Category: Tech

Apple to let users buy iPhone through monthly Apple Card bill

CEO Tim Cook has announced that later this year, users will be able to buy an iPhone on an Apple Card, pay for it over 24 months with zero interest, get 3 percent cash back on the purchase, and manage payments in the Wallet app. While Apple already offers a number of ways to finance the cost of the iPhone, “manage payments in the Wallet app” portion is the working solution.

NUST graduate becomes Pakistan’s first female Google Developer

Aqsa Kausar, an accomplished graduate of NUST School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (SEECS), has beaten the odds by becoming the first female Google Developer Expert in Machine Learning from Pakistan. She is currently working as an Artificial Intelligence (AI) developer with a software organisation named Red Buffer. Aqsa has done her Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from NUST. 

PIA launches mobile app for flight booking

Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has launched a mobile application in collaboration with Turkish IT company Hitit, that will let users book and confirm flights through their smartphones. The application is available on Google Play Store and allows user to book flights, view booking details, check flight status and schedules etc.

Man from Karachi manufactures his own fuel-efficient exocar

A young man from Karachi, Atta Rafiq, has manufactured the first of its kind exocar all by himself after 6 months of vigorous hard work. The project was sponsored by a US company. The extremely fuel efficient car has been made from used parts of different vehicles without any support from any Pakistani company or government. 

Apple is laying the groundwork for an iPhone subscription

Some investors want Apple to sell its iPhone on a subscription basis to shift more of Apple’s revenue from transactional sales to recurring revenue. Apple CEO Tim Cook doesn’t shoot down the idea during a conference call on Wednesday and suggests that Apple is working on new ways to pay for iPhones on a monthly basis. He also mentioned that a lot of users want a sort of recurring payment like that and he is well aware of that. 

Pakistan’s largest Series A funding raised by Airlift

Airlift, a ride-hailing startup which connects passengers with buses on fixed-rate, just raised $12 million for their Series A financing. This funding is the largest ever for a Pakistani startup and so far one of the largest raised by any startup within the South Asian region. Currently, Airlift is operating in Lahore and Karachi only.

The hearing impaired can now enjoy music in real life

SoundShirt, invented by a London based fashion company Cure Circuit can now allow the hearing impaired enjoy music. It is a shirt that translates sound into a haptic sensation in real-time and this smart stretchy textile has 16 micro-actuators built into the material with conductive paths which enables the hearing impaired to feel the music on their torso.

Investors betting against Tesla lose more than $1 billion in a day

Investors betting against Elon Musk’s electric-auto maker Tesla collectively lost an estimated $1 billion-plus on Thursday as the company’s stock headed for its best day on Wall Street since 2013. High profile short sellers have clashed with Tesla and CEO Musk in the last few years including Greenlight founder David Einhorn and Jim Chanos.

Internet traffic to be monitored

The government of Pakistan has hired a Canadian firm, Sandvine to monitor internet traffic in the country. Sandvine is considered as a “controversial firm” due to the illegal sale of their services to the governments of Turkey, Egypt, and Syria in the past. Despite the controversial background, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) signed a contract with Sandvine after failing to build their own suitable technical solution for monitoring, and restraining grey traffic.

Xiaomi patents under-display front dual cameras

Xiaomi, via twitter, announced in June that the company has found a solution to make the front cameras disappear to finally get rid of notches. Similarly on the same day Oppo also announced the same technology on twitter. Xiaomi’s recent patent regarding the new technology was filed and granted by the CNIPA (China National Intellectual Property Administration) which also surfaced the internet.