Friday 22 June 2012

At last year’s Paris Air Show,

At last year’s Paris Air Show, some of the hottest aircraft were the autonomous unmanned helicopters—a few of them small enough to carry in one hand—that would allow military buyers to put a camera in the sky anywhere, anytime. Manufactured by major defense contractors, and ranging in design from a single-bladed camcopter to four-bladed multicopters, these drones were being sold as the future of warfare at prices in the tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars.
In May, at a different trade show, similar aircraft were once again the most buzzed-about items on display. But this wasn’t another exhibition of military hardware; instead, it was the Hobby Expo China in Beijing, where Chinese manufacturers demo their newest and coolest toys. Companies like Shenzhen-based DJI Innovations are selling drones with the same capability as the military ones, sometimes for less than $1,000. These Chinese firms, in turn, are competing with even cheaper drones created by amateurs around the world, who share their designs for free in communities online. It’s safe to say that drones are the first technology in history where the toy industry and hobbyists are beating the military-industrial complex at its own game.
Look up into America’s skies today and you might just see one of these drones: small, fully autonomous, and dirt-cheap. On any given weekend, someone’s probably flying a real-life drone not far from your own personal airspace. (They’re the ones looking at their laptops instead of their planes.) These personal drones can do everything that military drones can, aside from blow up stuff. Although they technically aren’t supposed to be used commercially in the US (they also must stay below 400 feet, within visual line of sight, and away from populated areas and airports), the FAA is planning to officially allow commercial use starting in 2015.
What are all these amateurs doing with their drones? Like the early personal computers, the main use at this point is experimentation—simple, geeky fun. But as personal drones become more sophisticated and reliable, practical applications are emerging. The film industry is already full of remotely piloted copters serving as camera platforms, with a longer reach than booms as well as cheaper and safer operations than manned helicopters. Some farmers now use drones for crop management, creating aerial maps to optimize water and fertilizer distribution. And there are countless scientific uses for drones, from watching algal blooms in the ocean to low-altitude measurement of the solar reflectivity of the Amazon rain forest. Others are using the craft for wildlife management, tracking endangered species and quietly mapping out nesting areas that are in need of protection.
To give a sense of the scale of the personal drone movement, DIY Drones—an online community that I founded in 2007 (more on that later)—has 26,000 members, who fly drones that they either assemble themselves or buy premade from dozens of companies that serve the amateur market. All told, there are probably around 1,000 new personal drones that take to the sky every month (3D Robotics, a company I cofounded, is shipping more than 100 ArduPilot Megas a week); that figure rivals the drone sales of the world’s top aerospace companies (in units, of course, not dollars). And the personal drone industry is growing much faster.
Why? The reason is the same as with every other digital technology: a Moore’s-law-style pace where performance regularly doubles while size and price plummet. In fact, the Moore’s law of drone technology is currently accelerating, thanks to the smartphone industry, which relies on the same components—sensors, optics, batteries, and embedded processors—all of them growing smaller and faster each year. Just as the 1970s saw the birth and rise of the personal computer, this decade will see the ascendance of the personal drone. We’re entering the Drone Age.

Tuesday 19 June 2012

Federal Cabinet stands dissolved: PPP

Federal Cabinet stands dissolved: PPP
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan People’s Party has convened its parliamentary party meeting for Wednesday in the wake of Yusuf Raza Gilani’s disqualification as Prime Minister by the Supreme Court today.
PPP General Secretary, Jehangir Badar, flanked by Qamar Zaman Kaira and Raja Pervez Ashraf, announced this while addressing a press conference here on Tuesday after the PPP held its Central Executive Committee.
When asked whether the Federal Cabinet still exists or not, Jehangir Badar confirmed that the Cabinet stood dissolved after the disqualification of Gilani. “Anywhere in the world wherever the PM is gone the Cabinet is gone,” he said.
Qamar Zaman Kaira said PPP has its reservations over the Supreme Court’s judgment, however, he advised the party workers to observe patience and not to engage in any sort of protest.
He said the PPP will decide its future course of action after holding consultations with its coalition partners.
Raja Pervez Ashraf said, the democratic process would continue without interruption and PPP would continue to play its positive role in the greater interest of the country.
He said the CEC authorized President Asif Ali Zardari to finalize as to what line of action PPP will follow in future. “He (President Zardari) will do everything that is in the interest of the country, its parliament and democracy,” he added.
Earlier today, the Supreme Court disqualified Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani as the prime minister with effect from April 26, 2012 in its verdict in NA Speaker’s ruling case.
“Yousuf Raza Gilani is disqualified from membership of parliament from April 26, the date of his conviction. He has also ceased to be the prime minister of Pakistan,” said chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry said.
“The Election Commission shall issue a notice of disqualification and the president is required to take necessary steps to ensure continuation of democratic process,” he added.


Read more: http://vusolutions.com/#ixzz1yGMt8Pxq

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Tuesday declared Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani ineligible to hold office, Express News reported. The court said that he had been ineligible since April 26.

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Tuesday declared Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani ineligible to hold office, Express News reported. The court said that he had been ineligible since April 26.
He has been declared ineligible to be prime minister ever since the verdict in the contempt case had been announced.
The Election Commission of Pakistan, following the court order, issued the notification of Gilani’s disqualification.
Gilani will not be a member of parliament following the verdict, and his name was also removed from the Press Information Department website.
“Yousaf Raza Gilani is disqualified from membership of parliament from April 26, the date of his conviction. He has also ceased to be the prime minister of Pakistan,” said Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, reading the order.
“The Election Commission shall issue a notice of disqualification and the president is required to take necessary steps to ensure continuation of democratic process,” he added.
(Read a copy of the short order here)
Express News reports that Gilani can appeal against the verdict within 30 days.
Former Election Commission secretary said that after the Supreme Court verdict, Gilani has been disqualified for five years, and added that he also cannot hold any official post in the party.
Khyber-Pakhtunkwa Assembly session was adjourned for five minutes in protest of the Supreme Court’s verdict.
Following the verdict, all federal cabinet ministers stopped using the security protocol assigned to them. National flags were also removed from their vehicles.
The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) also held a meeting after the verdict was announced, during which the party decided to accept the Supreme Court’s verdict.
‘No candidate from PML-N for PM post’
Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, while talking to the media, said that Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) will not present any candidate for the post of the prime minister.
He added that the Supreme Court gave this verdict in the petition filed by PML-N which demanded Gilani’s disqualification.
“If he [Gilani] had supported the Constitution and the judiciary, and had not protected a beneficiary of the NRO, then Pakistan would not have been seeing this day,” Sharif added.
Supreme Court hearing
Earlier, concluding his arguments in the Speaker’s ruling case, Attorney General Irfan Qadir said that the immunity provided to Gilani cannot be taken away anyone but the Parliament and that he was not answerable to any court.
Qadir was told to wrap up his arguments by 11am today.
Speaking before a three-member bench of the Supreme Court hearing the petitions filed against the speaker’s ruling in the prime minister contempt case, AG Qadir said that the petitions were being politicised and that the Supreme Court’s autonomy will be questioned if it hears such petitions.
The judicial bench observed that being an attorney general, Qadir should assist the court proceedings, rather than defending a party.
The attorney general also said that the contempt of court law was made in the colonial era when the sub-continent was operating under the British rule.
Earlier, Qadir had said that the judges who announced the verdict of the contempt case against Gilani were “more inclined towards disqualifying him” than deciding whether it was a contempt case or not.
He had said the parliament has the right to reject court’s decision if it decides against the Speaker’s ruling.
The attorney general had also presented a resolution of the parliament before the bench, which stated that the parliament had confidence in the speaker, Dr Fehmida Mirza’s decision.
Justice Khilji Arif Hussain had observed that the job of the court was to interpret law and that it will continue doing so “no matter what anyone thinks”.
The chief justice had said that the court respected the parliament and that they should do their job while the court does its own.
AG Qadir had said that if the court takes a decision against the Speaker’s ruling, then it will create a conflict between institutions. Justice Chaudhry replied saying that there is no conflict between institutions.
The attorney general had read out an article written by a judge of the Indian Supreme Court that stated that people are free to criticise the judges and discuss about them. Justice Arif had interrupted him and had said that he should discuss the case than wasting the court’s time.
The petitions, including those filed by PML-N and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), had challenged the speaker’s ruling and demanded prime minister’s disqualification after he was convicted of contempt by the apex court.

Thursday 14 June 2012

Yesterday we hosted a Startup Lab workshop on Google Analytics best p

Yesterday we hosted a Startup Lab workshop on Google Analytics best practices for our portfolio companies. Josh Knox, Google Analytics Global Operations Manager, recommended five steps on how to approach the tool: setting strategy, designing key actions, implementing tracking, refining data, and optimizing for insights.
  1. Setting strategy: stakeholders across business units should identify goals, set key performance indicators, and set targets. For example, a community site may want to create ongoing engagement around local events. A key performance indicator could then be visitor loyalty, measured by targeting a 50% rate for repeat visits.
  2. Designing key actions: businesses need to determine which website elements and actions need to be measured to capture the site’s performance. Key website actions include anything from form submission and checkout to search or social actions.
  3. Implementing tracking: the basic Google Analytics code snippet covers basic tracking for pageviews, geographic location, browser types, etc. However, richer tracking for events, e-commerce, or social plug-ins require additional integration. Spending the effort to set up goals and funnels can help you identify bottlenecks in your web flows.
  4. Refining data: this step focuses on ensuring data is clean and organized for processing. It involves confirming that all key actions have been tagged properly, thinking about account permissions, integrating dashboards with other Google products, and creating easy-to-consume reports.
  5. Optimizing insights: Lastly, there is the optimization piece that is usually forgotten. There are various features, such as custom alerts, dashboards, and multi-channel funnels, that can help reveal insights about your website.
Thanks to the over 30 portfolio companies who attended at the Startup Lab or remotely via livestream. Tomorrow we’ll be back at the Startup Lab to talk about “YouTube for Marketers” — if you’re at a portfolio company, please sign up to be reminded of upcoming events!

BISP’s Rs 70bn should be spent on electricity projects’

BISP’s Rs 70bn should be spent on electricity projects’
LAHORE: Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has said that the federal government should spend allocations like Rs 70 billion of the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) on electricity projects. 

Talking to a delegation of students from various educational institutions, at his Minar-e-Pakistan tent office, Shahbaz said that due to criminal negligence of corrupt and incapable rulers, Pakistan was facing a severe energy crisis, but the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), after coming into power, would steer the country out of darkness and towards an era of light and prosperity. 

He said the people of Punjab had given the PML-N an opportunity to serve them and “protecting their rights is our foremost duty and responsibility”. staff report

Man kills girlfriend over marriage refusal

Man kills girlfriend over marriage refusal
LAHORE: A 22-year-old employee of a private airline was killed and her uncle shot and injured by her boyfriend over refusal of a marriage proposal, in the Liaqatabad police precincts on Thursday.

The victim was identified as Rabia, a resident of Bhatti Colony, Liaqatabad. Victim’s brother, Shahbaz Ahmad, told the police that Raheel, a resident of Gujranwala, who works in a private cellular company, wanted to marry his sister. 

However, the family refused. The accused nursed a grudge and plotted to kill her. On the day of incident, as Rabia reached the doorstep of her house along with her uncle, Raheel came on a bike and opened fire on them. The injured were rushed to a hospital, where Rabia succumbed to her injuries, while the condition of her uncle is said to be critical. 

Muggers kill middle-aged man: Two muggers shot dead a 40-year-old man on offering resistance during a robbery bid in the Barki police limits.

The victim was identified as Majeed, a labourer by profession. Police said the victim was on his way home when two motorcyclists tried to mug him on gunpoint. Majeed offered resistance, on which the muggers shot him dead. The police removed the body to the morgue and registered a case. staff report