Google Challenges Amazon with New Tablet

Google has unveiled its own branded tablet computer called the Nexus 7.

The tablet will have a screen that measures seven inches diagonally, smaller than the nearly 10 inches on Apple's popular iPad.

The starting $199 (£127) price tag means it is more likely to challenge Amazon's Kindle Fire.

The Nexus 7 will run the next version of Google's Android operating system, called Jelly Bean.

Although the tablet carries the Google brand, the machine will be made by Asus and will be available from mid-July.

The tablet is also designed specifically for Google Play, the company's online store for movies, music, games, books and apps.

Google also announced on Wednesday that Google Play will now offer movies for sale, rather than only rentals.

Last week, Microsoft Corp announced its own tablet, Surface.

Expected to go on sale later this year, Surface will run on a revamped version of Windows and compete directly with the iPad.

Google's Hugo Barra unveils the Nexus 7 tablet in San Francisco

Apple claims to shame Galaxy S III

With the launch of the iPhone 5 likely just a few months away, the head honcho at Foxconn spent some time this week praising the new Apple smartphone and putting down rivals.

According to a China Times quote reported by the Focus Tiawan News Channel, Foxconn chief executive Terry Gou spoke at the company’s annual shareholder meeting this week and told the audience that Apple’s iPhone 5 will “put Samsung’s Galaxy III to shame.” Gou apparently has a low opinion of the rival smartphone manufacturer and told shareholders that his new lifetime goal was to defeat Samsung. Gou even went so far to state that Samsung had a “track record of snitching on its competitors.” Gou was referring to an incident during 2010 in which Samsung provided details about four other Taiwanese companies in regards to a European Commission price-fixing inquiry about the development of flat-panels.



Beyond the iPhone 5, Gou also mentioned that the company signed an agreement with American glass manufacturer Corning for a supply of large glass panels. In addition, Gou spoke highly of television manufacturer Sharp and believes that the partnership between the two companies will provide a three-year competitive edge over Samsung. Gou is often intentionally vague about the products that Foxconn develops for Apple due to the high level of secrecy around the release of Apple products.

In a related report this week, Foxconn is rumored to start receiving Sharp LCD HDTV panels as early as July 1, 2012. Foxconn had originally planned to start receiving the panels during the fourth quarter of this year, but the schedule has been pushed up. The panels are expected to be implemented into the long-rumored Apple television set and the timing of the construction points to the possibility that Apple will launch the HDTV during the fourth quarter of 2012 just in time for the holiday shopping season. Sharp already supplies Apple with Retina displays for the new iPad and analysts have stated that Sharp’s Indium Gallium Zinc Oxide panels would be an ideal match for Apple branding.

Dolman Mall is insecure of Competitors

Dolman Malls Karachi offers free Wifi in Food Court and their premises but with certain restrictions. Websites of different Cinemas, Entertainment Points along with some other websites are blocked on the WiFi of the Dolman Malls Karachi.

This policy seems as Dolman Malls management are quit afraid of competition in the industry, along with they are insecure with other's success

Ufone "highly inspired" with 20th Century Fox

Ufone in their design work of Ufone Shahcar Scheme 2 seems very highly inspired with 20th Century Fox.

It may be due to same "20" in both, but the SWIFT Shandar needs little more justice with editing. It is the time that Ufone must concentrate upon hiring some new creative staff.

Extraordinarily dissatisfied with Pakistani action against Haqqanis

WASHINGTON - Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen Martin E Dempsey joined Defence Secretary Leon E Panetta on Thursday in expressing unhappiness with Pakistan’s progress in battling the Haqqani network’s use of safe havens in Pakistan.
Pakistan is working to battle other threats within FATA, Dempsey told reporters. “Although we are extraordinarily dissatisfied with the effect that Pakistan has had on the Haqqani network, we are also mindful that they are conducting military operations, at great loss elsewhere,” Dempsey said.
Regional Command East, which includes Khost and Logar provinces, has seen an uptick in activity, largely due increased activity by the Haqqani network, Dempsey said. The Haqqani network was as big a threat to Pakistan as it was to Afghanistan and the United States, Dempsey said. He added that the US would continue to work with Pakistan to find common ground on ways to deal with the cross-border threat posed by the Haqqani network and other groups.
In addition to the recent activity by the Haqqani network, Dempsey said al Qaeda remained a threat in Pakistan, particularly within FATA, and to a lesser extent within Afghanistan. Coalition efforts had been very successful in eliminating al Qaeda leaders, though others continue to take their place, he added. Dempsey cited the June 4 death of Abu Yahya Al-Libi, al Qaeda’s second in command, as an example of those successes, calling it a significant loss for the terror group. “Most of those who 10 years ago we began tracking are no longer a part of al Qaeda, they’re no longer part of any organization,” Dempsey said. “We are at war with al Qaeda and we will pursue them wherever we find them,” he said.

as seen on PakistanToday

Alan Horn named as New Disney Studio Cheif

LOS ANGELES: The Walt Disney Co. on Thursday named a top Warner Bros executive to head its studio operations, replacing ousted chief Rich Ross who resigned month after the massive box office flop “John Carter.”Alan Horn was named chairman of Walt Disney Studios effective June 11, heading up production, distribution and marketing for films from Disney, Pixar and Marvel, and marketing and distribution for DreamWorks Studios.

Horn was most recently president and chief operating officer of Warner Bros. Entertainment where he had oversight of theatrical and home entertainment operations.

Under Horn, Warner notched up several blockbusters including the “Harry Potter” films, two “Sherlock Holmes” movies and several “Batman” productions including “The Dark Knight.””Horn has been a prominent figure in the film and television industry overseeing creative executive teams responsible for some of the world’s most successful entertainment properties including the Harry Potter film franchise and the hit television series ‘Seinfeld’ among others,” Disney said in a statement.

“Alan not only has an incredible wealth of knowledge and experience in the business, he has a true appreciation of movie making as both an art and a business,” said Disney chairman and chief executive Bob Iger.

“He’s earned the respect of the industry for driving tremendous, sustained creative and financial success, and is also known and admired for his impeccable taste and integrity. He brings all of this to his new role leading our studio group, and I truly look forward to working with him.””John Carter” was made by Oscar-winning director Andrew Stanton about a Civil War veteran transplanted to Mars and cost an estimated $250 million, but was met with a chorus of derision from critics.

Horn will head Disney operations that include Pixar, which has the “Toy Story” and “Cars” franchises, and Marvel, which made “Iron Man” and “The Avengers,” a blockbuster which has raked in some $1.25 billion worldwide.

Indian cosmetic queen shows no sign of abdicating

NEW DELHI: Shahnaz Husain was a bored Indian housewife when she spotted a gap in the beauty-treatment market and single-handedly set about building a global corporate empire.

More than 40 years on, Husain presides over a private company selling more than 250 products in 60 countries and is feted as one of India’s leading business gurus and a rare example of female success in its commercial sector.

“It’s not what you want, but how much you want it,” is her advice to budding entrepreneurs.

Renowned for her forthright style and glamorous appearance, Husain constructed her empire using a system of franchises that enabled her to ride the wave of ayurvedic treatments becoming fashionable around the world.

Ayurveda, which originated in India, aims to restore balance in the mind and body through herbal therapy, diet and massage.

Its lucrative commercialisation is sometimes criticised by doctors in India, who believe it is a scientifically proven holistic approach to health, but Husain has no such qualms.

“I am selling people 5,000 years of Indian civilisation in a bottle,” Husain says, tossing her leonine hair with a verve belying her nearly 70 years.

The Shahnaz Husain Group now stretches across India and to Dubai and London, where her products sell at top department store Selfridges and where she runs a clinic in Harley Street.

“Husain pioneered selling ayurvedic products across the counter,” Ina Dawer, a Singapore-based analyst at marketing research firm Euromonitor, told AFP.

“She’s basically an upscale premium ayurvedic brand.”

Now Husain’s daughter, Nelofar Currimbhoy, has written a biography, “Flame”, tracing the unusual life story of her mother, who was engaged at 14, wed at 16 and became a mother the same year.

“She’s a true example of an integrated Indian – a Muslim taught by Irish nuns who has spent her life devoted to propagating a (Hindu) Vedic system of medicine,” says Currimbhoy.

Key to her success has been developing treatments that were once only found in Indian ayurvedic centres into products suitable for Western spas, health resorts and individual consumers.

“I was the only game in town for this and I was good at it,” she recounts at her Delhi mansion, whose exterior resembles an English country house while inside is a rich mix of rococo, Art Deco, classical and Indian styles.

“I was so busy I didn’t have time to count the money,” she says.

Her products are now sold in some 150,000 stores in India and she has 300 salon franchises and 53 beauty schools, according to the company, which does not release sales figures.

Born in pre-independence India, Husain had a sheltered childhood, riding to school in chauffeured cars with curtained windows that she kept opening to peer at the world outside, to her conservative Muslim mother’s dismay.

Her more liberal father “never forgave himself for letting me marry so young”, she says, clad in a dramatic self-designed silver-sequined black gown.

“He had such ambitions for me, he wanted me to go to Oxford, but my mother worried I’d get out of hand, and he gave in.”

Despite her tender years, the marriage was a huge success and Husain was heartbroken when her husband died 15 years ago.

He and Husain’s father supported her when she was overcome with boredom at home and was seized with a passion to become a beautician.

She trained at several European beauty schools and then started a salon at her Delhi home in 1970. Offering free consultations and charging for her pots of creams, she was soon flooded by clients.

Sitting giggling together, mother and daughter could be sisters.

Currimbhoy is now president of the company but even today Husain, who declines to reveal her age, is the one who calls the shots. Staff, summoned by buzzers attached to chairs, scurry at her beck and call.

Multinational rivals such as Estee Lauder and The Body Shop have not been slow to spot potential in the expanding ayurvedic sector.

But Husain, who has lectured on her success to Harvard business students, says she is ready for the competition and plans to soon launch a new stem-cell anti-ageing potion – tentatively called “Ageless”.

“We’re a serious treatment line, we’re not just a cosmetics company,” she says.

as seen on Dawn.com

PIA Styles Over Years

Until the famous Pakistani designer Naheed Azfar rendered a more localised and traditional look to the PIA flight attendant in the 80s, her uniform was taken to be the Pakistani fashion statement on the international scene. The PIA pyjamas designed by Pierre Cardin in 1966 are still remembered as a symbol of the style and sophistication exuded by the national carrier in the early years. Naheed Azfar’s design marked the beginning of a new era; a coming of age, as it were, for the institution and a need to promote a more indigenous look.

“I remember when my design came out in 1986, it received such bad reviews, especially from the fashion gurus who thought the design was extremely boring,” says Azfar.

She did not care about the bad reviews though, for Azfar saw her relationship with PIA as strictly professional: that of a client and vendor where she had to cater to the needs of the client, serving it best to its satisfaction while keeping her creative license in perspective. “I was not making a fashion statement here. I imagined the PIA air hostess to be a working woman, just like any other working woman who wants to wear comfortable yet localised attire while on duty,” she says.

For a thankless job however that eventually came her way, Azfar reportedly did not receive a single penny, nor was there any documentation of the entire project. “There is nothing on paper to date. No signing of any documents, or any official letters. As far as the monetary side was concerned “it was all Kamal’s (her husband) fault who told the PIA head then that it was a matter of prestige and honour to be designing for the national flag carrier, and that his wife could not accept any money for it,” says Azfar, smiling at the memory.

“This was probably the year 1984, when some designers, both local and foreign, were summoned by PIA to present designs for change in the airhostesses’ uniforms. All the designers were separately briefed on what the requirements were,” she recalls.

“All the briefings given to respective designers were apparently different for some odd reason,” she laughs. “I was told that there should be no greens or reds. Besides, it should not be a kurta, but it definitely could not be a body hugging design.”

After all, this was the early 80s — the era of General Ziaul Haq.

More than the fact that her creative freedom was somewhat restricted, Azfar confesses that the big challenge was to adhere to the requirements and yet present an attractive look. “The PIA staff made it clear that no front open designs were allowed and that there should not be any pockets whatsoever. Some thought the flight attendants might be tempted to sneak crockery by hiding it in their pockets,” Azfar says, shrugging her shoulders. There were times when she really wanted to walk away from the project. “I was disappointed with PIA’s doublespeak,” she says, but she had invested too much in the project to leave it high and dry.

So began the uphill task of designing. “The PIA air hostess came to my mind as a working woman who needed to wear a comfortable uniform at work. Yet it should be styled on classical lines.”

Unlike the Pierre Cardin and Sir Hardy Amies’ (Queen Elizabeth’s personal designer) designs in the 60’s with the shirt having a shorter hemline, Naheed added almost four inches to it, and the shalwar’s paaincha was wider. “I believed that the design should be relevant for a longer period of time. It should not be a fashion statement, neither should it be ethnicity specific,” says Azfar.

While she was in the process of finalising her concepts, someone realised that the colour green needed to be an integral part of the design, so it was back to the drawing board. Finally some three to four designs were ready for presentation. “I gave the shirt a princess cut with a length just a little under the knees. Also, the shirt had the logo of PIA as a recurring motif all over. The dupatta was striped.”

The uniforms were in four colours, separate for summer and winter. A lighter green and dull pink were worn during the summer while a darker green and a little close to burgundy were the winter colours. They were finished off with a run-around pattern in pink and green on the sleeves and shirt slits. “The client had asked for the braid. If I were consulted, I would have removed it.”

The shoes and bags were in burgundy. “The bag I believed,” says Azfar, “should be an organiser bag that could accommodate belongings in various compartments.”

At the cut-off date, the designers were flown from Karachi and other parts of the world, to the CNC’s house in Islamabad where they were to present their designs. “I remember the presentation took place in the drawing room of the President’s house. There were five to six people on the judges’ panel that included General Ziaul Haq, Begum Ziaul Haq, Mrs Atiya Inayatullah, Mrs Tooba Yaqub Khan etc.; Mrs Atiya Inayatullah was the most vocal and critical.”

The judges studied the designs very meticulously. “When the models walked in wearing my design, the judges were taken aback by the PIA logo used as a motif on the shirts. The panel thought that the design truly looked like a uniform.” But there were some critical comments too.

“I remember General Ziaul Haq thought the design was too fitted. I can’t forget the comment that he made, ‘you wear loose clothes yourself but your design seems too fitted,” Afar laughs.

Though she incorporated the changes, Azfar was disheartened to find that PIA claimed the designs to have been made by an in-house designer.

Soon however, it was all over the place that Naheed Azfar had designed the PIA uniforms. “My design was not outside the culture that we live in. We normally don’t wear western clothes. Besides, we carry a sense of modesty in the hardware of our minds that shows in the way we dress. I had this factor in mind when I designed the uniform”.

Naheed Azfar’s design remained the official uniform of the PIA flight attendant from the years 1986 till 2003. She was never bothered by the critical reviews, and she revels in the fact that the current design is an extension of her design with some minor variations. “I suppose part of it was jealousy also, that a very trendy and an international design was changed. Yet it was a practical design steeped in classical tradition,” Azfar says proudly.

as seen on dawn.com

Building Rotates 360 degrees

 Company in Brazil (Suite Vollard) constructed a building in which each floor can rotate 360 degrees. Each building has 11 apartments and each apartment can spin individually in any direction. One rotation takes a full hour, but apartment owner can set rotation speed through apartment control panel. Facades are made of three different types of glass which give wonderful effects when building spins during the sunset. Cost of each apartment is $US 300,000.00.