Pakistan has blocked 17 Web sites and is closely monitoring seven other sites and search engines for content considered offensive and blasphemous, according to a spokesman of the country’s telecommunications regulator, the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA).

The PTA issued related orders on Friday to its licensed operators after receiving a directive from the country’s Ministry of Information Technology, Khurram A. Mehran, a spokesman for the PTA said on Monday in an e-mail. The move follows an order last week by the High Court of Lahore…..

Among the seven sites being monitored are Yahoo, Google, YouTube, Amazon, MSN, Hotmail and Bing, according to media reports from Pakistan.

It is not clear how PTA intends to monitor all these sites, which have a large amount of online content.

Pakistan has recently stepped up monitoring and blocking of online content that is considered offensive to Islam.

Facebook was ordered blocked by the Lahore court in a separate case on May 19 after a lawyers’ organization filed a petition objecting to a page on the Web site called “Everybody Draw Mohammed Day!,” which invited users to draw cartoons of Prophet Mohammed. Depictions of the Prophet are prohibited in some Muslim traditions.

YouTube was also blocked a day later for content that was considered “sacrilegious.”

The block on Facebook was removed after the company agreed to prevent the offending pages from being viewed in Pakistan. The block on YouTube was also lifted, though the PTA continued to block content it considered offensive on the site. More than 450 other links on the Internet were also blocked in May as part of the order.

In a bid to embrace latest technology of 21^st century, Pakistani cinema goers will now experience the unique technology of 3D movies as country’s first 3D cinema is fast approaching the completion stage and the first movie is likely to be aired by October 2010

Mandviwala Entertainment plans to build three theatres with an investment of Rs 60 million Based in Karachi, the major work of the cinema has already been completed and the interior of the cinema is being given the final touches in this regard.

It is pertinent to mention here that 42 feet screen in all three theatres will accommodate a total of 670 movie goers who will be provided the opportunity to enjoy 3D experience.

Nadeem Mandviwala, the owner of Mandviwala Entertainment in an interview with BBC Urdu showed optimism that the country will enter into 21^st century with this technology.

He said that world is swiftly shifting from 35 MM technology to 3D cinemas, while this ongoing project can be considered as a step towards digital movies in Pakistan.

Mr. Nadeem was of the view that the technology itself is in evolving stages and it would be unwise to predict it will be an instant hit. “Pakistani Cinema Industry is currently undergoing the fall, as the trend of demolishing cinemas to replace with plazas is rising. So one has to be cautious in this regard.” He added

Ministry of Information Technology and Telecom has confirmed that it has received ban orders from Lahore High Court on Thursday to ban Google, Yahoo, Hotmail, MSN, Bing, YouTube, Amazon etc , reported BBC Urdu, citing unnamed sources in the Ministry.

It merits mentioning here that inter-ministerial committee of IT Ministry decides on how to and why to ban or not to ban a website. Committee is reportedly meeting today to discuss the implication, execution and procedures of the ban.

IT Ministry has an option of getting stay-order from Supreme Court against LHC’s decision; however, all these options will be discussed in today’s meeting.

Unlike Facebook’s ban previous month, LHC’s current ban orders for search engines were not welcomed by the masses.

Earlier this week, Lahore High Court had ordered to immediately block nine websites for publishing and promoting sacrilegious material while hearing a writ petition filed by a citizen, Muhammad Sidiq, seeking a ban on the websites for publishing blasphemous materials and twisting the facts and figure of Holy Quran.

PTA  has already sent a summary to Prime Minister of Pakistan to discuss ban options of offensive websites – summary has details on implications of banning search engines and social media.

Ban includes 9 websites, which are considered as backbone of internet, blocking them will mean a total internet blackout in the country.

Update:

Inter-Ministerial committee has decided to ban all those URLs containing blasphemous content, as directed by LHC, however, search engines won’t get blocked in accordance to decision that was earlier taken by Federal Cabinet.

In this regards, Ministry of IT and Telecom will send a list of 17 websites to PTA for a permanent ban.

Moreover, Ministry in its letter will ask PTA to keep monitoring the web for any occurrence of blasphemous content to block them immediately.

Search Engines won’t get Banned:

Committee decided not to ban search engines, as they don’t host or store any content. However, options are considered to make it impossible to search for certain keywords on search engines..

Sony VAIO NW is a sure bet for those who are desirous of Entertainment that too in a notebook. The uniquely made device offers Blu-ray playback – keeping in view its track record, Sony this time has again excelled in presenting unique blend of style and performance, i.e rock solid performance and eye catching style.

Sony VAIO NW has a sharp 15 inch display and one will need to use the HDMI port and an external monitor or TV to get the full 1080p experience. If you are fond of more graphic comph, better opt for a different configuration of the system but the bottom line is that overall VAIO NW is a fulfilling multimedia laptop which gives you a sense of satisfaction.

Sony Vaio NW series laptop is newly design laptop. It has distinctive features like standalone Web surfing console (VM), which offer browsing without booting in to windows. It is actually loaded with splash top simple operating system which is based on Linux. It will hardly take 30 seconds to access internet by hitting “Web” button on the front panel of laptop provided wireless or Ethernet is properly configured and ready to use.

Hardware Features:

Design:

It is wood design machine with the dimensions of 14.6 x 9.8 x 1.2-inch and the surfaced soft addition appearance. It comes in different colors in market. Silver, white and brown are the most sought after colors people prefer and the machine s available in all three colors. On the top pane, only three buttons are available for initiation of Splash top instant-on browser, speakers muting, and display off button for example, to feel you convenient about conserving the battery consumption and switching of the screen while giving presentation.

Processor and Memory:

The device comes with Intel’s Core 2 Duo at 2.2GHz 2mb cache with Intel’s GM45 Express mobile chipset and 4GB DDR 2 of 800MHz memory and upgradeable to 8GB of RAM. It is ready with 320GB hard drive that rotates its dishes at the speed of 5,400 RPM.

Integrated Graphics & Display Panel:

The chipset comprises GMA X4500 HD graphics processor, is a DirectX 10 capable onboard graphics adapter in the GM45, which is quite effective for watching high definition movies and basic games. Its GMA chip is integrated with HD video decoding functions and capable of decoding formats like AVC, VC-2, and MPEG-2.

The Sony Vaio NW features 15.5 inches Sony’s XBRITE Eco screen technology, the technology is unmatched as far as vivid colors, high-pitched contrast and crisp graphics in the LCD display is concerned. Eco display is proficient of using one backlight to allocate light consistently and which is fairly idyllic for watching HD movies on the laptop. It supports the native resolution of 1366×768 in 16:9 aspect ratios and with the support of HDMI resolution of 1920×1080.

Peripherals Ports:

Optionally, eSATA port to connect an SATA drive externally and Fire wire400 port on the left side of the laptop is also available for high powerful data processing process like digital video camera movie steady capturing and encoding / decoding.

There are three2.0 USB ports, feast out on both sides of the laptop , one on the left side and other two are on the right side of the laptop with input/output jacks of audio and microphone and 2x Blu-ray disc. VGA output and an HDMI port for high-definition video output are available on the left side of the laptop for enhancing visual experience with WI-FI switch for instant switching of WI-FI.

Sony NW features dual media cards slots in the front like one for usual standard SD media cards and other is for Sony Duo memory media cards port, which is quite fair enough for covering versatility in media card’s needs.

Connectivity Details and Keyboard, Mouse pad:

Sony Vaio NW features Intel’s Wi-Fi Link 5100 AGN chipset 802.11a/ b / g and n wireless networks on the range of 2.4- or 5.0GHz frequency bands. It is also ready with gigabit Ethernet controller Marvel Yukon 88E8057 very competent network performance, but Blue-tooth is not provided in this laptop.

The atollelegance keyboard is really handy in using and hitting keys. Its specific gap among the keys brings easiness and conformity in typing without fewer mistakes. A touchpad adjacent below the keyboard is fully competent in use like it offers balance amount easiness in scrolling and dragging.

Multimedia Details (Optical Drive, Speakers, Webcam and Sound Card):

The VAIO NW is offered with an integrated Blu-ray reader drive. Blu-ray drive may be unable to burn Blu-ray discs; but it can burn CDs and DVDs. The notebook is capable of playing high definition content in720p playback. Speakers are well geared for generating crisp audio with integrated audio. It is ready with 0.3 MP Motion Eye cameras with even frame rates offering very low distortion.

What’s in the Box (Depends on seller offer)?

• Manuals
• Laptop Charger
• Screen LCD covering cloth
• CD’s/ DVD for optional software’s like Microsoft works, 90 Day Subscription of Norton internet security.
• It covers one-year international manufacturer warranty.

Availability in Pakistan:

It is available in Pakistani local laptop markets. It is offered in the price range of PKR 70000/- to PKR 72,000/- depending upon the model series.

For example Sony NW 350 is of about PKR 72,000/- on Mega.Pk laptop shop situated in Dubai plaza, Rawalpindi as of June 24, 2010. It is also offered on their website.

However, price variation could be a factor when you visit the market. So a detailed survey of the market is recommended before buying the device.

Disclaimer: Please note that, Websites mentioned in the aforementioned articles are referred to for academic purposes and without any monetary interest involved whatsoever Author, under no circumstances is responsible for  any purchase / sale /exchange/loss/Price Quotation/ decision made. Please exercise your independent judgment in this regard.

Another day, another problem for the iPhone 4. Today’s hot topic issue deals with its proximity sensor. According to a group of concerned iPhone owners on 9to5mac, the proximity sensor on the iPhone 4 isn’t quite sensitive enough and carriers a large potential for in-call issues. Users are reporting that the sensor has a tendency to think the phone is away from one’s face when it is in fact not. This can lead to user’s cheeks doing everything from muting calls to hitting the end button. Our devices aren’t suffering from this issue, but based upon what we’ve read there are quite a lot that are. How is your proximity sensor working out?

What we’re looking at here is the Nokia N9 live and in the digital flesh. Negri Electronics, the people that leaked the images, are keeping mum about the specs of the device until they’re ready to publish their full review, but from the images we can clearly see that previous rumors were correct in that there’s an 8 megapixel camera with dual-LED flash, front-facing camera with LED flash, sliding QWERTY keypad, nHD display (640×360), and support for the 850/1900 MHz bands of UMTS/HSDPA. It’s clear that this is an early prototype N9 considering its still running Symbian S60 — a platform that will now know will never again grace the Nseries line-up once the N8 is released — but we’re sure if and when Nokia launches the phone it’ll be running MeeGo. In the meantime, hit the jump for a couple more pics.

You probably don’t give much thought to what appears on the YouTube homepage every time you visit. You should, however, especially if you have a YouTube account. Let’s take a look at some of the settings you can–and possibly should–change. To get started, head to YouTube and sign into your account (if you’re not already signed in). Near the top of the page, click Add/Remove Modules. (If you don’t see that option, find your username in the upper-right corner, click it, and then choose Account. Finally, click Customize Homepage.)

As you can see, YouTube offers about dozen “modules” you can add to or remove from your homepage. Most of these are pretty self-explanatory, but there are few worth discussing. First, I strongly recommend turning off Recent Activity, which shows your friends and subscriptions just about everything you’ve done on YouTube lately. I think what I watch or “favorite” on YouTube is my business, thank you…..

Second, if you upload a lot of videos and want to know how they’re trending, enable Insight Map and Insight Chart. When you return to your homepage, you’ll see various statistics and data on how (and where) your videos are being viewed.

Third, after clicking Save Changes and returning to your homepage, click the Edit link atop any module that has one and you’ll be able to make changes to how many videos are displayed and in what layout.

Finally, if you want to change the order in which modules appear on your homepage, just click their corresponding up/down arrows. For example, if you want the aforementioned Insight Map to reside at the very top, click its up arrow repeatedly until it lands there.

YouTube offers a lot more homepage customization than most people think. Experiment a bit and you’ll be able to configure your own page exactly how you like it.

Apple kicked off an action-packed week today with the full release of iOS 4, its newest operating system for iPhone and iPod Touch devices. Though we’ve been playing with the developer’s version on an iPhone 3GS since April, we wanted to wait for the real deal before offering our official take. And from what we can tell so far, our original positive impressions hold true. That’s not say that everything is perfect, but iOS marks a significant and welcome jump in the iPhone’s evolution.

The iBooks interface is smartly designed, and pages and text are rendered extremely well. Simply put, other e-reader applications pale in comparison to iBooks. It’s only too bad that the selection isn’t as good as some of its rivals. The newest version of iBooks supports in-app PDF viewing, as well as ePub files.

Check out this excerpt from our longer iOS 4 Walkthrough video that shows off iBooks for iPhone and compares it head-on with the Kindle app. You can also take a look at the features in the gallery below.

What do you think of iBooks for iPhone? Will you use it to read books on your phone?

NeuroSky wants gamers to start using their brains. The start-up that specializes in technology to measure brainwaves was at the Electronic Entertainment Expo here this week showing videogame titans how they can go beyond motion-sensing controls to tap into the power of the mind.

“We can simulate ‘The Force’ in a game and you can bend things or lift things by thinking,” NeuroSky chief executive Stanley Yang said, referring to telepathic powers used by Jedi knights in “Star Wars” films and books.

“For games with magic or sorcery or where The Force is the star, if you use your brain or thoughts it is more magical.” Nintendo pioneered motion-sensing controllers with the launch of Wii consoles in 2006, and Microsoft and Sony showcased variations on the theme with Kinect and Move for their respective consoles at the recently ended E3…..

NeuroSky believes that the trend toward going beyond button-and-toggle controls to letting players use body motion or natural gestures has made the videogame industry receptive to the notion of adding mind power commands.

The company was founded by a cadre of scientists about five years ago in the Silicon Valley city of San Jose.

NeuroSky bills itself as the world leader in bringing bio-sensor technology to the consumer market with products including a Mattel Mindflex toy and a Force Trainer game.

“Our focus this year is on gaming,” said NeuroSky marketing vice president David Westendorf. “From the smallest of developers all the way to the biggest console and software companies.”

NeuroSky demonstrated a headset with a single sensor that presses against a player’s forehead to read brain waves. The sensor measures how intensely a player is concentrating or how relaxed they are as well as eye blinks.

Those signals are translated into on-screen commands in videogames. For example, an AFP correspondent lifted a virtual car by relaxing then set it ablaze by focusing attention on it in a “Neuroboy” demonstration game.

“It is like willing it to explode,” said NeuroSky manager Johnny Liu. “Like I am filling it up with Chi. It is very precise.”

Videogame makers could use feedback regarding how relaxed players are to reward them with better accuracy for “steady hands” in shooter games, according to Westendorf.

“How it gets woven into the gaming experience is where the creativity comes into play,” Westendorf said. “It adds a dimension in the same way Move, Wii and Kinect have brought the body into it we are bringing the brain into it.”

NeuroSky makes its money by selling “everything from the chips that process the data to finished headsets.”

Executives from the firm said they connected with an array of game software and hardware makers at E3 but would not disclose details.

“If you look at all the technology invented so far by humans, all the gadgets we have require the human to conform to the technology,” Yang said, referring to typing, toggles, buttons, switches and dials.

“The vision is to use bio-sensors to have the machines conform to humans.”

Yang envisioned a day five to 10 years from now when bio-sensors tell machines how we are feeling and what we want.