these alternative power sources.

Would it be sufficient to power an entire household indefinately?

In a country like ours, we’re blessed with sunlight almost all year, which means this solar energy can be utilized well. A one-time investment on Solar Cells (for household use) can help cut your regular electricity bills in half- or eliminate it completely (if you manage to cut down your energy requirements as well).

Most people in foreign countries are switching to alternative energy sources for their household needs in order to reduce their carbon footprint. It’s impressive how people have installed miniature wind turbines in their houses which work efficient enough to produce a decent amount of electricity.

I remember giving a presentation on ‘Wind power’ once. It emphasized on the fact that there’s enough potential for electricity generation through Wind Power in Pakistan. Anyway, I decided to review that presentation before writing this post, and I was shocked to see the statistics that were in there.

According to the data that I gathered, there would be wind power projects producing up to 50MW of electricity per month. What happened?

One day, we as a people will also realize the need for conserving the resources of nature, and use those resources that are readily available. On that day, we will switch to green sources of energy, in order to save the environment for a better future.

Picture taken on May 12, 2012 in Paris shows an illustration made with figurines set up in front of Facebook’s homepage. AFP Photo

The history of Facebook goes way back, when most of us were still surfing on Orkut and Myspace. But it is still interesting to see how this social giant came into being.

Back in 2004, a Harvard dropout named Mark Zuckerberg created ‘The Facebook’, a relatively less known website at that time. Moreover, it wasn’t open for all- it was only open for students of Harvard. Later in 2005, the name changed from ‘The Facebook’ to simply ‘Facebook’. It took a bit of time before Facebook was opened for all (aged 13+).

That’s probably the time some of you would’ve come across Facebook. It was just a regular website offering a regular functionality in a rather attractive way. The design wasn’t that appealing, and the concept was also a common one, i.e. social networking. But there was some magical power, or charisma that made Facebook so popular among the masses.

Times changed, and Facebook developed even more. We started seeing what our friends are doing, who became friends with whom, who became a fan of what (‘become a fan’ was quite a phenomenon back then, until the ‘Like’ option took over). Facebook presented social networking in a pleasing way, unlike other social networks at that time which were confused and rather bamboozled on how to present something new to the users. Facebook’s elegant design and structure attracted millions of users in a very small time.

In 2008, Facebook hit its first milestone; 100 million users. Also, it carried out a major makeover almost every year, and 2008 was no different. But it was the 2008 redesign whose remains can still be observed in today’s Facebook.

Till 2010, Facebook had become a virtual life for everyone on the web. But just like the real life, there were some issues. Your private stuff couldn’t remain private anymore, unless you kept it controlled. Controlling what you share with the world became an important part of Facebook. But it was not long before people got used to it, and the privacy controls were rather appreciated.

Meanwhile, Facebook pages became a hub for businesses worldwide. If you don’t have an official website, link to an official Facebook page instead, that would suffice. Facebook became something more than just a social network. It became a starting point for new businesses, gave rise to startups, and even became a launch pad for artists.

But what would information be, without proper sharing. Administration of Facebook pages became a total phenomenon, attracting more and more ‘Likes’ to gain popularity, and this ascended to such an extent that companies started hiring social media analysts to find out the social media trends and interests of people over social networks.

And here we are, at the beginning of 2013. Facebook marked some great achievements in 2012 – including the acquisition of Instagram, the widely popular mobile-photo sharing social network. And with that, we saw some drastic design changes in Facebook (timeline) which were happily accepted by some people, while being criticized by many. Facebook has, and will probably be a topic of debate among us all.

Today, if you are an active Facebook user, share all your life’s happenings on Facebook, then the social network knows you better than majority of your friends. Facebook knows exactly who your friends are, your family members, where you graduated from, where you’re working, what your interests are, and so on.

We share all our personal and private details, our mind’s thoughts, almost everything on Facebook. Go back a couple of years and it would’ve sounded almost weird to share such a large amount of personal data over the web, even with a personal friend. And it’s not just you, it’s being done by almost a billion users worldwide.

Considering it started as a small project by a young college student is truly remarkable. It is remarkable to see the evolution of Facebook over the years.

– Illustration by Bilal Brohi/Spider Magazine

‘Think Different’ was the advertising slogan created for Apple in 1997 by TBWA when Steve Jobs returned to the helm. Crafted closely in conjunction with Jobs, the slogan was said to reflect the corporate philosophy which would be the strategy for Apple’s renaissance. The slogan, it seems, was prophetic.

Fast forward 15 years; Apple is now the most valuable company in the world primarily because it followed that philosophy and had consecutive successes with iTunes, iPod, iPhone and iPad, all products which were revolutionary in their implementation, even if their underlying technology was not conceptually pioneering.

Steve Jobs had a vision which led him to do things decidedly even if some of his decisions were not popular initially.

Apple was the first company to eschew the floppy drive, the optical disk drive, and more recently Adobe’s Flash technology on it’s mobile devices. The reasons were simple; beauty borne of a minimal aesthetic on the hardware side, and a better user experience on the software side.

From the iPod to removing optical drives in computers; in almost all of those instances, the competition has followed suit.

There have been dozens of pretenders which are no longer in existence ranging from Microsoft’s abandoned Zune music player to HP’s defunct Touchpad. Even Apple’s all-in-one design for the iMac has become mainstream now with HP and Vizio mimicking it in their latest desktop iterations.

Two of Apple’s most profitable revenue streams today are unquestionably the iPhone and the iPod. The late Steven P. Jobs personally played a large role in every aspect of their development. In 2007 Jobs unveiled the iPhone and it’s 3.5” screen, vividly illustrating how it’s optimal screen size made it perfect for single-handed operation.

Later in 2010 Jobs launched the iPad and touted it’s 9.7 inch display as being the right size for a tablet even famously calling 7 inch tablets “DOA” (dead-on-arrival). Those two products became runaway successes not giving anyone a reason to question those design decisions.

After Steve’s passing last year, Apple has stuck to it’s yearly refresh cycle for both those products. Even though the new versions have continued to break sales records, I find them troubling and indicative of a symbolic change in Apple’s corporate philosophy.

The iPhone 5 increased the screen size to 4 inches and the latest variant of the iPad, the iPad Mini, reduced the screen size to 7.9 inches. Yes, the number of square inches is 35% more in the iPad mini when compared to it’s 7 inch competitors, but it doesn’t matter; Holistically the decision is a reason to fret as i fear it might symbolize reaching a ceiling in innovation.

Apple, for the first time in 15 years it seems, is not thinking differently.

Both these moves are in response to what the competition is coming up with. What seems to be lost on the management is that the competition is changing parameters to try to differentiate their product offerings because they can’t compete with Apple in the same space.

Symbolically this signals a reversal of roles. Apple should forge ahead with it’s innovative DNA leaving other companies scrambling to catch up.

Companies tend to innovate via acquisition once they reach a certain size, want to diversify their product offerings, or become too cemented in their ways. Apple has been fairly adept in implementing the technology gained from it’s acquisitions in unique and useful ways.

The Lala acquisition became the backbone of iTunes Match. P.A Semi designed silicon now powers the iPhone, the iPod and the iPad. Siri, the virtual assistant in iOS, Apple’s mobile operating system, made voice-based search on mobile phones mainstream. Samsung quickly copied and launched S Voice, and now Google has come into the picture with their own voice-based app.

Apple recently ditched Google Maps and launched their own in-house mapping service in the latest version of iOS. Even though the quality is not on par with Google’s offering, it was probably the right thing to do given all that has been happening between Apple and Google recently.

One constant criticism laid on iOS is that it hasn’t changed much since it’s introduction in 2007.

Scott Forstall, Apple’s senior vice-president of iPhone software has recently left the company amidst reported tensions. A veteran from the days of NeXt, his departure can potentially be viewed as another sign of trouble. The silver lining here is that one half of his responsibilities, as the Human Interface team, will now be under Jony Ive, Apple’s current SVP of Industrial Design.

The build quality of Apple’s devices is second to none. From material selection to the techniques deployed in sculpting the devices, the design team is unparalleled in the entire industry.

However, there is a limit to how thin and fast a product can be designed. Whether Ive can infuse some of his brilliance into the software components of iOS and whether their next acquisition will help differentiate their next product offering remains to be seen.

A company of Apple’s size, talent and position doesn’t come around every day. For innovation to stifle at such an entity would be ironic and a gross injustice to it’s potential, and DNA.

I hope time will prove me wrong.

Apple’s inspirational ‘Think Different’ commercial 

A young Saudi journalist is facing calls for his execution after tweeting remarks about the Prophet Mohammed —AFP

RIYADH: A Saudi journalist wanted in the kingdom for comments deemed insulting to the Prophet Mohammed was arrested after being deported from Malaysia and will face charges of blasphemy.

Hamza Kashgari, “was taken into custody as he arrived in Riyadh on Sunday night,” reported the English-language daily Arab News, citing “informed sources.”

The sources said Kashgari was accompanied by Saudi officials on his flight to King Khaled International Airport in Riyadh. He “will face charges of blasphemy” according to sources Kashgari, 23, was detained in Malaysia last week after fleeing Saudi Arabia in fear of his life after his Twitter post about the prophet sparked outrage.

Insulting the Prophet Mohammed is considered blasphemous in Islam and is a crime punishable by execution in  Saudi Arabia.

Human rights groups had warned that deporting Kashgari would be akin to a death sentence and urged Muslim-majority Malaysia to free him.

A group on the online social network Facebook calling for his execution has amassed more than 21,000 members by Monday.

Referring to the prophet, Kashgari had tweeted: “I have loved things about you and I have hated things about you and there is a lot I don’t understand about you.” “I will not pray for you.”

Malaysia has no formal extradition treaty with Saudi Arabia and Kashgari’s deportation has been condemned by rights groups.

Responding to claims that Interpol was involved in Kashgari’s deportation, the international police body issued a statement Monday repeating its denial of any involvement in the case.

“No Interpol channels, its national central bureaus in Kuala Lumpur and Riyadh nor its general secretariat headquarters in Lyon, France were involved at any time in this case,” the police body said.

Interpol first issued a denial last week of any involvement, saying the arrest of Kashgari took place on a bilateral basis between Malaysia and Saudi Arabia.

But it said on Monday that it was repeating its statement because numerous news outlets had either stated or implied that it was involved.

I did a Google search on Facebook and Twitter addictions, and I got so many hits that I decided not to bother backing up claims of widespread social media addiction. Some people can’t seem to get uninterrupted sleep through the night because of their cravings to check Facebook comments and messages and to see how many of their tweets are retweeted and faved.

The first thing people do, including I, when they wake up in the morning is log onto social-media platforms.

What’s mind-boggling is that people have to disable social media networks to get their lives back and others have to go as far as to commit “Twittercide” to pull themselves together. I found several articles that offer self-help tips to overcome Facebook and Twitter addiction.

One tweeter who had to bid farewell to his 25,000 followers late last year wrote in his confessions published in the New York Times, “What did I get out of it? Certainly not fortune or fame — on Twitter I was, for the most part, anonymous,” wrote Larry Carlart. “But for me, every tweet was a performance.”

He was fired from work because of his “performance” on Twitter and a month later he separated from his wife. And it is only fitting to let him tell you where he went wrong: “Instead of tweeting to reflect on my life, tweeting had become my life.”

The idea of putting your hundred per cent effort into carving a tweet is beyond me. I prefer to keep it simple and often steer away from tweeps who use foul language; it really irks me.

While parents have to draw a line for their kids using social media sites, we have to draw a line for ourselves. It’s very easy to get carried away and spend hours checking updates, staring at pictures, adding people tagged in the pictures, adding from “People You May Know” list, and commenting on other’s statuses.

Though it’s is nice to get invites to random events and groups, one wonders what’s the point of social media when you don’t actually interact, exchange ideas and learn from others.

Just the other day, Mustafa Davis, a photographer and filmmaker, wrote on his Facebook status: “I really enjoy being constantly added to new totally random FB group pages. I feel obliged to start reciprocating all the joy by adding folks to some of my new pages, such as… Guppie Fish Rights Awareness page / I’m Not A Narcicist But Please Pay Attention To Me page / Foundation To Educate Blind Amazonian Monkeys In Antarctica page / I Don’t Have A Real Idea For A Page But I’m Going To Start A Group Anyways page… also when you leave my group I’ll think it was an accident so I’ll add you back at least three or four more times.”

That really happens. And it says a lot about our narcissistic tendencies, and our inability to use social media platforms for social interactions, learning and intellectual stimulation rather than as a source of procrastination.

Here are two thought-provoking Facebook statuses that made it worthwhile for me to log on to the site last week:

“There is a flower in the seed.” –Imam Abdul Latif

“Majnun would stare at the full moon. When asked why, he replied: maybe Layla might look, too, & our glances meet.” –Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

My interests are fairly obvious from the above two quotes. But if you’re a techie, you can follow tech gurus; if you’re a news buff, you can follow some of the top news people; if you’re a poet, you can follow poets and join poetry groups. Be productive.

Social media is deemed addictive when it takes precedence over human interaction. And it’s counterproductive when you’re only stalking people.

The revered scholar made another interesting point in his talk is about taking pictures, which is somewhat related and relevant to our discussion here. “Stop taking pictures and start experiencing life,” said Shaykh Yusuf.

Last year, a friend and I traveled to Luxor, with the aim to see all the major pharaonic sites. One evening, we watched the Karnak Sound and Light Show, during which I was more engrossed in taking pictures than listening to the walking tour. I had my reasons—this was the only way I could get into the temple complex at night. And, you know what, the statue of Ramesses II looks beautiful against the blue skies in the backdrop.

Next morning, we revisited the Karnak temple and I ended up doing more or less the same. Even though we went from precinct to precinct, trying to understand the progression of skills incorporated by the artisans, and the nuances of gods and the commissioning pharaohs, I still walked out with a feeling of discontent.

So we went the third time with picnic comprised of dates and peanuts. Since I had enough pictures for my few active and exponentially more passive friends on Facebook, I enjoyed experiencing Karnac through the whites of my eyes. I positioned myself on the base of a column in the Precinct of Amun Re and relished the sunlight hitting the Hypostyle columns, which are chubby at the bottom and glutted with hieroglyphics. And it is the third visit that I remember most fondly when I think of the Luxor trip in my head.

It is worth experiencing life beyond the social media and seeing things with your naked eyes. And it is so much more beautiful to cherish the moment and to capture an image through your heart than to click away.

Fahad Faruqui is a journalist, writer and educator. Alumni Columbia University. You can email him at fahad@caa.columbia.edu

The views expressed by this blogger and in the following reader comments do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the Dawn Media Group.