The Global Social Network
Zia Chishti, a Pakistani-American serial entrepreneur, founded his first company Align Technology in 1997 in Silicon Valley on the idea of creating clear plastic braces by using advanced 3-D computer imaging. The technology now trademarked as Invisalign has …
ContinueAdded by Riaz Haq on July 19, 2014 at 8:30am — 5 Comments
The year was 1986. Most personal computers used floppy disks to boot and to move files from one computer to another. Floppy disk was also the medium used by Amjad and Basit Alvi, two Pakistani brothers living in Lahore, to create and spread history's first known PC virus called "The Brain". Here's how Mikko Hypponen, a software security expert, described it last year at …
ContinuePakistan government is handing out Rs. 40,000 per family to nearly a million internally displaced persons (IDPs) through mobile service operator Zong's mobile SIMs. The government is attempting to ease the discomforts of displacement for such a large number of people displaced after the start of Pakistan Army's Operation ZarbeAzb to root out terrorists from North Waziristan tribal agency. Zong is one of…
ContinueAdded by Riaz Haq on July 11, 2014 at 7:30pm — 9 Comments
Even before 3G and 4G roll-outs, Pakistan's mobile data users enjoy an average bandwidth of 1.5 Mbits/sec and peak bandwidth of 14.7 Mbits/sec, according to a report published by Akamai Technologies, Inc. The Akamai data includes usage from smartphones, tablets, computers, and other devices that connect to the Internet through mobile network providers. The only mobile broadband option available to…
ContinueAdded by Riaz Haq on July 3, 2014 at 10:15am — 2 Comments
Pakistan-made Brazuca soccer ball is believed to have started high football fever in cricket-crazy Pakistan. The most fanatic among Pakistani soccer fans are the Sheedis of the Karachi slum of Lyari. Since Pakistani football team does not qualify to play in the World Cup, the sheedis' favorites are the Brazilians with…
ContinueAdded by Riaz Haq on July 2, 2014 at 10:00pm — 10 Comments
Added by Riaz Haq on July 1, 2014 at 11:00am — 2 Comments
China has funded a study to build an international rail link from the city of Kashgar in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region in Western China to Pakistan's deep-sea Gwadar Port on the Arabian Sea, according to Zhang Chunlin, director of Xinjiang's regional development and reform commission.
"The 1,800-kilometer China-Pakistan railway is planned to also pass through Pakistan's capital of…
ContinueAdded by Riaz Haq on June 28, 2014 at 10:30am — 14 Comments
"When Delhi's Press Club organised an evening of Pakistani food and music, flying in chefs from Islamabad, the racks of richly-spiced meat on the grill quickly ran out as hundreds of Indian journalists brought their families, equipped with "tiffin" boxes to take away extra supplies" BBC Report 26 June 2014…
ContinueAdded by Riaz Haq on June 27, 2014 at 10:30am — 28 Comments
Added by Riaz Haq on June 22, 2014 at 10:00pm — 4 Comments
QS World University Rankings 2014 announcement lists 10 Pakistani universities among Asia's top 300.
South Asian institutions featuring on this list include 17 from India, 10 from Pakistan and 1 each from Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. The list is topped by Singapore with its National University at #1 and includes Singapore's…
ContinueAdded by Riaz Haq on June 21, 2014 at 11:00pm — 2 Comments
Pakistan is manufacturing and supplying footballs for use in all 64 matches of the World Cup 2014 in Brazil. In addition, most European football leagues have place huge orders to buy Brazuca balls designed by Adidas and made in Pakistan.…
Added by Riaz Haq on June 15, 2014 at 2:00pm — 6 Comments
Oops! The World Bank made a big mistake. The number of Pakistanis living below the 2005 $1.25 poverty line (set at $1.44 for 2011) is 4.8 million, less than one-seventh of the 35.1 million reported earlier. It is a huge drop from about 20% of the population to 3% of the population living below the international poverty line.…
Added by Riaz Haq on June 13, 2014 at 8:00pm — 2 Comments
#Pakistan is a rising star for multi-nationals in frontier markets along with #Nigeria, #Argentina, #Vietnam http://on.wsj.com/1p2g16O
After a recent survey by Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) showing…
ContinueMeager 4.1% GDP growth reported by Pakistan for 2013-14 caps sixth consecutive year of disappointing economic performance under "democratic" governments in the country. This slow growth brings back bitter memories of the last lost decade of 1990s when economic growth plummeted to between 3% and 4%, poverty rose to 33%, inflation was in double digits and the foreign debt mounted to nearly the entire GDP of…
ContinueGeo TV has lost 80% of its viewers and billions of rupees in advertising revenue since it accused Pakistan's ISI of attempting to assassinate its anchor Hamid Mir last April, according to credible reports in the mainstream media.
Pakistan's once…
ContinueAdded by Riaz Haq on May 31, 2014 at 7:30pm — No Comments
Pakistan has 109 informal entrepreneurs for every formally documented entrepreneur, ranking the country 4th in the world for the size of its shadow economy, according to a study published by Professor Erkko Autio and Dr. Kun Fu of the Business School of London's Imperial College.
Pakistan's 109 shadow entrepreneurs for every officially registered one rank it 4th…
ContinueAdded by Riaz Haq on May 27, 2014 at 11:00pm — 5 Comments
Added by Riaz Haq on May 21, 2014 at 1:30pm — 9 Comments
Added by Riaz Haq on May 20, 2014 at 8:45am — 2 Comments
Added by Riaz Haq on May 18, 2014 at 10:29pm — 4 Comments
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The European Union (EU) and India have recently agreed to a trade deal which includes an MOU to allow “an uncapped mobility for Indian students”, according to officials, allowing Indians greater ease to travel, study and work across EU states. India's largest and most valuable export to the world is its people who last year sent $135 billion in remittances to their home country. Going by the numbers, the Indian economy is a tiny fraction of the European Union economy. Indians make up 17.8%…
ContinuePosted by Riaz Haq on January 28, 2026 at 11:00am — 8 Comments
Ruling politicians in New Delhi continue to hype their country's economic growth even as the Indian currency hits new lows against the US dollar, corporate profits fall, electrical power demand slows, domestic savings and investment rates decline and foreign capital flees Indian markets. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has questioned India's GDP and independent economists…
ContinuePosted by Riaz Haq on January 25, 2026 at 4:30pm — 10 Comments
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